“The horror movie is innately conservative, even reactionary.” - Stephen King

I was raised a-religious by two parents who grew up extremely Christian, exhausted by and fed up with their upbringing in the church and wanting something different for their son. They had me baptized, and other than weddings that was the last time I went to any church with my parents. Thinking about it now, I wonder if this movie had any influence on them baptizing me. Perhaps as…

Summer, 1984.
57 minutes.

A family of three entered a movie theater in North Syracuse, New York. Mother, father, and an eight-and-a-half year old boy. They got popcorn and drinks. The boy had a Dr. Pepper. He was already quite sophisticated for his age. They walked into the large screening room through the door on the left side and picked seats midway down, on the aisle. The theater was packed. The boy had seen commercials for this film on television,…

There are locations, scenes, and vibes in Fear that felt extremely familiar in a way lots of '90s movies don't capture. The coffee shops and club scenes, the frumpy fashion, cigarettes everywhere, not enough cell phones to help save protagonists, and manipulative asshole bros ruining everything. This is another overtly campy, occasionally effective, and never quite as sharp as it could’ve been domestic thriller. There’s some real tension in the home invasion stretch, but much of the film feels oddly…

By god, The Crush is terri... bly entertaining! It's a formulaic blending of Lolita and various standard '90s domestic thriller tropes, with clunky plotting and some pretty rough performances throughout. Alicia Silverstone, however, is nothing short of a revelation, moving from teenage ingénue to scheming seductress, back to innocent daughter, and on to vengeful violent psychopath. She's only 15 here! Tempting Cary Elwes, screaming at lemons in the middle of the night, and mastering the art of moving (and weaponizing)…

Your choices, your actions, that's what makes you who you are.

Superman has always worked best when its stories reflect what's best about humanity, what we struggle and aspire to be amidst the realities of how terrible the world and certain people are. James Gunn of course understands this, but what he has always done best in his superhero stories is deliver on character first and foremost. Here we get a sense of both Superman and Clark, of his relationship…

Alien: Romulus doesn't reinvent the franchise the way Aliens did after the first film, or the way Prometheus tried to do by expanding the lore of this universe tenfold. Instead director Fede Álvarez sets out to make the best god damn Alien movie he can by sticking close to the formula of terrifying monsters in a dark space ship, and other familiar beats. In doing so, he lays down heavy fan service references to all three of the aforementioned movies…