A highly debated and mostly unaccepted theory to housebreak a dog is to rub its nose in the mess that it left behind to try to teach it not to do it there again. After seeing The Visit, the latest release from Philly’s own M. Night Shyamalan, I feel like the filmmaker is rubbing our […]
The best horror-film villains can be resurrected from film to film and have those appearances somehow seem fresh depending on the filmmakers and plots. Although there were many bad entries in the Friday the 13th series, I always enjoyed seeing Jason Voorhees and his iconic hockey mask in the latest installment because he was the […]
The ‘70s and ‘80s were a breeding ground for what became known as slasher films. In almost all of the plots, there was some person or event in the past that had an effect on the present. This is true for Halloween, Friday the 13th, Prom Night, A Nightmare on Elm Street and many other […]
Prequels are always problematic because they begin with a distinct disadvantage. They do not continue the story in the original film or series, and even worse, the elephant in the room is that they need to fit into the time line and plot as laid out before without any radical changes. For all of the […]
Certain movies and scenes stay with you forever. That’s the power of the moving image on our impressionable minds. I feel conflicted when someone remakes an iconic movie because I don’t want to taint my memories of the original with variations of scenes or new people in the same situations. The 2015 Poltergeist brings up […]
Sex is a dangerous activity in horror movies. From the earliest black-and-white films in which vampires seduce women to the later slasher flicks in which the killer spies on couples, people tend to drop their guard when engaged in sex and then have to deal with the consequences. Had two young camp counselors been doing […]
When did horror films become so formulaic and boring? That’s the question that I asked myself — not using a spirit board with a planchette — again and again after seeing Ouija. In particular, I’m sick of the screeching ghosts that serve no purpose other than to make an audience jump. I’m sure that there are examples […]
Despite the best attempts to kill off these resilient creatures, vampires continue to be popular on television as well as the big screen. Shows like True Blood and films like the Twilight series perpetuate the fascination with vampires as well as their glamorization. Universal Pictures adds another monster to their canon with Dracula Untold. Although […]
When I was a boy, I had a statue of the Virgin Mary in my bedroom as placed there by my mother. It’s a Catholic thing, I guess. The light above my bed cast some pretty creepy shadows in the room, and if I looked at this statue just the right way, I thought that […]
A self-centered, attention-seeking podcaster is abducted by a demented psychopath determined to recreate an encounter from his past in Tusk. Wallace Bryton (Justin Long) is the star of a recently successful podcast along with his partner, Teddy Craft (Haley Joel Osment). The two are notorious for their offbeat, often offensive “comedic” style, usually achieved at the expense […]
A small entourage joins a determined explorer in her latest adventure below the streets of Paris in As Above/So Below. A young Lara Croft-like adventurer, Scarlett (Perdita Weeks), has spent years in search of the elusive Philosopher’s Stone — a chemical substance that can turn lead into gold and bestow eternal life on its owner. […]
Four hapless citizens try to survive a single night of government-sanctioned lawlessness in The Purge: Anarchy. In the near future, the weight of a growing population threatens the stability of the United States and its capacity to provide services to its citizens. In response, its leaders approved an annual 12-hour period of complete mayhem where anything goes, […]