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 movies would surface in the early 2000’s. Yet Paranormal Activity was the true follow-up box office hit that cemented the approach as […]
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Though it’s hard to believe, nearly 15 years have passed since Paranormal Activity rode a brilliant marketing plan en route to massive box office success. If The Blair Witch Project introduced mainstream audiences to the found-footage format, Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity solidified it as a bankable horror subgenre. Five sequels follow over the next eight […]
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Sometimes when horror mixes with science fiction the results are amazing. Alien. The Thing. Invasion of the Body Snatchers. All of these movies are classics. You’ll also find some cult classics, like the 80s remake of The Blob, alongside some middling efforts, such as Species or Deep Rising. And then sometimes studios launch their franchises […]
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Controversial director Pascal Laugier, the creative force behind the divisive Martyrs, is dividing audiences and critics again with his latest release. A Canadian-French production, Incident in a Ghostland, had a limited theatrical release. But before the studio even released Ghostland, it was courting controversy. One of its stars, an on-set accident seriously disfigured actress Taylor […]
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Arguably, the 1970s was one of the best decades for horror. As censorship and content standards relaxed, the horror genre – and movies in general – experimented with style and subject. It was also a decade where public interest in the occult hit a peak. Following on the heels of 1960s counterculture, new age movements […]
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Finally, it’s here. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed a lot of hotly anticipated horror movies. A Quiet Place II. The Forever Purge. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. But none of these movie had quite the same buzz as Halloween Kills. After David Gordon Green and Danny McBride successfully revitalized the dormant series three […]
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At the peak of the format’s popularity, the found-footage subgenre produced a handful of successful horror franchises. Arguably, The Paranormal Activity franchise – which also has a belated sequel surfacing soon – was the most lucrative. Though much smaller in scale, the Hell House LLC trilogy produced decent, but diminishing, scares. With four movies and […]
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Nearly a decade has passed since horror anthology V/H/S saw a limited theatrical release. Both its unique wraparound story and roster of up-and-coming directors set the anthology movie apart. In spite of tepid reviews, V/H/S generated enough box office receipts and audience buzz to warrant two sequels and a spin-off. That first sequel, V/H/S 2, […]
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