Being Film #24 for Hooptober 2022 I came into the latest remake of Firestarter with little in the way of expectation; I left with those little expectations satisfied, but not in the way I thought. The biggest sin of Firestarter is that it feels so small and uninspired, like it's just there to get you... Continue Reading →
Being Film #20 for Hooptober 2022 Is it enough to say David Bruckner's legacy sequel/soft reboot of Hellraiser is the third best entry in the series after the first two films? Because that is most definitely true, and if you're looking for some serious Cenobite action and some great effects, well...you'll certainly get your money's... Continue Reading →
Spoilers galore In a post Saw world, it’s hard to describe how transgressive watching either Hellraiser or Hellbound: Hellraiser II on cable felt as a teen. If you grew up in a religious family like I did, of course the title feels taboo. There’s also the aesthetics of those first two movies. The torture and... Continue Reading →
Audiences only see any genuine joy on the face of Maika Monroe’s Julia at the beginning of Chloe Okuno’s Watcher. She rides in a taxi, taking in the sights of Bucharest, Romania. Only in this one moment, this new city offers her possibilities and adventures. Then the driver talks in Romanian to her husband. They... Continue Reading →
Being Film #15 for Hooptober 2022 Winner winner, chicken dinner. Throw out the term "elevated horror" because usually it embodies theme over scares. I'm all for my horror having something important to talk about, but if you're using the genre as a platform for your theme, then make sure sure you're using the genre. In... Continue Reading →
Being Film #10 for Hooptober 2022 The world needs more variation in its Lovecraftian horror. So here is Glorious, a Shudder original that takes its tales of Elder Gods and puts it in a dirty rest stop restroom for almost the entirety of its runtime. But if you're going to do a bottle movie where... Continue Reading →
When I saw Zach Cregger’s Barbarian opening weekend, I immediately regretted it. Not because it’s a bad film, far from it. I’ll be honest, it’s my favorite horror movie of the year. What I regretted is that I didn’t wait to see it for Hooptober! The only solution was to see it again in theaters... Continue Reading →
As Florida residents and lovers of spooky things, going to Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights is an annual tradition for my spouse and I. For anyone who has never gone or is unaware, Halloween Horror Nights is an after hours event in September and October at Universal Studios. Generally, they’ll have multiple “haunted houses” based... Continue Reading →
Being Film #4 for Hooptober 2022 I've always given writer/director Ti West credit for trying with his films. Whether it was the 80s VHS clamshell horror of debut The House of the Devil or the found footage cult madness of The Sacrament, there's always solid filmmaking not content to merely emulate, but to live and... Continue Reading →
A brief confession; when I initially put together my Hooptober list, I put The Innkeepers as my choice for a Ti West film. I’d already seen X and felt no need for a revisit. I wanted to see if I was harsh in my initial viewing of that film. Then a theater near me offered... Continue Reading →
Cinema Dual 