Shaughn Ander

Shaughn Ander's picture
Staff Writer
I have been an avid horror fan since a very young age (when the other kids were watching Mr. Rogers, I was watching Dawn of the Dead...what can I say, my parent's were very open people)and began writing short stories in early middle school...often about my favorite monsters. Over the years I have continued writing - submitting screenplays and short stories to various publishers and agencies, contributing film reviews to this sight - and have been an active musician since the early 90s. In short, I never sleep.
Posts by Shaughn Ander

Review: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

Halloween 4 poster
Shocktober Classics 2009: Staff Screams

After Halloween III: Season of the Witch became a box-office disappointment and left fans bewildered over the absence of the series' main villain, Michael Myers, producer Moustapha Akkad decided to bring the character back for the next installment. The resulting movie is an attempt to recapture the original film's atmospheric feel and update it for a newer audience. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is an entertaining film and one of the better in a long line of sequels, though it lacks the suspense that made the first Halloween so successful. (read more...)

Review: The Brides of Dracula (1960)

Brides of Dracula poster

After the massive success of Horror of Dracula in 1958, Hammer Films was keen on making a sequel - even when Christopher Lee was not set to return to the role of Count Dracula. Nonetheless, filming began on a sequel that carried on without Dracula and surprisingly became one of the best sequels in the entire Hammer horror cannon. Ladies and gentlemen - I present Terence Fisher's The Brides of Dracula.
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Review: Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)

Mystery of the Wax Museum poster

Michael Curtiz's Mystery of the Wax Museum is a fun and curious little film. Released in February 1933, it was one of the earliest experiments with color film as well as one of the earliest treatments of a now well-known mystery plot, topped with an intriguing visual style and some horror icons in fine form for good measure. Though it is not entirely without its flaws, this is a quickly paced, creative and entertaining work from an era when the horror film was still in it's relative adolescence.(read more...)

Review: The Monster Squad (1987)

Monster Squad poster

Fred Dekker's The Monster Squad is an endearing love letter to the movies of the 1930s and 1940s — albeit with a decidedly 1980s mentality. Instead of being confined to Victorian graveyards and decrepit old tombs in far corners of the globe, the classic monsters now stalk modern city streets and even take trips in airplanes. Adding the Little Rascals' comedic spirit to the mix with a group of underage heroes, the end result is a fun and memorable monster romp that will satisfy both children and adults in a big way.(read more...)

Review: Dracula's Daughter (1936)

Dracula's Daughter

Lambert Hillyer's Dracula's Daughter - the sequel to Tod Browning's 1931 classic Dracula - has long been considered an inferior follow-up and a forgettable film by many horror fans and critics, despite the fact that it is one of the best Universal sequels and horror tales of the period. Following an iconic and legendary film such as Dracula is never an easy task, for any director in any time, but Hillyer and crew manage to pull it off with some strong acting, fast paced and more linear camera-work, and an interesting plot centered around a main character that we both loathe and empathize with. The result is an atmospheric and entertaining film that works well as both a sequel and as its own stand alone feature, one that is certainly worth a look by any fan of Universal's monster classics of the 1930s and 1940s.(read more...)

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