The ALIEN Franchise: A Study on Sci-Fi Gore and Women’s Bodily Trauma
by Heidi Krull, Staff Writer
Sigourney Weaver, who ended up playing Ellen Ripley, was the key to push this franchise to the next level.
Grotesqueries Week: From raining Gollums to big gorilla-wolf MFers: The villains of ATTACK THE BLOCK
by Daniel Pecoraro, Staff Writer
|There are few films I’ve been an evangelist for more than Attack the Block.
Goth Week: Ruined Houses, Ruined Families
by Tessa Swehla, Associate Editor
Why do we find these old houses in books and film creepy? It’s because they are externalizations of their inhabitants, a physical intrusion of abstract ideas like secrets, trauma, lies, and violence.
Grotesqueries Week: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS mixes comedy with the revolting
by Fiona Underhill, Staff Writer
Frank Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors was an adaptation of the off-Broadway musical, with the luminous Ellen Greene reprising her role of Audrey from the stage.
Grotesqueries Week: Beyond the scope of accepted reality – BANSHEE CHAPTER finds cosmic horror in conspiracy
by Samantha McLaren, Staff Writer
By layering conspiracies behind conspiracies, Erickson’s film gradually reveals an otherworldly plot disguised by human atrocities and deception.
Grotesqueries Week: Changing Bodies, Changing Climates
by Billie Anderson, Staff Writer
Movies like Crimes of the Future (2022), Annihilation (2018), The Thing (1982), and Akira (1988) don’t rely on monsters or slashers to provoke fear. Instead, they show us the horror of losing control over our own physical selves.
Grotesqueries Week: Playing games with Jigsaw and Billy the Puppet for SAW's 20th
by Emily Maesar, Associate Editor, TVJawn
What is Saw? Like, really? Well, it’s not actually torture porn, despite what poisonous fruits have since grown in its orchard. Instead, the original Saw is much more of a mystery.
Grotesqueries Week: What does THE STUFF taste like?
by Allie Lembo, Staff Writer
We eat for all kinds of reasons. Culture. Diet. Health. Comfort. In the moment, fork to the lips, there’s just one factor above all else: Taste. The hardest thing to sell.
Grotesqueries Week: The hedonist’s puzzle box - a deep dive into HELLRAISER
by Jill Vranken, Staff Writer
Hellraiser may be a story of an unearthly sect of creatures from Hell, it is most importantly a story about the lengths we would go to for desire and lust, even if it destroys us.
Goth Week: SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR shows a macabre meet cute
by Sam Christian, Staff Writer
One thing that brings together the couple in Secret Beyond the Door is that they are both secret goths–or at least have a penchant for the macabre.
Goth Week: The First wives of gothic romance, from REBECCA to CRIMSON PEAK
by Shayna Davis, Staff Writer
Over all these centuries, filmmakers have been able to twist the typical notes of Gothic stories in new, interesting ways, and the “First Wife” has gotten a compelling treatment among them.
Ghouls Week: DEATHDREAM connects the origins of modern horror to Vietnam veterans
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Bob Clark’s Dead of Night–later retitled to the more familiar Deathdream–reinterprets the vampire myth and transposes it to Vietnam War-era America.
Ghouls Week: CEMETERY MAN found love in a hopeless place
by Zakiyyah Madyun, Staff Writer
Michele Soavi’s Cemetery Man (1994) combines the grotesque, the sultry, and the existential with a modern beat that could only have come to fruition in the ‘90s.
Goblins Week: HIRUKO THE GOBLIN is a hidden gem worth digging up
by"Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer
Hiruko the Goblin, on the other hand, more accurately captures the feeling, energy, and humor of Evil Dead while, for the most part, playing in a totally different space.
Ghouls Week: How to know when you’ve been ghouled, hosted by The Crypt Keeper
by J †Johnson, Staff Writer
We want to see what’s really under the surface, and The Crypt Keeper is the embodiment of that: a decomposing ghoul who shows us the dark heart of capitalist realism.
Ghouls Week: Joining them–EVIL DEAD and the staying power of the Necronomicon
by Emily Maesar, Associate Editor, TVJawn
A short film, five feature films, a three season television series, and an off-Broadway musical are among the ways you can encounter Deadites and the Dark Ones after reading from the Necronomicon.
Goblins Week: What’s Ours – Exploring Anglo-Irish tensions through goblins in UNWELCOME
by Samantha McLaren, Staff Writer
Unwelcome shows us that Ireland’s story goes back further than the people who fight over it, and it’s still being written.
Goblins Week: THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES balances childhood whimsy and real horror
by Heidi Krull, Staff Writer
There is more to this film than meets the eye, and it strikes a rare balance between whimsical fantasy and actual, terrifying horror.
Goblins Week: DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK combines fairies and a haunted house with mixed results
by Sam Christian, Staff Writer
Don’t be Afraid of the Dark is a modern gothic fairytale written and produced by Guillermo del Toro and the directorial debut and (sole feature film to date) of comic book artist Troy Nixey
Goblins Week: The Grim, Giddy Goblins of LABYRINTH
by Darian Davis, Staff Writer
Henson’s and Froud’s impeccably crafted Labyrinth features a fantastic world for families to visit over and over again.