Horror

Narrowing down the scariest movie of any given year is incredibly challenging. This year alone, I was chilled to the bone by Nicholas Cage’s turn in Oz Perkins’ Longlegs, and Arkasha Stevenson’s The First Omen yielded some of the most frightening, indelible horror imagery I’ve seen in years. Exhuma was another sensational addition to the

Damien Mc Carthy’s Oddity stunned the world when it premiered at this year’s SXSW film festival. Here at Dread Central, we couldn’t get enough of the film, writing in our four-star review, “This is a pitch-perfect tale about supernatural revenge, gross men, and freaky wooden men. Prepare to be scared.” Oddity did indeed scare, so

DOC OF CHUCKY – Still 3 Very few franchises maintain the same level of quality as Don Mancini’s Chucky Universe. With seven films and three seasons of the best horror show on television (#SaveChucky), fans still want more time with the beloved killer doll. This is why after the recent and unforgivable cancellation of Chucky,

Who doesn’t love Josh Hartnett? The teen-heartthrob-turned-adult-sex symbol has an incredibly impressive filmography. Not to mention, he has worked extensively in the genre space for much of his career. From Halloween H20 to Penny Dreadful, Hartnett has appeared in horror for the big and small screens. The actor’s latest foray into the genre scene, Trap,

Coralie Fargeat’s body horror masterpiece The Substance is one of the best movies of the past several years. It is also, understandably, one of the most polarizing. Following the film’s premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, critics were divided on Fargeat’s very blunt (and very French) take on modern body horror ethos. Does The

Sleeping is an essential part of our existence. But, it’s also a bodily process that remains a mystery to scientists, with its mechanisms and intricacies remaining elusive. Even though it’s something marvelous, in the truest sense of the word, sleep is so mundane that it is often taken for granted. The speculative science of Somnium

“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…” If asked to, I bet most of you could recite the rest of this nursery rhyme from the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Released forty years ago this month, Wes Craven’s seminal slash-sterpiece entered our nightmares. That’s four decades of fantastical terror. Forty years of one of the

I am convinced that Stephen King does not sleep. The author has time to crank out bestselling novels left and right and still finds time to consume an obscene amount of media on the side. I think he watches more movies than I do and I watch movies for a living. Fortunately, he always takes

Quentin Tarantino, 2007. ©Weinstein Company LLC/Courtesy Everett Collection I have become so disenchanted with Hollywood over the past 20 years. Since Wall Street got involved with film financing, we’ve seen safe IP-based films dominate multiplexes. There’s very little originality or creativity getting past the gatekeepers these days. Whenever we see something unexpected, it comes from

Dating is hell and so are dating apps. In fact, dating apps may just be the ninth circle of Hell awaiting us all. Hyperbolic? Maybe. But not so much so in the new horror-thriller Love Bomb, directed by David Guglielmo and written by Kathy Charles. Three strangers just looking for a good time are brought

I am both a die-hard fan of giallo pictures and a relentless champion of underdog cinema. So, you know I jumped at the chance to speak to the merits of a film that checks both of the aforementioned boxes. The feature in question is Bruce Robinson’s Jennifer 8, a box office bomb that didn’t resonate with

The 1990s were weird for horror movies, weren’t they? There were $100 million remakes of queer-coded Shirley Jackson stories and slashers whose key appeal was an invisible Kevin Bacon knocking off B-list performers. Weird in a good way, of course—I love Hollow Man. Part of it was Wes Craven’s seminal Scream, though the other part

I love a good self-contained thriller. So, Bruce Goodison’s new film Black Cab, which is primarily set in the back of a taxi, stood out to me from the moment it came onto my radar. Furthering my excitement, the picture stars Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead). I had high expectations going in. But I came away

Quentin Tarantino has helmed some undeniably effective films over the past several decades. He has made wise choices and established himself as one of the most influential voices in contemporary cinema. Most of Tarantino’s features are fondly remembered and widely celebrated. However, there’s one that the director might prefer you forget about. In fact, he

I love a good grotesque haunt, especially the real ones, though I love it even more when it’s the setting for some good old-fashioned horror movie scares. You’d think the subgenre would be bigger than it is on account of just how much perennial the innate fear remains among the public writ large, though the

Horror fans will watch almost anything with Stephen King’s name attached to it. The author simply has the Midas touch. For that very reason, there are a ton of adaptations of the prolific scribe’s bibliography. Some of the efforts are stellar. Some are very good. Others are properly divisive. One that falls into the last

Guillermo Del Toro, photo: Michael Desmond / © ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection It’s no secret that Guillermo del Toro has iconic taste in movies. He’s a student of cinema and his creative output reflects his keen understanding of every aspect of the filmmaking process. One need look no further than the Oscar-winning creator’s Twitter

John Carpenter, on the set of BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, 1986. TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Courtesy: Everett Collection. John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors. Like many horror fans who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I fell in love with his visual aesthetic.

The helpful folks at Rotten Tomatoes have revolutionized the way we watch movies. Instead of scouring reviews from numerous publications to get an idea of how critics felt about a particular picture, the site aggregates a critical consensus, providing a streamlined experience for movie lovers. Heck yes to convenient innovations. In addition to forever changing

Avid younger readers who grew up in the late 80s and 90s were spoiled with spooky stories. R. L Stine’s Goosebumps was the most famous series of books, providing easy-to-read scary tales for young kids. For those children who were slightly older or more advanced readers, there was the Point Horror collection, a series of

Your dream home comes with one stipulation: you can never go into the cellar. Would you still take the house? Well, the couple in Vaughn Stein’s new film Cellar Door sure do, but it comes with chilling consequences. Directing from a script by Sam Scott and Lori Evans Taylor, Stein delves into the darker corners

When I first saw the 2007 sci-fi-horror film The Invasion as a teenager, it terrified me to my core. It was my first real foray into body-snatching horror and it stayed with me long after my mom returned the DVD to Redbox. Now, the film is making its debut on 4K UHD with a wealth

I am an absolute sucker for a contained thriller. I love a film that gives me a front-row seat to a harrowing battle of wits and endurance. Something about the predator versus prey dynamic always gets my blood pumping. Brian Netto and Adam Schindler’s new film Don’t Move did exactly that. This flick doesn’t reinvent the

Fabio Frizzi performing the Composer’s Cut of Zombie at Don Quixote in Los Angeles. Photo by Tiffany Hearsey Eyes wide and wild with fear, the woman’s terror climaxed as the dead thing savagely impaled her eye on a shard of wood. Her screams were matched by the sound of roaring music culminating in a strident

This article contains spoilers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice is an undeniable cult classic. The out-of-this-world film has connected different generations and “spooky stuff” enthusiasts around the globe, fostering lasting connections. While the newly released sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, encounters a few bumps along the way, it’s heartwarming to see familiar faces and

Presented entirely as one long continuous take, there’s a formal precision and control to director David Moreau’s zombie film, MadS, even as it embodies a relentless and chaotic energy. As bleak as it is brutal, it’s a measured unraveling of society as witnessed through the eyes of three young partygoers, Romain (Milton Richie), his girlfriend,

Lilja   |   Nov 1, 2024 Welcome back, Constant Readers, to this month’s Derry Monthly with me, Sam Barry—sorry, Lilja—Dread Central’s Stephen King correspondent. It’s been a quiet month for King news overall. Yes, we got the new Salem’s Lot movie, but I’ll save my thoughts on that until the end for those who haven’t seen

Welcome, Gorehounds and Blood Babes all, to DIRECTION DISSECTION! A brand new series brought to you by the lovely liches at Dread Central, where I reach out to the directors of your favorite cult flicks, and converse about several films from their fearsome filmographies. These discussions will range from initial conceptions to behind-the-scenes tidbits, and

Dark Sanctum has quickly become a cornerstone of horror audio, pulling listeners into a world where terror and mystery are experienced solely through sound. Season 2, available exclusively on Wondery+ and presented by Dread Central, promises to be even more immersive, thanks to the vision of creator Mark Ramsey, a mastermind in the realm of

Norman Partridge’s Dark Harvest is one of my favorite horror novels of all time. The book is dripping with personality, a matter-of-fact subversion of slasher and coming-of-age tropes, all centered around a dying town and its dying traditions. What principally elevates the novel is Partridge’s voice, so when it was announced that Dark Harvest would