I went to the Astor Theatre with a friend for a Robert Eggers double feature: last year’s The Lighthouse and his debut film, The Witch, that I was happy to re-watch on the big screen. T’was a fun night of creepy folk tales and period horror. Now that the coronavirus is shutting theatres down, it’s strange to think that this might be my last cinema outing for a while, and that the last two films I’ve watched are about people going insane and killing each other in confined spaces.
horror
American Psycho – Film Review
I thought I’d give this onscreen adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ controversial novel a rewatch after many years. It’s not a perfect movie, but I was surprised at how savagely funny this satire of the 80s consumerism and yuppie phenomenon really is, something that had completely gone over my head when I first watched it.
The Terror by Dan Simmons – Book Review
A peculiar blend of historical fiction and supernatural horror, The Terror is a chilling speculation on the fate of the doomed 19th-century polar expedition led by Sir John Franklin. I read almost half of it in a long marathon session while sick in bed, and by the evening I could almost hear the groaning of the ice and the howling arctic wind. Though it’s not an easy breezy read at over 900 pages long, it’s a meticulously researched, deeply absorbing and deeply nightmarish tour de force.
Let Me In – Film Review
This remake of Let the Right One In, the Swedish film adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s haunting novel, doesn’t scale the heights of either but is a pretty good vampire movie in its own right.
Hereditary – Film Review
I didn’t think it was a perfect movie, but I’ll give Hereditary this – it got to me like very few horror films ever have. I ended up watching maybe a third of it through my fingers, which I haven’t done since I was a child.
A Quiet Place – Film Review
This horror film with a beautifully simple premise had many things going for it, but its dramatic shortcomings and a few too many contrivances stopped me from loving it as much as many other people seem to.
The Fly – Film Review
I broke my tradition of never going out on a Monday night during a working week to watch this 1986 David Cronenberg horror film at the Astor Theatre.
