american horror movies – Page 3

Child’s Play 2 (1990)

Posted on October 5, 2026October 9, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

It has now been two years since Chucky died, and the manufacturer of the Good Guy dolls are still trying to recover from all the negative publicity. Easier said than done when everyone thinks your product is faulty to the point of becoming a death threat. So, in order to recover from the bad reputation, they decide to “prove“ that nothing was actually wrong with the doll at all, and takes the Chucky doll’s remains and reassemble him into…not exactly as good as new, but at least whole. Sounds like an excellent idea to reassure their stockholders, right? Well, after having made Chucky whole again, a power surge suddenly electrocutes and kills one of the workers, and Chucky comes alive.

Then we’re heading over to Andy who has been in foster care after the Chucky incident, since his mother was institutionalized after she refused to back down from the claim that the doll was alive. He is now trying to live a normal life. That is, as normal as you possibly can when your possessed doll killed people and got your mommy thrown into the loony bin. Chucky, however, still needs Andy to get a proper body, and manages to find out his new living location. He figures out a way to get himself inside the house, and takes the place of another Good Guy doll already there, who is named Tommy. Yes, the Good Guy dolls are produced to come with different names. Andy soon finds out that Chucky has re-entered his life, but the problem is that no one believes him…at least not at first.

Child’s Play 2 from 1990 is the sequel to the first 1988 film, this time written by Don Mancini and directed by John Lafia with Alex Vincent and Brad Dourif reprising their roles. Tom Holland was asked to return as director, but he refused due to conflicts with the film’s producer David Kirschner and United Artists during the making of the first film. While the first film was mostly shot on location in Chicago, this one was shot on Universal Studios Lot, and the toy factory scenes were shot in an abandoned warehouse in Valencia, California.

Kevin Yagher returned to make the special effects for the film, and he even directed some of the scenes too. The puppetry and animatronics look great, and Chucky’s facial expressions are even more wild. He’s just as foul-mouthed as ever, and Brad Dourif’s voice has pretty much merged with the character at this point. Dourif is the only Chucky by now, with it impossible to imagine anyone else in the role.

It is overall an entertaining sequel with some decent kills and great effects, but it is the climax of the film that goes in a really fun direction, and the most impressive part of this sequel. It’s using the toy factory setting, where there’s a maze of who knows how many Good Guy doll boxes. While it was obviously filmed in a way where it was later edited so it looked like the maze was considerably much bigger than it was, it still looked really cool. Then the actual ending of the movie is so goofy and fun, and definitely one of the biggest highlights in the entire franchise! Well, at least in my opinion. Child’s Play 2 offers more of the comedic tone than the first film, but it fits well together with how the movie also goes for a more crazy ride.

Director: John Lafia
Writer: Don Mancini
Country & year: USA, 1990
Actors: Alex Vincent, Jenny Agutter, Gerrit Graham, Christine Elise, Brad Dourif, Grace Zabriskie, Peter Haskell, Beth Grant, Greg Germann,
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099253/

Sequels:
– Curse of Chucky (2013)
– Seed of Chucky (2004)
– Bride of Chucky (1998)
– Child’s Play 3 (1998)

Prequel:
– Child’s Play (1988)

Remake:
– Child’s Play (2019)

Child’s Play (1988)

Posted on October 4, 2026October 9, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Charles Lee Ray aka The Lakeshore Strangler is a serial killer who is fleeing from the police in Chicago. Police Detective Mike Norris is at his heels, and inside a toy store Norris manages to shoot him. Before dying from the gunshot wound, Ray invokes the power of Damballa, a serpent spirit in Haitian Voodoo, and asks to have his soul transferred into the “Good Guy“ doll nearby. A lightning strikes the building, and Ray now lies lifeless next to the doll. Looks like the serial killer’s murder spree has come to an end…unless perhaps the voodoo spell had some merit? Yeah, we know his spirit has been successfully transferred into the doll, of course we do.

Ray certainly chose his toy wisely, as the Good Guy talking dolls are very popular. And of course also expensive. Karen Barclay, a widow with a six year old son named Andy, struggles to save up money for one. Her friend from work suggests that she can buy a doll from a homeless peddler outside, who’s gotten his hands on one and sells it cheaply. Wonder why. Well, Karen decides to put her morals to the side for this little occasion in order to make her son happy. And of course Andy is over to moon, who is totally captivated by the doll who presents itself as Chucky. While all seems fine and well, the little boy Andy understands little about all the things the doll is saying to him. How could a little kid possibly know that his favorite toy is possessed by the soul of a dead serial killer? And Ray, now aka Chucky, isn’t too happy with his plastic body. He wants a new one…one made out of real flesh and blood.

Child’s Play is the 1988 killer doll film which doesn’t really need much presentation. We all know who Chucky is. The film was directed by Tom Holland, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Don Mancini and John Lafia. It was based on an original script by Mancini, which was first titled Batteries Not Included, then changed into Blood Buddy, and it was more a whodunit story which left the ending ambiguous as to whether it was the doll or the kid who killed people. Well, in the new script there’s no doubt from the very start that the doll is a serial killer, and a new horror star was thus born. The film has since spun several sequels, a reboot, a series, and tons of merchandise. Chucky, whether you like him or not, is one of the most iconic and popular horror film characters that just never seem to die.

The “Good Guy“ dolls were inspired by the actual My Buddy dolls by Hasbro, and you can definitely see the resemblance. In fact, Chucky’s name was originally Buddy in the script, which the writers decided to change into Chucky instead so they didn’t have to worry about Hasbro getting their lawyers involved. Better play it safe, buddy! And Chucky definitely is a blast to watch on screen, in all his practical glory. The doll was controlled by a whole team of nine puppeteers, led by Brock Winkless. Chucky’s mouth was moved via radio control, and in some scenes Chucky was also played by child actors. There’s no doubt that Chucky’s character is one filled with personality, a foul-mouthed killer doll who definitely slashed his place into the horror community, made at a perfect time when cheesiness could so easily fit into an otherwise serious story. Because yeah, the premise in Child’s Play is laughable and sounds schlocky as hell, but it all just, you know, works. The music for the film also fits really well with the electronic/orchestral mix. It was composed by Joseph Renzetti, using mostly electronic music with some orchestral elements. Originally Holland had planned for the film to have a fully orchestral score, but Renzetti thought the electronic soundtrack would be best.

Performances are overall pretty good, especially Brad Dourif who is voicing Chucky and delivers the perfect maniacal and sardonic performance. This, combined with the effects of the doll with its various facial expressions ironically makes Chucky looking more alive than many of the flesh ‘n blood slashers villains from other horror movies. Auditions for the film’s roles were held at the Hollywood United Methodist Church in 1987, where Tom Holland were quick to cast Chris Sarandon for the role of Detective Norris, as he had previously worked with him in his first feature film Fright Night (1985). As for Andy’s role, hundreds of kids were considered, and the role was given to Alex Vincent, despite the boy’s lack of acting experience compared to several of the other kids. The reason? Apparently their hearts melted a little when Alex pretended to forget his lines because he didn’t want to say any curse words in front of his mother. Aw. How cute and innocent. That being said, the performance does leave a little to be desired, especially when he’s supposed to be scared.

I think Child’s Play is a fun 80’s slasher psycho doll movie, one with that certain amount of charm that only the 80’s (and 90’s, for that matter) could produce. It’s cheesy and energetic, and Chucky and his foul-mouthed character is always fun to watch. I also liked the somewhat cheesy twist of involving the lesser known Voodoo spirit Damballa, rather than going for the usual satanic twist of making a deal with the devil.

Fun Fact: when the film was released, a crowd of worried people protested at the main entrance of MGM because they thought the film would “incite violence in children“, and wanted it to be banned. And it actually got banned in Finland for “excessive graphic violence“, a ban that was lifted in the early 2000’s.

Director: Tom Holland
Writers: Don Mancini, John Lafia, Tom Holland
Country & year: USA, 1988
Actors: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif, Dinah Manoff, Tommy Swerdlow, Jack Colvin, Neil Giuntoli, Juan Ramírez, Alan Wilder
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094862/

Sequels:
– Curse of Chucky (2013)
– Seed of Chucky (2004)
– Bride of Chucky (1998)
– Child’s Play 3 (1991)
– Child’s Play 2 (1990)

Remake:
– Child’s Play (2019)

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)

Posted on October 3, 2026October 7, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Your suffering will be legendary ― even on Earth! Yeah, sure, if Earth is such a green-grassed utopia to begin with, especially the Rotten Apple that is New York. And speaking of: the young, douchey pussyhound and goth-nightclub owner, J. P. Monroe (let’s just call him Jay Pee), has bought the grotesque pillar we saw at the end of the previous film, before it would be locked away in Warrens’ Occult Museum. After he fucks some chick, hooked chains flies out of the pillar and rips her skin off, and Pinhead, with only his face popping out of it, eats her. Similar to the previous films, he needs to eat human flesh in order to become whole. Only here though, he’s a demon that would be set free in the real world, in a goth nightclub, even. How fitting. Jay Pee becomes Pinhead’s bitch who gets ordered to serve him more bodysuits to eat. Not the most difficult task since New York has plenty.

Then we meet our protagonist, where the formula began using the reporter/detective trope to slog us through rest of the sequels. Here, however, we have the young news reporter Joey who has recurring nightmares of her dad being killed in Vietnam, and we can say that the plot thickens as much as it gets muddy where we eventually have two Pinheads, one good and one evil. Joey gets in possession of the Puzzle box, thanks to the clubgoer Terri, and finds a videotape of Kirsty (from the first two films) who explains how to use it in order to send Pinhead back to hell. When Pinhead (the evil one) finally gets out, he turns into pure slasher villain-mode and collects more bodycounts than the whole franchise combined. Pinhead goes on a blasphemy spree, enters a church where he mocks the crucifixion of Christ behind the altar before the place explodes. The conservatives in North Carolina, where the film was shot, had a problem with that. So yeah, Pinhead is the man of the hour here where he has the most screentime in the whole franchise and gets his time to really shine, spiced-up with some colorful one-liners.

And then we have our new group of Cenobites, which look more like something from a canceled Hellraiser Saturday morning cartoon show. Say hello to Doc the Cameraface, who has a camera merged in half of his face. And since this is the early 1990s, what could be more cool than DJ the CD face, slicing people with CD’s? So rad! And watch out for Rick the Bartender who fries your face as he spits flames from his cocktail shake beverage. And we can’t have a ’90s film without some big explosions. The comedic and playful tone lingers all over the film, as you’d expect when we have the director of the Waxworks films in the director chair. Not for everybody’s taste, but it at least still manage to feel like a Hellraiser film where there still was some respect for the source material, and is far from boring. The film ends perfectly with the song Hellraiser (of course) performed by Motörhead , and the franchise should also end with that note. The success at the box-office suggested otherwise where the brutal humiliation ritual of the franchise was about to begin.

Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), or Hellraiser in Space if you like, became the final theatrical release of the franchise. That film was directed by ~~Kevin Yagher~~ the legendary Alan Smithee and also the final Hellraiser where Clive Barker was involved before the smell of bullshite got too strong and jumped ship… so that maybe speaks for itself.

What we have next is six more sequels, and…wooooof. This is the worst kind of early, ultra-cheap, soulless 2000s direct-to-video toilet slop imaginable: Hellraiser: Inferno (2000), Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002), Hellraiser: Deader (2005), Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005) At this point I’m actually surprised that they just didn’t go for Hellraiser: Hellraiser. Fun fact: Inferno is the directorial debut of Scott Derrickson, but even he couldn’t get Pinhead back on track. Hellworld was the last film where Doug Bradley said fuck this bollox, I’m outta here. But it didn’t stop there, as we got the worst of them all served on a paper plate: Hellraiser: Revelations (2011) ― a baffling amateur show in all aspects and way too boring to be so-bad-it’s-good. Then we have and finally the last one, Hellraiser: Judgement (2018). Have yet to see the Hulu remake from 2021.

So what really went wrong with Hellraiser? Simple and boring answer: the first four since Inferno were originally written as standalone crime/thrillers, not as Hellraiser films. The elements with Pinhead was shoved in at the last five minutes and slammed on the posters, with the Hellraiser title, in order to cash-in and fool us gullible audiences. How they managed to poop out four of these turds with Doug Bradley onboard, is a mystery box of its own. But showbiz is showbiz and there’s always rent to pay. Your suffering will be legendary by watching them all in one sitting without any pauses, unless you’re masochistic enough.

Director: Anthony Hickox
Writer: Peter Atkins, Tony Randel
Country & year: UK/USA, 1992
Actors: Terry Farrell, Paula Marshall, Kevin Bernhardt, Doug Bradley, Ken Carpenter, Brent Bolthouse, Sharon Percival, Philip Hyland, David Young, Peter Atkins, Ashley Laurence
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095294/

Mr. Crocket (2024)

Posted on September 29, 2026September 29, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Time for a trip down the nostalgia-lane once again, at least for those of us who grew up during the 90’s. We’re now in 1993, where there’s a children’s TV show called Mr Crocket’s World, hosted by Mr. Crocket himself of course, and his puppets: Boogaloo Blue and Squawky Bird. Now, this TV show is not one of those popular shows that everyone knows about…only a select few gets to experience it fully. This includes a boy named Darren Harper, who found the VHS tape in a free library outside his home. Later that day, during dinner, Darren once again experience the abuse from his stepfather Kevin. Yes, he’s growing up in that kind of home…because you see, here’s another thing: Mr Crocket only seeks out children who happen to grow up with shitty, abusive parents. And Mr. Crocket and his friendly puppets are ready to bounce into the real world from the television to set things straight! Before Darren’s stepfather can make the dinner even worse, Mr. Crocket emerges from the televison, gets a monster chair to trap the guy and soon has the bastard killed in an amusingly satisfying and gory way. Then he takes Darren with him and they all live happily ever after…

Or not. We fast forward to one year later, where we meet the single mother Summer Beverly, who is struggling with her disobedient son Major. Her husband died recently, and she believes Major’s behavioral issues are due to the loss of his father. Or is it that simple? When she finds the Mr. Crocket’s World VHS tape in the free library, she gives it to her son in the hopes he’ll have something to cheer him up. And indeed he does…the boy becomes obsessed with the show. And his behavior gets even worse, and he starts throwing tantrums. Having had enough, she snaps at him one day and sends him to his room, and this is where Mr. Crocket once again comes out of the TV to bring a child with him to a happier place without bad parents. Except in this case, it looks like Mr. Crocket missed his mark a little. Anyway, with Major now missing, Summer learns about the other missing children and cases similar to hers, and starts researching Mr. Crocket to find out exactly who or what he is, and how she can hopefully get her son back.

Mr. Crocket is a supernatural horror film from 2024, directed by Brandon Espy in his feature directorial debut from a screenplay he co-wrote with Carl Reid. Espy made a short film in 2022 with the same name. This feature film premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 26, 2024, and was later released as a Hulu original and can be seen internationally on Disney+. Espy got inspiration for the movie after seeing how his eldest son obsessively watched a TV show called Blippi, and then mixed in more inspiration from Mister Roger’s Neighborhood, Pee-wee’s Playhouse and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Quite a mix. Being born in 1987 and thus experiencing childhood during the 90’s probably also did its piece.

And going for a 90’s style movie, there is one thing you absolutely, absolutely need to do: use practical effects. And they sure got that right here! There’s lots of fun practical effects including the delightfully cheesy-creepy monster chair, who is of course named Mr Chair because what else. There’s ripped torsos, guts and blood, all done in a cartoonish and silly way. In Mr Crocket’s own hellish realm, there’s not only his demonic-looking puppets but also living clocks, mailboxes, and furniture. All practical, by the way. There’s also a short animated cartoon used as part of the backstory for Mr. Crocket, and YES, it was done by actual animators, from the NY animation studio Cartuna. So take heed, directors out there: it’s possible to have an animated cartoon in your movie without retorting to fucking GEN AI. Yes, you probably know which movie I’m hinting towards right now.

Elvis Nolasco who plays Mr. Crocket in this film, really, really wanted the role. And he fits it so well, where afterwards you can’t really imagine someone else playing it. He even remained in character throughout the filming, and even introduced himself to the cast and crew as Mr. Crocket. Must’ve been quite a blast, especially when doing parts of the TV show theme song A Friend Like Me.

Mr. Crocket is by no means any masterpiece, but it is pure 90’s horror cheesefest, and one I found surprisingly fun and creative and also a little more bloody than I initially expected. Which just added to the fun. Would have loved to see a sequel if done with the same 90’s charm and the same use of practical effects. And of course, with Elvis Nolasco reprising his role as Mr. Crocket. No news of any sequels though, even if both Espy and Nolasco have expressed an interest in expanding the story further. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Director: Brandon Espy
Writers: Carl Reid, Brandon Espy
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Jerrika Hinton, Ayden Gavin, Kristolyn Lloyd, Alex Akpobome, Elvis Nolasco, Akim Black, Jermaine Rivers, Riley Vinson, Lyla Randall, Jabari Striblin, Vivien Huang
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32916093/

100 Tears (2007)

Posted on September 25, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

― I think I’m gonna shit my pants!

Imagine if Terrifier was directed by Andreas Schnaas, just with a more sober camera man and even a cleaner camera lense. There you more or less have 100 Tears. What else is there really to say.

Well, there’s actually a plot here, somewhere, I believe. It goes something like this: A mute double-chinned psycho clown, simply called Gurdy the Clown (Jack Amos), goes around and slaughters people like there’s no tomorrow with a ridiculously big meat cleaver. C o o l. He kidnaps some victims to drag home to his abandoned warehouse to, well, torture them. A girl gets slowly killed in Ginî piggu-style, before killing another guy and ripping out his intestines like a kid opening his presents on Christmas morning…and then chopping his head off with the meat cleaver, causing blood spurts like a garden hose. Gurdy surely has learned from the best.

Then there’s this mysterious young disturbed blond woman, a Harley Quinn wannabe, who picks up guys at the local bar to take them to an alley to have oral sex before she, yeah you guess it, kills them. What connection does she have to anything, you ask? It’s pretty obvious.

There’s also an iceberg to this Gurdy clown, and the two tabloid journalists, Jennifer and Mark, are working to get to the bottom of it. If they’re a couple/married or whatever, we don’t know. But what we know is that the guy who plays Mark, Joe Davidson, is no doubt a clone of James Gandolfini. And they’re overall entertaining to follow if you’re drunk enough, even though most of the wonky dialogues just flies over your head while we’re waiting for the next goreshow by Gurdy.

Because the most outstanding here are the practical effects made by the director himself, Marcus Koch, who has worked on 100-plus obscure independent horror films. Nikos the Impaler and Lung II are two I can mention that are reviewed on this site. So, if you’re first and foremost looking for crazy over-the-top violence where torsos get cut in half and limbs scattering left and right, spiced up with some dumb humor in glorious Z-movie format, you’ll have a jolly good time. A Director’s Cut Blu-ray is released by Unearthed Films and can also be found on Tubi.

Director: Marcus Koch
Writer: Joe Davison
Country & year: USA, 2007
Actors: Georgia Chris, Joe Davison, Raine Brown, Jack Amos, Kibwe Dorsey, Rod Grant, Norberto Santiago, Jerry Allen, Jeff Dylan Graham
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0943946/

American Psycho (2000)

Posted on September 18, 2026September 18, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

We’re in 1987, and Patrick Bateman is a New York City investment banker who is very obsessed with showing off a perfect façade. His clothes need to be perfect and of the best brands, he only dines at the most trendy and expensive restaurants, and is of course within a circle-jerk of apparently likeminded wealthy associates: shallow, arrogant, and secretly hating each other and filled to the brim with jealousy. However, Bateman is not all what he seems on the surface. Inside him there’s very violent impulses he can’t (or won’t) control. He’s in fact a reckless serial killer, brutally killing everything from animals, homeless people, prostitutes and also one of the other rich douchebags from his circle of acquaintances. This leads to the involvement of a private investigator. Bateman, however, has already spiraled so far down into a dark hole filled with sadistic depravity, that he has already started to lose his sense of reality.

American Psycho is a psychological thriller from 2000, based on the 1991 novel by the same name written by Bret Easton Ellis. The film was directed by Mary Harron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Guinevere Turner. It stars Christian Bale in the role as Patrick Bateman, and also includes some other familiar faces like Willem Dafoe.

The author of the novel, Ellis, considered it “unfilmable“. And if you were to do a proper and true adaption including some of the book’s most graphic content, then yeah…they would have censored the fuck out of it and probably banned it outright in many countries. The novel, while starting off rather slow, really goes hard in the latter part of the book and it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Some of the scenes depicted in the novel are even more extreme and vicious than what you would find in a Terrifier movie, and that says something. Anyway, Edward R. Pressman was determined to make an adaption no matter what, with Stuart Gordon, David Cronenberg and Rob Weiss considered as directors before Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner started writing the screenplay in 1996. The pre-production didn’t go smoothly with lots of back and forth, and Harron was even fired when she wanted to hire Bale to play Bateman. Lions Gate Films wanted Leonardo DiCaprio for the role, so they replaced her with Oliver Stone. That didn’t go well, as DiCaprio and Stone had “creative differences“ which made them leave the project, where Harron was reinstated as the director and got her wishes to cast Bale. Which is good, as Bale does an excellent portrayal of the arrogant and unhinged yuppie.

Interestingly, Harron had actually attempted to read the novel shortly after its publication, but was put off due to the very violent content. She gave it a second chance later, and was especially interested in the satire presented in it. The movie, just like the book, heavily satirizes the 1980’s yuppie culture, where Bateman and his colleagues are depicting social privilege in a very on-the-nose matter. What’s a little hilarious is how the movie got a pretty good reception, where mainly it was well received but some still criticized its “violent nature“. Hah…they should’ve read the book instead, those wusses. Roger Ebert liked it, though, and gave it 3 out of 4 stars.

Bale, in order to appear as much like Bateman as possible, started going to the gym to become completely ripped, and also got a tan and fixed his teeth. Still nothing compared to how far he went for his role in The Machinist, though…but yeah, Bale’s performance really stands out and he fits the role like hand in glove, and totally embodies the character. Some of the political and societal satire is still present, and I found myself often chuckling at how seemingly perfect lives Bateman and the other characters apparently lives, with all that fancy restaurant dining, expensive luxury brand clothing, and the world at their feet. Yet they’re all filled with sickly jealousy over the smallest thing, constantly in some kind of pissing contest with each other, doped on Xanax or snorting coke. None is as miserable as Bateman, of course, who harbors a deep hatred for pretty much everything. It’s entertaining to see how he falls deeper and deeper into the hole he’s been digging for himself, while also wondering exactly what is really going on when certain things become a little too crazy. Both the movie and the book are intentionally ambiguous.

American Psycho is a pretty fun popcorn movie which is also dark satire about the 80’s yuppie opulence. Of course, it is nothing close to as vicious and graphic as the book, so don’t expect anything close to it. A fun little nod to certain parts of the book is actually shown in the movie, though, when we get to see a glimpse into Bateman’s journal where’s he’s made some crude drawings depicting all kinds of acts. This includes some of the things he did in the book, but I don’t think I was able to spot any nods to the iconic “woman, cheese, and a starved rat“. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know…

There is actually a direct-to-video sequel, called American Psycho 2. The movie doesn’t really appear to have anything to do with the first, aside from a quick flashback scene showing Bateman’s death (who wears a mask since that role is not played by Bale), and a woman named Rachael Newman who have become murderous after her encounter with him.

Director: Mary Harron
Writers: Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner
Country & year: USA, 2000
Actors: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Chloë Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Samantha Mathis, Matt Ross, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe, Cara Seymour, Guinevere Turner
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144084/

An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)

Posted on September 8, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

If London wasn’t dangerous enough for Americans to visit, Paris wouldn’t be much better. So try Bratislava instead, haha. That being said, this is not a sequel to the well-known cult classic that is John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London (1981), but more based on the idea that the first film was originally to be set in Paris. And why not. Paris rules! The only thing this one has in common with the original is that an American student visits a European country and becomes a werewolf.

The film has some very loose connections to the first one though, and to cut it short: John Landis was asked to make a sequel to London in 1991 and wrote several screenplays. The studio, Polygram Pictures, declined all of his scripts for whatever reason and ended up with Tom Stern and Tim Burns to write the script that was later rewritten after Anthony Waller got hired as director (catching my breath). He had recently made Mute Witness, a solid horror/thriller which had already gained a cult-following.

Andy (Tom Everett Scott) and his small group of American friends are visiting Paris to sneak up to the Eiffel Tower at night to bungee jump. The big event gets interrupted when they see a young woman, Serafine (Julie Delpy) standing on the handrail, who looks like she’s ready for a suicide jump. After she leaps off, Andy jumps after her, attached to the cord (duh) and grabs her foot at the last second before she would hit the ground. The only thing he has left from her after flying back up is her shoe. Andy gets knocked unconscious and ends up in the hospital. Welcome to Paris.

And after he wakes up in the hospital, the film bounces all over the place where we have a rather flimsy romance movie, a ghostmovie that could be in the same universe as The Frighteners, another romance side plot and, of course, something to do with werewolves. Andy spots Serafine at the hospital, where she just by coincidence works as a nurse (or does she?), and goes after her with her shoe, looking like a deranged psychopathic stalker as he’s holding up her shoe and says: You forgot…this! How romantic. After they start to date, Andy and his friends get access to a secret underground nightclub that connects to the catacombs. Nice! But here is also where it gets messy, because one of Andy’s pals finds Serafine, for whatever reason, locked in the basement. And don’t tell me that she can possibly be… a werewolf?! Now that she knows that Andy is in the club, which happens to be an underground society of werewolves who eat tourists (!), she has to get him far away. Too late. The moon is full, hell breaks loose and poor Andy gets bitten in the leg after running around in the sewer before he manages to escape through a pipe. Enjoy rest of Paris and good luck finding an antidote.

There are especially two classic “pure cinema“ moments here that stick out. The first is the most awkward date scene ever, also called the bubble gum scene, where our charming American blows up a condom while Julie Delpy sits in front of him with a cold stare. Can’t really blame her though. I won’t even try to explain the context, just watch it. The second one is where Andy’s werewolf senses start to kick in, goes on all fours in a cafè (still in human form) and does a quick ass sniff to some random woman (Julie Bowen) straight in her bum. Because it’s mating time, baby! They end up having sex at Père Lachaise Cemetery, because, of course, this is Paris, the city of love, after all. But then the moon goes full. Oops.

Going in and expecting a direct sequel to the first film, you’d be disappointed…very disappointed. And forget about any memorable werewolf transformation scene. This is not that kind of movie. It’s all, if not mostly CGI, or “the first CG werewolf in movie history“ as Anthony Waller called it. And it looks like you’d expect from the 1990s: not good. So no, I wouldn’t say that this is a great movie in its genre. It has its glaring flaws, it’s very unfocused at times with a very forgettable villain (yes, there’s a villain here if I forgot to mention) and the romance between Andy and Serafine seems pretty forced. While Tom Everett Scott had a fun time making the film, the same can not be said about Julie Delpy who only took the role to pay her rent. For unknown reasons she hated working on An American Werewolf in Paris so much that she avoided doing any other commercial Hollywood movies. (That was until she signed up for Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015). She still does a good performance as a mysterious melancholic downer though.

What makes the film a win is the comedic elements, the many set-pieces of Paris and just overall the distinct fun, goofy 1990s vibe which only us who experienced that decade, before the world went down the toilet, can fully appreciate. The few of the practical effects are great, the most noteworthy being the gags where the ghost version of Julie Bowen tries to whistle and pops out her eye instead. Delightful stuff. And since comedy is the most subjective thing ever, I can only speak for myself. Or maybe just being in the right mood helps a lot. I dunno. It’s certainly entertaining and far from the worst movie of all time. The film was not a success at the box-office though, barely earning back its budget. That’s a bummer, because a third film where it was the other way around, A European Werewolf in Chicago would surely be interesting. But then the movie would be over after just ten minutes or so, because, well…I think it speaks for itself.

Director: Anthony Waller
Writers: Tim Burns, Tom Stern, Anthony Waller
Country & year: USA/France/Luxembourg
Actors: Tom Everett Scott, Julie Delpy,Vince Vieluf, Phil Buckman, Julie Bowen, Pierre Cosso, Thierry Lhermitte, Tom Novembre, Maria Machado, Ben Salem Bouabdallah, Serge Basso
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118604/

The Last House (2026)

Posted on August 28, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Jason Delgado is out fishing, when he sees some stormy clouds approaching. Time to pack up! He returns to his suburban home in Seattle, and manages to get inside just before it starts to rain. Inside are also the rest of his family: his wife Ann, their son Graham and their daughter Ruth. And last but not least, the family dog Cassidy. Things quickly get weird when the family notice that they cannot open any of their doors. Windows are also impossible to open. It’s like some kind of force from outside prevents them from getting outside. Internet is down, phones have stopped working, and when looking through their windows they see that their neighbors are in the exact same situation. Those who are inside can’t get out, and those who are outside can’t get it. And things don’t seem to get any better. Desperate, Jason tries to break the doors and windows, and even the walls (because yeah, who wouldn’t in a situation like this) but to no avail. It’s like the water from outside creates a barrier that prevents any exit.

So, what to do? Well, luckily they have electricity, food and water. For now. They start rationing it, still hoping it all gets resolved soon…hopefully. After two months, it becomes apparent that things are way, way worse than they originally expected. And one day, one of their neighbors whom they saw could not get inside her home suddenly arrives outside their window, yelling that there’s no one left now, before she’s suddenly attacked by some kind of creature…

The Last House is a sci-fi horror film written by Matthew Robinson and directed by Loius Leterrier, and it was released on Netflix earlier this month. It was first announced in 2025 with the title 11817, and principal photography started in 2025 where the filming mostly occurred in England and Shepperton studios.

The premise here is rather simple: a family must survive locked inside their own house for who knows how long, while there is some sort of mysterious force at play. And we do actually get a little spoiler at the very start of the movie regarding where the threat actually comes from, we just don’t know exactly what it is. Regardless, what I found the most interesting part of this movie is how the family found ways to actually band together and use their brains and wit to survive with whatever means they have at hand, MacGuyver-style. Of course, this is a very average middle class family who may not have everything they want but absolutely everything they need, and their only real problems seem to be some financial struggles and a house which needs more fixing than they can afford. They do have pretty healthy family relations, however, and to be honest, I actually found this a little refreshing after so goddamn many movies about broken and trauma-ridden family relations. Now, don’t get me wrong – I don’t mind those themes, as very often they do fit like hand in glove when it comes to many horror narratives. It’s just a little refreshing to see a story about a more well-balanced family sometimes.

As time moves forward, the family do get put into some difficult situations which requires harsh decisions, especially one rather heartbreaking scene. Yeah, yeah…you could kinda see it coming from a mile away, but still. Now, had this been a much darker horror movie it could have gone considerably farther with these things, but it never really tried to be shocking in any way. In fact, there are even small parts of it where their situation is almost glamorized a little, where they bond even further as a family and have their regular funtime together with the only two DVD’s they own (Annie and Air Force One). Day after day, week after week, month after month…it kinda reminded me of the message in The Amazing Digital Circus: “there is meaning to be found in a stagnant life“. The Last House is not a “livin’ happily ever after“ in such a state, though, as there is a threatening force out there. What it is? Well, with the start of the movie it isn’t really any spoiler to mention that the story does take some Lovecraftian turns.

Surely enough, The Last House doesn’t really explain everything in detail when it reaches its climax, and if you search for too much logic you can easily rip it to pieces. Overall, though, we found it a very entertaining sci-fi thriller which goes well along with some popcorn on a lazy evening!

Oh, and here’s a fun tidbit: this movie does have a fair share of animal actors (yes, not CGI animals!) and the IMDb page has them listed with their names, with Dave Melmoth listed as the animal handler.

Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Matthew Robinson
Country & year: UK/France/USA, 2026
Actors: Greta Lee, Wagner Moura, Riley Chung,Noah Alexander Sosnowski, Emma Ho, Gabriel Barbosa, Arden Cho, Audrey Anderson, Sid Edwards, Eveline Reynolds-Boison, Cassidy Remi, Wicket, General, Bonnie, Layla, George, Ralph, Lady, Lilo, Moose, Annie
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32268156/

Insidious: Out of the Further (2026)

Posted on August 25, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Gemma is a young girl who lives with her mother, Ingrid, who appears to be very mentally unwell. As if the little girl wasn’t traumatized enough by living together with an unstable mother, Gemma one day witnesses her commit suicide in the bathroom while asking her to watch. A supernatural force then shuts the door right in front of her face. And yes, we know some demonic shit was at play here, and if you’ve seen the previous films it isn’t hard to already get the puzzle pieces to fit.

We fast forward to many years later, where Gemma is now a dentist, is raising her daughter Maya in her childhood home (yes, really) and is dating a police officer. All seems…rather good? Except for the old creepy-looking weirdos that appears outside on the sidewalk. Who are they? Did they just move to the neighborhood? Well, we’ll find out. Gemma, on the other hand, gets to encounter these old creeps during her astral projection, where she is haunted by visions that includes her mother’s suicide. It appears that something demonic is out for both Gemma and her daughter, who wants to use her in order to get brought back from the Further and into the world of the living. Only Elise Rainer can help her…who is now part of the Further too.

Insidious: Out of the Further is the sixth installment in the Insidious franchise, and I’d say it’s a step up from the previous one. The fitting music score was once again composed by Joseph Bishara, who also composed the score for all the previous films in the series, and we get to see both some new and some familiar faces from the earlier films.

While the first movie was indeed a very good supernatural horror film where a lot of the story was shrouded in mystery since we didn’t know much about what was happening to the family, it goes without saying that a sixth film would have to play its cards very differently. After five films we are now well familiar with the Further, how the demons/ghosts/entities wants to come back to our world, and how astral projection is what makes traveling there possible as a living human being. There’s not much of a mystery anymore, so what is the most interesting thing in this franchise now, of course, is the realms of “the Further“. The place where the dead things live and where many evil people have mutated into horrific demon-looking monsters. The premise here is that the demons want out, and the Further then becomes merged with the real world…and while I personally didn’t think this movie really went as far as it could with this, there is plenty of atmospheric and fun scenes where Gemma gets to explore the world of the dead and its inhabitants.

And yeah…as you’ve probably already guessed, this is yet another ride on the trauma train, as generational trauma plays a major factor in the plot here. Our protagonist, Gemma, is doing her best despite her troubled past, and is naturally terrified of becoming just like her mother. She’s actually doing a great job, even deciding to keep her childhood home in order to create the home she never had and not let the past overtake her in any way. As they say, you cannot run or hide from your trauma, so the only option you really have is to face it and not let it overtake your life. That is, of course, easier said than done…and especially when all the supernatural shenanigans starts hitting her full force and she quickly begins struggling with keeping herself cool and controlled. In real life you can’t blame ghosts if you lose your shit (although I’m fairly certain some people actually try to do that, after all we already have an infamous case of someone blaming the devil). Here, though, our protagonist has good reason to being close to losing her mind, but fortunately there’s help to get from the other side. Lin Shaye reprises her role as Elise Rainer, who is of course trapped in the Further since she’s been dead for a while. Aside from all the nasty ghoulies there, she’s a rare friendly presence.

Insidious: Out of the Further is pretty much exactly what you expect it to be, nothing more and nothing less. There are some really good atmospheric scenes, a fitting and strong sound design, and some solid new entities as well as a revisit with some old and familiar faces. It definitely plays the franchise’s old tricks over and over, but overall it’s a nice supernatural horror film where they definitely have lots more to explore if they want to take a further dive into the Further.

Director: Jacob Chase
Writers: Jacob Chase, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
Country & year: Australia/USA, 2026
Actors: Amelia Eve, Island Austin, Lin Shaye, Sam Spruell, Brandon Perea, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Joseph Lopez, Robina Beard, Susan Gray, Laura Gordon, Charli Penton
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32393988/

Prequels:
– Insidious (2010)
– Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
– Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)
– Insidious: The Last Key (2018)
– Insidious: The Red Door (2023)

Demonwarp (1988)

Posted on August 21, 2026August 21, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Dad Bill (George Kennedy) and daughter Julie are having a wholesome time in a forest summer house playing board games. Suddenly, they hear some growling outside the front door before a hideous-looking Bigfoot creature storms in and kills Julie. The monster drags her body outside, only with some few lousy scratch marks on her face, while Bill lies knocked out on the floor.

Then we get introduced to our group of teens, played by actors in their mid-twenties, who’s about to spend some summer party time in the house we saw earlier. Bill suddenly shows up with a rifle to warn those damn kids that this place is dangerous! They, of course, don’t believe him, because why should they. But Bill is no bullshitter and sets the record straight as he says:

― There’s a thousand stories about this place… ghosts, and UFO’s, and monsters, and Bigfoot, you name it! They’re all bullshit. I know what’s real. What’s real is what happened to me and Julie, and nobody’s going to tell me any different. Now, if you’ve got any brains between the two of you, you’ll get in that truck and get the hell out of here right now. This place is dangerous!

Oki-doki-mister. Anyway… the first night sets in, we have a cheesy soft-core sex scene, one of the girls is taking a shower, and surprise, surprise: Bigfoot comes in, wreaks some havoc, and kills one of them before he leaves. Next morning the rest of the group head out to the woods to find the main road. Good luck and don’t take any pissing breaks. As schlocky as the film is, I have to give some props to the monster design, made by John Carl Buechler, that is moons apart from the Mick Jagger Bigfoot from Night of the Demon (1980).

But then we also have some side-plots with two young women, Betsy and Tara, who eventually get topless, and a… birdwatcher, only to have some more bodycounts. Fun trivia: One of the topless women, Tara, is Georges Kennedy’s daughter, Shannon Kennedy, who was cast because he wouldn’t be in the film unless his daughter got a small role, and this is the only role she ever played. Better than nothing, as we say. And then zombies, of all things, start to show up. Just what you expected, right? So, where does this thing actually go, you may ask? Oh, it certainly goes somewhere, that I can say for sure, haha…

Look, here’s the thing: the best way to watch Demonwarp is to know little to nothing beforehand. Because as the film progressed, we went into the film’s page on IMDb, scrolled through some of the screenshots, just to be sure if we actually saw the right movie. And, well, haha, we did. The majority of the film is a standard, micro budget almost Z-level monster schlock where the Bigfoot monster is chasing boobs in the local woods, whereas the last thirty minutes is where I’d guess that a drunk and delirious Lucio Fulci came to the set and finished the film. Crazy, retarded fun stuff to watch with pizza and Jack Daniel’s.

Director: Emmett Alston
Writers: John Carl Buechler, Jim Bertges, Bruce Akiyama
Country & year: USA, 1988
Actors: George Kennedy, David Michael O’Neill, Pamela Gilbert, Billy Jayne, Hank Stratton, Colleen McDermott, Michelle Bauer, Shannon Kennedy Sullivan, John Durbin, Jill Marin
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094998/