AXED: SHARPENING THE EDGE OF DOMESTIC HORROR
“Family Time Will Slay” – An Unconventional Horror in ‘Axed’ Released in 2012 and directed by Ryan Lee Driscoll, ‘Axed’ is a horror film that dabbles with the theme of domestic life turned sinister. At the heart of the film is a disgruntled father, who, after facing financial ruin, takes his family on a trip…
WOLF CREEK: DESCENT INTO OUTBACK HORROR AND THE CHILL OF REAL WORLD MONSTERS
A Descent into ‘Wolf Creek’: Nature’s Unforgiving Brutality “Never said I was fair, mate. I’m just battler like anyone else.” – Mick Taylor Directed by Greg McLean and released in 2005, Wolf Creek is an unforgiving journey into the heart of Australian Outback horror. With its premise rooted in the ‘backpacker murders’ and harsh Outback…
HI5TERIA: NAVIGATING THE FIVE FACES OF INDONESIAN FOLKLORE FRIGHTS
Fear Through Fragmented Folklore: Unveiling “Hi5teria” “When the past whispers, it’s our duty to scream back.” This cryptic utterance from the Indonesian horror anthology “Hi5teria” sets the tone for a spine-chilling experience. Directed by Adriyanto Dewo, Nicholas Yudifar, Chairun Nissa, Billy Christian, and Harvan Agustriansyah, this 2012 film weaves five separate stories bound together by…
THE AWAKENING: SPIRITS STIR IN THE HAUNTED HALLOWS OF HISTORY’S EMBRACE
Whispers from the Past: An Introduction to “The Awakening” “I feel as if there is a presence in my house,” breathes Florence Cathcart, the sharp and skeptical protagonist of The Awakening, a film that deftly embroiders the fabric of ghostly folklore onto the loom of post-war trauma. Directed by Nick Murphy and released in 2012,…
SMILEY: SLICING THROUGH THE EMOJICONS OF HORROR’S CYBER UNDERBELLY
Grinning in the Face of Fear: “Smiley” Unveiled “I did it for the lulz.” This chilling mantra sets the stage for Michael J. Gallagher’s 2012 horror film, Smiley, a digital-age nightmare that attempts to meld the terror of the internet’s anonymity with slasher film tropes. The movie follows Ashley, a troubled college student, as she’s…
THE TALL MAN: LOOMING SHADOWS OVER A TOWN HAUNTED BY LOSS
Whispers of a Small Town Legend It begins with a shiver and the nagging feeling that something is watching from just beyond the veil of darkness. “The Tall Man,” a 2012 horror-thriller directed by Pascal Laugier, turns the sleepy mining town of Cold Rock into a petri dish for fear. In a place haunted by…
BAD TASTE: SAVORING THE GORE-FEST OF JACKSON’S CULT SPLATTER CLASSIC
The Taste of Horror: A Fresh Bite into Peter Jackson’s Splatterfest “If you don’t feel well tomorrow, you know who to blame!” exclaims an alien invader in the darkly comedic horror movie “Bad Taste.” Released in 1987, this low-budget outlier marked the directorial debut of New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson. It’s a schlockfest that follows…
UNDEAD: NAVIGATING THE ZOMBIE OUTBACK IN A SYMPHONY OF SPLATTER AND SURVIVAL
An Auspicious Plunge into the Undead “It’s not every day you see a rain of fish that heralds an apocalypse of bloodthirsty zombies.” This line might as well encapsulate the delightfully off-kilter world of Undead, a 2003 horror film hailing from Down Under. Directed by the Spierig Brothers, the movie combines zombies, aliens, and a…
DEAD ALIVE: SPLATTERING THE CANVAS OF COMIC GROTESQUE WITH PETER JACKSON’S BLOODY BRUSH
A Gory Line Between Laughter and Screams “Party’s over.” With this disarmingly understated line from Peter Jackson’s cult classic Dead Alive (also known as Brain Dead), one might not immediately picture the fountains of blood and absurdity that define the 1992 horror-comedy. Before delving into a world where the grotesque dances with the ridiculous, let’s…
THE FRIGHTENERS: NAVIGATING THE ETHEREAL MAZE OF SPECTRAL HORRORS
From Beyond the Grave: Unravelling “The Frighteners” “Death ain’t no way to make a living!” – so quips Frank Bannister in the spectral comedy-horror romp that is “The Frighteners,” directed by Peter Jackson before his epic foray into Middle-earth. Released in 1996, the film follows con artist Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) who, after a…