In The Harrowing, director Jon Keeyes delivers a protracted opening that begins as intriguing cop drama and ends as cannibalistic camp. The former is fascinating; the latter is ludicrous. But in good time, the two somehow are effectively intertwined, turning what might have been a total disaster into a crime thriller that pulsates with tension […]
The history of horror is chock full of stories of good people who, by poor judgment or just bad luck, become monsters. The Wolfman (1941), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932), and The Fly (1958 and 1986) are just a few examples. They all deliver scares, but each protagonist’s struggle to hold onto his humanity […]
Chocolate and peanut butter. Chicken and waffles. Beer and pretzels. Some combinations just make sense. For instance, horror and mystery are very, very comfortable bedfellows. Both focus on the weird and macabre and are only delineated because one tends to focus on the temporal, rational world. The Demonologist is no such mystery. This occult thriller […]
Christmas Blood – which sounds infinitely more menacing in its native Norwegian, Juleblod – lives up to the simple promise of its name. Director Reinert Kiil has created a delightfully grotesque gore-fest that nevertheless delivers some substance beyond the gallons of blood spilled on the screen. If you’ve exhausted your Christmas horror watch-list and need […]
Mrs. Claus, written and directed by Troy Escamilla, is a holiday horror that follows in the footprints of classics like Black Christmas or Silent Night, Deadly Night. There’s something irresistible about the desire to corrupt the wholesomeness of the holiday season, and Mrs. Claus delivers blood and mayhem in a gift-wrapped package. Mrs. Claus opens […]
What would you do with $1,000? Take a trip somewhere? Go on a spree? Well, writer/director Chris Moore decided to take a thousand bucks and make a horror movie about dead babies, or something like that. A strange tale called Blessed Are the Children shows us the deadly toll that one bad decision can take. […]
Teenage alienation is terrifying and trying to fit in often carries more risks than rewards. So it is for Mia, just 15 and on the verge of menstruation but whose angst is fueled primarily by a new school and a new social setting. In the Swiss film Blue My Mind, she’s upset with her father […]
Nature. It’s beautiful and fascinating, but it’s also scary shit. I just watched writer/director Jim Ojala’s first feature Strange Nature, an eco-horror film based on real-life events. Strange Nature starts out with the discovery of a bunch of deformed frogs in and around lakes in a small town, but it turns into a lot more. […]
Greetings, Fiends. Fall is finally here, and pumpkin-everything is everywhere. Halloween in near, and one of the most anticipated film events of this time of the year is now here. Yep, I’m speaking of the return of infamous babysitter killer, Michael Myers. Even more exciting than Michael’s return is the return of favorite final girl, […]
As a long-time fan of producer Bryan Enk’s work, pretty much anything he is attached to jumps to the head of my Must-See list and while The Horror at Gallery Kay slid under my radar a bit, it definitely is a film deserving of a watching. “An estranged couple’s therapy appointment reveals the existence of […]
