The Tank Offers Lukewarm Monster Thrills With Impressive Effects

Four months into 2023 and we’ve been a little light on basic monster movies. Following up on last month’s Irish folk horror Unwelcome, writer and director Scott Walker teams up with effects house Weta Workshop to deliver The Tank. With New Zealand doubling as the Oregon coast, Walker delivers what sounds like an ode to […]

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Come Play a Better-Than-Expected Monster Movie Lost During the Pandemic Shuffle

Early in the pandemic, in between different stretches of lockdowns, theaters tired and struggled to stay open. Not surprisingly, studios were reluctant to release big movies for fear of losing potential box office dollars. Studios occasionally experimented with hybrid releases – putting movies in theaters and on streaming platforms simultaneously. Alternatively, some movies received shortened […]

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Q the Winged Serpent an Early 80s Monster Movie That May Defy Expectations

Following the box office success of Conan the Barbarian, the early 80s saw a slew of low-budget action movies that mixed ‘sword-and-sandal’ epic with weird science fiction vibes. If you grew up in the 80s, you probably remember cult movies like Krull, The Sword and the Sorcerer, or The Ice Pirates. If you look at […]

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Troll – A Norwegian Monster Movie Content To Stomp on Familiar Ground

Horror movies aren’t unusual for December. There’s certainly plenty of Christmas-themed genre movies to warrant a release at this time of year. But Norwegian export Troll isn’t a very Yule-ish monster movie. No, Netflix’s latest monster movie has no connection to the infamously bad Troll 2. And it’s not connected to the widely revered mockumentary, […]

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Godzilla 1998 Trades Allegorical Storytelling for Loud, Heartless Spectacle

Alongside King Kong, Godzilla is one of film’s most iconic ‘big monsters or kaiju. Since Toho Studios debuted the atomic monster in 1954, Godzilla (or Gojira) has appeared in 37 movies. Most of those movies have come courtesy of Toho. Not surprisingly, however, Hollywood has tried to cash in with an American-ized version for Western […]

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The Lair Brings The Creatures But Falls Short on Expectations

British director Neil Marshall has made one genuine classic horror movie, the claustrophobic The Descent. And one could argue that his debut effort, Dog Soldiers, remains one of the best werewolf movies. Follow-up projects Doomsday and Centurion divided critics, but they’re still wildly interesting movies. Recent works haven’t been so much divisive as outright loathed. […]

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Splinter a Criminally Underseen Horror Movie Worth Re-Visiting

Before the zombie craze was fully under way, indie horror movie Splinter was enjoying a bit of critical buzz. It only saw a limited theatrical run in 2008, but still earned a Best Horror Movie nomination at the Saturn Awards. Since its release, however, Splinter has unfairly faded into obscurity. In addition to some good […]

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Boogeyman Won’t Have You Checking The Closet Before Bedtime

Amidst the remakes, Torture Porn, and New French Extremity, the 2000s produced some strong genre movies. Boogeyman was not one of those movies. In a decade where House of the Dead, FearDotCom, Ghost Ship, and The Wicker Man remake all hit theatres, Boogeyman still stands out as a noteworthy stinker. Before Sam Raimi’s production company […]

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