“I Know What You Did Last Homecoming” is the more apt description for “Sorority Row.” It’s a slick horror movie made in 2009 that feels like it was dropped right out of 1998 and I mean that mostly as a compliment. As someone that’s had almost no faith in horror movies centered primarily on nepo babies and flavors of the week, Stewart Hendler’s “Sorority Row” is a shockingly good and entertaining slasher and whodunit that, while not the most thematically faithful remake, still manages to carve out its own niche in the massive library of remakes accrued in the early aughts.
Tag Archives: Slasher
Hell is a Teenage Girl (2023) [Fantasia Film Festival 2024]
There’s a great movie desperate to be set free with Stephen Sawchuk’s “Hell is a Teenage Girl” and sadly it’s only a pretty good movie when all is said and done. There’s so much lore and back story hinted at that the movie, at fourteen minutes, barely scratches the surface of. And we’re told that protagonist Parker is blamed for her dad being the Springsboro Slasher. But why? There are a lot of “But Why?’s” that will be spouted during the short. Although it is a neat, creative (if not wholly original) short, there’s just so much more tinkering and glossing up that needs to happen before/if a feature is ever greenlit.
Five Great Horror Movies by LGBTQ+ Creators
With another Pride Month here, I’m always reminded at how much the LGBTQ+ community has contributed to the horror world. Be it literature, television, comic books, and or movies, the LGBTQ+ spirit is woven in to the DNA of horror as a whole from Mary Shelly, to Don Mancini, to Elvira, et al.
These are five truly great horror standards directed and/or written by an LGBTQ+ creator.
In a Violent Nature (2024)
Exclusively In Theaters on May 31st from IFC Films.
When you’re a slasher movie buff as I have been for thirty years, you become convinced that you’ve seen it all. Every new kind of effect or aesthetic has been approached, all with varying degrees of success. So when a movie like “In a Violent Nature” comes around and changes your mind, it’s quite a special occasion. Chris Nash sets out to not only re-think the slasher movie, but deconstruct it, and succeeds with flying colors. He the best horror movie of the year, a nihilistic, gory, viciously mean slasher movie that’s also incredibly creepy, and downright haunting in its commentary about the unpredictability of nature.
Murdercise (2023)
“All those girls out there are perverts, strippers and communists!”
It’s amazing that Kansas Bowling isn’t a bigger star. She’s become one of the most recurring faces in indie and horror film, only really appearing every so often to deliver some of the most hilarious characters put to screen. Working with Paul Ragsdale again, Bowling delivers a fun take on a character that’s not so much a villain and not so much a hero, but is just someone dealing with their own insanity. Director Ragsdale delivers a silly nonsensical horror comedy that’s centered on the Reagan-era aesthetic to where even Bowling’s main character is an uptight Reagan fan.
Child’s Play (2019): Collector’s Edition [4K UHD/Blu-Ray]
Now Available from Scream Factory.
I will die on the hill that “Child’s Play” from Lars Klevberg isn’t just a good remake, but it’s also a great one. Sure, it’s a last ditch effort from the studio to keep the “Child’s Play” license, but it’s also a damn good re-imagining of the concept that fixes the entire premise in to more modern times. And while the original film did address complex ideas about mental illness and Andy’s inherent loneliness from being what used to be described as a “latch key kid,” Klevberg’s remake is all about genetics, and whether our violent natures can be by nature or nurture.
Camp Pleasant Lake (2024)
A new attraction is set up on an old campsite where a young girl disappeared years ago. To test their luck, they make their new attraction a horror camp where people pay to be scared under the theme of a slasher killer coming after them.