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Posted on October 21, 2015

Halls of Horror Attraction Review

Gwen

Halls Of Horror

Web address: http://www.hallsofhorror.net

Location: Palmerton, PA (Carbon County)

Full body immersion into the depths of horror

The Nuts and Bolts:

Halls of Horror is one main attraction. Parking is free on the street and there seemed to be plenty of spaces. Entry is $15 to go through the haunt or $25 to upgrade to the Blood Experience. The blood experience is what it sounds like, bloody, messy, and intense! No matter which experience you choose, you will sign a release and the actors WILL touch you. The Blood Experience offers more extreme levels of actor interaction with the guests.

Posted on October 19, 2015

The Ward (2011) Review

Guest Post

The Ward

July 2011 | (USA) | John Carpenter | 89 min | R

Synopsis: Kristen (Amber Heard) is admitted to the North Bend Psychiatric Hospital in 1966 after she sets fire to a house. As she acclimates to this new setting of locked doors, restricted company, frequent medications, and forced treatments, she learns that there is an additional threat to the ward and its patients: the ghost of Alice Hudson. Alice, out for revenge, chases the girls slasher-style throughout the asylum until the film culminates in an unsurprising twist ending.

Review: Wrong monster, wrong place. The slasher/haunting plot is misplaced in a setting rich with its own horrors, none of which are fully taken advantage of.

Grade: C

It’s either fitting or extremely inappropriate that I’m writing this review on the tenth of October, World Mental Health Day. Because I have an interest in the history and cultural construction of mental illness, I was excited about The Ward’s setting in a 1960s asylum, a time and place when mental illness was a potent source of fear, not just fear of one’s own psychological demons but of how those demons might be “treated.” The opening credits immediately locate the film’s themes amongst barbaric treatments with splintered images of actual woodcuts, illustrations, and black-and-white photographs, all depicting patients undergoing agonizing treatment. The homage to these historical treatments gives Carpenter a promising starting point on which to build his narrative of horror.

Posted on October 17, 2015

Knock Knock (2015)- Rape & Revenge?

Dawn Keetley

KNOCK KNOCK: RAPE AND REVENGE?

Synopsis: While his wife and children are at the beach, Evan (Keanu Reeves) opens the door late at night to find two apparently stranded rain-drenched young women—Genesis (Lorenza Izzo) and Bel (Ana de Armas)—at his door. He lets them in, lets them dry their clothes, and calls a car for them. They successfully “seduce” him, however, which begins their sadistic weekend-long “game” with him.

Genesis (Lorenza Izzo) and Bel (Ana de Armas) arrive at the door

Eli Roth’s Knock Knock has been receiving mostly dismal reviews, as well as a few more outraged assessments. Revenge Honey of The Horror Honeys launches an angry attack on the politics of the film, and she nails its more objectionable qualities—its racism and homophobia as well as the way it can certainly be viewed as making a mockery of child abuse. She writes that she considers the film “frontrunner for the worst film of 2015” and that it’s “downright disgusting.”[i]

I get how someone could feel that way about Knock Knock, but then horror films are supposed to push people’s buttons—and “downright disgusting” is a phrase that signals there’s probably something interesting going on.

Posted on October 14, 2015

How To Survive The 80’s: Horror Edition

Gwen

For those of you who know me, you know that I LOVE 80s horror. It was a time when horror comedies, slashers, final girls, gore, and monster make-up dominated the screen. Arguably this decade provided us with some of the most memorable and formidable monsters. Please enjoy the following infographic which documents some great monsters of 80s horror / sci-fi as well as useful tips on how to survive their attacks. However, even though he scared the bejeezus out of me as a child I cannot condone bagging E.T. and turning him over to the Feds. It would be like selling Gizmo on the illegal animal trade circuit and that’s just cruel.

The fine folks over at Predator Helmets Direct whipped up this helpful infographic for all you would be survivors. Be sure to hit them up on Twitter and Facebook!

Posted on October 11, 2015

THE INHABITANTS (2015)

Dawn Keetley

I’ve been watching a fair number of low-budget, independent horror films of late, and the vast majority of them never make it to this site: either I stop watching or they’re too bad to review. The Inhabitants is an exception and I definitely recommend you rent it when it’s released on October 13.

It’s written and directed by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen, whose previous credits include Dark Feed (2013), which they wrote and directed, and The Ward (2010), a John Carpenter film for which they wrote the screenplay.

One of the great things about The Inhabitants, aside from its undeniable creepiness, is its simplicity. It focuses unrelentingly on a couple, Jess (Elise Couture) and Dan (Michael Reed), who buy the March Carriage Bed and Breakfast Inn, intending to live out Jess’s dream of running a B&B. The attention of the film stays on the couple, resisting distractions, as stranger and stranger things start happening, and as the film drives toward a gruesome and chilling ending.