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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!

The Scariest Things Episode CXXXVI: UFO Horror

Hey! Watch where you're sticking that thing! Do you believe in UFO's? Do you think of aliens from outer space with fascination... or dread? Sometimes the aliens look like Alf. Sometimes they look like little green men (and later... little grey men). Some come for peace, and some come to carry us off the earth for experiments of the most awful kind. We will be talking about the latter! Enjoy Episode 136: UFO Horror!
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Eric’s Review: Super Hot (2021)

★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ Super Hot is a film that has been popping up on my recommended list on Amazon Prime, so I gave the little nerds vs. vampires movie a shot. Kandace Kale is solid as the goofy deadpan lovelorn lead, and at its best, the movie has its fun and silly moments. On the whole, though, it's a pretty pedestrian production. (Shrugs)
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Horror Movie Musicals: A Dead List of Scary Sing-Alongs

Care to do the Time Warp (again)? We have researched and ranked the rarest of the sub-genre, the oddball unicorn film that is the Horror Musical. Stylized, emotionally amplified, and often bafflingly strange, we have rounded (almost) all of the available horror musical titles we could find and ranked them! Sing for me! Sing my Angel of music!
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode CXV: The Horror Potluck Director’s Cut

The Horror Potluck is back! What is the potluck? It's when each of the podcasters brings a movie to the recording session and we all discuss a movie that the others selected. This time, each of us picked just one movie that we thought had a compelling reason to spend additional time dissecting. The movies we picked are: Baskin, Halloween Kills, and Tourist Trap, each of them worthy of a longer look for uniquely different reasons.
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode CXXXIV: Cryptid Horror

Mysterious sightings and local folklore have pushed curious crypto hunters into the woods and onto deep lakes to reveal the truth. Maybe, just maybe, that local legend will show itself to you. In horror movies, they are true, and they will WRECK you. The Scariest Things talks about some of our favorite cryptid creepies in Episode 134.
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Eric’s Review: Antlers (2021)

★★★★★ out of ★★★★★ It was worth the wait. Antlers is a somber and intense showcase of Northwest folklore horror, with layers of well-told subtexts of domestic abuse survivors, the plight of small-town opioid abuse, and the graphic power of the Native American cryptid legend of the Wendigo. Mix in great acting and some great creature and body-horror effects and you get an all-around winner this fall.
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode CXXXII: A Summer Festival Recap

For the second year in a row, our favorite film festivals were presented to us in a streaming format (though some festivals had theatrical releases). This has allowed the Scariest Things to watch lots of horror from the comfort of our own homes, with some (mostly) pretty awesome content. We recap the best and the worst of the Summer Festivals from 2021.
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Eric’s Review: Halloween Kills (2021)

★★ out of ★★★★★ Halloween Kills harkens back to the old traditions of the Halloween sequels. And that's not a good thing. The movie delivers expert gore effects and the cruel hyperviolence is superbly done. Old-school slasher fans will likely be quite pleased. But, for those who have grown accustomed to smart protagonists and the nuanced scripts of modern horror, you will be disappointed. This movie is simply an exhausting bloody trudge, setting up the next and nominally final chapter to this trilogy.
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Eric’s Review: Cosmic Dawn (2021) – Nightstream

★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ UFO abductees and true believers gather together in a secretive communal cult, hoping to reconnect with their alien encounter. Cosmic Dawn is more about the cult and its actions than the actual alien encounters, and threads enough menace and strangeness to keep you conflicted about whether
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode CXXXI: Folklore Horror

Once upon a time... horror was something you learned from your grandmother or the tribal elder. It is ancient horror by way of magic and myth, bolstered by the shared beliefs of a culture. This sub-genre is open to a broad range of interpretations and can be somewhat hard to pin down for definition. Leave it to the Scariest Things who were not afraid to give our own takes on what Folkloric horror is all about.
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Eric’s Review: Black Goat Episode 1 – The 6000 Steps (2021) (HPLFF)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ Destroy all Media has once again teamed up with The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and are in the process of developing a television series, Black Goat, for which they debuted the pilot at the H.P Lovecraft Film Festival. The Pilot episode drips with cultish dread and portends apocalyptic omens. The cosmic horror universe is ripe for development, and it will be fascinating to see who picks up the series.
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Eric’s Review: The Whisperer in Darkness (2011) (H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ It is wholly appropriate that The Whisperer in the Darkness is an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story. As in Love + Craft. It is a lovingly and well-crafted period piece creation of Cosmic horror. Not only does the film take the look of the era when the story was written, but it also captures the film noir aesthetic in glorious shadowy black and white. If you like Cthulhu and cold walks in the rain, this is a movie for you!
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Superdeep (2021) Review

★★ out of ★★★★★

🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

The fungal body horror Russian showcase Superdeep has the trappings of a better movie, but completely undercuts its fabulous practical effects and makeup work with characters who seem to be willfully stupid in their actions.

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Eric’s Review: Malignant (2021)

★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ Malignant is the sloppy drunk Auntie of horror movies. It meanders along confusingly for the first two thirds of the movie, and then goes preposterously entertaining for a brief spell, and then closes with a logic defying conclusion. It is a hot mess of a movie but it has some redemptive high points.
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The Scariest Things Episode CXXX: Masked Killer Horror!

One hundred thirty episodes in and we're finally getting to what has to be what most horror fans identify as the iconic horror trope of all time: the masked killer! Well fret no longer horror fans, we are coming to one of the cornerstones of the genre. You start with Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Leatherface, but we'll get you to the next level in episode 130!
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The Scariest Things Review: Candyman (2021)

★★★★1/2 and ★★★★ out of ★★★★★ A powerful sequel of a beloved classic slasher movie that establishes that this franchise is perhaps the headiest and most nuanced of all the slasher movies. Director Nia DaCosta shows real visionary talent, and with co-writer Jordan Peele, adds updated depth and texture to an already fascinating urban legend.
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Eric’s Review: Blood Conscious (Popcorn Frights 2021)

★★ out of ★★★★★ Blood Conscious is a movie whose ambitions exceed the execution of the film. This cabin-in-the-woods thriller treads familiar territory and sets up some recognizable trope concepts but never really pays them off.
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Eric’s Review: The Night House (2021)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ The Night House is a serious, heavy, and somber film full of mystery and dread. Rebecca Hall turns in a powerhouse performance of a woman trying to overcome her grief and understand why her husband killed himself at their idyllic lakeside house. As she uncovers the horrible truth, the secrets unleash a wrathful spirit who wants to claim her as well.
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The Scariest Things Podcast Episode CXXIX: Tricks, Traps, and Puzzle Horror

Shall we play a GAME? For some of the brainiest horror movies, go to the tradition of tricks and traps horror. The punishment for not figuring out how to win the game is often painful and deadly. And face it, you watch reality TV shows to see people get eliminated, right? This horror sub-trope takes that idea to the next bloody level.
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Eric’s Review: Val (2021 Popcorn Frights)

★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ Come for the promise of a devilishly sexy good time. Stay for some fantastic character arcs and hugely expressive acting performances. Val, which had its world premiere at Popcorn Frights is colorful, saucy, and snappy, with an undercurrent of something dark and ominous just underneath the surface.
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Eric’s Review: The Ex (2021 Popcorn Frights)

★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ This sexy Russian thriller morphs into the supernatural when a youthful indiscretion comes back to haunt a young engaged couple. This movie packs a lot in: A false villain, a foolish internet posting, a love triangle, and a vengeful ghost. It doesn't always patch its plot holes, but it is entertaining. The Ex has gorgeous cinematography, and, did I mention it's sexy? I think I did.
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Eric’s Review: Ditched (2021 Popcorn Frights)

★★★ out of ★★★★★ After finding themselves upside-down in an ambulance, a group of paramedics, cops, and prisoner patients realize that they are the victims of an ambush, with the mysterious forces closing in around them. This siege thriller goes heavy with gore and extended exposition before settling in on a brutal and memorable final moment.
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Eric’s Review: Superhost (2021 Popcorn Frights Film Festival)

★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ Smash that Like Button! Two travel YouTubers on a mission to bolster their diminishing viewer interest visit a vacation rental cabin with an eccentric "superhost" who transforms from an off-putting oddball to imminent threat over their vacation stay. This movie has inertia like a locomotive covered in razor blades, with a near-perfect build of tension and release.
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Eric’s Review: Take Back the Night (2021 Popcorn Frights)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ A not-veiled at all analogy to sexual assault, Take Back the Night relects on the horrors of being attacked by a monster before, during, and after the event. This is a make-a-statement horror movie on a miniscule budget that is fighting well above its weight class, thanks to some standout acting performances and emotional resonance.
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Eric’s Portland Horror Film Festival Review: The Horror Crowd (2020)

★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ There have been a multitude of horror documentaries that chronicle the classic and most famous films of the genre, and there have been documentaries that celebrate certain favorite eras within horror. Director Ruben Pla focuses his efforts on the Independent films and shines a light on a number of the up-and-coming influencers within today's horror.
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Eric’s Portland Horror Film Festival Review: Red Snow (2021)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ A struggling horror novel author catches a fortuitous break, when a dashing young vampire crashes into her life. Red Snow is a cheeky and wicked little horror-romcom with great character chemistry that doesn't always go where you would expect.
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