Where Horror Lives
Somewhere in between ‘masked slashers’ and ‘insidious conjurings’, torture porn briefly reigned in horror. From Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects to Eli Roth’s Hostel and the ‘New French Extremity‘ movement, horror fans flocked to movies characterized by extreme graphic violence. However, it all started with James Wan’s Saw in 2004. The low-budget movie kickstarted a […]
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Before Blumhouse was adapting teen party games like Truth or Dare and Seven in Heaven, IFC Films released Would You Rather in 2012. At the time of its release, the low-budget indie horror film didn’t make much of an impact. It certainly wasn’t due to a lack of relevancy. The movie’s story about a millionaire […]
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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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Eli Roth is one of the more divisive filmmakers in the horror genre today. Though his filmography is relatively small, Roth has had his hand in numerous projects, including AMC’s recent Eli Roth’s History of Horror. In the early 2000’s, Roth emerged alongside filmmakers noted for pushing the envelope of onscreen violence including Rob Zombie […]
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Did you watch The OC in the 2000’s? Do you remember Mischa Barton? If you do, and you’re wondering what she’s been doing for the last decade or so, then The Basement is for you. Like Tara Reid (Party Bus to Hell), Barton has found a niche in low-budget horror outings (The Toybox). Her latest, […]
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On one hand, we’re only three months into 2019, and horror has already given us a few strong theatrical releases. Escape Room, Happy Death Day 2U, and the upcoming Us – that’s a lot better than early 2018’s Winchester or The Strangers: Prey at Night. But streaming platforms have felt a little light on good […]
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Happy Spring Break! Hundreds of parents will be herding their kids into cars to brave traffic for a March Break getaway. To celebrate March Break, in Re-Animated, I’ll be looking at the Wes Craven’s classic ‘family vacation gone wrong’ movie, The Hills Have Eyes. Released in July 1977, The Hills Have Eyes was a modest […]
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At the end of the 2000’s, the ‘torture porn’ sub-genre was almost out of steam. Paranormal Activity had supplanted the Saw franchise as the new ‘king of the Halloween’ movie season. After a handful of high-profile box office failures (e.g., Captivity, I Know Know Who Killed Me), the writing was on the wall. Dark Castle […]
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Fourteen years ago, Lionsgate Films released a small independent horror film by two unknown filmmakers. The filmmakers were James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Yes, the same James Wan responsible for The Conjuring and Insidious franchises. He’s also directing a little movie called Aquaman. And Leigh Whannell just directed one of 2018’s better genre films, Upgrade. […]
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