Tag: horror
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Evil Dead Rise (2023)
“Mommy’s with the maggots now…” I just saw Evil Dead Rise and loved it. As an example of its genre and what it’s trying to accomplish as a commercial product, it’s pretty perfect. It was refreshing to see a new Evil Dead movie that absolutely gets what such a film is and how it works.…
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Dark Glasses (2022)
Released both theatrically and to streaming in 2022, Dark Glasses is Italian horror maestro Dario Argento’s first directorial work in 10 years, preceded by 2012’s infamous Cannes Film Festival disaster Dracula 3D. It’s an improvement over some of his more recent work, which isn’t saying much. Dark Glasses is more what you’d expect from a…
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Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
The giallo is a curious breed. Italian for “yellow”, the word refers to the colour used for paperback crime fiction that was sold in Italy and intended to be quick, exploitative, pulp entertainment. The term in its colloquial sense means murder mystery or horror thriller. Also known as Spaghetti Slashers (a la Spaghetti Westerns), the…
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Renfield (2023)
Vampires have had a long and storied history in fiction, but in recent years the Dracula mythos in particular has been used to explore the dynamics of relationships between these creatures of the night and those whose lives they touch. Since the Dracula story was always in part a metaphor for sexual predation, it’s perhaps…
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Prom Night (1980)
This is a slasher film to make you appreciate both the fine artistic craft of the original Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and the crude efficiency of the Friday the 13th sequels. Heck, even the original Friday the 13th wasn’t this dull. I’d be interested to see the 2008 reboot of Prom Night…
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The Pope’s Exorcist (2023)
I just saw The Pope’s Exorcist and it was really funny, which I guess is a shame as it wasn’t trying to be, I don’t think. It stars Russell Crowe as the real-life Father Amorth, who in the late 1980s visits a Spanish abbey being renovated by an American widow when a demon possesses one…
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When a Stranger Calls (1979)
There’s a quote on the poster for When a Stranger Calls that describes it as the most terrifying film the critic’s ever seen. What film they saw I can’t say, but I’d be shocked if it was the same one I did. We begin with Carol Kane playing a babysitter for a doctor and his…
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The Skull (1965)
Tonight at my local arts centre I saw The Skull, a 1965 British film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, as part of its classic horror nights. Based on a short story called “The Skull of the Marquis de Sade” by Robert Bloch, it begins with a 19th-century grave robber who brings the titular skull…
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Scream 4 (2011)
Having recently seen Scream 6, I decided to give 4 a whirl on Prime and somewhat to my surprise had a blast with it. I ignored it when it first came out in 2011 because as much as I love this franchise, at that point I felt that it was done. Sidney Prescott’s trauma was…
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Pearl (2023)
I just saw Pearl, directed by Ti West and co-written by him with lead actress Mia Goth, and despite a slow start it was honestly amazing. It’s a film that’s absolutely sold by its lead performance, which is frankly one of the best of the year (last year for American audiences). If movies this weird,…
I Just Saw 