Category Archives: Horror

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Indie Films, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Clown (2016) Movie Review

June 19, 2016 Alex Brannan

Clown, “presented” by notable horror director Eli Roth and written-directed by Cop Car and future Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts, has gotten a U.S. VOD and limited theatrical release after two years. The film was made and premiered prior to Watt’s last year’s critical darling Cop Car, and it is a psychological horror film involving everyone’s favorite terrorizing force: Clowns.

When the hired clown cancels last minute, Jack’s (Christian Distefano) birthday party is in jeopardy. Luckily, good ol’ dad Kent (Andy Powers) swoops in to save the day, Continue reading Clown (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Cell (2016) Movie Review

June 14, 2016 Alex Brannan

Cell is a movie based on a novel by Stephen King. In this adaptation, Clay Riddell (John Cusack), is an artist who, while in an apartment, becomes witness to an apocalyptic event in which a cell phone signal causes users to become feral (in inconsistent ways). They foam at the mouth, attack people, attack themselves, and become utterly unaware of their own humanity.

The opening shots of this film set the tone for its overall success. Continue reading Cell (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

The Conjuring 2 (2016) Movie Review

June 9, 2016 Alex Brannan

During Ed and Lorraine Warren’s (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) investigation of the Amityville horror, Lorraine Warren encounters hell incarnate during a seance in an opening sequence to The Conjuring 2 that is orchestrated with neo-horror precision, combining old school tropes and new era scare tactics.

After amassing a popular following through the Amityville case, the Warrens are requested in Enfield, where they encounter Continue reading The Conjuring 2 (2016) Movie Review →

Horror

Thoughts on The Conjuring 2

June 1, 2016 Alex Brannan

In a recent featurette, covered here via Bloody Disgusting, the cast and crew of the upcoming horror film The Conjuring 2 discuss director James Wan and his “redefining” of the horror genre. While I think redefining is a stretch (admittedly, cinema is “redefined” in hindsight in many cases), the 2-minute video shows interesting insight into Wan and his process.

While I brushed off The Conjuring 2 after its second trailer, which depicted the film as Continue reading Thoughts on The Conjuring 2 →

Film Philosophy / Editorials, Horror

Horror Cliches and How to Fix Them

May 29, 2016 Alex Brannan

The cell phones don’t work. Maybe the service is out in these abandoned backwoods, or swamp, or desert, or rural town. If they do, the police sure are incompetent. Or get murdered feet from their car, in front of everyone inside the cabin in the woods, or placid lake with one lone raft in the center that will surely come back later, or house at the end of the street, or the last house on the left, or the isolated graveyard. Also, they always insist on coming alone. Screaming people on the other line doesn’t prompt at least one car of backup. Never. It’s a sin.

And how about them character archetypes. The Whore. An incessant one-track mind locked on to phallic obsession and Continue reading Horror Cliches and How to Fix Them →

Film Philosophy / Editorials, Horror

The Cabin in the Woods: Cliches Manipulated or Perpetuated?

May 13, 2016 Alex Brannan

Note: This is an in-depth analysis of the film The Cabin in the Woods. As such, it is heavily-laden with spoilers. Proceed with caution. If you want to watch The Cabin in the Woods, you can find it on Amazon Video to rent and buy here.

The 2012 film from Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods, presents an original take on an old favorite. The film on its face, and by its title, is just another teen horror romp, but this “cabin in the woods” narrative is more than meets the eye, as the film quickly progresses down the path of a strange mythology.

In approaching the conventional horror movie narrative with a unique take, Goddard and Whedon use their pen to turn Continue reading The Cabin in the Woods: Cliches Manipulated or Perpetuated? →

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All Movie Reviews, Horror, Like It, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words)

Demons (1985) Movie Review

May 12, 2016 Alex Brannan

In Demons (aka Demoni), the 1985 B-movie horror film from Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento, a mysterious film screening is suddenly infested with infectious demons, with the helpless audience trapped inside the theater.

The ’80s horror movie uses dated B-movie effects work. This said, a lot of the practical effects are well-staged, on top of being Continue reading Demons (1985) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Indie Films, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Hush (2016) Movie Review

May 10, 2016 Alex Brannan

Sound is a vital part of any horror film. Perhaps the most vital. What happens, then, when you insert a protagonist into a horror-thriller narrative who is deaf. This is exactly the case with Hush, which pits novelist Maddie Young (Kate Siegal), who lives conveniently in the middle of the woods with few people within screaming distance (if she could scream, that is, as she is also mute), against a masked intruder (John Gallagher Jr.).

This premise, in its early stages of execution, makes for a very Continue reading Hush (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Indie Films, Like It, Short Films

Heir (2015) Short Film Review

May 4, 2016 Alex Brannan

A father (Robert Nolan) takes his son to spend a day with an old college friend (Bill Oberst Jr.), but the activities they engage in are far more insidious than simply “gone fishing.” The father, on top of the strange goings-on in his friend’s home, experiences a stigmata-like wound that oozes a sticky pus.

The short quickly deviates from reality, surreal imagery and special effects work becoming Continue reading Heir (2015) Short Film Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Horror, Indie Films, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Green Room (2016) Movie Review

April 24, 2016 Alex Brannan

In Green Room, a group of young and conceited punk rockers travel to one last unscheduled gig after their tour bottoms out. The White Supremacist punk scene of the club proves to be more shady than it first appears. The mosh pit is slowed to a balletic chaos as they perform. The atmosphere of the audience is unforgiving. And the green room backstage is an environment of violent undoing.

The film, like the music it portrays, is unrefined, but it is a purposefully stylized unrefined. The low key lighting and grimy aesthetic is what has become “torture porn chic.”

What writer-director Jeremy Saulnier, whose 2013 microbudget indie thriller Blue Ruin received critical success, does differently than torture porn is deliver a Continue reading Green Room (2016) Movie Review →