Film Festival season is still going strong, and there’s a really good one coming up in scenic Provo, Utah! FilmQuest is going to be unleashing thirteen feature films and, WOW, 76 short films! It’s short film horror heaven!
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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!
Eric’s Popcorn Frights Review: Bit (2019)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Empowered, woke, and witty, the new vampire film Bit explores how a small band of lesbian vampires survives and thrives in Los Angeles.
The Scariest Things Podcast Episode LXXI: Home Invasion Horror
Do not open that door! You never know who might come barging in. Home Invasion horror is the topic for this week’s Scariest Things Podcast. Liz, Eric, and Mike talk about the deep and unsettling fear of being attacked where you live.
Eric’s Popcorn Frights Review: Villains (2019)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Bumbling burglars and crazy retro-suburbanites collide in the horror-adjacent home invasion comedy Villains, featuring a couple of familiar genre faces.
Horror Tourism: The Blair Witch Experience
Welcome to Burkittsville! I hope you brought a map with you, because the 20th Anniversary of the film is upon us, and The Blair Witch Experience will let you retrace the steps of Heather, Mike, and Josh. Hopefully, you’ll come back from the experience alive.
Trailer Alert: The Hunt
They kidnapped the wrong person for sport. Betty Gilpin (Glow) gets a starring turn in the upcoming human safari film, The Hunt. And we’ve got TWO trailers for you, one with zero spoilers, and another one which reveals some big plot points.
The Scariest Things Podcast Episode LXX: ADA Horror
But wait! There’s more! Following up on our popular 25 movies with disabled characters, we decided to put our thoughts on the matter to the Podcast. And wouldn’t you know it, we dug up some more!
Trailer Alert: The Lighthouse
Robert Eggers is back at it again, with another grim-looking period piece in glorious black and white. The trailer oozes with foreboding and brooding melancholy and stars Willem Dafoe and Robert (Batman) Pattinson.
Eric’s Review: Trench 11 (2017)
★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Trench warfare in World War I was an ugly scene. It just got uglier in the worm-infested zombie-ish horror flick Trench 11.
Horror TV News: Creepshow coming to Shudder
Walking Dead director and effects wizard, Greg Nicotero, is picking up the baton from George Romero and Stephen King, bringing a new Creepshow anthology show to Shudder! (Trailer linked here!)
Trailer Alert: Zombieland: Double Tap
We’re getting the band back together! The madness continues all the way to the White House in the horror comedy’s return to the big screen.
Top 25 Horror Films with Disabled Characters
That deaf, dumb, blind kid sure knows how to kick some monster ass! We celebrate the 29th anniversary of the ADA with a look at 25 impactful movies featuring characters with disabilities.
Rutger Hauer 1944-2019
The Hitcher has passed away at age 75. One of the great character actors, and best screen villains of his generation, has died following a short battle with illness.
The Scariest Things Podcast Episode LXIX: Cannibal Horror
What’s for dinner? How about a roast leg of YOUR NEIGHBOR! With a side helping of your mom’s eyeballs! Yes, we are talking about Cannibal horror this week, and Eric is already turning green just thinking about it. Beware, bad puns await.
Eric’s Fantasia 2019 Review: Sator (2019)
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Still Life, with horror and dread. Sator is both an artistic triumph but also a difficult movie to get into. The film is elegant, quiet, and cold to the point of aloofness, but there is some very potent material if you are patient.
Ten Films to Catch at the Popcorn Frights Festival
The Horror Festival is in full swing, and on August 8-16 (An EIGHT DAY festival) our friends at Popcorn Frights are presenting a bevy of great films for you to catch. Some we’ve seen, some we’ll screen, but our recommendation? Go to the festival and have your own little… SCREAM! (Rhymes! YES!)
Eric’s Review: Crawl (2019)
🐊🐊🐊🐊1/2 out of 🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊
CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP! Crawl is a superb summertime survival horror flick, with characters who you really root for, with an adrenaline-packed plot full of aggressive alligators. CHOMP!
The Scariest Things Podcast Episode LXVIII: Killer Dolls
So ya like playing with dolls still, do ya? Well, these films will make you think twice about playing with those creepy little automatons.
Horror Shorts: The Beaning (2017)
Damned Yankees indeed! This quasi-documentary short film chronicles the last death that happened on the field in Major League Baseball and indicts the New York Yankees as being a satanic cult hit job that used pitcher Carl Mays to kill Cleveland Indian star Ray Chapman with a beanball, forever changing the fortunes of both franchises.
The Portland Horror Film Festival Recap
The 2019 Portland Horror Film Festival is now in the Scariest rear view mirror, and it was an absolute blast to attend. It is a Mecca for great horror shorts and a true fan festival of the first order.
Podcast Extra: An interview with Horror Legend Mick Garris
Eric and Mike got a wonderful opportunity to host an on-stage conversation with genre icon, Mick Garris, live at the Hollywood Theater for the Portland Horror Film Festival! Listen up all’s y’all!
Pride Month: TST Celebrates 25 Important Queer horror films
The Scariest Things celebrates Pride Month by looking back at the sometimes awkward but always fascinating role of queer culture has in horror movies. In a word: Progress.
Eric’s Review: Meatball Machine (2005)
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Ugly, vulgar, obnoxious, and totally entertaining. Meatball Machine has perfected the low-brow J-Horror splatter-fest. You don’t get more gonzo than this!
Eric’s TV Review: Swamp Thing (2019)
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
DC Universe ups the horror ante with Swamp Thing, a smart, brutal, and completely engaging tale that is both complex and comprehensible. Beautiful, and savage. Worth the price of subscription for sure. Too bad it’s only going to be one season!
The Scariest things Podcast Extra: An Interview with FANGORIA’s Amanda Presmyk
The Scariest Things were gifted with an interview at the Overlook Film Festival with Satanic Panic’s Producer, Amanda Presmyk, who gave us her behind the scenes insights on her new movie and the movie business. Get the scoop in our Podcast Extra!
Eric’s Review: Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ if you like Kaiju vs. Kaiju battles.
★1/2 out of ★★★★★ if you don’t
It’s rock-em-sock-em Kaiju in Godzilla’s return to the western screens. The monster-on-monster action is gorgeous and frenetic, and the humans are superfluous. This is Toho-style stompy monsters with a big Hollywood budget.
Creepy Stuff: Unsettling Toys
Do you have a toy that is staring at you from the corner of your bedroom, and you just can’t handle it anymore? Well, Unsettling Toys is here to help you out.
Eric’s Review: Nightmare Cinema (2019)
★★★1/2 Out of ★★★★★
Nightmare Cinema is an anthology horror feature, with some of the biggest names in the genre directing a series of grisly short films, and uses an abandoned cinema as the connecting thread. As with most anthologies, it’s a bit of a mixed bag in quality and style.
Eric’s Review: Depraved (2019)
★★★★1/2 Out of ★★★★★
Depraved is a modern retelling of Frankenstein and manages to preserve all the empathy of the source material while making a more sophisticated and nuanced take on the classic tale.