They Know What Scares You

So, AMC's annual Fear Fest has gotten off to quite a bangin' start with a week-long evening marathon of the classic Friday the 13th films. That's great for me; I'm all for the classics.
Anyhow, if you haven't been tuning in, you ought to. They're running most of the essentials, as well as some stuff that you may not be familiar with. What ever your taste in horror, it's well worth an evening.

The End Draws Nigh...

Well, we're creeping up on the end of one of my favorite horror franchises.  In October, Saw 3D (aka Saw VII) will be released and, we're promised, the final answers to the entire series will be revealed.

I'm aware that there are plenty of people out there who assume that the Saw series is nothing but torture or gore porn.  That's not so, but I'll reserve my full diatribe for the seven-part series that's coming to this blog after Saw 3D is released.  No, today, I'm here to offer a sort of eulogy.

Review: Death of a Ghost Hunter (2007)

Going into this film, I wasn't sure what to expect.  The title and box/poster image made me think it might be some hokey attempt to translate all of the currently popular ghost hunting shows on television into a horror film.

I was close, but I wasn't quite on the mark.

New Zealand Horror Week: Day 4: Review: When Night Falls (2007)

This film, with shades of The Strangers and every other great "Someone's in the house" film, is certainly nothing new or particularly inventive.  However, the atmosphere and the great, spooky period style make this a must-see.  It was released in New Zealand back in 2007, but didn't gain distribution in North America until just this year.

New Zealand Horror Week: Day 2: Review: The Scarecrow (1982)

It's been a good while since I've seen this film, but it has always been a favorite of mine for several reasons:

1. New Zealand.
2.  John Carradine being his creepy self.
3.  It's a bucolic horror/thriller on a par with the books and films of Tom Tryon's The Other and Harvest Home and Tom Reamy's only novel, Blind Voices.
4. NEW ZEALAND!

New Zealand Horror Week: Day 1: Review: Black Sheep (2007)

This was one of the last films I ever got to watch with my mum, and so it holds special memories for me.  Mostly memories of laughing and going "whaaa?" and "whoa!" and being amazed at the effects; for what they're meant to convey, they're damn good.  Of course, they were done by the fine folks over at WETA Workshop.

Next Week

First, a little heads up...thanks to an alert over at Midnite Media, I can tell you that Turner Classic Movies will be running the Dan Curtis classic Burnt Offerings back-to-back with the William Castle chiller House on Haunted Hill starting at 1AM central.  Catch'em if you can, or set your recording devices.


Just a note: next week over on Exhaust Pipe Potatoes, my pop culture and general entertainment blog, I'll be focusing on films, music, and television from New Zealand.  Not wanting this blog to feel left out, I've decided to do a weeks worth of reviews here on the horror films of New Zealand.  Should be pretty interesting, so stay tuned.