horror elements Archives - Page 3 of 56

Wicked: For Good and the Price of Playing the Villain

I have spent a large portion of my life pretending to be things I am very much not. In middle school, I pretended I understood whatever band everyone else suddenly swore had “changed their life,” nodding along like I’d memorized… Continue Reading →

The Plague Infects Teenage Traumas

Growing up in the ’80s without basic cable or the internet, summertime fun during my preteen years revolved around visiting the city swimming pools. You got exercise, the adrenaline rush from the high dive, to hang out with friends, a… Continue Reading →

December 28, 2025

We Bury The Dead Knows Where the Real Pain Is

I have reached the age where regret no longer arrives in loud, cinematic moments. It shows up quietly. In the pause before sending a text that never gets written. In the memory of a conversation I rushed through because I… Continue Reading →

December 23, 2025

28 Years Later: Expectations, Reality and a Very Different Movie

I went into 28 Years Later expecting water. Clean, familiar, maybe a little stale from sitting out too long, but ultimately recognizable. I expected the cinematic equivalent of rehydration, something that would remind me why this series mattered, hit the… Continue Reading →

December 21, 2025

Wake Up Dead Man is Righteous Knives Out Sequel

I grew up around faith the way some people grow up around fire. It was always present, always framed as protective and always capable of doing real damage, depending on who was holding the match. I watched ordinary people gain… Continue Reading →

December 20, 2025

Belief Is the Real Monster in Bugonia

I have a long, complicated history with group projects. Not the school kind, where some kid named Kyle shows up with nothing but a Capri-Sun and the confidence of a man who did zero work, but the adult kind: meetings,… Continue Reading →

December 17, 2025

Bill Skarsgård Aims for Respect with Dead Man’s Wire

As defined early within Gus Van Sant’s new film, a “dead man’s wire” — the modern term originally derived from “dead man’s line” — is a simple device, much like a harness, that’s wrapped around a loaded gun and its… Continue Reading →

December 16, 2025

Nicolas Cage Cannot Be Contained by Scripture in The Carpenter’s Son

I have reached the point in my moviegoing life where I no longer believe Nicolas Cage can take a bad role. Not because every film he appears in is great, but because Cage, himself, refuses to be boring. He does… Continue Reading →

December 14, 2025

Afraid? is a Slasher That’s Lost in the Woods

I have always believed the purest horror is the kind that strands you in the woods with bad choices, worse friends and a killer who solves problems like a MacBook powered by evil. For me, Friday the 13th is the… Continue Reading →

December 12, 2025

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Turns Up the Terror and the Lore

I sometimes wonder if the universe is trying to humble me. Maybe I have gotten too comfortable sleeping through the night without worrying about animatronic animals attempting to rearrange my spinal column. Maybe life has gotten too peaceful, too quiet,… Continue Reading →

December 4, 2025

Geek Culture, Zombies... and Other Monsters

Tag horror elements

Wake Up Dead Man is Righteous Knives Out Sequel

Bill Skarsgård Aims for Respect with Dead Man’s Wire

Nicolas Cage Cannot Be Contained by Scripture in The Carpenter’s Son

Afraid? is a Slasher That’s Lost in the Woods

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Turns Up the Terror and the Lore