Collection of five classic horrors. In ‘The Exorcist’ (1973) actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) has every reason to be content, having just completed a film with director Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran). However, she becomes disturbed by the changes taking place in her 12-year-old daughter, Regan (Linda Blair). At first sullen and withdrawn, Regan becomes aggressive and blasphemous, and ugly welts appear on her face and body. No medical cure is forthcoming, and after Burke is killed by being thrown from Regan’s window, Chris turns to local Jesuit priest Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) for help. Karras then calls in exorcist Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow), who confirms that Regan is possessed by the devil. In ‘Friday the 13th’ (1980) a group of fun-loving teenagers take jobs at a recently reopened summer camp, unaware of the gruesome circumstances that led to its closure 20 years prior: the drowning of a young boy named Jason and subsequent murder of two counsellors. No sooner has Camp Crystal Lake reopened for business than the killing spree begins again, as the teens are picked off one by one… In ‘It’ (1990) a group of seven childhood friends, known as The Losers Club, reunite to combat a mysterious threat which they had thought was long since buried. Lurking in the shadows, and preying on their innermost fears, a shape-shifting, supernatural predator, manifesting as a killer clown called Pennywise (Tim Curry), prepares to strike again. In ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ (1984) American teenager Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) begins to suffer from nightmares and discovers that many of her friends are having similarly disturbed nights’ sleep. Their dreams are haunted by the hideously scarred former child murderer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) who, it soon transpires, has the power to kill them in their sleep. Freddy is out to exact his revenge on the children of those who burned him alive in retribution for his crimes. The only way to avoid Freddy’s reprisals is to avoid sleep, but Nancy knows that she can’t stay awake for ever. Finally, in ‘Carrie’ (1976) Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is a gawky, unloved teenager whose awakening sexuality is at odds with her puritanical mother’s fanatical teachings. Physically abused at home and shunned at school, an unexpected prom invitation seems to be Carrie’s first chance at happiness. But when the prom night ends in a vicious practical joke, Carrie’s despair manifests itself in a fiery telekinetic revenge.
