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The Woman in the Yard: Mixed Messages
The Woman in the Yard is a hard movie to talk about without getting into spoilers, but I’m going to try my best. While recovering from a car accident that killed her husband and injured her leg, Ramona and her 14-yr. old son Trey and 6-yr. old daughter Annie are trapped in their farmhouse by a mysterious…
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Halloween: Evil Never Dies
There are thirteen movies in the Halloween franchise. An impressive feat for any IP, but even more so for one that started with a budget of $300,000. The first movie went on to make $70 million on release, and so much more in merch and licensing since then. Halloween became not just a hit, but a cultural phenomenon. Micheal…
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Dog Soldiers: Old Monster New Tricks
I hate the term “guilty pleasure”, but Dog Soldiers might be mine. It combines a lot of tropes and genre standards I love with great werewolf designs, and plenty of gore and action. It’s not “elevated horror”, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun. There are also a few surprises to keep the standard “elite soldiers…
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Insidious: Worth the Wait?
Somehow, I missed Insidious when it first came out. It released in 2010, which was a big year for my personal and professional life, so new movies were not a priority. Now that I’ve finally made time for it, I can see why audiences embraced it. Insidious is a clever blend of a haunted house story, family horror, and children…
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Black Christmas: Establishing the Slasher Template
Another strong contender for “first” slasher, 1974’s Black Christmas gets credit for many of the tropes that the golden age of slashers was best known for. The cynical use of a holiday, archetypal young women in danger, and well-used killer POV shots; while novel at the time, these quickly became standard. There is one major standard that I’m…
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Last Night at Terrace Lanes: Split Between Two Audiences
I let H3 chose today’s movie, and between “zombie aquarium” and “slasher at a bowling alley”, Last Night at Terrace Lanes was the clear winner. It’s a horror comedy best described as, “a teen teaming up with her dad to take on a cult that has invaded a bowling alley”. Interestingly, while the official blurb describes the father as…
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My Hero Academia: Subtle Body Horror and The Cost of Power
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m still learning the greater lore of My Hero Academia. On the surface, it looks like a typical shonen superhero show. So, I was pleasantly surprised by the skin-crawling body horror that permeates every episode. Especially considering the younger demographic the show seemed to be aiming for. After watching…
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Starve Acre: Some Things Should Stay Buried
I’m on a bit of a folk horror kick, so Starve Acre immediately caught my attention. Every year around this time, I start getting a craving for dark stories of people where they shouldn’t be, messing with forces of nature they don’t understand. This one is based on a novel, and stars Matt Smith, so I was immediately…
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The Slumber Party Massacre: Happy Women’s History Month
Intended and written as a parody of slasher movies by Rita Mae Brown, The Slumber Party Massacre director Amy Holden Jones made the brilliant decision to film the movie as seriously as possible. The result is a campy, and at times hilarious, take on the genre filtered through the eyes of underrepresented demographic: women. Specifically, well-written women.…
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A Bay of Blood: Bava at His Best.
There is a lot of debate over the “first” slasher, and A Bay of Blood gets brought into the discussion for good reason. Packed full of moody, tense atmosphere, brutal kills, and plot twists, it’s one of Bava’s more controversial films. Critics were put off by the excessive gore and weak plot, especially when compared to his…