The first is a supernatural horror film. The second is a horror story without any trace of the supernatural. Otherwise, they are remarkably similar. Both apply the horror film’s fundamental “return of the repressed” formula to the current economic malaise. Both films feature pretty but not-so-sympathetic heroines whose independence as career women is visually defined ... read more »

Bright Lights After Dark pauses to remember Ray Dennis Steckler, denizen of Hollywood and Las Vegas, a truly independent filmmaker who was anathema to the studios, but who nonetheless managed to produce, direct, and often star in a series of mostly self-financed and self-distributed horror/noir/comedy/rock ‘n roll films with titles like Wild Guitar, The Thrill ... read more »

I just learned by way of CINEBEATS that Forrest J Ackerman, a man who inspired so many of us – as film fan and friend to film fans, as a writer, as the editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, as a literary agent, and one of the world’s leading collectors of all things science fiction ... read more »

The latest issue of Tales From the Crypt (inspired by the 1950s EC Comic of the same name) features Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin wielding a hockey stick at the Crypt’s storytelling inhabitants. The publisher assures us that his intentions were completely non-partisan: “[A]ny White House candidate who even entertains a conversation about book banning ... read more »

Conventional wisdom tells us that the first “true” film noirs were made in the early 1940s, with 1941′s The Maltese Falcon generally considered “the unofficial beginning of the noir cycle” (Alain Silver). Conventional wisdom is sometimes wrong. Take a look at these frames from John Brahm’s Let Us Live (1939), and ask yourself if there ... read more »

Reviewers who have written about Cloverfield fall largely into two categories: (1) those who appreciate the horror and sci-fi genres and who are more than willing to applaud when a genuinely innovative and entertaining genre film comes along; and (2) those who would never be caught dead praising a “giant monster movie” and can think ... read more »

John Ford taught us to regard every Western as an allegorical comment on America. And most of them are in some way. But Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood is so abstract, primal, and fundamentally ambiguous that it lends itself to any number of readings. Which is maybe why cinebloggers can’t stop writing about ... read more »

Christa Lang Fuller, widow of Sam, in response to my post re 31 Essential Horror Films writes: “Please add Valkoinen peura (1952) to the top of your list as one of the finest and scariest horror films ever made … it’s a masterpiece waiting to be rediscovered.”    I’d never heard of Valkoinen peura, and ... read more »

Boris Karloff in “The Wurdalak” episode of Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath (1963) This is my ranked list of 31 Essential Horror Films culled from Ed Hardy, Jr.’s 183 Official Nominees for the 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies List. In keeping with the parameters of Ed’s poll, my primary criterion for inclusion and ranking ... read more »

Some still dispute whether Edward Gorey (1925-2000) was fundamentally an artist who wrote, or a writer who drew. Gorey was, in fact, both an accomplished writer and an accomplished artist who – like many of the greatest filmmakers – combined word and image to create a recognizable world of his own. Gorey’s influence on the ... read more »