Prince of Darkness (1987)

Prince of Darkness (1987) – So nowadays we’re always being inundated with trilogies, like with The Matrix films or the Dark Knight films. Hell it’s not a totally recent phenomena what with the original Star Wars trilogy (the only Star Wars that counts). What can be almost as interesting is a director’s thematic trilogy. These are … Continue reading

Originals Vs. Remakes: Slasher Edition

This article was originally published on 12ftdwende.com 2 April 2010. So I had a vague awareness of the Nightmare on Elm Street series as a small child. I would walk with great trepidation through the horror isle of the video store knowing that here were things not for young’ns like myself. I knew that there … Continue reading

Deja Vu All Over Again…

This article (a rare non-review) was originally published on 12ftdwende.com on 23 April 2010. I saw a movie this past week (actually three but only one is relevant to this particular op-ed). It was a madcap comedy about the many things that go wrong at a funeral. It is called Death at a Funeral and … Continue reading

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

The Cabin in the Woods (2012) – Why do we like horror movies? [By “we” I mean those of us who like horror movies. The rest of you highbrow jerks and scaredy-cats go read some other movie review.] Anyway to repeat the question, why do we like horror movies? My short answer: they’re fucking fun. … Continue reading

Final Destination series

This article was originally published on 12ft.dwende.com on 12 August 2011. Sometimes you don’t need a guy in a hockey mask or the ghost of a murderer to haunt your dreams. Sometimes things like a mask of human skin and a chainsaw or an endless knowledge of slasher film trivia are just overkill. Sometimes all … Continue reading

Fright Night (1985 & 2011)

This article was originall published on 12ftdwende.com on 19 August 2011 I think remakes get a bad rap. It’s true that the sheer volume of remakes out there indicate a lack of originality in the film industry (or, more aptly, a lack of will to finance originality), but they’re not all bad. Three movies were … Continue reading

Halloween series

So Halloween is upon us and this year it occurred to me that I had only seen half of the Halloween films. I decided to rectify that this year. Halloween (1978) You know I kind of go back and forth on Halloween. I last saw it in 2009 and thought that while good it was … Continue reading

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

In the Mouth of Madness (1994) – For an author who was never reached a very wide audience in his lifetime, H.P. Lovecraft has had a pretty heavy influence for modern horror storytelling. I think (and I’m hardly alone in this opinion) that it’s because he emphasized the horror of the unknowable. You don’t really … Continue reading

Masters of Horror – John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns

Masters of Horror – John Carpenter‘s Cigarette Burns In 2005 I thought Showtime’s series Masters of Horror was about the coolest idea ever. Allowing icons of the horror film world to create hour-long movies every week free from network interference (though Showtime did end up declining to air Takashi Miike’s Imprint) was something I was … Continue reading

The Thing (2011)

The Thing (2011) – John Carpenter’s 1982 thriller The Thing is one of my all-time favorite movies. That means I have a pretty strong bias and a natural predisposition to hate this movie. By comparison, it is nothing but a pale imitation. The suspense of Carpenter’s film (or Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby’s 1951 The … Continue reading