I love asylum horror. Why wouldn’t I? Drooling lunatics, homicidal psychopaths, hyper-sexed nymphomaniacs, power-mad head nurses—it’s all there, baby! As such, I was drawn to try 2004’s “Madhouse”, a horror flick set in an asylum and streaming on Amazon, which curiously tagged the film as “edifying”. Was it? Umm, I dunno about that. But it…

Capturing the stories of HP Lovecraft to film can be a challenge. Director Stuart Gordon probably did it best with his movies “Re-Animator”, “From Beyond” and “Dagon” but others have stumbled with unwieldy adaptations hooked around Lovecraft’s particular brand of cosmic horror. “Color out of Space” does a decent job. I don’t think I ever…

When I saw mention of “Suddenly, Last Summer” on a list of film noir recommendations, my first thought was “Wait? It’s more than just a song by The Motels?*”  *Humblebrag: In my career as a musician, I was in a band that opened for the Motels, though long after their heyday. In fact, it was…

I decided to watch 1984’s “Screamplay” under the assumption that it was a middling horror comedy set in the gritty underbelly of Hollywood. Maybe I’d get some spatters of gore, I thought, or at least a blonde starlet losing her clothes on the casting couch. Umm… no. Upon clicking the play button, I discovered Screamplay…

Here’s the thing: James Spader was the biggest d-bag in the 80s. I mean, not him personally, but his characters. He mocked Molly Ringwald and John Cryer in “Pretty in Pink”. In “The New Kids”, he menaced innocent girls as a psychopathic gang leader. In “Less Than Zero, he did no less than pimp out…

I keep mentioning Hitchcock these days. One of his greatest films was 1948’s “Rope”, a retelling of the famous 1924 Leopold and Loeb murders where two young men killed someone just for the thrill of it. 1959’s “Compulsion” is about the same case. “Compulsion” feels like two films in one. The first half details the…

I’m taking part in a new book promotion that has a number of horror books available at Amazon. Click the link to see the goods! https://books.bookfunnel.com/intotheshadows/onn2n93q1y