I always try to go at any film respecting the time that it was made; granted, that’s not always easy, but otherwise, it would be near-impossible to enjoy classics like Nosferatu, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, or even later films like Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Thing from Another World, […]
Fairytales are the stuff born of nightmares; I think it’s pretty safe to say that such cautionary morality stories were one of the primary forerunners of the modern horror film. Spirits, “little people”, goblins and long-leggedy beasties…I can’t come up with a single fright film out of the many that I’ve seen that doesn’t have […]
Mr. Jones tells the story of Scott and Penny a couple going into the woods so Scott can shot a documentary. Penny has given up her career in order to accompany Scott on this endeavor. As time goes on the couples relationship becomes troubled, until the discovery of Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones to many is […]
“She lives…Don’t Move…Don’t Breathe…There’s Nowhere To Run…She Will Find You…” So ran the commercial tagline for Prophecy, John Frankenheimer’s 1979 enviro-horror flick. I gotta tell you, this (at the time) eight-year-old mouse often had the shit scared out of him when this low, somber narration would come outta the TV, coupled with the horrific single-frame […]
We’ve talked before about how horror flicks come at you in different ways. Some seek to creep you out; they wanna make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, your skin crawl, and for you to be jumpy in your own living room at the sounds of your house settling. Others go […]
Ryan and Kennedy are getting married so they travel up to a secluded house with a group of friends to have a combined Stag party. Just when things start to get fun, the group starts to get dead. You probably think you’ve seen this plot a hundred times, and you have, no denying that. However, […]
The idea of our children going bad is an old fear; the prodigals returning to usurp the parents is a tale that’s been told since at least ancient Greece, and likely for much longer. Horror films, as with all of the other primal shared fears we have, picked up on this almost from the start. […]
The eighties was the heyday of the slasher flick; I mean, c’mon; on the heels of Carpenter’s Halloween at the close of the ’70s, you had a virtual gold mine of hack ‘n’ slashes that followed. Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine, Terror Train, Prom Night, Bloody Birthday; the list could go on for pages. […]
Image you are trapped in an underground bunker. One of your comrades mutilated, lifeless body lies close to you on the floor. A large door slowly opens at the far end of a long corridor and slowly reveals a 300 pound (all muscle) figure standing there. The figure suddenly charges at you and as the […]
Once again, I unlimbered the ol’ La-Z-Boy and kicked back to enjoy a film that, while not horror in the generally accepted sense, still fit the bill in terms of subject matter, levels of tension, and the dark thoughts that you’re forced to consider as you watch. Profile of a Killer came outta the box […]
Here’s a great example of a Production Company taking more time developing exceptional marketing materials instead of focusing on a good film. Nurse 3-D, you know the movie you couldn’t go online or open a genre magazine without seeing the Olivia de Berardinis type poster art. The art was eye catching, beautiful. sexy, and intriguing, […]
I know what you’re thinking: “The Machine looks, sounds and quacks like a science fiction movie; c’mon, Mouse, you do horror flicks, right? What gives?” I assure you, I haven’t completely lost my mind; I ask that you Fellow Fans give me your trust and bear with me just a bit and hear me out; […]
Besides a quick flashback sequence and a shot of The Tall Man walking slowly through the haunted halls of a mausoleum, Phantasm 4 starts off right where three left off. Mike has told Reggie to leave him be and takes off on his own, Reggie decides to give up the fight against the Tall Man […]
It’s always frustrating when I find a new flick that grabs my attention, then drops me on my ass. You Fellow Fans know what I’m talking about; a movie starts out fairly strong, gets you into the story, keeps you interested…then slides off the plate somewhere between the second and third reel. Sometimes it just […]
Fifteen years after it all began, a full six of those years being since we had been given Phantasm II, we were again invited to delve into the mysteries of the Tall Man and his ilk. Dan Coscarelli and company cast off the yoke of a big studio and returned to the smaller-budget, fan-oriented roots […]
Unique /yo͞oˈnēk/ -being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else… That definition should have a picture of the Stage Fright poster next to it. Unique isn’t a word we normally use to describe a horror film these days, which is depressing. But Stage Fright is certainly just that. Horror fans think “musical” and […]
I must admit I haven’t seen the first season of Holliston. I’m not a big sitcom fan. I haven’t actually sat down or was excited about a sitcom since Three’s Company. So when I sat down to watch and review Holliston The Complete Second Season I was less than enthusiastic. Watching the first episode on […]
EDITOR’S NOTE: this started out being a review, but as the writing progressed it became more of a retrospective. Regardless, I hope the main points come through that I originally sat down to write. Almost 9 years after the original Phantasm, Don Coscarelli gifted us with the follow up film, Phantasm II. This film is […]
