Lance W. Dreesen and Clint Hutchison’s horror anthology is a movie that’s managed to slip under the radar and remain fairly obscure. Even in the age where old titles are being revived for physical releases, and even in the age of the anthology renaissance, not too many people talk about “Terror Tract.” It’s a shame, since the 2000 horror film is a bold mix of terror, dark comedy, and zany violence that make it feel like an EC Comic that is slowly losing its sanity as it unfolds. You wouldn’t think that the late John Ritter could have been a great person to lead such a stellar horror anthology, but he’s top notch in a film that’s so unfairly overlooked.
Tag Archives: Supernatural
Scooby Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006)
2006’s “Pirates Ahoy!” is one of the more clever animated sequels to come from the aughts when the “Scooby Doo” movie series was pretty much stale. By this time they’d given up fighting real monsters, and reverted back to criminals and goons with fancy costumes and illusions. It’s surprising how much talent these direct to DVD movies always attract, and the cast compliments what is a pretty nifty mystery, altogether.
Stay Tuned (1992)
Peter Hyams’ horror comedy was way ahead of its time in 1992, and it’s a film that warrants so much more examination, mainly because of its prophetic view of television. Back in 1992 television was humongous and low income houses were finally getting access to cable television, so naturally there was a lot of ballyhoo about its addictive nature. Speaking as a television junky, “Stay Tuned” was a great bit of satire that also dabbled in to the arena of “So Bad it’s Good.” It’s not laugh out loud funny, but it’s often very clever, and never misses a chance to deliver some kind of word horror oriented pun.
Shorts Round Up of the Week: October Terrors
I hope this year has been merciful to you, as October is now in full motion. After such a terrible, bizarre year, feel free to lose yourself in five short horror films for our October festivities, which are no in full swing! Warning: Some of the reviews include the short films for your viewing pleasure, while others are just the teaser.
If you’d like to submit your short film for review consideration, submissions are always opened to filmmakers and producers.
Tales from the Hood 3 (2020)
The “Tales from the Hood” series keeps chugging on and sadly doesn’t seem to be taking advantage of its platform involving racial and social commentary, anymore. While “Tales from the Hood 3” is a solid horror anthology, it doesn’t pack any of the social commentary we saw in the original movie and the zany sequel. That both works against and for the considerably low budget follow up. I doubt a lot of people are going to enjoy “Tales from the Hood 3” but I had a good time.
In the Tall Grass (2019)
The problem with Vincenzo Natali’s “In the Tall Grass” is that it sets up so many questions and ideas, but never executes them well enough. “In the Tall Grass” feels very much in the vein of Stephen King’s “Children of the Corn” where a massive field of innocuous grass becomes the sight of a supernatural gathering. King and Joe Hill are very good about creating terror out of domesticity, and for the first thirty minutes Vincenzo Natali’s film had me hooked. Then it just about runs out of steam with too many undercooked concepts and never quite won me back.
Candy Corn (2019)
The odd thing about Josh Hasty’s “Candy Corn” is that it feels like the first chapter in an anthology or movie series. I don’t know how far they’ll take this concept, but I’d love to see more Halloween based tales of revenge as coordinated by this traveling carnival and its vindictive ring master. I’m not going to say that “Candy Corn” is a masterpiece, but as far as Halloween movie treats, it’s a very good horror film soaked in the Halloween aesthetic.