Tag: Written in Blood
Explosive Cruelty in THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977)
“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...
Facing the Darkness in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
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...
The Horror of ‘the Curse’ in GINGER SNAPS (2000)
Werewolf movies are often defined by their transformation sequences. They can live and die in those handful of seconds when the human form is...
Don’t Disrespect Halloween Tradition in TRICK ‘R TREAT (2007)
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....
HALLOWEEN 3 (1982) and the Appeal of the Standalone Sequel
The first time my young, horror adverse mind even considered the Halloween franchise was over a decade before I would ever see even a...
Michael Myers Loses His Head in HALLOWEEN H20 (1998)
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...
The Hunted Challenges the Hunter in PREDATOR (1987)
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...
An Eye for Detail in THE TERMINATOR (1984)
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...
THIRTEEN GHOSTS (2001) and a Lawyer Split in Two
As the decade shifted and the 90s became the 2000s, my taste in movies was shifting too. I was in high school then, taking...
The Queen Attacks in THE FACULTY (1998)
As a high school student in the late 90s and early 2000s who was only peripherally aware of horror, even I knew the name...
The Butchered Remains of CHERRY FALLS (2000)
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...
Finding the Killer Shark Slasher Movie in JAWS 2 (1978)
I avoided the Jaws sequels for many years before I finally succumbed to the inevitable franchise marathon that lies in wait for all horror...
The Horror of Evolution from Script to Screen in THE RELIC (1997)
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...
Facing Our Fears in YOU’RE NEXT (2011)
I was a nervous kid. I had a knack for finding ways of being afraid. If I rode a bike, I could fall off....
The Terrifying Blunt Force of Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
One afternoon in college, I found myself alone on a lazy Saturday with nothing at all to do. As was customary for me at...
Raising Hell in Pet Sematary 2 (1992)
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...
Harsh Consequences for Bad Humor in April Fool’s Day (1986)
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...
Desires of Blood in the Folktale Horror of The Witch (2015)
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...
Rachel Unleashes Her Rage in Carrie 2
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...
An Electrifying Hot Tub in Valentine (2001)
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—...
Good VS Evil: Murphy’s Death in Robocop (1987)
The pop culture zeitgeist is a machine that can metamorphose its icons into something digestible. Safe. Crowd— and therefore family— friendly. The more press...
A Congregation of Werewolves in Silver Bullet (1985)
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...
Written in Blood: That Bloody Mirror Scene from Poltergeist (1982)
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,...
Fruits, Brains and Bats in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
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...
Written in Blood: Bringing Down a Chopper in The Hitcher (1986)
Horror is a genre of fear, in all of its forms. Fear of the unknown, fear of the self, fear of the other— the...