{Blu-ray Review} It’s All the Wrong Way ‘Round, Like in a Mirror: Dream Demon (1988)
“I never dream, not that I can remember, so I[…]
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{Blu-ray Review} The Wind’s Died, and So Will You: The Wind (1986)
“If you need any technical advice on death, just give[…]
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{Book Review} ReFocus: The Films of William Castle Edited by Murray Leeder
If I have a favorite director, it is probably William[…]
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Black Balloons: Cosmic Nihilism in Gags the Clown (2019)
Caution: Spoilers to follow for Gags the Clown (2019), which[…]
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{Blu-ray Review} Let the Devil Hear My Prayer: Beyond the Door (1974)
“Now I will leave you alone in the dark and[…]
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{Blu-ray Review} There’s One Trick You’ve Never Seen: The Mad Magician (1954)
“That’s all I ever hear, morning, noon, and night: Plots,[…]
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She Might See Something Scary: The One Missed Call Trilogy on Blu-ray
Earlier, I wrote about the Ringu trilogy (+1), also released[…]
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Cabin Fever: The Lodge (2019)
“Death is but a new beginning.” I’m going to be[…]
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Did You Put a Tape in That? – VHYes (2019)
If that’s all VHYes had been—a series of slowly-dissolving skits skewering (and celebrating) late-night TV and analog nostalgia—it would still be a crowd-pleasing festival favorite. But its final moments transform it into something more, abruptly pulling tight threads that you hadn’t even noticed it laying down to create a haunting and heartfelt film that will stick with you long after you stop watching—if you ever really do.
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A New Place, A New Start: The Grudge (2020)
The elegant nihilism of the preceding versions—and their predecessors like Ringu/The Ring—is replaced here with something more visceral and grimier. But while those films made the viewer complicit in the spread of their curse, this one just pulls us down in the undertow of its rottenness and leaves us filthy and exhausted—but not haunted.
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