Having its Canadian premiere at the Scotiabank theater, the Toronto After Dark film festival unveils Making Monsters which proves itself to be a fun and occasionally creepy spin on familiar horror motifs, both classic and modern. There are nods to the tropes of Final Girl, Torture Porn, and the horrors of the modern world, all…
Tag: tropes
Legend (1985) – Ridley Scott
Monsters in the Movies, the fantastic book by director John Landis from DK Canada moves on to the next chapter. Leaving mummies behind, I know turn my attention to Myths, Legends, and Fairy Tales, a widely populated region and I couldn’t think of a better place to start with it than Ridley Scott’s dreamlike take…
The Mummy Returns (2001) – Stephen Sommers
Two years after Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) and Evy (Rachel Weisz) returned the Mummy (Arnold Vosloo) to the ground, director Stephen Sommers brought him back for another adventure, and it serves as the next stop in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies, as I explore the chapter on Mummies! Despite only taking two years between…
Star Trek: Voyager (1999) – Latent Image, and Bride of Chaotica!
Captain’s log: stardate unknown Joe Menosky pens this episode from a story by Eileen Connors, Brannon Braga and himself. It first aired on 20 January, 1999. The Doctor (Robert Picardo) is troubled to learn that someone or something has tampered with his short term memory. As he investigates, he finds a string of memories and…
Moonlighting (1985) – The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice, and My Fair David
Orson Welles, to whom the first episode this week is dedicated, makes his final television appearance as he introduces this unique episode of Moonlighting. Written by Debra Frank and Carl Sautter, the episode debuted on 15 October, 1985, and about twelve minutes into it, transitions to black and white. David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill…
House On Haunted Hill (1999) – William Malone
I’m not sure how this title, a remake of the classic 1959 William Castle film ended up in the zombie chapter of DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book, as having just sat through this one, I don’t recall any zombies, or living dead. The concept itself is fun enough, an amusement park mogul, Stephen…
Soul of the Border (2019) – Matteo Righetto
Releasing this week from House of Anansi Press is the English translation of Matteo Righetto’s Soul of the Border. Released in Italy in 2017, the novel became a bestseller and is now getting it’s English release. A brisk, cinematic tale; it’s short chapters deliver a story that sees a young woman in search of her…
Paprebacks From Hell (2017) – Grady Hendrix
Grady Hendrix wowed and delighted me with his nostalgia, and horror filled, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and I’m always on the look out for the other books he’s written. So when I came across his non-fiction book, Paperbacks From Hell, documenting the paperback horror novels of the 70s and 80s, I had to grab it…
TAD 2018: You Might Be the Killer (2018) – Brett Simmons
The final night of Toronto After Dark gets underway this evening, and while I didn’t get to see all the films I wanted to see (life gets in the way), I enjoyed the ones I did, and loved sharing my thoughts on them with you. The final screening tonight (which does so twice, once at…
Life of the Party (2018) – Blu-Ray Review
With a recycled plot that is straight out of an 80s film, the Melissa McCarthy vehicle, Life of the Party hits blu-ray and DVD this week from Warner Brothers. Despite using all of the university and college tropes that have been in play since National Lampoon’s Animal House, the film arguably takes the story and…
