No amount of nostalgia can change the fact that horror hit a low point in the first half of the decade. Technically, Silence of the Lambs mixed crime drama, suspense, and horror elements. Major horror franchises – including Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street – were running on fumes. Aside from the […]
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No, not that Fallen. This isn’t that Denzel Washington “police procedural meets evil” from the 1990s. Not even close. Rather this 2022 Fallen is a an Italian export that recently made its way to some VOD platforms. With no advance buzz and few reviews, what we have are promotional materials that promise very different things. […]
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In the 1970s, Wes Craven directed two landmark horror movies – The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes. A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream followed in the 80s and 90s. That’s an impressive legacy. Yet somewhere in between The Hills Have Eyes and Elm Street, Craven struggled to connect with […]
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In 1992, across two back-to-back months, two Stephen King movies made their way to theaters. One of those movies, The Lawnmower Man, bared little resemblance to King’s short story. Clearly unimpressed, the author sued to remove his name from the credits. As for the second movie, Sleepwalkers, King conjured up the story of ‘shapeshifting feline […]
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In addition to awful Christmas movies, Netflix specializes in cheap, knockoff psychological thrillers. Once upon a time, sexualized psychological thrillers – Basic Instinct, Sliver, Fatal Attraction – were hallmarks of the late 80s and early 90s. Too bad Netflix isn’t making those movies. Instead, Netflix thrillers have strayed towards bland and formulaic. Like their Christmas […]
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Blame Black Christmas. Or maybe John Carpenter’s Halloween. Regardless, the success of those movies all but guaranteed that horror would adapt just about any holiday on the calendar. Outside of Labour Day, St Patrick’s Day seemed like an unlikely candidate for a horror movie. Years of Saturday morning cartoon Lucky Charms’ commercials didn’t exactly make […]
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After ruling horror for the early half of the decade, slashers had declined – in quality and success – by the latter half of the 80’s. Major slasher franchises, including Friday the 13th, were starting to run out of steam. And many of the later slasher movies were straight-to-video efforts. That’s not to say that […]
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Aside from Nicolas Cage (Mandy, The Wicker Man), John Travolta may have one of the more interesting Hollywood career arcs. After shooting to leading man status in the 1970’s, Travolta’s prospects nosedived in the 1980’s. Before Tarantino saved his career with Pulp Fiction, Travolta was stuck starring in Look Who’s Talking sequels. Following the disaster […]
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