Scream is kind of a unicorn when it comes to long-running horror franchises. There aren’t many major slashers that can claim to have persisted the same nearly 30-year span that Ghostface has, and even fewer still that have held up the same standards of quality. Inevitably, there’ll be a remake, or a reboot, or a requel, (and if you’re Halloween, all of the above) or … Continue reading ‘Scream VI’ Is A Raucous Rumble In The Big Apple
Look, I like smart, elevated, allegorical horror as much as the next pretentious film nerd with a mediocre movie blog. The past two reviews on this site, Skinamarink and The Outwaters, were both focused on how much I appreciated the surreal, avant-garde risks those films took, and the unconventional way they approached their stories and scares. I really, really enjoyed those movies. But sometimes, you … Continue reading ‘Cocaine Bear’ is A Pure, Uncut B-Movie High
2023 has been off to a relatively lively start in regards to indie, viral horror. Festival darling Skinamarink saw a limited release in late January following its leak onto major torrenting platforms last year, prompting spirited discourse online within the horror community. Likewise, public domain meme film Blood and Honey hit select theater screens earlier this week to similar chatter. And yesterday, we were blessed … Continue reading ‘The Outwaters’ is a Beautiful, Baffling Hellscape in the High Desert
The Public Domain is a wonderful thing. Thanks to the natural expiration of copyright, Hollywood has been able to adapt hundreds of classic literature’s most beloved works and characters to the big screen. Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, The War of The Worlds, The Wizard of Oz; all these and many, many more have become media staples thanks to the unfettered rights to bring them to cinemas … Continue reading Oh, Bother: ‘Blood and Honey’ is a Steaming Pile of Pooh
When I was a kid, I used to have horrific night terrors. They were reoccurring – at their worst, happening nearly weekly – and they terrified me beyond anything I have since experienced in life. They would leave me trapped in an almost fugue state, eyes open and seemingly conscious but screaming bloody murder and completely incapable of being awoken by my concerned parents. This … Continue reading Tormenting My Inner Child With ‘Skinamarink’
James Wan, the undisputed champion of modern franchise horror, has blessed the world with some of the biggest names in pop-culture terror. From Saw to Insidious and The Conjuring, Wan is a virtual King Midas within the genre, cranking out hit after hit for nearly two decades now. Also, he made Aquaman. So win some, lose some, I guess. But the writer/director superstar didn’t achieve … Continue reading Chucky Finally Has Some Competition in the Slick, Sinister, and Sincere ‘M3GAN’
John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher Halloween was a smash hit (and one of the most financially successful independent films ever made), and for good reason: It was a tense, atmospheric thriller that relied on its mastery of suspense to scrounge up scares, rather than over-the-top blood and gore. It had a stellar lead in final girl Laurie Strode, launching Jaime Lee Curtis to well-earned stardom overnight. … Continue reading Why the Underrated ‘Season of the Witch’ is the Most Halloween-y ‘Halloween’ Sequel
For our final Sunday of the month, I thought I’d show you guys just exactly why these internet short films are so cool. Sure, they’re great bits of horror content in their own right, provided quick little jolts of spooky atmosphere to your system like a 5 Hour Energy shot. But the really exciting thing is how they’ve leveled the playing field for filmmakers. Long … Continue reading Short Film Showcase Sunday: Short Films as a Springboard for Mainstream Success
Horror isn’t exactly known for being a genre full of sunshine and rainbows. It can be depressing. Grimy. Morbid. And sure, a lot of horror films have (reasonably) happy endings. Our heroes may lose friends or loved ones, and even lose a limb or two themselves along the way, but in the end, they usually manage to beat whatever’s chasing them and live to see … Continue reading Fatal Finales: The Bleakest Endings in Horror
Some horror franchises are seemingly as unkillable as their murderous antagonists appear to be. No matter how many terrible sequels, how many box-office bombs, how many needless reboots and remakes, they just keep on coming (for better or for worse). There’s loads of false starts, lulls and breaks between installments, but they always return, in one form or another. And a lot of these films … Continue reading Missing in Action: Horror’s Dormant Icons
The Blogger Under the Stairs 