I hate dream scenes in movies! I particularly hate them in Hollywood horror movies, where they are so overworked we should give them a twenty-year vacation. Often they begin the movie and end in a jump scare that wakes the protagonist. It was only a dream! They are lazy and ineffective. Screenwriters write them whenever...
Last Sunday, in the mood for a scary and disturbing movie, I searched Netflix Instant Play and discovered Darling. Though the short synopsis made me think it was going to be just another haunted house story, I decided to watch it. Instead of being another haunted house tale, Darling proved to be psychological horror...
There is a sameness in the way horror movies begin. A group of friends load up their car and head into the country for a binge of sex and booze. Or a family moves into a new town, a new house, to help recover from some tragedy, usually the lost of a child. Or...
I have written about my love of horror movies but of my frustrations to find movies that really scare me. What scares us have been filmed so many times in so many ways that it is almost impossible for moviemakers to be scary. Almost impossible, but not entirely. Starry Eyes, financed in part from...
Yes, I saw Age of Tomorrow. I’m not proud of it, but I saw it. I don’t want to admit to you that I saw it, but since I saw this movie as part of my Netflix Now series, I must confess it. In truth, if I hadn’t planned on reviewing this movie, I...
The movie poster for The Ward caught my eye. It showed a beautiful blond, dressed in a flimsy white gown, and struggling against unseen forces. Sex and violence all in one image! When I saw that John Carpenter, of Halloween and The Thing fame, directed this movie, I was sold. Carpenter is clearly one...
When three roommates decide to compete to win a prize for proving a supernatural event, they purchased a cursed mirror on eBay and hang it in their living room. Armed with movie and video cameras, they set up round-the-clock video surveillance. It is a case of being careful of what you wish for, because the...
Every since Mary Shelley penned Frankenstein, writers and moviemakers explored the idea of humans creating another humanoid life form. Many of the movies inspired by this theme are works of genius. I’m thinking Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) or Chris Columbus’ Bicentennial Man (1999). These movies allow us to explore questions like: What does...
You might think that a movie released in March of this year but hitting Netflix Instant Play by the end of April has suspected entertainment value, but you would be wrong. Hush is a tense drama that kept me at the edge of my seat. It is a simple movie with a simple plot,...
