Podcasting Horror and Conspiracies: Filmmaker Matt Vesely on Monolith

By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. When you’ve only got one actor, you’re constantly thinking about how to make it cinematic…. Our film is about people telling stories from their past; it’s a slower burn and about piecing together a mystery.” Matt Vesely’s ‘Monolith’ is a remarkable eerie sci-fi mystery that […]

It’s Alive (and Horny)! Zelda Williams’ Lisa Frankenstein (2024)

By Thomas M. Puhr. Newton really shines and has a funny swagger about her. It’s too bad the surrounding film never quite matches this winning performance.” Lisa is lonely. Her widower father, who has promptly remarried and moved in with Lisa’s new stepmother and stepsister out in the candy-colored suburbs, […]

Illustrative but Incomplete: Dario Argento Panico

By Jeremy Carr. Ideal for Argento newcomers but ultimately lacking in fresh perspectives….” Dario Argento Panico, a new documentary about the iconic, enigmatic, and—especially during the peak of his career—astonishingly inventive director, is a well-illustrated and reasonably informative look at the life and work of the man who largely defined […]

Tom DeLonge Wants You to Believe: Monsters of California (2023)

By Jonathan Monovich. Despite its imperfections as an introductory feature film, fans of the sci-fi, horror, and adventure genres will walk away with a smile and will want to believe.” “We all know conspiracies are dumb.” Knowing his extraterrestrial obsessions, it’s a lyric sung ironically by Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge in […]

Lost, but Not Dead: London After Midnight

By Gary D. Rhodes. I’ve solved this mystery. You’re at the bottom of it.” – Hibbs (Conrad Nagel), London after Midnight, 1927 Tod Browning’s London after Midnight, released by MGM in 1927, represents America’s first supernatural vampire feature film. Except that it isn’t. It does not depict a supernatural vampire, […]

Take Your Medicine: Baatar Batsukh’s Aberrance (2022)

By Thomas M. Puhr. Unfortunately, this historical importance, as “the first Mongolian horror feature to be released theatrically in the U.S., is attached to a messy – albeit occasionally inspired – thriller that collapses under one (or two, or three) too many outlandish twists.” Baatar Batsukh’s Aberrance (2022) arrives with […]

Life in Plastic, Not Fantastic: Micheal Bafaro’s Don’t Look Away (2023)

By Thomas M. Puhr. If the synopsis sounds familiar, then you’ve probably seen It Follows (2014). Don’t Look Away acknowledges this indebtedness… but this grating self-awareness relies far too heavily on its influences.” A haunted mannequin stalks a group of dimwitted twentysomethings in Micheal Bafaro’s Don’t Look Away (2023). Once […]

Australian Horror Now

By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. As a diverse and multicultural country, I would like to see us producing horror that represents the wide range of storytelling styles and lived experiences that come together to make this country what it is.” –Isabel Peppard “It was a difficult decision to make it even using […]

Into the Universe: Filmmaker Daphné Baiwir on King on Screen

By Leo Collis. “I really wanted to give the audience the feeling that they were entering the Stephen King universe.” The chances are, whether knowingly or not, you’ve seen a Stephen King adaptation on screen. The prolific author from Portland, Maine, has written over 50 books, and he has inspired […]