american horror movies – Page 4

Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires (2018)

Posted on January 3, 2025January 3, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

A woman and a man who is piss-drunk are stumbling back home after a night out in L.A. They decide to take a shortcut through a dark alley (of course they are), where a large hobo violently attacks the man by biting him on the neck. The woman also gets attacked by similar monster-looking hobos, but she manages to escape, only to get hit by a speeding police car.

Then, we head over to a “flashback“ scene where our protagonist Chuck Steel must try to save his kidnapped wife from the local Yakuza. After a totally over-the-top action-packed fight and chase scene, the tragic outcome is that Steel’s wife falls from a helicopter to her death. And that’s the story of how our hero lost his wife, which explains his moody “fuck off assholes and leave me alone“ attitude. Or…at least that’s the story he tells everyone. He also tells every new partner he gets that he is in no way interested in a partner, hates working with a partner, and is a guy that wants to work alone, something that a rookie cop named Barney is about to find out. Poor Barney is also about to find out that Steel has no problems with causing huge collateral damage whilst haunting some gangsters, all the while ranting his ass off to the poor rookie. Needless to say, Steel is soon without a partner again. His captain, determined to team him up with somebody at last, gives him a final choice: a Swedish woman, a monkey, or a cheese plant. He chooses the woman (much to his regret as she’s not exactly what he hoped for). They go to interview the woman from the opening scene who is now in hospital, but when arriving there he meets an old British man standing over her, ready to ram a stake into her heart. This man is supernatural hunter Professor Van Rental, warning Steel that this woman is about to become a Trampire. Yes, you read that right: a Trampire, because back when vampires ruled over Transylvania they were driven out by the locals who finally had enough, which forced the vampires to live like tramps and took to binge drinking, causing their thirst for blood to become as strong as their thirst for alcohol. Thus, the Trampires now hunt the street for those with a high blood alcohol level, and staying sober has never been more important! Of course, it would be an impossible task to ask the general public to stop getting shitfaced, so the only option is to get rid of the Trampires. Does Steel believe in any of this insane hogwash? Well, of course not…but he’s soon to find out that the professor was speaking the truth, which turns this already bonkers movie into a totally crazy, blood-soaked balls-to-the-wall love-letter to the action films from the 80’s!

Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires is a stop-motion action horror comedy film from 2018, written and directed by Mike Mort who is also voicing the titular lead role, and this was his feature debut. Budget is said to have been $20 million, of which it doesn’t seem that even a fraction of it was earned back (such a shame). It premiered on the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, on 12 June 2018. And this one’s been a long time in the making, as Mike Mort wrote the early draft for it back in 2001. The character of Chuck Steel was something he came up with all the way back in 1986, however, which makes this an even more fitting 80s throwback film. In 2013, Chuck Steel appeared in the short Raging Balls of Steel Justice, and in 2014 Animortal Studio was setup, where the impressive amount of 425 puppets where made for the movie, plus dozens of giant scale-model sets. The movie was finished in early 2018. Then, distribution hell happened and it didn’t get a release until October 2021.

A stop-motion animated horror action comedy, not giving a turd about political correctness and whether the jokes are being “offensive“ by today’s standards , filled with gore, 80’s throwback action and other pleasantries…what’s not to love? The trailer for this movie got me interested immediately, and oh boy, were we in for a ride with this one! First of all, the stop motion in this movie is absolutely fantastic. It’s easy to see that there’s been put so much love and care into all the puppets, model sets and details. The references to the 80s actions flicks, including both the good and the bad, are spot on: there’s an abundance of explosions, car crashes and chases, all accompanied by the beats of typical 80’s music. It’s just as hilarious and energetic as the trailer indicates, but it’s also surprisingly cinematic and polished.

Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires is one of those movies where I just can’t help thinking: why the hell isn’t this movie more known, why isn’t it receiving more appreciation..? With throwback movies being all the rage these days, this should’ve been a goddamn cult classic by now! Yeah, yeah… the crude humour was probably off-putting for some, but seriously. It’s not often we see something as inspired, something so filled with ridiculous energetic glee as this movie! Sure, you probably need to not only be a fan of 80’s action movies or the 80’s in general to fully appreciate a movie like this, but also have a bit of fondness for some of the typical B-Movie schlock as well. Playing this one to the general audience who are used to watch the latest generic and safe blockbusters will probably put their brain in automatic nah-mode, especially with all the jokes putting the modern offense-level up to eleven which would make them squirm in their seats with discomfort. So, yeah…this is one of those movies where I know it’s not got a very wide audience (obviously), but I still can’t recommend it enough and I think that there’s a much larger audience out there who would have loved the shit out of this film if they just found out about it. It’s filled with awesome animation, fantastic creature designs, gore, has a totally crazy plot, and is a hilarious action-filled adventure featuring the most badass maverick cop ever. A pleasure to watch! Glad we got this one on Blu-ray, which also included a poster and booklet.

Writer and director: Mike Mort
Country & year: UK, 2018
Voices by: Mike Mort, Jennifer Saunders, Paul Whitehouse, Dan Russell, Jonnie Fiori, Samantha Coughlan, Romano Marenghi, Geoff Robbins, Jonnie Price, Mark Richard Jones, Laura Tofarides
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4278346/

The Call (2020)

Posted on December 27, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Chris is the new kid in town, and has started hanging out with a group of other teens: Zack, Brett and Tonya. Story goes, that Tonya’s little sister disappeared several years ago after attending a now closed day-care center. The owner, an elderly woman named Edith Cranston, is put to blame by the teenagers and they have made it a tradition to torment and vandalize her property. Chris joins them for another such evening of vandalism, and while he does not take any part in it, he’s still getting a piece of Edith’s mind when she comes out, furious (and rightly so) and telling them all off. The teens, of course, don’t give a shit as they’ve already villainized the old woman and fails to see how the acts they’re committing could end up with dire conseqences. And of course, it does…Edith commits suicide, which causes her husband to contact the teens. The reason he contacts them is because Edith did something very strange prior to killing herself: she included them in her will. They will all inherit a lot of money, and all they need to do in order to get it, is making a call to a phone that has been installed in her casket…

The Call is a horror film from 2020, directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. and written by Patrick Stibbs. It’s starring Lin Shaye (known for her role in the Insidious franchise) and Tobin Bell (known as Jigsaw in the Saw franchise). It received generally negative reception upon its release, and while the movie is not exactly a masterpiece, it’s really not that bad. Sure, some of the experience might be a bit heightened due to the performances by some well-known horror actors, but the story is also fairly okay and the cinematography is quite decent, where some of the scenes have a colorful and vibrant halloween-vibe to them.

The story offers some twists and turns, and sure.. some of them can be seen from a mile away. It’s not exactly a spoiler to reveal that Edith’s suicide was all part of an elaborate act of revenge, and neither is it really much of a spoiler to reveal that the disappearance of Tonya’s little sister offers a bit of a twist reveal. The characters are unfortunately very bland, which is more common than not in many horror movies featuring a cast of teens (or “teens“, especially in older movies). It works for a storyline like this, though: an easy-going and slightly cheesy flick.

The Call isn’t very original, but makes for an entertaining enough halloween-ish movie with some fun appearances from horror icons Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell.

Director: Timothy Woodward Jr.
Writer: Patrick Stibbs
Country & year: USA, Canada, 2010
Actors: Lin Shaye, Tobin Bell, Chester Rushing, Erin Sanders, Mike Manning, Sloane Morgan Siegel, Judd Lormand, Randy J. Goodwin, Brooklyn Anne Miller, Leah Contreras, Toby Leeder, Aidan Bertola
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12971924/

Frozen (2010)

Posted on December 24, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Three friends have traveled to a ski resort to have some fun: Dan Walker, his girlfriend Parker O´Neal, and Walker’s best friend Joe Lynch. It’s about to get dark and nearing the ski resort’s closing time, but they manage to have the ski lift operator let them go for just one final run down the mountain. Unfortunately, the ski lift operator is relieved from duty by another employee, and while he tells them there are three people left, the second operator closes everything when three other people comes skiing down. The chairlift they are still sitting on is then stopped, and the three friends do not realize the big heap of trouble they’re in until the lights on the ski resort goes out. And the biggest problem of all: the ski resort will be closed for an entire week. As no one else knows their whereabouts, they are trapped with seemingly no way to get out of the situation.

Frozen (not to be mistaken for the Disney movie) is a psychological horror film directed by Adam Green. The film premiered on the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, where it apparently caused numerous faintings as certain audience members couldn’t handle the tension of the film. It was later released in North American theaters with distribution from Anchor Bay Films.

Movies where the protagonists are trapped in a single location always come with the challenge of limited scenarios, but with the right amount of build-up and the perfect location these kinds of movies can be very tense. And Frozen definitely is. Not only are they in the dangers of frostbite and literally freezing to death, there’s also wildlife putting their lives at risk. There’s a realistic sense of dread throughout the entire movie, and the realism is of course heightened by the fact that the movie was shot entirely practically: there’s no greenscreen, no CGI, no soundstage, and the actors and actress were in reality suspended over fifty feet in the air on a real mountain in Utah: the Snowbasin Ski Resort in Ogden. Kind of gives me the chills just thinking about it…the shots of the moving chairlift were all done by the director himself and the Director of Photography Will Barratt, because the camera crew were too nervous to do it.

The movie moves at a rather quick pace and doesn’t let down on the tension, the threat is always imminent and you keep wondering what is going to happen. The characters, obviously having tempted fate by ignoring the dangers of going for that “final ride down the mountain“, are people you still feel sorry for despite thinking they acted like idiots. And while being stuck in a chairlift doesn’t sound like a concept that could bring in too many threats, there are actually some pretty inventive ways to put the characters in constant peril.

Frozen is a chilling thrill ride packed with tension, where you can’t help but imagining yourself in such a dire and helpless situation. A nice watch during a cold winter day!

Happy Holidays!

Writer and director: Adam Green
Country & year: USA, 2010
Actors: Emma Bell, Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers, Ed Ackerman, Rileah Vanderbilt, Kane Hodder, Adam Johnson, Chris York, Peder Melhuse
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323045/

I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

Posted on December 20, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

The year is 1996, and the teenagers Owen and Maddy start bonding over a TV show called The Pink Opaque. The show is about two teenage girls, Isabel and Tara, who use their psychic powers to fight the supervillain Mr. Melancholy. Owen, who isn’t allowed to stay up late enough to watch the show, sneaks over to Maddy’s house so they can watch it together. Both of them live rather isolated lives, but Maddy ends up wanting to run away in order to escape her abusive stepfather. She wants Owen to join her, but he finds himself not being able to go through with it. So, Maddy ends up missing, and at the same time, The Pink Opaque is cancelled…

I Saw the TV Glow is a supernatural horror drama film, written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. The series in the film, The Pink Opaque, was inspired by 90’s TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990) and The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994).

If you’re familiar with A24’s repertoire, you know that they often release some really artsy movies (like Beau is Afraid). This one belongs to this category, as another unconventional arthouse film which is naturally divisive. They are also often filled with loads of metaphors and allegories, surrealism and awkwardness. I Saw the TV Glow looks, on the surface, to be some kind of 90s nostalgia throwback film, but it’s also layered as a much more complex coming-of-age movie. The director started writing the script three months after having begun hormone replacement therapy, and while wanting to make the movie about the transitioning of coming out, the director made the choice of leaving this more ambiguous. This makes the movie work as an allegory for a lot more, and portrays a lot of themes and situations many of us can recognize.

Now, I was born in the 80’s. This means I was a teenager during the 90s, and watched several of the typical 90’s TV shows, remembering some of them fondly. And there is a scene, where Owen in his older days decides to re-watch some episodes of The Pink Opaque, only to see that they’re not quite the way he remembered them. I think many of us can very much relate to how certain things are so layered with the rose-colored glow of nostalgia that we remember them so differently…not because they were different, of course, but because we were different. How the sort of magic that exists in your youth cannot be replicated in adult life, no matter how hard you try…and how you must simply come to terms with that, and find a new magic in your life and fill it with new interests and new things to do. Some people are not so lucky, though. In I Saw the TV Glow, Owen and Maddy become so consumed by the TV show The Pink Opaque because they use it as a coping mechanism.

I Saw the TV Glow is an arthouse movie that’s mostly an allegory for finding your identity. More surreal drama than horror, and definitely not everyone’s cup of Mad Hatter’s tea, but if you’ve lived for some time on this arduous earth, you’re most likely going to resonate with at least some of the themes it represents.

Writer and director: Jane Schoenbrun
Country & year: USA, UK, 2024
Actors: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan, Danielle Deadwyler, Fred Durst, Conner O’Malley, Emma Portner, Madaline Riley
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15574270/

Heretic (2024)

Posted on December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are two Mormon Church Missionaries, who ends up at the home of a man called Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) who has asked for their visitation. Reed is a bit of a reclusive, but the lovely smell of blueberry pie in the oven that he tells them his wife is preparing, is quick to put the young women at ease. They begin discussing religion, and Reed starts asking a lot of questions and makes a few uncomfortable comments about their faith. They are being served one red flag after another, until they have had enough and decide to leave. Only to find out that they can’t, of course. And now they are trapped in Reed’s house, where he puts them up to challenges and giving them lectures, claiming that he has found the one true religion. And he wants to show these young women his findings…

Heretic is a psychological horror film, written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (Haunt, 2019 and 65, 2023).

This is a movie where the few characters and limited location leave the actors with limited tools, but in the right setting such movies can work wonders in building up a tense atmosphere. This one certainly belongs in that category. The acting is good and the characters believable, where Hugh Grant really sells it as the coldly vicious villain. This was his second horror film since The Lair of the White Worm (1988), where romantic comedies have been his main department over the years. Well, it’s often nice to do something completely different after such a long time! Also, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East were both raised Mormon so they carry their roles with what appears to offer a good insight and a convincing performance.

As can be expected, the underlying critique of religious structures and the control they maintain is served through much of Reed’s lectures. And while you’ll probably ponder a bit what the so-called “one true religion“ really is, which Reed claims he’s found, you probably won’t be too surprised once it’s revealed. The film also doesn’t hammer it down on your head which “side“ you’re supposed to agree with the most. In fact, Reed is undoubtedly completely right with many of the things he lectures about to the young women, but Barnes and Paxton also provides reasonable views and thoughts on their own beliefs. Now, I am not a religious person myself, but I did find myself agreeing with the young women on certain points even though they weren’t “right“…like how Sister Paxton mentions how prayer experiments have shown that praying doesn’t help, but she still considers it a nice thing to do in order to offer comfort to someone else. Reed might be right in a lot of his conclusions, but just like certain religious aspects which he’s eager to criticize, he’s using his beliefs to commit and justify his actions and thus inevitably placing him in the same category as other religious fanatics trying to control others.

I don’t want to spoil anything else as this movie is best watched while knowing as little about it as possible. Heretic is a suspenseful and dark theological thriller, very dialogue-driven but mastering it with great skill.

In the film’s credits, there’s the statement “No Generative Al was used in the making of this film“. So thumbs up for that!

Writers and directors: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Country & year: USA, Canada, 2024
Actors: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace, Elle Young, Julie Lynn Mortensen
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28015403/

Sting (2024)

Posted on December 3, 2024December 3, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

In a somewhat dilapidated apartment building, a mischievous and rebellious 12-year old girl, Charlotte, gets an unexpected pet when a glowing object crash-lands in her aunt’s apartment. From said object, a tiny spider hatches (nothing suspicious about that, right?), and Charlotte decides to keep it and names it Sting. Upon feeding it, it keeps growing at an alarming rate (still nothing suspicious about that, it seems), but she still decides to keep her new pet a secret from the rest of her family: her mother, her step-father (who is a comic book artist that creates a project in collaboration with her, which proves to go a bit sour) and of course her baby brother who is too little to understand anything at this point anyway. Her biological father is living abroad and that’s the reason he can’t show her any attention (or at least so she’s told). A little family drama aside, the real problem here is Sting’s growing appetite which makes it search for other prey. While Charlotte keeps it in a jar, it’s smart enough to open the hatch and get outside to do a little night-hunting. And now the entire apartment building are in danger from a spider that keeps growing and keeps eating…

Sting is a horror film from 2024, directed by Kiah Roache-Turner. The director, being from Australia, said that the inspiration for this movie comes from his fear of spiders: “I have raging arachnophobia because I’m an Australian, and everything in Australia is trying to kill you“. Truer words could not have been spoken. I’m thankful for the tiny and harmful little buggers we have here in Norway! Here, you’re not likely to get killed by any wildlife, aside from the odd chance of getting in the way of a very angry moose. And even that is highly unlikely.

Now, Sting is yet another creature feature about a monstrous spider, which we’ve had a few entries of as of late and with some similarities. Just like in Vermin (2023), the story is taking place in an apartment building and affects the population there, and like in the cheese-flick Arachnid (2001) the spider comes from outer space. Other than that, it manages to stand on its own legs and differs mostly in how it’s got a nearly family-friendly tone over it, where it almost starts a little heartwarming while Charlotte bonds with Sting. Then, the grisly murders committed by the monster-spider are quick to remind us that this is a horror film after all. Hadn’t it been for the violent deaths, Sting could easily have been more of a children’s thriller (nothing wrong with that, of course).

The movie does focus a bit on family drama, and while some of it was fun enough (like the overly grumpy old aunt and her antics) others parts of it felt a little contrived. What makes the movie entertaining, at least for my part, is the spider itself and the mayhem it causes. Many of the angles, having the camera lead us into air ducts, claustrophobic little hallways and so on, helps building the suspense and a feeling that the creepy-crawly could be anywhere.

There’s also more than a few references to be found in the movie, where the most obvious is the girl’s name being Charlotte (a reference to Charlotte’s Web, a well-known story about a pig becoming friends with a clever spider named Charlotte). And one of the characters carrying a nail gun for “protection“ is most likely a reference to Arachnophobia from 1990. The special effects in the movie are also pretty good, with several of them being practical effects. Richard Taylor was involved in the effects for the movie (whose company, Weta Workshop, also made effects for Lord of the Rings among several others).

Sting is a satisfying little addition to the creature feature list involving spiders, with some very nice special effects.

Writer and director: Kiah Roache-Turner
Country & year: Australia, USA, 2024
Actors: Noni Hazlehurst, Jermaine Fowler, Alyla Browne, Robyn Nevin, Ryan Corr, Kate Walsh, Penelope Mitchell, Jett Berry, Kade Berry, Silvia Colloca
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20112746/

Arachnid (2001)

Posted on November 29, 2024November 29, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Joli Mercer is piloting a stealth plane in the South Pacific, when a translucent spacecraft suddenly appears (in a scene with such godawful CGI effects it could have belonged in The Amazing Bulk). Poor Joli crashes with the thing as his plane begins to malfunction, but his bad luck doesn’t end there. He crashes on an island, together with the alien ship. He sees a desperate-looking translucent alien-thing which is suddenly attacked by a giant spider monster, which then kills Joli as well. Then, ten months later, Joli’s sister is on the search for him. She’s been hired to be the pilot of a medical expedition who are doing research after natives on the island have started dying from an unknown virus. Upon reaching the island, the plane starts malfunctioning and they need to do an emergency landing on the beach. From there on, they have to trudge through the jungle in order to reach their destination, and they discover that the insects around the area have mutated into large and more deadly creatures. One of the guys in the expedition gets attack by giant ticks that starts burrowing into his body, and a giant centipede is killing one of the natives. And no, they didn’t crash-land on Skull Island. Aside from all the horrible creatures, the biggest threat of them all is a giant spider: the killer arachnid from outer space.

You know a movie is a stinker when the director himself says he only did it for the money… “I basically did it for the money and it was a stupid script … I got to live in Barcelona for six months and, you know, they paid me well. Everything was good except I had to go to work everyday and shoot a dumb script. I haven’t seen that one since, you know, I made it. And some people say ‘Oh well, it’s actually better than you think’, but I basically tell people to avoid that one“ is what Jack Sholder (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, The Hidden) said about this film. Alright, then, that’s a way to wash your hands clean of something. We all need food on the table and can’t always work on passion projects…

Arachnid was released in 2001, and was the second film to be released under the Fantastic Factory Label (the first one being Faust: Love of the Damned from 2000) which was created by Brian Yuzna (Society, The Dentist) and Julio Fernandez in Spain. It was written by Mark Sevi, and then re-written together with Yuzna. The main spider design and the other creatures that used practical effects, were created by Steve Johnson. The film received a very negative reception upon its release, and while it’s easy to see this is “one of those“ movies, it’s actually a bunch of fun, much thanks to the practical effects which are actually pretty decent and feels like a nice little throwback. Already from the funnily sloppy opening scene you know what you’re in for, so better brace yourself for leaving your brain on the shelf for a little while. As we get introduced to character by character, one more clichéd than the other, the killings and creatures are what’s the highlight of the movie. There isn’t a huge amount of gore here (which is a shame, really, as that could have added an extra spritz on the already goofy concept), but there’s still some nice scenes, especially the one involving the ticks that eat their way out. Yum.

What makes the movie suffer from being a truly fun B-horror movie, is that the pacing is a bit too slow and the characters feel a bit too dull. A quicker pace, more interesting characters and more kills could have lifted the movie up several notches. Yes, it would still have been a “bad“ movie, but a bit more enjoyable. Overall though, Arachnid is a fun enough creature feature B-movie with some charming old-school effects.

Director: Jack Sholder
Writer: Mark Sevi
Country & year: Spain, USA, Mexico, 2001
Actors: Chris Potter, Alex Reid, José Sancho, Neus Asensi, Ravil Isyanov, Luis Lorenzo Crespo, Rocqueford Allen, Jesús Cabrero, Robert Vicencio
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271972/

Salem’s Lot (2024)

Posted on November 22, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Ben Mears is a writer who has decided to return to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot in order to write a book about his childhood. When arriving there, he very quickly meets and befriends a woman named Susan Norton, just so we have established the love interest right away. At the same time, as kid named Mark Petrie must defend himself from the school’s bully, and a newcomer called Straker opens an antique store. This mysterious man, a European, has moved into the Marsten House which has been abandoned for a long time due to a history of murders. We soon learn that Straker is some kind of Renfield, and his vampire master is the Orlok look-alike Kurt Barlow. It doesn’t take long for people to start dying with strange bitemarks on their necks, and the survivors must try and combat the evil that has invaded their hometown.

Salem’s Lot is based on a 1975 novel by Stephen King, directed by Gary Dauberman. The novel was previously adapted for television in 1979, a mini series directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist, Texas Chain Saw Massacre). There was also a sequel called A Return to Salem’s Lot which was released in 1987, and even a TV mini series called Salem’s Lot which was released in 2004. They sure have given the novel a lot of adaptions, but none ever got to be shown in the theaters, which includes this 2024 version. This movie also had a fair bit of hiccups during its production, to the point where many suspected the entire film would end up scrapped. In 2023, however, Warner Bros decided to release the film on Max.

The film’s reception was not particularly good, and the trailers didn’t exactly promise anything of golden standard either, and this dampened our expectations. Overall, though, we found it to be.. quite decent, actually. There characters are ok, although not portrayed in such an in-depth manner that you could give too much of a shit about any of them. There are some creepy atmospheric scenes and it was able to create enough suspense to keep your interest up. It’s even a bit campy, which shouldn’t come as a surprise in a movie where a 12-year old is running around killing vampires and saving people like he’s some primary school Van Helsing.

Overall, Salem’s Lot is pretty fine for what it is, there is some decent atmosphere here and there and Barlow can come off as creepy enough when you don’t get to see him too clearly. Many people prefer Tobe Hooper’s 1979 mini series, and others again prefer the book. Without making any comparisons between neither book nor previous adaptions, this movie works well on its own. You just can’t avoid being left with a feeling that they didn’t really hit the nail on its head compared to what was probably the intended original vision (which had a 3-hour long duration).

Writer and director: Gary Dauberman
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Jordan Preston Carter, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp, John Benjamin Hickey, Nicholas Crovetti, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbæk, Alexander Ward
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10245072/

Immaculate (2024)

Posted on November 15, 2024November 15, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

This is the so-called “twin film“ of The First Omen, even though the script for Immaculate was already written way back in 2014. Sydney Sweeney was 17 when she auditioned for the film to play an aspiring nun. Nothing much happened after that and the film fell into development hell. What a fitting situation for a nun film. However, the script stuck with Sweeney and after some well-earned money after being in the hit TV show Euphoria, she bought the rights to produce the film herself. So this clearly became a passion project for her. She hired Michael Mohan to direct, who she’d worked with on the erotic thriller The Voyeurs (2021), and got a distribution deal with Neon.

The film starts with a spooky opening scene with a young nun who fails to escape from a secluded convent, a place we, of course, are going back to later. As she’s about to get through the locked gates, she breaks her leg and gets captured by a group of obscure cloak-wearing persons who then… bury her alive. God bless.

Then we’re introduced to the rookie nun Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) who’s just moved to Italy, all away from Detroit, to devote her life to her great Savior. Because when she managed to survive after drowning under the ice of a frozen lake, and being clinically dead for seven minutes, she swallowed the shiny Christian pill and never looked back.

The first act is pretty straight forward. She settles in the convent where she meets a variety of nuns. Some are young, some are old, and then we have those you’d stay far away from. The convent is also far in the middle of the countryside where the sense of isolation starts to creep in sooner than later. The language barrier is also strong, as she can hardly speak Italian. But if she did, the film would’ve had to require subtitles. And Americans are too lazy to bother with such a thing, so …

While she does the best she can to blend in, she starts having nightmares and sees creepy visions in her bedroom. And after taking a bloodtest, she finds out that she’s – pregnant. Just out of the blue. Huh. The staff is, however, ecstatic as they now see her as a Virgin Mary with a gift from God himself, and against her will, hold her captive in the convent during her trimesters. From here on, the similarities to The First Omen goes in their separate directions, where Immaculate serves its own unique little spin on the nun/pregnancy horror sub-genre.

Director Michael Mohan does a pretty good job, considering this is his first horror film with primary romcoms under his belt. A big leap, for sure. Solid camerawork all the way through with tasty visuals where the inspiration from classic Italian horror films really shines. While there are some cheap jumpscares shoehorned in here, the film relies mostly on mood and atmosphere where we have the isolated eeriness of the convent to creepy catacombs, all shot on locations in Rome and the outskirts. No frontal nudity here, unfortunately, just to make that clear. Sydney Sweeney is, for some, known for two things, but she’s also a top tier actress who conveys layers of intense emotions with her eyes alone – while she carries the whole film with a big bucket of blood to the s h o c k i n g ending.

Director: Michael Mohan
Writer: Andrew Lobel
Country & year: USA/Italy, 2024
Actors: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Simona Tabasco, Benedetta Porcaroli, Giorgio Colangeli, Dora Romano, Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi, Giampiero Judica, Betty Pedrazzi, Giuseppe Lo Piccolo
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23137390/

Terrifier 3 (2024)

Posted on November 8, 2024November 8, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Terrifier 3 picks up the story right after the ending of Terrifier 2, where Art the Clown was beheaded by Sienna, and the final girl from the first movie, Victoria Heyes, has been possessed by the Little Pale Girl and gives birth to Art’s head. Now, in the third movie, we start off with Art’s headless body finding its way to the asylum where Victoria is located, where they both body-count a little before going into some kind of hibernation phase in an abandoned house. Then, five years later and close to Christmas, Sienna has just been released from a mental health center and has come to stay with her aunt Jess, her husband Greg, and their daughter Gabbie, who pretty much idolizes her. While Sienna is struggling with reconnecting with her brother Jonathan, who is now in college and trying to move on with his life, Art the Clown has decided to bring another nightmare to Miles County, and this time before Christmas.

Terrifier 3 is the third movie in the Terrifier franchise, all written, edited and directed by Damien Leone. Terrifier 3 premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 19, 2024, and later released theatrically in the US on October 11. It is currently the highest-grossing unrated film of all time. Damien Leone stated in interviews that the main reason for choosing a Christmas theme for the movie, was that he was directly influenced by the 1972 film and 1989 TV series Tales From the Crypt, as they both featured a story about a mentally insane person dressed up as Santa and going on a killing spree. The opening of Terrifier 3 is a homage to that episode which is called “And All Through The House”. He also got to “fix“ one of his bigger regrets from the two other movies, regarding Victoria Heyes who was the original “final girl“ in the franchise (who got her face eaten off by Art in the first movie which explains her looks). This is a character Damien Leone regretted not fleshing out further, and thus he decided to feature her more in the third film, as a heroine turned villainess.

Now, most people within the horror circle are well familiar with this murderous clown called Art. Wearing a Pierrot-like costume, uttering not a single sound under any circumstance at all, and with antics and behavior very reminiscent of Mr. Bean, he sure is a character easy to recognize whether you like him or not. The guy is now all over the place, with another movie sequel already in development and even an upcoming game and other merchandise. Art has more or less become a gore-icon, so if you go and see this movie mainly for the gore and practical effects, you won’t be disappointed. There’s gore a-plenty, some really visceral kills and even a scene with a rat forced down a tube in someone’s throat that made Art’s actor (David Howard Thornton) a little green around the gills. I can’t say any of the scenes really got under my skin though (I’ve gotten far too desensitized for that) but I can easily recognize and admire the jolly playfulness and the great use of practical effects during scenes like this and had a fun time watching it. I also found the opening of the movie to be quite moody and with a fitting soundtrack. So, will you have a fun time if you want to see Art the Clown going crazy during the holidays where he kills and maims and wreaks havoc? Yeah, no doubt. This movie does more of what most of its fanbase loves it for, and that’s expanding the horizon for how much gore you can possibly add and adding new ways to dismember and spill the blood ‘n entrails on screen.

Now, what Terrifier 3 unfortunately lacks, is more story to the bone. Maybe this sounds a little unreasonable considering that the first movie pretty much had no plot whatsoever, and the franchise’s selling point is obviously blood and gore. Nothing wrong with that, by all means…but the second film did take things many steps further story-wise, teasing us with what appeared to be more in-depth lore and possibly an interesting background story for the franchise’s namesake (which is not the clown, but an abandoned haunted attraction we got to know about in Terrifier 2). Everything was pretty much set up for some further development of Art’s background story…but that’s not really what we got much of in the third film. Now, Damien Leone stated that it took 6 years to make Terrifier 2, and that he had completely underestimated how ambitious it would eventually become. It’s obvious he’s planned for some deeper lore and background story for Art, the Terrifier attraction, and the Little Pale Girl (whom we know is the demon possessing Art), but we’ll probably get more of that in the 4th film. Terrifier 3 was made with a considerably stricter deadline, and the production barely made it on time for its premiere at Fantastic Fest. In addition to this, the long time it took to make Terrifier 2 is also the reason why the storyline of this movie is set to five years later, as especially Elliot Fullam (who plays Jonathan, Sienna’s younger brother) has aged very obviously since they started filming Terrifier 2 in 2018. Personally, I have no problems enjoying mindless gore-fests as long as they’re somewhat upbeat and fun, but at this point this movie felt more like a Christmas-special to me than an actual sequel, I guess..?

Terrifier 3 definitely delivers on the gore and practical effects, and Art the Clown is more jolly, more evil, and more Mr. Bean-ish than ever. I just personally wish there had been some more story development at this point, but I’ll consider this as Art the Clown’s X-Mas special. The fourth film is already in development, which is stated to be the final film in the franchise. Hah, yeah, we’ll see how that goes. Everyone knows that slasher villains never truly stay dead, that’s Horror 101. So by the end of this decade we’ll probably have Terrifier Returns, Terrifier Origins, The First Terrifier, Terrifier in Space, and Terrifier in the Hood. And that’s not even a joke.

Writer and director: Damien Leone
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thornton, Antonella Rose, Elliott Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi, Margaret Anne Florence, Bryce Johnson, Alexa Blair Robertson, Mason Mecartea, Krsy Fox
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27911000/

Prequels:
– Terrifier 2 (2022)
– Terrifier (2016)