Ben Wheatley will try anything. He’s directed horror movies, crime dramas, action movies, comedies, and today’s film; a psychedelic black and white horror film about the English Civil War. Apart from a sardonic sense of humor you never know what to expect from Wheatley. He can play a story close to the vest or throw all rhyme or reason out the window. Sometimes he does both. He’s an unpredictable filmmaker. His next film is a Tomb Raider sequel for god sakes. Which is crazy when you consider he made today’s film about alchemy, tripping on mushrooms, and a guy showing off his diseased wang.

Continue reading →

Considering we already talked about Insidious on The Pick last week, and I’ll be reviewing The Conjuring in a couple of days, it’s shaping up to be a very Blumhouse Shocktober for me. The Purge is a pretty typical Blumhouse production, in that it has a very small budget ($3 million to be exact), a few notable stars, and somehow managed to make enough money to become a franchise that now consists of four movies and TV series. This, of course, all has to do with my decision to review it, since I wanted to see if all the hubbub over it was earned, or whether it just became popular based off of its morbidly intriguing premise. Continue reading →

Hopefully this my last filler review. Here we go…

The last time I watched Paranorman I was working a grueling job that started at 3:00 AM. On a “good-night” I would nap a few hours then take a car to a bus to a loud building then go inside a truck with hundreds upon hundreds of boxes. It was exhausting. One night I was laying down for my nap—before being crushed by another dose of adulthood (and boxes)—when a movie came on TV. It was Paranorman. I’d seen Laika’s 2012 stop-motion horror/comedy before (and enjoyed it) but had no intention of watching it for more than a few minutes on this particular night. I watched the whole thing. But I didn’t go to work that night tired. I went with a sense of whimsy. Content even.

Continue reading →

Grief is a tricky subject to depict onscreen, and yet it tends to pop up in horror movies quite a bit. Maybe this is because in horror movies there isn’t this preconceived notion of handling grief “tastefully”, and so movies in the genre can go a little nuts with turning their screws into the audience and their own personal relationship with death and grieving. Whatever the case, The Woman In Black does a good job of not making grief feel completely trivial, but also of amping up all the bad vibes surrounding ghosts and dead loved ones into something that constantly keeps you on edge. Continue reading →

This has been a tough week for Shocktober. I’ve been a busy boy and haven’t had the time to watch and write about so many movies with so little time in-between picks. Not to mention most of my early picks have not been readily available on the “stream” as the kids call it. Not until October 12th do the rest of my picks sit comfortably on a reputable streaming platform. No offense to Tubi or whatever fuboTV is. So until then expect a bunch of random crazy shit. Like today’s replacement pick I’m recalling from memory. A blood-soaked buddy comedy from down under.

Continue reading →

Due to scheduling issues I’m doing a late substitution for the film originally planned for today. Instead I’m dusting off the slasher classic You’re Next. “A classic?” You say. They did do a mural of the film at the Alamo Drafthouse. No idea if it’s still there but that’s cool. I would also argue this was the film that set Adam Wingard up for all of his future success. Despite the fact this film totally got the shaft upon its release.

Continue reading →