By Keri O’Shea The Dracula story continues to be a source of inspiration for filmmakers, although to what degree they incorporate Bram Stoker’s novel into the resulting film has always been a sticking point, with many now either not bothering whatsoever or going off on such a wild tangent that old Bram himself wouldn’t recognise […]
By Keri O’Shea As horror has become (somewhat) more seriously considered and appreciated within wider culture in the past fifteen years or so, more and more people have taken it upon themselves to look in closer detail at the make-up of horror. Just who populates the stories that make up the genre? How are the […]
Review by Ben Bussey It feels strange to be finally catching up with one of the best horror films of its year several years after its initial release. When the screener arrived for Kidnapped I’d all but forgotten the praise it first attracted in 2011; Nia caught it at BIFFF, Steph at FrightFest, and our […]
Review by Karolina Gruschka “I’m Clif Prowse.” “And I’m Derek Lee, and tomorrow we’re going on a year-long trip around the world! Six continents, over 30 countries. It’s gonna be epic.” Day 1: ‘Not Another Found Footage Film’ This was my first response towards Afflicted (2013), since horror movies based on ‘found footage’ material just […]
Review by Tristan Bishop Time for full disclosure – I’ve not seen any of the six (?!) other Leprechaun films. Back in the mid-nineties I was a mildly pretentious youth more into French art house fare than comedy horror, and so the gore ‘n’ giggles formula wasn’t one I tended to opt for on a […]
By Quin A few years ago, when Edward Scissorhands was was having its 20th anniversary, I remember thinking at the time, “Yep, that sounds about right.” Now four years later, as Tim Burton’s Ed Wood turns 20, I find myself feeling really old and wondering where the time went. It’s so strange how two films […]
By Svetlana Fedotov Comic anthologies are hard to pull off, especially when all it takes is one bad story to drag the whole thing down. I’ve read plenty collaborated works consisting of a mixed bag of good and bad art and good and bad script, which, unfortunately for the entire publication, will force what could’ve […]
By Keri O’Shea I’ve always thought that the title Blacula is a bit of a shame. Sure, so far as the filmmakers were concerned it made for a nicely blatant sell, and you can hardly accuse them of false advertising, but to my mind it has the hokey sort of feel to it that immediately […]
Review by Ben Bussey I don’t have any particularly strong memories of when See No Evil came out. I vaguely recall hearing about it, seeing posters and trailers, thinking “meh,” and not feeling especially driven to go see it; and when I eventually happened to catch it on TV a few years later, my overall […]
Review by Karolina Gruschka Ben Bussey might have been right when he predicted almost a year ago that Motivational Growth would be a film that is most likely to split audiences. While his response – and that of a few other Abertoir 2013 attendees – was mainly positive, some, myself included, did not enjoy it […]
Review by Stephanie Scaife Killer Klowns from Outer Space is not a good film, but for those of my generation it certainly invokes a certain amount of nostalgia. This was definitely one of those titles that was popular in the playground when I was at school; I think the title along with the ridiculous plot, […]