No One Lives (Film Review)
For almost three straight decades and counting, no subgenre in the horror lexicon has been as abundantly tread and unashamedly repetitive as the slasher film. Through a paint-by-numbers formula, regressively thin storytelling framing and character cannibalization, the amount of unique takes available to the slasher subgenre is dwindling or, worse yet, becoming irrelevant to modern audiences with each passing year. And yet, in the off-chance that a unique possibility is presented to challenge the understanding of the subgenre for a whole new generation, much like Wes Craven did with Scream or Adam Green did with Hatchet, the producers of said…
The Forgotten Writings of Bram Stoker (Book Review)
Bram Stoker. For horror fans the name immediately conjures up images of Dracula and perhaps “The Lair of the White Worm” and “The Jewel of Seven Stars”. In The Forgotten Writings of Bram Stoker, the emphasis is on the author’s softer side; a side that is revealed to be a profound aspect of the nature of the man. He is depicted as a devoted friend; a fierce defender of those he admires; a romantic sentimentalist. All this is based primarily on his own writings and reflections, as well as documents from the period in which he lived. The big question…
Onibaba (Blu-Ray Review)
Details Director: Kaneto Shindo Starring: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura Type: B&W Year: 1964 Language: Japanese Length: 103 min Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Resolution: 1080p Audio: Japanese: LPCM 2.0 Subtitles: English Rating: BBFC: 15 Disks: 1 Region: B Label: Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray Rating: Film: Video: Audio: Extras: In the collective memory of horror aficionados, it’s easy to believe that each offering to the blood stained horror altar is a gory spectacle of fright. However, it is important to look back and remember how far the genre has come, and Onibaba (translated into English as Demoness), directed by Kaneto Shindo, is…
Knightriders (Blu-Ray Review)
Details Director: George A Romero Starring: Ed Harris, Patricia Tallman, Tom Savinni Type: Color Year: 1981 Language: English Length: 145 min Aspect Ratio: 1.84:1 Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Resolution: 1080p Audio: English: LPCM 2.0 Subtitles: English SDH Rating: BBFC: 15 Disks: 2-Disk Set (1 BD + 1 DVD) Region: B Label: Arrow Films Not to be confused with the ‘80s TV show starring David Hasselhoff, George Romero’s sadly neglected cult epic Knightriders has finally seen the light of day, coming to Blu-ray from Arrow Films on April 22nd. Written and directed by Romero and filmed in his beloved Pittsburgh, this is one…
Kiss of the Damned (Film Review)
Of all the shots in Kiss of the Damned, one recurs. An overhead view of a winding staircase, in Djuna’s (Josephine de La Baume) stately half-mansion is seen twice: the first time, we find nothing but empty space at the floor beneath it; the second time it appears, we find Djuna and Paolo (Milo Ventimiglia) looking up toward the ceiling as they fill the space. Djuna is a vampire, Paolo a screenwriter and human. The first glance shared between them is enough to seal their fate as lovers; it doesn’t once occur to Paolo that a life of vampirism is…
Sightseers (Film Review)
Ben Wheatley’s new film Sightseers is a welcome return to form for him, after the promising but rather disjointed Kill List (2011). Sightseers is that rare bird: a comedy so dark that it teeters on the edge of not being funny at all, and yet somehow manages to come out swinging. It’s funny, it’s wicked and it’s oddly touching. It may be the best comedy so far this year. Tina and Chris (Alice Lowe and Steve Oram) are a couple of 30-something misfits who have finally found love and decide to escape Tina’s deranged mother, indulging in a uniquely British pastime:…
V/H/S/2 (Film Review) [Tribeca Film Festival]
It’s funny how quickly the mind is willing to quit analyzing a movie when it’s actually scary. Last year, V/H/S, a film widely lauded as the game-changing horror anthology, milked the minutiae of the found-footage subgenre dryer than each bore-and-snore-inducing Paranormal Activity film combined. And, because it forced audiences to commit their attention to ineffectual non-events shot with insufferable faux-shaky cam, V/H/S’s general nastiness and casual misogyny seemed to take center stage; the film’s most problematic aspects seemed more interesting to discuss than its attempt to reinvent its tropes of choice. But here’s the thing about its sequel, V/H/S/2: it’s…
The Machine (Film Review) [Tribeca Film Festival]
Welsh writer/director Caradog James’s second feature, The Machine, asks its audience a difficult question: in an age of artificial intelligence, what does being “human” really mean? While The Machine, like its namesake in the film, functions well enough—like a diluted Blade Runner or Minority Report — its narrative and character development are completely robotic. James’s film may be able to deliver a clever imitation of a great story, but it lacks the depth to do anything more. For all its high production value, it’s a pretty face with no soul. Dr. Vincent McCarthy (Toby Stephens), a computer expert working underground —literally—…
Mr. Jones (Film Review) [Tribeca Film Festival]
Karl Mueller wrote last year’s truly awful apocalypse flick The Divide, directed by Xavier Gens, which posited that when the chips are down, 99% of people will turn into slavering, sub-human monsters. Incisive stuff. Now he’s back with his directorial debut, Mr. Jones, which boasts a much more interesting setup. Scott and Penny (Jon Foster and Sarah Jones), an artsy young couple with marriage problems, repair to the desert so Scott can focus on finishing a nature documentary, only to discover that they’re living next to a famously reclusive artist, Mr. Jones. As they investigate Mr. Jones’s reputation (inscrutable; possibly…
Blood for Irina (Film Review)
There are several distinct motifs permeating Blood for Irina, the film debut of Fangoria Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Alexander – visceral images of blood, of course, being the primary operative in this intimate glimpse at the abject loneliness of its vampiric protagonist. Blood-stained drains are also a significant symbolic component of the film, one which finds bloodsucking Irina (Shauna Henry) in the midst of her own descent, spiraling downward over decades of feeding on hapless victims. Door knobs and neon exit signs seemingly point her toward a sad finality, one she may welcome after lifetimes of predatory behavior. Irina, victimized by…
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May 7, 2013 at 6:19 pm 
Jacob Burman No way, this is coming out on blu-ray? Might have to get my mother this.
May 9, 2013 at 9:58 am