Wow. Writer/director Zach Cregger blew me away with this one, completely subverting my expectations while playing with the traditional horror rules in this fantastic thriller of a film. From his framing to camera movement to casting to the way he doles out the story, Cregger plays with an increasingly film-savvy and educated horror audience and…
Tag: horror
The Cabin at the End of the World (2018) – Paul G. Tremblay
I read and enjoyed Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts, so when I heard about his novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, I was suitably intrigued as it seems both he and I don’t love the home invasion subgenre of horror. His thought process was ‘how would I write one?’ and this…
Skeleton Crew (1985) – Stephen King
Stephen King’s second short story collection, Skeleton Crew looked like a giant sitting on my mom’s bookshelf. It was a hardcover and had that creepy monkey on the front. And while I didn’t recall all of the stories as I did this re-read, some sent me right back to the first time I read it,…
Lincoln (2012) – Steven Spielberg
Daniel Day-Lewis takes the titular role in Spielberg’s masterful film about the iconic president and his struggle to pass the 13th Amendment in support of his Emancipation Proclamation, even as the Civil War continues to tear the country apart. Filled with themes and ideas that are still sad, and frighteningly relevant, this looks at a…
TAD 2022: The Lair dir. by Neil Marshall
Neil Marshall brings us another bad-ass woman named Sinclair with his latest effort The Lair. Marshall’s films have been much loved by After Dark audiences having previously delivered such solid fare as The Descent, Doomsday (the other Sinclair), Dog Soldiers. Pairing with his lead actress Charlotte Kirk, they penned the script that sees the true…
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) – Steven Spielberg
If the Indiana Jones films that were set in the 30s were to pay homage to the serials of the time, then by moving Indy (Harrison Ford) into the 50s it makes sense, from a cinematic historical point of view that the film would include nuclear weapons, aliens and UFOs. That doesn’t mean it translated…
Munich (2005) – Steven Spielberg
Spielberg took on the real-world events in 1972 of the Palestinian Black September group’s horrific killing of Israeli Olympic athletes and the resulting action taken by Israeli forces in retribution. Spielberg takes no sides in retelling the event, instead engaging in the human drama at work in the thriller, the effect of the ongoing conflict,…
TIFF ’22: Project Wolf Hunting
Project Wolf Hunting, a South Korean entry for TIFF’s ever-popular Midnight Madness series, is sure to be a crowd pleaser for that late-night crowd. Director Kim Hongsun delivers a silly, gory actioner that feels like the messy and violent love child of Con Air and Friday the 13th. After a disastrous convict transport that ended…
Absentia (2011) – Mike Flanagan
So digging into Mike Flanagan’s work, I found his first horror feature film, which you can source on YouTube. Sure, it’s shot on a digital camera, and looks a little less sleek than some of his later works, but damn if a lot of recognizable elements aren’t there from the off; the use of family…
‘Salem’s Lot (1975) – Stephen King
I had a tough time with the horror genre when I was a child. My imagination was always much more powerful than any image I may have glimpsed through my fingers and consequently, I couldn’t watch them. But I was intrigued by spooky ideas. It wasn’t until I was 12 going on 13 that I…
The Mind Reels 