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Jason and Friday the 13th: Loving the Imperfect
Friday the 13th is my favorite slasher franchise. It’s the perfect combination of homemade horror and nostalgia. For reasons I can’t fully remember, Freddy was my older brother’s favorite movie monster. Since I’m the little sister, I had to pick a different killer. 10-year-old me went with Jason. A choice I’ve stuck with for over 30 years.…
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Go Away: A Slasher Made with Love
I met some of the team behind Go Away at Mad Monster Party. Slasher 15 specializes in a homegrown brand of slasher-based, horror comedy. They were fantastic to talk to and what they’ve accomplished with their micro-budget productions is impressive. I’ve written before about how I fully admit to having different standards for reviewing true indie horror and Go…
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Werewolves: How Bad Could It Be
I’ll admit, I had heard not-so-glowing reviews of Werewolves before renting it. Then I saw Lou Diamond Phillips was in it and hit the “rent now” button anyway. Nostalgia is a hell of a thing. It’s always interesting watching a movie that others have been so hard on. Most of the time I can find something to love,…
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April Fool’s Day: The Slasher That Isn’t
On paper, April Fool’s Day seems like a fantastic idea. It’s an early deconstruction of the slasher genre inspired by Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”. While the murders and motivation may be different, the movie does focus on a group trapped on an island only accessible by ferry. Where it falls apart is in the final moments…
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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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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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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…