Contamination (1980)
Filed Under Italian, Monsters, Movies, Nasties, Sci-fi | Leave a Comment
Considering how closely intertwined science fiction and horror are, it’s surprising how few films successfully keep one foot in each genre. Most people would agree that Ridley Scott got the hybrid formula down to a tee with Alien; at the very least, director Luigi Cozzi thought so, which goes some way towards explaining why Contamination turned out the way it did. Read more
The Evil Dead Trilogy (1981-1993)
Filed Under Classics, Comedies, Movies, Nasties, Series, Zombies | Leave a Comment
The Evil Dead trilogy confounds expectations in all sorts of ways. At the most basic level, it’s not really much of a trilogy: an original film, a remake of that film and a third instalment that wilfully contradicts the first two. But it’s worth considering all Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn and Army of Darkness for two important reasons: firstly, all three represent important milestones in Sam Raimi’s bizarre journey from video nasty director to Hollywood maven, and secondly, I watched all three in one sitting, so I’ll damn well write them up in one. Read more
The Omen (1976)
Filed Under Classics, Creepy, Movies, Series, The Occult | 1 Comment
One of the strangest things I’ve ever found on the Internet was a PowerPoint version of the Book of Revelation. Quite how or why I stumbled across it I’ve no idea, but at the time I remember wondering precisely why anyone would ever want to render the such a extraordinary tale in that sterile form. Could it really be that when the Seventh Seal was opened and the angels sounded their trumpets of destruction the plagues, firestones and blood would be preceded by a PowerPoint presentation on what it was all about, with additional reading at the end? Hardly the most dramatic way to herald in the downfall of humanity. Given its ultimate consequences I’ve personally always consoled myself to the inevitable with the thought that at least it would look dramatic and exciting for a bit.
Dracula [Spanish version] (1931)
Filed Under Black & white, Classics, Creepy, Movies, Series | Leave a Comment
I’ve always been pretty clear about the fact that Universal’s 1931 adaptation of Dracula is the best I’ve seen and ranks as one of my favourite horror films of all time. For this reason I’ve been hoping to watch the Spanish version-which was shot simultaneously with the English/US version, and with George Melford directing both- for a long time now. Read more
Scream (1996)
Filed Under Movies, Serial killers, Series, Slashers | Leave a Comment
With hindsight, can you blame a film for the poor imitations that followed? Received wisdom among horror aficionados states that Scream, Wes Craven’s 1996 mega-hit, is where it all went wrong for the genre, ushering in a series of sub-par slashers and refocusing major-studio horror almost exclusively on teenagers: nearly all the big horror hits of recent years have been neutered, 15-certificate fare or under. All legitimate charges, of course, and when faced with the prospect of Scary Movie 5 next year, it’s hard not to feel some degree of antipathy towards the film that started the ball rolling. Read more