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Mikhail Skoptsov

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Contributor
I'm not sure when I became a fan of horror films. As a child, I was scared by the mere sight of the T-1000 liquid terminator reconstructing itself. And yet I remember the late 80s-early 90s being a particularly interesting period for films in my home country. Bootleg videotapes had hit the black market and horror films in particular made good business. Freddy Krueger, Jason, the Warlock, and others were all purchasable for one or two bucks. Trashy action b-movies were also the rage - Schwarzennegger, Stallone, Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris and even Michael Dudikoff of "American Ninja" fame became my family's favorite pastime. I don't know why I'm a fan of the horror picture today. Maybe it is because I've learned to view films with a detached perspective - I find that the best way critique movies and separate the good from the bad is to distance yourself from the "viewer" self, and not allow your judgement of a film be based on your emotional response. I find that all too often people hate horror films, because they can be repulsive and disgusting, because they are scary, because they trigger emotions that people don't wish to experience. Yet that completely blinds them to the true skill and craft that is put into many films, horror or otherwise.
Posts by Mikhail Skoptsov

Review: Rabid (1977)

Rabid poster
Submitted by Mikhail Skoptsov on Tue, 2008-03-18 01:33

Before ascending to Hollywood's A-list, Canadian writer-director David Cronenberg, much like Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson, started out making low-budget horror movies. After a strong debut with the slug-centric Shivers (1975), he crafted Rabid (1977), an unconventional vampire film that showcased his distinct aesthetic signature, which includes disturbing, highly memorable visuals that depict deformed human flesh, body transformation and/or mutation, bodily fluids, disease and a plethora of symbolic sexual imagery. The strength of the director's sophomore effort lies in his ability to use these unnerving visuals to not only frighten his audience, but to also express deeper themes and ideas within the story. Largely, he accomplishes this through Rose, the film's protagonist.(read more...)

Review: Silent Hill (2006)

Silent Hill poster
Submitted by Mikhail Skoptsov on Tue, 2007-11-13 01:57

Sharon Da Silva (Jodelle Ferland) is a troubled girl: she experiences recurring nightmares, during which she talks about a place called Silent Hill. Her foster mother Rose (Radha Mitchell) discovers that Silent Hill is the name of a ghost town in West Virginia, abandoned after a coal fire thirty years ago. Determined to learn what the town has to do with her daughter and to make the nightmares stop, Rose takes Sharon to Silent Hill, against the wishes of her husband Chris (Sean Bean). Through a set of circumstances, mother and daughter wind up in a car accident. When Rose awakens the next morning, she finds Sharon is missing, and immediately sets out to find her. But she discovers that something sinister is going on in fog-shrouded Silent Hill, as the town’s reality periodically burns away to reveal another world, where supernatural monstrous creatures, including man-eating roaches and a medieval executioner, break loose and attempt to kill anyone in their path.(read more...)

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