American Ghoul – Ten Best American Zombie Films

As July ends, so does our tribute to the red, white, and ghoul. Many of us wonder what we’d do in an apocalypse. How long would we survive? Would we lose our humanity or becomes the heroes we crave to be? Truth is, we’re already creating a nightmare dystopian society, casting aside freedoms and replacing them with fearmongering, discrimination, intolerance, and violence.

Back in 1968, George A. Romero foresaw this great nation descending into chaos as gun culture and extremist ideals gained more popularity because of easy access to guns and lack of education. He saw a nation at war with itself long before the monsters showed up. His movies often contained scathing critiques of class warfare, over-militarization, moral corruption, and empty consumerism, all of which Americans still suffer greatly today.

Dawn of the Dead, 1978

Romero may have been psychic, as he didn’t think adding zombies would really change the American landscape all that much and I tend to agree. If we continue down this treacherous path, we won’t have much further to fall. The day Americans unite may very well be the day they drop the bomb.

George A. Romero

There’s one thing for certain though, you can count on the fight in America. Even the quietest, most gunshy American has a sense of revolution instilled in their soul. Communists, terrorists, extremists, zombies, we’ll fight them all! We’ll never lose that pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. It’s truly the American way.

Zombieland, 2009

With that in mind, here are my picks of the best ten American zombie films, showing the world our American fighting spirit!

Night of the Living Dead, 1968
Dawn of the Dead, 1978
Day of the Dead, 1985
Land of the Dead, 2005
Dawn of the Dead, 2004
Return of the Living Dead, 1985
Zombieland, 2009
Planet Terror, 2007
Warm Bodies, 2013
Maggie, 2015

Best Nautical Horror Movies

Happy Summer! Tis the season for visiting the beach and taking boat rides across the seven seas. The theme this month has been June Doom and as recent events has shown us (orca boat attacks, lost Titanic sub, etc.), the ocean is still the Earth’s most dangerous playground. But, for as much as I love Jaws, shark horror is a dime a dozen, so I decided to go in a slightly different direction by sharing my picks of the best nautical horror that doesn’t involve sharks. From vengeful spirits to alien creatures hiding in the depths of the trenches, this list will give you plenty of reasons to stay on dry land. Check them out and leave me comment here or on Instagram to let me know what you thought.

It Came From Beneath the Sea, 1955
The Fog, 1980
Deep Rising, 1998
Leviathan, 1989
Deep Star Six, 1989
Below, 2002
Ghost Ship, 2002
Underwater, 2020

My Favorite Mutant Monster Movies

Speaking of mutations, a recent bout with Covid has been keeping me down, so I wasn’t able to write a proper movie post this month. I may still sneak one in.

Just trust me, this is a great list of the best mutant monster movies you’ll find on streaming.👾🕷☢️

March Madness – Ten Great Psychological Horror Films

Originally, my monthly theme was March Madness, but I didn’t like the story. However, I already put together a list of my fave spooky movies about going insane. Is it all in their heads or is something more sinister afoot? Gotta watch to find out.
In keeping with the theme of March Mischief, I’m totally posting a March Madness movie list!🤪😄

Culinary Cannibals Marathon

On this last day in November, I serve up a fresh list of intriguing or scary movies featuring cannibals. Holidays are all about eating. Thanksgiving just passed and I still have leftovers coming out my ears. Pretty sure, cannibals don’t have this problem. Anyways, if you’re feeling stressed, why not chill for a day, or the weekend, and have scary movie marathon.

These are my faves, but there are certainly other good cannibal films out there. This year, I shy away from Cannibal Holocaust exploitation type movies cuz horror movies should be fake, lest they become something else. The real killing of animals and the rape of women is just sickening and I want to do my part to hold people accountable. Fuck those movies.

Personally, I’m excited to see the recently released Bones and All starring Timothee Chalamet, Taylor Russell, and Mark Rylance. I might even add it to the list for next year.

Tuesday Terror – Trick ‘r Treat

When Michael Doughtery’s horror anthology, Trick ‘r Treat, was released in 2007, it seemed like Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros didn’t quite know what to do with the picture. After a round of festivals, the movie ended up direct-to-video, destined to die a quiet death. Well, horror fans who had seen the film, raved about it. They said it was best Halloween movie since, well, Halloween, and the good word that Trick ‘Treat was an amazing movie spread quickly. No one loves the dead coming back to life quite like the horror community.

Despite not getting a proper theatrical release, Trick ‘Treat amassed a cult following on par with the big franchise films like Halloween and Friday the 13th. In fact, Trick ‘r Treat’s Sam, the cute little mascot with a killer attitude, enforcing the rules of Halloween, is now an official horror icon with best -selling merchandise and hot collectibles of his own, after just one movie.

No one really knows why Trick ‘r Treat got the cold shoulder, some say it was bad early reviews, some say it was the violence towards children, which was still pretty taboo in 2007, yet, others blame the fact that it was an anthology, which historically don’t perform well at box office. It no longer matters. Many fans, including yours truly, consider this mandatory annual viewing every Halloween.

Tuesday Terror – Dark Night of the Scarecrow

Every Tuesday in October 2022, we celebrate scary movies!

“There’s other justice in the world besides the law!”

Kicking off the Halloween season with Dark Night of the Scarecrow, starring the late Charles Durning, Lane Smith, and Jocelyn Brando, about a mysterious being seeking vengeance on a group of murdering bigots.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow, 1981, Amazon

This supernatural thriller first aired on Halloween night in 1981 and is scarier than any Made-For-TV movie has any right to be. Despite having zero blood and no gruesomeness, this chilling film still holds up today with timely themes such as bigotry, bullying, and injustice.

Most Memorable Halloween Movies

I simply cannot believe that September is going to end in 3 days. My time went poof and all the things I had planned went with it. I managed to put together this list though and this was a pretty hard task. I wanted to keep with the theme this month of Halloween memories. I mean, choosing your favorite 8 films out of the hundreds of possibilities. I actually watched a bunch of new films I hadn’t seen yet, just to make sure I wasn’t missing some diamond in the rough. Alas, this is my ‘best of’ Halloween movies list and I’m sticking to it!🎃🎃🎃

Fave Witch Movies

Good witches, bad witches, love witches, or scary witches, witches come in all variations. Whether you’re a new witch looking for guidance, an old witch looking inspiration, or not a witch at all, just someone looking for some spooky fun, here’s a list of my fave witchy movies and TV shows.

Hellmouth Movie Review

Strange Films

Hellmouth 2014

Director Joe Geddes teams up with Pontypool writer and lead actor Stephen McHattie for visually stunning spooky adventure about a terminally ill grave digger who travels to hell to rescue the beautiful woman he falls in love with.

This highly-stylized CGI endeavor pays homage to 1950’s horror and sci-fi cinema, but lacks the campy fun of any such movies. Truth is this is more of an offbeat fantasy drama than horror and it takes itself quite seriously, which would have been fine if the story had made any sense. Despite the eye-popping visuals, the movie slogs along without actually going anywhere, which is a real shame for Stephen McHattie, who does a fine job playing Charlie Baker, a graveyard caretaker suffering from episodic pran disease (brain clunk). In addition to his head pounding pain, Charlie endures daily harassment from local children and starts to notice some bizarre vandalism happening in the cemetery. Problem is Charlie can’t be sure if this isn’t all an illusion. Charlie is tired of looking after the dead and wants to move to Florida, but after a visit from his employer, Charlie learns he’ll have to delay retirement for reasons not entirely clear and inherits a box with a mysterious map, which he can’t stand more than 10 feet away from. While on an afternoon drive, he meets an alluring woman named Fay, who is running away from an unseen force. The two quickly fall in love and Hell doesn’t seem to like it very much. Fay disappears just as quickly as she showed up.

The movie then introduces a subplot involving a squirrelly policeman on the hunt for two dangerous escaped criminals from the local insane asylum. The copper tells Charlie several small and strange tales of the cemetery’s more notorious residents. These small stories are perhaps the most interesting part of the whole movie. Unfortunately, the escaped criminals storyline goes nowhere fast, and soon after, Charlier Baker uses the mystery map to find his way into Hell, where he battle the forces of evil to win back his beloved Fay.

Unfortunately, the Sin City-style visuals and amazing set design are not enough to carry this one. I didn’t really have any problem with any of the other actors, particularly Julian Richings, who I felt was criminally underused here, but the characters needed more fleshing out and more clarity to their relevance to the main story. The end is one big beautiful muddled mess.