Back in the late nineties to early millennium there was a series on the Science Fiction channel here in America called “Exposure,” it was a fantastic take on a mini film festival by taking experienced indie directors and showing off some of the best and worst short films they could dole out to the audience. In the meantime we also were able to see early works from legendary filmmakers in Hollywood. “Season’s Greetings” was one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Tag Archives: Supernatural
Upstairs (2006)
Writer-Director Mark Howell’s short is one of the finest examples of short horror cinema I’ve seen in a while. He wastes no time in explaining his characters to us, leaves our experience completely ambiguous and also leaves me wanting a sequel. When a young couple happen upon a house being sold in a seemingly mundane neighborhood, they decide to buy it under the house’s value and are talked in to the purchase by a content realtor who seems to know the house’s ins and outs as the new buyers prepare to move.
The Final Destination (2009)
Yes, make no denial about it, this is yet another sequel to the franchise that’s been nothing but mediocre and has covered that fact by splashing the screen with blood. Of course it’s pretty clear by now that “The Final Destination” (the fourth in the series) is not even meant to be considered a serious horror movie but instead a carnival ride that allows for gruesome death after gruesome death on screen all for kids who once again have out witted death accidentally and are now paying the price in spades. Yes Death is an evil motherfucker and yet again teenagers fall by excruciating death after excruciating death. In 3D!
Drag Me To Hell (2009)
Cast aside all PG-13 biases folks, you’ll be glad to know that even with the rating, “Drag Me to Hell” is one of the finer horror movies released this year. It marks a come back for Sam Raimi who finally returns to the genre that made him and reminds us why he’s one of the greats. While gore is always fun, most times horror excels because of good storytelling and Raimi doesn’t dole out the gore, instead opting to tell a very good horror story that hearkens back to “Thinner.” It’s a classic horror comeuppance tale with themes of karma and revenge that takes advantage of old horror tricks without ever really trying too hard to scare us.
True Blood: The Complete First Season (DVD)
Maybe it’s because I’m just plain sick of vampires or maybe it’s just that I want them to go back to being feral vicious monsters but “True Blood” always bordered on “Twilight” for me to properly enjoy it and as hard as I wanted to enjoy it, I just couldn’t come around toward liking it as much as my family who found the show to be a breath of fresh air. Sure, the ad campaign was genius, but that’s just about where we end it.
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: Season One, Volume One (DVD)
Going in to the official DVD release for “Jonny Quest” I couldn’t believe what they’d done with the treatment. There’s a beveled slip cover and a two disc edition with DVD faces that look immaculate. It’s a well deserved treatment because to this day I am baffled as to why this series never broke out on its own and became a hit. Perhaps audiences just didn’t care? Maybe the series wasn’t handled well enough. Or maybe the viewers were too young to understand the complex narrative and intricate characterization that made this series an instant favorite of mine. There may also be some contention at the very suggestively violent moments that included a man being impaled on elephant tusks and blood shed during fights with villains.
Shutter (2008)
Here’s what I learned from watching the remake of “Shutter”:
1. Even purely Asian women look Caucasian only because they should.
2. There are such things as spirit photography magazines.
3. There are experts in spirit photography.
4. Ghosts love a good game of piggyback!
5. And Maya Hazen is a stone cold fox.