Posts by Brandt Sponseller

One abundant well that can provide objects of horror is the bond of trust that we often adopt towards others - often without much justification. The receivers of this trust range from strangers we pass on the street to workers of various jobs that require them to come into close contact with us- doctors, repair persons, etc. The Carpenter hinges on one such bond - that of giving construction workers access to our homes in a way that borders on an invasion of privacy.(read more...)

I really wanted to like this film. Of course it's horror, and being a fan, I want to like most horror films. Also, it contains work from two of my favorite artists-make-up/special effects man Tom Savini (responsible for the make-up and effects of quite a few classics of the genre, including Romero's Dawn and Day of the Dead movies, Maniac, Friday the 13th, etc.), and keyboardist/composer Rick Wakeman (famous from the band Yes).(read more...)

An unusual Hitchcock film in many ways, including that it has little hint of plot twists, The Birds amounts to Hitchcock's masterpiece entry in the late crop of 50's monster films. At least that's one way to look at it. Another is as a precursor, much as Psycho was to slasher-mania, to Stephen King-like nature gone mad menaces, and the gradual psychological deterioration, and eventual modest triumph, of a small set of humans who we get to know intimately.(read more...)

The conventional wisdom among the self-appointed horror literati is that compared to the 1963 Robert Wise film of the same name, the 1999 Jan de Bont remake of The Haunting amounts to so much computer effects garbage. As might not surprise anyone familiar with my reviews, I have a perverse, natural tendency to disagree with the self-appointed literati--blame it on whatever you’d like. In my opinion, the 1999 film blows the 1963 one out of the water from just about every possible aspect we can examine.(read more...)