1976’s The House with Laughing Windows (aka La casa dalle finestre che ridono), aside from its completely rad title, is considered a classic of the giallo subgenre, even though many of the more lurid, baroque elements present in the better-known giallo films of Dario Argento and others are notably absent. Directed by Pupi Avati, the movie actually bears … More Movies: The House with Laughing Windows (1976)
I’m not sure how exactly I first heard about the Japanese film House (or Hausu) from 1977; it was probably on one of those lists of “crazy horror movies you need to see once in your lifetime,” I’m imagining. It also, I should note, began garnering a much larger cult following around 2009 or so, … More Movies: House (Hausu) (1977)
How I ended up watching this film was something bizarrely like kismet. My boyfriend Tom woke up one Sunday morning, and immediately (and inexplicably) started describing scenes from a movie he’d seen a long time ago, asking if I knew what movie it was. It didn’t sound familiar to me, but then he suddenly remembered … More Movies: Brimstone and Treacle (1982)
I think I speak for most horror fans when I say that there are few things in life more gratifying and joy-inducing than stumbling across a movie pretty much randomly that you’d never heard of, and discovering that it’s one of the most entertaining things you’ve seen in ages. Such was the case with 2020’s … More Movies: Bloody Hell (2020)
Allow me to briefly expound upon my love of haunted house movies (and books). They are, bar none, my go-to genre of horror, and my list of favorites includes many stellar examples: The Haunting, The Others, The Changeling, The Innocents, The Shining, The Legend of Hell House. There is just something so inherently nasty about … More Book vs. Movie: Burnt Offerings
I’ve written before about how my formative years corresponded almost perfectly with the rise of home video, cable television, the new wave and post-punk explosion, and MTV, and the film I want to talk about today is sort of a culmination of all those cultural touchstones coming together in one dark, delightful, and musical package. Though subject of this post … More Movies: Rock & Rule (1983)
Stephen King movie adaptations are almost a genre unto themselves, and for some reason I’ve always been fascinated by them, even the ones that aren’t very good. King’s output is so prodigious that there are literally hundreds of novels and short stories of his that have never been adapted to film; but on the other … More Firestarter vs. Firestarter
I decided to discuss these two particular movies together because I dug them both a great deal, and they share a very music-centric theme. As in, they’re not musicals, but they both prominently feature music as a central characteristic of the plot. So, onward. Sean Byrne’s The Devil’s Candy from 2015 is the follow-up to the Australian … More Devil’s Music Double Feature: The Devil’s Candy (2015) and Scherzo Diabolico (2015)
Like most horror fans worth their salt, I’m a big fan of Vincent Price, and will watch absolutely anything he’s in. The man was simply a legend, he never phoned in a performance, and he always classed up the joint. I’m also somewhat familiar with the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, having read a couple of … More Movies: Twice Told Tales (1963)
Ever since bursting onto the world stage with his surrealistic debut feature Pi in 1997, director Darren Aronofsky has been seen as a somewhat provocative filmmaker, but I don’t remember any of his movies drawing the controversy, and in some cases even passionate hatred, as his 2017 film mother! did. I had been hearing wildly … More Movies: mother! (2017)
The Scare Salon 