ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 1, 2010 Saw 3D is the seventh Saw I’ve seen, and maybe the sickest—which is exactly what I said about Saw VI. They’ve also been calling Saw 3D “the final Saw” in the trailers, but I’m sure that’ll depend on box-office profits. Jason Voorhees’s fourth outing was titled Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, but that didn’t … Continue reading Horror review: Saw 3D
Paranormal Activity 2 makes you proud to be a horror fan again
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 22, 2010 By Steve Newton Wes Craven’s putrid My Soul to Take notwithstanding, the horror scene is looking pretty good these days. Buried offered real-time claustrophobic chills; Devil was better than any antichrist-in-an-elevator flick should be; and The Last Exorcism wrung unholy suspense out of a possessed-teen premise. But none of those films touches Paranormal Activity … Continue reading Paranormal Activity 2 makes you proud to be a horror fan again
Horror review: My Soul to Take
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 12, 2010 For his latest horror outing, writer-director Wes Craven tried to inject elements from his two best slasher flicks, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, but something went terribly wrong along the way. What he wound up with was a witless stab-the-teen time-waster that could be his worst film ever. And … Continue reading Horror review: My Soul to Take
Ryan Reynolds faces ancient fear in gripping Buried
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 6, 2010 By Steve Newton A few years ago, I was sleeping in the bunk of an old camper and I woke up feeling claustrophobic for the first time in my life. I had to clamber over my startled wife in the dark and exit that cramped space, pronto. It was … Continue reading Ryan Reynolds faces ancient fear in gripping Buried
Horror review: Devil
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 20, 2010In the recent supernatural thriller, The Last Exorcism, a character states, “If you believe in god, you have to believe in the devil.” In the new supernatural thriller, Devil, a character states, “If you believe in the devil, you have to believe in god.”Either way, somebody’s going to hell.After a … Continue reading Horror review: Devil
Horror review: Resident Evil–Afterlife
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 10, 2010 Director Paul W.S. Anderson is a real hit ’n’ miss kinda guy. The first film I saw of his, 1997’s Event Horizon, blew me away; it was a nightmarish, spooky-as-hell sci-fi shocker. But then he went and ruined that positive impression with the ludicrous 2004 monstrosity AVP: Alien … Continue reading Horror review: Resident Evil–Afterlife
Horror review: Machete
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 3, 2010The best thing about Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s ambitious Grindhouse project was the fake horror-exploitation trailers that ran during that 2007 double feature. Celebrated directors Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, and Edgar Wright all contributed hilariously twisted coming attractions, but the trailer helmed by Rodriguez—with craggy-faced character actor Danny Trejo as … Continue reading Horror review: Machete
Horror review: The Last Exorcism
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 25, 2010 Thirty-seven years after The Exorcist, the makers of The Last Exorcism decided to meld William Friedkin’s classic shocker with the low-budget 1999 blockbuster The Blair Witch Project. The result is a fairly absorbing pseudo-documentary demonic-possession flick with all the bodily contortions and jittery camerawork you’d expect. Patrick Fabian stars as Cotton Marcus, … Continue reading Horror review: The Last Exorcism
Horror review: Piranha 3D
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 21, 2010 Sometimes when I’ve had nothing better to do I’ve pondered the worst way to die. Getting hacked to death is right up there—glad I don’t live in Somalia—but being eaten alive by wild animals usually wins out. It helps when you remember hearing, as a kid in school, … Continue reading Horror review: Piranha 3D
Horror review: Predators
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JULY 9, 2010 The only role I ever enjoyed Arnold Schwarzenegger in was the one he was born to play: the cyborg assassin in The Terminator. I never bought into any of his other one-note characterizations, including the Rambo-like hero of Die Hard director John McTiernan’s 1987 sci-fi action-horror, Predator. Although that movie introduced a … Continue reading Horror review: Predators
Horror review: Jonah Hex
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 18, 2010 Prolific director William “One Shot” Beaudine pretty well invented the horror-western in 1966, with the twin features Billy the Kid vs. Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, but it wasn’t until Kathryn Bigelow helmed the bloodsuckers-in-the-dust epic Near Dark in ’87 that the genre produced a real winner. From what I’ve heard, … Continue reading Horror review: Jonah Hex
Horror review: Splice
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 2, 2010 On paper, Splice looks promising. First off, it’s directed and cowritten by Vincenzo Natali, who helmed 1997’s compelling Cube, a Saw-inspiring horror thriller about seven strangers stuck in a booby-trapped maze. Splice stars Academy Award winner Adrien Brody of The Pianist fame, as well as Oscar nominee Sarah Polley. Then there’s the fact that Guillermo del … Continue reading Horror review: Splice
Horror review: A Nightmare on Elm Street
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, APRIL 30, 2010 I remember seeing the original A Nightmare on Elm Street when it was released in 1984 and thinking it was pretty decent as far as slasher flicks go. Its FX–heavy death scenes were a lot more inventive than the stalk ’n’ stab routine that defined most ’80s body-count films, and … Continue reading Horror review: A Nightmare on Elm Street