The Mummy
Love—or what we call love—produces a lot of lip service, which isn’t a reference to kissing. We proclaim our dedication to another, though in reality—if our typical future behavior is any indication—we might as well be saying, “Fat chance.” Horror films often feature obsession that is billed by the obsessing individual as love in its purest form. This would-be brand of love resembles hate and is in reality about control and ego.
Won’t You Be My Horror Movie?
Home-viewing fright films for Valentine’s Day with the loving Cupid seal of approval.
Murders in the Rue Morgue
One of the most unheralded of Universal’s 1930s horror films, though perhaps the purest example of the form during that era, Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) comes off as early-Hollywood torture porn by way of German Expressionism.
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Now that the fear economy is booming, you may be kicking yourself for investing everything in love. But before you dump all those stocks, ask yourself the perennial question: would you rather be loved or feared? You can’t have both, just like you’d never mistake a “follower” for a “friend.” This dilemma is at the heart of Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)…
Punctured Life
A place where no actual blood was spilled—at least to my knowledge—my grandmother’s house proved strangely—even sagely—sanguinary as it pertained to an important development in my life.
Witches of the Fog
Just about everyone loves Halloween—and if someone tells you they don’t, you might wish to keep your distance—but few people are aware of the spring’s variant on All Hallow’s Eve.
Tender Loving Scare
BBC2’s Horror Double Bills paved the way for cherished father-son bonding and a lifelong love of the creepy unknown.