The so-called ‘Satanic Panic’ of the Eighties (with some fallout in the following decade) is a curious phenomenon – one born out of a collision of new media, psychiatry, pop-psychiatry and pop culture. It’s one of those things which could – and did – run and run, borne aloft by its ‘hidden’ status (how do […]
By Ben Bussey As I’ve remarked many times when looking at reissues of old horror favourites, many of them feel like they need little or no introduction, and to my mind that’s certainly the case with Fright Night. Tom Holland’s 1985 directorial debut was among the first dozen or so horror movies I saw in my […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi Hong Kong martial arts films have always had an evident spiritual connection to the Western – similar narratives playing out in different settings and with different weapons: fists and feet instead of Colts and Winchesters. This connection is drawn to the surface to full effect in Benny Chan’s Call of Heroes, as […]
1971 saw something of a cinematic seismic shift in Britain, with three films seeming to trouble the censors and moral guardians of Britain more than any others before. Arriving in quick succession were The Devils, A Clockwork Orange, and Straw Dogs, three films which seemed to pave the way for a landslide of taboo-breaking and […]
Apologies if this is a bit of a trite analogy, but it’s hard not to note clear parallels between slasher movies and punk rock. Both genres emerged more or less at the same time, in the downbeat days of the mid-to-late 70s, and tapped into a similar vein of youthful discontent and rage. There was […]
Unless something else just sneaks under the wire over the next couple of weeks, it seems this could be my final Horror in Short feature for the current site. Huh. It feels like only yesterday that I decided it was high time we spent more time championing these often brilliant, inventive and grossly-underrated cinematic […]
If I were to do some of that word association business, my response to the word ‘Mycho’ would be ‘bold.’ It applies to the company’s work in just about every meaning of the word. On an aesthetic level, bold is an accurate summation of their in-your-face approach, particularly when it comes to colour schemes: as […]
Shakespeare’s celebrated adage “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” may carry some weight, but it’s fair to say that when it comes to exploitation movies, by any other name they might not get such great numbers. Director Abel Ferrara’s more-or-less debut feature (he’d previously directed hardcore porno Nine […]
Japanese cinema has a proud tradition of body horror and over the past ten years or so, the Sushi Typhoon phenomenon alone has given us a whole host of flying limbs and mad mutations which are lots of fun to watch. For many of us, films of this ilk have pretty much set the bar […]
Novel concepts in horror movies often seem hard to come by. Fear, Inc., the feature debut of seasoned short film director Vincent Masciale, comes close to doing something relatively unique in what initially seems a fairly fresh and funny fashion, but it winds up hitting pretty wide of the bullseye. I’ll do my utmost to […]
One good microbudget indie horror anthology movie deserves another. 2015’s Volumes of Blood (my review here) was an enjoyable addition to the pantheon of portmanteau horror made with a cut-price charm and unmistakable affection for the genre, so it should come as little surprise that the sequel Volumes of Blood: Horror Stories continues in a […]