WARNING: this movie is not for those that are easily squamish. Unless you are a hard-core horror fan you should sit this one out.
Danny and Michael Philippou's highly anticipated follow-up to their surprise hit TALK TO ME is a movie that's perhaps even more chilling than their breakout feature debut. In their new film BRING HER BACK, parental grief unleashes madness and abuse to an 11, with enough wince-inducing violence to keep many seasoned moviegoers squirming in their seats,…
As if things weren't chilly enough in January, out comes THE DAMNED that combines supernatural horror with psychological terror in a stark Icelandic village. Odessa Young gives a breakout performance as a young widower that is torn between leading a rowdy band of fisherman and guilt for not rescuing a shipwrecked crew for fear of running out of their food supplies. The breathtaking cinematography and meticulous production design transports you to this desolate landscape, making the characters' isolation and dread…
"Sometimes when you're a daddy, you're so scared of your kids getting scars that you become the thing that scars them"
I say this as a compliment. Despite every expectations I had, WOLF MAN is not actually a werewolf movie. Like he did with THE INVISIBLE MAN, director Leigh Whannell uses the monster horror genre as the groundwork to explore heavy themes of generational trauma. The best werewolf movies are ones that deal with people wrestling with their darkest impulses,…
25 Directors in 2025 Challenge
Osgood Perkins
2024's LONGLEGS was an exceptional horror/mystery that made me feel like I was possessed. Because I liked it so much I decided to see the previous films by writer-director Osgood Perkins for this challenge. THE BLACKCOAT'S DAUGHTER, his directorial debut, showcases his influences of the horror genre. Working with a low budget, Perkins uses its limitations as its strength, crafting an atmosphere of palpable tension and unease, evoking a chilling sense of foreboding…
25 Directors in 2025 Challenge
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh, fresh off the success of OCEAN'S ELEVEN, collaborates with James Cameron to bring a new adaptation of the classic science-fiction novel SOLARIS. Originally made in 1972 by the renowned Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, both versions explore the complexities of human identity and our perception of people through the lens of the sci-fi genre.
While Soderbergh's film is ambitious in its attempt to delve into the human psyche in a new genre,…
Taking a break from classic monsters is this psychological thriller of a blind woman terrorized in her apartment by three crooks. Adapted from a hit play, director Terrance Young, known for directing three James Bond movies, ratchets the tension from the first scene to the last, complete with a jump scare that even scared Stephen King. What also makes this worthy is the acting, with the legendary Audrey Hepburn switching from helpless victim to fighting back and Alan Arkin as a sociopath that is amused by being cruel. Highly recommended, especially with the lights off.
This was Hitch's most conventional horror movie (to which we see many like this on ScFi channel) and his most enigmatic, inviting many interpretations of why a coastal town is attacked by frenzied birds. Hitch nearly led star Tippi Hedren to a nervous breakdown from his sadistic work ethic (perhaps aggression following Grace Kelly's retirement). Coming off Psycho with its numerous references to "birds," as both the animal and the slang word for women, this is a vaguely misogynistic sexual allegory, with Rod Taylor amidst several woman vying for his attention. Bernard Herrmann's electronic score and the strange sounds of the menacing birds stresses pure horror.
This is one of the best Stephen King adaptations that is unfortunately overlooked by most people. With her sweetness masking the insanity beneath, Kathy Bates' award-winning performance is a critique on para-social behavior and obsessive fandom, the kind I'm certain King has dealt with.