toobtalk

Watching Stuff With Our Brains Turned On

Tag: horror

  • Hush

    Hush

    With a bare bones load, the story still carries a solid amount of tension, interesting character bits, and a solidly disturbing atmosphere.

  • Gerald’s Game

    Gerald’s Game

    Just based on the strength of the cast and crew, though, I had a feeling it was going to be pretty solid. I was not disappointed. It’s very much a Stephen King story… and one that fits great with director/co-screenwriter Mike Flanagan’s style.

  • Bird Box

    Bird Box

    Turns out, all the positive hype I’ve heard is well deserved.

  • Oculus (2013): A Study in Perception and Dread

    Oculus (2013): A Study in Perception and Dread

    I love a good psychological horror film about as much as I love a good ghost story. In both those sub-genres, you have some question as to the actual nature of the events going on. When done right, it’s the film version of print’s “unreliable narrator” technique. It leaves the characters–and the audience–wondering, at least […]

  • Young Frankenstein: Comedy Born From Horror

    Young Frankenstein: Comedy Born From Horror

    If you haven’t seen Young Frankenstein, you’re missing one of Mel Brooks’ greatest comedies. A good deal of that greatness rests on the shoulders of co-writer and star Gene Wilder… and the rest of the fantastic cast. This is one of those films that wouldn’t have existed at all if it weren’t for the original Universal […]

  • House on Haunted Hill (1959): More Than Just a Gimmick

    House on Haunted Hill (1959): More Than Just a Gimmick

    The House on Haunted Hill is one of the earlier horror films I saw growing up. It still stands as one of my favorite “haunted house” films, even though the question of just how haunted (if at all) the house is remains unanswered. There’s a lot to like right off the top. It’s got Vincent Price […]

  • House: Not the Doctor Show, the Haunted Kind

    House: Not the Doctor Show, the Haunted Kind

    When I first saw House, around the time it came out on home video or HBO in the late 80s, I don’t remember thinking of it as a horror-comedy. Part of the reason for that is that I saw House II first which is more of a comedy with horror elements in it. Putting the two side […]

  • The Woman In Black (2012): A classic ghost story with a twist

    The Woman In Black (2012): A classic ghost story with a twist

    I like ghost stories. Ghost stories aren’t always “monster movies” or the kind of horror that makes you jump out of your seat. A good ghost story will leave your skin crawling long after you’ve finished it. A great ghost story will leave you questioning reality at least a little. Sure, there may be a […]

  • Frankenstein (1931)

    Frankenstein (1931)

    Thanks to my father’s love of the monster movies of his youth, I grew up watching horror films. It started with the old Universal Pictures movies that were shown sporadically on channel 13, the PBS station out of NYC. One of the first I remember seeing, the lights dim in the living room, was the […]

  • Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

    Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

    This wasn’t one of the movies I’d really planned on seeing in theaters, let alone on it’s opening weekend. But an old friend was in town and, after dinner, we decided to hit up a movie. Of everything that was playing that neither of us had seen, we chose Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, kind of […]