Retro Reviews

Tim Burton’s Batman was a cultural phenomenon that changed the Hollywood cinematic landscape. In the summer of 1989, the caped crusader lit up the box office to the tune of $400 million dollars and singlehandedly brought superhero films back into the limelight. Universal Studios, which had passed on Batman some 10 years before, …

Welcome back to The Black Box Chronicles where I take a look at some of the movies I used to watch again and again back in 1995. For those that followed Congo and Species know that 9 year old me sat in front of my TV and watched the hot new …

The 80s had a defined style infiltrating all of Pop Culture. The dark comedy, Better Off Dead (1985), fully embraced this style. It is a masterpiece that embodied almost every teen movie trope of the time. In celebration of Better Off Dead (1985) turning 40 let’s take a look back at …

The world was introduced to The Exorcist III thirty five years ago on August 17, 1990, the second sequel to the classic horror film, The Exorcist (read our retro review here), from 1973. It was directed by the author of the original novel, William Peter Blatty, which he based off the …

Let’s look at how one film shaped a nation’s cinema and left its mark on the psyche. Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock isn’t just a film — it’s a mood, a myth, and a milestone. Adapted from Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel, this eerie tale of missing schoolgirls in the …

There has never been a more influential film for me and my appetite for horror movies. Return of the Living Dead is a film that people have at least to be familiar with the name. The film gave us so many iconic moments that have influenced our perception of zombies. …

 When I was little, I was obsessed with sharks and any kind of sea life that could eat people in general, so I was always on the lookout for movies that featured these kind of creatures. I was at my grandparents’ house one weekend and saw the promo for the …

Some moments never fade; people remember where they were on 9/11, or where they were when they found out Cliff Burton from Metallica was killed in a bus accident. Those are moments we should push to the side and store deep inside. Jim Sharman’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show replaced …

Back in 1994, my father’s best friend installed a Black Box in our house. If you don’t know what that is, it was a device that bypassed the lockout codes on the paid channels. Nowadays the equivalent would be getting apps for free such as Netflix, Hulu, Max, etc. Back …

When I was in sixth grade, all the boys in my class (and possible the entire middle school) were obsessed with ninjas. We thought that they were amazing, could do anything, and were just cool in general. Back then, whenever my best friend, Dusty, stayed overnight at our place, we …