We are looking at the 2025 box office to see what the genre’s performance tells us about audiences and the industry. As well as what opportunities are being presented for other films.

The Year Of Change For Superheroes?

The main topic of discussion this year is the lack of high-performing superhero movies. This is the first time since 2017 (excluding 2020) that a superhero movie hasn’t been in the top 5. Additionally, the top performer is not a Marvel film but DC’s new Superman reboot.

Marvel’s usual dominance has been completely shattered. Both their newer titles (Fantastic 4: First Steps and Thunderbolts*) and their returning branding (Captain America: Brave New World) failed to crack the top 10. Something that hasn’t happened (excluding 2020) since 2011. Analysts have mentioned superhero fatigue before, but this is the first year the box office seems to reflect it.

Up and Comers

Outside of the superhero bubble, this is also the first time since 2020 that we have had two top 10 performers not in the English language from more than one country. Ne Zha 2 (China) and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie – Infinity Castle (Japan).

Video game adaptations continued to do well. A Minecraft Movie is 2025’s third-highest-grosser at the time of writing. Horror also performed well. Of the year’s 20 highest-grossers, 4 were horror films. And while many of the biggest films are still sequels or films using existing IP to bolster their performance, Sinners and Weapons, 2 original films, made it into the top 20.

What This Means

Superheroes are far from being done. Superman’s success proves that, and as Kofi Outlaw points out, Marvel could recover its top position with the next slate of big brand titles, Spiderman: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars. However, this year proves Marvel’s name isn’t a guarantee of dominance anymore. The MCU films mentioned above are part of franchises that are between 8 and 13 years old. Marvel can’t rely on dedicated fans to sustain them forever. Superman’s reboot managed to capture a younger audience and DC’s diverse upcoming release portfolio covers a range of interests and age groups. If Marvel wants to succeed in the future, to justify those huge budgets, it must get younger audiences invested in the next saga project. Not just those familiar with the MCU. But even then, superheroes are seeing competition from other areas.

The top 20’s 4 horror movies each cost around or below $100 million, and took between $268 – 494 million worldwide. A market still clearly exists for mid-budget films. These films also included the year’s two highest-performing original films. Showing that when well-marketed and written, audiences will go to see new ideas.

Similarly, Demon Slayer, on a $20 million budget, claimed over $760 million. Over $520 million came from territories outside of Japan. Also, while Ne Zha 2 primarily made money in China (over $1.8 billion on an $80 million budget), it still made almost $40 million in other territories. According to Think China, it is the 10th highest overseas takings for a Chinese film. It could have made more if it weren’t for distribution challenges. Again proving, given an outlet, international cinema can be popular. 

Lastly, video game movies are having a resurgence. After the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy and The Super Mario Bros Movie, A Minecraft Movie captured family audiences and made almost a billion dollars. Thus, studios are preparing a slate of video game adaptations. Including Return To Silent Hill (Cineverse), Mortal Kombat 2 (Warner Bros), Super Mario Bros Galaxy (Illumination) and The Legend of Zelda (Sony).

Conclusion

Competition for the top is definitely getting more diverse. Among the constant non-comic book sequels, Disney animations and remakes, DC’s newfound strength will hopefully encourage Marvel to get less insular to keep audiences interested. Video game movies are also coming out to play; mid-budget horror and international releases have proven capable of reaching great heights, given the chance, and even original IP has a crack at the top. It’s definitely an interesting time to be going to the movies.

The post From Demon Slayer to Minecraft: The 2025 Box Office Shift Beyond Superheroes appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

In this article, we look at how TV horror has managed to hook modern viewers. Analysing how the storytelling techniques and content have changed.

Serial Horror Can Work

TV horror has been steadily challenging its established structures for a while. Twin Peaks focused on the long-running, intersecting, surreal and often horrific mysteries and characters connected to the death of Laura Palmer. Now modern shows like American Horror Story choose a new horror genre to explore for each new season’s arc. Meanwhile, The Walking Dead, Yellowjackets, Hannibal, The Last of Us and more unfurl their horrific stories across multiple continuing seasons.

Many of these series have succeeded with viewers for two reasons. Firstly, they use their length and scope to explore a diverse array of characters and the worlds they inhabit in more expansive ways than a standard horror film allows. Plus, the expanded time spent in these characters’ worlds and company builds a sense of temporal familiarity that films can’t easily replicate. This allows moments of horror to potentially have a greater impact because of the connection built with the audience.

Secondly, these shows have successfully mapped horror beats onto long-running serialised storytelling. Those made for broadcast TV use the mini-climaxes before advert breaks to keep viewers on edge. Mainly done through character revelations, sudden shocks that leave us wanting a fuller picture or building up suspenseful situations. Steadily, though, more shows are structuring their episodes like movies, focusing more on building atmosphere and mystery throughout the entire episode. Rather than needing to heighten tension every few minutes. Meaning shows can also revel in a slow build. Both formats craft tension in their own unique ways, and both formats usually end with a finale that shocks us enough to want to continue the narrative. Each episode gradually reveals more about the characters, the story and the overall threat. With no true status quo restored until the season’s end, these shows know just what to do to keep TV audiences watching.

Scary & Engaging

It’s not just the unique style of horror storytelling that is drawing people to these shows. With the restrictions of yesteryear no longer constraining what can be shown on cable and streaming, and rising production budgets TV horror is allowed to be more adult. For example, horror shows can now deliver movie-level effects to meet the needs of the story. Adding another level of immersion and entertainment for both general watchers and horror fans.

These shows are also not afraid to tackle big issues such as addiction (The Haunting of Hill House), climate change (The Last of Us), trauma (Yellowjackets) and more. Horror has, of course, always dealt with big themes, but with restrictions no longer watering them down, these stories can be much more confrontational in how they approach the topic. Many audiences gravitate to these shows because of their ability to showcase dark themes in an honest way.

Small Screen Screams Staying

Horror has shown itself fully capable of working in the world of serialised TV. Through its focus on building engaging characters and settings, adapting the beats of horror to the needs of either broadcast and streaming formats, as well as tackling big themes with horrific effects, horror has shown itself to be a truly unstoppable genre. Time truly is no barrier to scares.

The post Prestige TV Horror: Scary Stories Going Serial appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

It is not possible to diagnose a character in a film with a mental health problem, partly because we don’t have all the information of what is going on but also the actions they take will be made for purposes of storytelling, not accurate descriptions of health conditions. So when the 1960 classic horror movie Psycho used that word to describe the film and its villain, what were they trying to say? Most of the conversation of Norman Bates’ diagnosis seems to suggest Dissociative Identity Disorder, DID, previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder. The term “psycho”, or even psychopath, is not present in either of those conditions. “Psycho” was simply a word used to denote a dangerous and “crazy” person. The audience does not need any understanding of mental health to know what the title is suggesting. An academic article in The European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation argued that portrayals in media of people with DID were prone to over-the-top displays of switching of personalities and they were violent, dangerous and engaged in criminal behaviour, despite “that the vast majority of individuals with DDs (dissociative disorders) do not perpetrate violent crime; instead, they are more likely to be victims of it”.

The word “psycho” is a shortened form of the clinical term psychopath, this is someone felt to have a severe form of Antisocial Personality Disorder. There is also the term “psychosis” which is when someone suffers from a break from reality. Many, many horror villains would probably fall under the umbrella term of suffering a psychosis, but again those suffering from psychosis are more likely to be a danger to themselves than others. It is safe to say that the portrayal of DID, psychopaths, and those suffering with psychosis in the film Psycho is an inaccurate and negative one.

Halloween

Another horror movie considered a classic which leans heavily on mental health tropes is Halloween. The killer Michael Myers murdered his family as a six-year-old and has been held in a secure hospital ever since. There is a very vague explanation of any mental health problems Michael Myers has and more relies on the fact that he is a dangerous violent person who escaped from “lunatic asylum”. There are assertions about Myers being pure evil and even in the first film suggestions of superhuman or supernatural abilities. The clinical psychologist in charge of Myer’s care refers to him as “it”. Halloween is not trying to make a nuanced film about mental health, and neither would most of the audience accept this as a realistic portrayal but it further feeds into extremely negative views on mental health.

Split is a relatively recent addition to the horror genre and again focuses on Dissociative Identity Disorder. James McAvoy plays the villain, a serial killer with 23 distinct identities, some of whom are violent and dangerous and often seem to have abilities beyond normal humans. There was a negative response to the film from those working in mental health, stating that it sensationalised aspects of the disorder and showed that someone suffering from DID as inherently dangerous. In the movie the villain’s psychiatrist is pushing the medical community to move from a model of incarceration to treatment for people suffering from DID, many of her former patients have been incarcerated rather than treated. Now given that the villain is her patient, and is in fact a very dangerous individual who is actively harming people is Dr. Fletcher simply a naïve patsy? A message that for all doctors talking of treatment, understanding, and compassion are misguided, even though the actual real-world reality shows the view of people with DID as violent is incorrect.

The Babadook

Not all films handle mental health in such a negative way. Horror masterpiece The Babadook has a lot to say about depression, grief and the genuinely soul-destroying exhaustion a parent can go through, dealing with incredibly dark thoughts and feelings of negative thoughts a parent could have of their own child. Hereditary, widely considered a modern horror classic, is largely about grief and family trauma. This is not new – Don’t Look Now released in 1973 while dealing with typical horror ideas of the occult and murder is about parents grieving the loss of their child. What is notable about these films and their relationship to mental health is that the horror is a metaphor for the problems they are going through, it is not that a person who is suffering from depression and grief is murdering people but rather the supernatural danger they are dealing with represents that.

The criticism of how these films handle mental health is not to say they’re bad movies but that they could have made other choices, and portrayed things differently. Almost inevitably if the villain of a horror movie is identified as having a mental illness…then that will be the driver behind their actions and routinely misrepresented and sensationalized.

The post Beyond the Screams: Challenging Mental Health Tropes in Horror Movies appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Here are a few underrated 70s sci-fi films that we think deserve much more love and why we love them.

The Andromeda Strain

Filmmaker Alex Cox once compared The Andromeda Strain to 2001: A Space Odyssey. A not undeserved comparison. Not only do both contain incredible special effects work from Douglas Trumbull, but they also resist using “cinematic” stars and characterisation for their heroes and focus a lot on the mechanics of the science at play. When this is all paired with a prescient plot about scientists trying to contain a world-ending unknown alien organism that spreads like a disease you have a sci-fi disaster movie that feels much more real than many of its contemporaries.

Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of cinematic realism, we have a farcical time-travel comedy. Which in many ways feels like a precursor to the Bill and Ted series. After an inventor creates a time machine he accidentally sends his building manager, Ivan, and a thief back in time to the court of Ivan the Terrible. Funnily enough, Ivan the Terrible is the spitting image of Ivan the Building Manager. So they end up swapping positions. There is some good social satire here about bureaucracy and power. But more than anything this is just a funny slapstick sci-fi comedy. With prior movies like The Time Machine establishing a serious tone around the subject, Ivan Vasilievich is a welcome break. It doesn’t care about paradoxes or plausibility it just picks up its fun premise and runs with it. Which creates an infectious energy you can’t help but be enraptured by.

The Asphyx

Similar in tone to the sci-fi-inflected horror films that came out of the likes of Hammer in the preceding decades, The Asphyx, tells the classic story of a scientist’s (Robert Stephens) search for immortality. What sets it apart is it’s more overt focus on human drama and its unique central premise. Robert Stephens’ and Robert Powell’s performances are really emotionally resonant. Stephens wants to protect his family at all costs, while Powell believes man can’t and shouldn’t control everything. Additionally, the film focuses on the use of steampunk-esque technology to trap spirits that bring death to humans. Not unlike a Victorian Ghostbusters. A wonky but wonderfully entertaining watch.

Space is the Place

Of the movies recommended here, Space is the Place is the most obscure but also the most interesting. An early Afrofuturist film, the narrative follows musician Sun-Ra and his crew, the Arkestra, as they return to Earth having decided to bring African Americans to a new planet he has discovered, using the medium of song. Once back on Earth, he has to deal with scepticism and battle the Overseer to determine what the future will be for African American people. Not everything here works. There is some wooden acting, the writing feels very self-indulgent at times and the lacklustre direction diminishes the power of key narrative moments. However, with an interesting central plot revolving around using sci-fi concepts to mirror and address themes specifically intended for African American audiences, like black empowerment, separatism and self-determination, beautiful design work and a unique blending of styles; music, crime, sci-fi, exploitation and more, Space is the Place is a trailblazing pioneer that everyone should see.

Hopefully, these examples have given you some more great 70s sci-fi to add to your watchlists. But these are just the tip of the iceberg for underrated sci-fi gems. So please use these choices as a jumping-off point to see more from this great period in genre history.

The post Why These 70s Sci-Fi Films Deserve More Attention appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

In this article, we will analyse why horror stories, even now, like to draw on these cultural touchstones, before looking at some horror films and the folklore and myths that inspired them.

Past Horrors

Older forms of storytelling like myths, legends, folklore etc. have concerned themselves with confronting our fears of the unexplained for thousands of years. Whether it be existential, rooted in the problems of a particular region/culture or often both. Many of these stories act as tales of morality or explorations of the fantastical, they are also seen as formative teaching moments for children to learn about the world and the moral frameworks through which to view it. But these stories also have a hint of horror about them. With the dire consequences visited upon those who are evil (e.g. burning to death or in hell) and villains being capable of scary/dark things (e.g. devouring people in their path). Thus these stories act as a foundation for horror stories by prominently using the fantastic and unexplained.

Since the beginning of cinema films have been drawing inspiration from this kind of storytelling. Allowing stories from across the Earth to be experienced in a way that foregrounds a sense of reality and immediacy. 

Horror and Myths

So why do horror films keep returning to these older stories? Well, one reason is that these types of stories value reinterpretation. These stories have been told differently in various regions with each storyteller giving the story a different spin. Providing filmmakers with a great license for creativity. 

Equally, these sources can provide production with an air of seriousness due to drawing on older traditions that those outside of the genre are more familiar with.

They also add an extra eerie factor. Due to the association of myths and folklore with formative childhood experiences and a time before cinema, it allows films using these stories to act as a dark confrontation of childhood innocence and evokes feelings of a time before modern technology which creates feelings of unfamiliarity and thus unease in viewers.

But most significantly horror as a genre has a habit of recontextualising these older stories. With many of these older stories attempting to explain the unexplained or offering definitive morals their use in a modern context, where many questions posed by these stories have been answered and morality is less black and white, refocuses the story’s meaning to show humanity’s fallibility. Notably folk horror, which focuses a lot on invoking folklore, takes the trappings of old tales and puts more focus on humanity’s capacity for self-destruction.

Folklore in Horror Films

To see how widespread the influence of older stories are in horror here are three horror films and the stories that inspired them:

Haxan

The groundbreaking silent horror essay film dramatises and analyses the folklore of witches and the societal factors that resulted in these stories being used to destroy the lives of women from the Middle Ages to the then modern day.

Midsommar

This film’s story has ties to several traditions and folk tales. For example, Midsommar’s Hårga cult is influenced by a folk story which concerns a group of villagers who are visited by the devil and made to dance to death – something at the heart of the dramatic displays of Midsommar. Plus there is the use of May Queen imagery. This symbolises someone being chosen to embody the coming of growth in Spring, with Dani representing the growth of the cult’s ideology.

Huesera: The Bone Woman

Huesera’s central threat is based on a Mexican legend. The story concerns a woman who collects bones. Upon having enough to form a skeleton she brings them to life. Creating a wolf which then becomes a woman. The story is said by scholars to be about restoring lifeforce, which does not want to be tamed. The movie updates this theme by making the central threat encompass how women are viewed by and harmed under patriarchy, with the main character Valeria’s visits from the bone woman revealing more about herself and how society views her.

Also Read: Animated Horror: The Overlooked Genre Fusion

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Today we will look at why animated horror is so overlooked. Before analysing why it can work incredibly well when done right. Then finally we will recommend some great animated horror for you to watch.

They’re For Children

Generally, there are three reasons why animated horror isn’t as popular in its presence or profile as its other genre counterparts. Firstly animation has a long-standing association with children’s stories. While animation has been telling darker and adult stories for years, see Ralph Bakshi’s work, Mary and Max etc. those works are overall a minority. Thus audiences still see animated horror as out of place.

Secondly, horror is often regarded as a quick and cheap genre in terms of what the films take to make. Given how much time and money animated projects can take to complete it’s easy to see why horror productions don’t really gravitate towards animated stories.

Lastly, with animation having less firm real-world grounding due to it inherently being more artificial in its content it can be harder for viewers to see themselves in these animated worlds and therefore be scared.

A Darker Side

That said animated horror can still be incredibly effective when done right. The medium has its own ways of creating a feeling of unease. Such as through the clash of images associated with child-friendly narratives against horrific imagery. Animation also has ability to frequently fall into the uncanny valley, creating something that whether through facial or body movements can create audience discomfort thanks to it being both close to reality and unreal.

Additionally, animated horror allows for scope that would not necessarily be achievable in live-action. With animation able to create whole new worlds and potential for different and interesting horrific imagery the medium is rich with possibilities for horror stories.

And with less inherent relatability due to its artificial content animated horrors also work very hard to get us invested through writing, atmosphere, sound design and more, ensuring that at least animated horror always tries something new to keep our attention.

Otherworldly Animation

Here are just a few must-watch animated horror films everyone should seek out:

Watership Down (1978) and Plague Dogs (1982)

These “children’s” animal films adapted from Richard Adams’ books aren’t classified directly as horror, but the stories of a rabbit colony trying to find a new home away from predators aiming to kill them at every turn and two dogs escaping an animal testing facility before being hunted across the country by humans have an unrelenting threatening air to them. They also feature horrific imagery. Like a dog tearing a rabbit open and a dog accidentally shooting someone. If that doesn’t make these films horror, what does?

Alice (1988)

Jan Svankmajer’s live-action, stop-motion hybrid adaptation of Alice in Wonderland is perhaps the most frightening version ever. With creations like the terrifying taxidermied White Rabbit, wind-up March Hare and many skeletal creatures, you truly fear for Alice’s safety.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Coraline (2009)

Henry Selick’s work is the gold standard for stop-motion children’s horror. Whether it be Nightmare’s imaginative Halloween monster world or Coraline‘s unnerving world of the Other Mother Selick consistently creates spooky stories with a sense of childhood wonder and playfulness that keeps watchers of all ages engaged through all the nightmare fuel.

Perfect Blue (1997)

Satoshi Kon’s suspenseful masterpiece follows a pop idol turned actress as disturbing things start happening around her. All linking back to a fan unhappy about her career change. Though this idea could easily work in live-action the initially cute anime style of the pop group creates an affective clash as its story becomes increasingly darker and more surreal.

Mad God (2021)

In a post-apocalyptic landscape, we see grotesque creations, unending ruins and death all around. Is there a point to all of the suffering here? You’ll have to watch to find out. Mad God is a hard but rewarding watch full of unforgettable stop-motion terror.

Beyond these recommendations, we hope to see more attention to animated horror. The medium has so much to give and we barely seem to have scratched the surface of the horrific possibilities.

Also Read: Cartoons For Adults: The Rise of Adult Animation

The post Animated Horror: The Overlooked Genre Fusion appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

This article will take a look at the real locations and events that inspired the book and the film. Before discussing how the use of these underpinnings helps make the story more powerful.

The Book

When it comes to the book author Stephen King mainly attributes the inspiration for The Shining to the time he and his wife stayed at Colorado’s Stanley Hotel as it was beginning to close down for the 1974 winter. As they were the only two people staying there, King found the isolation and long quiet hallways perfect inspiration. He then combined these elements with a dream and part of another novel idea he had, which created the story we now know.

That said the Stanley Hotel isn’t the book’s only real-life inspiration. Another true story, mentioned in the text itself, likely formed the basis for some part of the narrative. That of the Donner Party. The pioneer group were cut off from the world when they became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1846. Famously their entrapment resulted in them doing terrible things to survive. The tale of battling against the elements for survival as well as against violent and other disturbing aspects of human nature is easily seen in The Shining’s plot.

Finally, one other true story hangs over the writing of the book. King has spoken numerous times about how his own alcohol addiction helped to form the character of Jack Torrence. Showing him as a dark reflection of a path he could have gone down.

The Film

Meanwhile, The Shining film seems to have little real-world inspiration informing it beyond what can be found in the book. There are changes to the setting. The Ahwahnee Hotel and Timberline Lodge serve as the basis for the film’s setting rather than the book’s Stanley Hotel. But the film doesn’t really have a lot of documentary evidence about other real-world inspirations around it. 

The only exception is the film’s mention of indigenous people. The Overlook Hotel is said to be built on the site of an Indigenous burial ground (which wasn’t in the book) and the use of Native American iconography and designs across the film. While little is mentioned about this elsewhere it seems impossible for the genocide of indigenous people not to have at least been in the background of the minds of people working on a movie about supposedly civilised white men’s capacity for violence. 

Between Fiction and Reality

So what exactly do these inspirations do for the Shining story? Well, they mainly add tragedy, power and believability to the narrative. Knowing that the story of Jack Torrence’s alcohol addiction negatively affecting his family’s life comes from the writer’s personal experience (though King’s experiences were much less severe) allows people to see the story as much closer to reality itself, thereby adding to the tension. Similarly, the parallels to the Donner Party story remind us of the deadly possibilities of being isolated by snow. Also, while the story of King’s inspiration springing from a stay in a deserted hotel is less emotionally gripping than the two other inspirations it does further entrench the idea of how haunting isolation can be in the minds of the public thus making the narrative experience more believable. 

This is also true regarding the inclusion of material referencing the genocide of Native Americans in the story’s periphery. While it could be argued that this approach reinforces the trope of focusing on white people rather than talking about Native Americans themselves and reduces them to set dressing, it does provide a powerful layer to the story. Showcasing how normalised violence and oppression are in society.

To conclude, we see that real-world influences can be used to add another layer of engagement to a story. Forcing people to not just see a story, but also how it is informed by real world fears, experiences and horror.

Also Read: Horrors On Horror Sets

The post From Script to Screen: Real-Life Inspirations For The Shining appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

“The Moor” tells the story of Claire, who is drawn back to her traumatic past when Bill, the father of her murdered childhood friend, seeks her help to keep the killer behind bars. With the aid of psychic Eleanor, they venture into the haunted moor believed to be the boy’s final resting place. What they encounter is far more sinister than they ever imagined, with dark forces lurking beneath the surface.

Chris Cronin’s directorial debut has already garnered critical acclaim, receiving nominations for Best Director and Best Film at Total Film’s FrightFest Awards 2023 and winning Best Scare. Cronin, a Yorkshire native, emphasizes the emotional aftermath of tragedy rather than the violence itself, exploring themes of grief, guilt, and unresolved trauma through the lens of horror.

In Cronin’s words, “Genre lets us take a look at very human and painful situations and make them larger than life, forcing us to re-examine them.” This approach promises a thought-provoking and spine-chilling narrative that will resonate with fans of the genre.

“The Moor” will feature special screenings and Q&A sessions across the UK, including events at City Screen Picturehouse in York and Broadway in Nottingham, providing audiences with a deeper insight into the film’s creation and themes.

Don’t miss the chance to experience this uniquely British horror film that delves into the supernatural fears rooted in the Yorkshire moors.

Also Read: How Silent Films Influence Modern Horror

The post Chilling British Horror “The Moor” Set for UK Release This Summer appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

For a long time, there have been groups inside the Catholic Church opposing each other. The latest example happens today as Pope Francis has more amicable eyes on the LGBTQIA+ community, which has drawn ire from conservative sectors.

In its history, the Catholic Church has problematic passages such as the Holy Inquisition, its role in the Colonization and the Atlantic Slave Trade, and the paedophilic scandals shown in the picture ‘Spotlight’ (2015). On the other hand, it is also regarded for its charity work as giving voice to the Indigenous community in the Amazon that suffers from human rights violations, providing food and shelter to São Paulo’s homeless population and chemical-dependent population, and in the recent past with some relevant voices opposing the late 20th Century South-American dictatorships and its abuses which led to priests being tortured themselves amongst politicians and activists. For good and evil, the Catholic Church has a rich history with dogmas, iconographies, characters, clothing, rituals, and other aspects due to its century-old existence, and ‘The First Omen’ makes good use of it alongside the moral dilemmas.

‘The Omen’ questions Christian morality by presenting if the adoptive father would go as far as killing the satanic child on holy ground to prevent the rise of the incumbent apocalypse Damien would bring. The sequel ‘Damien – Omen II’ positions the same question to the new guardian, Damien’s uncle, who grows wary of the teenager. In the third chapter, ‘Omen III: The Final Conflict,’ Damien is a wealthy 33-year-old man, and finally a journalist who is also his former love interest delivers the killing blow. The fourth entry, a made-for-TV movie that is also the lowest point in the franchise, brings the daughter of Damien as the satanic antagonist and once more questions if the protagonist would slay a child to prevent the advent of doomsday.

Much of the Catholic thinking lies on guilt, and ‘thou shalt not kill’ is a moral imperative included in the Ten Commandments. Killing is already a problematic action due to its moral and emotional implications, which makes slaughtering a child an even more abhorrent act that movies and TV series, in general, avoid. If they have it in the storyline, it is primarily off-the-screen.

Enter Damien…

The series ‘Damien’ (2016) is a sequel to the original film, but it erases the other instalments. In this tale, the moral question rests on the shoulder of Damien himself, a good-hearted 30-year-old war photographer who starts to slip into his demonic urges and surrenders to his heritage after asking Satan to resurrect his girlfriend, who took a bullet for him. Thus, love leads Damien to accept his role as the herald of humanity’s downfall.
In ‘The First Omen,’ the moral question is more insidious. The protagonist, Margaret (Tiger Free), a young American novitiate, goes to Rome to work at an orphanage as requested by the Church.

The caring Cardinal Lawrence, her old mentor, and the stern Sister Silva (Sônia Braga), leader of the nuns, represent masculine and feminine archetypes, as well as the father and the mother images, inside the film and Church structures. But the moral issue goes more profound than the previous entries in the franchise because the place serves as an incubator of hellspawns, showing the lengths that a sect inside the Catholic Church would go to see it once again rising in a world succumbing to the questioning of values by counterculture and civil rights movements, including in 1970s Italy. Father Brennan (Ineson), the expelled member of the Church, represents those who are considered rogues for taking a stand against unethical practices inside powerful institutions. Nell Tiger Free surrenders her talent and prowess to become three separate entities, whether as a caring older sister to the children, a seductive succubus, or a tested survivor.

Braga gives another showcase of her world-class talent. This time, she shows her shops as a full-blown villain, which serves as a dark opposite to her portrayal of the Portuguese nun who had visions of the Holy Mary in the Christian movie ‘Fatima’ (2020). When viewed in retrospect, both characters serve as a metalanguage for complex positions and portrayals of the Catholic Church.

Novitiate Margaret and Sister Silva represent pious and motherly images of sacred women ingrained in the collective imagery. Although there have been in cinema previous Catholic priestesses who broke the vows, these two compose a disturbing image as the former gives in to lust. In contrast, the latter is not a caring mother as she favours the male descendants of Satan while being negligent and abusive towards the female ones, bringing more moral drama into the narrative.

The behaviour and organization of this group acting in favour of Satan inside the Church can be interpreted as a cult. When I interviewed screenwriter and author of When the World Didn’t End (2023) Guinevere Turner (Charlie Says), she stated that one of the common patterns of cults is “patriarchy on steroids and in the rare case when there is a woman in charge it is still power dynamics on steroids in which women and children usually suffer.” Although describing real-life cults, which Turner knows from personal experience and extensive research, the writer’s words mirror the dynamics seen in ‘The First Omen.’

With its unholy cult as antagonists, ‘The First Omen’ positions a bigger picture than going up against the antichrist by questioning how a small group of people without considerable means can go against a powerful institution while questioning their own morality and choices.

Also Read: The Greatest Horror Villain of Each Decade

The post Navigating the Complexities of Good and Evil in ‘The Omen’ Saga appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

In this article, we will look at several filmmaking techniques that were used in silent horror films. As well as how their influences can be seen in the modern horror landscape.

Jump Scares

Yes, even without sound some early horror films do feature proto-jump scares by having long build-ups to sudden cuts to images intended to scare audiences. Think of Orlok’s appearance outside the door (Nosferatu (1922)) and the Phantom’s facial reveal (The Phantom of the Opera (1925)). These scenes formed the beginning of a genre staple.

The introduction of startling loud sound stings to accompany the scare (Cat People (1942)) greatly added to the technique’s impact. Many modern horror audiences claim a dislike for jump scares, however, they can still be effective. With the best ones relying on building suspense and anticipation rather than using a loud noise for cheap shocks. Just like the old silent horrors.

Uncommon Shots

There was a lot of experimentation with how early films were shot. Some horror films used drawn-out wide shots to allow audiences to see everything in a film’s world (The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920). Other films used shots to place us in a character’s perspective or to break a scene’s standard framing (Nosferatu).

These techniques are now common in modern horror. Elongated shots help to build up tension. POV shots (among others) place us in a character’s perspective and build empathy or distrust. And the experimentation with shot types is done to promote a sense of unease. Additionally, the deployment of more mobile camera movement has enabled modern filmmakers more freedom to create shots that surprise audiences.

Shadows

Shadows have always been a great horror visual as they represent fear of the unknown. Thus they were a perfect tool for silent horror’s visual language. One of cinema’s most famous images is Count Orlok’s shadow ascending the stairs. Through the simple use of lighting to lengthen Max Schreck’s shadow Nosferatu makes Orlock into a horrifying unknown presence.

Shadows continue to be effectively used today. Whether it be indicating the imposing nature of villains like the Tethered or encouraging audience paranoia (The Woman in Black). But the advance in effects work also means shadows can be transformed in more ways than ever. Thereby allowing the cinematic fear of the unknown to be pushed even further.

Metaphorical Sets

German Expressionism was a huge part of early horror cinema. Among other things, it focused on creating art that externalised the anxiety permeating post-WWI Germany. Leading to set design that felt exaggerated, warped and unreal. Which helped to make viewers uncomfortable and allowed the more fantastical narrative elements of films like Cabinet of Dr Caligari and The Golem (1920) to feel less out of place.

Although many horror films now aim to capture a more realistic atmosphere the expressionist era still taught the genre that displaying internal emotions through the use of sets can greatly impact audience reaction. Think the expansive well-dressed sets of Hereditary invoking a doll’s house. Or Maud’s creepy, enclosed and dark apartment in Saint Maud.

Mixing Styles

Finally, silent horror also began blending stylistic devices to add a feeling of realism to their narratives with Haxan (1922). This film blended dramatised scenes with documentary techniques such as providing factual statements on title cards and showcasing historical artifacts in the manner of a lecture. Making the film’s subsequent dramatic parts feel like a dramatisation of factual material rather than a horror film.

Nowadays horror films utilise many other factual presentation techniques to make them appear more realistic. Such as using documentary footage (Dawn of the Dead (2004)), disclaimers/facts to invoke real people/events (The Conjuring and Tigers Are Not Afraid) and the employment of cinematography and performances meant to evoke news footage (found footage films). Techniques all stemming from Haxan’s inspiration.

Those are just some ways silent horror techniques have influenced the modern horror landscape. So if you think silent horror can never capture the scariness of modern films remember that silent horror helped pioneer many ideas modern horror films use to frighten us.

Also Read: Horrors On Horror Sets

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“We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes” Psycho

So to start with perhaps the greatest and most famous (and certainly for me the scariest) of these films – Psycho. An Alfred Hitchcock classic of murder and horror and all of it is entirely possible. Serial killers exist, indeed, Hitchcock based it on real incidents. This film terrified me when I saw it as a child and still occupies the spot in my mind of the number 1 scariest film.

Next up is the terrifying classic Misery. A novelist crashes his car and is rescued by one of his fans who decides she will look after him until he is better…and not tell anyone about this. Things get dark very quickly and the audience comes to realise that the word “fan” doesn’t really do her feelings justice. A particular scene with a sledgehammer is seared into my memory. Toxic fandom is definitely an issue being addressed today and the idea of what this particular novelist “owes” this particular fan drives the film.

Christian Bale played one of the great horror movie villains in American Psycho. While Patrick Bateman does kill many people what is scarier is his attitude throughout, more upset about dinner reservations and business cards than all the dead bodies piling up around him. The cold sociopathy that seems to be displayed by Bateman is very chilling and the fact that he so seamlessly blends in with “normal” people, indeed, would seem to be a picture of a thriving and successful person can make you take second glances at some of the normal people around you.

“We’re Not Keeping You Here, You’re Just Staying” Green Room

Whilst not a situation everyone will find themselves in Green Room is a terrifying film, a punk band accidentally find themselves playing to Neo-Nazis, this is bad enough but after an altercation in the green room leads to a horrific siege from the neo-nazis as the band barricade themselves inside. How close we are to dangerous people can be an unsettling fact – the band finds this gig through an interview, in a sort-of friend-of-a-friend situation. Are your friends of friends people you should be scared of?

“Beauty Isn’t Everything. It’s The Only Thing” The Neon Demon

For the vast majority of the film Neon Demon is not a horror but a rather sad look at fashion, beauty and what people will do to be beautiful. And then it absolutely becomes genuinely horrific incredibly quickly. What exactly are the people around you, perhaps your professional competitors, prepared to do to succeed? How far will they go?

“Come, It’s Time To Keep Your Appointment With The Wicker Man” The Wicker Man

A film that works as horror in several ways is All My Friends Hate Me. Those who suffer from anxiety will probably be familiar with the creeping thought that all of your friends secretly hate you. After a few years apart a birthday prompts a reunion of a group of old university friends with Pete feeling out of step with his friends (who are incredibly posh). Mistrust, suspicion, paranoia both of your normal social relationships and terrifying and sinister plots runs throughout the film.

Now as we get into the still possible but getting more and more unlikely – The Wicker Man. One of the great horror films of all time The Wicker Man follows a pious police officer searching for a missing child on Summer Isle. As the police officer searches he quickly comes to the conclusion something terrible has happened to the little girl, connected to the harvest on the island. While there is perhaps a supernatural motivation behind what is going on there is no actual evidence of anything supernatural actually happening. Everyone who has seen this film and isn’t from a very rural area will always have a shiver of fear upon entering the rural world, what old traditions lurk there?

This almost shouldn’t be on the list and when I first saw this film it wouldn’t have been on it, but The Road is another horror film with no supernatural elements to it. In a post-apocalyptic world, a father and son wander the land simply trying to survive. It is incredibly bleak. But the cause of this apocalypse seems to be some manner of environmental catastrophe and when The Road was released it was a dire warning of potential future calamity…now it feels distressingly nearby.

Also Read: Review: Totally Killer – A Funny & Enjoyable Horror-Comedy

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This year attendees saw another beautiful horror gallery (from Vice Press), an array of merchandise stalls from Arrow Video, Fab Press, Last Shirt on The Left, Killer Kultpins, FunkeeJunkeeMunkee and more, and themed food from Showroom Cinema. We also had filmmaker masterclasses, live Turbo Kid commentary from filmmakers François Simard and Yoann-Karl Whissell, plus a special 35mm grindhouse experience. 

So how did the films stack up? Here are my ratings and reviews of every film at the festival in 25 words or less. Accompanied by some recommendations for short films I saw.

Reviews

Where The Devil Roams: Beautiful imagery and good performances, though it would have benefited from being a short film (2.5 / 5).

The Origin: A slow, clunky Stone Age survival adventure made passable by a tense third act. Although the explanation behind the stalking force is anticlimactic (2.5 / 5).

The Chapel: The film’s central relationships and exploration of how children process death are interesting however it spins its wheels a lot before the climax (2.5 / 5). 

Pandemonium: This anthology has a fantastic introduction and a standout segment involving a mother and bullied daughter. It’s failed by an excessive ending and confused theming (2.5 / 5).

Freaked: Freaked has glorious effects work but goes for quantity over quality regarding jokes and its plot feels too throwaway (3 / 5).

What You Wish For: Suspenseful cannibal cooking, global south exploitation allegory voted the festival’s best film. Foiled by some bad “lying” performances and convenient plotting (3 / 5). 

It’s A Wonderful Knife: Mostly a predictable slasher riff on It’s A Wonderful Life enlivened by Justin Long’s, Jane Widdop’s, Jess McLeod’s, and Katherine Isabelle’s great performances (3 / 5).

Lady Terminator: Our grindhouse screening and the festival’s best theatrical experience. Bloody, fast-paced, unintentionally funny and so playfully poor taste it’s hard to get angry (3 / 5). 

#Manhole: A gripping simple premise quickly becomes so overcomplicated it detracts from the drama. Thankfully Yûto Nakajima’s performance and the over-the-top ending make #Manhole watchable (3 / 5). 

All You Need Is Blood: A fun amalgamation of other ideas explored during the festival. Unfortunately, it suffers from an uneven tone and trying to do too much (3 / 5).

Hellbound: Hellraiser II: Introduces great new characters and features excellent effects work but it lacks the original’s impact due to the peeling away of the villains’ mystery (3 / 5).

Turbo Kid: This slight coming-of-age story has a lovely central relationship, charming effects, and Michael Ironside is gloriously villainous. The live commentary was wonderful (3 / 5).

T Blockers: Packed with an envigorating liberatory message and affectionate characterisation (Sophie is among 2023’s best characters). The horror elements just needed better incorporation (3 / 5).

Falling Stars: The characters make this work. Everyone feels so genuine you get completely swept up in their journey and the tension is built masterfully (3.5 / 5). 

Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The schlocky genre affection radiates off the screen. Consistently funny with outstanding effects (3.5 / 5).

We Are Zombies: A zombie genre reinvigoration that loses its way by the end but has enough guffaws (insensitive moments aside) and guts to satisfy genre fans (3.5 / 5).

Loop Track: Thomas Sainsbury’s anxious performance and a masterful balance of serious and comedic tones make Loop Track an effective paranoid ride (3.5 / 5).

Stopmotion: A well-made nightmare about the creative process that features tremendous animation and a fierce performance from Aisling Franciosi (4 / 5). 

Shorts

Now here are the best short films.

Women’s Stories: Only Yourself to Blame and Incubus provide haunting looks at the consequences of sexual violence, meanwhile Vibrator Girl hilariously looks at how patriarchy frames women’s pleasure.

 Scary: Butterscotch and Stop Dead had some of the festival’s scariest monsters and moments.

Award Winner: You’re Not Home is a disturbingly real look at racism and the asylum system’s inadequacy. The 1st place jury prize winner. 

Conclusion

Celluloid Screams 2023 continued the high standards expected by attendees. The new additions were definitely welcome and the programming was as amazing as ever. Showing that come rain or shine Celluloid Screams will always give genre fans what they need.

Also Read: Horror Films To Enjoy During The Long Dark Winter Months

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What’s Going On?

In the 80s Pam was a Queen Bee Mean Girl who was targeted by a serial killer who murdered three of her friends over the course of several days. The killer was never caught. Jumping to the present day her daughter Jamie deals with typical teenage life in a town made famous by a serial killer and a mother who takes the safety of her daughter very seriously. When the killer returns and kills Pam in the present Jamie travels back in time to the original murders, trying to stop them, solve the case and save her mother.

In Front Of The Camera

The central character is Jamie, played by Kiernan Shipka, probably best known for her role as Sally Draper in Mad Men, where she regularly upstaged the rest of the cast with her brilliant acting. Pam, Jamie’s mother, is played by Julie Bowen in the present day and Olivia Holt in the 80s. Julie Bowen will be known to millions as Claire Dunphy in Modern Family and Olivia Holt starred as Dagger, in Cloak & Dagger.

Shipka is great, shifting from annoyance to bemusement to horror at the way the 1980s were, as well as showing a lot of emotion. The actors who play the 80s are also lots of fun, Holt and her three friends standing as examples of a more fun and blunt age – or crueller and more selfish, depending on your point of view.

Does It Work?

Totally Killer is a ridiculous film but it is aware of this. The central premise of Jamie’s high school best friend managing to build a time machine is stretching credulity to impossible demands. If you cannot accept this leap of oddness this may not be the film for you.

The film is parodying two film genres – slasher horror and time travel movies. Back To The Future is repeatedly referenced as well as the various problems time travel causes, best elucidated by referencing more time travel films. Scream is another film that is referenced, already a film that is wrapped up in meta-commentary of slasher horror films. And then the film is also parodying 80s movies, or perhaps just the 80s. The Gen Z Jamie is appalled by much of what she sees and hears – casual racism, homophobia and misogyny amongst them, and even when she directly calls it out the 80s teens will essentially admit that’s what it is – they just don’t care. The weight of all of these parodies and references does threaten to implode the whole film and it is by no means completely staving off the implosion. Another feature which I’m sure is intentional but not entirely successful is the amount of people who are hinted at being the killer – just about everyone apart from Jamie and the actual victims has a suspicion of killer thrown on them.

The film doesn’t add a great deal to horror but it does some stuff that I’ve rarely seen in films about time-travel – things like the consequences of the changes actually mattering, how those in the “Present” see things change as Jamie changes the “Past”. The whole time travel situation is not neatly wrapped up.

If you can get past some of the more absurd parts of it and can get on board with a lot of pop culture references Totally Killer is a lot of fun and can be very funny. Horror comedy as a genre can be very difficult but the film strikes a good balance, and while perhaps never genuinely scary the film has good moments of tension. The serial killer’s premise, that he stabs his victims sixteen times, leads to some pretty brutal murder scenes.

Totally Killer is a silly film and its premise and plot shake under the most gentle of inspections but it is a funny and enjoyable film with some great moments.

Rating: (3.5 / 5)

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The Vampire Diaries television series, produced by Warner Brothers from 2009 to 2017, was based on the popular book series by L.J. Smith. Originally written in the early 1990s, the series told the dark, gothic tale of a human teenage girl torn between two vampire brothers. 

The Show Inverts Typical Love Triangle Tropes

The CW series took the basic characters, structure, and setting of the original book series, but added new twists. For example, In the show Elena Gilbert has a high-school age brother named Jeremy, who becomes a vampire hunter. In the book series, Elena has a baby sister named Margaret. 

The central narrative focuses on the love triangle between human teen Elena (Nina Dobrev) and vampire brothers Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder). Stefan and Damon were humans who lived in Mystic Falls in 1864, before transitioning into vampires. Stefan represents the good side of the vampire spectrum, as a reformed killer who survives on animal blood. Bad boy Damon kills and feeds without conscience or consequence. 

Elena’s romance with Stefan is explored in the show’s first three seasons, while Damon is an antagonist in their relationship. These first two seasons position Stefan as a hero and Damon as a villain, highlighting them as foils and rivals. Elena and Damon’s romantic relationship begins in season four and continues through Dobrev’s exit from the show in season seven. 

The love triangle between Elena, Stefan, and Damon is further complicated by the show’s backstory. Katherine, the vampire who sired Stefan and Damon, enters the narrative in season two. Katherine is Elena’s doppelgänger, and they look exactly alike, which further complicates the love triangle. Dobrev portrayed both Katherine and Elena on the show, skillfully taking on the two distinct and iconic roles. 

The central narrative of a human caught between two vampires inverts once Katherine arrives in season two. The 19th-century triangle shows vampire Katherine manipulating the affections of the human Salvatore brothers. The present-day love triangle shows a human Elena caught between the undead Salvatore brothers. In both narratives, Wesley and Somerhalder play their characters so emphatically and convincingly that there is no clear winner for Elena’s affection.

The Vampire Diaries has the Hallmarks of Classic Gothic Romances

The Vampire Diaries has the hallmarks of a classic gothic romance. Mystic Falls has a spooky, atmospheric setting. The town’s long, complicated history and genealogy provide opportunities to explore different plotlines. Scenes are frequently set in the spooky, foreboding forest. Many of the homes are old, gothic mansions. The Salvatore Boarding House and Lockwood Mansion are prominent, spooky settings on the show. Setting plays an important role in the narrative since vampires must be invited into a home in order to enter it.  

A gothic romance also heavily features Byronic heroes and a damsel in distress. Stefan and Damon have features of classic Byronic heroes. They have magnetic charm, yet a mysterious, brooding demeanour that sets them apart. Elena takes on the damsel role, often needing to be rescued from the various troubles she finds herself in. As the series progresses, Elena takes on a more active role and often ends up saving Stefan and Damon from various threats.

Supernatural elements are prominent in a gothic romance. Throughout its eight-season run, The Vampire Diaries’ plot included vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts, and sirens. Each of these supernatural creatures had powers that wreaked havoc on the characters and provided obstacles to the love triangle in the central narrative. 

The ominous setting, supernatural elements, and compelling characters make The Vampire Diaries stand out as a modern gothic romance.   

Also Read: What We Do In The Shadows & Unusual Vampires

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New York: The city that never sleeps

Set a year after Scream (2022), half-sisters Tara (Jenna Ortega) and Sam (Melissa Barrera) move from Woodsboro to Big Apple alongside fellow survivors Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown). They hope to finally escape their past, move forward and enjoy their lives. However, it seems that dread and murder find them wherever they go. Soon after their arrival, a series of brutal murders happen, inspired by Ghostface, the Stab movies and everything that has to do with it. Someone is continuing the work of the likes such as Billy Loomis, Roman Bridger, Jill Roberts and Stu Macher and again, the “core four,” as the group calls themselves, fear for their lives.

However, with Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and former classmate/now FBI detective Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), they decide to try and get rid of Ghostface once and for all, but during Halloween night, New York is full of people in Ghostface costumes. Will they be able to find the real killer and bring him to justice?

The perfect combination of nostalgia and modern aspects

When watching Scream VI, it’s clear that this movie wants to honour its predecessors in the best way possible. Think of the massive shrine the killer has set up, Mindy’s monologue about the different elements of a horror slasher movie and the many subtle and not-so-subtle mentions of horror classics. But it’s not all about tradition in this movie. No, by swapping Woodsboro for New York, the filmmakers can use brand-new ideas. A bigger city, more people, and more potential victims all lead to a more inventive, bloodier and funnier film.

While the ‘core four’ certainly has more fun in this movie, they can’t fully enjoy it because Ghostface is always right behind them. With a higher population, the Big Apple is the perfect playground for Ghostface and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin (Ready or Not, Devil’s Due) and Tyler Gillett (V/H/S, Ready or Not). This is highlighted during the subway scene and the bloody and adrenaline-fueled climax. We even dare to say that Scream VI might have the best opening scene since the first movie. We don’t see much of Samara Weaving (The Babysitter, Babylon), but she undoubtedly impacts with her strong performance. 

A new environment, the same old great performances

Speaking of solid performances, both Barrera (In the Heights, Carmen) and Ortega (X, The Fallout) absolutely carry this movie. You might not have liked Sam in Scream (2022), but we’re confident you will change your mind when watching this film. Ghostface having even more rage and a sharper tongue and knife ensures that Sam has to step up her game, and Barrera does that. Her fierce, strong and clever performance ensures you will sympathize and root for Sam.

Barrera’s on-screen sisterhood with Ortega is extremely powerful. This is also because Ortega is in top form. After being stuck in the hospital for most of the previous film, she now gets to shine, and that’s precisely what she does! She’s finally allowed to have fun, stab around and bring out the badass in her. Do we have a new scream queen on her hands? Maybe not, cause Tara still feels a bit underdeveloped.

Because Sidney Prescott didn’t return to this movie, Gale Weathers gets a lot more screen time, and Cox (Scream, 3000 Miles to Graceland) certainly grabs that opportunity with both hands! Weathers is finally standing face-to-face with Ghostface, resulting in a standout scene and a knockout performance by Cox. She brings both power and humour to this movie. While the return of Panettiere (Custody, The Forger) as Kirby is wonderful to see, her excellent acting doesn’t come through as much due to the unfortunate wig and mainly supporting role. It’s only during that climax scene that Panettiere can show us what she got.

Scream is bloodier, creepier and funnier than ever!

After the release of Scream (2022), fans were questioning how the franchise could stay alive after Craven’s death. With his death, we lost a master in horror, but directors Gillett and Bettinilli-Olpin know what they’re doing. They have proven that by creating a frighting 2022 film and even bloodier, creepier, funnier Scream VI. Thanks to the many plot twists that certainly keep you on your toes, the standout performances, and the many wonderful easter eggs, the Scream franchise is still very much alive!

Scream VI is out now in U.K. cinemas

Rating: (4.5 / 5)

Also Read: The Future of Scream Without Sidney Prescott

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So now, with the news that Saw X is going to be released later this year, we thought we would have a little fun and look at 10 interesting facts related to the franchise. Let’s begin.

The Short That Changed Everything

The series was actually born from a short film that James Wan and Leigh Whannell made in 2003. It wowed producers Mark Burg, Greg Hoffman and Oren Koules that they decided to ask Wan and Whannell to make a feature out of the concept. The rest is horror movie history.

One of the Highest-Grossing Horror Franchises

Before the release of the supposed final film in 2010 Guinness World Records dubbed the series to be the most successful horror franchise in history. With the then 6 films earning around $733 million at the box office. While it has since been surpassed by other horror franchises the series’ overall box office today sits at just over $1 billion. Considering the total budget of every film adds up to $95 million, that means the franchise has made more than 10 times its collective budget in profit. Not bad for a bunch of small splatter films.

There Will Be Blood

While many critics view the franchise as solely exploitative torture porn the franchise did do one very good thing. Every film in the series, except for Saw 3D and Spiral, had a tie-in advertising campaign encouraging people to give blood to the Red Cross. The Halloween Blood Drive was a huge success and even helped to challenge the prejudice around LGBTQIA+ donations.

Sue-Saw

Actor Cary Elwes who plays Doctor Gordon in the original Saw filed a lawsuit in 2005 against his management company and the film’s producers over claims that he had not received all the money he was promised for starring in the film (including 1% of the producer’s profits). The suit was later settled out of court and he returned to his beloved role for the then series’ finale.

Bell and Chainsaws

Tobin Bell was a prolific character actor before the Saw series. However, according to IMDb the first industry award he was ever given was the 2006 Fangoria Chainsaw Best Villain award which he won for Saw II. Later he won the 2009 Eyegore Award for Best Villain in a Film Series and was inducted into Fangoria’s Hall of Fame in 2010. Cementing Jigsaw as the role Tobin will be best remembered for.

Leave Them Wanting Saw

Saw III currently has the longest runtime in the franchise at 108 minutes.

A Scream Queen

One of the better-regarded films in the franchise, Saw VI, has a number of memorable scenes. These include the opening trap where two predatory loaners must cut off parts of their own bodies to determine who survives. Simone, the survivor of the test, was played by Tanedra Howard, who won the role after competing in the game show Scream Queens.

Series Kill Count

According to the YouTube series Dead Meat the Franchise collectively has a body count of 104 people (including Detective Hoffman). Saw 3D had the highest number of victims at 27. While Saw and Saw V have the joint lowest with only 6 victims. 

Spiralling Out

Spiral is so far the only Saw film where Tobin Bell does not physically appear as Jigsaw. Though his photo does appear.

Unexpected Guiding Hand

Aside from James Wan another director has been credited on every entry in this series. Kevin Greutert directed Saw VI, Saw 3D and will direct Saw X. He also edited Saws 1-5 and Jigsaw and was an executive producer on Spiral. As an integral part of the series, it’s a shame he isn’t spoken of as highly as other key creatives.

Those are just some of the many intriguing facts about the series. With Saw X coming soon we will surely have even more bloody anecdotes to digest for years to come. Game over.

Also Read: The Terrifier 2, Cocaine Bear & Winne the Pooh Highlight A Changing Horror Landscape

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Vampires in Winter

There are places in the world where it gets really dark. 30 Days of Night is set in one such place, a town in northern Alaska where they have a thirty-day period of darkness every winter. Naturally, this is an appealing site for vampires and one year they descend upon the isolated town. There is a slow build of tension as people report phones being sabotaged and pets killed – to make the population more isolated and vulnerable – and then the vampires attack. There is a great scene of the initial attack, people dragged from their homes by vampires, people being chased down, it even includes an aerial shot showing the bloodbath from above. Frostbite has a similar premise but this time it’s a small town in Sweden. Frostbite has more comedic moments than 30 Days of Night and isn’t as good a film but it does have some great moments – such as the local police have detained a vampire in a cell but obviously have no understanding of what it is they’re dealing with and a simple questioning requires full riot gear.

Let The Right One In is another example of great winter horror and is an absolute masterpiece. Set in Sweden the story revolves around children Oskar and Eli, the latter we learn is a vampire, and while she looks like a child is very old. The film is very dark in every sense of the word with so much of it set at night – it turns out vampires quite like dark winter locations. As well as being genuinely horrific it is genuinely moving and one of the great horror films whatever time of year.

Winter In Space

Space can be a great parallel for winter. It’s cold, it’s dark, and it’s simultaneously lonely but you’re stuck with people. One of the most underrated films ever made is Moon – Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell; who is left on a station on the moon conducting mining work with his only companion the station’s AI. Or so we think. Not long into the film Sam finds another person, someone in one of the automated vehicles, already this is weird as he believed he was the only person on the moon, but the person is his exact double.

It has been said before but Alien is a horror film set in space and if you’re looking for isolation and the idea that if you dare step outsides the confines of your home/spaceship you will need extensive protective outerwear to survive and may well not return then Alien is the film for you. In Alien outside is a dangerous place and it is where the horrors will come from, don’t go outside and don’t let those who do bring the cold back in with them.

There is a sci-fi film that mixes the isolation, cold and darkness of space with bright light and heat and this is Sunshine. The film follows a team of astronauts and scientists who have a mission to save the sun, so it is cold, it is dark and they are alone, but there is also the sun. One crew member has taken to staring at the sun through a protective screen, and even with the screen it is doing damage to his skin, but nonetheless, he is compelled to do it.

It’s Just Really Cold

The Thing is a classic horror in terms of isolation and the cold as a research team in Antarctica are attacked by a shapeshifting alien. The cold is a constant presence and limiting factor for the team, to leave their base to escape the alien is to invite hypothermia. After the grotesque special effects, some of the most memorable shots of the film are of Kurt Russell bundled in a huge coat with snow in his beard. One of the key elements at the end of the film is whether you can see the breath of the remaining characters because of the cold.

It’s impossible to not mention The Shining, not only one of the greatest films ever made but it has a lot of snow, and isolation is very much the point of it. Indeed some people think that there are no ghosts, that there is nothing supernatural going on and Jack is driven to insanity by the isolation. The family are more or less trapped in the snow-covered hotel, and when Dick Hallorann comes to rescue the family it becomes an arduous journey through the elements. It is a film that gets anyone thinking about how they would handle such an extended period of isolation. The hotel, even when it is the only Torrance family staying there, seems inviting and warm, it is bright and comfortable, contrasting with the ever-grimmer weather outside. And – spoiler alert ahead – it is the weather that actually saves Wendy and Danny with their father freezing to death.

Also Read: 10 Iconic Horror Movie Masks

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Sci-Fi: Crimes Of The Future

In Crimes of the Future pain is mostly a thing of the past because of implied evolution. And some people are now able to grow extra organs. But others have evolved further, now being able to eat and digest plastics along with other undigestable materials. Something which the government wants to suppress. Featuring such intriguing concepts as theatrical live organ transplants, human bodily evolution to adapt to a decaying world and surgery being so commonplace it is considered “the new sex”, David Cronenberg’s return to body horror encourages much discussion thanks to the many thought-provoking ideas that populate this fascinating world.

Comedy Action: Everything Everywhere All At Once

When the year started everyone wanted to see how Doctor Strange’s sequel would showcase the creative possibilities of the multiverse. But Everything Everywhere All At Once managed to capture viewer adoration more. And it used the multiverse concept as an excuse to showcase a number of creative and hilarious ideas. Including using technology to access skills possessed by different versions of oneself in the multiverse, showcasing a diverse array of parallel worlds that feature such great ideas as humans having sausages for fingers, humans being controlled by raccoons, and the main characters becoming rocks and an apocalyptic doomsday device made from a snack. All of which was accomplished on a $25 million budget. 8 times less than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Showing that the multiverse has such big creative potential even smaller productions can use it to showcase fantastic ideas.

Thriller: Fall

Movies primarily based around one location are nothing new. Fall however bases its central plot around two friends scaling up and then trying to get down from a 2000-foot-high TV tower. This conceit not only provides a thrilling setting for most of its action but allows for a constantly high amount of tension to be present even during mundane scenes. This is thanks to the high winds at such heights and the small surface area not providing many opportunities for respite. Plus being up so high provides great explanations for common problems viewers have with many of these thrillers. Such as why don’t the protagonists just call for help? High-altitude thrillers are always a guaranteed source of tension. And the conceit to set one atop such a thin, high structure paid off.

Horror: Hatching

Hatching concerns a child facing incredible pressure from her mother. She subsequently takes care of an egg which eventually hatches into a monstrous creature. It then begins taking on more of the girl’s likeness and violently acting out. Hatching’s central idea is a perfect allegory for how abusive parental pressure negatively impacts and shapes children. The creature acts as a great metaphor for the child’s mental health. Demonstrating once again that horror is a perfect genre for using creative ideas to address bigger issues.

Action: Prey

How do you revive interest in the predator franchise when only the first one is universally considered a good film? You go back to the series’ roots, having the predator attack a group of people in a sparsely populated area while offering something new by setting the film in the 1700s. The era of colonial expansion. This conceit of placing the technologically futuristic predator during this era instantly stacks the odds against our main characters and provokes discussion of colonialism and power. Additionally, the film gives us diverse, fully-rounded indigenous protagonists, and centralizes their voices in depictions of their cultural history. Instead of having them act in service of someone else’s story.

These were just a small sampling of creative ideas that we got to see this year. So please make sure to let us know any creative movies you particularly gravitated towards. And let’s hope 2023 continues to provide us with more genius film ideas.

Also Read: The Impact: How Dozens of Filmmakers Around The World Crowd-Created A Film About The Apocalypse

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This year we saw film worker Q&As and introductions, and stalls from Arrow Video, Last Shirt on the Left, HotFoodSheffield, and more. Surprisingly we also got to enjoy an event menu in the Showroom Cafe Bar, as well as a Celluloid Screams branded beer, Jim’ll Paint It’s excellent artwork was displayed throughout the cinema and the festival even hosted a live event experience. Giving this year’s festival some nice variety.

But now it’s time to review and rank every movie I saw at Celluloid Screams 2022, from worst to best in 25 words or less. Additionally, like last year, I will give you some short film recommendations at the end.

Reviews

Wolf Manor: Some minor laughs from ridiculing on-set power dynamics don’t prevent the bland performances and poor staging from tearing this werewolf movie apart. (2 / 5)

Matriarchy: This year’s audience award winner is destined to become a so-bad-it’s-good classic. With its hammy acting, gloriously ridiculous writing, and surprisingly great effects. (2 / 5)

Megalomaniac: Realistic handling of abusive power dynamics and Eline Schumacher’s resonant performance, unfortunately, give way to something more conventional that provides little beyond shock value.  (2.5 / 5)

Evil Eye: Ofelia Medina is the reason to see this movie. Her passion and energy are amazing. Shamefully nothing else in the movie matches her.  (2.5 / 5)

The Elderly: Zorion Eguileor and Paula Gallego’s performances, the suspense, and high-scale finale are laudable. Unfortunately, that goodwill fades thanks to baffling decisions making many characters unlikeable. (2.5 / 5)

V/H/S/99: Parts of this movie are boring, leery, and poorly structured. But three-fifths is inventive, ambitious, and well-done storytelling. Just skip stories 1 and 4. (3 / 5)

The Leech: Sometimes The Leech cheaply paints homeless characters as “parasitic”. Overall though it’s a great satire of how destructive extremist Christian views are. Perfect Christmas viewing. (3 / 5)

The Passenger: Paula Gallego’s second great performance this year. Definitely a future star. Despite an unlikable lead and overly familiar setup, it’s a fun b-movie throwback. (3 / 5)

Barbarian: Constantly shifting focus and stakes make Barbarian an exciting ride. Even if by the end it feels rather lacking in impact. (3 / 5)

Holy Sh*t: This portaloo thriller initially feels stagey and narratively frustrating. But an over-the-top second half and Gedeon Burkhard’s deliciously evil performance help salvage it. (3 / 5)

Something in the Dirt: Although Benson and Moorhead’s films (Synchronic aside) never fully satisfy me, it’s good seeing filmmakers exploring complex ideas and creating rich characters over spectacle. (3 / 5)

Bubba Ho-Tep: Some of Bubba Ho-Tep’s writing and editing are juvenile 2000s relics. Conversely, Ossie Davis’ charm and Bruce Campbell’s comedic timing carry it over those hurdles. (3 / 5)

Ghostwatch (Live Experience): It’ll never recapture its broadcast’s shock factor. That said the live experience added lots of atmosphere and Ghostwatch remains a well-photographed, piece of TV history. (3 / 5)

Watcher: Maika Monroe can do no wrong. The forced final coda and the movie’s slow pace don’t keep it from being an effective gaslighting thriller. (3.5 / 5)

The Harbinger: A dark lament for those we lost (and now seemingly have forgotten) during the Pandemic. With one of the year’s most frightening villains. (3.5 / 5)

Huesera: The excellent cast and effective direction anchor this creepy story about societal expectations’ impact on motherhood. My favourite new release from the festival. (3.5 / 5)

Evil Dead 2: 35 years later almost nothing tops Evil Dead 2’s sheer energy, enthusiasm, and imagination.  (4.5 / 5)

Shorts

And what were Celluloid Scream’s short highlights?

Comedy: The pooch slasher Good Boy, werewolf howler The Wilds and the sweet personal favourite Unicorn all provided some much-needed laughs.

Drama: The bitterly depressing Everybody Goes to the Hospital and the gothic Memento Mori animation effectively made us empathise with our fellow human beings.

Historical: Facies (El Semblante) was a horrific look at the torture inflicted during witch trials.

Conclusion

2022 was another great year for Sheffield’s perennial horror festival. Even if the features didn’t hit the highs of last year the new experiences, great shorts, atmosphere and standout moments left me hungry for more. 2023 can’t come soon enough.

Also Read: Screaming Again: Celluloid Screams 2021

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Evil is on the run again!

Halloween is around the corner, and in recent years, it was the period during which the inhabitants of Haddonfield took precautions to stay out of the hands of Michael Myers. However, not this time. No one has seen the killer in many years and even Laurie and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) seem to have turned a leaf on the dark past. Laurie writes her autobiography while Allyson is a nurse at the local hospital. Allyson’s life is about to become much brighter when Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), who injured himself after a brawl, enters the hospital.

Both take an immediate interest in each other, and soon they go on a first date. They realize that they have a lot in common, including what seems to be a dark past. When Laurie meets Corey, the anger, darkness, and emptiness in his eyes reveal more about him than she wants. While she wants to warn Allyson about it, the latter seems to have entirely fallen into Corey’s hands. Will Halloween once again be a dark day for Laurie, Allyson, and Haddonfield, or will they have a peaceful Halloween?

“When is someone going to get murdered?”

When reading the synopsis, you would think that Halloween Ends is one of those movies in which blood and murder fill the screen every minute. Even more so when you know that we didn’t describe the vicious murders that get this film going. However, apart from that murder, you have to wait for ages before another body turns up. When we watched the movie, an audience member shouted, “When is someone going to get murdered?” We fully agreed with his question. Most of the film is about Laurie writing her biography and Allyson finding the happiness she deserves. There are sinister figures, extremely recognizable masks and gruesome bodies, but those are rarities, especially during the film’s first part.

If you’re wondering when Myers appears for the first time (apart from during the flashback to the 2018 movie), be prepared, it takes a while before he makes his entrance. He’s not as present as he should have been, but when Myers appears, he’s as compelling and horrifying as always. It’s clear that director David Gordon Green (Halloween Kills, Stronger) and his writing team want to take the Halloween franchise in another direction for the last film, but was that a good idea?

Curtis is still the Scream Queen

While there’s a lack of Myers, blood and murder, there’s the usual amount of great acting performances. Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Knives Out) is still the Scream Queen, as her performance is spot on. As Laurie, she captures the perfect balance between being relatively at peace with life and being badass and determined to get rid of all the evil in the world. Matichak (Foxhole, Son) gives a captivating performance as the broken but still headstrong and hopeful Allyson. Campbell (Operation Christmas Drop, Diablo) makes an impressive impact as the innocent looking but with darkness-filled young man.

A bold decision that paid off or the wrong way to end a 40-year-old franchise?

Taking the Halloween franchise in a different direction is something to applaud, but it might have been better if Green and his team didn’t wait until the last film. While the movie introduces a fresh plot and brand-new characters, maybe people just wanted a two-hour slasher movie like the previous ones. Depending on what one you want, you will either love or hate Halloween Ends. But, no matter what you want, you still get a grand finale and stunning acting performances.

Rating: (3 / 5)

Halloween Ends is out now in U.K. cinemas

Also Read: Review: Halloween Kills

Also Read: Women In Horror: An Ode to Laurie Strode

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As well as directing, Peele has made a name for himself producing under his production company, Monkeypaw Productions. His company has been responsible for many other projects, including the recent Candyman, The Twilight Zone and Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman.

Get Out

Peele’s directorial debut propelled him into a household name, alongside its star Daniel Kaluuya. A horror/ thriller focusing on racial tensions, the film follows Chris (Kaluuya) as he meets his white girlfriend’s family. Despite some initial reservations, it turns out Chris has a lot more to be worried about than he first thought. The film was a massive hit, earning over $255 million and becoming the tenth most profitable film of 2017. It was nominated for 3 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Kaluuya, it won the award for Best Orginal Screenplay. Critics have cited it as one of the best films of the 21st Century, and it has remained in the public conversation, thanks to its themes of racial tension.

Us

For his second feature, Peele once again turned to the horror genre. This time leaning fully into the genre as a response to the “genre confusion” of his previous effort. It follows a family who, while on a beach house vacation, are stalked by their doppelgangers. Peele was inspired by an episode of The Twilight Zone and a dark underpass he used to cross as a teenager. Us was also a huge success, bringing in around $255 million and earning praise from critics and audiences, with praise for the direction and Nyong’o’s performance.

Nope

Branching out into science fiction for his third outing, Peele stated that the title was a reference to the reaction he wanted from audiences. Partly inspired by the Covid-19 lockdowns and barrage of negative news headlines in 2020, it follows two siblings who attempt to capture evidence of a UFO. It opened to positive reviews and around $19.5 million on the first day of release. With some reviews noting the Speilbergian feel. Nope has divided some audiences over its story and is unlikely to do as well as his previous efforts due to cinemas still recovering from the pandemic.

What’s Next?

Peele hasn’t given any hints as to his next film, as it’s likely a few years away. It will probably be horror mixed with another genre, although he could feel like moving away from horror, as Nope feels more like an ode to exploratory science fiction films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Whatever Peele’s next project ends up being, it is likely to have something to say and reflect modern life, and something wholly unique.

Also Read: Inside the Mind of Jordan Peele

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Scream (2022) Recap

When Tara Carpenter is attacked by a new Ghostface costumed killer, her half-sister Sam seeks help from Dewey Riley, as he helped with the investigations of all the prior Ghostface killings. Following the murder of several of Sam’s friends and Dewey, news reporter Gale Weathers (Dewey’s ex-wife) and Sidney Prescott (Dewey’s best friend) try to help solve the case. Eventually, the killers are revealed as Stab fans (films based on events seen in the franchise) wanting to provide better material for future Stab filmmakers by getting the oldest Ghostface survivors back together. After helping Tara and Sam defeat the killers Sidney assures Sam that, given time, she will heal from her experiences. Gale commits to eulogizing Dewey rather than publicising the killers before Sam accompanies Tara to the hospital. 

Scream Without Sidney

Many horror fans have asked why Neve Campbell is not returning for Scream 6? In a statement, Campbell said her exit was related to pay. After 25 years with the franchise and fighting hard to be valued in the industry she said she was not offered enough to justify her return. Which is entirely understandable. After all, Neve Campbell has given Scream she has the right to step away if she isn’t paid her worth. Especially given how much the series makes at the box office. But this raises the question, how can the franchise continue without its main star?

Not All Horror Heroes Return

Many of Scream (2022)’s survivors have already been confirmed to be starring in Scream 6. Courteney Cox will be returning as Gale, the only series mainstay, along with prior series cast members like Hayden Panettiere. This is an unusual angle for a long-running horror series to take. Usually by the sixth entry horror franchises have become about new characters fighting the series killer. But pivoting to lesser-known characters has worked in the past.

The Saw franchise for example was originally a mystery before turning its focus to Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) in Saw 2 and 3. Then after his death Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), a minor Saw 3 character, became the lead antagonist. With Jigsaw remaining a constant fixture through flashbacks. And after Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t return as Laurie Strode for Halloween 4 the Halloween series made Laurie’s daughter Jamie (Danielle Harris) the series protagonist. Meanwhile, Donald Pleasence continued appearing as series mainstay Dr. Sam Loomis.

Although the choices of these series displeased some fans of the established leads they ensured that their series went on. These approaches provided series continuity. They also kept fans on board by including other beloved characters in their stories. And because the writers focused on making Jamie and Hoffman interesting they quickly became fan favourites. So as long as Scream’s good character writing remains intact and they don’t ruin Sidney’s legacy by killing her off-screen the series could go on with new leads.

Can Scream 6 Succeed?

Some may say continuing the Scream films without Campbell means the series will lose its unique identity. But both the TV series and Scream (2022) managed to shift the focus in whole or in part onto new protagonists. Despite mixed critical reception, the series lasted 3 seasons and Scream (2022) earned over $140 million worldwide. Proving that the franchise can continue and be popular without focusing on Sidney.

Unfortunately, the films have wrung every drop out of satirizing slasher films. So short of a full reboot if the series is to remain ongoing Sidney can’t be a constant forever. But with interesting new leads like Sam and Tara and legacy actors still on board the series has the potential to please fans old and new. Of course, Sidney could always return if next time the studio makes Neve Campbell a better offer. But why bring back one of the most beloved final girls when you can save some money?

Also Read: Carry On Screaming: Scream 5 Revives The Series

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Jack Griffin – The Invisible Man (1933)

Ironically Jack Griffin’s bandage mask reveals more about him than if he remained maskless. But the mystery it initially generates as we wonder what is underneath his bandages is what helps to draw everyone into the story.

Christiane – Eyes Without A Face (1960)

The mask Christiane wears while her face is being reconstructed is really unsettling. Its neutral expression feels lifeless and devoid of emotion, a far cry from Christiane’s actual face. Expressionless masks producing horrifying results is now a genre staple. But Christiane’s mask is effective more because of how it restricts her displays of emotion.

The Killer – Blood and Black Lace (1964)

Set in the fashion world Blood and Black Lace‘s killer uses a mask that obscures any defining features, to hide their identity. The mask’s pale and smooth nature recalls the look of mannequins and brings about the feeling of the uncanny valley because of how it makes the killer look human and inhuman.

Leatherface – The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

What is scarier than someone wearing a mask made from human skin?

Michael Myers – Halloween (1978)

Blank, pale, emotionless, and with hauntingly dark eyes. Michael Myers’ mask embodies everything evil Dr. Loomis glimpsed when Michael was a child. It has no human feelings, no warmth, and the eyes, meant to give a window to his soul, are in shadow. Not a bad result for a cheap William Shatner mask.

Jason Voorhees – Friday the 13th Part 3 Onwards

Jason’s second mask is now synonymous with the marauding machete murderer. Its effectiveness comes from the fact that it gives away just enough about Jason’s appearance without ever fully revealing everything. Thus everyone is left to dread what is lurking underneath his iconic look.

Silver Shamrock Masks – Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982)

Two factors make these accessories iconic. They are incredibly designed, managing to capture Halloween cultural icons in a definitive way. And the fact that they are not designed to hide killers. They are instead designed to entice and ultimately kill the children that wear them.

Irving Wallace – Stage Fright (1987)

The unmoving eyes of this owl mask really bring across Wallace’s predatory nature. As though he is constantly waiting for a moment to strike. Despite looking heavy enough to hinder the killer’s movement it really taps into a primal animalistic fear.

Button Face – Nightbreed (1990)

Everything about Button Face makes viewers feel uncomfortable. The dark buttons like Michael Myers’ mask effectively remove any empathy we could glean from someone’s eyes. And the off-kilter zipper brings to mind horrifying fables of people with their mouths sewn shut. A masterpiece of simple but effective terror.

Sam – Trick ‘r Treat (2007)

Sam’s mask embodies the spooky spirit of Halloween. The mask has a homemade costume feel. Additionally, it evokes the terror and joy of the season with its happy stitched-on smile, and its overall look resembling sacks worn by hanging victims. But its childlike simplicity puts forward the glee one should approach Halloween with. There’s a reason Sam has become the new mascot for the spookiest time of year.

This ends our rundown of 10 iconic horror movie masks. Unfortunately, with only 10 spaces we had to exclude some fan-favourite choices. So what famous horror masks did we miss out?

Also Read: Netflix Horror Movie Written Entirely Using Artificial Intelligence

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1. Them! (1954)

Giant monsters were nothing new by 1954 but Them! was one of the first movies to capitalise on fears of the atomic age. Its villains are ants who have become giants because of nuclear mutation and who proceed to rampage across New Mexico. Them! was mildly successful at the time and remains well-regarded today. This is thanks to fantastic special effects which make the giant ants feel real and transforms seemingly harmless insects into a terrifying threat.

2. Night of the Lepus (1972)

A bold choice for a horror villain. After a wild rabbit population explosion leads to crop devastation across America, scientists are called in to stop the problem. When one rabbit gets loose after being experimented on though, the local bunnies become larger in size and much more violent. Night of the Lepus did relatively well at the box office and is now considered a cult classic for good reason. Trying to make rabbits into horror monsters is laughable. No matter how much blood you splatter on them bunnies are just too cute to scare anyone. But this bold villain choice coupled with the fact that the film takes its premise seriously has led many to embrace it as a so-bad-its-good favourite.

3. Roar (1981)

Here is a hard watch. Roar is about a man living in a nature reserve alongside Lions, Tigers, Elephants, etc trying to study them. However, when his wife and children come to visit he must try to rescue them from his wild friends. But the film’s plot is largely meaningless. People watch this infamous cause celebre for the insane human and animal interactions. And while this film’s production antics were dangerous and irresponsible it’s hard to argue against its effectiveness. It is amazing and terrifying to see how animals interact in an unrestrained way around humans. And It shows why animals like big cats make good cinematic villains. Because their size, power, and unreadable body/facial language is frightening to those unfamiliar with them. 

4. Sharknado (2013)

This franchise launcher follows a group of people trying to survive in Los Angeles when a tornado hits. The problem is that the storm is carrying hundreds of sharks inside. Sharknado amped the tired shark movie premise up to 11 by combining a disaster movie and an animal attack movie. The result is hugely entertaining. With sharks already a go-to villain because of their perceived ferocity and relentless drive, containing them in a tornado was a stroke of genius. Because it means that sharks can get you even on land. And the film’s social media success led to a 6 film franchise full of hilarious carnage. 

All these films show that animals are a great source of entertainment and horror within cinema thanks to the ways they fracture our sense of safety and superiority. Them! and Night of the Lepus take animals we see as innocent and turn them into apocalyptic threats. Roar creates anxiety about how we cannot understand animals and Sharknado shows that humanity is still struggling against new natural threats. Demonstrably animal attack films, even over-the-top examples, are still capable of evoking something primal in us, like fear or laughter. Both emotions that cinemagoers love experiencing.

Also Read: The Ingredients Of A Cult Classic

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These questions plague James (Harry Shum Jr.) in Broadcast Signal Intrusion. Working as a video archivist in 1999 Chicago, he stumbles across a similar signal hijacking. As he investigates, he begins to discover the conspiracy behind them, which may help solve the mystery of his wife’s disappearance…

Feature Presentation

James lives a lonely life since the disappearance of his wife Hanna. He spends his days watching old home videos of her, and attending a support group, while his nights are spent archiving videos. He lives alone and rarely interacts with the group, his only real interaction being with his boss via post-it notes they leave each other. While archiving, he comes across a signal hijacking, and becomes obsessed, needing answers.

The film does an excellent job of evoking the nineties. From the tech and fashion, down to the chunky clicks and tones that the computers and video players make. It sets the tone well, with even scenes set outside in the day, seeming gloomy. Some scenes are lit by nothing but the computer monitor. The signal interruptions themselves are suitably strange, with a creepy mask, weird noises and echoes of the videos made by Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight. It’s the perfect amount of creepy and intriguing, with plenty of elements for the audience to dive into and interpret themselves. Fans of Censor and Archive 81 will feel right at home.

We Interrupt This Broadcast

The film does a good job of drip-feeding information at a good pace but does fall into a trap of many scenes just being exposition sometimes. The mystery itself is compelling, with plenty of twists and turns thrown in. The side characters are all distinct, with most having their own motivations for helping or warning James. Some of these characters get more development than others, with most only having a handful of scenes, as the focus is on James and the tapes. The dialogue between them can be clunky at times, but never enough to be distracting

Although the film follows a compelling mystery, not everything is fully explained. This will likely be divisive for audiences, as it does seem as though answers are likely towards the end. While there is plenty of information to piece together individual theories, there is little that is concrete or definitive. Some characters are deliberately vague or offer a conflicting account to another. Sometimes the answers given do not fit with what James already knows, raising further questions. In that sense the film gets you inside its main character’s head. Everything is filtered through his perspective, and the question of how reliable a point of view James can be is for the audience to decide.

Rating: (3.5 / 5)

Offering a lovingly recreated 90’s world and a compelling mystery based on real-life, Broadcast Signal Intrusion offers more questions than it answers, but shows the way people hold on to any hope after grief, however small. While some may find its lack of clear answers unsatisfying, others will enjoy the lack of them and the untrustworthy nature of those who give them. Like the tapes themselves, it’s the small details that make this so interesting.

Also Read: Video Nasties: The History of Censored Films In The UK

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