“Open up and let the devil in!” I truly have no frame of reference for a film like A Field in England. The only comparisons that spring to mind are kaleidoscopic fever dreams like...
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5 Minutes
5 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist
“Sometimes I think that the best view of God is from Hell.” Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist has an opening scene that’s impossible to beat. It’s a sequence of bravura filmmaking, shocking in how...
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8 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
“Burkittsville isn’t a haunted place.” There’s a curious phenomena that seems to mainly affect the horror genre: movies that don’t need (or warrant) sequels being given them anyway. It’s not solely found in horror;...
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5 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: Raw
“Any animal that’s tasted human flesh isn’t safe.” I am never going to watch Raw again. That’s not because it isn’t good – in fact, it’s exceptionally well-made. But it isn’t a film you...
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7 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: Splice
“Do you think it’s in pain?” Some stories so acutely tap into our collective consciousness that they become part of the narrative firmament, something so fundamental and universal that the story becomes a name...
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6 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: The Invitation
“Tonight is the night our faith is made real.” I adore horror movies that can conceivably work as plays. Think of Funny Games, or Bug (which actually started as a play). There’s a sense...
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8 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: Hellraiser
“No tears, please. It’s a waste of good suffering.” How does anyone take Clive Barker seriously? He is possessed of a child’s sense of horror, a “more is more” approach that is frankly embarrassing....
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2 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: An Announcement and an Apology
Despite what last year’s piss-poor showing might have led you to believe, 31 Days of Fright is very much still happening. I only got around to 4 of last year’s proposed 31 movies, because,...
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6 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: The Innkeepers
“You can’t save her.” Ti West has an old-fashioned sensibility. His films are methodical and talky, with a distinctly retro vibe. He’s not alone in this; James Wan, for instance, made a solid tribute...
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7 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
“I’ve never seen anybody die before.” Of all the classic horror films that didn’t need a remake, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre tops the list. Tobe Hooper’s brutal, visceral film is a masterpiece of experiential cinema, one...
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6 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
“You had another nightmare, didn’t you?” A Nightmare on Elm Street didn’t need a sequel. It’s such a masterful, self-contained vision of horror that Wes Craven intentionally wrote himself into a corner, not wanting to...
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7 Minutes
31 Days of Fright: Jennifer’s Body
“She’s actually evil. Not high school evil.” Horror has always had a complicated relationship with the female body. The tropes are endless: the virgin gets to live to the end of the film; the...
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