Where Horror Lives
Netflix’s track record for horror and thrillers is pretty spotty in 2018. Ritual was an early hit for the streaming platform, but The Open House and The Cloverfield Paradox were forgettable duds. As Halloween creeps up on the calendar, Netflix is looking to make amends. Over the next few weeks, horror fans have The Haunting of Hill House […]
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Director John Dahl is best known for his neo-noir films from the 1990’s. His filmography includes critically-acclaimed thrillers Red Rock West, The Last Seduction, and Rounders. In spite of his track record, Dahl was an odd choice to helm the J.J.Abrams-penned thriller, Joy Ride. On the surface, Abrams’ highway thriller was essentially an MTV-update on […]
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The Houses October Built was a 2014 found-footage horror film that carved out a small following for itself. Despite mixed reviews, it was a decent chiller that delivered just enough unsettling mood without exhausting its found-footage approach. Like Hell House LLC and Hell Fest, writer and director Bobby Roe effectively exploited growing public interest in Halloween […]
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This is the first edition of the Blu-Ray Bin, a new column I hope to post once each month. My goal here is to provide some quick bullet-reviews of horror films recently released on Blu-ray. The column will serve as a round-up of what’s been released each month. Since this is the first edition of […]
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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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“They’re coming to get you, Barbara.” And with that line of dialogue, Night of the Living Dead entered popular cultural lexicon. To date, Romero’s zombie masterpiece has produced five sequels and its own thriving horror subgenre. Earlier in 2018, horror collectors rejoiced with the Criterion Collection release of Night of the Living Dead on Blu-Ray. Even […]
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre premiered 44 years ago on October 1st, 1974. With the sequels and remakes, it’s hard to believe that Tobe Hooper’s original movie was banned in several countries. I grew up in the videostore era of the 1980’s, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was not a video cassette cover I readily recall. […]
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After its first sequel, the Halloween franchise took a bold direction with the vastly underrated Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Risk didn’t lead to reward, and Season of the Witch disappointed at the box office. Six years would pass before Michael Myers got another proper sequel. Halloween fans may disagree, but there was something […]
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With October just around the corner, Hell Fest gets the Halloween movie season officially kicked off. Haunted scares have dramatically risen in popularity over the last several years. In southern Ontario, we’ve seen several summer theme parks extend their season with elaborate haunted mazes and costumed performers. Hell Fest builds this idea right into the […]
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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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