Posted in The Reel World by J C on January 5th, 2018
“You can’t get rid of me that easy.” Elise Rainier was the only casualty in 2010’s Insidious, but the character has proven to be impossible to kill. In fact, Lin Shaye’s sympathetic psychic quickly evolved into the main character of this low-budget, high-box office horror franchise. Chapter 2 brought her back in spectral form, while Chapter […]
Posted in The Reel World by J C on June 5th, 2015
“If you call out to one of the dead, all of them can hear you.” This lesson is very familiar to anyone who has seen either of the first two Insidious films, a pair of old-fashioned (no sex, no gore), highly-profitable chillers. Of course, a potential problem for this third installment was that the characters […]
Posted in The Reel World by J C on September 13th, 2013
“Personally, I prefer the ghosts to people.” The biggest reason Insidious became a surprise smash was because of its astoundingly straightforward and effective approach to delivering scares. The 2011 film came at the height of the “found footage” craze (and counted Paranormal Activity mastermind Oren Peli as one of its producers), yet it managed to resist […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2011
“A picture’s worth a thousand words.” James Wan first came to national attention when a short film that he made set the stage for one of the most successful horror franchises in recent years. That short, of course, was Saw, and after no less than 6 sequels that franchise appears to be over, at least […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 28th, 2020
“Surprise.” It wasn’t all that long ago that Universal was seriously attempting to develop a Dark Universe for their classic monsters. Things changed after the releases of Dracula Untold and The Mummy and their poor box office showings, but having seen those two films, I feel fans were spared in the long run from a […]
Posted in The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on February 29th, 2020
It wasn’t all that long ago that Universal was seriously attempting to develop a Dark Universe for their classic monsters. Things changed after the releases of Dracula Untold and The Mummy after their poor box office showings, but having seen those two films, I feel fans were spared in the long run from a disaster […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on December 14th, 2018
“I’m sorry there is so much pain in this story. I’m sorry it’s in fragments, like a body caught in crossfire, pulled apart by force, but there is nothing I can do to change it.” To say there is pain in The Handmaid’s Tale might be the biggest understatement of 2018. The series is set […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on December 7th, 2018
“They destroyed the man I was, but then I was reborn. And this time I came out breathing fire.” Season 1 of Westworld — HBO’s mega-budget adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1973 film of the same name — spent a lot of time exploring the nature of reality and humanity through a high-tech theme park’s robotic […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on March 5th, 2018
“Keeping the country safe is big business now. It’s getting bigger.” Much of this sixth season of Homeland is spent exploring the notion that the CIA’s cloak-and-dagger activities in the Middle East might have outlived their usefulness and a new course of action is required. But considering that Showtime’s previously white-hot spy drama — a […]
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on January 19th, 2018
“Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires.” You will hear it said several times throughout 12 Strong: For over 2000 years invaders and conquerors throughout history have attempted to bring the mountainous country under a foreign flag. The Russians had been the latest power to attempt to fight there, and in the 1980’s that war quickly […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 23rd, 2016
“Everyone is afraid of the dark…and that’s what she feeds on.” Despite rumors to the contrary, I am a full-grown adult. That means I can’t in good conscience admit to being afraid of the dark. The most I’ll concede is a sense of uneasiness if I’m in a dark space because I might bump into […]
Posted in No Huddle by J C on August 7th, 2016
The setup for Viral is promising enough. Throughout the early part of the film, we get subtle yet effective hints at the escalating catastrophe that is about to infect the story. (We hear about someone’s mom coughing uncontrollably, plus a video of a bloody, unexplained elevator attack goes, well, “viral.”) So it’s a shame that […]
Posted in The Reel World by J C on July 24th, 2016
“Everyone is afraid of the dark…and that’s what she feeds on.” Despite rumors to the contrary, I am a full-grown adult. That means I can’t in good conscience admit to being afraid of the dark. The most I’ll concede is a sense of uneasiness if I’m in a dark space because I might bump into […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 5th, 2016
We’ve all heard and seen the story before; a family loses a loved one and consumed with grief they meddle with unknown forces to see their loved ones again. The Monkey’s Paw is one of my favorite stories that cover the topic. I’m sure everyone at some point had to read this short story in […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on January 4th, 2016
At this point, the most shocking M. Night Shyamalan-related twist would be for the director to make a movie that people actually enjoyed. (The “M.” stands for “maligned,” right?) Hopes weren’t exactly high when it was announced Shyamalan — who was once fated to become either “the next Hitchcock” or “the next Spielberg” — would […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 13th, 2015
The Gallows starts off with a camcorder video shot of a high school play from 1993 in which a horrible accident occurs. It is immediately followed by video footage from 2013 that is labeled police evidence. That tips us off, if we didn’t know, that this is found-footage material. The found footage genre has grown […]
Posted in The Reel World by J C on September 11th, 2015
At this point, the most shocking M. Night Shyamalan-related twist would be for the director to make a movie that people actually enjoyed. (The “M.” stands for “maligned,” right?) Hopes weren’t exactly high when it was announced Shyamalan — who was once fated to become either “the next Hitchcock” or “the next Spielberg” — would […]
Posted in No Huddle by Dan Holland on May 14th, 2015
Once more I dive into the deep chasm that is filled with contemporary, independent exorcism films. Reading the title, An Irish Exorcism, what can be expected of this film? I was hoping for the film to bring focus to what it means for an exorcism to be “Irish.” Do Irish Catholics perform exorcisms differently than […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on May 13th, 2015
Lost River is the showy, laborious, mystifying feature filmmaking debut of actor/meme machine Ryan Gosling. Unfortunately, you’re more likely to have heard about the intensely negative reaction the movie received when it premiered at Cannes last year, than you are to have actually seen the film. Lost River now arrives on a bare bones Blu-ray […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 13th, 2015
The internet is destroying everything. It seems crazy, but it’s true, and most people know it. I mean that so many businesses have been destroyed by the tremendous growth of the internet and its insidious and unchecked influence. The newspaper business, music business, broadcast business and probably the movie business have been fundamentally and permanently […]
Posted in The Reel World by Archive Authors on October 17th, 2014
The internet is destroying everything. It seems crazy, but it’s true, and most people know it. I mean that so many businesses have been destroyed by the tumorous growth of the internet and its insidious and unchecked influence. The newspaper business, music business, broadcast business and probably the movie business have been fundamentally and permanently […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on August 28th, 2014
“You have just seen an authentic disclosure of conditions which unfortunately exist in some of our high schools today. The job of policemen will not be finished until this insidious menace to the schools of our country is exposed and destroyed.” “Authentic” is probably a stretch, but High School Confidential! is certainly fascinating for a […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on January 16th, 2014
“They’re gonna laugh at you. They’re all gonna laugh at you.” The idea of remaking/reimagining/refurbishing a horror classic may have been laughable at one point, but now it’s just business as usual. Then again, I happen to think this is an especially good time to revisit 1976’s Carrie. With all the attention bullying has gotten in […]
Posted in Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on December 5th, 2013
Warner has put out a few solid films and television shows on home video this year. There are a few of them that would make fine gifts for the home theatre fan on your Christmas list. From superheroes to hobbits and vampires, there’s something in this list for everyone. Wouldn’t hurt to snag a little […]
Posted in The Reel World by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2013
In 1986, AIDS was all over the headlines. Now AIDS is forgotten and ignored by most, but the pandemic remains a world wide disaster. It’s not like syphilis is all over the news either, but AIDS is both an insidious killer and one with a stigma all its own. Aside from the stigma is the […]
