Horror
Typically, the January movie slate is full of either awards nominees or soon-to-be-forgotten films dumped hastily into theaters. Curiously, the new installment of The Grudge falls into neither of those categories, being an entertaining visit to familiar grounds. It winds up as the best of the Grudge films since the 2004 American remake, with an […]
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Most horror movies take long, circuitous routes setting up their characters so we can get to know them right before they’re brutally taken away from us. Almost all teen slasher films are guilty of this, from Halloween to Friday the 13th to latter-day classics like Saw (just the first one) and Scream. (Well, maybe not that […]
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(DC-area readers: this film will be playing at the Alamo Drafthouse at One Loudoun starting on October 2, 2019. Make every effort to see this during its engagement.) Every now and again, you run into a movie which reminds you that things are okay with the world, people’s hearts are usually in the right place, […]
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The poster art for The Cannibal Club makes the film look like a demented horror flick about meetings between wealthy men where the main course is long pig. Yes, there is one scene that matches this picture, but truly, the film’s horror lies in its satirical – yet often on-the-nose – insight on how the […]
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Grief and guilt over the passing of loved ones is a universal part of life, regardless of whether we loved someone as much as we could, or if we distanced ourselves from them. The could’ves, would’ves, and should’ves cruelly have their way with us for a while; soon, we find a way to deal with […]
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Growing up, I didn’t know the difference between a “scary movie” and a “horror film.” I kinda still don’t, but Ghost Stories made me realize just how vast that difference is. Everyone knows “scary movies” – the kind where the mysterious killer stalks and slashes the good-looking teenagers, the funhouse-type frights make you and your […]
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DC-area residents: The Endless starts playing at the Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market in DC on April 20, 2018. Independent horror has given us such delights as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, It Follows, and now, The Endless. The Endless is a ruthless and low-key charmer, very simple in its conceits and cunningly deceptive […]
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SPOILER ALERT: While I do not discuss the ending, I will highlight something which happens in the pre-title sequence. It’s an event which drives the rest of the film; discussing it, though, ruins the intended shock. This paragraph will be marked accordingly. A Quiet Place hits on so many different levels, it’s hard to know […]
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… Be in bed by midnight’s bell… … Never let a stranger through your door… … Never leave each other all alone. So goes the opening lullaby over The Lodgers’ opening credits. Creepy and foreboding, the song warns of woe to those who break these rules, which we nearly see in the early goings as […]
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For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the message was lost. For want of a message the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And […]
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