ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 17, 2016 By Steve Newton The Blair Witch Project was a huge sleeper hit when it came out in 1999. Made on the cheap, it grossed nearly $250 million worldwide, putting the found-footage horror flick on the map and paving the way for other low-budget cash cows like the Paranormal … Continue reading Blair Witch goes all-in on freakiness, not so much on scares
Tag: Blair Witch
Horror review: Devil’s Due
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JAN. 17, 2004 For horror fans, 2014 kicked off with Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, which proved that Hollywood was still keen to flog the found-footage format to make a buck. The second fright flick out of Tinseltown this year, Devil's Due, is another supernatural entry that's even heavier on Blair Witch-style hand-held … Continue reading Horror review: Devil’s Due
Horror review: Paranormal Activity–The Marked Ones
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JAN. 3, 2014 The first three Paranormal Activity films were extremely engrossing and scary as hell. Their low-budget tales of demonic forces plaguing innocent couples and families in the safety and comfort of their open-design suburban homes made fine use of the idea that what you can't see--or can just barely get a … Continue reading Horror review: Paranormal Activity–The Marked Ones
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
Movie review: Quarantine
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 12, 2008 It’s been almost a decade since The Blair Witch Project, but the fallout from that film’s then-original found-footage conceit still radiates today. Earlier this year, you had the Godzilla-like destruction of Manhattan being documented by Cloverfield’s inexperienced videographer, whose herky-jerky camera work was off-putting to the extreme. Get ready for … Continue reading Movie review: Quarantine
Horror review: Cloverfield
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JAN. 23, 2008 Imagine if somebody came up to you, grabbed your head, and jiggled it around for 80 minutes. Now imagine they did that while you were trying to watch a movie about a monster attacking New York City. Pretty irritating, eh? Cloverfield’s herky-jerky camerawork isn’t the only thing preventing … Continue reading Horror review: Cloverfield