The first tie-in with The Batman shows that DC can create an interesting cinematic universe, at least when it involves Gotham City.
Author Archives: JD DeLuzio
October Countdown: Sleepaway Camp
…a good slasher movie doesn’t have to be well-acted, believable or suspenseful. It’s quite enough that it keeps you entertained, includes several good, violent set pieces, and leaves you shocked. Robert Hiltzik’s Sleepaway Camp is a perfect example of such an effort. It’s an exceptionally bad movie but a very good slasher.
—Bartlomiej Paszylk, The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films: An Historical Survey. McFarland, 2009.
This 1983 slasher did not fare so well in the shadow of better-known examples of the genre, but it gradually developed a cult following. It’s one of three films we will be reviewing this October 31.
October Countdown: The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Last weekend, we looked at a couple of family-friendly witch-themed Halloween movies. This weekend, we review two recent vampire films, neither made for little kids.
The first one brings history’s most famous bloodsucker back to the screen, and attempts to restore the horror once associated with his name.
October Countdown: Humanist Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicidal Person
Our second vampyreview for this final weekend before Halloween, 2024 and the horrors that may follow, takes us into the vampire romance genre…. but it’s not like any vampire romance you’ve ever seen (or avoided watching) before.
October Countdown: Season of the Witch (1972)
When I look over my shoulder (what happens then?)
What do you think I see?—Donovan
That’s the more recent Lana Del Rey version embedded above. In fact, when I look over my shoulder, I see FOUR films entitled Season of the Witch, and we’re reviewing all of them this bountiful weekend as a part of our Halloween Countdown.
The first and best of the lot was filmed by George A. Romero in 1971 and… more about its tortured release history appears below, along with a review.
October Countdown: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
The Halloween franchise set aside Mike Myers for its third film, a bizarre supernatural/SF mystery thriller that underwent numerous rewrites. I find it not as bad as its initial mainstream critical reception—but nowhere near as good as its eventual cult following claims.
It’s Halloween in the 1980s and it’s most definitely the Season of the Witch.
October Countdown: Season of the Witch (2009)
Our next Season of the Witch was made earlier in this century, but it appears to take place in the 1970s.
If you decided to sell, say, all of your clothing, you would probably have the budget to finance a film of similar quality.
October Countdown: Season of the Witch (2011)
Our final Season of the Witch is the most recent (though I believe a documentary by this title also exists). Its budget dwarfs that of all previous Seasons combined.
Alas, money alone does not a good film make.
October Countdown: Abigail (2023)
You’ve got to pick up every stitch
Oh no, must be the season of the witch
Must be the season of the witch!
–Donovan’s much-covered 1966 song.
The time has come and the clocks count down. Fantastic folklore fills the airwaves and the population lives in dread and suspense and fear. So, in order to detract you from the U.S. Election and other world events, we’re hosting our annual Halloween Countdown!
This October, the Bureau bleeds out thirteen seasonal film reviews (including four that share a title with Donovan’s song). We’re starting this weekend with a pair of unearthly Abigails, released a year apart.
Click below for a review, followed close by a sinister list of Halloween reviews for 2024.
October Countdown: Abigail (2024)
“I for one would like to revisit the ‘cut and run’ idea.”
–Rickles, Abigail.
In a spooky coincidence, 2023 and 2024 saw horror films about females with daddy issues females with daddy issues, with both titular characters bearing the name, Abigail.
The 2024 Abigail is better-known than her 2023 counterpart–