Category Archives: Movies

Halloween Review: Paranormal Activity

This film has been creeping around in variant forms since 2007, and recently received its big-screen release. Some consider it the scariest movie of all time. It has also just become the most profitable, thanks to its very small budget and terrific gross. I found that it fell short of the hype, but it does provide a disturbing experience and raises some uncomfortable thoughts about how well we know the people and places closest to us.

Audience members who grew nauseous during Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project will be relieved to hear that this film features far less shaky-cam. Someone finally realized that, just because a character captures your movie on camcorder, that character doesn’t have to suffer from epilepsy or palsy.

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Halloween Review: The Curse of Frankenstein

Hammer Studios had dabbled in fear before, but their first colour monster movie, made in 1957, inaugurated the age of Hammer Horror. From the late 50s to the early 70s they revisited the territory carved out by Universal Studios, adding lavish colors, blood, gore, and sex in increasing amounts, linking the old, elegant horror classics with more visceral films of recent vintage.1

You might also click through to our revised Halloween Countdown, which has added some new Paranormal Activity for the Big Night next Saturday.

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Halloween Review: Horror of Dracula

“There is an old neglected graveyard about three miles from here.”

Hammer’s second colour horror entry features Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing again, in a film crafted by the same writer and director as The Curse of Frankenstein. This adaptation of Stoker’s novel emphasizes its sexual themes and forever changed the nature of onscreen vamps.

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Discussion: Where the Wild Things Are

Some skepticism greeted Spike Jonz’s loose adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story, but it’s on its way to becoming the autumn’s big hit.

Have you watched Wild Things? Did it make your heart sing? Do you want to talk about it here?

Deadpool Movie Gets Reboot, Magneto Movie DOA

Empire Online has an article reporting on the future of the X-Men Franchise, particularly the upcoming Wolverine, Deadpool, and X-Men First Class films, as well as the Magneto films. The good news is that the Deadpool film is going to be a re-boot, so we’ll be able to get the wise-cracking Merc With The Mouth (as well as his supporting cast – though there’s no mention of Bob: Agent of Hydra). The bad news is that we’re probably not going to get the Magneto movie, at least not unless the de-aging technology they used for part of X-Men 3 becomes much cheaper.

I’d like to thank Chad for the story submission, and if you have any stories you would like to submit to the site, feel free to send them to fiziko(at)bureau42.com with “Story Submission” in the subject line.