Lovecraftian Mob Dramas, WWII Gorefests, & Korean Extremity
From Horror to Action-Exploitation, International Genre Films Shined at TIFF ‘22 by Josh Lewis This year’s Toronto International Film Festival delivered on all the major titles one would hopes to see, including Steven Spielberg’s therapeutic sound-stage recreation of his own childhood in
REVIEW: Barbarian’s Subdued Exterior Hides A Gory Subterranean Freakout
Viewers expecting a typical Airbnb thriller will be in for a shock by Josh Lewis (NOTE: Mild spoilers after the fourth paragraph. You've been warned!) Much like last year’s big-swing genre shocker Malignant—a film that pretended to be yet another modern, polished haunted
They/Them stabs for the heart, but fails to draw blood
Queer horror is more essential than ever—which makes They/Them's fumbles all the more tragic by Lindsay Lee Wallace They/Them, a slasher film set at a queer conversion camp and written and directed by John Logan (Skyfall, Gladiator), could have been a
From Milton to Marx
Exploring the complex contradictions of Satan as dialectical figure by Jessie Jones The Satan that we know—indeed, that contemporary feminism and a legacy of witchcraft knows—is Miltonian through and through. Milton spun his Satan, a symbol of refutation, rebellion, but also fallen
How To Summon The Devil, And What To Do When He Shows Up
The complex historical tradition of spirit conjuring would make for even better art than its simplified on-screen counterpart by Kay Halloran Since the Renaissance, conjurors of spirits and their diabolical pacts have endured as some of the most spectacular images
Hollow Throne: Satanic Panic & the Post-Modern Lucifer
Satan's most enduring cultural legacy is one from which he is puzzlingly absent by Kurt Schiller // Illustration by Sam Hindman In the winter of 1980, Satan was making a comeback. And it all began with a book. Written by Canadian psychologist Lawrence
Horror’s Hollow Men
The Empty Man and Wounds use the tools of horror to explore the hollow core of masculinity by Saoirse Ní Chiaragáin Horror and gender have always made comfortable bedfellows, and horror fiction that centers the destructive potential of masculinity is nothing new.
Interview: Gretchen Felker-Martin on Manhunt, and Refusing to Hide the Violence of the Everyday
By Claire Davidson Gretchen Felker-Martin has an intimate knowledge of horror, and one that spans many different lenses. A fiction author, film critic, and film curator through her Deadlights Theater Discord server, Felker-Martin has made it her life’s objective to expand
Brain In A Jar: The Revolution Of Unplayability
The obtusion of Cruelty Squad forces players to confront the alienating horror of life as a tool of capital by Julia Norza You don’t notice the first time Cruelty Squad lowers your difficulty. After a rickety cutscene introduces your bed-unframed
The Unseen: Fear, Abuse, and The Invisible Man
Leigh Whannell's 2020 film makes the experiences of abuse survivors terrifyingly real by Fran LoIacono The best kind of horror film is one that stays with the viewer and makes them think: it’s one of the reasons why films like The