I have been a horror film fan as far back as I can remember. Aside from the first several years of my life that I don’t recall that well, the rest of my 32 years are filled with horror movie after horror movie. Like all people, however, my tastes have changed as I have grown older. I look back at some of the titles that I used to hold so dear and wonder what I ever could have found so appealing in them.  Read more... (507 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

There is a little-known Australian flick that came out several years ago, though I have only come across it recently. Alexandra’s Project offers a horrific insight into the nightmarish possibilities of suburban domesticity. Its raw, unflinching, and unapologetic crassness play on some of the worst fears that the insecure creatures known as married men have. This film takes the rotten core of a troubled relationship and exposes it to the person oblivious of problems within the marriage, the husband. It is a warning to men that the person you are taking for granted might be capable of far more than you have given her credit for. While you are fantasizing about other women and thinking about how great your life could be without the responsibility of a wife and kids, she may be plotting an absolutely devastating and destructive revenge.  Read more... (550 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

It has been thirty-five years since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre left its indelible mark on the horror oeuvre. Tobe Hooper’s only (arguably) great contribution to the genre hasn’t lost any of its potency. The overt sadism in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is enough to make Eli Roth blush. Sequels have come and gone, and a remake was made, but no one has been able to match the formula of gore, thrill, and sheer terror of the original. A groundbreaking film in many aspects, the purity of its violence has paved the way for films like Hostel, Saw, and any of the recent films with overt or gratuitous violence and gore. The Mockumentary aspect of the film has laid the groundwork for The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and innumerable lesser films. Keep in mind that some people actually believed that it was based on actual accounts of the events depicted in the film. Of course, the film has only a slight connection to real events. Just like The Silence of the Lambs and Psycho, Wisconsin’s Ed Gein was a small inspiration for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Read more... (556 words, 1 image, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

Trick ‘r Treat, at first, comes off as a modern rendition of Creepshow with the multi-storyline plot and the comic book segues. But this is where the similarities end. Trick ‘r Treat offers a much more visceral, blood-and-guts type of horror than Creepshow. This is a good thing and a bad thing. It is good in that it is scarier and more shocking. It is bad, however, in that it doesn’t at all follow any comic book guidelines. It seems gratuitous to have the comic book segues. Creepshow does not at all take itself seriously and uses the comic book motif to play up the cartoony aspects of the stories. Creepshow uses the comic book motif to its full advantage, while Trick ’r Treat seems to use it as an afterthought.  Read more... (268 words, 1 image, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

As a purveyor of opinions of all things horror, I should be ashamed of myself for taking this long to see Paranormal Activity. I’ve finished watching the film only fifteen minutes ago, but I feel as though I should write without laying all of my ideas out and try to draw from the visceral fear that I am still experiencing. I am very impressed with the film overall. The scariest stuff is what is happening off screen, and it is scary. For a movie with a $15,000 budget and a barely discernable plot to be as effective as it is in scaring audiences, one must wonder what it is about the film that makes it frightening.  Read more... (632 words, 1 image, estimated 2:32 mins reading time)

As we have recently witnessed with the runaway success of Paranormal Activity, independent studios are often the saving graces of the genre when Hollywood films become too formulaic. It happens every so often that the horror genre gets rocked by an indie film that happens to pioneer a new way of telling a story, i.e. The Blair Witch Project, or captures a particular zeitgeist and embeds itself into the psyche of contemporary America. John Carpenter’s Halloween /em> would fit the latter paradigm, as would Paranormal Activity. As fans of horror, it is important to step beyond the bounds of the films that are served up to us on shiny platters and seek out the small films that deserve recognition.  Read more... (376 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)