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!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Neil Maskell is back for revenge in Paul Andrew Williams’ Bull.
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Terror-in-the-skies feature Row 19 is a bit of a bumpy ride, but committed performances and a fair share of supernatural puzzlement make it worth seeking out.
★★★.5 out of ★★★★★
The 1930s and 40s brought us ghoulish voodoo zombies. The 1960s and 70s graciously brought us trundling brain-fixated zombies. The early 2000s somewhat quixotically brought us hyper-speed zombies. And now in the 2020s we’re being treated (emphasis on the sarcasm) to sadistic, cruel, and mean-spirited zombies. Good, bad, or indifferent this is the brutish zombie world we now live in.
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!
Mickey Keating’s OFFSEASON will be available exclusively to stream on the SHUDDER platform starting on Friday, June 10, 2022.
Hey everybody! The carnival roadshow has arrived! Wait! Where are you going? Come back! It’s the circus! Don’t you like clowns? At least stick around to read TST’s dead list of 22 notable amusement themed horror films. It will startle and amaze!
Aficionados of classic science fiction fare, keep watching the skies — or your preferred screens, as Film Movement Plus has unlocked a treasure chest of goodies from the 1950s! From space exploration to Martian Devil Girls to evil brains and beyond, these cinematic gems offer the best available transfers, so they look and sound super sharp. Following is the official press announcement.
The Scariest Things Podcast Extra: An Interview with “Dexter: New Blood” Composer Pat Irwin
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
If we’ve learned anything it’s that horror movies are one big bag of smoke and mirrors. It’s a ruse, a put on, a sham. So much disbelief needs to be suspended to make the entire haunted house of cards structurally sound. If there’s any loose horror screws the entire effort collapses in a pile of unscary dust.
But when it works? Oh boy, does it work!
The intergalactic series Night Sky will have you looking to the stars…Spacek and Simmons, that is!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Horror icon Brea Grant delivers a great-looking film with one cowboy-boot–wearing foot in modern gothic horror territory and the other in slasher-style fare, loading Nashville music scene chiller Torn Hearts with commentary on the price of fame.
Wellbeck Publishing is getting ready to unleash a book for aficionados of horror and fantasy cinema this September that will make jaws drop when it releases Masters of Make-up Effects by Howard Berger & Marshall Julius.
★★★★ 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.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Can a misogynistic rideshare driver and a trio of strong-willed women work together to survive a monstrous attack? Spanish horror outing The Passenger attempts to answer that question in a gruesome, fast-paced romp.
★ out of ★★★★★ Directed by Rob Jabbaz The Sadness, directed by Rob Jabbaz, begins the way your standard outbreak […]
Ranging from the horrific to the hilarious, the short films showcased at Panic Fest have something for everyone.
★★★★ 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.
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Christina Ricci is the main reason to check out this tale of a mother and her young son haunted by something that emerges from a nearby body of water, but Monstrous definitely has other things going for it, as well.
Remember who we are: Your Gateway to the Trends and Tropes of the Horror Genre. That means we had better know our tropes… like REALLY know our tropes. And as such, welcome to Tropetown! This is a speed round session where we try and come up with the best and most original example of the trope. It’s a game of can-you-top this? The winner gets to be named Mayor of Tropetown!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
A peepshow dancer and a religious zealot must try to work together during the apocalypse or suffer abominable fates in this wild eighties-set chiller.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
When a likable protagonist goes horribly, horribly wrong and the movie turns out to be very, very, right. The Dutch film, The Columnist, is an adult study of cyberbullying and the drastic measures that a journalist will go through to exact a pound of flesh from her trolls. The mix of emotions watching a character you like descend so far is palpable.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
In the increasingly fast-paced world of horror sometimes it’s really nice to bathe in a simple and pastoral story. The intensity of fast zombies, flying chainsaws, and hyper-speed ghouls has a time and place, but it’s also a nice bit of calm when the characters and the story unfold in a relaxed and less apocalyptic way.
Celebrate the best of 2021 Horror in the 2022 Thingy Awards! Yeah, it’s a little late in the Awards season, but we’re all still recovering from the Will Smith slap heard around the world, and now that we have recovered from being stunned, it’s time to concentrate on the Scariest Things you saw from last year. Once again, you are invited to fill in a ballot for your favorites from 2021!
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Hulu takes on an 80’s ax murder in its new original series Candy.
★★★ out of ★★★★★
There’s nothing worse than living alone in a bleak and dreary apartment. Add Covid19 and some additional isolation. That’s pretty awful. Mix in conference calls with your patronizing ex-wife, her husband, and your best pal trying to help you transition in to the next phase of your life. Well, that’s really awful. Mix in some black magic, demons from another dimension, and true ghost hunters — then you’ve got a real recipe for demonic disaster.
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Vampires and circuses! Two great tastes that pair wonderfully said together. Said no one. Ever. But it’s true. It happened. All courtesy of classic horror studio Hammer films. In 1972 someone thought up this brainy coupling and vampires were meshed together in to the world of circuses. Not necessarily a fad that lasted, but at least we got one vampire/circus mashup!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
This Argentinian tale of a sorcerer trying to save his daughter from a diabolical creature is bound to put a lump in your throat as it sends shivers down your spine.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
The bright Nordic summer masks something sinister in The Innocents.
The Pandemic fueled dread of Dashcam is showing at Panic Fest in Kansas City on May 1 and May 4. TST had the great opportunity to interview the director Rob Savage to discuss his latest creation.
