The one, two, three punch of George A. Romero, Stephen King, and Tom Savini is one of best, if not the best example of the horror anthology to date. While many have come before it, “Creepshow” really set the bar high in 1982. “Creepshow” (and its sequel) were basically the Boomer generation snapping back at the censors and government that helped bring down EC Comics and destroy what was a pretty excellent institution that was almost obliterated by puritans and the like. Thankfully “Creepshow” celebrates the whole spirit of EC Comics with a series of stories that practice in the formula of EC with themes about karma, revenge, poetic justice, and crime.
Tag Archives: Revenge
Dogs Are Man’s Only Best Friend in the “John Wick” Universe
“You Hit My Puppy.” – Mr. Nobody
When we first meet John Wick, he’s already hanging on a thread. He’d all but expended his humanity on his past life. He’d spent his entire life as a ruthless hit man known as the dehumanizing name of “El Baba Yaga.” All sense of what makes him a person had been lost thanks to the mythologizing of his time as a career hit man. When he meets his wife Helen, he sadly loses her to terminal cancer, which ultimately causes him to reflect on not only giving up but relinquishing whatever trace of heart and soul that he had left. When Helen leaves him a young Beagle named Daisy, much to his surprise and chagrin, she’s not only giving him a purpose but a part of his humanity. If she can’t be there to take care of him and love John, at least he can have Daisy to care for and become friends with.
Mad Heidi (2023)
Tickets are now on sale at Fathom Events; coming to theaters nationwide for a special one-night engagement on Wednesday, June 21st at 7pm, local time.
A lot of the media likes to use the words “Indie film” whenever referring to a movie that isn’t entirely mainstream. The word has been homogenized over the years, as films like “Mad Heidi” are lost in the shuffle. “Mad Heidi” is a real indie film that worked hard to get a distribution deal, and it is here for us to gorge on. According to the press release, “Mad Heidi” initially made waves for its innovative crowdfunded approach, bypassing traditional financing tactics to ensure that the film’s original vision was preserved while placing profits back in the hands of the creators and backers. Even if neo-grindhouse isn’t your cup of tea, “Mad Heidi” deserves a lot of love for its willingness to embrace its indie roots, while also being literally as cheesy as it can possibly be.
The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023)
Bomani J. Story’s horror film is one part family drama, one part Frankenstein, and one part Re-Animator. Deep down beneath its grue and gore is a very relatable and heartbreaking tale of a family divided by death and a girl determined to beat it. Much of “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster” is centered around young Vicaria, a literal mad genius who is convinced that she can cure death, and like most mad geniuses, she finds out along the way that what is dead should stay dead, and that her madness might be symptomatic of the world she lives in.
The Wrath of Becky (2023)
With the original 2020 “Becky,” we were introduced to the titular psychotic teenager on a rampage. The small scale but giddily violent movie was a great bit of revenge exploitation with Lulu Wilson bringing to life the conniving anti-heroine. With “The Wrath of Becky,” directors Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote re-introduce us to a new version of Becky. The Becky we meet now has been through a lot, but there are a few things that remain the same with her. One: She is as conniving and cunning as ever. And Two: It’s a good idea not to mess with her dog.
Pillow Party Massacre (2023)
One of the things I wish horror movies would stop doing is the meta-dialogue drop where a character proclaims “I feel like I’m in a horror movie!” to which someone replies “Well this isn’t a horror movie! This is real life.” Please stop that. I know I’m watching a horror movie. I don’t need to know that the characters know that we’re watching a horror movie. That said, “Pillow Party Massacre” is a mix of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Slaughter High” but with none of the fun hacking and slashing that goes with them. There’s nary a pillow party or a respectable massacre to be had.
Sisu (2023)
Director Jalmari Helander’s “Sisu” is a bat shit insane action movie in a year filled with some pretty good action entries. It’s like Indiana Jones and The Punisher were mashed together with a hint of Jason Voorhees, and out came “Sisu.” It’s a Nazi killing, dismembering, mutilating, head stabbing, revenge saga that manages to competently take its paper thin premise and produces an absolutely gore soaked homage to exploitation action films of the seventies and eighties.

