Natty Knocks Spins a New Urban Legend Mixing Slasher and Supernatural Elements

We’ve officially reached the mid-point of summer – a dead space usually for horror movies. Most of the big prestige releases – Insidious: The Red Door and The Boogeyman – have already been released. And the dog days of summer where studios occasionally drop late summer horror hits, like The Meg and its upcoming sequel, […]

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The Phantom of the Opera a Mostly Forgotten 80s Slasher Re-Imagining of a Classic

Today, Robert Englund is horror movie royalty. The Universal Monsters era gave us Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Lon Chaney, Jr. And Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing anchored Hammer Films, while Vincent Price enjoyed a productive working relationship with Roger Corman. Early in his career, Englund popped up in supporting roles in horror movies Eaten […]

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The Monster and the Superhero Finds More Than One ‘Monster’ in Stranger Things

Two episodes into Season 4 and Stranger Things has given us new characters, elevated smaller roles, and introduced a new villain. But the endgame still isn’t clear and the Hawkins gang is spread pretty thinly. And Episode 3, The Monster and the Superhero, promises to bring back another character. Does the title’s ‘superhero’ and ‘monster’ […]

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Behind The Mask The Rise of Leslie Vernon: Slasher Homage Finds the Fun in the Sub-Genre

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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Freddy’s Coming For You: Ranking the Elm Street Films

Thirty years ago, New Line Cinema released the fourth film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, The Dream Master. To date, it remains the third highest grossing film in the franchise, behind Freddy vs. Jason and the 2010 remake. The Dream Master marked a turning point for the series. For the first time, Freddy Krueger […]

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New Nightmare: A ‘New’ Classic That Shows the Value of Creative Risk

Earlier this week marked the birthday of horror icon, Robert Englund. As everyone’s favourite demonic ‘sandman’, Robert Englund’s portrayal of Freddy Krueger created a pop culture icon. Simply put, Englund and Craven gave the horror genre one of its most recognizable and enduring monsters. In honour of Englund’s birthday, in this edition of The Vault, I take […]

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