Ten Horror Movies Worth Seeing, #4: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

October 4, 2018 in General Topics, Other Stuff

We’ve covered wide-release films and indie darlings already in this series of reviews, but early on I promised some deep cuts (pun intended, given the subject matter), and it’s time to roll one out on the mortuary slab.

At first glance, there’s no earthly reason “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” should work. It’s yet another vampire movie–as if the genre wasn’t already saturated with them. It’s low budget. But the biggest potential demerit is that the film hails from an Iranian production company. Iran isn’t exactly known as a hub for creative expression, especially for works that feature a female lead. Read the rest of this entry →

Ten Horror Movies Worth Seeing, #3: It Follows

September 30, 2018 in General Topics, Other Stuff

Credit: IMDB

It Follows won wide acclaim, so I struggled with whether or not to include it in this series. But it’s just too damned good at what it sets out to do to leave out.

This is a film that burns into life in its first few minutes, demanding we respect its monster. Not since Jaws has something from this genre had such perfect establishing shots. The focus on the unnamed young woman and her grisly fate is performed via the art of subtraction, and wouldn’t have been unexpected from Hitchcock himself. Nothing is explained, but the stakes are made obvious, and our pulse is made to race. Read the rest of this entry →

Ten Horror Movies Worth Seeing, #2: Late Phases

September 24, 2018 in General Topics, Other Stuff

Credit: MPI Media Group

The first film I covered in this blog series, Oculus, was the stuff of subtle, creeping horror. Today’s film is much more overt, featuring a showdown between man and beast. I have to credit a friend and reader, Eric Stanley, with introducing me to it.

Last year Hush won acclaim for its portrayal of a deaf-mute author enduring a cat-and-mouse game against a psychopathic killer. For my money, though, Late Phases both provides a more interesting setup and scenario, as well as deadlier antagonists. Read the rest of this entry →

Ten Horror Movies Worth Seeing, #1: Oculus

September 19, 2018 in General Topics, Other Stuff

Horror films can be tough to sift through. Because this genre is (sadly) not as exposed to major awards in the same way that others are, viewers looking for a good scare are often left aimlessly searching the Internet or browsing streaming services. It’s a recipe for frustration. One can easily fall into trying one film after another before giving up and moving on to something else, like a vampire abandoning their quarry.

Since we’re coming up on October, my favorite month of the year and the one best-suited for exploring this under-appreciated genre, I thought I’d provide a list of such films that bite better than the rest of their brood. My focus will be on fairly recent films, with a preference for those that go off the well-bloodied path. I can wholeheartedly recommend each of these, and promise there’s a good chance you’ll get a good scare if you try them. They’re in no particular order. Join me through October as I present ten films sure to raise your pulse and have you nervous to step around the corner. Let’s get started. Read the rest of this entry →

Review: Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell

March 17, 2016 in General Topics

Cover, <i>Cloud Atlas</i>

Yes, I read the version branded with the film’s poster as the cover.

No one would ever accuse Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell, of being a lightweight novel. Weighing in at nearly one hundred and sixty four thousand words, and spanning six distinct genres and storylines, the book asks a lot of its readers. Mitchell’s approach to the stories, which are all connected by a broader plot and theme, ranges from revelation to mere allusion.

All this means Cloud Atlas is an incredible gamble on Mitchell’s part, and a difficult book to recommend to most readers. A rare soul embraces all the genres present, and as such they’re being expected to slog through long tracts of the novel they might find evoke ennui. It’s almost like someone recruited six different authors, gave them some ground rules, then published an anthology of the results. Read the rest of this entry →