Where Horror Lives
Happy Canada Day! To celebrate the nation’s birthday, we’re re-visiting The Great White North’s contribution to the ‘Golden Era’ of slasher horror. Most horror fans know the original My Bloody Valentine was a Canadian export. Shortly after My Bloody Valentine scared horror fans, another Canadian slasher made its way to theaters – Happy Birthday To […]
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By the mid-2000’s, audiences were wise to horror rules and conventions. Wes Craven’s Scream pulled the curtain on tired tropes and re-invigorated the genre. But Hollywood was slow to change and the slasher-lite renaissance that followed recycled the same narratives without Craven’s self-awareness. And remakes and ‘Torture Porn’ characterized horror for most of the aughts. […]
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Few things are better-suited for one another than horror, heavy metal, and Satan. Much has already been written about the Satanic moral panic that emerged in the 1980’s. Heavy metal bands that infused their music and public image with Satanic themes – Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motley Crüe – drew the ire of moral entrepreneurs […]
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Regardless of its critical reception, Friday the 13th is one of the most influential horror movies produced. While ‘Camp Blood’ didn’t create the slasher subgenre, it certainly crystallized the distinctly 80’s approach to horror. Sequels and remakes spanning three decades, cross-over media, a video game, and fan-made movies – few horror franchises can claim this […]
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Friday the 13th is one of the most successful horror franchises of all time. Not as critically appreciated as some of its horror peers, it’s still one of the 80’s ‘Big Three’. Jason Voorhees is as engrained in mainstream consciousness as Dracula or Frankenstein. But we haven’t seen a new franchise entry since the 2009 […]
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By 1986, the ‘golden age’ of the slasher movie was coming to a close. Sure the major franchises, like Friday the 13th and Halloween, kept pushing out more sequels. An the occasional independent slasher film would sneak into theatres. But the peak of the glory years had past. April Fool’s Day was one of the […]
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Has it really been a decade? Times flies by fast. Or maybe it’s just knowing that this will be the first decade without a Friday the 13th movie since the original. Indeed, it’s been 10 years since Jason Voorhees slashed his away across a movie screen. And the last time we saw him it was […]
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Indie horror movie The Ranger generated some low-key positive buzz in 2018. A fun retro-trailer that harkened to old school PSA’s undoubtedly helped. Critics also seemed mildly impressed with The Ranger when it debuted at SXSW. Of course, ‘lost in the woods’ horror movies are a familiar genre staple. But The Ranger promises a refreshing […]
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And on the eleventh day of our 12 Days of Christmas Carnage, it’s low-budget slasher All Through The House. Todd Nunes wrote and directed this DIY-indie horror movie that enjoyed some success on the festival circuit. Yes, it’s one of growing number of horror movies basking in ‘80’s film-making aesthetics. But can All Through The […]
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When I decided to include a section of the blog entitled The Vault, the intent was to explore movies that have significantly impacted horror. In the last 25 to 30 years, has any horror movie had as much impact as Wes Craven’s Scream? Released on December 20, 1996, Scream is arguably one of the most […]
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