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 film difficult [...]

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 book.  That [...]

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 was the [...]

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. And yet [...]

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 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 likes [...]

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 like it when [...]

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 not [...]

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 Bruce McDonald [...]

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.  Having Jason [...]

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 their brain [...]

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 got around [...]

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 two, the [...]

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 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 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 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 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 [...]

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 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 [...]

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 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 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 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 by Michael Crichton, 2006

You may be wondering why I’m reviewing a Michael Crichton book on a horror website.  The man writes almost exclusively in the vein of corporate thrillers based around some wacky, out of control, fringe science of the very near future.
Well, if you must know, I happen to like wacky, out of [...]

Written and Directed by Billy O’Brien, 2005

Isolation opens aptly with moody, mysterious circumstances surrounding the imminent delivery of a calf on a remote farm in Ireland.  Orla, the sole vet tending to the pregnancy, is performing one of what will prove to be several armful uterus probings, when there is a crunching sound prompting an [...]

Directed by Brad Anderson (2006)Written by Brad Anderson based off Mike O’Driscoll’s short story

Brad Anderson – the guiding hand behind Session 9 and The Machinist – has seemingly developed a crush on showing middle aged men in increasing states of mental disrepair.  If it weren’t for his television work on shows with continuity linked episodes [...]

Directed by Mike Mendez, 2006Written by Brad Keene, Chris Skinner

Finally a movie that reminds horror of the fact that ghosts don’t have to be Asian with long black hair to get your blood pumping.
Dominic Purcell plays Harris, the dull spearhead of a group of old college buddies reunited by a friend’s funeral.  With a few [...]

Directed by Nacho CerdàWritten by Nacho Cerdà, Karim Hussain, Richard Stanley

The Abandoned is a visceral, vein expanding experience.  Acclaimed short film director Nacho Cerdà’s feature length debut possesses qualities either extinct or seldom seen in American horror productions, especially those with studio backing.  Elaborate, cold visuals of isolation, decrepitude, murder, and undead doppelgangers.  The sound [...]

Written by Steve NilesArt by Ben Templesmith

When it comes to horror movies, I may not be the authority, but I like to imagine I can lay the law down with the best of ‘em.  When it comes to horror graphic novels, I’m a preschooler wearing a toy badge.  As nerdy as I am, I’ve no [...]

Directed by Stuart Gordon, 1986Written by Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, Brian Yuzna, based off H. P. Lovecraft’s story

Of all H.P. Lovecraft adaptations – in and out of Stuart Gordon’s hand – From Beyond is perhaps the most successful.  However, first, a qualifier.  I don’t think any director has ever captured the true essence of Lovecraft.  [...]

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, 2005Written by Chad Hayes, Carey Hayes, Charles Belden (story)

Pull the trigger, I accept the bullets openly. 
House of Wax taint half bad.  On a fair day, it may even be considered half good.  The combo weights of being an unnecessary remake at the height of remake hysteria and casting Paris Hilton [...]

Directed by Dave Payne, 2005

I chose a Spanish DVD copy of Dave Payne’s long overdue Reeker as the first film of last week’s Friday the 13th horrorthon.  Due to technical difficulties there wasn’t much of a thon going on, but in retrospect it wasn’t a complete bust because Reeker was, perhaps, the most fun I’ve [...]

Written by Christopher Alan Broadstone, 2003

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to the literary side of the genre, but irregardless if I can’t cite every dark fantasy culled up by Clive Barker (and I’ve no doubt the man has come up with [...]

Directed by Jake West, 2005

Take a look at Brit Jake West’s IMDB profile and you’ll notice he is the director and editor of over a dozen documentaries on horror film icons, so it should come as no surprise when I say that his latest film, Evil Aliens, is overloaded with what probably amounts to the [...]

Directed by Christopher Alan Broadstone

In my experience, short films are a very mixed bag.  They’re tough to write, they’re tough to direct and a good one is tough to find.  More often than not, short films – especially those from students just entering film school – are laden with pretentious imagery and utterly incoherent storytelling [...]

Directed by Don Michael Paul, 2006

In the realm of direct-to-DVD horror, The Garden is a unique find for a multitude of reasons.  Lance Henriksen is the most obvious motivation for any genre fan to watch this contemporary but isolatory tale of good versus evil.  However, not only does the rest of the cast pull their [...]

Directed by Jeff Wadlow, 2005

I hate to describe films as X meets Y, but Jeff Wadlow and Beau Bauman’s script for Cry_Wolf owes its family tree to too many films for it to go unmentioned.  This is Scream meets Mindhunters, as introduced to each other by Cruel Intentions, who was flirting with Wild Things, who [...]

Directed by David Slade, 2005

Hard Candy is not strictly a horror film, but it will mess you up more than any genre movie you’ll see this year and is thus deserving of a spot on this here horror site.  If all you know about the film is what you’ve seen from the trailer, you’ll expect [...]

Directed by Takashi Miike, 1999

Even though it’s only seven or so years old, Audition is almost a legendary film already.  It doesn’t have a mainstream following yet, but it’s the kind of viral movie that one of your friends sees and then says, "Dude, you’ve GOT to see this one Japanese movie!  It’s so fucked [...]

Directed by Douglas McKeown, 1983

You know the drill by now.  Meteor meets Earth.  Slimy slugs with horrible teeth come out to say hello.  This time around, though, there’s no bodily possession (read: Night of the Creeps and Slither ), just plain body chomping carnage.
And as meteor smashing, alien creature features go, The Deadly [...]

Directed by Dario Argento, 1977

Dario Argento is a mad man with a camera. I’m no psychologist, or psychiatrist, or scientist, or any kind of -ist for that matter, but I’m pretty sure that if you could record the world through the eyes of a crazy person it would look exactly like Suspiria.
If you do [...]

Directed by Takashii Miike, 2005

The wait is over. The UK branch of Bravo had the balls Showtime didn’t and aired Takashi Miike’s ‘banned-because-it-was-too-graphic’ episode of Masters of Horror, titled Imprint. So the main question is, “Did it deserve the controversy?”
Yes and no. I can understand why Showtime would want to preempt any [...]

Directed by Fabrice Du Welz, 2004

I’m at a loss for words when it comes to properly describing the Belgian gem of filmmaking that is The Ordeal. Though the term is so generic these days, the best way to put it is simply to call it ‘art house horror’. Welz’s film is a remarkably surreal experience [...]

Directed by James Gunn, 2006

James Gunn’s directorial debut does not fail to live up to its own hype. It is a creature feature as only a Troma veteran can deliver. If you’re at this site, you don’t need me to sell you on Slither. You don’t need me to pitch the plot [...]

Directed by Clive Barker, 1990

The ’80s/early ’90s were easily the glory days of horror. It was a time when true imagination was on the screen. Material actual felt original back then. It didn’t feel processed. It didn’t feel engineered. It felt right.
Even the sequels felt original. I’ll take a [...]

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, 2005

I appreciate the original Saw for drawing enough crowds to turn Lions Gate a very solid profit, but that’s about it. I think it was a worthless movie which showed absolutely zero promise for James Wan as a filmmaker and exposed him as nothing more than a gimicky screenwriter. [...]