Piranha 3D is a horror movie bar mitzvah. It turns boys into men, cleaving their lives into two distinct periods: Before Piranha 3D, a time we shall refer to as The Darkness, and after Piranha 3D, also known as The Awakening. Now that I have thankfully awoken in its glorious elysian fields of excessive gore and outrageous [...]

Directed by Srdjan Spasojevic, 2010 Written by Aleksandar Radivojevic, Srdjan Spasojevic A SERBIAN FILM has only been shown around the world a handful of times, but I have no doubt that you’ve heard about the film.  Its rarity certainly hasn’t hurt its early reputation as being a film that cannot be unseen, a film so [...]

Directed by Michael Cuesta, 2010 Written by Dave Callaham Dave Callaham’s script for TELL-TALE can hardly be considered a strict adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s original story about a murder who smothers an old man in his bed and then buries the chopped up body in the floorboards of the old man’s estate.  He thinks [...]

Did I detect a bit of subtext at work in Tom Six’s creep-out THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE?  Could the movie actually be about how the shallow, impersonal connections we make with others cause us to lose our humanity?  I believe so, and that’s more than I expected from a movie about a guy obsessed with sewing [...]

Directed by Samuel Bayer, 2010 Written by Wesley Strick, Eric Heisserer When Platinum Dunes, the production house created by Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller, first came into being, it took on the father of modern horror films, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It’s safe to say everyone expected it to be a total failure [...]

Directed by Eli Craig, 2010 Written by Eli Craig, Morgan Jurgenson I like a lot of horror comedies.  They’re obviously not my go-to choice when I think of the genre, but I’m all for horror movies that don’t take themselves too seriously.  I’m not including horror spoofs in this category, of course.  I’m talking about [...]

[In case you haven't noticed, things are slack at HND these days, so since I realize not everyone follows the other sites I write for, I am now committing myself to cross linking all my genre coverage at Cinematical, Horror Squad and Sci-Fi Squad here.  Operation: Climb Back Up Google Rankings begins with SXSW 2010 [...]

[In case you haven't noticed, things are slack at HND these days, so since I realize not everyone follows the other sites I write for, I am now committing myself to cross linking all my genre coverage at Cinematical, Horror Squad and Sci-Fi Squad here.  Operation: Climb Back Up Google Rankings begins with SXSW 2010 [...]

Written and Directed by Sean Byrne, 2009 I’ve been running Horror’s Not Dead for a little over four years now.  If you’ve been reading the site for any decent length of time, you can probably trace how my tastes have cultivated over the years and how from time to time I’ll stumble upon an indie [...]

Directed by Breck Eisner, 2010 Written by Scott Kosar and Ray Wright You’re forgiven for being apprehensive about a remake of THE CRAZIES, George Romero’s classic (as in age, not quality) bit of ’70s violence and paranoia.  I know I was.  After all, we live in a climate where studio (not talent) driven remakes arrive [...]

Directed by Martin Scorsese, 2010 Written by Laeta Kalogridis If you’re already planning on seeing SHUTTER ISLAND this weekend, don’t read beyond.  If you’re on the fence on seeing what it looks like when Martin Scorsese makes a horror movie, know that it is absolutely worth seeing, but do not read any further.  It’s impossible [...]

Directed by Joe Johnston, 2010 Written by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self I’ve got just as many complaints as I have compliments for Joe Johnston’s THE WOLFMAN, but the crux of its failings is this; What’s the point?  Lawrence Talbot (Benecio Del Toro) returns home to his estranged and aloof father (Anthony Hopkins) to [...]

Directed by Daniel Grou, 2010 Written by Patrick Senécal Maybe I’ve just spent too much time in the horror genre. Maybe I’ve become desensitized to violence and torture. Maybe I’m just incapable of ignoring the part of my brain that says “It’s all just a movie.” Whatever the case, it’s rare that I find a [...]

Directed by Scott Stewart, 2010 Written by Peter Schink, Scott Stewart Joining the ranks of Night of the Living Dead, Assault on Precinct 13, Demon Knight, From Dusk Till Dawn, Feast, Maximum Overdrive, and a host of other “siege” horror films, comes Legion, an unrepentantly dopey fantasy-action-horror hybrid built upon the idea that God hates [...]

Directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes, 2010 Written by Gary Whitta I’m an easy sell on a lot of things and I have a lot of soft spots.  Horror movies shot entirely in daylight…movies set in a single location…movies starring Lance Henriksen…Syfy Original Movies… all of these start off with a halo in my [...]

What can I add to roughly twenty-five years worth of unfettered praise and critical analysis of Alan Moore’s brilliant run on DC Comics’ Swamp Thing? This question has been haunting me for the past few weeks, as I’ve explored DC’s new hardcover reprint of the material previously collected in the Swamp Thing: Love and Death [...]

[Because I wish even the most skeptical of skeptics would experience this on the big screen, I'm plugging my SFS review of Avatar here.  And also because this is my site and I do what I wants.] The buzz and buzzkill leading up to Avatar, it turns out, found inadequate purchase now that the world [...]

There’s a cover blurb on Victorian Undead, the new horror/adventure comic from DC/Wildstorm that proclaims in bright green letters, “SHERLOCK HOLMES VS ZOMBIES!” I feared that the story inside would read as a cash grab opportunity to sell issues based solely on the upcoming Guy Ritchie film. Turns out Victorian Undead’s greatest credit is that [...]

Directed by William Lustig, 1988 Written by Larry Cohen Welcome back to AYIF.  That’s right people, I have returned from the grave to bring you more wonderful treats form my must-see list.  Sorry for the delay, but I have been hard at work helping Pete over at Horror Squad.  So I’ve been lax in my [...]

Written and Directed by D. Kerry Prior, 2009 There is a good movie buried within THE REVENANT, but unfortunately the film is still a few edits away from unearthing it.  It’s got a solid horror-comedy skeleton to it in the form of a plot about an Iraqi war veteran who returns home, only to re-animate [...]

Written and Directed by Uwe Boll Without question RAMPAGE is the best film Dr. Uwe Boll has ever made.  However, and this is an elephantine however, that statement still needs qualification.  RAMPAGE is fascinating for both its successes and its failures, but ultimately the movie is still a failure; albeit the best failure Uwe Boll [...]

Directed by Barbara Brancaccio, Joshua Zeman, 2009 Written by Joshua Zeman Documentaries often deal with scary subject matter — JESUS CAMP is more terrifying than any work of fiction I saw in 2006 — but rarely do they intermingle with the typical horror movie narrative.  Yet such is CROPSEY, a documentary that tackles a story [...]

Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, 2009 Written by Rodolphe Tissot, Olivier Volpi, Sylvain White, Gilles Paquet-Brenner When I’m feeling lazy, I like hang out on the couch, drink beer, and watch movies. At those times I have no desire to do anything to advance the quality of my life in any way, and my creative juices [...]

Written and Directed by Tom Six, 2009 There’s no reason you should know this, but the only dedicated THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE) post ever on HorrorsNotDead.com has been one of the most trafficked posts on this site.  Apparently people enjoy reading about a mad scientist that kidnaps three people, cuts the muscle tissue connecting [...]

Written by Matthew Sturges, Mark Buckingham, Bill Willingham, Peter Milligan, Chris Roberson, Matt Wagner Pencils by Luca Rossi, Kevin Nowlan, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mike Allred, Amy Reeder Hadley One of my favorite horror comics is DC/Vertigo’s anthology title Flinch, which was published for a too-brief sixteen issue run before cancellation in 2001.  Flipping through Vertigo’s brand-new [...]

Directed by Kevin Greutert, 2009 Written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton I am not a consistent fan of the SAW series.  I love that it is a franchise, I love that it has filled the Halloween event film void that went vacant for far too long, but as far as quality goes, part 3 [...]

Written and Directed by Steven Kastrissios, 2008 The revenge thriller is a tough nut to crack.  The key to success is diving brain first into a unique angle on a time-tested formula.  If you’re Pierre Morel with TAKEN you throw Liam Neeson on a plane to Paris and have him throat chop every scumbag that [...]

Directed by Grace Lee, 2007 Written by Grace Lee, Rebecca Sonnenshine Mockumentaries as anything other than comedy are damn near impossible to get right. A self-serious mockumentary, as with a horror movie without scares, is a recipe for disaster. Alas, AMERICAN ZOMBIE avoids failure on an epic level (something another recent zombiementary, THE ZOMBIE DIARIES [...]

Written and Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, 2009 When I first saw the trailer for DAYBREAKERS, the Spierig brother’s follow-up to their freshman film UNDEAD, I thought two things about their take on a world overrun by vampires in dire need of some new human blood.  First, that looks a hell of a [...]

Written and Directed by Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza, 2009 I like that the original [REC]‘s real-time unraveling of an apartment building under quarantine for a mysterious virus that turns the infected into fluid spewing, flesh clawing maniacs is logistically conducive to a sequel. I really like that returning filmmakers Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza [...]

Written and Directed by Michael Dougherty, 2007 Trick ‘r Treat is the holy grail of Halloween themed horror films. Not because of the notoriously long path writer-director Michael Dougherty’s film has had to take to finally get released (a refresher: TrT was finished and first shown back in 2007 and, despite an overwhelming reaction to [...]

Directed by Jonathan Auf Der Heide, 2009 Written by Jonathan Auf Der Heide and Oscar Redding Set a film in Tasmania in 1822 with prisoners on the run as characters and, as far as my frame of reference for the story is concerned, you may as well be making a movie on a different planet. [...]

Written and Directed by Ti West, 2009 Time for some rumor control. Contrary to what one would assume watching The House of the Devil, writer-director Ti West does not have the power to bend time and space to his will. Ti West is not a time lord, he is a mere mortal like the rest [...]

Written by Marc Andreyko Art by Mike Huddleston, Grant Bond, Christopher Gugliotti, Fiona Staples If you really want to experience the differences in storytelling between comics and film, comic book movie adaptations are always a great place to start.  The panels serve as a series of “greatest hits” moments from the film, the writers and artists [...]

Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, 2002 Written by W. Boyd Ford As a thirteen-year-old there wasn’t much more exciting for me than spending the night at friend’s house and getting to rent whatever the heck we wanted to because his parents didn’t care. I wasn’t overly sheltered as a child when it came to R-rated [...]

While British studio Hammer Films reinvented the Universal Monsters for a new generation, they also produced a handful of psychological thrillers, encouraged by the box office success of Les Diaboliques and the films of Alfred Hitchcock.  One such film was 1963′s Paranoiac, starring professional drunkard Oliver Reed as Grade-A douchebag Simon Ashby, a reckless, hostile [...]

Written by Aaron Williams, 2009 Art by Fiona Staples Wildstorm\DC Comics Maybe I’m “old school”, but when I buy an issue of a comic book, I want a story with a beginning, middle, and an end (even if the ending is a cliffhanger).  I understand that this isn’t the nature of the industry anymore; everything [...]

Directed by John Harrison, 2009 Written by John Harrison & Darin Silverman When it was first announced that THE BOOK OF BLOOD was going to be adapted into a film, I balked.  Not because it is a bad story, but because it’s barely a story.  THE BOOK OF BLOOD was the framing device Clive Barker [...]

Directed by Fritz Kiersch, 2006 Written by Fritz Kiersch, Danny Martin Please bear with me, for this review is not like the others. Regardless, it is important for you to continue to reading, because in addition to pointing you in the direction of surprisingly good Instant Watch flicks, it is also my responsibility to sound [...]

RESIDENT EVIL: UMBRELLA CHRONICLES Developed and Produced by Capcom, 2007 Being the fanboy I am of the RESIDENT EVIL series, I never learned my lesson with the previously released gun-games (RESIDENT EVIL:SURVIVOR & RESIDENT EVIL: DEAD AIM) and so I went ahead and bought the series omnibus spectacular, RE: UMBRELLA CHRONICLES. As for the story, [...]

Written by Marcus Hearn Published by Titan Books. Hammer Studios doesn’t really get the credit they deserve for creating the modern scream queen.  Our recent horror beauties like Julianna Guill and Betsy Rue owe a debt of gratitude to the British studio, who pioneered the inclusion of gratuitous cheesecake forevermore into horror films, for better [...]

Directed by Stewart Hendler, 2009 Written by Josh Stolberg & Pete Goldfinger One could criticize SORORITY ROW for having mostly unlikeable characters, an aesthetic sense ripped from an American Eagle catalog and dialog lifted wholesale from a wall-to-wall conversation on a freshman’s Facebook page, but one shouldn’t.  Go see SORORITY ROW on opening weekend in [...]

Written and Directed by Jonas Quastel, 2008 If a movie exceeds expectations by being exactly what it should be can I call that the TAKEN effect? If so, can I then say that I was TAKEN by SCOURGE? Hopefully that makes grammatical sense, because after being pleasantly surprised by my first two NWI picks, SCOURGE [...]

Directed by Roy Ward Baker, 1972 Written by Robert Bloch A young psychiatrist, Dr. Martin, is looking to fulfill an empty job position in an insane asylum.  He arrives at the asylum, and upon meeting with the head physician he’s told the reason why a job opening exists.  One of the former doctors has him/herself [...]

Condemned: Criminal Origins Developed By: Monolith Productions Produced By: SEGA When CONDEMNED: CRIMINAL ORIGINS was first released I felt a sense of unease, it just didn’t sit right with me. It looked impressive enough but the blend of realism mixed with the supernatural just didn’t seem to connect. I tried not to let this prejudiced [...]

Directed by Robert Archer Lynn, 2007 Written by David Alford, Robert Archer Lynn To say that Peter and I have differing tastes in film is to say that Norman Rockwell painted slightly differently from Salvador Dali.  But since moving to Austin I have become fascinated with movie geek idiosyncrasies and relish the opportunity to explore [...]

Editor’s Note: I’ve asked BrianK to explore the arid wasteland of Netflix’ Watch Instantly section once a week in search of lost treasures, the only important rule being his find cannot be a film anyone has ever told him anything about.  These are his results. Directed by Chris Sivertson, 2006 Written by Chris Sivertson from [...]

Written and Directed by Dario Argento, 1971 Welcome back to AYIF.  I have often lauded the questionable merits of Italian cinema as it pertains to my penchant for shitty post-apocalyptic knock-off films, but the truth is that there are some really fantastic Italian films.  Sure, for the film snobbish among us, we could quickly cite the [...]

Directed by David R. Ellis, 2009 Written by Eric Bress Does the “The” added before the title, in lieu of a number four, mean that this series is dead now?  FINAL DESTINATION had the efficient idea of cutting out the middle man from slasher films, just offing its teenybopper cast members through awful, gory accidents, [...]

Written and Directed by Paul Solet, 2009 Opening with other people’s opinions is not something I do often, but it should be said that enough people love GRACE that I am aware of my place in the minority camp.  But if you trust my opinion on horror, you’ll temper expectations drastically.  Paul Solet’s feature film [...]

Directed by Kevin Ko, 2009 Written by Sung In, Carolyn Lin Taiwanese horror doesn’t have much brand identity.  In a way that makes it one of the more interesting Asian nations getting in on the International horror scene.  Korea, Japan and (most recently) Thailand all have emerged with their own symbolic staples both in front [...]

Editor’s Note: I’ve asked BrianK to explore the arid wasteland of Netflix’ Watch Instantly section once a week in search of lost treasures, the only important rule being his find cannot be a film anyone has ever told him anything about.  These are his results. Directed by Rigoberto Castañeda, 2007 Written by Ed Dougherty I [...]

Written and Directed by Emil Hyde, 2009 I’ve never been noodling, but I imagine blindly thrusting one’s bare arm into the mouth of a catfish is not all that different from watching independent horror.  Both find you wading through the muck and the mire with nothing more than a hope in your heart that the [...]

I figured a second review of THIRST was best reserved for when the film expanded to several new cities.  What a coincidence that 8/14/09 marks just such an occasion.  Click here for a list of theaters hosting the badass Korean mamajama. Directed by Chan-wook Park, 2009 Written by Seo-Gyeong Jeong, Chan-wook Park A film’s title [...]

Directed by Neill Blomkamp, 2009 Written by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell DISTRICT 9 will end up being one of the most remembered films of 2009, as well it should be.  Not because it’s perfect, sorry to say, but because it’s a barrier breaker.  For the hardened fans of fantastic cinema, D9 will be a [...]

Directed by Philippe Martinez, 2009 Written by Robert Malkani There are bad movies.  There are stupid movies.  There are shitty movies.  There are awful movies.  And there is Philippe Martinez’s THE CHAOS EXPERIMENT, which is an awful shitty, awful stupid, awful bad movie.  And I’d say that’s an awful shame because it has Eric Roberts, [...]

Directed by Jamie Blanks, 2009 Written by Everett De Roche These are some expanded thoughts from this mini-review at HorrorSquad. I haven’t seen LONG WEEKEND, Colin Eggleston’s original 1974 Ozploitation film about a couple who venture into the wild for a few days only to discover that Mother Nature’s creatures great and small don’t take [...]

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, 1987 Written by Kathryn Bigelow and Eric Red Welcome back to AYIF.  Today I am watching a cult classic vampire film from the 1980′s.  One of my favorite movies of all time is THE LOST BOYS (another film of this ilk) and I long ago added NEAR DARK to my must-see [...]

Directed by Chan-wook Park, 2009 Written by Seo-Gyeong Jeong, Chan-wook Park When I bought my wife’s engagement ring I was in over my head.  I knew nothing about rings, I knew nothing about diamonds and I knew nothing about purchasing a ring with a diamond in it.  She gave me a list of what to [...]

Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, 1980 Written by T.Y. Drake If you take a look back at the statistics regarding leading causes of teenage and young adult deaths in the year 1980 you’re likely going to see something like the following: Motor Vehicle Accidents Firearms Secondary role in a Jamie Lee Curtis film Malignant Neoplasm Befriending [...]

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, 2009 Written by David Johnson, Story by Alex Mace Have you ever experienced a situation where your preconceptions about something are shattered, only to have the pieces put back together again with the cracks visible?  Like walking into an elementary school classroom and hearing the teacher shout obscenities, only to find [...]

Directed by Bob Clark, 1979 Written by Roy Moore Welcome back to AYIF.  Today’s film epitomizes why I started this project in the first place: to mine obscurity and strike paydirt!  I love horror films and have since I was a kid.  While I have grown to be picky, even a bit snobby, on the [...]

Directed by Marcus Dunstan, 2009 Written by Marcus Dunstan & Patrick Melton If we’re going on track records alone, I’m not the kind of person who should be cheerleading THE COLLECTOR.  I’m rather indifferent to the first FEAST, but don’t care for the sequels.  I stopped being interested in the SAW franchise after part two, [...]

Directed by Glen Morgan, 2006 Written by Glen Morgan, Roy Moore (1974 Screen Play) I’m really curious how this current generation of minors turns out, assuming that they also stay up late to watch R-Rated films past their bedtime.  I was one of those kids roughly fifteen years ago and I stayed up into the [...]

Written and Directed by Alex Horwitz, 2009 In the not too distant future the self explanatory Z-virus has swept the globe, nearly claiming all of civilization until Dr. Ben Jacobs (John La Zar) discovers the miracle cure.  Masses of undead are under control, all that remains are a few stragglers immune to Dr. Jacobs’ treatment, [...]

Directed by Peter Cornwell, 2009 Written by Adam Simon & Tim Metcalfe I could recommend THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT to any 13 year old boy or girl.  I stress that I could make such a recommendation, but I don’t know any 13 year olds and even if I did, I’m not sure I’d want to [...]

Written by Warren Fahy, 2009 It is a reluctant way to start a review talking about what something isn’t, but this is bugging me.  I’ve seen it in almost all of the reviews.  It was what drove me to read FRAGMENT, a debut novel from newcomer Warren Fahy, in the first place.  But it’s just [...]

Bioshock Developed By: 2K Games Published By: 2K Games “Welcome to Rapture” Never before have I seen a tagline to anything emanate more truth than BIOSHOCK’s. Rapture, an underwater city of the genetically damned with a chilling sensation that never relents with every single crafted item enforces the sensation and I mean everything. BIOSHOCK may [...]

Written and Directed by Neil Marshall, 2002 Welcome back to AYIF.  Werewolves are classic horror film fare.  A bestial throwback to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with cultural variations appearing on multiple continents.  I will not feign expertise on the subject because, with the film incarnations, my experience is limited.  But I am aware of [...]

Directed by Jeff Renfroe, 2009 Written by Raul Inglis When the Sci-Fi Channel announced a campaign to re-brand itself as Syfy even non-fans scoffed at the silly name change.  When a representative for the network was asked on Twitter why the change was made and how it would impact programming, the official answer was, “Syfy [...]

Directed by Tommy Wirkola, 2009 Written by Tommy Wirkola, Stig Frode Henriksen DEAD SNOW could have been great.  DEAD SNOW should have been great.  Sadly all the couldas and the shouldas and the good intentions don’t change the final product. Half of it is a good horror, the other half plagued by pesky things like [...]

The Conduit Developer(s) High Voltage Software Publisher(s) Sega It’s the game Wii owners have been salivating for since E3 2008, proudly boasting that THE CONDUIT is the best first-person shooter for the Wii and will pave the way for future games utilizing what they have accomplished. It’s a pretty big claim and for better or [...]

Written and Directed by Adam Green, 2006 Today I will be watching a film that was a real darling at Fantastic Fest III, the first I ever attended.  Unfortunately I missed it because I didn’t arrive until day three.  I had heard a lot of people talking about this and how much they liked it, [...]

Directed by Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel, 2008 Written by Trent Haaga Before watching DEADGIRL I was reading a recap at EvilOnTwoLegs.com of Fangoria’s most recent Weekend of Horrors in NYC.  Jon was recounting actors and directors across multiple panels who all lamented America’s new remake fueled industry, an industry that leaves no room for [...]

F.E.A.R. 2: PROJECT ORIGIN Developed by Monolith Productions Published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Being a fan of the original F.E.A.R. (and to a lesser extent, the two non-canon expansions) I was fairly excited for this sequel. The original F.E.A.R. accomplished a lot in terms of the tech, combat, and the level of terror, which [...]

Written and Directed by Sopon Sukdapisit, 2008 It’s no secret that I am partial to Thai horror.   Because the US has no counterpart to it, I envy the genuine superstition for the afterlife found in Thai culture.  We have no nation spanning fears of spirits, which is precisely why American horror pales in the ghost [...]

Directed by Sam Raimi, 2009 Written by Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi Better late than never. Right? DRAG ME TO HELL, in theory, is a good movie, but as with all theory, scrutiny, minimal it may be, is required before theory metabolizes into law.  In theory, this is Sam Raimi’s return to horror, a technically [...]

Directed by Fred Olen Ray, 2009 Written by Mark Sanderson I am a man of refined tastes possessing a palette more exacting than a green lazer straight from Laser Cove, but, alas, I am still just a man.  Soft bits wrapped around hard bits with chemistry connecting it all.  Who am I to resist a [...]

Lux Pain Developed by Killaware Published by Ignition Entertainment Lux Pain is one of those games with a hollowed out and rotten trunk that has some fairly interesting aspects branch off. Unfortunately, it’s not bugs and execution that bog Lux Pain down; it is the simple fact that Lux should have not been a game; [...]

Directed by Bruce McDonald, 2009 Written by Tony Burgess Few works evoke a compliment as endearing as calling something Cronenbergian.  A comparison to the great director (my favorite director still working today, for disclosure purposes) is not one I make lightly, but even without a single element of body horror, early Cronenberg is precisely what [...]

Directed by Charles Guard and Thomas Guard, 2009 Written by Craig Rosenberg and Doug Miro based on A TALE OF TWO SISTERS In an recent response to my original dismissal of Fox television show “FRINGE”, a reader pointed out that I should factor in the general population’s narrowed intake of Science Fiction instead of comparing [...]

Written and Directed by J.T. Petty, 2008 It took a movie about subterranean carnivores to dig me out of the sodding horror rut of spring.  I’m kind of geeking out right now, as a matter of record. The past three or so weeks have found the playlist slogged with amateur productions possessing a death grip [...]

Written and Directed by David S. Goyer, 2009 You have nothing else to do. ] Watch movie What movie would you like to watch? ] THE UNBORN Are you sure? ] Yes. I’ve heard it is pretty awful. ] Watch THE UNBORN Okay, but remember, you did this to yourself. … You are an attractive [...]

Published and Developed by Capcom, 2009 It has been about four years since the near-masterpiece RESIDENT EVIL 4 hit shelves and changed the series and the entire survival horror genre (for better or worse).  Leaps and bounds were made in terms of combat and pacing, replacing most of the puzzles and backtracking with faster paced [...]

Directed by Dennis Iliadis, 2009 Written by Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth Remakes are a funny thing.  No one asks for them.  In fact, we all complain about them.  When they’re at their worst, remakes inspire more vitriol from fans than any other breed of film within the genre.  When they’re at their best, we [...]

Written and Directed by Pascal Laugier, 2008 Watching MARTYRS is like staring into a blast furnace.  Pascal Laugier’s film is a smoldering cell of anger and heat and hate and marvel.  It’s difficult to watch head on and downright painful to endure over time.  To be honest the experience is one I hesitate to recommend.  [...]

This review is brought to you by Randy Mull, whose not even one year old son is more metal than you are.  Previous reviews: Death Magnetic, The Crucible of Man. Lamb of God Wrath Rating 6 of 10 Bonus Tracks Go to 11 It is official, with the release of Wrath, Virginia metal heavyweights Lamb [...]

Directed by Ben Rock, 2008 Written by Julia Fair, David Simkins I suppose I could listen to the audio commentary that director Ben Rock posted online not too long ago and find an answer, but I wonder if the original script for ALIEN RAIDERS bore the same title.  Even if it was intentional, a moniker [...]

Directed by Roar Uthaug, 2006 Written by Thomas Moldestad and Roar Uthaug There is an implacable aura to COLD PREY other modern slashers may not find relief in purely because it is Norwegian.  Not that Roar Uthaug’s film (top that name, by the way; I feel manlier just saying it out loud) gains any particular [...]

MY NAME IS BRUCE, Directed by Bruce Campbell, Written by Mark Verheiden, 2007 Quitting Time: 20 minutes?  Exactly when Bruce had a finger knuckle deep in his nose. Can we all just agree that MY NAME IS BRUCE doesn’t exist?  I don’t want to live in a world where this is the directorial culmination of [...]

Directed by Toby Wilkins, 2008 Written by Kai Barry, Ian Shorr SPLINTER is the most frustrating horror film of 2008.  Kair Barry and Ian Shorr’s script has interesting material, but it is Toby Wilkins direction of said sequences that makes SPLINTER borderline intolerable. I love independent horror.  I love the resourcefulness of filmmakers who ebb [...]

Directed by Marcus Nispel, 2009 Written by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift Given its pedigree, a 2009 remake of FRIDAY THE 13TH need only succeed by not disrespecting the brand.  No Jason talking, no Jason made of metal, just Jason sticking a machete (or whatever he can find) into a batch of attractive college co-eds.  [...]

Directed by Tony Giglio, 2007 Written by Daniel Kay TIMBER FALLS is an overall decent City Folk Shouldn’t Go Hiking flick with the potential to have been better were it not bookended by arguably the most over exposed horror set-up there is.  An attractive couple chipper enough to take a weekend long hike in the [...]

RED MIST, Directed by Paddy Breathnach, 2008 Quitting time: About 35 minutes in. I set out to see RED MIST purely because I wanted to know if Paddy Breathnach’s bumbling of the potentially kick ass SHROOMS was a fluke.  A movie about twenty-something’s who go out into a swamp to chew down some brain magic [...]

Directed by Patrick Lussier, 2009 Written by Todd Farmer and Zane Smith I’m not of the crowd that believes a movie – any movie, not just MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3-D – is campy or corny or popcorn or fluff and that it is a requirement of the viewer to turn off some theoretical switch in [...]

Written and Directed by Eric Red, 2008 Having just been released from the pen for murdering her abusive husband Mike, Marnie (Famke Janssen) begins her final year of servitude by way of house arrest.  Should she stray more than the titular distance from her ankle monitor’s base unit in the center of her Brooklyn brownstone, [...]

Not necessairly the most important headlines of 2008 (yes, the writer’s strike ended), rather the, “Oh, I remember that” variety.  Note there is no chronological order to the listing of these events, the majority of which are derived from the creation/cessation of various production houses with the potential to shape the horror flow for the [...]

Written and Directed by James Watkins, 2008 More and more I find myself musing, “Now normally I don’t like movies about a couple being tortured in the woods, but…” It has gotten to the point where I wonder if I do harbor some undeclared love for pieces of garbage.  Then along comes a film like [...]

Directed by Gregory Jacobs, 2007 Written by Joe Gangemi & Steven Katz It has been so long since I’ve reviewed anything, I, for a second, forgot how to format these things.  One may have grown to expect the return would bring in hand an extraordinary, hidden horror elixir.  One is now disappointed.  Congratulations!  We have [...]

Not much to say other than enjoy Part Four of Horror’s Not Dead’s 2008 Retrospective.  Wasn’t a bad year, but now that all the major titles are in it, it wasn’t, as I like to say, good sex. Part 1: January to March. Part 2: April to June. Part 3: July to September. Part 4: [...]

July to September, always anemic pre-Halloween hump for horror to get over.  Two thousand and eight twas no different. Part 1: January to March. Part 2: April to June. Part 3: July to September. Part 4: October to December. Part 5: Events. Part 6: Awards. (coming)

Not much to say other than enjoy Part Two of Horror’s Not Dead’s 2008 Retrospective, Festivus celebrating extravaganza. Oh, and Happy Kwanzaa. Part 1: January to March. Part 2: April to June. Part 3: July to September. Part 4: October to December. Part 5: Events. Part 6: Awards. (coming)

Part 1: January to March. Part 2: April to June. Part 3: July to September. Part 4: October to December. Part 5: Events. Part 6: Awards. (coming) This was fun.  I set off to do a roundup of 2008′s horror output, good and bad, and ended up with a rather nice guide, a work in [...]

Written and Directed by Nacho Vigalondo, 2007 Time travel is a hobby of mine. Well, in theory. Whether approaching it with the mind of a scientist or the mind of a storyteller, it is the ultimate logic puzzle.  The intricacies of cause and effect across multiple planes of existence, the construction (and, conversely, deconstruction) of [...]

Directed by J.T. Petty, 2006 A documentary from director/fan J.T. Petty about the underground horror world and its seedy denizens, S&MAN is a sobering look under the toenails of the biggest elephant in our room:  There is a subset of horror, ‘the kind you can’t get at Best Buy’, that is nasty, mean spirited, pushy [...]

Published by Valve, 2008 I realize there has been dearth of horror movie reviews on this site of late.  I could blame the onset of winter months, which are the weakest weeks of the year as far as horror is concerned, but that would be a scapegoat.  I was out of the country for a [...]

LEFT 4 DEAD Produced and Developed by Valve Corporation Given my recent reviews and trailer impressions, it seems only fitting a zombie apocalypse game should come around that I get to review. Being a PC gamer, there is some bias in favor of Valve and everything they make. Ask any PC Gamer and they will [...]

Directed by Danny Lerner, 2008 Written by Les Weldon I cannot review SHARK IN VENICE so much as I can form sentences under a headline that categorizes said words as a review.  Danny Lerner’s 84 minutes of strung together visuals do not qualify as a film.  To be fair, I have no clue what they [...]

Published and Developed by Capcom. 2005 I can remember when I first saw the E3 videos for RESIDENT EVIL 4. Leon Kennedy was walking in a mansion when a humanoid apparition appeared before him, chasing him out of the room. While the first videos had their freaky moments, I still sighed. The concept of ghosts [...]

Created by Charlie Brooker, 2008 “DEAD SET” may be one of my favorite horror productions of 2008 if only because it would never exist in the United States.  Shot, cast and set largely in and around the “BIG BROTHER” house in England, “DEAD SET” is a five part miniseries chronicling a zombie apocalypse whose eve [...]

Directed by Tomas Alfredson, 2008 Written by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his novel Knowing what is left to come and what has come before, I can’t imagine any film this year better equipped to touch quickened hearts, arrest lungs and widen minds than LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. There is a reason Tomas Alfredson’s film [...]

Directed by Ole Bornedal, 2007 Written by Ole Bornedal, Henrik Prip There is a lot in this world I do not have a full grasp of.  Quantum computing, fluid dynamics, the undetermined arrival of The Singularity, chirality, and John McCain.  But the angry living dead aside, there is much I have taken the reins on, [...]

Directed by David Hackl, 2008 Written by Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan Due to an obscene obligation to see every horror movie that comes out theatrically within the first week of release, SAW V has the honor of being the first of the SAW films I’ve seen in theater. Due to the obscene awfulness of [...]

Developed and produced by Capcom 2006. I have a confession.  If a game has zombies, odds are I am going to like it. If the game gives me the opportunity to shoot said zombies, odds are I am going to love it.  Thus I am lucky that Capcom loves killing zombies as much as I [...]

Directed by Patrik Syversen, 2008 Written by Patrik Syversen and Nini Bull Robsahm I am not inclined to be a fan of backwoods, hillbilly horror.  I get it.  The villains don’t live in a city, so they must be inbred.  Hur, hur.  The only thing they know how to do is live in the filthiest [...]

Directed by Gregg Bishop, 2008 Written by Joe Ballarini DANCE OF THE DEAD will charm the zombie hell out of you.  That’s a one sentence, back-of-the-box review if I’ve ever seen one.  And for the record, I have. See it, enjoy it.  ‘Tis a rather linear experiment, really.  If you do step one, you’ll arrive [...]

No, that is not a typo in the title, for the first time ever HND has multiple reviews for the same item.  Today we talk DEAD SPACE, a survival horror video game on 360, PS3 and PC from Electronic Arts.  I’ve always wanted to have multiple perspectives on the same thing run at the same [...]

Directed by John Erick Dowdle, 2008 Written by John Erick Dowdle & Drew Dowdle, based on 2007′s [REC] QUARANTINE is nothing to me but a surrogate for everything wrong with Hollywood horror.  Production began on it before [REC] had even left post-production in its native Spain, which may just be a world record for fastest [...]

Review written by R. J. Sayer, a very angry, vulgar, perfunctory but damn insightful fellow.  I’m busy as hell and rushing off to the Renaissance Festival for the day, so I haven’t even read this raving endorsement yet, but I couldn’t wait. Written and Directed by Michael Dougherty, 2008 I’m going to try and keep [...]

I know, I know.  I was supposed to have MetalsNotDead.com up for Randy by the end of September.  I done got busy.  Enjoy: Review: Metallica – Death Magnetic, by Randy Mull Rating 8.5/10 I must preface the review of this album with the fact that I’ve been a fan of Metallica since the ripe old [...]

Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, 2008 Written by Jeff Buhler; shory story by Clive Barker Theatrical delay after delay found Lionsgate dumping MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN first run in small town dollar theaters, a marketing move about as lucrative as rainbow insurance.  I’m told by Hal Masonberg, who still has a Clive Barker involved film languishing in [...]

Directed by David Smith, 2005 Written by Phil O’Shea If I’m going to keep watching such mediocre ninety-ish minutes of trapped time, I need to at least watch high concept mediocrity.  SPIRIT TRAP’s plot is as salient as a cobweb on a glass case of cobwebs nestled within a Cobweb Museum.  If that isn’t bad [...]

Written and Directed by Matthew Leutwyler, 2007 There is nothing worse than a creature feature unfit to even be considered a Sci-Fi channel original film.  Or so I thought right up to 93 minutes ago, when I elected to watch UNEARTHED on FearNET HD On-Demand.  Turns out the pain from said creature feature stings all [...]

Directed by Patrick Lussier, 2007 Written by Matt Venne I’ve never seen the Michael Keaton starring WHITE NOISE nor do I know much about it other than his wife dies and then TVs start to yell at him.  Or maybe it was his radio.  I don’t know, I just heard it sucked so I never [...]

Directed by Pil-Sung Yim, 2007 Written Pil-Sung Yim, Min-sook Kim I once suckled on the cinematic teet of Asia.  Dramas, romantic comedies, action, horror – I was all over it.  Three years later, I’m all but over it.  I wish I knew whether it was me or the movies that changed, but they just don’t [...]

I’ve prefaced this before, but just in case we’ll go around again.  A one Randall Mull, a man whose office I visit often throughout the day when trying to avoid doing work of my own, happens to have dual hobbies of metal and writing.  One day we were joking about my site, as it is [...]

Created by Alan Ball, 2008 Pilot episode STRANGE LOVE Written and Directed by Alan Ball HBO doesn’t make bad shows.  Mind you the bar may not always lock up a notch, but a bad show they’ve never put to series.  After the pilot episode, my personal jury is still out on whether they’ve raised the [...]

The first, and possibly the only, guest review(s) submitted to the site while I am away in Qatar.  Dueling thoughts below from reader Brian on the 1999 flick RESURRECTION and 2000′s CRIMSON RIVERS.  So, enjoy his straight-to-the point thoughts while I’m away. PS.  So far I’ve caught SEVERANCE and FEAST on Arabic TV, maybe the [...]

Directed by Kôji Kawano, 2007 Written by Satoshi Ôwada Do not be deceived by the title of the year: THE GIRLS REBEL FORCE OF COMPETITIVE SWIMMERS.  Do not be deceived by a cover featuring swimsuit clad girls holding baseball bats and chainsaws.  Do not be deceived when I say that GIRLS REBEL FORCE features a [...]

Directed by Alexandre Aja, 2008 Written by Alexandre Aja & Grégory Levasseur, based on INTO THE MIRROR Looking into mirrors we tend to only see our flaws reflected back.  Not me of course.  I am a fucking Adonis, but I understand the effect self inspection has on normal people.  How appropriate, then, that when we [...]

Written by Chad Helder, 2008 Art by Daniel Crosier BARTHOLOMEW OF THE SCISSORS is not your average off the shelf comic.  For one, and I suppose this should be a point of disclosure, its creator and writer is Chad Helder of Unspeakable Horror, a fellow blogging member of the League of Tana Tea Drinkers.  For [...]

Created by Tim Haines, Adrian Hodges, 2007 No, this is not a series version of the passable giant crocodile film of the same name.  “PRIMEVAL” is a British Sci-Fi series from 2007 already in its second season across the pond.  Here in the colonies, however, BBC America is just now airing the first season.  Taking [...]

Written and Directed by Edward Neumeier, 2008 I’m sure there is someone out there who is a greater STARSHIP TROOPERS fan than I, who has a replica ‘Death From Above’ tattoo on their right bicep, but this clay tablet remains; before undergoing eye surgery, I chose STARSHIP TROOPERS to be the last film I potentially [...]

Directed by John Landis, 2008 Written by Victor Salva Is it fair to say that John Landis has fallen from grace?  Judging from his episode of “FEAR ITSELF”, yes.  Yes. Far, far from grace.  Eons from grace.  Fallen through time, through space, to some twilit zone where Landis is a sleep walking, brain dead, unoriginal, [...]

Directed by John Flynn, 1994 Written by Andrew Kevin Walker, story by Brian Owens Some jackass hack named Andrew Kevin Walker has been hounding me in the comment section to review BRAINSCAN, “his 1994 mind-bending masterpiece starring Eddie Furlong”.  I’d never heard of it until old Andy poked his persistent finger in my side again [...]

Directed by Gregory Hoblit, 2008 Written by Robert Fyvolent, Mark Brinker, Allison Burnett UNTRACEABLE is 4th rate direction scattered with 2nd rate actors giving 3rd rate performances of a 5th rate script.  But until BRAINSCAN comes in from Netflix, I suppose it will suffice as something to review. A horror movie in the most watered [...]

Directed by Jonathan Levine, 2006 Written by Jacob Forman It is no secret that I’ve been tracking ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE for years now.  Literally years.  On multiple occasions I’ve lambasted Senator International for withholding the film from the US (it has not only played internationally, but is available elsewhere at retail before [...]

Written and Directed by Greg Mclean, 2007 Giant crocodile movies are a dime a dozen and for a simple reason; they’re easy.  The nature of the animal covers the majority of elements for you.  It can go on land and can vanish in the water.  Long rows of jagged teeth, scaly skin and a realistic [...]

Directed by Lawrence Kasdan 2003 Written by Lawrence Kasdan, William Goldman based on Stephen King’s novel There are people who love this movie.  Fans  of it band together like outcasts.  There are also battalions more who despise it, who wish it cancer.  Of this hate I am not unsympathetic.  Not that I actively like the [...]

Directed by Vadim Jean, 1994 Written by Vadim Jean, based on the novel by John Brosnan NIGHTSCARES opens with long pans of the exterior of an apartment building inter-cut with long holds on the faces of people sleeping. This sequence is followed immediately by Craig Fairbrass as the worst cop ever (which makes him the [...]

Directed by Ronny Yu, 2008 Written by Daniel Knauf Now here we go.  The early reviews of “FEAR ITSELF” all indicated that the show failed to kick off until episode three.  The early reviews were right.  FAMILY MAN, written by “CARNIVALE” creator and scribe Daniel Knauf, has an excellent script tailored specifically for the rise [...]

Directed by Brad Anderson, 2008 Written by Matt Venne Brad Anderson is a name that bodes much hook with me.  He is a director whose television stints on “THE WIRE” and “SURFACE” are work I’ll go out of my way to detour for, so I feel fortunate when his job falls in line with my [...]

Directed by David Winkler, 2005 Written by Adam Gross, Seth Gross The stuff found trawling through On Demand. The plot description spoke of a deadly online game. The cast list included Jensen Ackles, Shannyn Sossamon, Dominique Swain and “Bill Sadler”. The running time was 90 minutes, a perfect match for the 90 minutes I was [...]

Written and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, 2008 Last week’s Science Friday on NPR featured an interview with M. Night regarding THE HAPPENING. It wasn’t a bad interview and Shyamalan was his usual enthusiastic self, that is until host Ira Flatow asked Shyamalan if he, and I’m paraphrasing here, ‘liked the ending of his movie’. [...]

Directed by Breck Eisner, 2008 Written by Mick Garris from a Del Howison short story I am all about serialized, non-contiguous horror. I dig standalone storytelling and the familiar face bit casting, so I feel the ageless form always has a place on television. If we are judging from a first episode basis, however, that [...]

Written by Dan Simmons, 1991 There is an unexpected advantage to being my age. I’ve been around, sure, but there is still so much outside my footprint. I’ve got feelers out everywhere, normally yielding at least a geographical plotting of everything in the arena even if I never take he/she/it one on one, but from [...]

Written and Directed by Bryan Bertino, 2008 Wrong people conducting a wrong focus group comprised of more wrong people. Why else would Rogue Pictures show zero confidence in their product, relegating it to some cobwebbed shelf in a warehouse for a year and a half, letting no less than two officially announced release dates slip [...]

Written and Directed by Steven Kostanski, 2008 Einstein is back from the dead again(!) in LAZER GHOSTS 2: RETURN TO LASER COVER, a timeless 2008 sequel to Canadian auteur Steven Kostanski’s own groundvaporizing subversive classic. Our unsung hero of heroes Trance (Matthew Kennedy) is still shaken up over the death of his best friend Bennedict [...]

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