After spending a few years away from horror, making films like Furious 7 and Aquaman, James Wan’s return to this genre was a momentous occasion. His love and passion for the genre clearly shows as he wanted to make another horror film before getting to work on the Aquaman sequel, and that film was the hotly anticipated Malignant. Having been out for nearly a week … Continue reading Why James Wan’s “Malignant” is So Divisive
Spanning 8 years and 8 movies, The Conjuring Universe has demonstrated what Universal’s Dark Universe could have been. Starting as a just a standalone movie, the franchise organically grew between sequels and spinoffs to the point that each movie does a great job of standing on its own, while giving dedicated fans tons of references and Easter Eggs to connect the dots with. All of … Continue reading Ranking the Entire Conjuring Universe
Without a doubt, the most iconic visual to come out of 2013’s The Conjuring was that of the creepy Annabelle doll. Its story serves as the film’s prologue, and it does a great job of both introducing Ed and Lorraine Warren, while also setting up an unsettling tone. So it wasn’t a really a surprise that Warner Brothers announced an Annabelle spinoff. From it spawned … Continue reading How the “Annabelle” Trilogy Got Better with Each Movie
Most writers and directors could only dream of making a movie that’s so popular and has such an impact so as to create a shift in the genre itself. George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead led to the birth of the zombie subgenre, John Carpenter’s Halloween lead to the slasher boom of the 80’s, and Wes Craven’s Scream led to slashers going full … Continue reading How Leigh Whannell and James Wan Changed Horror (Twice)
Demonic possession and exorcism have made for entertaining and terrifying horror films for decades. The very idea that some foreign entity, be a spirit, ghost, or demon could enter a person and take over their body is a rather disturbing idea. However, like most other Hollywood portrayals, there’s a great deal of exaggeration and embellishment to makes things more interesting. And the media’s portrayal of … Continue reading Demonic Possession: Hollywood vs. “True” Stories
The 2010’s saw a shift in horror as far as popular trends go. Ultra-violent “torture porn” like Saw and Hostel had dominated the 2000’s, but as the 2010’s dawned demonic/paranormal horror movies became the popular norm. One could argue it began with Paranormal Activity in 2009. And while it was definitely a paranormal film (it’s even in the title), it was a bigger inspiration in … Continue reading “Insidious” vs. “Sinister” vs. “The Conjuring”
Halloween Year-Round 