When Jack Finney published “The Body Snatchers” in serial form in late 1954, he could never have imagined the life it would have in the American imagination. Its genius lies in the basic premise- that people are slowly replaced by alien duplicates, identical in every way except their lack of […]
Reviews
The Blair Witch Project (1999) Modern Horror Legend gets Release that matches its Stature
In 1999 the face of not only horror but cinema changed when a little indie movie called The Blair Witch Project hit our screens. The plot is kept simple, we follow three friends as they try to uncover the mysteries behind the Blair Witch stories that consume the small town […]
At Close Range (1986) – One of the most menacing dramas of the 1980s
“Ever been out west, Tommy? Ever heard a coyote? They make this sound like ‘woo, woo, woo!’ Coyote bitch gets in heat. First thing she does, she take care of the males. Then she heads toward town. All the neighborhood dogs, they smell her. They go crazy. They follow her. […]
Black Cab (2024) – A Frosty reception from a black-hearted cabbie in bleak horror fare
There’s a strange, subtle tension in the experience of calling a cab. Uber gives us a genial thumbnail of our driver and their ratings, some semblance of a comfort blanket of who is going to be taking us from point A to B. But in the traditional lucky dip of […]
Tales from the Void (2024) Carefully Curated Horror Anthology based on R/NoSleep
In the late 2000s a whole eco-system was being born from the depths of the controversial forum 4Chan that would create a digital cavern for internet horror legends. The first Creepypasta to emerge from there spread like wildfire, and soon enough dedicated websites to these frightening tales were born. These […]
Gummo (1997) – Still Korine’s most indelibe work
After making quite the independent splash as screenwriter on Larry Clark’s notorious Kids in 1995, there was a small-but-devoted following keen to see what young, fresh-faced and whip-smart Harmony Korine would get up to next, but nobody could have predicted Gummo. Having left Nashville, Tennessee for the Big Apple (where […]
The Little Things & The Death of the House Party (2024): Two From Liverpool, With Love
I’m based in a little town called St Helens in Merseyside and, as regular readers of my reviews here at The Geek Show will know, that has made me ideally placed to be something of a local correspondent and champion of the increasingly exciting and steadily growing filmmaking community in […]
Noroi: The Curse (2005) A Modern Classic in the Analogue Canon
Mention the term ‘found-footage horror’ to anyone and they’re sure to bring to mind any of the big hitters: [REC], Cloverfield, Unfriended, Creep, and of course the big one, Paranormal Activity (as well as its many, many sequels). That film in particular took the genre to such a stripped back, […]
A Quiet Place in the Country (1969) A Haunted House for the Sexual Counter-Culture Age
When the hustle and bustle of urban life gets too much, don’t you just want to head out to the countryside for a bit of peace and quiet? Leonardo – played by Italian screen icon and original Django, Franco Nero – certainly seems to feel that way; the constant noise […]
Late Night with the Devil (2023) — the film that gave me hope for horror again
Found footage; analogue horror; demonic possession; a deal with the Devil… the top four tropes I, as a huge horror fan, have felt have been oversaturated and smothered with for the last decade or so. “Please,” I have too often thought to myself, “if you’re going to use yet another […]