Horror
(This review was originally published on November 2, 2012 at Reel Film News) As if addressing Hurricane Sandy, Halloween and the election simultaneously, “The Bay” is a gruesome cautionary tale about our environment that spikes the horror genre with a biting realism, so to speak, in a tightly edited ‘mockumentary’. Centered in Claridge, Maryland, a […]
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(This review was originally published on October 19, 2012 at Reel Film News) 2009‘s “Best Worst Movie” showed us that director Michael Stephenson could make a relevant, widely appealing documentary out of some pretty obscure subject matter. That film, his first as a director, chronicled the making of a cult horror phenomenon called “Troll 2”, […]
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(This review was originally published on October 17, 2012 at Reel Film News) There’s way too much going on in “Ninjas Vs. Monsters” for its modest budget, but you can’t deny writer/director Justin Timpane’s resolve, not to mention his ability, to bulldoze limitations. He does, after all, manage to sustain over 90 minutes of nonstop fighting, carnage and […]
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(This interview was originally published on October 15, 2012 at Reel Film News) A few hours before “Ninjas Vs. Monsters” had its World Premiere at the AFI Silver on Sunday night for the 2012 Spooky Movie Horror Film Festival, I was able to make the acquaintance of writer/director Justin Timpane, a fellow native of Montgomery County, MD, who […]
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(This review was originally published on October 14, 2012 at Reel Film News) Opening night of the Spooky Movie Horror Film Festival kicked off with “Excision”, Richard Bates Jr’s expansion of his own 2008 short film, a morbid twist on the plight of an outcast teenage girl (to say the least) who is misunderstood on […]
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(This review was originally published on October 5, 2012 at Reel Film News) Hmmmm…. an exclusively ‘found footage’ horror anthology. There’s an interesting concept. Like many compilations of its genre, “V/H/S” is hit or miss; sometimes it’s delightfully disturbing, and other times it feels recycled and uninspired. Consisting of five tales shot in the POV style […]
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(This review was originally published on April 13, 2012 at Reel Film News) If “The Cabin in the Woods” sounds like a generic title, it’s only because co-writers Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon wish to stress the gleeful irony of their material. The film, which might be considered both a sympathetic wink to starving horror […]
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(This review was originally published on August 12, 2011 at The Rogers Revue) When a film franchise consistently attempts to deliver a greater spectacle than its previous installments, there is an inherent risk as the gap between a recycled premise and its ability to surprise the audience widens. The “Final Destination” series has had the potential […]
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