I suspect the admiration I feel for Larry Fessenden’s Wendigo is all out of proportion to the movie itself, but he could have easily taken the “easy” way out–monster turns up, slaughters a whole bunch of people, the end–and that’s not necessarily always a bad thing, but no matter how well it’s done it’s also […]
To be totally honest I went into Countdown not expecting much. I was unfamiliar with Justin Dec as a director and the storyline sounded like warmed over Final Destination. And to be fair there’re some similarities between the two movies but Countdown approaches the subject from a novel enough angle that it doesn’t feel like […]
Found footage is a genre that every since The Blair Witch Project–though that was not the first. That honor likely belongs to The McPherson Tape–many have attempted, but few have done particularly well. Paranormal Activity was fine though prior entries in that series quickly wore out their welcome, which is one reason you should see […]
Alex Merkin’s House Of The Witch has a great opening that hints at all sort of scary things and while it’s nothing you haven’t seen before, it’s pretty well done. Then you see the rest of the movie, where all that promise built up with that opening is blithely discarded because it isn’t terribly good. […]
I honestly think the short story should be treated as a higher form of literature than long form storytelling. Think about it. You have a fixed amount of pages to establish the motivations of your characters, the world they live in and why things are proceeding however they happen to be. As I said, it’s […]
Expectations are a difficult thing sometimes. I went into the The Banana Splits Movie expecting something perhaps a little subversive, yet…fun. Instead I got a horror movie–what I expected. It’s surprisingly gory at times–with only hints of the subversiveness that I was looking for. And that’s a pity because otherwise, what’s the point? The biggest […]
Underwater looks awfully like Deep Star Six and Leviathan in terms of subject matter. If you’re a fan of underwater horror–and who isn’t–then it’s probably going to be a good time. (unlike the two aforementioned movies, which worked only intermittently). There’s one thing that makes me optimistic. Namely Underwater is directed by William Eubank, who […]
The final trailer for IT: Chapter 2 was released about two weeks ago and this is the first I’ve seen of it. And that’s not typical for me. The reason for the delay is that I saw the first movie in theaters, and found it terribly underwhelming. With a particularly strong emphasis on “underwhelming:” It […]
I like this trailer, if for no other reason it puts children in peril, which I tend to enjoy in movies. Let me explain. Most movies treat children as of they were made of glass and if you look at them too long, they spontaneously combust. And that’s just not true. Children have literally fought […]
I like high-concept movies. Sure, they’re a risk and easy to botch up but when they work…the payoff is pretty good. Which I mention because I found a teaser trailer for a concept called EsKILLator, a idea from the talented Ben Plumier. About–it should go without saying–a killer escalator (which isn’t as unusual as you […]
SCREENPHILES 