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’
Is there any movie more synonymous with Halloween than The Nightmare Before Christmas? It’s pretty much the ultimate holiday movie, pulling double-duty as both the perfect film for the spooky season as well as its holly-jolly counterpart in December. Plus, I’m pretty sure that it single-handedly keeps Hot Topic alive as a business model. The tragic thing about it though is that people continuously lump … Continue reading ‘Wendell & Wild’ Is Middling Stop-Motion Madness
I’ve talked a lot on this site about found-footage horror films. It’s probably my favorite subgenre of horror. I’ve also been equally vocal about my love of anthology horror films, serving up bite-sized, easily digestible chunks of spooky goodness without running the risk of boring the audience with unnecessary narrative beats. And luckily, these two flavors of horror mix together wonderfully, working in tandem to … Continue reading ‘V/H/S 99’ is Flashback, Millennial Horror Fun
The Halloween franchise has certainly had its share of highs and lows over the years, but it’s recently been on a relative upswing. Director David Gordan Green and writer Danny McBride (yes, that Danny McBride) successfully revived the floundering series in 2018 with their reboot/sequel/rebootquel of the original John Carpenter classic in 2018 with the confusingly-titled Halloween. This installment, which was met with both critical … Continue reading ‘Halloween Ends’ Is A Mercy Killing
I don’t think there’s a horror franchise out there with a bigger disparity between quality and quantity than Hellraiser. Ten films, over three decades, from a whole host of different writers, directors, and creative teams, and yet not single installment, save the original, comes anywhere close to being what a sane individual would consider ‘good.’ Which is a damn shame, really, because the first film, … Continue reading ‘Hellraiser’ Has Some Sights to Show You, and Not Much Else
There is a staggering amount of overlap between horror films and superhero movies. James Wan (Aquaman), Sam Raimi (Spider-Man/Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness), Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange), Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming), David F. Sandberg (Shazam!), and James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), among others, all got their starts directing major horror movies. There’s something about the genre that the studios behind these big-budget … Continue reading Marvel Revives the Universal Monster Movie With ‘Werewolf By Night’
So, in full transparency, today’s post was supposed to be about Deadstream, a new found footage horror-comedy that premiered this on Shudder this week. It’s a fun, if somewhat cliché takedown of Youtuber/Twitch-streamer culture, filtered through the lends of a first-person Evil Dead film, featuring some fantastic practical effects and some clever uses of streaming technology like chat feeds and facecams. But coincidentally, on a … Continue reading ‘Smile:’ A Heart Attack With a Friendly Face
Happy First Day of October, everyone! Got something relatively short and simple for you today, but super important nonetheless (we’ll get to the overly long, self-indulgent ranting stuff you come here for tomorrow, I swear). I thought it would be a good idea – a public service, really – to give you a list of all the big releases coming out this month. There’s plenty … Continue reading The Best in New and Returning Releases this Halloween
Earlier this year, director Ti West and A24 gifted us with the wonderfully subversive X, a stylish, thoughtful send-up of 70s slasher and grindhouse sensibilities. It was a clever, brutal film, dripping with subtext and artistry, yet still managed to deliver on the requisite kills and thrills in a way that even the most disinterested of horror audiences could appreciate without feeling bogged down by … Continue reading Ti West Crafts the Perfect Prequel With ‘Pearl’
The Blogger Under the Stairs 