Over the last decade, Brandon Cronenberg has only made three movies. But those three movies have been genre-bending efforts that have established Cronenberg as something of a cinematic force. Big ideas, dark social commentary, and uncomfortable imagery – Cronenberg challenges his audiences much like his father’s work. Despite sharing the same name as a legendary […]
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Today, German-born director Roland Emmerich is known as the ‘master of disaster’. He’s the movie-maker that blows up globally recognized landmarks. And he makes overwrought movies mixing science fiction with old-fashioned 70s disaster movie vibes. While Emmerich’s movies usually drum up big box office dollars, critics aren’t usually impressed. Occasionally, audiences aren’t too thrilled either […]
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In the 1950s, interspersed and often mixed in with atomic horror movies, Hollywood loved itself a good dinosaur movie. From The Beast From 20, 000 Fathoms to the original The Lost World and Journey to the Center of the Earth, filmmakers treated audiences to stop motion dinosaurs or, in some case, stock footage of real […]
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Sometimes good movies just find their audience. Such is the case with the 1997 independent Canadian sci-fi/horror hybrid, Cube. After Cube screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, it only saw a marginal theatrical release. But late-night showings on cable television and VHS gave this Kafkaesque thriller a much-deserved second chance. Followed by two so-so […]
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Somewhere in the mid-1990s, before Scream revived the genre, horror wasn’t in the best place. Arguably, the year 1995 was the nadir for horror in the decade of flannel and grunge. Yes, Se7en shocked audiences across cineplexes that year. Maybe you personally loved Demon Knight, though it’s hardly a classic. But Vampire in Brooklyn, Village […]
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Sometimes when horror mixes with science fiction the results are amazing. Alien. The Thing. Invasion of the Body Snatchers. All of these movies are classics. You’ll also find some cult classics, like the 80s remake of The Blob, alongside some middling efforts, such as Species or Deep Rising. And then sometimes studios launch their franchises […]
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If you were a kid in the 1980s you probably remember the massive television event that was V. Originally, NBC aired the sci-fi story of seemingly benevolent aliens, or ‘Visitors’, taking over Earth on May 1 and 2 1983. When V lit up the ratings, NBC quickly commissioned a sequel, V: The Final Battle, which […]
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When Jack Finney published his 1955 novel, The Body Snatchers, it touched a nerve. At the height of the McCarthy-era Communist witch-hunt, Finney’s story of emotionless aliens posing as family, friends, and neighbours was a powerful political allegory. Since its publication The Body Snatchers has inspired several film adaptations. Most critics consider Don Siegel’s 1956 […]
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