The holidays I love the most are Halloween and Christmas—as I’m sure many others would choose—and Easter, which gives the other two a competitive push.
When it comes to ghost stories—the foundational texts, be they written or oral, of horror—the Irish are tough to beat. Fear is a spirit. A ghost may take the form of what we’ve allowed ourselves to miss out on.
BY COLIN FLEMING | March 17, 2025
Upon initial considerations, lovers of horror films might not strike us as romantics. They seek tension and fear, and while both qualities...
BY COLIN FLEMING | February 10, 2025
Evil father figures account for some of the most memorable characters in genre films and beyond. And, well, if you happen to have a shitty dad...
BY LAURA KERN | December 31, 2024
Anyone can watch a hearse-load of scary movies at Halloween—and lots of us do—but how many of those people try and seek out the films most indebted to, or representative of, the holiday itself?
BY COLIN FLEMING | October 15, 2024
Years ago, on Film Comment’s website, I introduced a column called Streaming Pile—one that, as its tagline stated, was...
BY LAURA KERN | December 22, 2023
Anyone can watch a hearse-load of scary movies at Halloween—and lots of us do—but how many of those people try and seek out the films most indebted to, or representative of, the holiday itself?
BY COLIN FLEMING | October 15, 2024
Birthed during the cultural thaw that immediately followed the end of the Franco dictatorship, Basque writer-director and designer Iván Zulueta's 1979 feature Arrebato erupts like a massive discharge of so much repressed anxiety and despair.
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BY LAURA KERN | Month 00, 2021
Beast is a lot of movies in one package - fractured fairy tale, belated-coming-of-age story, psychological drama, regional horror film - but above all it's a calling card for its leading lady, Jessie Buckley.
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BY STEVEN MEARS | Month 00, 2021
In what could be the fastest-resulting rape revenge movie, a drunken lout brutally forces himself on Ida, the young woman who doesn't return his affections, during a party over Labor Day.
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BY LAURA KERN | Month 00, 2021
Beast is a lot of movies in one package - fractured fairy tale, belated-coming-of-age story, psychological drama, regional horror film - but above all it's a calling card for its leading lady, Jessie Buckley.
READ MORE >
BY STEVEN MEARS | Month 00, 2021