The first time I watched del Toro’s gothic tale I didn’t pay attention as much as I should and consequently, I grew bored with it. The advertising had made it look more akin to a horror film which is what I thought I wanted. I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of lurid colors, and what…
Tag: creepy
The Medium (2021) – Banjong Pisanthanakun
Thailand delivers a moody, atmospheric character piece, shot in documentary fashion that explores spirituality, faith, belief, family and vengeance. Initially, the ‘documentary’ is supposed to be about shamnisim and focuses on Nim (Sawanee Utoomma), and how she serves as a vessel for a goddess that has selected females of her family for generations. Through Nim,…
TAD 2021: The Free Fall dir. Adam Stilwell
Toronto After Dark delivers a gaslighting character thriller with The Free Fall, enjoying its Canadian premiere, and comes in as one of my favorite films of the festival. That being said, I saw the truth of what was going on before everything was revealed, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable ride. Sara (Andrea…
TAD 2021: International Shorts
The Toronto After Dark Film Festival unveils its International Shorts programme today. With an all virtual format this year, the Festival is not presenting a short before each feature, but is bundling them into two separate viewing packages, the International and the Canadian Shorts. Both collections feature a wealth of talent, and storytelling styles, and…
The Hole in the Ground (2019) – Lee Cronin
The Irish horror film, The Hole in the Ground, was circling on my radar for awhile, so I was curious to see what I thought of it when I finally had a chance to see it. I can see why some people like it, and others didn’t care for it. The film works best when…
In the Tall Grass (2019) – Vincenzo Natali
In the Tall Grass a novella by horror legend Stephen King, and his son Joe Hill makes for a fascinating and unnerving watch, even if the film version leans towards a kind of happy ending that wasn’t even brushed on in the original source material. And speaking of, horror novels work on a whole different…
The Grudge (2004) – Takashi Shimizu
Takashi Shimizu who wrote and directed the original J-horror version of The Grudge, Ju-On, delivers the North American adaptation that isn’t quite as creepy and unnerving as the source material, as it tries to find a blending of Western and Eastern film styles that doesn’t always work. I remember Ju-On freaked me out the first…
In the Mouth of Madness (1994) – John Carpenter
I got to rewatch on of my favourite John Carpenter films for the blog this week, In the Mouth of Madness, which brings Lovecraftian horror to the screen in a way that hadn’t been done before, and honestly helped introduce me to his writing, which albeit is racist, but also incredibly unnerving and frightening, happily…
The Croning (2012) – Laird Barron
This week’s book shelf brings a bit of cosmic horror as I delve into Laird Bannon’s novel, The Croning. The story spans the decades of one man, and the horrors that are around him, and the realization that these nightmare terrors are real. It’s unnverving, as we are introduced to geologist Don Miller, and his…
It: Chapter Two (2019) – Blu-Ray Review
Let’s get this out of the way first. No matter what Andy Muschietti had done for the second chapter of the It story there would have been no way to top the first instalment that was the perfect blend of creepy and nostalgia. And of course, there’s the plague of a Stephen King ending, something…
The Mind Reels 