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The House with the Laughing Windows: Happy Giallo-Days!
Last week, we went all in on the sexy side of giallo. The House with Laughing Windows has a darker focus. This is not your typical giallo. Because it’s light on the usual tropes and trappings, I think it often gets overlooked. It doesn’t have the style or visual drama of an Argento or Bava.…
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The Case of the Bloody Iris: Happy Giallo Days to You!
The Case of the Bloody Iris has all the best elements giallo has to offer: violence, beautiful girls, obsessed lesbians, and a crazy sex cult. Oh, and a gloved murderer in a black trench coat is murdering women in and around an apartment building. The Case of the Bloody Iris also stars genre-favorite Edwidge Fenech. While it may not…
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Krampus: The Dark Magic of Christmas
I usually don’t do Christmas horror movies, but Krampus is not Christmas. Not exactly. I don’t remember exactly when Krampus became so popular in America, but it’s been within the past maybe 15 years. (Ghoul’s note: I originally wrote this as five years because time has lost all meaning. When did I get so old?) The demon has…
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Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1: Overhated?
Ok, there are things I do not like about Stranger Things: Season 5 Part 1. I’m going to get into them in detail, but before I do, I have to say I’ve read a few more reviews than usual before watching the first four episodes. Frequently I disagree with reviewers, but this time it seems like they’re out…
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Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
I’ve gotten out of order a bit in “The Year of Slashers”, and we now find ourselves in 2006 with Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Set in a world where all our fictional slashers are real, a documentary crew follows the next would-be legend as he prepares for his killing spree. Behind…
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The Conjuring: Last Rites An Unearned End
I’ve finally gotten around to watching The Conjuring: Last Rites. I put it off because of how much I enjoyed the first two and how much I didn’t like the third. Also, due to my feelings about the real-life Warrens. Fortunately, The Conjuring: Last Rites is far better than The Devil Made Me Do It,…
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Scream: The Slasher Is Back
The Year of Slashers has brought us to the era of metacommentary with Scream. After falling into a rut with repetitive formulas and overused cliches, the slasher had fallen out of favor with all but its most die-hard fans. Wes Craven changed all that with 1996’s Scream. Scream combined tense murder mystery with dark comedy…
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Curse of the Clown Motel: Weirdly Clownless
I didn’t go into The Curse of the Clown Motel expecting it to be good. What was interesting to me was the location. The Clown Motel is a real place in Tonopah, Nevada. The idea of a horror movie set in this bizarre and fascinating location was honestly too interesting to ignore. The great thing for me is,…
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Underwater: Fun Without Physics.
Underwater is not a slow-burn movie. More “Fi” than “Sci”, this underwater thriller and creature movie starts with a seven-mile-deep underwater research facility imploding. Underwater does a lot right if you’re not too hung up on things like physics and realism. Which, considering what kind of creature is lurking at the bottom of the ocean, maybe realism could…
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Guts & Glory: Is this for real?
We are way overdue for a horror-themed reality show, but Guts & Glory somehow misses the mark. Not in the actual competition, but the technical details. Yes, I’m going to talk about pacing and narrative. They are just as important in reality TV as in fiction. Maybe more so. The “Real” in Reality By now,…