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 […]
“Rejecting Reality”: Mary Dauterman on Booger
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. I come from a commercial background. I’m mostly directing pieces where everyone looks perfect…. I did not want Booger to feel like that at all. It’s raw and disgusting and grimy.” At its most placid, depictions of grief on-screen veer away from excessive physical displays. Gentle weeping […]
I Wanna Hold Your Hand: Danny and Michael Philippou’s Talk to Me (2022)
By Thomas M. Puhr. Talk to Me’s crisp runtime has its perks (there’s not an ounce of fat on this thing), but it also feels oddly truncated.” Like the most effective urban legends, Talk to Me (2022) revolves around a deliciously simple conceit – or, in this case, a deliciously simple object: […]
Shepherding It to the Finish Line: An Interview with Russell Owen
By Leo Collis. Filmmaker Owen discusses gaining some momentum after a decade of grind. A lot can happen in 11 years. In fact, the last five years alone feels like two lifetimes. It was back in 2012, when I was a bright-eyed intern for Film International, that I first spoke […]
Universal’s First Horror Films
By Gary D. Rhodes. Here is an amazing history, one far more enduring than, say, Paramount’s connection to the comedy genre or Warner Bros. to the gangster. The question of precisely when Universal horror movies began is equally as fascinating as it is complicated.” In the 21st century, Universal Pictures […]
A Woman on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown: Repulsion by Jeremy Carr
A Book Review by Dávid Szőke. A fascinating study that examines themes mostly, but not exclusively, central to feminist visual representations, without losing sight of the paradoxes that shade contemporary approaches to Polanski’s work in the light of the #meToo movement.” “We are clay […] and nothing is real for […]