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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Sometimes movies fall under the radar. Maybe the release is delayed or a similar major studio release overshadows it. Regardless some movies never reach their audience. Hence, we’re introducing a new column here at The Abominable Dr Welsh – The Obscuratorium – to shine a light on titles that escaped us. At the height of […]
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From 2006 to 2010, the After Dark Horrorfest gave diehard horror fans the ‘8 Films To Die For’. Most of the movies released have probably been long forgotten. Of course, a couple of horror gems came out of the festival including Frontier(s) and Lake Mungo. At its core, the After Dark Horrorfest was intended to […]
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Technically, Millennium Film’s 2008 Train isn’t a remake of Jamie Lee Curtis slasher, Terror Train. That was the original idea. Apparently, writer and director Gideon Raff took the concept in a new direction. This is probably a nice way of saying that the producers took note of the box office receipts for ‘torture porn’ horror. […]
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At the peak of the 2000’s ‘Torture Porn‘ craze, Australian director Greg McLean (Rogue, The Belko Experiment) released Wolf Creek. Despite its modest box office success, critics were divided by the movie’s extremely graphic violence. Far removed from silly slasher violence, Wolf Creek shared more DNA with New French Extremity movies like High Tension, Martyrs, […]
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In 2003, writer, director, and producer Steven Mena released his indie slasher homage, Malevolence. While it didn’t reach a large audience, Malevolence made enough of an impression to get a belated prequel, Bereavement. Now eight years later, series fans may finally get a resolution to Mena’s story. Though critics lambasted Malevolence as derivative, Mena showed […]
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On October 12, Netflix continued its efforts at producing its own original horror content. To date, it feels like they have more misses in 2018 (The Cloverfield Paradox, Malevolent) than hits (The Ritual). But their latest effort, Apostle, looks to have a few strong selling points. Gareth Evans (The Raid) is behind the camera, and […]
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In the 2000’s, the horror genre was arguably dominated by three trends: (1) Torture Porn, (2) Remakes, and (3) the New French Extremity movement. The classier European cousin to ‘Torture Porn’, the New French Extremity movement pushed against what one previously thought could and couldn’t be shown on screen. From High Tension to Inside to […]
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