John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London from 1981 has to be in the conversation for greatest werewolf movie of all time. I’d also say it’s one of the best horror films of the ‘80s, a decade that’s absolutely saturated with genre classics. Notably, the massively impressive practical effects are so good that they won the first-ever Oscar for Best Makeup.
Read MoreThe Monster Squad (1987) #RetroReview
Fred Dekker’s The Monster Squad was released on this day in 1987. Considering it’s basically The Goonies meets the Universal Monsters, I instantly became a fan. If you’ve never seen it before, it has a handful of aspects that may shock modern viewers, but these aspects are what place the movie firmly in cult film territory as opposed to the children’s classic milieu.
Read MoreHomewrecker (2019)
It isn't often when two female leads get to collaborate with their director to write their own film. Alex Essoe and Precious Chong co-wrote the script for Homewrecker with director Zach Gayne, but unfortunately, this deranged comedy-thriller falls short of becoming the horror satire it wanted to be. Interior designer Michelle meets cute with Linda at their shared fitness classes and coffee shops.
Read MoreRun Run It's Him (2014) #DVD
While I never assumed I had an addiction to porn, after watching Run Run It’s Him, I now know that I’m in need of some serious self-reflection. The film is hard to describe honestly, but I’ll do my best.
Read MoreVolition (2019)
There’s a lot to like about Tony Dean Smith’s Volition, which had a festival run last year and is now available on major digital platforms. That being said, if you’re a veteran genre film fan, you might be able to predict where his script, co-written with brother Ryan, is heading. Considering the premise and the tight plotting, that didn’t make it a deal-breaker for me, though.
Read MoreHate Crime (2012)
There are directors who rely on jump scares and fake blood to get under a viewer's skin and those who believe the realistic portrayal of raw violence is more emotionally effective. James Cullen Bressack is one of the latter, and Hate Crime more than proves this. Horror is such a broad genre, and this mashup of a home invasion film and a found footage movie takes perverse pleasure shocking the audience with a level of brutality seldom seen.
Read MoreLaurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations (2020) #BluRay
Beginning as a 7-year-old in the early eighties, I’ve consistently had a bit of a personal connection with Laurel and Hardy. I’ve always been a huge fan of all of the classic comedy teams – Three Stooges, Abbott & Costello, ZaSu Pitts/Thelma Todd, The Little Rascals, The Marx Brothers. I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of an era in which it was pretty common for shorts to be shown prior to the features in the tiny movie theater where I grew up.
Read MoreBatman (1989) #RetroReview
It’s hard to overstate just how big Tim Burton’s Batman was when it premiered in 1989. I was 11 years-old that summer and I had already been a full-on comic book freak for years. To say I was anticipating it is to put it lightly.
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