ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, APRIL 6, 2006 After his last movie, Alone in the Dark, director Uwe Boll had nowhere to go but up, and I mean that most sincerely. That shot-in-Vancouver stinker earned a record one of out of 100 at Rottentomatoes.com, with terms like "dreadful", "terrible beyond belief", and "worse than you can … Continue reading Horror review: Bloodrayne
Horror review: Slither
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 30, 2006 By Steve Newton Before breaking through in the horror realm as the screenwriter of 2004's excellent Dawn of the Dead remake, James Gunn spent years toiling for Troma Entertainment, the New York company famous for campy, no-budget shockers like The Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke 'Em High. … Continue reading Horror review: Slither
Slither director James Gunn loves horror movies
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 30, 2006 By Steve Newton James Gunn had no intention of waiting until he was a Hollywood director to helm his first horror flick. Inspired by George Romero's pioneering zombie opus, the young Gunn made his splatter-film debut at the tender age of 12. "Night of the Living Dead scared … Continue reading Slither director James Gunn loves horror movies
Horror review: Stay Alive
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 30, 2006 The video-game industry has spawned several action-oriented horror flicks in recent years, ranging from the mediocre (Resident Evil) to the pointless (House of the Dead) to the downright putrid (Alone in the Dark). Stay Alive takes a different tack than those in that its plot isn't built around … Continue reading Horror review: Stay Alive
Horror review: The Hills Have Eyes
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 9, 2006 Wes Craven must be the most inconsistent horror director of all time. He created Freddy Krueger, who ruled the genre in the '80s, then Craven reinvigorated the '90s slasher scene with the whip-smart and stylish Scream. But he's also responsible for his fair share of turkeys, Deadly Friend … Continue reading Horror review: The Hills Have Eyes
High Tension director Alexandre Aja tackles Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 9, 2006 By Steve Newton The French are famous for a lot of things, but making horror movies isn't one of them. Just try to name one French fright flick that has caught your attention lately-besides Alexandre Aja's terrifying 2003 effort, High Tension. As Aja explains on the line from … Continue reading High Tension director Alexandre Aja tackles Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes
Horror review: Final Destination 3
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 16, 2006 You can't cheat death. Director James Wong made that point in 2000 with Final Destination, David R. Ellis drove it home in 2003's Final Destination 2, and now Wong is back to remind anyone who may have forgotten. But the former X-Files producer and staff writer needn't have bothered, … Continue reading Horror review: Final Destination 3
Horror review: When a Stranger Calls
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 9, 2006 The original When a Stranger Calls from 1979 is best remembered for the scene where terrified babysitter Jill Johnson (Carol Kane), tormented by a string of ominous crank calls ("Have you checked the children?"), is warned by police that the calls have been traced and that they're coming … Continue reading Horror review: When a Stranger Calls
Horror review: Nightmare in Canada
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JAN. 19, 2006 Is there a Canadian identity when it comes to horror films? Director Jennifer Adcock ponders that idea in Nightmare in Canada: Canadian Horror on Film, a provocative one-hour documentary that collects snippets of seminal Canadian fright flicks and intersperses them with commentary from a bevy of critics, authors, … Continue reading Horror review: Nightmare in Canada
Horror review: Hostel
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JAN. 5, 2006 By Steve Newton The horror scene seems to be in the grip of a hardcore revolution these days. It's as if a cabal of serious fright-film fanatics got together and organized a bitter backlash against hokey Hollywood body-count flicks with cookie-cutter plots and predictable outcomes. In the last … Continue reading Horror review: Hostel
Grim Aussie shocker Wolf Creek depicts the unfathomable evil of man
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 22, 2005 By Steve Newton The intro to Wolf Creek claims that 30,000 people are reported missing every year in Australia and that 90 percent of them are found within a month. Of those who are never heard from again, there's little doubt that some are murdered; there's been a spate … Continue reading Grim Aussie shocker Wolf Creek depicts the unfathomable evil of man
Horror review: The Dark Hours
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 10, 2005 What could be scarier than being diagnosed with a fast-growing, malignant brain tumour? Not much, I figure, and the makers of The Dark Hours would likely agree. That's why they made that most dreaded medical assessment a focus of their effective, unnerving little psychodrama. Kate Greenhouse took the … Continue reading Horror review: The Dark Hours
Horror review: Saw II
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 27, 2005 The original Saw had a pretty interesting premise, and one that kept the options wide open for gruesome, sadistic, squirm-in-your-seat horror. It was about a psychopathic genius named Jigsaw who trapped people and made them play horrific beat-the-clock games for a slim chance at avoiding a grisly death. … Continue reading Horror review: Saw II