Author: Michael Williams
Exhausted after a long day of hiking, Daniel, Donna, Mark, and Sally gather around a fire at their campsite. It’s the first night of their spooky hiking tour through a haunted forest. As darkness creeps in, the four friends huddle together, joined by their mysterious guide, who promises an unforgettable experience. Their chaperone reveals the
I first saw Alejandro Jodorowsky’s surreal, bildungsroman film, Santa Sangre, in 1989 on VHS tape. Watching it was like watching a slasher about a killer with a twisted Oedipal Complex that takes place in the slums of Mexico City while on LSD. This unusual and dark fantasy left a powerful impression that 33 years later,
Imagine if, in the early 1980s, nascent film directors John Hughes and Wes Craven met up with venerable science fiction author Ray Bradbury at a Northern California artist’s retreat. There, between the backdrop of the Santa Cruz mountains and the turbulent Pacific Ocean, perhaps over a fine Merlot and maybe some clandestine psychotropic herbs, the
My attraction to horror movies goes deeper than enjoying the dopamine rush that comes from a well-made, scary film. Horror movies can broaden our horizons by introducing audiences to new people and places, inspiring us to learn and grow as individuals. Therefore, the work of Alice Maio Mackay, a teenage writer and director, is worth
Screenwriter Teresa Sutherland (The Wind, Midnight Mass) invites viewers to explore the beauty of our national parks in her directorial debut, Lovely, Dark and Deep (2023). The movie takes place in one of America’s beautiful National Forests and Grasslands. Because of their size and remoteness, these natural spaces can be dangerous, even fatal for hikers
Is there such a thing as a good war? After World War I, the Allies left Germany in a state of defeat and despair. Consequently, one man used the disheartened people to build a nation of fanatics. They followed him into another war that would throw the world into chaos. As the Germans struggled to
As a fan of European horror, I own nearly 30 films starring Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy. They cover his career from his early, lavish monster movies of the 1960s and 1970s to the cheap, direct-to-video exploitation films of the 2000s. Because his movies often reflected the changes he went through in life, it is
Canadian director and writer Brandon Cronenberg’s third film, Infinity Pool, is a critically well-received, bewildering film that lends itself to widespread interpretation. Many reviewers discuss its timely, global topics such as criticism of class systems and wealth inequality, the negative consequences of tourism, and the risks of self-indulgence. On a smaller, personal scale, Infinity Pool
Vampires, the mythical beings that exist between the living and the dead, serve as versatile and useful metaphors for examining the puzzling concerns of life. Themes of dysfunctional families, suppressed sexuality, and addiction course through the veins of many vampiric narratives. Perhaps because they exist in the liminal space between the two spheres of existence,
Francesco Picone’s Dead Bride (2022) is not a live-action version of Corpse Bride, Tim Burton’s animated, family-friendly necrophilic tale. Although it borrows many elements from beloved horror films, such as a murdered bride seeking vengeance, this movie copies but fails to reach the same qualities as the films it emulates. As with many supernatural stories,