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Editorials

‘The Taking of Deborah Logan’ As Faux-Queer Archive

As artifacts of resilience and endurance, found footage speaks to the queer experience. The subgenre offers unique capabilities that affirm its queer characters through continuance, holding a radical potential for counter-archiving. Through adopting a cinéma vérité approach, found-footage horror films like The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014), Unfriended: Darkweb (2018), and Megan is Missing (2011) are forging new terrain depicting queer […]

Luke Wilson Soul Survivors
Editorials 0

Meditations on Guilt in ‘Soul Survivors’

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? Stephen Carpenter‘s 2001 critical reject Soul Survivors is a thesis on this very question and the matrix of emotions that stem from the answer. Following the success of teen-horror darlings I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend, the film featured other rising stars of the early aughts, but with a […]

By Maggie Stankiewicz Posted on

Alexandra Shipp Brianna Hildebrand Tragedy Girls
Editorials 0

Gen Z Reclaims the Slasher in ‘Tragedy Girls’

In the fictional midwestern town of Rosedale—where Tyler MacIntyre’s Tragedy Girls is set—blood attracts an eager crowd. It isn’t long before a pair of high school seniors learn how to spin local misery into a lucrative business. Known on social media as the “Tragedy Girls,” McKayla Hooper (Alexandra Shipp) and Sadie Cunningham (Brianna Hildebrand) have built a viral brand by […]

By RC Jara Posted on

Anya Taylor-Joy stars in Robert Eggers's 'The Witch.'
Editorials 0

‘The Witch’ Puts Coven Before Blood

In a genre typically considered “for the guys,” it’s time to give a nod to the ladies. Uterus Horror is a subgenre of horror films that focuses on the uniquely female experience of puberty and the act of coming into your sexuality, using horror elements to emphasize and/or act as a metaphor for that experience. These films are often ignored in theaters […]

By Molly Henery Posted on

Anirudh Agarwal Bandh Darwaza
Editorials 0

‘Bandh Darwaza’ Brought Horror to Bollywood

Popularized in the 1970s but reaching peak industry dominance through the 1980s and 90s, the often-lavish masala genre dominated Bollywood over three decades. During this time—in remarkably parallel fashion to how Hollywood operated in the 1980s—production periods and costs had become so high that normal and smaller-size projects were severely sidelined. That often left room for only the biggest of […]

By Wally Adams Posted on

Editorials 0

Coming of Age With Disney’s Heartwarming ‘Halloweentown’

As long as Amelia has sole control of Patreon review requests, y’all are going to read about early-thirties Donato experiencing the childhood witchy-movie upbringing I never had. Last time it was Practical Magic. Today it’s Halloweentown, directed by Duwayne Dunham of Little Giants fame. Disney’s made-for-TV children’s tale about not-so-scary monsters is most notable for its festive October charms. Citizens […]

By Matt Donato Posted on

My Super Psycho Sweet 16 MTV
Editorials 0

Why ‘My Super Psycho Sweet 16’ Needs Its Moment

As a child I was afraid of everything, unable to watch horror movies without crying and running upstairs for fear of catching an accidental glimpse of something frightful. As age-appropriate panic subsided, two films became my introduction to the genre: Wes Craven’s widely acclaimed Scream, which introduced me (like many) to the mechanics of the genre, and Jacob Gentry’s My […]

By Erin McGurk Posted on

The Taking of Deborah Logan
Editorials 0

‘The Taking of Deborah Logan’ As Faux-Queer Archive

As artifacts of resilience and endurance, found footage speaks to the queer experience. The subgenre offers unique capabilities that affirm its queer characters through continuance, holding a radical potential for counter-archiving. Through adopting a cinéma vérité approach, found-footage horror films like The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014), Unfriended: Darkweb (2018), and Megan is Missing (2011) are forging new terrain depicting queer […]

By Alex Hall Posted on

Luke Wilson Soul Survivors
Editorials 0

Meditations on Guilt in ‘Soul Survivors’

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? Stephen Carpenter‘s 2001 critical reject Soul Survivors is a thesis on this very question and the matrix of emotions that stem from the answer. Following the success of teen-horror darlings I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend, the film featured other rising stars of the early aughts, but with a […]

By Maggie Stankiewicz Posted on

Alexandra Shipp Brianna Hildebrand Tragedy Girls
Editorials 0

Gen Z Reclaims the Slasher in ‘Tragedy Girls’

In the fictional midwestern town of Rosedale—where Tyler MacIntyre’s Tragedy Girls is set—blood attracts an eager crowd. It isn’t long before a pair of high school seniors learn how to spin local misery into a lucrative business. Known on social media as the “Tragedy Girls,” McKayla Hooper (Alexandra Shipp) and Sadie Cunningham (Brianna Hildebrand) have built a viral brand by […]

By RC Jara Posted on

Anya Taylor-Joy stars in Robert Eggers's 'The Witch.'
Editorials 0

‘The Witch’ Puts Coven Before Blood

In a genre typically considered “for the guys,” it’s time to give a nod to the ladies. Uterus Horror is a subgenre of horror films that focuses on the uniquely female experience of puberty and the act of coming into your sexuality, using horror elements to emphasize and/or act as a metaphor for that experience. These films are often ignored in theaters […]

By Molly Henery Posted on

Anirudh Agarwal Bandh Darwaza
Editorials 0

‘Bandh Darwaza’ Brought Horror to Bollywood

Popularized in the 1970s but reaching peak industry dominance through the 1980s and 90s, the often-lavish masala genre dominated Bollywood over three decades. During this time—in remarkably parallel fashion to how Hollywood operated in the 1980s—production periods and costs had become so high that normal and smaller-size projects were severely sidelined. That often left room for only the biggest of […]

By Wally Adams Posted on

Editorials 0

Coming of Age With Disney’s Heartwarming ‘Halloweentown’

As long as Amelia has sole control of Patreon review requests, y’all are going to read about early-thirties Donato experiencing the childhood witchy-movie upbringing I never had. Last time it was Practical Magic. Today it’s Halloweentown, directed by Duwayne Dunham of Little Giants fame. Disney’s made-for-TV children’s tale about not-so-scary monsters is most notable for its festive October charms. Citizens […]

By Matt Donato Posted on

My Super Psycho Sweet 16 MTV
Editorials 0

Why ‘My Super Psycho Sweet 16’ Needs Its Moment

As a child I was afraid of everything, unable to watch horror movies without crying and running upstairs for fear of catching an accidental glimpse of something frightful. As age-appropriate panic subsided, two films became my introduction to the genre: Wes Craven’s widely acclaimed Scream, which introduced me (like many) to the mechanics of the genre, and Jacob Gentry’s My […]

By Erin McGurk Posted on

The Hive Kathryn Prescott
Podcasts 0

Podcast: Molly Henery on ‘The Hive’

What do you get when you cross Fede Álvarez‘s Evil Dead remake with Christopher Nolan‘s Memento? If you’re first time writer-director David Yarovesky, the answer is The Hive, a heady sci-fi and horror hybrid that also manages to turn every summer camp trope on its head. With makeup special effects from Gary Tunnicliffe of Hellraiser franchise fame, The Hive manages […]

By Matthew Monagle Posted on

Ghost in the Machine Will Horneff
Editorials 0

‘Ghost in the Machine’ Paved the Way for ‘Final Destination’

In 2000, Final Destination captivated horror fans by turning the premise of death as a villain into a powerhouse franchise. But long before death crept into ill-fated teenagers’ lives through water leaks and faulty fire escapes, Rachel Talalay‘s Ghost in the Machine existed. An underappreciated 1993 movie where a homicidal maniac uses technology as a weapon, Talalay’s film bears an unmistakable likeness to the Final Destination franchise.  […]

By Bee Turck Posted on

Population 436
Podcasts 0

Podcast: Christine Makepeace on ‘Population 436’

There was a time not so long ago when Jeremy Sisto was the James Badge Dale of the horror industry. In the early 2000s, Sisto starred in a wide range of indie classics, including titles like Matthew Leutwyler‘s Dead & Breakfast and Lucky McKee‘s May. But it was Population 436—the Shirley Jackson-esque thriller from future Breaking Bad luminary Michelle MacLaren—that […]

By Matthew Monagle Posted on

The Unknown 2000
Editorials 0

How ‘The Unknown’ Revived Swedish Horror

In the summer of 1999, a small production team led by director Michael Hjorth packed their gear and headed for the vast natural reserves south of Stockholm. Their goal was to shoot a rarity in the Swedish film landscape: The Unknown, one of the very few horror movies released theatrically within the country.  Most Swedes might remember this story about five biologists sent […]

By Markus Amalthea Magnuson Posted on

Lou Taylor Pucci Nadia Hilker Spring
Editorials 0

Monsters, Menstruation, and Cosmic Love in ‘Spring’

In a genre typically considered “for the guys,” it’s time to give a nod to the ladies. Uterus Horror is a subgenre of horror films that focuses on the uniquely female experience of puberty and the act of coming into your sexuality, using horror elements to emphasize and/or act as a metaphor for that experience. These films are often ignored in theaters […]

By Molly Henery Posted on

Abaddon Hotel Hell House LLC
Editorials 0

How ‘Hell House LLC’ Gives Life to the Abaddon Hotel

In found footage horror films, homes and hotels are often seen as places that must be cleansed. People with video cameras storm into confined spaces – the Abaddon Hotel, the Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital – looking for explanations and solutions for demonic entities seen as parasitic monsters. The first-person perspective of found footage places the cameraperson in the position of “the […]

By Mary Beth McAndrews Posted on