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 best […]

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 and fall […]

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 (non)job.  Thus […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

I normally do not introduce Sayer’s reviews, but I must say that I recommend reading this one in full. It is long; like Dirk Diggler long, but much so worth it. And for that reason I am publishing it earlier than his other reviews. That and I’ll be vacationing in Austin this […]

Written and Directed by George A. Romero, 2007
I cringe thinking it. I cringe. And yet the thought is no longer figurative, but empirical. A chain of words that have lost their requirement for a question mark at the end: George A. Romero is no longer relevant.
Cringe. I don’t think it is […]

Written and Directed by Xavier Gens, 2007
Perfect timing for me to appear hypocritical over two superficially similar French flicks. I lauded the shallow film INSIDE despite being a gore show with nary a story to tell and I am now going to proceed to, um, non-laud FRONTIER(S) for being a gore show with nary […]

Guest Review by R.J. Sayer
Directed by Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow, 1987
Written by Stephen Carpenter, Earl Ghaffari, Jeffrey Obrow, John Penney, Joseph Stefano
One of the biggest challenges to a horror geek, whether writing a review or simply describing a film to a friend who’s never seen it, is resisting the temptation to spoil shit. And […]

Written and Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein, 2007
It took three years for the world over to generate a peer to Edgar Wright’s unassailable masterpiece SHAUN OF THE DEAD. The time is finally upon us and it is with a wave of relief that I am honored to declare a heroic cohort in the horror comedy […]

Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, 2007
Written by Alexandre Bustillo
Centerfold to French horror nu-waver-cum-2007-fest-favorite INSIDE is, well, a festival of gore the crimson of which you’ve likely not seen in a while. I am normally not wont to praise a film whose visual brutality takes precedent over story, but there is an adventurous […]

Review by R. J. Sayer
Directed by Bigas Luna, 1987
Written by Eva Lesmes, Bigas Luna, Michael Berlin
Like many horror geeks, I practically grew up in Video Stores. And like many of the visitors to this site - I assume, anyway - I would spend eons in the horror section just gazing with awe at the cover […]

Directed by Albert Pyun, 2005
Written by Cynthia Curnan
This INVASION film spent years under the title INFECTION before its US DVD release. I am not sure why the name was changed. I feel that INFECTION and INVASION are both capable of referring to extra terrestrial maladies, yet neither is any more original or any […]

Directed by Danny Pang, Oxide Pang Chun, 2007
Written by Mark Wheaton, Todd Farmer
Several months ago I woke up in the middle of the night with an inexplicable (read: alcohol) sickness in my stomach that begged my digestive track to be free of its gastric prison. I awoke in that all too familiar breed of […]

Directed by Matt Cooper, Martin Kunert, David Semel, 1997
Written by Martin Kunert, Eric Manes, Matt Cooper
How does one review a piece of horror best described as cute? I’ve got no problems with CAMPFIRE TALES, which may as well be the Showtime version of “ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?”. I’m sure they had […]

Directed by Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza, 2007
Written by Jaume Balagueró, Luis Berdejo, Paco Plaza
There is a cold efficiency to [REC] that I never imagined I would admire from a film. It has no character development. None whatsoever. Zip. Zero. Nunca. [REC] is a conveyor belt horror film, a […]

Directed by Nelson McCormick, 2008
Written by J.S. Cardone
Normally if I’m going to oblige my ‘review all theatrical releases’ rule for something I care nothing about, I’ll go early Saturday morning in order to reward the film as little of my dollar as possible. This time, however, Christine, my fiance, knew from my ranting and […]

Directed by Larry Fessenden, 2006
Written by Larry Fessenden, Robert Leaver
It is only natural that out of the current political climate of buzz words and fought-over science a new niche would evolve; eco-horror. Not too much of it has hit film yet, but mark my words; it will. Unfortunately for director Larry Fessenden, THE […]

Directed by Carter Smith, 2008
Written by Scott B. Smith
I hope with desperation that THE RUINS does well at the box office. DreamWorks, Red Hour Films and Spyglass Entertainment deserve the financial reward. Carter Smith, Scott B. Smith and the film’s five producers deserve the commercial approval, which is the only approval the […]

Written and Directed by Michael Haneke, 2008
Michael Haneke is a difficult filmmaker for me to review.  The man is a dense master worthy of the Kubrick comparison ax.  He can cut a scene like no ones business and he can stretch a take to the limit and beyond.  His rapport with actors is boundless, coaxing […]

Directed by Declan O’Brien, 2008Written by Berkeley Anderson, Ron Fernandez
I’ll never forget a quiz from a geology lesson in a sixth grade science class.  One question stands out to this day; "What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?"  Faced with such a diabolical question, the girl to my left - I’ve forgotten […]

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, 2008Written by Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan
I am writing this review on my cellphone*.  Why?  Well, because my computer is upstairs and I am downstairs, but I also find no evidence to believe the screenwriters of SAW IV used a real word processor, either, so it seems an appropriate fit.  For […]

Directed by Jamie Blanks, 2007Written by Everett De Roche
I’ve been circling STORM WARNING for weeks now, always suggesting to watch it, always finding an excuse not to, often landing on the knowledge it was made by the guy who did URBAN LEGEND. The IMDb plot description did little more to muster interest, "A yuppie […]

Written and Directed by Eli Roth, 2007
Are you or have you ever been a dog owner?  Has said dog ever had problems with diarrhea?  Were you relieved when he or she returned to depositing firm mounds?  If yes, Congratulations, you can now relate to what HOSTEL: PART 2 is!
Is it appropriate to commend someone for […]

Written and Directed by David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, Dan Bush 2007
THE SIGNAL is a janitor at MIT who spends evenings with a mop in one hand and a piece of chalk in the other, casually redoing mathematical formulas on blackboards.  Except THE SIGNAL is no wunderkind.  No Ivy Leaguer should be fooled, no matter how […]

Written and Directed by Chris Gorak, 2007
I’ve always lamented that we Americans have no iconic cultural fears. Asian countries have cornered the market on ghost films because of genuine, widespread reservations about the after life and trapped spirits. Saying the word Chupacabra out loud in select Latin American countries is akin to inviting […]

Directed by Stewart Raffill, 2007Written by Ken Solarz
Put a bullet in the brain pan of any standing objectives planned for today. Obtain Croc. Netflix it. Blockbuster it. Go to Best Buy and steal it. Obtain Croc. Also obtain a platitude of alcohol of choice as well as […]

Directed by Jim Mickle, 2007Written by Nick Damici and Jim Mickle
Hand picked for last year’s After Dark Horrorfest, Mulberry Street - the epileptic feature film debut of  Jim Mickle - features rats in Manhattan biting people and, by process of an unaccountable plot, turning the infected into ‘roided up rat-esque creatures. Set in and […]

Directed by David Moreau, Xavier Palud 2008Written by Sebastian Gutierrez; original screenplay by Jo Jo Yuet-chun Hui & the Pang Brothers
I did not want to see The Eye, nor do I now particularly want to write about it. The whole thing is an issue of non-importance, like the election of School Board officials. […]

I introduce to you, intrepid and sexy reader, the Mini-Review!  We pour through quite the volume of film each week and while I’d love to write a lengthy review for everything, truth is a lot of the time the magic don’t muster.  Times it be the dreaded block of the writer, other times I can’t […]

Directed by James Oxford, 2008Written by (IMDB doesn’t even know)

I would like to pretend that I Tivo’ed this past Saturday’s Sci-Fi channel premiere film, Ghost Voyage, as a lark. Please, grant me that fantasy. Ignore the reality. Ignore that we watched this as it aired, which is to say we watched […]

Written by Stephen King as Richard Bachman, 1979

Stephen King’s publishing pseudonym was created because, presumably, the public would not accept an author who published more than one novel per year. Thus Richard Bachman was created, an alter-ego that allowed King’s market output to keep pace with the author’s throughput. Bachman was […]

Directed by S.S. Wilson, 2004Teleplay by Scott Buck

Tremors 4: The Legend begins, which is set in 1899 and still manages to star franchise stalwart Michael Gross as an ancestor of NRA loving Burt, is better than you’d expect from the third in a sporadic trickle of straight-to-DVD sequels. Take this not as […]

Directed by Matt Reeves, 2007Written by Drew Goddard

The bittersweet truth of Cloverfield is that the fans were right and the filmmakers were wrong half-right. With the materialization of a vague teaser trailer before Transformers, JJ Abrams opened the gates to an empty amusement park and proceeded to tell no one what […]

Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, 2007Written by Sergio G. Sánchez

I lost a lot of money today. For me a hitherto unprecedented amount of money. Not quite, “I’ll put that in my mouth for $5 so I can eat tonight” kind of money, rather “Fuck Apple stock, shots all around!” kind of money. […]

Directed by Francis LawrenceWritten by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman, based on the novel by Richard Matheson

The most offensive thing about the newest adaptation of Richard Matheson’s indelible classic is that it has the temerity to call itself I Am Legend. Maybe the producers considered the age of the original novel and thought no […]

Directed by Richard Schenkman, 2007Written by Jerome Bixby

In my November DVD guide I said this of The Man From Earth:
Lastly what I’m going to go ahead and call the genre release of the month.  An indie film I’ve written about before: The Man From Earth.  It is a straight Sci-Fi story with classic sensibilities to […]

Directed and Adapted for the Screen by Frank Darabont from Stephen King’s Novella, 2007

I have a tendency to be hyperbolic in immediate praise of any movie that really does something for me. As a type of critic, this is a sure flaw, but please understand that I am making a conscious effort to tone […]

Written and Directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, 2007

I imported Shutter on a whim nearly three years ago.  This was when I was going to FSU, living by myself in a one-bedroom.  More specifically, it was during a period when I was watching Asian films almost exclusively — somewhere in the neighborhood of 12+ per […]

Directed by David Arquette, 2006*Written by David Arquette & Joe Harris

The ingredients for The Tripper are indeed peculiar.  Peace loving hippies at a music festival in the deep woods, a man in a Ronald Reagan mask slaying festival goers, Thomas Jane as a police office, Paul Ruebens as the festival promoter, Jason Mewes as one […]

Directed by Ryan Schifrin, 2006Written by Ryan Schifrin, Story by James Morrison

Abominable is an unstoppable good time, the single most admirable straight-to-DVD film in years and flatly the best cryptozoological horror ever made. Supremely ambitious, never compromising personality for cheap satisfaction, Ryan Schifrin’s ripped open the cabin bound terror tale with the same fervor […]

Directed by Chukiat Sakweerakul, 2006Written by Chukiat Sakweerakul, based on the comic by Eakasit Thairatana

13 Beloved is not a horror movie.  It is a dark, brutal comedy with a plot that should fit snugly into the heart of any genre fan.  I’m not sure it has the international notoriety, yet, but I firmly believe that […]

Directed by David Slade, 2007Written by Steve Niles and Stuart Beattie and Brian Nelson

Despite all of the sub-genres, all the crossovers and all the remakes, there are only two kinds of horror films, each defined within five minutes of its run time; 1) that which opens with a brutal slaying of a character unimportant to […]

Directed by Víctor García, 2007Written by William Massa

The second viewer choice to be made during this experiment in story delivery comes when an Asian woman is trapped in a room with two nude female ghosts who stroke and surround her as if the decaying operating room they are in were nothing more than the VIP […]

Directed by Stephen Hopkins, 2007Written by Carey Hayes & Chad Hayes, Story by Brian Rousso

Remember when The Reaping kept having its release pushed farther and farther back, the studio omen that they don’t have faith in what they just bank rolled?  And then when it finally came out, everyone hated it?  Well, technically not everyone, […]

Directed by Tibor Takács, 2007Written by Eric Miller

Remember Patrick Muldoon, the douchebaggy pilot who tried to break up the star crossed love of Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards in Starship Troopers?  Ever wondered what he was up to these days?  Ice Spiders.  Yes, Ice Spiders.  Ice Fucking Spiders is what he is up to.
I […]

Created by Tim Seeley

For the past week and a half I’ve been relatively immobilized by minor surgery.  It has been a pain in the ass, quite literally as that is where a doctor created the Mariana Trench out of my flesh, but one of the advantages of being couch bound is I get to catch […]

Directed by Rob Green, 2001Written by Clive Dawson

Note: Despite that awesome cover, know there are no zombies anywhere in this film.  Unless you count the director, screenwriter and actors.
Is it law that any film with a group of people trapped in one locale must have Friedrich Nietzsche’s abyss quote as an opening title? That’s […]

Directed by Scott Glosserman, 2007Written by Scott Glosserman, David J. Stieve

The horror genre can easily be imagined as a toy crane machine.  Optimists high on past successes slide in dollar bill after dollar bill in wishful attempts to grab hold of something once again worth time and money.  Anyone controlling that seductive tri-claw of fate […]

Written and Directed by George Barry, 1977

On his new CD Werewolves and Lollipops Patton Oswalt confesses the pain Death Bed: The Bed That Eats causes him.  Not pain from watching it, but from knowing it exists.  Knowing someone not only finished a script about a bed that eats people, but that other people thought it […]

Directed by Rob Zombie, 2007Written by Rob Zombie; original screenplay by John Carpenter and Debra Hill

"Give them nothing!  But take from them everything!"
That line from 300 kept running through my sporadically idle mind while watching Rob Zombie’s Halloween.  Zombie took everything that makes Halloween work and gave nothing back.  He gave nothing to the fans […]

Written by Joe Hill, 2007

The only reason Heart-Shaped Box caught my eye was because I know Joe Hill is Stephen King’s eldest son.  This is exactly why Joesph Hillstrom King writes under a pseudonym, but this is inevitably a burden he’ll just have to deal with.  I can think of far worse weights to shoulder.
I […]

Directed by D.J. Caruso, 2007Written by Christopher B. Landon and Carl Ellsworth

There is no reason to do a song and dance around what you and I both expect Disturbia to be.  It is an unofficial Rear Window with teenagers for teenagers directed by a guy who thinks he is a teenager, using two letter abbreviations […]

Directed by Michael Katleman, 2007Written by John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris

Nature run amok.  Crocodiles going ape shit.  You’ve seen Lake Placid.  Or Crocodile.  Or Crocodile 2: Death Swamp.  Or Lake Placid 2.  Or Dinocroc.  Or Krocodylus.  Or the upcoming, unrelated, duo of Rogue and Black Water…
Point is, it seems that all these misunderstood cuties […]

In case anyone has escaped the unsolicited promotion of Indie artist Christopher Alan Broadstone’s new DVD, 3 Dead Girls, here is yet another run down: 3DG is the newly available compilation of Broadstone’s award winning short films; Scream For Me, My Skin, and Human No More.
Listed Features:

New Hi-Def Transfer of Scream for Me
11 Commentary Tracks […]

Directed by Danny Boyle, 2007Written by Alex Garland

Confession: I like Sci-Fi more than I do Horror.  Considerably more, actually, but true Science Fiction, good or bad, is also considerably rarer.   Which is why it gives me great pleasure to write about Sunshine.  Not only do I get to  talk about something different for a change, […]

Directed by James Wan, 2007Written by Leigh Whannell

Full of emptiness, Dead Silence’s script was surely scrapped together after the Saw duo decided they wanted to somehow make a movie about dummies.  They certainly didn’t set out to tell a morbid coming home story, a murder mystery or a quiet chiller.  All of those things make […]

Written and Directed by Jonathan King, 2006

Genetically engineered sheep, released inadvertently by activists, not only overrun a small Kiwi town, but any human bitten turns into some insane kind of weresheep?  Self-aware limits with a no-shame script?  Early Peter Jackson aspirations with a contemporary, Oscar winning P. Jackson’s WETA workshop doing the makeup effects?  All […]

Directed by Mikael Håfström, 2007Written by Matt Greenberg and Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski; from Stephen King’s short story

Two of 2007s most promising genre features take their cues from the short form of the Crimson King.  The Mist, directed by the proven Frank Darabont, and 1408, helmed by the relatively new Mikael Håfström.  The former […]

Written by Mark Z. Danielewski, 2000*This is a long review, I know.  Read the book.

The best way to describe the experience of putting eyes to the pages of House of Leaves is to spoil the ending of my favorite Clive Barker story; "In the Hills, The Cities".  Barker’s great short concerns a couple […]

Written and Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, 2006

Clocking in at a very trim 77 minutes, featuring only two characters (not counting the opening pair, who exist only for an introductory jolt), and hailing from the land of Haute Tension, Ils is a near plot-less exercise in sustaining the slasheresque chase for as long […]

Directed by William Friedkin, 2006Written for Stage and Screen by Tracy Letts

There is no point in delaying the inevitable conclusion.  Bug is a difficult film.  It is cinematic art at its narrowest.  This is the kind of movie that art house/Indie fundamentals are based on.  Under no circumstances will Bug ever find a wide audience.  […]

Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007Written by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Rowan Joffe & Jesús Olmo, Enrique López Lavigne

The torch has been passed.  Not just from original 28 Days director Danny Boyle to 28 Weeks director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, but from the apocalyptic consumer cannibalism of Romero’s Dead -ilogy to today’s Rage infected culture of […]

Directed by David Koepp, 2004Written by David Koepp, Stephen King

Secret Window stings me.  I like David Koepp.  I think he is a fine studio writer and, whether it is embarrassing to admit or not, had a huge impact on both my life and my likes.  Jurassic Park, to a kid my age, was a mind […]

Directed by Brian Yuzna, 1996Written by Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, Charles Finch

To me The Dentist is the straight-to-video movie.  I can’t tell if it was an actual STV release, but it is the one movie I remember seeing on video store shelves everywhere as a child and thinking to myself, "Wow, did they really make […]

Directed by David Flores, 2007Written by Todd Hurvitz, Howie Miller

I am not going to bother wasting my time writing a formal review of Lake Placid 2.  I am simply going to transcribe the first 2 minutes of the script, anything else you need to know can be extrapolated from this inspired exchange:
"Man, this lake is […]

Directed by Tony Krantz, 2007Written by Erik Jendresen

Make no mistake, Raw Feed jumped off to a forgettable start with Rest Stop.  That flick did practically nothing right (except remind that Joey Laurence was still alive) and if popular opinion is to be believed - here’s looking at you IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes - the production […]

Directed by Jason Todd IpsonWritten by Jason Todd Ipson, Chris Billett (2006)

Perhaps the most appropriate real world testament to Unrest’s multiple strengths is the fact that even with the added distraction of a dozen or so progressively louder drunk people on Friday the 13th, it still managed to be a fascinating, well acted story of […]

Written and Directed by Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror) and Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof)

I’ll not begin to pretend that I have any palpable knowledge of Grindhouses.  They mean nothing to me.  They lived and died before I even lived.  Their movies are lost to me, their directors are lost to me, their style is lost to […]

Directed by Nicholas Mastandrea, 2006Written by Robert Conte, Peter Martin Wortmann

Ah, yes, the veritable ‘college co-eds go on weekend retreat to remote cabin’ plot.  Oh how reliable you are.  Always there as a fall back when the brain is too stressed by character development to worry about setting or plot logic.
Or when you conveniently need […]

Created and Written by Gerry Duggan & Brian Posehn, 2006

I love everything about the concept of The Last Christmas.  The earth’s inevitable zombie apocalypse hits, bringing death to every corner of the globe - including the North Pole.  When a band of marauders puts a bullet in Mrs. Claus’ brain, Santa loses it.  Christmas is […]

Written and Directed by James Eaves, 2006

Glance at the above poster for The Witches Hammer and one would surely be convinced as to what kind of movie they’re getting into.  Let me further inform that it was made by a bunch of idealistic Brits who had a micro-budget.  Given these two pieces of evidence, one […]

Directed by Simon West, 2006Written by Jake Wade Wall, from the 1979 screenplay by Steve Feke and Fred Walton

I have duel confessions to make.  I will watch anything in High Definition.  It is important to understand this is the only reason I began to watch the remake of When a Stranger Calls.  A follow up […]

Written and Directed by Robert Parigi, 2003

Love Object is a movie you’re not likely to have heard of, written and directed by a guy you’ve definitely not heard of.  It is a movie that will have played best to its initial festival crowd and whose more realistic audience consists of bored people like me; too […]

Directed by Robert Harmon, 1986Written by Eric Red

The original Hitcher has a damned die hard set of enthusiasts.  People love that movie in unbelievable ways.  Twenty or thirty minutes into it, I was considering joining them.  The opening act of Red’s script is the very definition of caged intensity.  It captures the spirit of an […]

Directed by Dario Argento, 2006Written by Matt Venne, F. Paul Wilson

If you talk Italian horror you talk first and foremost of Argento and Fulici.  I confess that of the twenty odd films and television episodes that Dario Argento has directed, I’ve seen exactly 3 - and two of those are "Masters of Horror" episodes.  For […]

Directed by Jim Sonzero, 2006Written by Wes Craven, Ray Wright, Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Original film)

Pulse is dark. 
No, not morbid, but literally dark.  As in you can’t see a damned thing.  I mention this because it is the only thing you will remember about the movie.  How damned ugly it looks and how processings its 24 […]

Directed by Patchanon Thammajira, 2006

I’ve had my eye on Colic ever since its original teaser poster popped up at the HK Filmmart.  And by popped up, I mean jumped off the screen and shoved its mutilated baby arm in your face.  That poster is the greatest teaser poster ever made.  End of discussion.
A slab of […]

Directed by John D. Hancock, 1971Written by John D. Hancock, Lee Kalcheim

It is hardly a forgotten classic, thanks to its cult following, but Let’s Scare Jessica to Death never fully made its way into the popular vocabulary.  Not in the same way as some of its cohorts; Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, Last House on the […]

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, 2006Written by James Wan, Leigh Whannell

It’s a pity that the Saw franchise is the number one name associated with media claims that American horror has turned into snuff films and torture porn.  I say this not in defense of Saw’s integrity, but rather the fact that such derisive, ultimately pussyfooted […]

Directed by John Stockwell, 2006Written by Michael Ross

I’ll wander blindly out onto this lonely limb, but reflecting back on the eligible candidates Turistas is actually one of the best horror films of ‘06.  Worth note, however, is that ‘06 boiled down to a rather slim list of candidates.
Going into the flick, I didn’t think I’d […]

Directed by Jaume Balagueró 2005Written by Jaume Balagueró, Jordi Galcerán

All the natural resources ghost films mine their goods from have been plundered for years now.  Every now and then a film like Shutter can tap into a familiar vein and uncover treasure in the process, but the law of averages says that most ghosties ride […]

Written and Directed by Guillermo del Toro, 2006

Without question, Pan’s Labyrinth is the hitherto epoch of Guillermo del Toro’s objectively off-and-on filmography.  His personal tale about the innocence of a little girl amidst a world of pain is, to say the least, bursting with imagination.  Featuring not only the best makeup effects of 2006, but […]

Directed by Tom Tykwer, 2006Written by Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinger, Tom Tykwer, Patrick Süskind (Novel)

I hate to write an introductory paragraph like this.  I know there are still a crop of leftovers from 2006 I patiently await (here’s looking at you Mandy Lane, Leslie Vernon, and a Hatchet), but baring the aforementioned unseen(s), I feel […]

Directed by Eduardo Sánchez, 2006Written by Jamie Nash, Eduardo Sánchez

I don’t care what anyone says these days.  I don’t care if they pull the, "I knew it was fake" or, "You never even saw anything, just some guy standing in