From Rosemary’s Baby to The Exorcist to Children of the Corn, the archetype of the evil or possessed child has been an evident part of the horror genre. Richard Donner’s 1976 horror classic, The Omen, is also famous for its evil child, the Son of Satan. However, the character of Damien Thorn in The Omen, stands apart from these other popular demonic children.  In the film, after Katherine Thorn (Lee Remick) delivers a stillborn baby at the hospital, her husband Robert (Gregory Peck) adopts a young baby boy unbeknownst to his wife. As their son Damien begins to grow older, a series of myst ..read more

How far would you go for love? For those who currently have someone they’re enamored with, it may be easy for them to say that they’ll go to great lengths. However, how far would you go for someone you know very little about? Love is a complicated emotion and it can make people do crazy things. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 horror film, The Birds explores these complexities of love by drawing parallels between the brash behavior of birds and the impulsivity of human relationships. The visual symbolism, carefully crafted dialogue, and natural sound tell a story of the chaos that ensued amidst an avia ..read more

Are you here because you’ve seen Saw? Or because you’re curious to learn more? Whether you’ve witnessed the interwoven narrative of this 2004 American horror film or merely heard about it, you likely know about Saw and its association with violence, gore, and “torture porn.” This term, “torture porn”, refers to films that prioritize brutal and gratuitous images of people getting tortured or killed on screen. Various critics frequently utilize this term to discredit horror films, labeling them as lacking substance and reducing them to nothing more than sadistic narratives. In a 2007 New York Ti ..read more

The great storytelling advantage of horror as a genre is the inherent feeling of inevitability. Even the most banal scenes are presented in a context of dread. Something horrible must occur to somebody at some point, or else “horror” would not properly describe the events of the story. Most horror films draw attention to this inevitability through cheap tricks, such as not-so-vague foreshadowing dialogue or creepy music laid over useless scenes. Predominately, these tricks are used to tide over the bloodthirsty audience and fill up the first and second acts, eventually arriving at the exciting ..read more

source: A24 If a film is ultimately defined by how it makes us feel, then the numb void left in the wake of a Hereditary viewing makes for quite the interesting evaluation. The product of a downright surgical effort to drain, depress, and disturb the audience rather than just simply bringing the scares, Ari Aster’s remarkable but heavy debut feature boasts an especially bleak atmosphere from start to finish. Completely shaken by the time the more traditional jump scares roll around, it’s tough to bear the weight of the horrors Hereditary has to offer, and there are plenty. When life returns to ..read more

source: MGM By: Chayliel Quintanilla Flores “You don’t think that I’m a bad person? “ “All I think is that I love you.” With these words, two lovers let down their guard and solidify their devotion to one another. However Lee and Maren aren’t an ordinary couple. They’re runaways and living on the outskirts of society. Above all, they’re cannibals. Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All (2022) adapts Camille DeAngelis’ young adult novel into a film that is a perfect mixture of horror and romance to tell the story of a love that was doomed from the start. The film, which is set in the Midwest in 1988 ..read more

A ‘Horror: A Journey Through the Decades’ Piece By Payton McCarty- Simas Horror movies weren’t exactly my family’s cup of tea growing up, but I always loved a good scary story. Since I was old enough to read, I gravitated towards books like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and every Halloween I’d rush to my vovó’s house to watch Cartoon Network’s Goosebumps marathon alone in my room on a fussy old TV that looked like something straight out of Leave it to Beaver. My godfather was the manager of our local Blockbuster (a fact that pretty much made him the coolest guy in town in my eyes), so wh ..read more

What a year for horror. From the paranormal to the scientific, werewolves and end times, 2023 shows it had a great deal of horror hidden up its sleeves. It’s time to celebrate some of the best that this last year had to offer! From features, TV, shorts to comics… there’s a lot horrific to love. Let’s start with our top ten films: 1.) When Evil Lurks source: IFC Films This was an intriguingly twisted little indulgence. In the most unsettling way, it had me captivated, unable to tear my eyes away from the screen while wearing a visible grimace. Once When Evil Lurks establishes its rhythm, there ..read more

Crafting a haunting thriller that ruthlessly intertwines shock and despair is an art, and Leave the World Behind revels in this with admirable finesse. The film plunges into the abyss of universal fears, weaving them seamlessly into the fabric of a real-world cataclysm. The stellar ensemble, led by Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali, adds a layer of brilliance to a narrative that’s both mesmerizing and emotionally scorching. Initially draped in the guise of simplicity and innocence—a family seeking solace on a Long Island getaway—the narrative swiftly morphs into a heart-rending su ..read more

For my first book review on the site, it was only fitting that it ended up being a horror novella with clear influences by my favorite author: Stephen King. Remarked as a “Shawshank Redemption with vampires” (mainly in my mind as Salem’s Lot) it is sufficiently coined. Bloodsucker City by Jim Towns is an easily digestible thrill of a story, with enough bloody bits and creative turns to keep you hooked. After Lena returns home to find her son brutally killed (yet appearing to be drained of blood) she’s swiftly wrongly arrested for his murder and brought to the terrifying and secluded prison: St ..read more