Retrospectives
Why Shocker Was a Surprisingly Personal Movie for Wes Craven
Shocker, in some ways, feels like Wes Craven’s most commercial movie. The first thing that everyone usually points out, once they get done complimenting the soundtrack, is that it was a clear attempt ...
Why It’s Perfectly OK to Call Predator a Horror Movie
It’s one of the biggest, most influential science fiction epics of all time. Predator already is, without question, a blending of genres. It is all-out action and all-out sci-fi at the same time. You ...
Why John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness Was a Surprising Twist on Devil Movies
John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness was an unexpected movie that came about at an unexpected time. Through the 1970’s and early ‘80’s, satanic horror had been exhausted to the point that by the end of...
Why The Dead Zone Was a Surprise For Everyone Involved
The Dead Zone was made just as Stephen King adaptations were starting to become pretty hit or miss. People weren’t necessarily expecting each new movie taken from the author’s work to be a masterpiece...
Why Bubba Ho-Tep Was an Unexpected Success (And Why We’ll Never See the Sequel)
Bubba Ho-Tep is easily one of the biggest cult classics to come out of the previous decade. As far as low budget indie flicks go, it was a huge success. Nobody really expected it, but that was part of...
Why Scream 2’s Deconstruction of Sequels is Even More Meta Than the First
Considering just how quickly after the first it was made, Scream 2 is a movie that probably shouldn’t have worked. At the very least, it shouldn’t have worked half as well as it did. It would have bee...
How The Bird With the Crystal Plumage Established Argento’s Signature Style
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage was the 1970 debut of Italian director Dario Argento, and that’s pretty amazing considering just how great of a debut feature it is. In some ways, it’s Argento’s most...
’90s Horror Movies That Defined the Decade
The ’90s was an interesting decade for horror. It stumbled a bit in the first half and became insanely commercial in the second half. Each end of the spectrum was covered with very little in bet...
How Bride of Frankenstein Set the Template for Every Horror Sequel
Everyone has their favorite horror sequel. And, of course, everyone has their least favorite as well. Following up a classic can be incredibly difficult to pull off. The first problem is justifying wh...
