Reviews

Reviews, anecdotes, and the like related to Halloween, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, or the bizarre.

[Guest Posts]

Why Doesn’t Open Water Get the Respect it Deserves?

I just rewatched Open Water, and felt like talking about how great and underappreciated I think it is. How anyone can watch this movie and not find it to be wholly terrifying is beyond me, yet it holds a sad 32% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes (despite having a much more respectable 72% on the

[Reviews]

Revisiting Insidious Chapter 2: Crazy Mythology for the Win

When Insidious was released back in 2011, the general consensus was that the first half of the film was incredibly effective while the second half was a little too silly for its own good. Indeed the movie does take a turn for the relatively goofy once a couple of bumbling ghost hunters are introduced, and

[Reviews]

Movie Review: How to Save Us (2014)

Jason Trost is endlessly fascinating; both as a person and as a filmmaker. Known for his iconic (used for necessity not as a fashion statement) eye patch and smoldering good looks, Trost is a member of a somewhat cinematic dynasty.  His brother Brandon Trost is an accomplished cinematographer, their sister Sarah Trost, is a costume

[Reviews]

Movie Review: Nightlight (2015)

There’s currently no type of horror movie that fans are more tired of than the found footage film, which has been dominating horror cinema for just a tad bit too long now. Sub-genre pioneer The Blair Witch Project was released more than 15 years ago, and it’s a sad reflection of the genre’s inherent unoriginality

[Reviews]

Franchise Flashback: Poltergeist 3 (1988)

Though it’s by no means a great sequel, Poltergeist 2 had at least a few good things going for it. For one, it was co-written by the same guys who wrote the first film (minus, of course, the input of Steven Spielberg), and it also brought all of the surviving stars back. As a result,

[Reviews]

Franchise Flashback — Poltergeist 2: The Other Side (1986)

Released in 1982, Poltergeist was the eighth highest-grossing film of that year, which means only one thing in the world of Hollywood: a sequel was inevitable, whether one was warranted or not. Surprisingly, it took MGM four years to put out Poltergeist 2, haunting theaters in 1986. And the wait, as is all-too-often the case

[Reviews]

Poltergeist (1982): The Ultimate Family-Friendly Horror Film

We’re just a few days away from the theatrical release of Poltergeist, a big screen remake that we somehow managed to avoid for a whole lot longer than most. Whereas Tobe Hooper directed and Steven Spielberg produced the original, this time around Gil Kenan (Monster House) directed while Sam Raimi produced, lending the film a

[Reviews]

Movie Review — Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

There’s a reason the name George Miller immediately puts a smile on the faces of so many movie lovers, and that’s because there’s something singularly special about the films he has brought into our lives. The Aussie filmmaker is of course known for the Mad Max trilogy, and this year he returns to inject a

[Reviews]

Anthology Rank: Body Bags (1993)

The year was 1993. With HBO knocking the horror anthology format straight out of the park with their EC Comics-based series Tales from the Crypt, competing network Showtime wanted their slice of the proverbial pie. And so they developed Body Bags, originally intended to be a television series that would deliver weekly tales of horror.