Films That Matter
Unwelcome Caller
Ah, Death, sometimes known as the Grim Reaper, has been depicted in so very many unique ways, with the most traditional being of the lineage of Victor Sjöström – who made the silent horror film The Phantom Carriage (1921)... which then inspired his protégée Ingmar Bergman (who watched the feature every year – usually on New Year’s Eve) with making his classic Black Death plague set film The Seventh Seal (1957). Having a laugh at that always winning Reaper, the 2011 horror comedy short The Coldest Caller, written and directed by Joe Tucker, is a four minute humour-filled foray into one such harrowing scenario. Exhuming some fun in a Monty Python-like sketch (specifically Monty Python’s Meaning of Life), when the ominous list-carrying Grim Reaper (Noel Byrne) – your typically towering, hidden gaunt figure dressed in all black, arrives on the cozey doorstep of one Mrs. Evans (Sheila Reid), the punctual old lady almost seems like she has already been waiting for him all day.
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Wax Works
House of WaxHouse of WaxOctober 3, 2023A bonafide 3D early classic and a less than lauded remake, House of Wax (1953 and 2005 respectfully), are very different films. The former starring legendary actor Vincent Price and directed by André De Toth (Crime Wave), is a vividly coloured, horror tinged murder mystery, while the latter film, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, is a moodily lit modern era slasher flick that is slowly being reappraised. One of the most successful 3D ventures of the 1950s era, De Toth frames Price’s wax artist, Professor Henry Jarrod, as a kindly and loving creative soul who is sadly betrayed by his business partner, Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts), who is a money hungry sociopath looking to invest elsewhere. Burning the wax museum down with its creator inside the building for the insurance money, the act brings bitter anger and utter madness to the once genteel artist, who somehow escapes with everyone believing he has perished in the fire.
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Missed the Bloody Cut: 2023 (Part 2)
September 26, 2023The second Missed the Bloody Cut horror selection of this 2023, here are some more horror movies that did not meet my strict criteria (a rating of 7.0 or higher)... but are still entertaining films (horror fanatics may enjoy) that do not deserve to be shrugged off like the lights going out simply because it’s an ‘old home’ – and that they are definitely worth a watch (just maybe not several re-watches).
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Missed the Bloody Cut: 2023 (Part 1)
September 19, 2023The first Missed the Bloody Cut horror selection of this 2023, here are some horror movies that did not meet my strict criteria (a rating of 7.0 or higher)... but are still entertaining films (horror fanatics may enjoy) that do not deserve to be ignored like the dead body in the corner that college kids simply assume is their buddy sleeping off the alcohol and drugs – and that they are definitely worth a watch (just maybe not several re-watches).
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Dolly Folly
Infinity PoolJuly 28, 2023The third film from writer/director Brandon Cronenberg (son of body horror maestro David), 2023's Infinity Pool, which follows 2012's Antiviral and 2020's Possessor, shows a penchant for the same bodily flair his father has, but also hones in on the devolution of humanity and the soul. Following a married couple, James and Em Foster (Alexander Skarsgård and Cleopatra Coleman), he is a less than middling author, having released a single critic-slammed novel that has left the man with a serious case of writer’s block... while she comes from money and sometimes seems more like a patroness than significant other.
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Fright Night Interviews with William Ragsdale and Amanda Bearse
October 31, 2022As a special treat for Halloween, I’ve got two interviews for you. At this year’s CAPE (Cornwall & Area Pop Event), which was held on the weekend of April 23-24, 2022, I was fortunate enough to spend quite some time with William Ragsdale and Amanda Bearse, the two leading teens of the iconic 1985 horror cult classic Fright Night, written and directed by Tom Holland (no, not of Spider-Man fame – he wasn’t born yet). I hope you enjoy these inside looks into this quirky horror movie this Halloween, and keep an eye out for upcoming Star Pick interviews with both, which will reveal their favourite movies.
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Swiss Myst
A Cure for WellnessOctober 27, 2022Transporting the viewer down the proverbial rabbit hole, 2016's A Cure for Wellness, co-written and directed by Gore Verbinski, is a fantastical fairy tale, but maybe not in the way you might be thinking. Rooted in the original Grimm versions of the stories that might come to mind, this narrative is horror tinged, to be sure. Full of juxtaposition and symmetry, we follow a newly promoted cutthroat executive, boy-faced Lockhart (Dane DeHaan), who is being tasked with retrieving their CEO emeritus of sorts, Pembroke (Harry Groener) – a beast of a businessman, who, after taking two weeks off in the Swiss Alps, has decided to call it quits and focus more on his health and wellness (a complete role reversal by the businessman).
