The Spooky Hoot

Saw: One To See

This post is less for people who have seen Saw countless times, and more for those who were born a bit too late to get in on the whole horror-movie-revamp thing. Those people really need to stop watching the hideous torture porn that is the latest Saw movies and go back to where it all began.

Firstly, let’s get some things out of the way so we can move forward with positivity: Saw is no masterpiece. It’s a great film, More

Rogue, by Greg Mclean

Wolf Creek scared me. Not because of what was shown on the screen, so much, but more because of the realism leading up to the horror and the powerful message that haunts you for ages after. Lacking in music and generally portraying a sinister this is really happening…or could be…vibe, the film, which tells the fate of three backpackers in Australia’s formidable outback, caused a real divide in critical opinion.

Then I heard about Rogue and I was sceptical. More

The House Of The Devil

You don’t need to know who directed it, who stars in it, and where the inspiration comes from originally. These are all important points, but things which are all covered in depth when you Google this impressive modern horror-film with a twist. Dark and sadistic and extremely disturbing in places, The House Of The Devil is, in many peoples opinion, a shockingly effective film.

It is also a film which has divided critics, since for a large amount of time More

Scream again

I’m actually quite looking forward to seeing the next installment in the Scream franchise when it opens at UK cinemas this weekend. Yeah, they’ve flogged the concept half to death – even though it has been a few years since the last movie – but the first one was so damn original and clever that you can’t help loving it! Using horror movie-inspired killers to pick apart the horror movie myths – within a horror movie?? It’s no wonder I More

Second time around?

When someone has worked hard to create a thing of genius – be it any of Hitchcock’s gripping thrillers or some of the exquisite Japanese horror movies of the last twenty years – the last thing they would want another film maker to do is come along and ruin it. Yet US (and European to be fair) directors insist on remaking films that don’t need remaking. If you want to watch Psycho, who on earth would pick the 1998 remake More

The Happening = Really Horrific

Only last week I was pondering the existence of Shyamalan’s worst experiment-gone-wrong to date: The Happening. For those of you lucky enough to out of the reach of cinemas during the awful period at which this show was forced in front of people, here is a summary: people are killing themselves. Lots of people. People in bikini hair removal clinics. Post-men. Nobody is safe. Not even people chatting on park benches. Yes, it’s that serious.

Seriously flawed, I mean.

What More

The New Disturbing

When The Texas Chainsaw Massacre first surfaced, it was met with instant disdain. Strange, considering the movie industry at the time were finally making real head-way with producing super-realistic films – precisely what everyone wanted to see, and the direction that movie-making had been moving in for many years. It was almost like, now they had seen what could be accomplished, they wanted it suppressed and hidden from view. As if they’d let a demon through a trap-door, expecting it More

Why Hate Horror?

There are many types of films that we enjoy watching. Everyong likes a bit of classic comedy and at christmas time there are certain types of feel good christmas films that come out of the wood work that we end up watching and mostly enjoyiong. A horror film is not a Comedy show, or a romantic film. It is also not something you see to necessarily feel good about yourself. The whole point of a horror film is to shock and upset so as to induce thrills. So why, then, do I find myself in the exact same situation with so many people when it comes to talking about horror films?

The situation I am referring to is the one where the first party More

Horror review: Turistas (2006)

Turistas (also known as both “Paradise Lost” and “Prey”, depending on which country you rent it in), got a hard rap from both the mainstream critics and the devoted horror fans, and for entirely different reasons. While horror fans complained it wasn’t intelligent and progressive enough, critics more used to reviewing romantic comedies moaned about the brutal and needless message it portrayed, highlighting Brazil as a place to avoid unless you wanted to advertise yourself as an organ donor.
Then More

Oh dear me: The Wicker Man (remake)

Nicholas Cage gets a hard time of it, doesn’t he? I’ve often thought that people were being a bit mean by laying into him about his wooden acting and complete inability to…well…act. Then, tragically, every now and again I am reminded that no, these people are not being mean: they are being merely accurate. They are simply realists. And for a realist – or anyone for that matter, even someone who has never seen a film – there is nothing More