I know the idea of ‘aggressive mediocrity’ is somewhat contradictory in that mediocrity is almost by definition milquetoast and lacking in passion, but there’s no other way I can find to describe James Wan’s The Conjuring 2. The original movie was one of those horror movies that was so risk-adverse that (much to no one’s […]
Exorcism movies are like the Law & Order of the horror world: The locales may change, the people may differ, but really they’re all the same. And speaking of exorcism-based horror, it’s almost as if William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973) were the defining, only movie of the ilk worth considering as a serious movie, which […]
Brad Peyton’s Incarnate is not your typical possession story in that you have a scientist (?) Dr. Ember (Aaron Eckhart) who’s life has been touched – more like being caught in a car wreck – by the supernatural and devoted his life to freeing people who’ve been effected by the lingering touch of evil. He […]
If you ask me the entire point of a prequel – be it a movie, television series or whatever – is to elaborate on, to build upon. what currently exists. I mean, as much hate as is typically thrown at Exorcist II: The Heretic (a favorite of mine) – which is technically a sequel though […]
For my money William Friedkin is one of the most talented directors working today. Not everything he does clicks (with the public or box office-wise, for that matter) but as far as I am concerned he’s made one of the best crime thrillers in recent memory with 1985’s To Live And Die In L.A. Some might suggest […]
Some people might call William Girdler’s The Manitou a ripoff of The Exorcist, and in a sense they’d be right in that both involve possession of a sort. Then’s there’s the fact that Girdler’s film came five years afterwards, though other than that it’s a whole other animal and deserves revisiting. The movie, based on the novel […]
Scott Derrickson’s Deliver Us From Evil definitely looks like a movie to watch for. Lately everything seems so massive that every once in awhile I really welcome something on a smaller scale (though not too small. Oculus was entertaining, but almost intimate. And don’t get me wrong, I am not critizing spectacle, after all it’s a golden […]
This is going to sound like sacrilege, but I have to say it: I never liked Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby.” There, my secret is out. It’s treated like some sort of classic of slow-burn horror by most people who have seen it, but from what I could tell, it’s just slow. In some ways the […]
If you’re a horror fan–and who isn’t?–you probably hold Tom Holland’s Fright Night high in your pantheon of horror films. It’s being remade by DreamWorks Pictures and stars Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin and David Tennant and is directed by Craig Gillespie
SCREENPHILES 