Steven Spielberg’s dino classic stomps into theaters next year in 3D. Has it really been 20 years?
movies
A New Hope or Will the Empire Strike Back? What the Disney/Lucasfilm Merger Means to Fanboys!
One “Star Wars” megafan is deeply conflicted about the Disney/Lucasfilm merger.
The 31 Days of Halloween, Day 31: Halloween
Well, was anybody shocked? Remember, when I was setting up this series — back with Day 1’s write-up of May — I warned you that the actual holiday’s corresponding movie was going to be a predictable choice. Given that John Carpenter’s Halloween a.) shares a name with the holiday, b.) is set on the holiday in question, and c.) is the greatest horror movie of all time… well, if you’re shocked by this, you may be quite dumb. Regardless, I […]
The 31 Days of Halloween, Day 30: Trick ‘r Treat
There are a lot of great horror movies out there. I mean, I wouldn’t be writing this series if I didn’t legitimately believe that: but I believe in the simple, glorious pleasures of this genre enough to commit to writing a month-long daily series about its most shining examples. But let’s not get it twisted, folks, this here is a Halloween series. And there is a difference between a great horror movie and a great Halloween movie; Martyrs is a great […]
The 31 Days of Halloween, Day 29: The House of the Devil
Ti West’s The House of the Devil is a peculiar, unassuming little film. It’s an ’80s horror movie created in 2009, filmed with the unmistakable grit and style of the era, but without any of the bells and whistles and camp of its time; it’s a Hitchcock movie without the Master’s portly silhouette lurking, one that keenly understands that the key to true suspense is anticipation and buildup. It’s not pure homage and fetish, though; it’s also the inimitable product of […]
The 31 Days of Halloween, Days 27-28: Tales From the Crypt & Creepshow
As the Halloween season draws to its glorious close, we revert to the well for the final weekend of the month: that’s right, we’re looking at more anthology films. Why, you ask? The answer is almost deceptively simple: because they’re awesome. And as I sit here writing this, fully aware that the impending hurricane currently stalking the east coast just may swipe this review right out of my hands, I’m keenly aware of what my wife and I are going […]
The 31 Days of Halloween, Day 26: Ginger Snaps
The best teen werewolf movie ever made? Apologies to Michael J. Fox, but yeah — Ginger Snaps is rightfully revered as a modern genre classic. It’s hard to articulate why, since teen horror movies aimed at some sort of monster as a metaphor for puberty have become quite en vogue in Twilight‘s unstoppable wake, but I’m assuming it’s got something to do with the cheerful sense of darkness it throws around. (In the opening credits alone, Ginger Snaps throws around snapshots of […]
The 31 Days of Halloween, Day 25: The Nightmare Before Christmas
So here we are: the final week of the Halloween season. It’s almost bittersweet — and in this, our last seven days together, it’s time to bring the Halloween goodies fast and furious. We’re gonna get real scary over the next week, so before we do that, let’s take a breather and enjoy a Halloween flick for the whole family: Tim Burton and Henry Selick’s stop-motion classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. There’s nothing new about a film hitching something sinister to […]
The 31 Days of Halloween, Days 23-24: Splinter & The Host
Yesterday, we discussed — among other films — Frank Darabont’s The Mist, which examined what happens when groups of people in extreme danger start to turn on each other. One of today’s films, Toby Wilkins’ Splinter, takes a bit of a different tactic: it examines what happens when disparate groups of people are forced to work together in the face of inexorable peril. The resulting film isn’t much cheerier, but it is a little more optimistic about the human condition. It’s […]
The Viewfinder: RZA & The Black Keys, “The Baddest Man Alive”
RZA? The Black Keys? What’s not to love?
The 31 Days of Horror, Days 20-22: A Stephen King Mini-Marathon (The Mist, The Shining, & Silver Bullet)
Nearing the home stretch of this list, I’m aware that we’ve doubled up before: the weekend of October 6th we looked at George Romero’s first two Living Dead movies, and I got vocal about small but wonderful stretches of the otherwise troublesome Amusement and When a Stranger Calls in a catch-all installment. There are dozens of artisans in the horror arena that deserve multi-movie showcases. Romero, of course. Bava or Argento could easily have been spotlighted for a full-length segment. This year, though, I’m awarding a spotlight slot […]
The 31 Days of Halloween, Day 19: Sleepaway Camp
We discussed, way back on day 4 of this shindig, the intangible sense of pleasure a cheesy ’80s horror movie has to offer; while that entry, Night of the Demons , makes its mark with irrepressible atmosphere and delightfully low-rent ’80s effects, today’s offering is a different beast. Sleepaway Camp‘s claim to fame is twofold: it’s one in a long line of Friday the 13th knockoffs, and it boasts a classic go-for-broke, left-field ending. Spoiler alert: it’s far from a good movie. But again, Night of […]