On one level, Peter Bogdanovich’s first feature film, TARGETS (1968, prod. Roger Corman) is about a shift in horror cinema. In the late 1950s, gothic/supernatural and extraterrestrial monsters started to give way to the monsters of everyday life. TARGETS is a metaphor for this change in the major source of cinematic horror.
June
21
“The Blackcoat’s Daughter” (2015): A Nuanced Nightmare
posted by Jonny Numb
The Blackcoat’s Daughter completes an unholy trinity of horror classics that are as viscerally punishing as they are challenging in their boundary-pushing intelligence.
June
13
“The Assignment” (2016): Walter Hill Takes Risks
posted by Texas's Frisco Kid
The strong negative reaction to Walter Hill’s most recent directorial effort has more to do with disappointed expectations than controversial material.
May
29
The Trinity of Terror: Lee, Cushing, and Price
posted by kmcd1
It seems fated that horror legends Peter Cushing, Sir Christopher Lee, and Vincent Price share near the same birthdays: Cushing on May 26, and Lee and Price on May 27, even if not the same year. In the hearts and minds of most horror fans, they are three of the most important actors of the genre. All three had acting careers spanning from the 40’s to present, even after their deaths.
May
26
“Colossal” (2016): Monster Mash with Seoul
posted by Jonny Numb
It’s a conundrum, but a consistently approachable one.
May
23
Extreme Indie Horror: “The Eyes of My Mother” (2016)
posted by Texas's Frisco Kid
“The Eyes of My Mother” (2016) combines an edgy, boundary-pushing story with painstaking attention to form and execution in filmmaking.
May
20
Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” (2017)
posted by Texas's Frisco Kid
Perhaps it’s not fair to expect, but I wish this film had scared the crap out of me like its 1979 ancestor did. Still, it does accomplish what it set out to do — to explain the origins of the Xenomorph.
May
18
Throwback Thursday: Who is Freddy Krueger?
posted by Texas's Frisco Kid
Although Wes Craven began his career with low-budget exploitation films later seen as ‘progressive,’ by the mid-80s he seems to be hedging his thematic bets. Case in point: A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984).
May
16
Indie Filmmaker Spotlight: Alice Lowe’s “Prevenge” (2016)
posted by Jonny Numb
In a weird way, I wonder if Lowe was listening to Embryodead while conceiving the story of Prevenge.
May
01
Evolution and Fallout: THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (2016)
posted by kmcd1
Most zombie films follow the same formula, with the main difference being whether they have fast zombies or slow ones. Colm McCarthy’s THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS, based on Mike Carey’s novel and screenplay, diverts from the formula.
Texas's Frisco Kid
Jonny Numb
kmcd1
