Ginger Snaps (dir. John Fawcett, 2000) Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (dir. Brett Leonard, 2004) Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (dir. Grant Harvey, 2004) “What? I’m menstruating.” 20th Century Women “She’s ovulating!” Ginger Snaps Teenage sisters Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald (Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle) are obsessed with death, staging and filming their own demises in … Continue reading The Ginger Snaps Series

Venom (dir. Piers Haggard, 1981) No, not the comic book movie with the virtuosic dual performance by Tom Hardy as a loser reporter and a loser alien symbiote falling in love with each other, but instead the British horror thriller in which a kidnapping is disrupted by a deadly snake that a pet store has … Continue reading Venom (1981)

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (dir. Stephen Chiodo, 1988) Say what you will about Killer Klowns from Outer Space, but unlike a certainly vaguely titled novel by Stephen King, this movie plainly announces what it is. It’s not good and often willfully stupid, but it has no pretensions to greater meaning. No examination of the … Continue reading Killer Klowns from Outer Space

Twilight (dir. Catherine Hardwicke, 2008) The Twilight Saga: New Moon (dir. Chris Weitz, 2009) The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (dir. David Slade, 2010) The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn--Part 1 (dir. Bill Condon, 2011) The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn--Part 2 (dir. Bill Condon, 2012) It’s a little late to be doing this, isn’t it? The discourse around … Continue reading The Twilight Saga (2008-2012)

Incident at Loch Ness (dir. Zak Penn, 2004) Werner Herzog’s appearance in the trailer for The Mandalorian created a stir because it was so incongruous with the popular conception of him. Why is the legendary director who made Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo doing in a Star Wars show? But people said the … Continue reading Incident at Loch Ness

Ticks (dir. Tony Randel, 1993) I’ve rarely been so surprised to discover a film isn’t a comedy than Ticks. Do you know what it’s about? A bunch of teenagers are terrorized by giant killer ticks mutated by chemicals used by a Humboldt County cannabis growing operation. You read that description and you naturally think, “Well, … Continue reading Ticks (1993)

The Relic (dir. Peter Hyams, 1997) As an unrelentingly dorky child, I would repeatedly watch a VHS copy of Star Trek: First Contact, giving me (1) a lifelong appreciation for Jonathan “Two Takes” Frakes as a director and (2) an indelible memory of the trailer for the Peter Hyams horror movie The Relic. I have … Continue reading The Relic (1997)

Prophecy (dir. John Frankenheimer, 1979) Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a foundational work of the environmental movement, in 1962. In 1968, the American Indian Movement came into being, advocating for indigenous rights, occupying Alcatraz from 1969 to 1971 and was subject to intense scrutiny and harassment by local, state, and federal law enforcement. In 1970, … Continue reading Prophecy (1979)

Arachnophobia (dir. Frank Marshall, 1990) Arachnophobia commits the unforgivable sin of making me sympathize with its baby boomer protagonist. Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels) has uprooted his whole life to set up a medical practice in a small town in Northern California because the local doctor has decided to retire. He’s moved his family out of … Continue reading Arachnophobia

DeepStar Six (dir. Sean S. Cunningham, 1989) Have you seen The Abyss? You know, the movie James Cameron directed with underwater aliens and that rat dunked into fluorocarbon fluid while the American Humane Association advisor was on their smoke break? It’s good, aside from the animal cruelty. Not that the human cast members fared much … Continue reading DeepStar Six