One of the questions all horror fans and studios ask is “What’s the scariest movie ever made?” A question like that kind of serves no purpose. Fear is such a subjective thing. What terrifies or chills one person might be blasé to another. Rarely do films touted as “the scariest film in years” last past... Continue Reading →
Midway through watching F.W. Murnau’s silent classic Faust, I asked myself “Is this really a horror movie?” It feels like a stretch to do so. The film is undoubtedly a masterpiece of German Expressionism. Murnau, clearly in command of his craft, fills every frame of the film with astonishing images. There is horror and horror... Continue Reading →
I am not averse to remakes. I’m also not averse to making new adaptations of books. I think it’s important to revisit texts and re-examine them. “New” is key word here though. Something has to be done that brings something to the table. For better or for worse, we live in a new cycle of... Continue Reading →
Over the course of Hooptober, I’ve watched several Dracula and Dracula adjacent films. I can’t explain why I find myself drawn to interpretations of Bram Stoker’s novel. I say interpretation because very few films have attempted to adapt the novel. F.W. Murnau needed to change things for Nosferatu so it didn’t incur the Stoker estate’s... Continue Reading →
Calling producer/writer/director Larry Cohen an original seems like selling the man short. Larry Cohen is the kind of filmmaker that you introduce to friends. Cohen’s body of work is just so singular. Few directors understood the power of genre for social commentary like Cohen did. Even fewer embraced the absurd in genre filmmaking like Larry... Continue Reading →
David Cronenberg’s 1986 The Fly is a cornerstone horror film for me. It’s the earliest horror movie I can remember watching and I’ve seen it many times since . The Fly moves me as much as it repulses me. A film about science gone amuck and an incredibly tragic romance. Sometimes though if you know... Continue Reading →
There’s two kinds of old friends. The first are people you want around you. These people you can talk to at any point or pick up conversations you had years earlier. You know they’ll support you through anything. You want them around you. Then there’s the old friend you don’t want around. This person knew... Continue Reading →
Being Film #31 for Hooptober 2022 And so at last we come to the end of Hooptober 2022, at least for me. 31 and done. I've watched more films, and more horror (currently relishing every delicious moment of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities), but I'm also relishing simply watching without thinking about what to... Continue Reading →
The scariest thing in William Grefé’s Death Curse of Tartu is anytime a person gets in the water. Shot on location in Florida swamp land, there’s a palpable sense of danger when cast members get in the water. Who knows what they’ll encounter in there? Unfortunately this is about the only danger in the film.... Continue Reading →
One of the joys of watching regional horror movies is coming across something deeply strange. Regional films tend to bring out the unhinged in a particular era of filmmakers. Maybe the film needed to meet the demands of a producer or distributor. Possibly the filmmakers tried to one up another film to get your film... Continue Reading →
Cinema Dual 