Frightday Night Film Recommendations: Even More 80’s Throwbacks?!?

It’s Friday…

Ahem…I mean Frightday…

And I have some recommendations for you to enjoy this weekend…

Okay…This Frightday’s theme is…

Even More 80’s Throwbacks?!?

I know what you’re thinking…

Didn’t you do a list of recommendations like this?

Yep…

Sure did…

Last summer…

I recommended a list of flicks called…

Like Totally Feels Like Those Bitchin’ 80’s Horror Movies…

But here we are less than a year later…

And I have discovered even more 80’s throwbacks…

Apparently the 80’s throwback horror movie is rapidly approaching sub-genre status…

And you know what…

I think that’s like totally tubular.

 

So, let’s take another chronological look at the gnarliest, righteously radical, and most grody to the max, 80’s Throwback Horror Movies from the past few years.

 

Hatchet II (2010) – This is one of those rare moments where I like a sequel as much as the original…And maybe even a bit more…This time around, the film picks up pretty much where we left off…The final girl from the last film, Maryann, has been recast and is now played by child actor turned scream queen, Danielle Harris…She has returned to Louisiana to convince Reverend Zombie, once again played by Tony Todd (Candyman) to head back into the swamp to retrieve the bodies of her father and brother…Once again this film writes a blood-soaked love letter to those glorious 80’s slasher flicks…Not only with it’s story and outlandishly gory practical effects…But with even more horror icon cameos than the first film…Director Tom Holland (Fright Night, Child’s Play) as Maryann’s Uncle Bob…R.A. Mihailoff who played Leatherface in the third installment from that franchise…The director of Cellar Dweller and Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, John Carl Buechler…And of course, Kane Hodder who returns to play both father and son Crowley.

 

Manborg (2011) – The cats from Astron-6 (Father’s Day) are at it again…This time tackling the post apocalyptic sci-fi horror of the 80’s…Now I know this isn’t technically a horror film…But the gore on the floor in these types of films makes them slip and slide quite easily onto this list…Now this film was made for like $2,000 bucks and you know what? For the most part…It looks like it was made for $2,000 bucks…But the practical and make-up effects are on point in this flick…No surprise considering the fact that director Steven Kostanski (The Void) did creature effects for the film, Pacific Rim…This film is super-cheesy…But in a good way…So if you are like me…And sometimes you are in the mood for a little piece of steeenky cheese…Check this hunk of aged cheddar out…You won’t be disappointed.

 

Almost Human (2013) – When I saw the directorial debut of filmmaker, Joe Begos…It smelled like one of those low budget midnight movies that I used to catch on Cinemax, late at night, in the 80’s…This film tells the story of a couple, Mark and Jen, and their third-wheel buddy Seth…One night Seth, played by Graham Skipper (Who appears in three of the films on this list, and briefly in a fourth)…Comes over for a frantic visit…Mark goes outside to investigate what has his friend so spooked, and disappears in a flash of light…Two years later…Mark returns…And golly gee…It sure seems like ol’ Mark has changed a bit in those two years…This was a fun play at the alien abduction scenario…With a dark and unsettling nature that stayed with me for a while after viewing the film.

 

WolfCop (2014) –  What list of 80’s throwbacks would be complete without a story about a small town cop who phones it in from the bottom of a flask…Oh yeah…Did I mention he’s a werewolf? This instant cult classic is hands down on my list of favorite werewolf movies of all time…It blends the horror and the comedy so well…And that’s something that hasn’t been done since American Werewolf in London…As Sergeant Lou Garou (Love the pun here…Loup Garou is actually the French term for Werewolf) begins to transform…He stops being a drunken loser, and starts giving a shit about fighting crime and ultimately the forces of evil…But don’t worry, he’s still a drunk…This is a hysterically funny, super-bloody monster movie….That should not be missed…Oh and keep your eyes peeled for the sequel, Another WolfCop…It was part of last September’s Fantastic Fest, and is rumored to be even more outrageous and better than this one!

 

Lost After Dark (2015) – Longing for an 80’s slasher flick? Already burned through my list of Modern Masked Slasher Films? Well no problem…Put on your leg warmers, put down your Trapper Keeper, heat up some Gino’s Pizza Rolls, and watch this flick, because it has that oh so delicious 80’s feel…And it should…It takes place in 1984…And the story is about a group of teens that leave the dance…Steal a schoolbus in search of a party…Get stranded and hole up in an abandoned house…And get picked off…One by one…First time director, Ian Kessner plays with some of the slasher tropes and keeps the seasoned viewers on their toes…This is by no means “The best 80’s slasher film that wasn’t filmed in the 80’s”…As one of the taglines claimed…But it’s the right amount of good for me.

 

Turbo Kid (2015) – In the same vein as Manborg, this film gives a shout out to those post-apocalyptic 80’s cult classics…This one hits all the marks…The opening credits…The soundtrack…The film itself…All seem like they were plucked from a splintered wooden shelf in the video store that I used to frequent back in the 80’s…It is a gory, splatterfest…A goofy and entertaining action adventure…Hell…It’s like watching a Saturday morning cartoon in 1983 on some really bad acid…And although it may not sound like it…Let me tell ya…That just might be a good thing…And don’t worry…When its over…And you wish you had more…Turbo Kid 2 is in pre-production as we speak.

 

The Mind’s Eye (2015) – This one is the second effort of Joe Begos…Who in case you’ve already forgotten, directed Almost Human (scroll up if you don’t believe me)…Now this film…Yet another 80’s throwback…Took some heat…Critics claimed that it was ripping off Scanners, the Cronenberg classic…Okay…Let’s get something straight…If your film is accused of ripping off a horror classic like Scanners…Then you’re doing something right…Anyway, one person’s rip-off, is another person’s homage…This film like the aforementioned Cronenberg flick…Deals with psychokinesis…Zack Connors, played by Graham Skipper (Here’s film number two) and  Rachel Meadows, played by Lauren Ashley Carter (POD, Jugface)…Are a young couple who were born with these telekinetic abilities…And are being hunted by the mad scientist who kept them as captives while he tried to harness their abilities…I dug this one, folks…I dug it a lot.

Carnage Park (2016) –  This film was directed by Mickey Keating (POD, Darling)…And in it, he tells the throwback tale of a bank heist gone wrong…When Vivian, played by Ashley Bell (The Last Exorcism) is taken hostage by bank robbers, Scorpion Joe and Lenny…She thinks things can’t get much worse…But while running from the cops…Scorpion Joe takes a side road that puts them on the property of one Wyatt Moss, played by the amazing Pat Healy (Cheap Thrills)…And then…Things get worse for Vivian…Much worse…This flick is a wild ride that plays musical chairs with the roles of hunter and prey…And in my opinion kicks a heaping helping of ever-loving ass, too…I loved it.  

 

Beyond The Gates (2016) – How could a flick about a cursed VCR board game not be on this list? Okay this one is about two estranged brothers who have to go back to their father’s video store and clean it out years after his disappearance…Graham Skipper (Here’s film number three) plays Gordon, and Chase Williamson (SiREN, John Dies at the End) plays his brother, John…While going through the contents of the store, they discover a strange VCR Board game that may hold the answers to their father’s disappearance…But to find those answers…They will have to play the game…And that’s when first time director, Jackson Stewart turns the fucked-up dial all the way up to eleven.

 

The Barn (2017) –  After seeing the trailer for this 80’s throwback…I tried everything to get my hands on it…Finally I went to their website, and scored a copy right from the source…This one will end up being a Halloween party selection for years to come…Right up there with Night of the Demons…On Halloween night in the late 80’s and a bunch of partying teens accidentally awaken three evil creatures that could have on their own been a classic 80’s horror icon…The Boogeyman…Is a twisted demonic coal miner, and the apparent leader of the group…The Candycorn Scarecrow…Let me tell ya, he ain’t the same one from that flag your Granny puts out in October…And, Hallowed Jack…This dude looks like he’s walking around with a Silver Shamrock mask on…Except with lit candles for eyes…It was totally bad-ass…The kills…The practical effects…There was even some horror icon street cred with appearnces by the amazing B-Movie Scream Queen, Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead)…And the guy who played Jason Voorhees for the very first time…Way back in the first Friday the 13th film, Ari Lehman…This one had me totally tickled as I went for a fun ride in my way back machine.

Frightday Night Film Recommendations: Even More Zombie Movies?!?

It’s Friday…

Ahem…I mean Frightday…

And I have some recommendations for you to enjoy this weekend…

Okay…This Frightday’s theme is…

Even More Zombie Movies?!?

I’ve recommended hordes of zombie movies…

A couple of years ago I did a list called…

Under The Radar Monster Movies: Zombie Edition…

Then a couple more lists last year…

The first one…

Was a list full of Zom-Coms, or Zomedies…

Then a bunch of international zombie movies that I called…

Globe-Rotters…

But it seems as though the zombie genre is still going strong…

 

So strong in fact…

That I have unearthed even more!

 

So, let’s take a chronological look at even more of the best, most underrated, and possibly even unknown to you, Zombie Movies from the last few years.

 

The Dead (2010) – This gritty zombie film directed by The Ford Brothers feels like it was plucked from relative VHS obscurity…Partly because it was filmed in glorious 35mm…And also because it feels like it’s one of the raw, early, original tales of a zombie apocalypse…Another thing that made this film unique, was the setting…The barren West African wasteland proved to be a perfect location…It was as though the vastness, the miles of nothingness, makes you feel isolated, and vulnerable in a way, that felt like reverse claustrophobia…You start to long for the comfort of confinement…Very cool…Very somber…Very organic zombie flick.

 

Stalled (2013) – I adore this British zombie flick about a janitor who gets trapped in the women’s bathroom during two major events…His company’s holiday party…And  the start of the zombie apocalypse…Christian James directed this zom-com that, although it takes place in a tiny bathroom stall…Actually manages to tell a larger story than most zomedies would ever even dare to attempt…It deals with loneliness…With self-reflection…Hell…It deals with the human condition…Not in a preachy or dogmatic way…As the main character digs deeper and reveals more about himself than he probably wanted to…It adds heart to a film that could have easily resorted to toilet humor…You know…Because it takes place in a toilet.

 

The Dead 2: India (2013) – Sorry…I know you probably hate when I do this…But the sequel to the aforementioned film, The Dead…Rightfully deserves a place on this list…The same directors, The Ford Brothers are back at the helm again…Having the original filmmakers on board always lends much-needed credibility to any sequel…And as the title indicates, the setting of this film moves from Africa and into India…Where we have yet another handy-as-hell hero who has to traverse yet another barren wasteland…This time to reach the love of his life…He is aided by a young orphan boy named, Javed…A boy who serves as a faithful guide to his new protector…And you know what…I kinda dug this one even more than the first one.

 

Open Grave (2013) – I dig Sharlto Copley a lot…Since seeing him for the first time in District 9…I have seen him play good guys, and bad…Each with total believability…But in this film…He plays neither…When he awakens in a huge pit filled with corpses…He has absolutely no idea who he is…Director Gonzalo López-Gallego (Apollo 18) took a unique and original approach to the subject matter…As the tale of the infected…And the mysteries of the main character…Begin to unfold…You will quickly realize that this one isn’t like any other zombie movie…And that ain’t such a bad thing.

 

Cooties (2014) – Another zomedy for you…This one was produced by, and stars Elijah Wood…And tells the story of an elementary school at the precise moment that the befouled chicken nuggets served up in the cafeteria…Cause the ever-loving zombie apocalypse…It’s students against teachers…Kids against grown-ups…In this hysterically funny, fast-paced, super-gory, inappropriate gross-out flick…Co-written by Leigh Whannell, the writer behind the Saw and Insidious franchises…Who also stars as Doug…The quirky and deranged faculty member who helps shed some light on their insane predicament…His explanation for his apparent expertise? This quote sums it up perfectly…

“I learned all about the brain when I had a 6 inch spike lodged in my skull as a child. Which is the reason why you may have noticed that sometimes when I’m talking I use the wrong rowboat.”

Classic.

Extinction (2015) – In this film…We get to see what a zombie apocalypse looked like, if the end of it was punctuated by nuclear winter…The three frosty main characters in this film believe that the zombies have been killed off, or maybe even left, because of their absence during the nine years of perpetual winter…They were wrong…The zombies were not gone…They…Were…Becoming…So first you have a unique setting…Then you have zombies evolving on a genetic level…And that brings me to another unique quality that this zombie film had…Heart…Fans of The Walking Dead will slide easily into this world of fractured family, failed friendships, faltering faith, and forced forgiveness…Much like The Battery, this was another zombie film where the interplay between the characters is as crucial to the storytelling, as the zombies themselves.

 

Maggie (2015) – Here’s another truly unique take on the zombie film…For a number of reasons…This story plays out like a tender, family drama…With an ever-growing zombie apocalypse as it’s backdrop…Another major factor…And it’s gonna sound weird…But…The performance of Arnold Schwarzenegger…I know, I know…The man who mastered the snarky action flick one-liners in the 80’s…Seriously?…But I’m not kidding…He plays a father who protects and grieves over his infected daughter…It was an authentic performance from an unlikely source…He had this broken man vibe throughout the entire film…It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen him do. 

Night of the Living Deb (2015) – Here’s a rom-zom-com…About desperation and obsession…After crushing out on some cute guy at a bar…Waking up hung over next to him in bed…And then discovering that a zombie apocalypse has broken out…Somehow…Deb played brilliantly by Maria Thayer…Only really cares about taking things to the next level…And that’s where this film goes…Takes the initial idea of the rom-zom-com, first-born in the film Warm Bodies…And gives it the painfully realistic and self deprecating view of dating and relationships typically found in a film like Trainwreck…Another truly original entry…A ton of fun.

 

The ReZort (2015) –  Again…If you are picking up a theme with me…I kind of dig when a zombie films rolls out some new shit for me to take a gander at…This film is at times a standard “just shoot the zombie” kind of zombie film…At the film’s core…It attacks the subject from another angle…You see…It’s the end of the war…Humans have defeated zombies…And now can pay to go to an island resort to take part in a little cranial target practice…The ethics of whether or not killing zombies is murder gets fleshed out a bit…And of course the soulless corporate greed required to create such a resort in the first place…And the dangers of mindless activism in the face of both of these facts…All in all…It’s something different that feels like the same thing…And it works.

 

Death Walks (2016) – In this zero budget zombie film…That’s right…I said zero budget…Every aspect of this film was donated…That alone was pretty cool…But the movie itself was even cooler…So, here it is…A shopping mall in East London receives a dire warning of impending doom, from a bizarre Italian woman…The woman, is played by Francesca Ciardi, who hasn’t starred in a horror movie since her performance in 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust…The doom, comes in the form of the walking…Well, not really walking…How about the standing dead…These veiny mannequins are popping up all over the mall…Staying very still…Until they don’t…This film does something that I have never seen in a zombie movie…It was so original…And so unique, that it stands out…And not just because of a zero budget.

 

The Girl with All the Gifts (2017) – Yet another totally unique addition to the canon of films in the zombie sub-genre…This amazing film starts with a stellar cast including, Gemma Arterton, Glenn Close, and Paddy Considine…Was directed by Colm McCarthy, who helmed some great British TV, like…Peaky Blinders, Sherlock, and Doctor Who…And he’s also directing the pilot for the new Krypton series…And the film was based on the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by, M.R. Carey…Now that the name-dropping is done…This zombie flick shows us a different type of zombie virus…One that stems from a fungal infection…And a different type of zombie…One that craves flesh, but retains the knowledge and memories like a normal human being…Oh did I forget to mention…These special zombies are all children?…Do not miss this zombie flick…It is now officially…One of my favorites.

Frightday Night Film Recommendations: Horror Anthologies.

It’s Friday…

Ahem…I mean Frightday…

And I have some recommendations for you to enjoy this weekend…

Okay…This Frightday’s theme is…

Horror Anthologies.

Ahhhh…

Creepshow…

My first foray into the wonderful world of horror anthologies…

Written by Stephen King…

And directed by George A. Romero…

This film was a living embodiment of those old E.C. Comics…

It was like I was witnessing a dog-eared issue of The Vault of Horror…

Come to life on the big screen…

And I loved it…

 

Now there is a fair amount of hit and miss with horror anthologies…

But I am of the mind that...

Even if you have to plow through some misses just to get to the hits…

As long as those hits are memorable horror classics…

Then…

It’s totally worth it.

 

So, let’s take a chronological look at my favorite, creepiest, and possibly even unknown to you, Horror Anthologies…In the years following Creepshow. 

 

Nightmares (1983) – Back in the day, horror anthologies didn’t showcase the many short films of the many up and coming horror directors out there…It was usually one or two directors doing it in an episodic fashion, in the same vein as, The Twilight Zone…Now as I mentioned before these “episodes” or “shorts” can be hit or miss…Now with this film…I truly enjoyed all four of the stories…Terror in Topanga…The Benediction…Night of the Rat…All were a ton of fun…But for me…The standout has to be…The Bishop of Battle...This one stars Emilio Estevez, when he was but a wee whippersnapper, as J.J. Cooney, a video game wizard who sneaks out of the house after being grounded…Breaks into the arcade…And attempts to beat his favorite game…And then…His favorite game attempts to beat him.

 

Cat’s Eye (1985) – A couple of years after directing the Stephen King adaptation, Cujo…Lewis Teague made this film which was penned by King himself…There are three stories in this one…The first two stories are adaptations from King’s collection of short stories, Night Shift…The third is an entirely original tale starring Drew Barrymore, a few years after she made Firestarter…About a tiny evil troll…But the one that goes to the desert island with me…Is…Quitters Inc.…Starring James Woods, as a guy who hires a company of thugs to help dissuade him from picking up another butt…The horrors that will befall his precious family increase exponentially with each puff he takes.

 

Creepshow 2 (1987) – And yes…The sequel to Creepshow definitely belongs on this list…Unlike the five-story format from the original film…This one has only three…The first, Old Chief Wood’nhead…Is a story about a cigar store statue that comes to life and seeks vengeance for his owner…The final story of the three is The Hitch-hiker…A tale about a woman who rather than picking up a hitch-hiking vagrant, decides to run him over…The phrase, “Thanks for the ride, lady.” will forever be stuck in my head, because of it…But the best one…The ultimate tale of horror here…Is the story crammed in the middle of the other two, like a luke warm piece of bologna, between two moist pieces of Wonder bread, in your day-old, brown bag lunch…The Raft…Is a glorious tale about four college students enjoying the summer for all that it has to offer…Swimming…Partying…Catching some rays…Smokin’ some reefer…Watching your friends get consumed by a blob…Sexually assaulting women while they sleep…Watching yourself get consumed by a blob…Hey man…Don’t judge…It was the 80’s.

 

Tales From The Darkside: The Movie (1990) – Tom Savini once referred to this film as Creepshow 3…And for good reason…The second of the three stories presented here…Cat From Hell…Had a lot in common with the first Creepshow…The story…Was written by Stephen King, and then written for the screen by George A. Romero…And this particular story was originally slated to be a part of Creepshow 2…See…Savini knows what he’s talking about…The final story in this anthology is about a living gargoyle…Or should I say…Live-in gargoyle…But for me…The finest moments in this film come from the first story…Lot 249…Starring a young Christian Slater…A young Julianne Moore…And a young Steve Buscemi…Yes…Buscemi was young once, too…This one is by far the coolest, freakiest, and spookiest horror tale about a mummy that I have ever seen!

 

Body Bags (1993) – This one makes me sad to describe to you…This was originally going to be the first three episodes of a series airing on Showtime with the man himself, John Carpenter as the showrunner…But Showtime passed on the show, and never aired a single episode…Dammit!…Sons-a-bitches!…Fuckin’ Showtime…Sorry, I’m still upset about it…Of the three stories, two are directed by Carpenter, and one was from Tobe Hooper…Now with this one, I love all three stories…But tied for number one are Carpenter’s The Gas Station…A tale of a serial killer on the loose in Haddonfield, Illinois (Oh no, not again)…And Hooper’s installment, The Eye…Which stars Mark Hamill as an injured baseball player who receives a transplant in the form of a murderer’s eye…And on a side note…No offense to  John Kassir, and the animatronic puppetry that brought the Crypt Keeper to life…But Carpenter’s performance as this almost-show’s host, aptly named, The Coroner…Was incredibly funny…Perfectly creepy…And appropriately inappropriate.

 

V/H/S (2012) – This is a found footage horror anthology that is set up by having a band of small time crooks break into a house with the intention of stealing a single VHS tape…Once there, in this bizarre house of horrors…They begin viewing certain tapes which reveal the segments to the audience…This wraparound tale is called, Tape 56…And serves as host to the rest of the segments…Amateur Night is the first and is a dark and twisted little number directed by David Bruckner who shows up with a segment for Southbound (see below)…And this strange tale spawned the film SiREN, starring Hannah Fierman…Who reprises her role from Amateur Night…But for me…Ti West’s segment, Second Honeymoon, is by far my favorite…It has his classic recipe…A slow burn with a junk-punching payoff at the end…Just writing about it…Is making me want to rewatch it.

 

The ABC’s of Death (2012)  – Whereas some of the earlier entries are roughly three to five segments, giving the filmmaker the chance to really flesh out the material…This film has…You guessed it…Twenty-six segments…One for each letter of the alphabet…It is truly short attention span theater here…But what’s incredibly cool is the fact that the good ones pack a super-powered punch, and the bad or mediocre ones are over before you know it…In this one…My two faves were the opening sequence, A is for Apocalypse…This short, directed by Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes, Colossal)…Shows us the antithesis of domestic bliss…And the fantastically disturbing and hysterical claymation short, T is for Toilet…About a child’s irrational fear of the toilet bowl becoming pretty freakin’ rational.

 

V/H/S 2 (2013) – In the sequel…The format remains the same…The wraparound tale that serves up the content of the tapes is called, Tape 49…And shows a private eye and his girlfriend investigating a missing person…They discover a stack of tapes, and then this thing is off and running…The first segment, Phase I Clinical Trials, was directed by Adam Wingard (You’re Next)…And the final segment, Slumber Party Alien Abduction was directed by Jason Eisener (Hobo with a Shotgun)…But for my taste…The meat on this horror sandwich is the two segments in the middle…The first of the two, A Ride In The Park…Was directed by Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project), and is a completely hysterical and heartfelt found footage zombie short…But Safe Haven…Directed by the man behind The Raid: Redemption, Gareth Evans…Puts us in the heart of a cult, and on the edge of our seats for the entire time…Some truly bad-ass stuff there.

 

Southbound (2015) – Here’s one that does the cool trick of connecting the three main stories together, and tethering them to the opening and closing segments…Radio Silence…Is a trio of filmmakers that had a hand in V/H/S, and Devil’s Due…And they are the ones who brought this awesome anthology to life…Okay…This doesn’t happen often…Or maybe even at all…But each and every one of these segments were kick-ass to the max…They blended well with eachother…They were well-written, original, and intensely compelling tales that had a wraparound story that contained some of the creepiest and trippiest special effects for the demonic creatures that hound our two anti-heroes…Loved this one…Can’t recommend it enough!

 

Holidays (2016) –  I love this deranged little collection of holiday themed shorts…There’s Valentine’s Day…Which shows the ferocity of adolescence where obsessive crushes and bullying mean girls are concerned.,..St. Patrick’s Day is a bizarre and mind-blowing look at the demonic possession of a school teacher’s uterus…Easter, is a horrifying display of sacrilege that brings together the mythology of the Easter Bunny and Jesus in a way that I will never forget, or get over…Mother’s Day tells the story of hyper-fertile Kate, who gets more than she bargains for during a desert retreat…Father’s Day reunites Carol, played by Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil) with her father, after believing he was dead for years…Halloween, directed by Kevin Smith, was a hilarious and twisted revenge tale that I absolutely adored…Christmas, starring Seth Green, is a story about a revealing new technology, and it plays out like a really cool Black Mirror, or Outer Limits episode…But my favorite segment, is the final one…New Year’s Eve, was directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer, who directed the kick-ass, takin’ revenge on the bullies flick, Some Kind of Hate…In this one The Green Inferno’s Lorenza Izzo turns the tables on her final date of the year…And it was…Good…So good…Oh so good.

 

XX (2017) – Four different stories in this one…Each one coming from a different female director…The first segment, The Box, was directed by Jovanka Vuckovic…It’s based on a Jack Ketchum story about a woman whose family begins to starve themselves to death after her son looks inside “the box”…The next segment, The Birthday Party, was directed by Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent, you know, the musician…Well, her directorial debut is awesomely weird and wonderfully dark…Melanie Lynskey plays a mother who frantically tries to prevent the almost inevitable emotional damage hurtling towards her daughter at her birthday party, only to fail epically…Don’t Fall, directed by Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound), is about a gaggle of dirty hippies who are hiking in the desert, dealing with things like agoraphobia, learning to love the smell of patchouli, and monster attacks…But the standout is, Her Only Living Son, and it is a pseudo sequel to a horror classic, directed by Karyn Kusama, who blew my ever-lovin’ mind with her 2015 slow burn, The Invitation…I will not say anything else about this one, except…She blew my ever-lovin’ mind again.

Frightday Night Film Recommendations: Slow Burn Horror Films.

It’s Friday…

Ahem…I mean Frightday…

And I have some recommendations for you to enjoy this weekend…

Okay…

This Frightday’s theme is…

Slow Burn Horror Films.

Slow Burn is a sub-genre of horror that didn’t really exist until fairly recently…

Films like…

The Blair Witch Project…

The Others…

Session 9…

And Frailty…

Signified the start of this new trend in the horror genre…

All of those films were released around the turn of the millennium…

And…

Prior to that…

They would have been misrepresented as mystery movies…

 But the big difference is…

When a slow burn horror film solves the mystery…

It carries with it…

A much darker…

Much more disturbing reveal…

And that reveal…

That pay-off, if you will…

For a slow-burn horror film to truly work…

Oh, boy…

It better be a doozy.

 

So, let’s take a chronological look at the scariest, most twisted, and possibly even unknown to you, Slow Burn Horror Films…In the years following Frailty. 

Yellowbrickroad (2010) – Because I grew up in small town in rural New Hampshire…I was drawn into this film…Based on premise alone…Here’s the scoop…In 1940 the entire town of Friar, New Hampshire abandoned their town and walked into the wilderness with only the clothes on their backs after a viewing of The Wizard of Oz, and never returned…What?!?…Seriously?!? That’s all it took for me, man…And considering that this was all I knew about the film…I admittedly had very low expectations…But because of a well-written script and well-acted performances…It did not disappoint…It also has that rural gothic feel that would normally spring from the pages of a Stephen King novel…The film documents a modern-day film crew that have obtained the newly declassified coordinates of the mysterious 1940 journey…And as they follow in the missing townspeople’s footsteps…Where the path leads them…May require those who watch it…Some much needed post-credit discussion.

 

The Innkeepers (2011) – Another New England story here…This time it takes place at the Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington, Connecticut…Ti West (The Sacrament) wrote and directed this film, his follow-up to the awesome 80’s throwback, the House of the Devil…In this one…A couple of amateur ghost hunters…Played by two fantastic actors…Sara Paxton (The Last House on the Left) plays Claire…And Pat Healy (Cheap Thrills, Carnage Park) plays Luke…And these two are the only ones on duty, on the last night before the hotel closes for good…This film builds steady tension as it slowly stalks the inevitable climax…And it was a creepy, chilling climax.

 

Kill List (2011) – And this is the film that turned me on to Ben Wheatley…A film that in the first act…Is a dysfunctional family drama…About a man named Jay, played by the amazing Neil Maskell, who is out of work and feeling the overwhelming pressure of not being able to support his family…In the film’s second act…We discover what Jay used to do for a living…And watch the intense, action-packed ultra-violent nature of his employment…But that third act…When it comes…It’s as if this film stood up…Shrugged off it’s peacoat…Stripped naked…And this thing that it had become…Started running…Newborn, and naked through a desiccated cornfield…And when it emerges on the other side…It is unrecognizable…It is forever changed…Like those of us that have viewed this film.

 

Resolution (2012) –  I have filmmakers that I keep an eye on… Justin Benson, and Aaron Moorhead…Are a perfect example…After watching this film, I kept my eye out for anything they were involved with…Their next effort was 2014’s Spring…A film that was part of my Under The Radar Monster Movies…WTF Was That? Edition list of recommendations…And their most recent film was part of the Tribeca Film Festival last month…The Endless…A film that has strange and mysterious ties to this, their first film…With The Endless, the two filmmakers have made a pseudo-prequel to Resolution…So since I am going to probably love, and recommend that one in the future…You just might want to do your homework, and watch this film first.

 

Starry Eyes (2014) – Much like the film Eat, shined a high-powered spotlight on the torment and shame that a struggling actress endures…This film takes it to another place altogether…A much darker and nefarious place…Alex Essoe (Tales of Halloween, The Neighbor) stars as Sarah…An aspiring actress whose overall struggles are not exclusive to her acting career…Her friendships are strained, at best…And her job as a waitress at a Hooters knock-off is the definition of unrewarding…But, after she jumps through hoops at a series of very unique and macabre auditions…Her whole life…Hell…Everything about her…Begins to change. 

 

We Are Still Here (2015) – Okay here’s yet another slow-burn that takes place in New England…

Whaddya expect?!? It’s freakin’ cold here, kid…

Makes things move slowah…

Anyway…This little doo-dad  is the directorial debut of  Ted Geoghegan, and much like I did with Aaron Moorehead and Justin Benson…I will be watching him…This film starts out like your typical New England haunting…Grieving couple Paul and Anne move into a quaint little home, following the tragic death of their son…Anne is played by horror legend, Barbara Crampton…Who thankfully has had a resurgence on the blood soaked screen of horror movies…Anyway…And with the help of spiritualists, May and Jacob, played by Lisa Marie (Sleepy Hollow) and Larry Fessenden (Every fuckin’ horror movie ever made)…Anne and her husband begin to peel away the mystery of this haunted home…And that truth comes skipping down the hallway, holding hands with the bloodiest, goriest and most original special effects that I have ever seen in a ghost story.

 

The Invitation (2015)  – This film was directed by Karyn Kusama, who was heralded for her debut film, Girlfight…But maligned for her next two films…Rightfully so, for the 2005 shit-show that was Aeon Flux…But in my humble opinion, not so rightfully so for her next film, Jennifer’s Body…But the naysayers ain’t naysaying shit after seeing her most recent film…So here’s the deal…Will, played to perfection by Logan Marshall-Green (Quarry), or as I like to call him…The American Tom Hardy…Takes his new girlfriend, Kira to a very special dinner party…His ex-wife and her new husband, played by Michiel Huisman (Daario Neharis from Game of Thrones) have invited all of the former couple’s old friends back together for a reunion…Of sorts…There is little more about the plot, or details about this story that needs to, or should be said…But let’s just say…The tension that gets ignited rather quickly…Keeps the suspenseful home fires burning all the way through, to the thrilling, and frightening climax…And it’s a climax that still haunts me to this day.

 

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) – Had this film come across my view screen prior to me creating My Top 16 Horror Movies of 2016…This would have definitely bumped somebody else off the list…André Øvredal, the man behind one of my all time favorite monster movies, Trollhunter…Made this, his first foray into American Cinema…And man…Let me tell you…It’s a helluva good first foray…Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch star as father and son coroners…Who receive a  corpse from the site of  a brutal homicide…The strange nature of the homicide is nothing compared to the strange nature of the corpse…And as these two begin their autopsy…They begin to uncover much more than the cause of death…And let me tell you…Whatever the hell they uncovered…Was some entirely new shit for me to process.

 

Trash Fire (2016) – If you thought Richard Bates Jr.’s first film, Excision…Was more than a wee bit bizarre…And maybe his second feature, Suburban Gothic…Made his first film seem normal…His most recent creation will be another mind-bending journey into a place that is nearly uncategorizable…The film begins with a first act that plays out like a bizarre little independent film about a truly warped and dysfunctional relationship…Owen, played by Adrian Grenier (Entourage), is a clinically depressed bulimic who is in a strained relationship with Isabel, played by Angela Trimbur (The Final Girls, XX)…When she reveals that she is pregnant, the two embark on a journey to reconnect Owen with  his estranged grandmother played by Fionnula Flanagan (The Others), and his sister played by AnnaLynne McCord…The actress who carried the director’s first film…This film gets weirder and darker, as each one of the family secrets and layers of deception are carved away…Which will leave the viewer…Stunned and disturbed by the truth.

 

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2017) – This film, originally titled, February, is the directorial debut of Oz Perkins, the son of Norman Bates…Um, I mean Anthony Perkins…It tells the stories of Kat, a young girl at a Catholic boarding school, who is stuck at there during the February break ,due to her parents not picking her up…And it also tells the story of Joan, a young girl whose motives and back story are slowly revealed in a series of flashbacks…She arrives at a bus station where she receives kindness and assistance from two parents, the eager Bill, and reluctant Linda…And as this film doles out the crucial pieces of information, like medication time at the psych ward…By the time all is revealed…The audience will feel like they’ve flown over the cuckoo’s nest.