Retro Reviews

When I was in seventh grade, the first book report I remember doing was for Lord Of The Flies. To this day, it is still one of the most disturbing novels I’ve ever read. There was just something so unsettling about seeing such young kids without adult supervision being transformed …

Time to talk about 13 Demon Street. Though short-lived, this old, Swedish-American horror anthology show was hosted by the great Lon Chaney, Jr. In addition to being the son of film icon Lon Chaney, the actor had already enjoyed success as The Wolf Man in 1941 and other Universal Horror …

With a special edition Blu-ray coming soon—April 12th, 2021—I thought I would take another look at the techno/splatterpunk and body horror film from Japanese directors Yudai Yamaguchi and Junichi Yamamoto, 2005’s Meatball Machine! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBQedhFk0g Synopsis: Capable of making bio-mechanical weapons out of human flesh, alien parasites grotesquely invade the Earth, …

Looking back through James Gunn’s carrier, his trajectory is truly unique. He started out as a volunteer with Troma, eventually becoming a writer for projects like Terror Firmer and Tromeo & Juliet, then moving on to major studio writing for projects like the live action Scooby-Doo films and Zack Snyder’s Dawn of …

The Funhouse is one of my top horror movies, and that’s because it combines two of my favorite things… the campiness and life of a carnival and gooooooore. Released on March 13, 1981, this slasher classic packs a wallop of both. Teenager Amy (Elizabeth Berridge: Results 2015), her boyfriend, Buzz …

The mid-2000s were an interesting time for the horror genre—outside of the ’90s boom, but not quite into the resurgence of the next decade. Creators and studios were looking for something different as they wanted new ways to cash in on the movie-going audience. That led us to Stay Alive, …

As a kid, I remember seeing Corey Wolfe’s awesome VHS box art for director Jim Wynorski’s 1986 film, Chopping Mall, at the numerous visits my family paid to various mom and pop rental shops. Along with Maniac (1980), it’s the art I remember most from that timeframe as I was …

What do you get when you mix one-part Evil Dead 2 with two part The ‘Burbs then add a pinch of Platoon? Well, boys and ghouls, you get the recipe to the insanely fun and one-of-a-kind ’80s gem of a haunted house flick, House, which released February 28, 1986. Synopsis  …

The vampire is one of Hollywood’s favorite monsters and has been played by countless actors over the decades, although none could reach the influence and magnitude of Bela Lugosi’s (The Wolfman 1941) performance in Dracula (1931). Released on February 14, 1931, Dracula has made our hearts yearn and bleed for …

Created by comic book gods Len Wein (who also co-created Marvel’s Wolverine) and Bernie Wrightson (illustrator of Stephen King’s Cycle of the Werewolf 1983), horror icon Wes Craven’s Swamp Thing (1982) loosely adapts the early part of their published run. Finding a balance between camp and horror, Craven (A Nightmare on …