When it comes to compiling "Best _ of All Time" lists, I generally find the process more interesting than the final lists themselves. For me personally, I obsess for hours over the internal debates and criteria which only make sense to me. Once those decisions are made, all that is left to do is record... Continue Reading →
What's in a list, anyway? It's something I've struggled with throughout my time as an online writer. But when you're considering a set list of, as the BFI so brazenly puts it, the greatest films of all time, it becomes apparent that a list - any list - must encompass both a sense of inflexibility... Continue Reading →
Being Film #29 for Hooptober 2022 Look, there are all sorts of reasons why after speaking about my distaste for found footage films I am here again, squandering my final free-rein Hooptober entries with another found footage film. V/H/S: Viral is the third in the series of anthology films that tries to take the conceit... Continue Reading →
Being Film #18 for Hooptober 2022 Although it's impossible to separate Achoura, the second full length from Franco-Moroccan filmmaker Talal Selhami (and reportedly the first ever monster movie shot in Morocco) from another very popular horror movie about a bunch of kids who face a nightmarish demon only to have to come together again 25... Continue Reading →
Being Film #16 for Hooptober 2022 Sometimes true horror doesn't have to come from the situation; it's just as able to cast its baleful eye on you purely from the execution. David Lynch knows this, which is why he's able to evoke so much dread in a diner scene in Mulholland Drive. Rose Glass seems... Continue Reading →
CW; self harm Religious horror in the horror in the 21st century seems almost nonexistent. As a lapsed Catholic, I’m constantly drawn to horror films involving religious imagery. It won’t surprise you, there’s a lot. Most of the time, I’m just disappointed. My disappointment is that they’re rarely religious. Most of these films generally just... Continue Reading →
Being Film #7 for Hooptober 2022 Horror gets tricky when it comes to trying to extend it into animation. There's the ability to extend the imagination even further, but the remove from reality that even the best animation contains means that - at least for me - actual horror or fright is in short supply.... Continue Reading →
Being Film #2 for Hooptober 2022 The PG-13 horror film is a tough nut to crack. There's an unspoken rule in films where "scary" equals lots of blood and gore, and too often what I'll lamely call YA Horror is rendered toothless. So kudos to Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark for having some... Continue Reading →
Being Film #31 for Hooptober 2021 The anthology is a tried and true format for horror, allowing filmmakers to explore a theme or feeling without the burden of having to carry it out to feature length. The short allows for a broader range of styles, and in The Field Guide to Evil you can see... Continue Reading →
Being Film #19 for Hooptober 2021 We're so busy with the spectacle of shared universes and CG indistinguishable from reality that we forget the lessons of our monsters. Japan hasn't, and Shin Godzilla is a reminder of the power the most famous kaiju in the world has in holding a mirror to the nightmares of... Continue Reading →
Cinema Dual 