Feature Article

Deadly Earnest was a late-night horror host active on Australian television from 1966 to 1972. Broadcast weekly on the 0-10 Network, Deadly Earnest’s Aweful Movies featured mainly B-grade horror films introduced by Australian celebrity Ian Bannerman. Following Bannerman’s tongue-in-cheek characterisation, the program was notorious for showing the absolute dross of supernaturally-themed cinema, even going so far as to present the …

Cyberpunk is an offshoot of science fiction, usually set in a dystopian future with a focus on “low life-high tech”; advanced technology in contrast with dire living conditions, pollution and social disorder. The genre has it’s beginning in the 1960’s and 1970’s with authors like Phillip K. Dick, Roger Zelazny and J. G. Ballard taking science fiction to darker paths …

Everyone’s entitled to one good read! Or in this case, six. Having previously done a list of personal favourites and then my best horror adaptations, this year I thought I’d jump the line and do a ‘best of 2019’ in time for your Samhain fireside reading. That way when everyone else is compiling their lists in time for Xmas, you …

We are currently living in an era of franchises. Ever since the MCU began to dominate the box office, it seems that every studio is trying to build the next hot franchise. Sequels and fran-chises can be a good thing don’t get me wrong. Films like Aliens, Scream 2, and The Devils Re-jects are regarded just as good as their …

With the release of the new box office-crashing reimagining of the best-selling Stephen King novel IT, we’ve all been pondering a big question. Who wore it better? In 1990, Tim Curry took up the mantle of what has become an iconic character in the world of horror ever since Stephen King’s novel was published in 1986. Tim Curry portrayed Pennywise …

Glass Trilogy Explained The Hero, The Unstoppable Force And The Mastermind The East rail 133 trilogy, or Glass trilogy, as most people call it, is one of the most bizarre and interesting trilogies in modern history. The thought-provoking deconstruction of the superhero storyline came from the mind of famed and polarizing director M. Night Shyamalan.  The trilogy consists of 2000s …

If you ask me I am pretty darn lucky. I was fortunate enough to grow up in the 80s so that means that I grew up with the best music (hair bands forever!), the best cartoons, the best toys, and of course, the best movies. Especially horror movies. In my humble opinion the 80s were the golden age for horror …

A large number of people dream of becoming a star. Seeing their name in lights, their face on a screen, adoring fans singing their praises. Very few ever achieve this goal, however, and even fewer are lucky enough to find a genre or franchise that offers consistent work. Beyond that are a group of individuals who found some level of …

Fantasy genre has never really taken off in a big way here in the West. It’s popularity hit a peak in the 1980’s with films like Conan the Barbarian (1982), The Dark Crystal (1982), Legend (1985,) Red Sonja (1985) and Highlander (1986) and we saw a slight surge of interest after Peter Jackson brought Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) to …

The one thing that can make or break a horror movie before it’s even been released is the trailer. The all-important trailer is crucial in not only garnering interest for a movie, but also loosely outlining the plot of a movie without giving too much away. In recent years, many trailers have been accused of giving too much of the …

Horror cinema is riff with franchises. It’s both a burden and something of a joy to shift through the countless series based on anything from child-cults to murderous cookies. What isn’t so fun is when a promising set of films goes unfinished leaving fans wondering what might have been. Those are the sort of films we’re talking about today as …

There’s a rule that there are some movies which should just be left alone. Some remakes are quite enjoyable, but there are also others which just hit the mark entirely. With seemingly more remakes, reboots and re imaginings of classics being made, it seems appropriate to make a list of the horror movies which didn’t need remakes.

In 1924 the first major theatrical production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula opened on stage in England. Starring writer-actor Hamilton Deane, the play was such a success that it was transferred to London’s West End. In 1927 the production opened on Broadway starring a young Hungarian actor named Bela Lugosi. Universal pictures purchased the screen rights that same year for US$40,000, …

My last post was about the most famous male actors and their very first horror film roles. Well now I present to you the female edition of that very same list. Most of the women on this list were sex icons in the horror films they debuted in, and others just get naked. So be sure to check out these movies and …

We have all been touched by fictitious persons at numerous points in our lives. They have moved or amused, horrified or inspired us since early childhood. Story-telling is one of the most fundamental of human activities, probably as necessary to our mental health as eating, drinking and breathing are to our physical well-being. Story-telling is almost inconceivable without villains. In …