Retrospectives
How Near Dark Explores the Dark Side of Family Structure
Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark is a horror movie about family. That does not make it a family horror movie, mind you. But its center focus is on the structure of the modern family dynamic. The pro...
Why Twilight Zone: The Movie is One of the Most Overlooked Anthology Films
[soliloquy id=”17249″] Horror anthology films were very successful in the 1980’s in a way that they have not since been, unfortunately. Some of the best of the sub-genre came about ...
How May Explores the Horrors of Becoming an Adult
Lucky McKee‘s May is occasionally referred to as Carrie for the next generation, which is a term often tacked on to horror movies with a female protagonist. Other than t...
Why A New Beginning is the Most Unsung Friday the 13th Movie
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is, as I have written before, is the ultimate Jason Voorhees movie. It’s the perfect embodiment of all things Friday the 13th. It did not, however, ...
Hellraiser – Making Beauty Out of Body Horror
Hellraiser is what cemented Clive Barker as a powerhouse figure in the horror genre. It is as revolutionary and as visionary as the movies that John Carpenter, Wes Craven and Tobe Hoper used to p...
Overlooked and Underrated: Video Violence
Video Violence is probably the best of the shot-on-video horror sub-genre, which is not great by definition. It’s a different mentality, it’s true no-budget filmmaking and the movies ...
Trespassers Will Be Violated: Revisiting Scarecrows
Scarecrows was an almost entirely forgotten 1980’s horror movie until it was released on DVD a couple years ago. Now it’s gained a bit of a cult following and is gearing up fro a Bl...
Friday the 13th – The Final Chapter: The Essential Jason Movie
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Of course the film turned out to not be as the title promised. But nonetheless it is a fan-favorite and an essential sl...
Overlooked and Underrated: My Best Friend is a Vampire
There’s some talent involved with this low budget horror comedy (including a very early, small role for Kathy Bates), but nobody remembers it. The movie is fun in a campy and somewhat stup...