In November of 1980 a psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Lawrence Pazder from Victoria, British Columbia, wrote and published “Michelle Remembers” – an allegedly factual account of the childhood abuse of his patient, Michelle Smith, by a Satanic cult. Co-written by Smith herself, the book graphically describes how Michelle […]
Robyn Adams
Saint Drogo (Soho Horror Festival 2023)(Review)
In Catholicism, Drogo is considered to be the patron saint of the unsightly and the outcast, shepherding a flock made up of those who are exiled and shunned for their perceived ugliness. The Flemish martyr’s relevance to Provincetown, Massachusetts (a small holiday town on the New England coast), may not […]
The Horrible Dr Hichcock (1962) & The Night of the Devils (1972) Radiance Italian Gothic (Review)
The Psycho Collection (1983-1990) Rehabilitating the Most Unlikely of Horror Franchises (Review)
Trim Season (Frightfest 2023)(Review)
Cannabis and horror have a complicated relationship that should be no surprise considering that the drug has been the focus of conservative moral panic from the reefer madness of the ‘30s to the D.A.R.E. campaigns of Reagan’s America. The genre has a history of playing on and exploiting the cultural […]
T Blockers (Frightfest 2023)(Review)
Alice Maio Mackay is a horror phenomenon. At 18 years old she has already directed three genre features in the span of three years, with another two pictures in post-production at the time of writing. More importantly, she’s an out-and-proud transgender woman who isn’t afraid to let the world know […]
To Fire You Come at Last (Frightfest 2023)(Review)
Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams – The Dungeonmaster (1984) & Cellar Dweller (1988)
Empire International Pictures was a movie studio and distribution outfit founded by American B-movie mogul Charles “Charlie” Band in 1983. Even if you haven’t heard of Empire, there’s a good chance you’ll have heard of some of their genre film output, and perhaps even watched some of it – during […]
From Hollywood To Heaven (III)(1971-77) (Review) Part Two – Ron Ormond’s Bogus Journey
Continuing on our journey From Hollywood to Heaven, we must first take the road through The Burning Hell (1974), with the Reverend Estus Pirkle as our Dante, Ron Ormond our Virgil, and The Neon Demon (2016) director Nicholas Winding Refn still ever-present for some as-of-yet indiscernible reason. The Ormond family’s […]
From Hollywood To Heaven (III)(1971-77) (Review) Part One – All Ormonds Go to Heaven
Can a born-again Christian really become an exploitation movie superstar? Picture, if you will, one Ron Ormond, a Louisiana-born screenwriter, author, magician, showman and, most relevant to the subject of this review, director of motion pictures. If you’ve heard that name before, it may be because Ormond was a rather […]