Being Film #28 for Hooptober 2023 Oh V/H/S franchise...after so many entries have you finally gotten to the point where there's nothing left to say? The rapidly diminishing returns of the shorts, the frayed ends of commitment to the format...all of that caused me to drop out after the initial run of film that ended... Continue Reading →
Being Film #27 for Hooptober 2023 NOTE: Using this opportunity to revisit a review I wrote for this film fifteen years ago, slightly cleaned up and reflecting my recent re-watch of this classic. Although now armed with with experience of many of the Master's films, prior to my first viewing of Bay of Blood, aka... Continue Reading →
Being Film #26 for Hooptober 2023 Make no mistake: Tobe Hooper may be the director of Crocodile, but this is not Eaten Alive. This is a fast buck direct to video movie that normally would be utterly forgettable except that Hooper can't help but out a few flourishes that almost - and I mean almost... Continue Reading →
Being Film #25 for Hooptober 2023 Sometimes context is everything. On its own I've always liked and admired Candyman, Bernard Rose's adaptation of Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden" but watching it right after The People Under the Stairs I'm even more impressed. Here is a film that looks at the disparity between the haves... Continue Reading →
Being Film #24 for Hooptober 2023 Nightmare on Elm Street may have the dream logic and evil supernatural beings; The Serpent and the Rainbow may have actual magic in the shape of its depiction of voodoo, and yet it's the very real (to a point) horror and journey of its lead that makes Wes Craven's... Continue Reading →
Being Film #23 for Hooptober 2023 Having finally felt like I caught on to Ken Russell's particular and peculiar wavelength, I called an audible and went back to a film I saw as a teenager and never revisited. Gothic purports to dramatize the night that Lord Byron, Dr. John Polidori, Percy Bysshe Shelley and, of... Continue Reading →
Being Film #22 for Hooptober 2023 Man, Ken Russell is naughty, huh? I mean, yeah...I knew this in theory have seen The Devils, but maybe his predilection for the excesses of every appetite was maybe limited to the type of story being told? Uh, no, and that's a good thing. The Lair of the White... Continue Reading →
Being Film #21 for Hooptober 2023 A couple quick ones while I'm away for an extended weekend. I'm not sure anyone was expecting the feature debut from Danny and Michael Philippou, also known as YouTube's RackRacka, to be bad - the team over the years have been great at executing high concept shorts with miniscule... Continue Reading →
Being Film #20 for Hooptober 2023 I guess he had one more return to the Scream bucket after this, but I feel like this was the real end for Wes Craven, a last stab at an original story and his assured direction. Alas, My Soul to Take has a really nifty concept, but the screenplay... Continue Reading →
Being Film #19 for Hooptober 2023 How about a very short review for something that isn't necessarily horror, but utilizes horror imagery in a way that would be imitated for decades? Häxan is a silent essay film on the history of witchcraft and devil worship written and directed by Benjamin Christensen, who uses a variety... Continue Reading →
Cinema Dual 