Orbit Books brings me my first real creepy novel of 2023, Episode Thirteen. Using the familiar structure of the found footage genre, something that has been co-opted successfully for all of the ghost-hunting shows that seem to plague reality television, DiLouie compiles a literary found footage film, offering up video transcripts, EVP recordings, text messages,…
Tag: demon
V/H/S/99 (2022) – Flying Lotus, Maggie Levin, Tyler MacIntyre, Johannes Roberts, Joseph Winter, and Vanessa Winter
The most recent installment of the continuing found footage franchise, V/H/S/ feels like a bit of a miss to me. There are some interesting story ideas here, but they either take too long to develop, the camerawork is TOO shakey, or they tried to do too much. This time out there is five tales, none…
Insidious: Chapter Three (2015) – Leigh Whannell
Writer Leigh Whannell who had penned the previous two entries in the Insidious series slips into the director’s chair for the third installment, which also serves as a prequel to the Lambert story that occupied the first two films. The film introduces us to a small family living in the city. There’s Sean (Dermot Mulroney),…
The X-Files (1999) – Terms of Endearment, and The Rain King
Bruce Campbell pops up in The X-Files this week with Terms of Endearment. Written by David Amann, this story first aired on 3 January, 1999, and sees Spender (Chris Owens) blowing off a potential x-files investigation, that Mulder (David Duchovny) recovers, and heads off to Virginia to investigate. While Scully (Gillian Anderson) covers for him,…
Millennium (1997) – A Single Blade of Grass, and The Curse of Frank Black
Erin Maher and Kay Reindl deliver the first real misstep of the Millennium television series with A Single Blade of Grass. Originally airing on 24 October, 1997 the story sees Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) travelling to New York City to investigate a body discovered there, on a construction site turned archaeological site turned crime scene….
Millennium (1997) – Walkabout, and Lamentation
Walkabout written by Chip Johannessen and Tim Tankosic is a bit of a different story for Frank Black (Lance Henriksen). First airing on 28 March, 1997 the story sees Frank awaking covered in blood and no real memory of the past few days. As he and Peter (Terry O’Quinn) begin to investigate, they discover something…
The Keep (1983) – Michael Mann
(Re) Watching Michael Mann’s disjointed supernatural film, The Keep I realised I wanted one thing from it – Mann’s original cut. Apparently clocking in at 3 1/2 hours it was trimmed down to 2 by Paramount Pictures, who then cut another half hour out of it after some rough previews. It’s not like now. If…
The Conjuring 2 (2016) – James Wan
The second film in the Conjuring series once again focuses on a case investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren (portrayed in the film by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) and unlike the Annabelle stories, these films lean towards the smarter, filled with a well-crafted story, and some legitimate jump scares and actual terror. The film…
The X-Files (1996) – Grotesque, and Piper Maru
Howard Gordon delivers a script for Grotesque, a monster of the week episode, that won the series an Emmy for cinematography, and gives us a moody piece that first aired on 2 February, 1996. Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) are requested by Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) to help the head of the Behavioural Unit,…
The X-Files (1995) – Irresistible, and Die Hand Die Verletzt
Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny) find themselves investigating a death fetishist who elevates his obsession to kidnapping and murder with the introduction of Donnie Pfaster (Nick Chinlund) in Irresistible. Written by series creator, Chris Carter, the show demonstrates how the human monster can be the most terrifying, though in a moment of fear,…
The Mind Reels 