Horror Movies
Censor Is A Hallucinatory Look at the 1980s Video Nasty Phenomenon: Sundance 2021 Review
This review is part of our Sundance 2021 coverage. The Pitch: Enid Baines (Niamh Algar) is an uptight film censor with a tragic past. After becoming embroiled in a murder scandal that the press link to a violent horror film she edited, Enid becomes obsessed with Alice Lee (Sophia La Porta), an actress who bears a striking resemblance to her missing sister, Nina. Her pursuit of Alice leads Enid into the shadowy world of underground horror films and the company of questionable men like smarmy producer Doug Smart (Michael Smiley) and director Frederick North (Adrian Schiller). As Enid’s obsessive hunt for the truth intensifies, she begins to lose track of what is real and what is a movie as both her sanity and her life come under threat. Video Nasty: The most intriguing aspect of Censor is ho...
What’s Streaming on HBO Max in February 2021
HBO Max is offering more than valentines in February. As promised, the streaming giant is delivering more Warner Bros. theatrical features as part of their same-day program. This month sees the release of the star-studded Judas and the Black Messiah and the live-action re-imagining of Tom & Jerry. Judas… is a biographical drama on the life of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), the Illinois chairman of the Black Panther Party who was betrayed by William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield). The film is set to premiere at this weekend’s Sundance Film Festival, and has already been named one of the 10 best films of 2020 by the National Board of Review. Elsewhere, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver returns for what should be a far less vitriolic season given the changing political climate, while Studio ...
The Night Is a Terrifying Twist on The Shining: Review
The Pitch: Driving home from a night out with friends, exhausted Iranian immigrants, Babak and Neda Naderi (Shahab Hosseini and Niousha Noor), decide to spend the night at a nearby hotel with their infant daughter Shebnam (Leah Oganyan). They quickly realize that there are dangerous secrets lurking within the walls of the mysterious building and the seemingly endless night soon spirals into reality bending terror as they find themselves trapped in a nightmarish hell of their own creation. The Night made headlines as the first US produced Iranian film to secure a theatrical license in Iran after the country’s 1979 revolution. Though set in LA’s landmark Hotel Normandie, this is an Iranian story told predominantly in Farsi and including Iranian Americans or Iranian Immigrants both in front o...
What’s Streaming on Shudder in February 2021
Shudder is showing a whole lotta love for Valentine’s Day. For February, AMC’s spooky streaming service has curated a twisted lineup of originals, classics, and premieres that will splash blood all over your box of chocolates. Building on their promise of 11 new originals/exclusives over 11 weeks, the next month will see premieres of A Nightmare Wakes, After Midnight, Shook, and one of last year’s most frightening films: The Dark and the Wicked. Of course, the real main event is spending a romantic night with Joe Bob Briggs. Shudder’s de facto mayor is back with a Valentine’s Day special that he’s dubbed Joe Bob Put a Spell on You, which more or less confirms some wild witchy content. Editors’ Picks Additions to the back catalogue are just as special, most notably Nicolas Cage’s cult...
50 Most Anticipated Movies of 2021
Anticipating movies these days is a fool’s errand. Unless it’s guaranteed to be hitting a streaming platform, the release date of any film should have an asterisk appended to it. That’s not cynical, but the nature of covering this industry amidst the pandemic. So, you could imagine how fun this list was to put together. (Spoiler: It wasn’t.) Dragging over last year’s offerings to this one seems like an easy task, but the shift opens the door for so many questions, all of which boil down to: “What are the odds?” For many features — you know, like Ghostbusters: Afterlife, or No Time to Die, or Halloween Kills, or any film without a streaming opt-in — the release date is as certain as we are about anything right now in life. “We’ll see” is the name of the game. Having said that, a few studios...
Dark Was The Night Chops Through Grief In the Woods
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | RSS “It’s amazing to see how one kiddy pool can destroy a whole town.” Join The Horror Virgin as they venture into the woods to overcome grief, save a marriage, and eventually die off screen while surviving Jack Heller’s 2014 thriller Dark Was the Night. What’s your favorite scary movie? Are you a fanatic or a fraidy-cat? Love them or loathe them? Either way, The Horror Virgin has you covered. Each week, Horror Virgin Todd will experience the encyclopedia of horror one movie at a time. Subscribe to The Horror Virgin to access the podcast’s full archive! Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Podchaser Related You Deserve t...
Gremlins Is Classic Holiday Comfort Horror
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | RSS Psychoanalysis is a weekly series on the Consequence Podcast Network that takes an in-depth look at a mental health topic through the lens of horror. “You say you hate Washington’s Birthday or Thanksgiving and nobody cares, but you say you hate Christmas and people treat you like you’re a leper.” Today, Lara, Mike, and Jenn and joined by special guest Dan Caffrey for a Holiday Comfort Horror episode on Joe Dante’s 1984 holiday horror classic, Gremlins! The conversation is as diverse as the gremlins themselves. Jenn has a new horror hero in Lynn Peltzer, Mike shares his experience watching Gremlins with his daughter, Lara can’t resist a sad story, and Dan loves Stripe’s hilarious ...
Top 10 Horror Films of 2020
What a year for horror… 2020 has certainly seen its share of terror — both on screen and in reality. With a global pandemic forcing most of us inside our homes, it’s been scary times for the film industry. Yet while horror was hardly immune to the year’s savagery — bye-bye Candyman, see you next Fall Halloween Kills — it’s arguably fared better than any other genre. Thanks to a strong community and a willingness to push the creative envelope, horror has survived, thrived, and, in some cases, held us together during this long, dark year. Sure, the delays for the blockbuster horror fare were disappointing, but they also opened the door for low-budget horror gems that have long been the backbone of the genre. Similarly, genre festivals led the way in experimenting with digitization, allowing ...
TikTok to hide graphic videos behind warning screens
TikTok has unveiled a newly updated set of community guidelines and tools, which include new warning screens on graphic videos, a new text-to-voice accessibility feature, and updated health resources. The update brings new vaccine information which will be added to TikTok’s coronavirus resource hub as well as resources to be shown if people search for certain terms, like those related to self-harm. According to TikTok, the graphic content warning screens are meant to prevent the accidental viewing of content that some might find disturbing. The screen gives two options, letting users either view the clip or skip it entirely. More extreme content is removed from the service entirely, but the new warning labels cover clips that might be allowed for “documentary reasons,” scenes from horror m...
2009’s Friday the 13th Brought Back the Terror But Forgot to Have Fun
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Radio Public | Stitcher | RSS After a slight detour through Hell and space, co-hosts Justin Gerber, Mike Vanderbilt, McKenzie Gerber, and Michael Roffman bring things back down to Earth, hop on dirt bikes, and head back to Camp Crystal Lake. Things are … a little different. Join them as they all grab machetes and hack through 2009’s Friday the 13th remake. Together, they discuss what they claim to be the hottest cast in the franchise, the inclusion of Sam Winchester, and why the aughts lacked an identity. So, put on a Hollister shirt and listen above. If you missed any past episodes of Halloweenies, subscribe to the archive now! Previous seasons have included deep di...
The Stand Reboot Is Christmas for Stephen King’s Most Constant Readers: Review
The Pitch: Based on Stephen King’s 1978 novel, The Stand is an apocalyptic epic that sees 99.4% of the world’s population decimated by a lethal strain of government-stamped influenza. What humanity remains is spiritually drawn into a climactic battle of good and evil. On one end is Mother Abagail (Whoopi Goldberg) and her ragtag team of survivors out in the Rockies. On the other is Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard), a Canadian tuxedoed force who has amassed a devoted following nearby in Sin City. Place your bets. Danse Macabre: To say the road to this reboot has been long is an understatement. Prior to landing at CBS All Access, the project had been in development hell since the latter half of Obama’s first term. This is back when Warner Bros. initially envisioned it as a theatrical even...
Revisiting Mick Garris’ The Stand Miniseries In the Middle of a Pandemic
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Radio Public | Stitcher | RSS Our gift to you! In anticipation of CBS All Access’ The Stand, which debuts Thursday, December 17th, The Losers’ Club has released its complete rewatch of Mick Garris’ original 1994 miniseries. Stu, Franny, Flagg, they’re all in there. Spanning four episodes, this marathon listen finds the Losers making their way out West, setting up shop in Boulder, Colorado, and eventually making their stand against Jamey Sheridan’s Randall Flagg all the way in Las Vegas, Nevada. Together, they’ll discuss the eerie parallels of Captain Trips to Covid-19, go deep into why Corin Nemec just doesn’t work as Harold Lauder, the sad inevitability of Nadine Cross’ fate, the hun...
