Mar 2, 2015
Exclusive Review: BEDLAM (2015) {0}
The ’60s was a time of turmoil for mental health care facilities, with many decrying the treatment of mental illness as being far more damaging than helpful. So extreme were some of these methods that many former patients banded with anti-psychiatric movements and even referred to themselves as ‘survivors.’ Whilst distorting mental patient “care” to inconceivable levels, writer/director Chew Barker’s Bedlam [Chew Barker? Isn’t that the big hairy dude from Star Wars? – Ed.] offers a disquieting firsthand account of the controversial treatment protocols many inmates endured.
Mar 2, 2015
How IT FOLLOWS Fared at the UK Box Office {0}
Critically-acclaimed horror film It Follows hit 190 UK cinemas on Friday, grossing a highly respectable £370k on its first weekend. This compares to fellow indie horror The Babadook‘s £348k from 147 screens (a slightly higher screen average), although the Australian film, which opened late October, arguably benefitted from the horror genre’s traditional Halloween bump.
Feb 27, 2015
DEMON SEEDS: 13 Must-See Horror Movies with Evil Children {0}
Everyone’s heard the horror stories: the sleepless nights, weapons-grade nappy content and sweeping life changes that happen when you bring a child into the world. Yet despite all the calamities every child brings with it, most parents wholeheartedly agree that having a baby is the best thing that could ever happen to anyone. Parenthood is always going to be an arduous task… but can you even begin to imagine what it would be like if your seemingly innocent and harmless bundle of humanity turned out to be something much more evil and sadistic?
Feb 24, 2015
Exclusive Review: THE GHASTLY LOVE OF JOHNNY X (2012) {0}
If you’re a fan of the pulpy, silly, and sometimes gruesome pop-culture throwback movies like Larry Blamire’s The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001), Andy Fickman’s 2005 rendition of Reefer Madness, last year’s comedy/horror/musical Stage Fright, or anything that could be accurately described as campy, affectionately old-fashioned, or downright “John Waters-y,” you’ll probably find a lot to like in the low-budget, high-enthusiasm concoction called The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, which was shot on the very last of Kodak’s black-and-white Plus-X film stock.
Feb 22, 2015
Review: AVENGED, aka SAVAGED (2015) {0}
If you went only from the first 25 minutes of the colorfully harsh new indie horror movie Avenged (known in the UK as Savaged), you’d probably be tempted to dismiss it as yet another effectively ugly, bleak, and unpleasant “rape / revenge” movie – but that’d be a pretty stupid thing to do. Who the hell judges a whole film on the first 25 minutes?
Feb 21, 2015
Exclusive Review: RED TRAIL 90 (2014) {0}
There’s low budget, there’s micro-budget, and there’s “drive into the woods on an ATV with nothing but a chainsaw and a few interesting ideas” budget, and it’s on that third chain of the ladder that you’ll find a weird little movie called Red Trail 90.
Feb 21, 2015
Exclusive Review: CLOWN (2015) {0}
Horror fans sure do seem to love to hate clowns, don’t we? Even those who can appreciate the “traditional” sort of clown that we see at the circus, at kids’ birthday parties, or in old-fashioned TV shows have to admit that when the lights go down, there’s something irrefutably unsettling about a clown. Especially in horror movies. From Poltergeist and Stephen King’s It to Killer Klowns from Outer Space and the recent Irish import Stitches, lots of horror film employ clowns to deliver childhood fears through a darkly amusing messenger – and the new Canadian indie known simply as Clown looks to keep those cinematic traditions alive.
Feb 20, 2015
Exclusive Review: 88 (2015) {0}
Katharine Isabelle was so good in Ginger Snaps (2000), and again in the Soska sisters’ American Mary (2012), it’s always worth keeping an eye on what she’s up to, whether it’s on the small screen (Being Human, Hannibal) or the, uh, other small screen (the Soska sisters’ disappointing See No Evil 2). Now, Isabelle gets a well-deserved starring role in the slick thriller 88, and she’s determined to fill all 88 minutes of its screen time with not one but two compelling characters.
