Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, based on Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name, was an absolute masterclass in emotive storytelling, story adaptation, and filmmaking. This time, Flanagan continues to reinvent great stories of the past as the second installment of The Haunting explores Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw”. The Haunting of Bly…
horror
Review: Dead Dicks
After receiving a series of panicked messages from her older brother Richie (Heston Horwin), young nursing student Becca (Jillian Harris) rushes over to his apartment to check on him. When she gets there, her worst fears come true: she finds Richie’s dead body after a successful suicide attempt. While she’s in distress, Richie suddenly appears,…
I Am Legend: Becoming the Villain in a Vampiric Dystopia
Across the world, life as we know it has changed: we’re living in a real-life dystopia due to a novel strain of the coronavirus. With so many people in lockdown around the globe, people have been influenced to seek out films that explore similar circumstances. Unsurprisingly, the most popular is Contagion, a film about an airborne…
Film Review: The Grudge (2020)
J-horror had a huge impact on Western cinema in the late 90s, thanks to Ringu (1998), which led to a lot of American remakes. Takashi Shimizu remade his own film, Ju-On: The Grudge (2002), for an American audience in 2004 starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. There have been two sequels to this so far, but producer Sam Rami and director…
‘Starfish’ Review: A Visually Stunning Debut Exploring Grief
“For the end of the world, press play.” A.T. White’s debut feature Starfish follows Aubrey (Virginia Gardner), whose reality begins fraying at the edges as she struggles with the death of her best friend, Grace (Christina Masterson). The film opens at Grace’s funeral and her gravestone reads ‘Always Right,‘ which is the first insight we get into…
Film Review: Shrew’s Nest (2014)
While browsing on Shudder, I came across Shrew’s Nest (2014); a Spanish horror and thriller set sometime in the 1950s. It revolves around Montse (Macarena Gómez), a highly religious and agoraphobic woman who spent her youth raising her younger sister, who is simply referred to as “the girl” (Nadia de Santiago), as their mother died during her birth…
Film Review: Trash Fire (2016)
“You know how some old people are asked to stop driving? It’s not that most of them are incapable, it’s just not particularly safe for them to be on the road. I mean that just about sums up how I feel about you as a psychiatrist.“ Trash Fire, the hugely anticipated third feature length film…
Film Review: Ava’s Possessions
“Demons are a girl’s best friend.” Jordan Galland brings a fresh taste to the demonic possession subgenre of horror in Ava’s Possessions as he begins his film where most of the others end: the exorcism. After she is freed from her demon, Ava (Louise Krause) is facing charges for property damage, assault, indecent exposure and two counts…
Film Review: Daughters of Darkness (1971)
“I’ve seen many a night fall away into an even more endless night.” Lesbian vampire films became a phenomenon in the 70s with Belgium film director Harry Kümel’s Daughters of Darkness (1971) as no exception. Known as Les Lévres Rouges (The Red Lips) in France, the beautifully crafted film is about two lovers who cross paths with the vampire…
Film Review: A girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)
“So… what did you see all this time watching me?“ Advertised as the “first Iranian vampire western,” A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) is a stunning film, shot in monochrome black and white, written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. The film is set in the Iranian ghost-town Bad City and tells the story of…