DVD
Hostile
Whenever Xavier Gens’ name pops up in the opening credits of a film, I wonder what awful shit I’m about to be subjected to. Not that he’s a bad director, or the quality of his stuff is ever awful, it’s just that he has a habit of dispensing, or putting his name to, films which dispense […]
Saint Maud
Saint Maud, from director Rose Glass, finds religious obsession and psycho-sexual horror on the Whitby coast. The film is a surprisingly underhanded showcase for debut director Glass, not to mention her crew of British talent. Following in the footsteps of DePalma and Friedkin, the latest genre offering from A24 follows the studio’s penchant for quietly […]
Body Melt
In the 80’s and 90s Australian TV cranked out some of the most intense public service announcements released anywhere on the globe. The aim? To scare the living shit out of any potential drug users and drunk drivers. Philip Brophy’s 1993 horror film Body Melt takes a page out of the anti-drug PSA’s book and savages the […]
The Invisible Man
Of all the classic Universal Monster movies, The Invisible Man is debatably the most terrifying. Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolfman are prey to thier own ghastly conditions, often painted as sympathetic figures. The Invisible Man however, based on the seminal sci-fi novel by H.G.Wells, is a different matter altogether. His discovery of an invisibility serum marks him a genius but […]
Countdown
Peruse some lists of fan-favourite genre flicks from 2019 and Justin Dec’s Countdown pops up regularly. Not high on the list, but consistently enough to tickle interest. Dec’s debut feature film won’t wow the sort of people who crawled apoplectic from screenings of Us and Midsommar, but it’s got enough insidious charm to please the friday night fright-lovers. In today’s app-strewn world, […]
Child’s Play (2019)
Lars Klevberg’s Child’s Play remake was crazy controversial on announcement. Understandable when Don Mancini, original Child’s Play creator and producer, is still writing and directing Chucky films. The latest, Cult of Chucky, got a lot of love on release last year, whilst pre-emptive buzz around the remake was fairly negative. However, Klevberg and co have […]
Satanic Panic
Directed by Chelsea Stardust from a story by Ted Geoghegan and a script by Grady Hendrix (Mohawk), Satanic Panic is a refreshingly daft horror comedy steeped in Satanic imagery. Its occult entertainment for The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina generation. Geoghegan’s story sports the self-aware nostalgia he first flaunted back in We Are Still Here, but […]
3 from Hell
Fourteen years ago Rob Zombie unleashed The Devil’s Rejects on unsuspecting horror audiences. The film was a hit and a major departure from the Tobe Hooper brand of theatrical nostalgia he flaunted in his debut project House of 1000 Corpses. Now, 14 years later, Zombie has returned to complete the story of the nefarious Firefly […]
Hellboy (2019)
Neil Marshall’s Hellboy flopped hard at the box office back in April. And it really didn’t deserve to. Off the back of a $50,000,000 budget, the film only took an estimated $48,000,000 worldwide, essentially ensuring the franchise won’t see the light of day for an awful long time. When Marshall’s adaptation was announced, it was […]
Halloween (2018)
The buzz around David Gordon Green’s Halloween has been insane. Fresh blood behind the lens, the blessings of franchise instigator/genre icon John Carpenter, and the return of Jamie Lee Curtis to a role that launched her career back in 1978. If you ignore Rob Zombie’s remake and it’s sequel,
