Mandy (dir. Panos Cosmatos, 2018) Every single review I’ve read of Mandy mentions that Panos Cosmatos’s father was the filmmaker George P. Cosmatos, director of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra, but only one critic--Nathan Rabin late of the AV Club and the much missed The Dissolve--identifies what’s interesting about that on his website: … Continue reading Mandy (2018)

Pontypool (dir. Bruce McDonald, 2008) The opening of Pontypool--a monologue about a missing cat, linguistic drift, and Norman Mailer’s theory about synchronicity--is what I wished listening to the radio was like. Podcasts can provide content like that, certainly, but they lack the crucial component of spontaneity: that you just happened hear a voice on a … Continue reading Pontypool (2008)

The Silence of the Lambs (dir. Jonathan Demme, 1991) There are some people out there who don’t think The Silence of the Lambs is a horror film. I don’t know which movie they thought they were watching, because it presumably didn’t have a cannibalistic psychiatrist cutting off a guard’s face to wear over his own … Continue reading The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

In the Mouth of Madness (dir. John Carpenter, 1994) Let’s start at the end. The film itself very nearly does anyway, opening with Sam Neill’s character John Trent already institutionalized, but I want to go to the final minutes when Trent sits down in a theater playing In the Mouth of Madness while monsters and … Continue reading In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

Re-Animator (dir. Stuart Gordon, 1985) Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) has transferred to Miskatonic University to complete his medical degree after an incident in Switzerland left his mentor dead. He rents a room with fellow med student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott), who is dating Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton), daughter of the dean, and clashes frequently with … Continue reading Re-Animator (1985)

The Fly (dir. David Cronenberg, 1986) The Fly: you know it, you love it, you’ve seen the Treehouse of Horror parody. It’s one of David Cronenberg’s more notable films and much superior, I think, to the 1958 version starring Vincent Price. The Fly follows scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), who has invented a teleportation device. … Continue reading The Fly (1986)

House of the Long Shadows (dir. Peter Walker, 1983) The enfant terrible of horror fiction Kenneth Magee (Desi Arnaz, Jr.) has accepted a wager of 20,000 dollars that he can write a novel that’s as good as Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights in 24 hours. This is some Garth Marenghi level hubris, but let’s go along … Continue reading House of the Long Shadows (1983)

Apostle (dir. Gareth Evans, 2018) Jamie McDonald: Yeah, yeah, I went see There Will Be Blood, and there wasn't any fucking blood! Malcolm Tucker: There was some blood! Jamie McDonald: Och, there was hardly any fucking blood. In the Loop (dir. Armando Iannucci, 2009) Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens), a morphine addict with a dark past, is … Continue reading Apostle (2018)

Prince of Darkness (dir. John Carpenter, 1987) The second and least well regarded of Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy, Prince of Darkness still has much to offer--and not simply the chance to see Alice Cooper impale someone with a bicycle. If you are like me--an idiot with only a cursory understanding of math and science--you too will … Continue reading Prince of Darkness (1987)

Horror Express (dir. Eugenio Martin, 1972) I like John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” from 1938 well enough, but if I want to read a novella written by a racist about ancient aliens in Antarctica, H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness not only exists, but was published in the same magazine by Campbell himself. … Continue reading Horror Express (1972)