Modern independent horror film is a weird thing. In order to create something marketable, you either have to have something really bloody and/or nudity-filled (something Full Moon or Troma would release) or you have to be 100% original and scary (The Blair Witch Project comes to mind immediately). Dave Lawler is something of a renegade filmmaker in that he refuses to create either. Instead, he appears to be making movies purely for his own twisted amusement.(read more...)

Although it's not likely to gain any converts among those who disliked the first film, 1999's The Mummy, The Mummy Returns won't displease any of us who loved that magical bandage adventure, either. Director/writer Stephen Sommers makes all the smart moves, providing a film that retains the stylistic complexity and atmosphere of a proven success, while extending the mythology in a way that brings us further into a pleasant fantasy world and opens many doors for future Mummy-related films, one of which is already in the works.(read more...)

Catharsis is a word I often use to describe why I love horror films. The fear and the tension build up, like an ocean wave, and then recede back from where they came, taking whatever else was laying on the beach of my mind, leaving me relaxed and calm... a blank slate of sand. With all the horror films I see, however, it becomes harder and harder to achieve this state.(read more...)

Stop me if you've already heard this one: a bunch of rugged-outdoors-types go traipsing off to a dangerous, exotic land in search of a legendary giant ape. The bete noir in question is soon located and, after a nominal amount of carnage, the silly buggers cart him back to civilization to get rich by exploiting his hairy butt in front of sellout crowds. Of course, it doesn't take long before the big fella decides that city life doesn't agree with him and goes...well...apes**t, bustin' loose and single-handedly implementing his own radical urban renewal program, and then...oh, so you're familiar with the tale, then?(read more...)