‘Alien’, Aristotle, and the Ruthless Forces That Control Us
Imagine Aristotle sitting in a movie theater in 1979 with his tub of popcorn. If you think he would scoff at Alien‘s outlandish monster, think again.
horror
Mariama Diallo’s Horror Film ‘Master’ Blends Race-Conscious Academic Satire and Ghost Story
The subtle microaggressions in Mariama Diallo’s Master say far more about the sorry-not-sorry state of racial consciousness in America than the witch does.
1934 Horror Film ‘The Black Cat’ Slinks Easily into Our Time of Terror
Nazi power had already risen and Hitler was Chancellor when The Black Cat shared its laser-focus on the dangers of the rising tide of right-wing politics.
Sundance 2022: Sci-Fi Horror ‘Something in the Dirt’ Is an Exhilarating Journey Into Madness
Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson’s sci-fi-horror Something in the Dirt exists at the intersection of mathematics, philosophy, mysticism, and nicotine.
Sundance 2022: Goran Stolevski’s ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ Is a Bewitching Tale About the Need to Connect
Writer-director Goran Stolevski’s You Won’t Be Alone uses a simple horror premise to illuminate weighty themes of motherhood, jealousy, connection, and place.
When a Body Meets a Body: Frankenstein’s Daughter Acts Out Her 1950s Issues
Frankenstein’s daughter, in modern parlance, is some kind of proto-“trans” creation of a woman’s mind within a patched-together male body. This is heady stuff.
Is Syfy’s ‘Chucky’ the Horror We Deserve?
Chucky is still a doll possessed by a person possessed by a demon, but there’s something far more nefarious going on in Syfy’s new series, Chucky.
Rod Serling Undermines the American Dream with the Stories in ‘Night Gallery’
Existential fear about post-war American masculinity is dragged into disturbing light in Rod Serling’s dark tales of the American Dream, Night Gallery.
The Imagination of Disaster 2.0: Revisiting Susan Sontag in the Age of the Pandemic Horror Narrative
Considering Susan Sontag’s “The Imagination of Disaster” and modern apocalyptic narratives, are sci-fi and horror still “inadequate responses” to our world?
Raindance 2021: Don’t Let the Protagonist of Horror/Thriller Where’s Rose Seduce You
John Mathis’ Where’s Rose, which premiered at Raindance Film Festival 2021, explores the misogynistic darkness behind the charismatic personality.
Film-Noir Thriller ‘The Amazing Mr. X’ Shimmers with Beautiful Spookery
Directed by low-budget maestro Bernard Vorhaus, the restored film-noir ‘The Amazin Mr. X’ is an unpredictable little specimen of spookery-pokery.