Best New Zealand horror movies

Vampire housemates try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster some of the perks of being undead.

When Kylie Bucknell is sentenced to home detention, she's forced to come to terms with her unsociable behaviour, her blabbering mother and a hostile spirit who seems less than happy about the new living arrangement.

Two teenage boys unwittingly summon an ancient evil entity known as The Blind One by delving into black magic while trying to escape their mundane lives.

A genetic engineering experiment gone horribly awry turns a large flock of docile sheep into unrelenting killing machines.

Every culture has one – the horrible monster fueling young children's nightmares. But for Tim, the Boogeyman still lives in his memories as a creature that devoured his father 16 years ago. Is the Boogeyman real, or did Tim make it up to explain why his father abandoned his family?

A school teacher is forced to confront a brutal act from his past when a pair of ruthless drifters takes him and his family on a nightmare road-trip.

In 1978 Oregon, Ben and Jules inherit an abandoned coastal property from Ben's late mother, who's never mentioned it. The untouched house has been kept a secret for 40 years and comes with a beautiful private cove and beach. Jules searches for answers while Ben unwittingly awakens a fiercely protective creature.

When a terrified family flees a desolate southern New Zealand farmhouse, two cynical scientists and a young psychic are sent to investigate their claims of a haunting. There they encounter a powerful spirit that will protect the house's secrets at all costs.

Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, a former Judge must stop an elderly psychopath who employs a child's puppet to abuse the home's residents with deadly consequences.

Milton, a college dropout, was only supposed to cook meth for one day. Broken out of rehab by a brash young woman and her trigger-happy ("ex") boyfriend and driven to a remote cabin the woods, Milton finds himself drawn into a dangerous love triangle gone haywire. The couple's deadpan half-truths spin around Milton like a song on repeat. They seem to read him like an open book, until a mysterious message opens his eyes to his cursed existence. With unlimited ammunition, any hunting tool they could desire, and an ever-growing body count, for what did Milton really sign up?

When an awkward but brilliant Chinese student wins a scholarship into a prestigious New Zealand University, she finds a new way of achieving the popularity she craves one bloody body at a time.

Who says being an undead creature of the night is easy? With that in mind, three ancient friends—centuries-old vampires Vulvus, the romantic and temperamental Lord Byron wannabe; Viago, the flamboyant 19th-century dandy; and Deacon, the rebellious 107-year-old youngster—invite a documentary crew to shed light on a vampire’s daily life. Starting from the fateful day of their eternal transformation, these modern-day blood-suckers don’t shy away from answering deeply personal questions about their quirky flatmate situation—after all, this is an interview, not just an excuse for a quick bite.Will we ever truly find out what vampires do in the shadows?

Set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D Day, two Kiwi commandos, sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler's forces away from Normandy, discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces to win the war.

A dysfunctional gang of criminals takes a middle class Maori family hostage and discovers too late that they are cannibals.

The vampire myth is given a stylish 1960s treatment, where a human cop partners with a vampire cop to stop a vamp bent on creating a war between the two "separate but equal" races.

A four-day journey turns into a fight for survival. This is a psychological thriller about Ian, who wants to get as far away from humanity as possible, into the New Zealand bush. Some other individuals get attached to him. And he has the feeling that they are being followed. Is that real though?

From the land of early Peter Jackson comes another Braindead movie in bad taste. It’s the third day of shooting the low budget horror ‘Tonight They Come’ on location in the wilds of New Zealand. Director SMP is already beside himself having to work with a self-obsessed leading man and a bimbo actress when into his line of fire comes a new runner, wannabe screenwriter Wesley Pennington. Clearly an accident-prone nerd, Wesley nevertheless tries his best to fit in with the crazed cast and demented crew while falling head over heels for Susan, the set caterer. But something nasty has entered the local water supply and suddenly the zombie extras start acting like genuine members of the living dead, gore stunts looks even more authentic and actual severed limbs fly. Reel life turns real as Wesley attempts to save the day while ensuring his latest script will get made.

American tattoo artist Jake Sawyer wanders the world, exploring and exploiting ethnic themes in his tattoo designs. At a tattoo expo in Singapore, he gets his first glimpse at the exotic world of traditional Samoan tattoo (tatau), and, in a thoughtless act, unwittingly unleashes a powerful angry spirit. In his devastating journey into Pacific mysticism, Jake must find a way to save his new love, Sina and recover his own soul.

In a distant future, a mysterious boy becomes the central figure in the search for a new hope. Who is this kid? Why is everyone looking for it? Sometimes it is better not to know certain answers…

A pregnant woman returns to her recently-deceased grandparents’ old family home to spend time with her estranged mother. What begins as a tenuous reunion slowly turns terrifying.

Dane ‘Marbles’ Marbeck can see ghosts, thanks to a homemade drug: his late father’s neurological medication mixed with marijuana. Officer Jayson Tagg, a wannabe super-cop on the trail of a serial killer, ends up murdered. So when Marbles’ mum plans to sell the family farm, and the only way of buying the house off her is taking the money offered by Tagg in exchange for his help, Marbles accepts. The unlikely duo of stoner medium and ghost cop struggle to reconcile their differences while they navigate their way through ghouls, perverts, a mysterious hooded figure, and an unexpected shot at love. It becomes clear the only way Marbles and Tagg will solve the case with their souls intact is to confront their deepest regrets and overcome their prejudices.

From the bowels of the kitchen sink, comes a dark and tender love… An original and full-blooded short film that combines humour with surrealism and leads the viewer towards the fantasy of horror.

A contagious virus is turning everyone into zombies, and the only hope for survival lies in the hands of three couch potatoes.

In the place between what you know, and what you fear, demons rule. All hope is stripped away as demonic forces overcome you. Dr. Harry Ballard has just unearthed the essence of evil. He’s a marked man, a living sacrifice, thrown to the depths of the demon world. At his side is a beautiful young woman – an ex-cult member who’s experienced their immeasurable power.

A kid is hypnotized by a scientist to kill his parents and ends in a mental institution. As a grown up he returns to seek revenge over the scientist.

Two best friends, Grant and Paul, hita country road for a night of fun, but unfortunately take a short cut to their fate...where they meet the Locals.

Claude and his friends are out of their element and in a whole lot of trouble when they choose the wrong lettuce for lunch. They must now find their way out of this world of horrors before they end up on the menu!

A lone camper hears strange noises coming from the depths of the lake.. Will she stand her ground or will she give in to their fishy temptations?

A nature field researcher is investigating the strange extinction of small animals and insects in the area, which indicates that something is wrong. His suspicions are soon to be proven right when he meets May, who lives in a cabin in the forest nearby. May says that her house is infested by small creatures that she thinks are mice or rats. When the couple search the house further, they notice that they're not rodents or insects. They are fast evolving lizards that have the appetite for animals and humans, no matter what size their prey are...

Two people meet as guinea pigs in a weekend drug trial. They soon discover their lives are in more danger than they imagined. The staff are peculiar. The drugs cause hallucinations. Or is the clinic really haunted? Struggling with their senses, they must team up to unravel a spooky mystery.

In a post-apocalyptic world, a virus has transformed humans into violently deranged cannibals. A bereaved mother has lost everything and takes refuge in an isolated mountain cabin, until a desperate wounded stranger arrives with a story of hope.

It is not easy to find love, especially if you are falling apart, stinky and a little bloody around the edges. Welcome to Rotting Hill, where the extinction of humanity has led to the rise of a new species - ZOMBIES.

New Zealand, 1986. The zombie apocalypse is here and three mates are stranded. The trusty Holden is out of gas. With only fast food scraps and a few cigarettes for sustenance, surviving each other may prove harder than facing the undead outside

What the "spider-pit" sequence from the original King Kong (1933) probably looked like (the original sequence was cut out of the original movie because it was deemed "too gruesome" and was subsequently lost).

Jack and Dora, abandoned by their parents as babies, are desperate to find each other after years of adoption. Jack's young life has been spent with a sadistic family. Dora, whose life has been somewhat better, has developed extra-sensory powers which tell her that Jack's in danger and drives her to search for him.

Mary feels alien pregnant, the doctor thinks it’s probably allergies, only slime will tell.

Out on a dead calm ocean, in a thick fog, a group of tourists on a pleasure craft are about to cross paths with an ancient and terrible evil. Sharing the same ocean, a sick, dying old Greek man drifts alone on a stricken yacht.

The Feast is a live-action horror short film following siblings Lucy and Sam as they return to their childhood home where their reclusive mother resides. They soon discover that untold horrors have come to haunt her, and must face a vile demonic force before they lose their mother for good.

It focuses on two friends, one of whom pursues a relationship with a mysterious woman who part owns a guest house and who he has been dating online. Problems occur when guests at the isolated guest house begin to disappear and the guys discover the truth about the woman and her monstrous sisters and how they must escape from a mysterious island if they want to survive beyond dawn.

A 42-second film directed by Harmony Korine and released in September of 2009. The film is part of a project entitled ONEDREAMRUSH, a creation of the New Zealand vodka company 42Below that invited various individuals to create 42-second videos exploring dreams.

An amateur historian is reported missing after unearthing an ancient artifact. The Detective is called to help investigate. He was last seen earlier that day, stumbling into the forest in a trance-like state. The Detective eagerly takes the case.

New Zealand’s first CGI short film gives “eyes on the road” a new meaning as a pair of eyeballs drive to a mind-bending purgatory. A collaboration between visual effects man John Sheils and his brother Michael, Scream was shot in early 1991; finally 25 minutes of footage was “brutally” edited down to three, and fulsomely scored by John Gibson. The sly ‘based on true events’ title-card nods to the makers’ ambitions to “treat animation like live action.” In 1994 it screened in NZ cinemas as opener to the ILM wizardry of Jim Carrey hit The Mask, followed by a number of overseas festivals.

Five American mobsters sit in a diner and discuss the sexual politics of the fairytale: "Little Red Riding Hood".

Demonically possessed hamsters terrorize a young babysitter and her boyfriend.

A small town woman, fresh to the city, buys a used Jaguar haunted by the ghost of a woman who was slain in it.

Mothering Sunday is a horror, dark comedy short film where terrifying revelations are made during a Mother-Daughter argument.

A mysterious dark figure descends into a forest to commit an act of unforgivable evil.

When a Solomon Islands teenager encounters bullying and microaggressions at school, she must take fate into her own hands with assistance from her family’s guardian spirit.

A young woman receives a mysterious call in the night. After several strange events, she realises that she is not alone and that she may be in grave danger.

A girl is texting her boyfriend as she becomes fearful that someone is in the house.

A woman is led by the call of birds to an unnerving discovery.

A man wakes up to a mysterious entity in his room.

Wound is a supernatural horror that explores the dark worlds of mental illness, incest, revenge and death. We follow Tanya as she searches for the mother she has never met – a mother who gave her up for dead after being abused by her own father who remains stuck in her present life. Tanya returns from the dead to confront and possess her mother with all her deepest fears and desires, sending Susan into a state of madness and gore filled retribution. A dark, disturbing look into a haunted woman’s mind. This is one terrible dream you will never wake up from.

Jemaine Clement (pre-Flight of the Conchords fame) is the young man who faces up to a sentient soda machine in this short from Jason Stutter.

“The Man in the Black Suit” recounts the tale of Gary, a nine-year-old boy, whose brother died, not long ago, due to a bee sting. One day, Gary goes out fishing and encounters the devil.

A recipe for apple pie.

A group of friends are picked off one by one by a mysterious figure after they decide to go on a picnic on a rainy day.

In 1970s America, a taxi driver takes it upon himself to seek justice for the murder of his daughter.

Kids on an outing in the forest come up against a mysterious hermit who lives on the other side of a bridge, and he is definitely not happy to see them.

Mayor Broody hires an expert shark-hunter to track down and eliminate a deadly ghost shark when it returns to terrorize Auckland.

A reality TV crew is making a programme, 'Ghost TV' about the haunted buildings that are the ruins of Seacliff Lunatic Asylum. As one might expect things do not go to plan. One of the crew is not very emotionally stable and when she discovers that she has been used callously by another crew member she snaps and runs off into the night, only to return with violent intent.

A thriller set in 1932 about two nurses trapped in a country mansion with their invalid patient whilst a killer is on the loose. A series of unexplainable events start to occur and the nurses begin to wonder if they are no longer alone.

In a backwoods cabin, a boy called Little Man lives with his dad (a trapper), his older sister Missy, and his younger sister Kid, who is feral, spends most of her time under the table, and can imitate the sound of any animal. Their mother is dead. One day, while dad's in town selling skins, Missy teases Kid and gets bitten. There's Hell to pay when dad gets home, and Kid runs off into the night to spend it with her animal friends. Little Man, who narrates much of the story as well as his reflections in a whisper, must sort out loss and emptiness.

New Zealand's first slasher movie! The Hash House Harriers ("a drinking club with a running problem") encounter a killer Bee Keeper in a crazy Kiwi horror-comedy that is part Animal House and part 80's slasher movie.

This film adaptation of Henry James' Victorian ghost story changes the location to present day Wellington. Set in a theatre over the course of an evening, Julia finds herself as a last-minute replacement for another actress at the dress rehearsal of a stage play version of The Turn of the Screw, set in 1890. Arriving at the theatre late that night, Julia is immediately thrown on stage and into her role, playing to an empty auditorium. As she interacts with the other characters and the story becomes increasingly terrifying, Julia begins to believe that not only is the fictitious house haunted… but also the theatre itself!

Anthropologist Max Scarry mysteriously disappears while doing excavation/research of a lost New Zealand tribe on a remote island. His wife and his twin brother Edward are clueless as to what could have happened, a situation complicated by their city's police suspecting that one of the brothers murdered a local prostitute who was found with a strange tribal charm on her body matching one found in Max's abandoned hut. What most certainly isn't helping matters is the strange behavior of Max's daughter as she seems to have visions beyond possibility, warnings of a supernatural threat and her uncle's fate - and she's the film's narrator, to boot. Edward decides to go to the island to find out exactly what happened, but the deeper he goes into the mystery the more perilous and unknowable his world becomes, leading towards a shocking fate that raises more questions than it answers. (cont. http://view-from-the-paperhouse.blogspot.de/2014/10/the-threat-of-ancient-echoes-lost-tribe.html)