Wanna see an oddball anthology of holiday horror filled with twists and bursting with creativity? Then you better watch out and queue up A Christmas Horror Story instead, because All the Creatures Were Stirring is frustratingly average. Making that all the more disappointing is how roaringly strong the start is. Set in a dreary-looking office … Continue reading All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018)
Who is killing all of London’s drunken bums dressed as Santa Claus? Whoever it is is wildly inconsistent in his methods, using a straight razor, a garrote, a spear and even a broken beer bottle, all the better to gouge Kris Kringle’s eye with. The result is Don’t Open Till Christmas, which is as if … Continue reading Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984)
As my youngest child explained to me years ago, “creepypasta” is more or less the internet’s version of ghost stories and urban legends. (Think Slender Man.) Because they’re shared online instead at campfires or sleepovers, they spread worldwide in a near-instant. The name itself is partly a portmanteau of “copy/paste.” Now, explaining Creepypasta, the horror … Continue reading Creepypasta (2023)
From concept to execution, The Christmas Tapes could be titled V/H/S: XMAS. Whatever you think of that lo-fi horror anthology franchise is a reliable barometer of your reception to this well-stocked project of merriment, mischief, mayhem and murder. On Christmas Eve, the camcorder-captured celebration of a white suburban family — the kind with “Live Laugh … Continue reading The Christmas Tapes (2022)
Love, like or loathe 2017’s It, at least the Stephen King adaptation felt different than the 1990 TV miniseries. The same cannot be said for the Pet Sematary remake, so close to being a beat-for-beat Xerox of the 1989 original that audiences are left wanting a good shake of the toner cartridge. Too bad, because … Continue reading Pet Sematary (2019)