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Child’s Play : A Family Affair
Growing up with Chucky One of my earliest memories is watching Child’s Play with my mother. In a lot of ways, she taught me what not to be afraid of. How horror movie monsters weren’t real, and actually kind of funny. Mom had strong feelings about Chucky. Specifically, she could easily take him out. As my mother is about…
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Happy Death Day: H3 Tries a Slasher
I was going to cover Happy Death Day in neo-slashers. Since horror comedies seemed to be of interest to H3, it got bumped up on the list. If you’re not familiar, Happy Death Day delivers its slasher formula with a helping of Groundhog Day. Time Loops Like all good time-loop movies, the first act is mostly devoted to establishing what…
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Tucker and Dale vs Evil: an H3 Halloween Review
Every October, H3 watches one horror movie each week; Tucker and Dale vs Evil is this year’s first selection. Since this is a movie I’ve seen and love, this review will be in part about his reaction, from a non-horror fan’s perspective. As much as I say I don’t like horror comedies, I keep finding ones to recommend.…
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V/H/S: Halloween: Not My Year.
Since 2021, the V/H/S franchise has become part of my annual Halloween traditions. This year we get V/H/S: Halloween. As expected, all the found footage shorts revolve around Halloween. Like the other installments before it, there are highs and lows. Sadly, this year was one of the weaker entries. Short films can be hard to do. There is a…
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Night of the Reaper: Cozy Retro Murder Mystery
The retro-styled Night of the Reaper hits a lot of the right notes. There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned babysitter slasher. Especially one that’s lightly Halloween themed. From the beginning, Night of the Reaper sticks to a solid strategy: simple story, complex characters. The Story: A masked killer is terrorizing the residents of a small town before Halloween…
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Howl-O-Scream: The Year of the Wolf
After an amazing first trip out to Howl-O-Scream last year, H3 and I made the trip back out to Busch Gardens Williamsburg again. The marketing and early reviews seemed a bit subdued, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. But, any Halloween event is a good time, right? Generally, yes. The good of Howl-O-Scream was…
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Viking Wolf: Big Wolf, Few Vikings.
Werewolf stories may be one of my all-time favorite genres. The conflict between civilized man and inner beast has so many applications. From the original that tackled themes of the modern world versus our traditions and instincts, to Ginger Snaps, a brilliant film that puts a werewolf lens on the struggles of being a teen…
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The Long Walk: A Discussion on The Book
When I was younger, probably too young, The Bachman Books by Steven King was one of my favorite books. If you aren’t familiar with it, the original editions of this book collected four short novels by King. These are Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork and The Running Man. Bachman was a bit of an experiment for King. He wanted to find out if his…
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Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid- meh.
In 2005, Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid was nominated for a Golden Raspberry for Worst Remake or Sequel. It lost to Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. In a different year, it may not have even been nominated. It’s a perfectly fine movie, if just one you’d expect to see on the Sci-Fi Channel on a Saturday afternoon.…
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Mutilator 2: A different kind of sequel.
Mutilator 2 is low budget horror movie about making movies. By now, you should know how much I love this kind of horror movie. Like so many movies of this kind, it’s equal parts commentary on the process of filmmaking and horror at the same time. It’s pretty low budget and the acting, editing, and production values…