Following The Silence of the Lambs‘ box office and critical success, the serial killer was omnipresent in psychological thrillers. When FBI agent Robert Ressler coined the term in the early 1980s, mass media elevated the mass murderer to ]moral panic. But Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel proved the serial killer could do […]
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Over the course of his multi-decade filmmaking career, William Friedkin has amassed an eclectic resume. Of course, horror fans know Friedkin best for The Exorcist – his 1973 masterpiece remains among the best horror movies of all time. To date, Friedkin has successfully dabbled in crime dramas (The French Connection), action-thrillers (Sorcerer), neo-noir (Killer Joe), […]
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If there’s a horror franchise that needs to die, it’s the Amityville series. But Children of the Corn and the Hellraiser movies aren’t far behind. At present, there’s possibly at least 20 movies that have some – albeit loose – connection to The Amityville Horror. Though opinions may vary, the original 1979 movie is the […]
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Following Francis Ford Coppola’s successful updating of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it’s not surprising that Hollywood would go back to the same grave … or well. After all, this was the same decade that gave us two volcano movies and two killer asteroid movies. And so Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was pegged for a glossy, big budget […]
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When Jack Finney published his 1955 novel, The Body Snatchers, it touched a nerve. At the height of the McCarthy-era Communist witch-hunt, Finney’s story of emotionless aliens posing as family, friends, and neighbours was a powerful political allegory. Since its publication The Body Snatchers has inspired several film adaptations. Most critics consider Don Siegel’s 1956 […]
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Though Stephen King is still the ‘Master of Horror’, Clive Barker is an undeniably unique voice in the literary genre. And as a filmmaker, Barker’s directorial efforts are marked improvements over King’s one-shot directing gig, Maximum Overdrive. Behind the camera, Barker directed both Hellraiser and Nightbreed, both uniquely classic additions to horror. After Nightbreed failed […]
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In a decade best known for Scream and the brief slasher-lite renaissance along with the Silence of the Lambs-inspired serial killer thrillers, you’d be forgiven for not remembering Wishmaster. Like its evil genie, The Djinn, Wishmaster has languished in a prison of obscurity. Believe it or not, Wes Craven himself produced this forgotten 90’s horror […]
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Wes Craven’s Scream led to an unexpected slasher revival … with a twist. First, these late 90s and early aught’s slashers lacked the explicit gore of their ‘Golden Era’ predecessors. And, by and large, they also lacked the self-aware humour of Scream. Oddly enough, it was Kevin Williamson himself who penned the first of the […]
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