Where Horror Lives
Cannibal Holocaust introduced grindhouse fans to the found-footage format. Two decades later, The Blair Witch Project took the format mainstream with its pre-viral marketing campaign and pseudo-documentary approach. A handful of found-footage horror films would surface in the early 2000’s. Yet Paranormal Activity was the true follow-up box office hit that cemented the found-footage approach […]
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We’re just a few days away from October, which means that Halloween is just around the corner. Maybe you’re having a Halloween party. Or perhaps you’re just like me and want to get into the Halloween spirit. Christmas music will be playing in stores come November 1st. Entire Sirius XM satellite radio stations will be […]
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It’s ‘Master of Horror’ Stephen King’s 71st birthday today. His first novel, Carrie, was published in 1973. His works include Misery, The Shining, The Dark Tower series, and It. To date, King has published over 50 novels and collected works. One could easily make the argument that Stephen King is one of the most influential […]
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Fall may not officially begin until Saturday, September 2, but for horror fans and parents, summer is over. Tomorrow schools re-open their doors for the start of a new year. The days of parents listening to their kids complain about being bored ends. Colleges and universities will be welcoming thousands of first-year students into residences […]
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Thirty years ago, the fourth film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, The Dream Master, was released. To date, it remains the third highest grossing film in the franchise, behind Freddy vs. Jason and the 2010 remake. The Dream Master marked a pivotal turning point for the enduring horror franchise. For the first time, Freddy […]
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This weekend Sony Entertainment and Screen Gems are feeding Slender Man to The Meg in a box office sacrifice. It’s a sad fate for the infamous digital urban legend given the promise its mythology held for a horror film. If you’re fascinated with urban legends and love horror films, there’s no reason to despair with […]
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Everyone loves a good twist once in a while. We all remember Charlton Heston screaming ‘You maniacs! You blew it up’ at the end of Planet of the Apes. Could you forget Keyser Soze walking out from under the noses of law enforcement in The Usual Suspects? Great twist endings can sometimes turn a good film […]
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It’s hard to believe that one of horror’s masters has been gone now for almost three years. A glance at Wes Craven’s filmography offers a staggering reminder of the contributions he made to the genre. In fact, Craven re-imagined horror in three different decades. The Last House on the Left was one of a handful of 1970’s […]
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This past weekend marked the birthdays of not one, but three icons of the horror genre. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Vincent Price would have all celebrated birthdays over the last weekend of May. Throughout the 1950’s to the late 1970’s, all three performers defined the horror genre with their various roles. They are horror […]
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Summer is in full swing and while the black flies have receded, mosquitoes are in full swarm. This week marked the anniversary of the classic The Fly and, on this day in 2002, the nostalgic ‘giant insect’ film Eight-Legged Freaks was released. To mark these horror moments, in this edition of The Chopping Block, I’ll […]
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