For “The Monster,” director Bryan Bertino who debuted with the excellent “The Strangers,” channels “Cujo,” exploring a family in disarray and what happens when they’re tested by a force of nature that’s unstoppable and deadly. “The Monster” is two parts a family drama and one part horror movie. The film’s monster serves as something of a metaphor for family dysfunction and the potential for character Lizzy to end up the victim of her rage-aholic father. Zoe Kazan and Ella Ballentine work beautifully together as a mom and daughter Kathy and Lizzy who spend more time arguing with one another than working for a goal. When Lizzy decides she wants to move with her father, Kathy begrudgingly takes her. After hitting a wolf on the road, they’re left stranded, and stuck in a rain storm. Sadly the wolf has managed to lure a monstrous beast from within the heart of the woods, leaving Kathy and Lizzy vulnerable and incapable of diving to safety.
Tag Archives: Thriller
Evil Games (Scherzo Diabolico) (2015)
A man who receives very little acknowledgement for his hard work decides to get things to change by kidnapping a young woman and holding her captive until he sees results to his plans. Unbeknownst to him, things are about to take an unexpected turn or two. Evil Games is written and directed by the mind behind 2016’s White Coffin, Adrian Garcia Bogliano. Here he builds another kidnapping story but with much different characters and reasoning. In Evil Games, the story is seen from the kidnapper’s side as he takes the time to build his story, his background, and his reason for doing this before getting to the kidnapping itself.
Trick ‘r Treat: Days of the Dead (Paperback)
For folks that didn’t know if “Trick r Treat” would end up as a one and done horror classic, or end up becoming a full fledged dynasty, creator Michael Dougherty is nice enough to team up with Legendary Pictures to deliver “Days of the Dead.” Michael Dougherty pens the introduction to “Days of the Dead,” where still uncertain if a sequel would ever blossom back in 2015, helped build this anthology to keep Sam alive in our hearts. “Days of the Dead” is a mid-quel ripped directly out of the “Trick r Treat” universe, the graphic novel unfolds five stories involving Halloween and Autumn that tries to recapture the spirit of the original film. With the mid-quel being a graphic novel, Dougherty side steps the interconnected story format from the film and bonds the tales mainly through our beloved Sam.
Black Sabbath (I tre volti della paura) (1963)
Boris Karloff is deliciously spooky as the narrator who unfolds a trio of stories in Mario Bava’s immortal “Black Sabbath*.” Each tale involves people whose demons come back to haunt them in one way or another. Mario Bava is excellent in depicting various shades of terror, devoting bold and stark palettes of colors to each segment that add to the EC Comics vibe that Bava inadvertently conveys. “The Drop of Water” is the best and arguably most iconic of segment in horror movie anthologies, involving the classic comeuppance of a grave robber. In the early 1900’s, nurse Chester is called to a large house once owned by an elderly woman who was also a medium. After the elderly woman dies while seemingly in a trance, Nurse Chester arrives to discover the gruesome visage of the woman and helps to dress up her corpse alongside her incredibly terrified house maid.
The Witch (2016)
Robert Eggers’ debut “The Witch” is a marvelous and absolutely mesmerizing film. It’s not just an incredible horror film, but a fantastic examination of how a family basically tears itself from inside out due to ideas of resentment, sexual repression, and pure isolation. Not many directors debut with a bang, but “The Witch” is a slow burn horror film that begins with the fuse burning and burning until Eggers delivers something of a humongous explosion that will leave audiences speechless. Eggers sets his film on 17th Century New England, where a patriarch of a small family named William is threatened with banishment by a puritanical plantation with his wife, daughter Thomasin, younger son Caleb, and fraternal twins Mercy and Jonas. Vowing to free himself of the puritanical village, William builds a secluded farm at the edge of the woods, swearing to thrive with his family at his side.
Suspiria (1977)
Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” is easily one of the greatest horror movies ever made. It’s one of the very few horror movies I can call perfect, and I rarely ever do that. Argento’s horror film about a ballet academy with a hideous secret is a marvel for the eyes, the ears, and for horror audiences that enjoy brain food with their cinema. Jessica Harper is excellent as young Suzy, a ballet dancer who travels to Germany to attend a very elite ballet school. Upon the surprising realization that she hasn’t been allowed to enter the school thanks to a late entry, she is surprisingly allow to attend when a student is mysteriously and gruesomely murdered in her apartment. Suzy immediately begins to become attuned to her surroundings, and finds her environment within the militant and unusual ballet school most unsettling, to the point where she begins to fall ill, and experiences unusual events.
The Call of Cthulhu (2005)
From The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and Andrew Leman comes the excellent “The Call of Cthulhu,” a short film I was lucky enough to experience years ago and was lucky enough to re-visit. From 2005, the independent effort channels the horror and sheer terror of HP Lovecraft’s mythology so well, the time manages to fly by without a hitch. “The Call of Cthulhu” is a brilliant throwback to the silent film era channeling the likes of Val Lewton to bring audiences a love letter to a time in film when horror meant the twang of the score, and focusing on the horror of our actors.