People say the 1990s was the worst decade for horror films. I wouldn’t use the word “worst,” but I will say out of all the recent decades it wasn’t the strongest. Calling it the worst just makes it sound like all the films from that decade are terrible, but ‘90s horror is special to me. I love it and I always will.
If you’ve seen The Road or Season Four of The Walking Dead, you’ve seen more artfully realized versions of the film Refuge. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s the truth.
Andrew Robertson’s film peeks into the lives of some of the survivors of a bacterial plague that has wiped out much of humanity. Unfortunately, we find this out in a post-credits montage that is reminiscent of 28 Days Later or The Bay but not as clever. In fact, we’ve all seen so many zombie/post-apocalypse movies at this point it would have been more compelling to just show that kind of footage without explaining what actually happened. It would have given the movie a much-needed bit of creepy mystery.
Why Horror? is for every person who’s been mocked for loving everything encompassed within horror film fandom. Horror writer and hardcore fan Tal Zimerman is the subject of this documentary from Nicholas Kleiman and Rob Lindsay that explores why people are drawn to one of the more maligned, misunderstood genres in popular culture.
Ambitious. That is the word that constantly comes to mind when trying to describe President Wolfman.
What do you say when a film doesn’t have any redeeming qualities at all? Ugh.
I first discovered Brian Trenchard-Smith when I saw Night Of The Demons 2. I didn’t know it was him at that time but I later recognized his name when I saw a film called Turkey Shoot (a.k.a. Escape 2000) and since then his name has been imbedded into my mind.
Autumn Blood is another film that suffers from a silly looking cover and not enough publicity. I probably wouldn’t have heard of Autumn Blood if I didn’t receive a review copy and an email stating what it was. The plot sounded OK and it does have Peter Stormare who is great even in bad movies. I knew I would be entertained at least.
Holy crap.
Most of the movies screened at the Knoxville Horror Film Fest are now available for either VOD rental or disc purchase. They weren’t at the time, though; technology moves quickly, and so does consumable product. Here’s a quick rundown of what was shown, with a humbly presented opinion on each.
K is for Knell, by Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper
The ABCs of Death was a worthy, if not always satisfying, exercise in horror anthologies (review). In some ways, it’s more ambitious than the V/H/S series; trying to fit in 26 films by 26 directors is a challenge, especially when the only common theme is death. While I quite liked the first installment, I think The ABCs of Death 2 is in many ways a better film.
Stuart Gordon was one of the first directors I fell in love with. It started when I saw Robot Jox and then continued from there. Gordon’s films have had a huge impact on the horror industry and he still rocks people to this day. He hit it big with Re-Animator and From Beyond at the start of his career and pretty much everything that followed is considered a classic and loved by almost every horror fan. With Re-Animator and From Beyond we have films that blend sci-fi and horror, but both tell ambitious stories. I’ve always thought that Stuart Gordon was diverse because of his multiple styles, as seen in films like Space Truckers, Fortress, and of course, Dolls.