Tag: horror
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Bird Box
Turns out, all the positive hype I’ve heard is well deserved.
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Oculus (2013): A Study in Perception and Dread
I love a good psychological horror film about as much as I love a good ghost story. In both those sub-genres, you have some question as to the actual nature of the events going on. When done right, it’s the film version of print’s “unreliable narrator” technique. It leaves the characters–and the audience–wondering, at least…
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Young Frankenstein: Comedy Born From Horror
If you haven’t seen Young Frankenstein, you’re missing one of Mel Brooks’ greatest comedies. A good deal of that greatness rests on the shoulders of co-writer and star Gene Wilder… and the rest of the fantastic cast. This is one of those films that wouldn’t have existed at all if it weren’t for the original Universal…
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House on Haunted Hill (1959): More Than Just a Gimmick
The House on Haunted Hill is one of the earlier horror films I saw growing up. It still stands as one of my favorite “haunted house” films, even though the question of just how haunted (if at all) the house is remains unanswered. There’s a lot to like right off the top. It’s got Vincent Price…
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House: Not the Doctor Show, the Haunted Kind
When I first saw House, around the time it came out on home video or HBO in the late 80s, I don’t remember thinking of it as a horror-comedy. Part of the reason for that is that I saw House II first which is more of a comedy with horror elements in it. Putting the two side…
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The Woman In Black (2012): A classic ghost story with a twist
I like ghost stories. Ghost stories aren’t always “monster movies” or the kind of horror that makes you jump out of your seat. A good ghost story will leave your skin crawling long after you’ve finished it. A great ghost story will leave you questioning reality at least a little. Sure, there may be a…
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Frankenstein (1931)
Thanks to my father’s love of the monster movies of his youth, I grew up watching horror films. It started with the old Universal Pictures movies that were shown sporadically on channel 13, the PBS station out of NYC. One of the first I remember seeing, the lights dim in the living room, was the…
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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
This wasn’t one of the movies I’d really planned on seeing in theaters, let alone on it’s opening weekend. But an old friend was in town and, after dinner, we decided to hit up a movie. Of everything that was playing that neither of us had seen, we chose Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, kind of…
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Soul Fire Rising
The more one bounces around online, the more little interesting things one comes across. This bit of new online series came my way via Kelly Stables Twitter account, most recently recognizable as part of the cast of Romantically Challenged, the very hastily (and unfortunately) canceled sitcom headlined by Alyssa Milano. Stables is a producer on…
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Friday the 13th (2009): Just Die Already
To say I didn’t hold out a whole lot of hope for the reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise would only be a slight understatement. I was relatively happy with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, so seeing the same team involved kept my expectations from being totally negative. There was some small spark of…
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The Strangers: A More Classic Terror
Liv Tyler attempts to escape from one of the interlopers in The Strangers. It being the Halloween, I’ve been in the mood for horror films. Over the last few years, there has been no shortage of supposedly scary movies. Problem is, most of the ones I’ve seen haven’t been all that scary. Disgusting? Yes. Full…
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Marble Hornets: A Virtual Mystery
Perhaps my favorite type of storytelling on the Internet. This one is only about three weeks and eight posts in. It’s suitably creepy and engaging enough to keep me wondering where it’s going… at least for now. More to come… (when I finally have time to write about things again…)