lightninli
JoinedMarch 18, 2018
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By day, Eric is a mild-mannered Architect, bringing great buildings to the good boys and girls of his hometown of Portland, Oregon. By night, he is a disreputable podcaster looking to promote the best and worst of horror movies!

Scariest News: The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival 2022 Press Release

When the calendar turns from September to October, that means it's time for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, one of the premiere horror events in the Pacific Northwest. This year there are some big-time guests who will be at the event in person to represent their iconic films, so if you are within driving distance (or if you want to fly in) you should come to the Hollywood Theater in Portland, and check it out! It is one of the best-curated horror festivals in the country, and you will not find a finer group of short films anywhere.
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The Scariest Things Episode 152: The Top 100 Horror Movies of All Time #100-81

The Scariest Things is re-constituting our top 100 Horror Movie List of all time! It's been five years since our inaugural list was created, and frankly, we know a lot more knowledgeable horror professionals now. Plus, it's fun to do, and creating a ranked list offers up room for great debates, both amongst our own crew internally, and with you, our fans! We hope you enjoy and appreciate our list! (And feel free to let us know if you disagree... that's fun too.)
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Trailer Alert: Knock at the Cabin (2023)

Do you have faith in M. Night Shyamalan to deliver a good movie? Recent returns would suggest that he's still got the touch. The Visit, Split, and Old suggest that his over-indulgent tendencies may be behind him. And if you watch the trailer for Knock at the Cabin, I think you'll find yourself convinced that he's got something special coming.
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode 151: Francophonic Horror

Bon Jour! If you like your horror with a bit of an esprit de viscéral, then this will be the episode for you! The French language horror films bring a bit of the nasty, the savage, and also at times, the absurd. There is a tradition of breaking conventions with much of French art, and that includes their cinema tastes. And, this extends naturally to their willingness for their horror movies going to extremes. So join us in extracting out what makes French Language Horror so potent in Episode 151!
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Ghosts of the Ozarks (2022) Review

★★1/2 out of ★★★★★

Intensity:🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

The horror western Ghosts of the Ozarks is a curiosity. It feels like a wholly original concept and yet it telegraphs all its plot movements. It is populated full of interesting characters with some pretty notable actors, but in their fun quirkiness, they end up playing like one-note caricatures. And, in spending most of its time world-building, the film fails to propel the story in any dramatic or scary way.

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Eric’s Review: Distress Signals (Popcorn Frights Film Festival 2022)

★★★ out of ★★★★★ Distress Signals is a micro-budget survival thriller, done simply, and executed well. This is a lost in the woods scenario, a story that we can all identify with. In its simplicity though, I found myself wishing there was more dramatic tension and more visceral threat. As thrillers go, this is more solitary drama than thrills.
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Eric’s Review: Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters (2022 Popcorn Frights)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ The unique and stylistically powerful art of Mike Mignola is put into the shadowy spotlight of the documentary of the Hellboy artist. A documentary is only as interesting as the subject material, and Mr. Mignola proved to be a fascinating study of a complex individual and a late blooming artistic genius.
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The Scariest Things Podcast Extra: An Interview with It Hatched director Elvar Gunnarsson

In this interview with It Hatched director, Elvar Gunnarsson, you will get a full upload of Icelandic folklore and history. So, not only will you be entertained, you're going to learn something! It Hatched has been getting rave reviews in its run through the festival circuit, and Elvar was generous enough to spend his time discussing how he made this remarkable film, an artistic and narrative showcase for the first-time director.
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Prey (2022) Review

★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★

Intensity 🩸🩸🩸for gory action violence

Prey is a remarkable refresh of the old Predator franchise. For my money, this is the best action horror movie since The Descent, the best horror western since Ravenous, and could arguably be better than the original Predator. The movie has the best protagonist yet (Including Dutch), and the monster is better than ever. The movie is a transportive adventure, and who would have thought that this previously moribund series could find such fresh legs?

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Eric’s Review: The Eyes Below (2022 Popcorn Frights Film Festival)

★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ The Eyes Below is perhaps the closest thing to a real nightmare since David Lynch's 1977 opus, Eraserhead. If you have ever had dreams of being smothered, suffocated, or strangled, this is your unrelenting torment. Be mindful though, it also includes the occasionally repetitive tedium of a dream you can't get out of..
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode 150: The Mayor’s Choice! (And a Portland Horror FF Recap)

The Mayor of Trope Town has spoken! As the current serving mayor, three thrilling Euro-Horror selections were made to discuss, with a deeper dive than the typical Podcast discussion. Raw, The Ringmaster, and Tailgate are being served up for discussion this week. Also, a Portland Horror Film Festival recap. Does the mayor know how to please his constituents, or what? YES! Long may the mayor reign!
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The Scariest Things Episode 149: Celebrating Queer Horror!

Horror movies can be a curious little corner of the media universe where you can track where society stands on social issues. This is clearly reflected in Queer Horror, a continually evolving reflection of the closeting, outing, and normalization of LGBT relationships and how they are perceived over time.
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R.I.P. James Caan 1940-2022

Legendary actor James Caan has passed away at the age of 82. He only performed in one horror movie, but he made it count. His portrayal of author Paul Sheldon in Rob Reiner's Stephen King adaption of Misery won him an Oscar nom. On a day like today, indeed, "I'm your biggest fan!"
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Nati Morti (Born Dead) (2021) Review: Portland Horror Film Festival

★★★★ If you have a stomach for extreme violence ★★1/2 If you can't handle it Nati Morti will kick your ass, rip out your guts, and rub them all over your face. It is not, however, a non-stop gore festival. It has a big story to tell, and it has some moments of real poignancy. But, yes, you will need to be able to handle getting your guts ripped out.
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Eric’s Review: Crimes of the Future (Overlook Film Festival 2022)

★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ The celebrated king of body horror, David Cronenberg, returns to the genre he helped define after a long absence with his new feature, Crimes of the Future. It is a film that is a vision distinctly and uniquely his own. It has a talented and attractive cast. It comes back to body horror in a big way, and yet the film narratively underwhelms.
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The Scariest Things Interview: The Summoned Cast and Crew

Consider creating your first feature-length movie. With a first-time feature director. In a global pandemic. During the middle of the ice storm of the century. And then debuting it in one of the premiere horror festivals in the world! Happy to say, you nailed it! Listen in to our interview with the cast and crew of The Summoned for their take on the great adventure that is movie-making.
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode 147: The Overlook Film Festival Recap

After a two-year span in which we had to attend the Overlook Film Festival remotely, the standout New Orleans-based industry insider festival was back screening the festival live and in person. Twenty-Four feature films showed along with three short film blocks, which amounted to a whole lot of movies for four days of viewing! Eric, Liz, and Mike break down our impressions of the recently completed festival.
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Who Invited Them? (2022) Review (Overlook Film Festival)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★

Intensity 🩸🩸 For awkward adult situations and torture

A posh housewarming party fizzles out, due to a host who tries just a little too hard to impress. A couple of glamorous strangers stick around after everyone else clears out and the remainder of the evening becomes far more exciting than the hosts were ready for. Cringe-inducingly funny and immediately accessible, Who Invited Them had its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival.

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Eric’s Overlook Film Festival Review: The Summoned (2022)

★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ A ritzy couples therapy retreat becomes a trap for one of the guests who becomes a pawn in a larger Faustian deal of sin, temptation, and betrayal in The Summoned, which had its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival. The Scariest Things also got the opportunity to interview the cast and crew of this twisty morality play.
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The Top 100 Horror Movies of All Time (2018 Edition)

Behold, THE BIG LIST. In 2018, we summoned a jury of our fans and horror insider contacts, to develop a weighted list of our favorite horror movies of all time. This doesn't necessarily mean these are the BEST movies, in a technical sense, but these are the films we love the most.
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode 146: Frankenstein Movies

It's Alive. It's ALIVE! IT's ALIIIIIVE! At long last, The Scariest Things goes to the bedrock of horror movies. Frankenstein. So important, and yet, much like the Monster himself, much-maligned. Though new versions of the Mad Scientist messing with life and death have been produced, the central idea has been passed by other, more immediately terrifying themes. How does the story of Frankenstein stay relevant? Listen to the Scariest Things Episode 146 and find out!
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Trailer Alert: Beast (2022)

Lions and lions and lions, oh my! Idris Elba plays a recently widowed doctor who is taking his daughters on a safari. A massive and bloodthirsty lion, bent on revenge for poachers hunting him, has turned his eyes on Elba and his family in the first Lion themed survival Horror movie in many years. Check out the trailer right here!
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Eric’s Review: Zero Budget Heroes: (2022) – Warped Dimension Film Festival

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ What comes to mind when you think of raunchy lowest-common-denominator B-Movies? Full Moon? Not even close. The Asylum (Sharknado)? Nope. Keep going. Troma? Think lower. Have you ever heard of Low-Budget Pictures? No? Well, they may be the most productive, if not the most recognizable film companies peddling schlock. Zero Budget Heroes: The Legend of Chris Seaver and Low-Budget Pictures is a loving retrospective of making DIY fun sleazy and cheap films. Given the tawdry source material, this is a thought-provoking and sentimental documentary worth watching, particularly for those with an interest in the film making process.
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Eric’s Review: The Essex Serpent (2022)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ The Essex Serpent is a cryptid tale that explores a time and place at a time of great crossroads in society and in the lives of all the characters involved in the tale. It is a parable of faith, science, and the collision of the advances in society running headlong into long-held folkloric superstitions. Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston headline an impressive cast, in a period piece production that finds beauty in all the bleakness in Essex marshes.
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