Halloween is coming, and this year we are not playing it safe. Czech cinema is famous for gentle fairy tales, but it also knows how to genuinely frighten you. Last year we explored the psychological dark side of Czech cinema. This year, we bring out the vampires, the witches and the one man scarier than all of them.
Let us start with true horror royalty. The Cremator (Spalovač mrtvol, 1968) needs no monsters at all: Rudolf Hrušínský's Mr. Kopfrkingl, a polite crematorium employee who slowly convinces himself that burning people is an act of mercy, remains the most chilling character Czech film ever created. The remastered Blu-ray comes with English subtitles.
Juraj Herz, the master of Czech gothic, returns twice more on this list. His Beauty and the Beast (Panna a netvor, 1978) turns the classic tale into a fog drenched gothic romance with real dread in it, this is no children's fairy tale. And in Ferat Vampire (Upír z Feratu, 1982) he created one of the strangest vampires in film history: a sleek rally car that runs on human blood. Add Jiří Menzel in the leading role of the suspicious doctor, and you have a cult classic that must be seen to be believed. 
From vampire cars to the real Blood Countess. Bathory (2008) is Juraj Jakubisko's lavish gothic epic about Elizabeth Báthory, the legendary countess accused of bathing in the blood of young women. Castles, intrigue, blood and stunning visuals, with English subtitles on the DVD.
And the scariest film on this list is scary precisely because it really happened. Witches' Hammer (Kladivo na čarodějnice, 1970) by Otakar Vávra reconstructs the witch trials of northern Moravia, where fanaticism and torture destroyed innocent lives. A cold, masterful film that will stay with you long after Halloween, available with English subtitles, and for collectors also as a limited foreign import Blu-ray.
One practical note for our friends overseas: if you want these films on your screen by Halloween night, order soon, international delivery takes its time.
🎃 Build your Czech Halloween night: The Cremator on Blu-ray, Beauty and the Beast on DVD, Bathory on DVD, Ferat Vampire on DVD and Witches' Hammer on DVD.
👉 Want to know the man behind the Czech gothic? Read our portrait of director Juraj Herz, the master of Czech gothic cinema.
