“The basis of all true cosmic horror is violation of the order of nature, and the profoundest violations are always the least concrete and describable.” – H.P. Lovecraft, Selected Letters III “There are no secrets about the world of nature. ...
Read More »The Politics of the Bizarre: the comically strange, strangely comic, and surreal world of Walerian Borowczyk’s Short Films and Animation
There is a good chance that many of you reading this know of Walerian Borowczyk by his erotic, controversial 1974 feature, Immoral Tales—with a smaller subset of you who are probably also aware of his earlier features and shorts. However, ...
Read More »The Device Aims to Revive Alien Horror
With the advent of the Space Race in the 1950’s, the notion of extraterrestrial life has since become an enormous contributing theme in the dimension of science fiction film. Popularized by titles including The Day the Earth Stood Still, Star Wars, and Alien, ...
Read More »One Mama, No Papa, and THE BABADOOK in Jennifer Kent’s Must-See Horror Fable
There is a mirror at the foot of Amelia’s (Essie Davis) staircase in The Babadook, a new psychological horror fable from writer-director Jennifer Kent. But it isn’t used to startle us with spontaneous sightings of ghosts or homicidal stalkers, or ...
Read More »12 Films/Shows to Cure Your End of the Summer Blues
And just like that, another summer’s over. For some, this means looking for the nearest bag of leaves to kick over – awww, rats – in Charlie Brown-esque fashion. Can you blame them? Nine months of crummy weather, holidays spent ...
Read More »Top 10: Stephen King Adaptations
From his modest beginnings in the great state of Maine, to his first novel, Carrie, which has led to a lucrative writing career, author Stephen King has become as much a part of the popular culture as Saturday Night Live ...
Read More »Will Casey La Scala’s “faith-based” film, The Remaining, find secular appeal? (Interview)
At this point in time, despite there being a rich history of films within the horror genre that rely on Christian ideology as a starting point, few horror films have purported to be “faith-based.” Faith is often a place of ...
Read More »Jodorowsky’s Dune: How an Obsession Turned into an Award-Winning Documentary
At Fantastic Fest 2013, a certain film captivated crowds, winning both Best Documentary and Audience Choice Award. Directed by Frank Pavich and produced by Pavich, Stephen Scarlata, and Travis Stevens (among others), Jodorowsky’s Dune reads as the ultimate heartfelt love ...
Read More »Feature Interview: Creative Director Gino Acevedo (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)
CGI, or computer-generated imagery, has come a long way since its debut over forty years ago. Arguably beginning with Michael Crichton’s 1973 sci-fi western, Westworld, CGI has now entrenched itself firmly in cinema’s history. While Industrial Light & Magic has ...
Read More »We Scare Because We Care!: The Mysterious Motivation for Maniacal Scare-Actors
On the spectrum of emotions, fear can be defined under numerous veils. It can range from phobias, to generalized anxieties, to literal jump-out-of-your-seat terror in the context of the horror genre. For some, fear is just an emotion; for others, ...
Read More »