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Class of 2023: The Best Horror Movies of the Year
My yearly wrap-up discusses the best and most interesting horror movies of 2023.
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Review: Thanksgiving (2023)
I saw Grindhouse in a crowded theater in 2007, and let me tell you: that shit played. It didn’t make a lot of money, but the pulpy Rodriguez-Tarantino double feature invited a nearly constant clamor from the audience—and this was no less true during the film’s handful of riotous spoof trailers. Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving is…
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Review: Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood
Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood declares in an opening text that it is not a snuff film. But people have still mistaken it for one.
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Review: When Evil Lurks (2023)
Demián Rugna’s newest film (When Evil Lurks) is a ferocious and fresh take on the possession genre.
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Review: Maximum Overdrive (1986)
In Stephen King’s long and prolific career, he has directed exactly one film. When asked why he never directed more, he responded: “Just watch Maximum Overdrive.” The logline, dreamed up near the zenith of King’s infamous cocaine addiction, is this: when earth drifts through the tail of a passing comet, all machinery on the planet…
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Review: Lust for a Vampire (1971)
In the shadows of the (seemingly) deserted Castle Karnstein, a 19th century finishing school for young women is about to experience more than its fair share of titillating drama. Forty years after the events of 1970’s The Vampire Lovers, the vampiric Count and Countess Karnstein resurrect their beautiful daughter Carmilla (Mircalla, played by Yutte Stensgaard),…
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Review: Sharksploitation (2023)
If Peter Benchley could do it all again, he wouldn’t. Or at least, he’d do it differently. The author of “Jaws” could never have foreseen the massive success of his book and its 1975 blockbuster adaptation, or the robust cottage industry of “sharksploitation” films that followed in its wake. And while Steven Spielberg’s tremendously popular…
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Class of 2022: Top 10 Horror Movies of the Year
We are closing the books on 2022, and one thing is clear: horror movies are mainstream. This can and often does come with its own problems (just look at comic movie fandom), but overall it would seem to be good news for horror fans and filmmakers. Genre films continue to show impressive box office resilience…
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Review: Prey (2022)
In the newest entry into the Predator franchise, Comanche warrior-to-be Naru (Amber Midthunder) must outwit and survive a frighteningly advanced predator—a solitary Yautja, plopped down into her North Plains territory for a weekend of invigorating sport hunting. But before Naru could embark on her kühtaamia (a rite of passage for presumptive Comanche hunters), Prey had…
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Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Past, Present & Future of a Lost Franchise
I am sitting down today to write about horror movies and finding it hard to get started. The world seems caught in a cataclysmic shitstorm of patriarchal White supremacist fascism and capitalist-fueled climate collapse. The pandemic death toll continues to rise as a vocal minority of bigots and science-deniers defend their right to be indefensible…