I eventually see practically every horror movie that comes out regardless of merit and I can say without a doubt this is the best one that’s been made in at least ten years.

This movie was almost tailor-made to scare me in particular.  It has all the stuff I love (fear) the most:  devil worshipers, possession, witchcraft, be-headings.

I won’t give away any plot points or surprises because this movie should be seen without any prior knowledge.  That being said the most interesting thing is this could have been a gut-wrenching examination of guilt and loss even without any supernatural elements.

Hereditary is amazing, and while Toni Collette will not get an Oscar because this is a horror movie, she definitely should.

Be sure to click the poster image about for a professional review.

Yesterday Monica and I went to see Evil Dead, which is a new remake of the 1981 classic.  Evil Dead is a straight up old school horror movie.  No CGI effects, no one-liners.  They spend about 25 minutes setting up the characters and surroundings, then it’s pretty much non-stop mayhem after that.  Really cool practical effects and a lot of fun for horror fans, I recommend it.

Tuesday marked the Blu-Ray release of the Extended Director’s Cut of 1973’s infamous ‘The Exorcist.’ The film, directed by William Friedkin, tells the story of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), a seemingly-innocent young girl who begins to experience strange and increasingly violent and disturbing behavior. After her mother (Ellen Burstyn) tries every medical intervention to save her, she realizes that Regan may be controlled by an other-worldly and evil power.

Continue reading 20 Things You Didn’t Know About The Exorcist →

It’s my favorite time of the year, with football on tv and Halloween coming up.

Drag Me to Hell, from the director of the Evil Dead trilogy, comes highly recommended.  Crazy stunts, fights with supernatural beings, Gypsy curses, it’s all here.  The only thing missing is Bruce Campbell, but hey, he can’t be in everything.  🙂

Not sure I agree with some of these, but a decent recap all the same.

Tonight I was proud to take my son to see the new Friday the 13th.  I am a fan, so I admit bias in reviewing the movie.  Overall it was really pretty great, they made some changes that brought the legend up to date.  Jason no longer lumbers around as if he’s half-drunk, in this new version he moves fast and does not toy with his victims.  The body count was high, and the nudity was frequent.

I have been watching the Friday the 13th movies since I was about 12 years old, and it was great to be able to take my boy to see this new one.  As cheesy as they were, these movies really represented my generation in the slasher genre.  This movie closely followed the time-tested formula:  A bunch of annoying teenagers trapped in the woods who get picked off one by one, how can you beat that?

I was most impressed by the fact that the movie theater was packed full of teenagers, it gives me hope that America might be on the right track after all.  They left the ending wide open for a sequel, of course, and I’ll be the first in line when the next one comes out.