Written in Blood

“The first monster that must frighten you is the filmmaker himself” —Wes Craven In the earliest days of my horror movie explorations, there were a handful of directors whose work rose to the very top of...

Every movie-lover, at their core, has a small collective of films and viewing experiences that define them. Films that forever altered their path in life, irrevocably steering them toward the magic of the silver...

Werewolf movies are often defined by their transformation sequences. They can live and die in those handful of seconds when the human form is shed and an otherworldly monstrosity springs forth, winning or losing...

By the time I finally sat down and watched Trick ‘r Treat (2007), I had been living in hyped anticipation for it for close to two years. Since first premiering and earning acclaim on the festival circuit,...

The first time my young, horror adverse mind even considered the Halloween franchise was over a decade before I would ever see even a frame of it. I was with a friend at a video...

The young woman at the ticket counter smiled politely as my mom handed over the money for the tickets. She didn’t ask questions— she didn’t ask to see an ID. No, she seemed perfectly content...

The teenager at the register gave my friends and I a decidedly inquisitive look as he held the clear box containing the R-rated cassette tape against the counter. His fingers drummed against the dull...

I suppose I knew Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) was a sequel, but for all intents and purposes in my eight-year-old mind, that was definitively the only entry in the killer robot from the post-apocalyptic...

As the decade shifted and the 90s became the 2000s, my taste in movies was shifting too. I was in high school then, taking in movies every weekend and contributing to the box office...

As a high school student in the late 90s and early 2000s who was only peripherally aware of horror, even I knew the name Kevin Williamson. Not only had he helped to usher in...

Much like the seemingly indestructible nature of their antagonists, the slasher sub-genre has a way of resurrecting itself every generation to terrorize a new batch of teenagers who just want to drink, have sex...

I avoided the Jaws sequels for many years before I finally succumbed to the inevitable franchise marathon that lies in wait for all horror completists. Admittedly, my mindset was somewhat condemning from the start....

I had this friend growing up who was known for his Dad’s VHS collection. His living room was lined with wooden cabinets containing every movie one could think of (and plenty more you’d scarcely...

I was a nervous kid. I had a knack for finding ways of being afraid. If I rode a bike, I could fall off. If I climbed a tree, I could topple out. Dogs...

One afternoon in college, I found myself alone on a lazy Saturday with nothing at all to do. As was customary for me at the time, I decided to watch a movie. I had...

Sequels are tricky. On the one hand, they exist because the property they’re based on has some degree of popularity; people, places, and things that the general audience would like to see more of....

Holiday slashers are a time-honored tradition. A subgenre of great renown amongst horror fans, these entries become some of the most rewatched titles in any genre enthusiast’s collection. There’s little I look forward to more...

There are some movies that just feel dangerous. As if they’re capable of anything. Movies that seem to be constructed more of dread than plot. Nightmarish windows into a different world, foreign to us...

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with movie trailers. On the one hand, they can be exciting, short-film quality creations, enticing me to see a picture by way of mood and tone as opposed...

In the early 2000’s, for my friends and I, Friday nights were reserved for the movie theater. It didn’t matter what movie it was— if it was playing, my friends and I would see...

The pop culture zeitgeist is a machine that can metamorphose its icons into something digestible. Safe. Crowd— and therefore family— friendly. The more press and entertainment space awarded to a figure, the more familiar...

There’s this place in horror that exists somewhere in between the innocent and wholesome and the brutal and disturbing. A place that feels so familiar, so welcoming and yet… quietly dangerous. It’s the sort...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: as a kid who was terrified of the mere idea of watching a horror movie, little on this Earth distressed me more than the horror...

Sequels come with a certain degree of baggage. That is to say, the sequel’s greatest enemy is expectation, more often than not brought on by the love and adoration which accompanies its predecessor. After...

Horror is a genre of fear, in all of its forms. Fear of the unknown, fear of the self, fear of the other— the manifestations are endless. Still, each iteration offers a relatable thread,...