Haunted houses and questionable children have composed many a horror film, but there’s a reason they work. When they do so despite years of being recycled, it’s usually thanks to talent. “Saw” director James Wan found something of promise in “Saw” writer Leigh Whannell’s story “Insidious” and the same must’ve gone for stars Rose Byrne [...]

From an outside perspective, two counts of unoriginality can be charged to “The Crazies.” One: it’s a remake of a George Romero film from the ’70s; Two: it adds another quarantined disease zombie movie to the pile that proliferated this past decade. Yet Breck Eisner’s version does so many little things right. He keeps “The [...]

Thought I’d go with this one in honor of my last post. Going into the Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece “Psycho,” it’s best that you know nothing — in fact Hitchcock wanted it that way — so this review will be succint and devoid of any synopsis beyond that of the basic plot summaries provided for the [...]

When a zombie film gets a sequel, the assumption is that the producers are looking for ways to make more guts, gore and money. But “28 Weeks Later” is just as sharp as its predecessor in nearly every way, primarily in continuing the sci-fi post-apocalyptic elements that have clearly been thought out and made believable [...]

Vampirism seems like a disease in Hollywood these days, so “Daybreakers” will fall immediately go under the lens of skepticism. Believe it or not, however, Michael and Peter Spierig’s film separates itself through high concept futuristic science fiction. Although it ultimately spirals into an emotionless bloodbath, kudos to the film-making duo for taking the out-of-control [...]

The Wicker Man” is a peculiar little film. It begins as a typical mystery: a Scottish detective travels to a remote Island off Scotland’s coast where he is to investigate a report of a missing girl. Then the film mutates into a musical of sorts with numerous shots of topless women. Then it becomes a [...]

I don’t necessarily understand the phenomenon that “Paranormal Activity” became in the Fall of 2009, especially considering the success of “The Blair Witch Project” and “Cloverfield” bringing exposure to the documentary-style and low budget horror/thriller. Yet people demanded this film be shown in their cities and towns and this $15,000 movie grossed more than $100 [...]

One would suppose if Sam Raimi really wanted to do a masterfully frightening horror film that he could easily do so — but that would be too easy. “Drag Me to Hell” is like a thesis statement for why horror films should stop wasting their time with realism and trying to frighten people in the [...]

George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” is not standard horror. In fact, there are several minutes where this classic zombie film is just plain boring. There is brilliance, however, in the film’s static nature, like how one of the main characters, Barbra (Judith O’Dea), is in speechless shock for most of the film. [...]

Pregnancy and eventually the bond between mother and child is a powerful thing. Hormones, attachment, sometimes postpartum depression — even the mystery of what’s growing inside — Roman Polanski channels all these things into storytelling elements of suspense and paranoia in his superbly written “Rosemary’s Baby.”