In the first week of 2023, Shudder surprised horror fans by adding Polish filmmaker Andrzej Żuławski’s cult classic, Possession. Starring a young Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani, Possession’s story of a marriage dissolving set against the backdrop of Cold War West Berlin was met with an initially lukewarm critical response and backlash. It quickly found […]
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In a Jan 26 2006 New York Magazine article, David Edelstein coined a now familiar phrase – ‘Torture Porn‘. Though he was initially commenting on Eli Roth’s Hostel, Edelstein stepped back and identified what he saw as a new horror trend. Following Saw’s unexpected box office success in 2004, a handful of movies released in […]
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Few better ‘gateway’ horror movies exist than The Lost Boys. By ‘gateway horror’, of course, The Lost Boys was the perfect introduction to horror for early teens. It’s also a nearly perfect time capsule, warts and all, for the decade in which it was released. From its ‘Brat Pack’ casting to its MTV rock-infused soundtrack, […]
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Sometimes simple is better. For all intensive purposes, The Strangers is really just another home invasion thriller. Though critics were lukewarm on it, audiences turned out in larger than expected numbers. Over its theatrical run, The Strangers hauled in just over $80 million worldwide a $9 million dollar budget. Given that box office success, it’s […]
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When legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese says something about movies, people listen. So when Scorsese ranked his scariest movies of all time, horror fans took notice. It’s an impressive list that includes noted classics like The Haunting, hidden gems (Night of the Demon), and one surprise entrant – The Entity. Ask horror fans to cite their […]
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Silent Night, Deadly Night boasts a history shared by few ’80’s horror films. Arguably its infamy far outreaches its quality. At its best, Silent Night, Deadly Night is a sleazy B-movie that hits the ‘so bad, it’s good’ switch. Many horror fans may just consider it plain bad. But when this Christmas chiller was released […]
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“They’re coming to get you, Barbara.” And with that line of dialogue, Night of the Living Dead entered popular cultural lexicon. To date, George A. Romero’s zombie masterpiece has produced five sequels and its own thriving horror subgenre. Horror fans know the story behind the movie. Romero made his masterpiece with a small budget, on-location […]
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For anyone who came of age in the 1990s, The Crow is an instantly recognizable movie. Based on James O’Barr’s graphic novel of the same name, The Crow was a surprise critical and box office success. Its dark visuals and sullen atmosphere distinguished it from the action movies of the 80s. And the tragic death […]
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