“To sleep, perchance to dream” said Hamlet, who was actually contemplating death rather than just forty winks when he uttered those famous words, but what happens when dreaming becomes invasive, violent and deadly? That’s the premise of ‘Nightmare’ – Norway’s answer to ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, complete with its […]
David O Hare
HOME MOVIE (2008) The Right Recipe for a Found Footage Horror Classic, but… (Review)
It’s hard to believe now, but in 2008 ‘found footage’ movies were still all the rage thanks to the lingering influence of The Blair Witch Project and phone camera’s still mainly being for decoration. Home Movie is typical of the genre but was no doubt over shadowed by the infinitely […]
From Black (2023) A rehash of very much discovered Horror territory (Review)
Rituals and resurrections are the themes of Shudder’s latest original offering, From Black, but how does one go about raising the dead and haven’t we seen this all somewhere before? Recently bereaved and recovering addict Cora (Anna Camp, playing against type) is plagued with guilt following the disappearance and subsequent […]
The Unheard (2023) Compelling Thriller Elevated by Innovative Sound Design (Review)
Never mind the eyes, it’s the ears playing tricks on our unsuspecting protagonist in the Unheard, a clever little thriller by ‘The Beach House’ director Jeff A. Brown. Lachlan Watson plays Chloe, a young profoundly deaf Gen Y-er who we meet while preparing for an experimental procedure to repair her […]
Bitch Ass (2022) Gaming gets gruesome in this familiar revenge twisted tale (Review)
Bitch Ass opens with horror icon Tony Todd (Candyman) introducing the film in a sinister manner. Referencing ‘Blackula’ and ‘Tales From The Hood’ amongst others, he tells us Bitch Ass is the ‘first black serial killer to wear a mask’. Todd sets the scene, channelling the Cryptkeeper from ‘Tales From […]
The Forgiven (2021) – Desert Slow Burner, Full of Repression, Class Divides, and Grief (Blu-Ray Review)
The Forgiven opens with married couple David and Jo Henninger (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) in Morocco for their wealthy friend Richard’s party (Matt Smith) and after sinking a bottle of wine and a squabble over directions to the remote palatial venue, they accidentally hit and kill a local teen […]
Come Back Lucy (1978) British Kid’s Horror runs rings around its modern equivalents (DVD Review)
Timeshifts and tantrums in this kids horror throwback from the late 1970s. Adapted from Pamela Sykes’s novel of the same name, this 1978 TV series delivers nostalgia by the bucketload along with high-maintenance little girl ghosts and all the modern music of the late nineteen seventies! Groovy! The titular Lucy […]
Orphan First Kill (2022) This belated sequel is engaging, twisty and downright fun (Blu-Ray Review)
The world’s oldest 9-year-old is back! Director William Brent Bell and writer David Coggeshall resurrect old ideas in a new way in this highly entertaining prequel that sheds light on the miniature maniac’s backstory in Orphan First Kill. The film opens at the grotty Saarne Institute, where patient Leena Klammer […]
The Last Thing Mary Saw (2021) Teenage Kicks Get Puritanical (DVD Review)
Teenage kicks get puritanical in this slow-burn American gothic tale. The titular Mary (Stefanie Scott) stands on trial, blindfolded with blood running down her face, as she describes to a curious judge the last thing, or rather things, that she saw that landed her in the dock. Her tale introduces […]
Demonia (1990) One for the true Lucio Fulci completionist (Review)
Giallo and Italian Horror legend Lucio Fulci marked a return to cinema in this early 90’s nunsploitation flick – but is its reputation as Fulci’s weakest film deserved or has the last 30 years been kind to the Italian maestro’s forgotten work? We open in fifteenth-century Italy, as a group […]