You know how sometimes when you’re bored and kinda hung over on a Sunday, and you go poking around YouTube looking for some comforting 1970s horror to watch while you inhale your hearty lunch of homemade Swedish meatballs? And you know how every now and then, you fortuitously stumble across a made-for-TV movie from 1977 … More Movies: The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977)
Welcome back for another random spin of the horror wheel…round and round she goes, coughing up two spooky flicks for my viewing pleasure. Well, I don’t know if pleasure is exactly the right word in this particular situation. Viewing adequacy? Something like that. First up is the ghost story/psychological thriller The Disappointments Room. Directed by D.J. … More Double Feature: The Disappointments Room (2016) and Haunter (2013)
Здравствуйте, everybody! Why in the ever-loving Блядь have I reverted to Google-translate Russian, you ask? Well, it’s because today I have decided to watch a Russian film from 1915 called The Portrait (or Портрет, if you prefer). The only remaining fragment of this film is a bit over eight minutes long, but in its original form, it … More Silent Movie Watchalong: The Portrait (1915)
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a massive fan of giallo movies; the whole look and vibe of them transports me to a happy place. So it always makes me squeal with excitement when a modern filmmaker shares my obsession with them enough to make a giallo-tinged film in the present day. Some “neo-giallo” movies … More Movies: Francesca (2015)
First up on this particular double bill is House of Last Things from 2013, which was written and directed by Michael Bartlett. I can see this movie being the kind of thing that inspires either adoration or contemptuous eye-rolling in the horror community, with fans of more traditional horror maybe thinking it’s too pretentious for its own good, or … More Double Feature: House of Last Things (2013) and Reverb (2008)
Ti West began his directorial career in 2005 with the killer-bat film The Roost, but it wasn’t until his 2009 Satanic Panic throwback House of the Devil that the horror community really sat up and took notice. He followed up with the excellent paranormal horror The Innkeepers in 2011, and then in 2013 released his … More Movies: X (2022)
Although I had encountered and enjoyed the work of director David Bruckner several times before—he directed segments in the great horror anthology films The Signal, V/H/S, and Southbound, and helmed the excellent 2017 film The Ritual, which was based on the novel by Adam Nevill—I hadn’t actually heard about his movie The Night House until … More Movies: The Night House (2020)
Roman Polanski, despite his rather grave personal failings, has made some absolutely champion horror films, his particular genius lying in his portrayal of claustrophobic paranoia and spiraling descents into madness. The Tenant (1976) was the third film in Polanski’s so-called ‘apartment trilogy,’ which also included Repulsion (1965) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968). The reader can check Wikipedia for a complete plot … More Movies: The Tenant (1976)
The Haunting of Julia was released in 1981 in the US, but came out in the UK in 1977 under the confusingly generic title Full Circle. It was based on the novel Julia by the phenomenal Peter Straub, who needs more film adaptations of his work, goddammit. It’s a low-key, atmospheric ghost story of the … More Movies: The Haunting of Julia (aka Full Circle) (1977)
While author Dean Koontz sells nearly as many books as Stephen King, and has actually been writing for longer than King has, there have been significantly fewer film adaptations of Koontz’s works, and none that have garnered all that much recognition or critical praise. 1977’s Demon Seed is pretty fantastic, and Watchers from 1988 is … More Movies: Odd Thomas (2011)
The Scare Salon 