Much like Cregger’s previous film, Barbarian, it’s best to go into this film for the first time with no real knowledge beyond what is provided by the poster… one night, almost all the kids from a single classroom disappeared. What happened? That’s the initial launching point for a story that shifts narratives and fractures fairy…
Tag: jump scares
The First Omen (2024) – Arkasha Stevenson
As much as I love Sam Neill as the Antichrist in The Final Conflict, and my first introduction to the series with the novelization of Damien: The Omen II, The First Omen has taken its place as my second favorite in the franchise. Working to tie itself into the original film directed by Dick Donner…
Thir13en Ghosts (2001) – Steve Beck
Executive producers Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver were fans of William Castle films from the 50s and 60s and they set about creating remakes of some of the cult classic films he, which all featured some kind of tweak to get audiences in seats. Under the name Dark Castle Entertainment, the first remake was The…
Insidious: The Red Door (2023) – Patrick Wilson
Patrick Wilson makes his directorial debut with the fifth (and final?) Insidious film that takes us back to the Lambert family, checking in on them nine years after the events of Insidious 2, which was the last time the family was featured as the main characters in the series. There are some fun ideas here,…
Mama (2013) – Andy Muschietti
Guillermo del Toro served as executive producer on Andy Muschietti’s Mama an interesting take on a ghost story that also explores the roles of parents, specifically mothers, while fostering some interesting and enjoyable scares with some pretty solid special effects. Sisters Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lilly (Isabelle Nelisse) were thought lost when their father took…
Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) – Mike Flanagan
Mike Flanagan has quickly become one of my favorite writer/directors and I realized that there were still a number of his titles that I hadn’t written about for the blog. So color me happy as I dig into some other examples of his work. Ouija: Origin of Evil is, in fact, a sequel to a…
The Conjuring (2013) – James Wan
I’m going to be honest, the first time I saw The Conjuring, I was disappointed, I didn’t really get into it, and felt that it relied a little too heavily on it’s jump scares (always seemingly accompanied by a musical sting). Still, a while ago I gave it a rewatch, and really enjoyed it the…
Drag Me to Hell (2009) – Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi returned to the horror genre in 2009 with the film Drag Me to Hell, the next title in the section on witches in DK Canada’s highly enjoyable Monsters in the Movies book. Alison Lohman portrays Christine Brown, a loan officer at a bank in California. She’s in competition for the Assistant Manager’s position,…
Jaws of Satan (1981) – Bob Claver
Dean Cundey (!?)serves as DOP in this film that stars Fritz Weaver, and Gretchen Corbett, and a very young Christina Applegate, that has a very fun and unbelievable plot, as I delver deeper into DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies, and settle in for Jaws of Satan, aka King Cobra. In a small town, where…
Toronto After Dark 2019: The Wretched (2019) – Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce
Closing out the Toronto After dark film festival tonight at Scotibank Theater is the latest film from the Pierce Brothers as they have the Toronto Premiere of The Wretched. With overtones of 80s classics, like The Evil Dead and Fright Night (and going a little further back to the 70s with Jaws – I may…
The Mind Reels 