In 1974 John Carpenter’s slasher opus Halloween hit theaters and became an instant horror classic, jump starting the slasher genre and becoming the most popular number one horror flick on fans’ lists. That same year brought the release of the less cited but equally popular and influential Texas Chain Saw Massacre, directed by future horror icon Tobe Hooper. While some lists calling it one of the scariest films ever made may be a tad bit overblown, it should nonetheless be agreed by all parties that TCM is a legitimately great horror flick. Anyone who disagrees is probably an asshole.
If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s British TV. “Coupling”, “The Prisoner”, “Doctor Who”, “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace”, “Nighty Night”, “Spaced”… I’m a total BBC junkie. So when I slid in the DVD for the TV pilot “Rough Magik”, I was ecstatic. A British TV show (well, unsold pilot, but whatever) about Cthulhu set in the world of Delta Green, from the Call of Cthulhu RPG, just sounded awesome to me. Was I as impressed by the product as I was by my vivid expectations? Am I a nerdy transvestite with a heart of lava rock? Does a bear shit in the goddamn woods?!
I’ll admit to having not paid any attention to Paranormal Activity prior to it’s national success, as I’m not one for hand held POV films in the vain of Last Broadcast. Something about the style just feels uninteresting and oftentimes lazy to me, so I tend to avoid them. However, first-time director Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity had me intrigued by it’s sudden success with the general public. One friend of mine who had seen the film already told me that he found it difficult to sleep that night. So, driving to the local cheapo Cinemark theater, I got my $2.75 matinee ticket and made my way into what many consider the scariest film they’ve ever seen…
The Saw franchise started out as the Little Engine That Could and quickly morphed into that fucking train that makes you late to work. Starting out as an indie flick produced by Twisted Pictures and based on a previous short by director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannel, Saw was a low budget film starring two actors near the death of their careers and a whole lot of cheap sets and creative set pieces. It’s surprise success began one of the most ridiculously fast strings of sequels ever seen, as well as a resurgence for the previously obscure torture sub-genre.
There are a few things one would not expect in a zombie movie. Typically there is no torture outside of scientific experiments, while psychological fright is often jettisoned in favor of a sociopolitical message and entertaining amounts of gore. More sublime or emotionally engaging elements are often left out completely. The scenarios themselves are usually spread out as well, covering large areas of space and featuring hordes of undead ghouls, very few times occurring in tight, claustrophobic spaces. Deadgirl is a film easily mistaken for anything but one of these living dead extravaganzas. The horror is all in the psychologically offensive torture, taking place in the darkest, tightest environment… oh, and number of zombies? One.
Oh Thomas Jane, you Muscly Prince of Geekdom you… when I heard that you were directing your very first feature, I was intrigued. When I heard it would be a Hitchcock-inspired horror flick shot in 3D, I was excited. When I finally watched it… I wasn’t.
I went into The Hills Run Red not knowing what to expect. I didn’t watch any trailer, I didn’t read a synopsis or even peak at the back of the DVD. I just watched. I watched with a childlike sense of wonder, perusing the many possibilities of this hopeful gem. I consumed the atmosphere given by the cover and let the film take me with no preconceptions. I am such an idiot.
The vast majority of super-low-budget film and video productions tend to be horror-related, and even more often are of extremely-to-moderately low quality. Whether it be in terms of cinematography, acting, writing, or all of the above and more, most low budget fare tends to have at least one big pitfall. Such is not the case with Matthew Van Manahan’s The Book of Caleb, a super-low budget comedy reminiscent of early John Hughes fare. In fact, it’s not so much reminiscent as much as it is a parody, though much more subtle in comparison to parodies like Better Off Dead.
Whenever a movie rapist gets his wedding tackle shot/cut/eaten/torn/etc. off, people will generally say “He had it coming”. In Robocop, when Robo blows away the rapist’s junk through the woman’s skirt, people generally go “Holy shit did you just see that?!” followed up by “Damn if he didn’t have that coming…” In Sin City, when Roark Jr. gets his cherry bombs blown off by 
It’s about thirty minutes into Carl Bessai’s Severed when a helpless young environmental activist is chained to a tree surrounded by zombies, when I knew that despite the many faults I had already witnessed, I was in for a very satisfactory film. As her innards were torn out by the undead lumberjack hordes and her dumbass vegan bitch of a friend stood by screaming in her own special fashion, I felt that maybe, just maybe, I was watching a film that would fulfill my hippie bloodlust. I was sort of disappointed.