Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  The Stendhal Syndrome 1996

  ★★★ Watched 06 Mar 2023 2

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  A tourist (Asia Argento) entranced by art becomes the muse of a serial rapist turned killer. She hallucinates being a detective in Rom—oh wait, she's really a cop on leave?! Going beyond the actress's ruler-flat performance; her father's script doesn't impart the profession onto the character. This robs strength and makes her seem a victim with a sometimes boyfriend on the force. No confidence, intuition, or plain investigative skill.

  Even after horrifically raped and witness to murder, she's like an…

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  One Cut of the Dead 2017

  ★★★★★ Watched 25 Jun 2020 1

  MINOR SPOILERS, if you haven't seen this, it's best to go in with as little background as possible.

  It only stands to reason the greatest zombie film yet to come from Japan actually isn't a zombie film at all. Despite the marketing hook, it also sits well outside of the horror genre. Instead it's a transcendent celebration of the creative process that pulls a brilliant humanistic double duty.

  Director/screenwriter Shinichiro Ueda uses the production of a live zombie short done…

Recent reviews

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  The Haunting 1999

  ★★ Watched 28 Sep 2023

  Avoided this for twenty plus years on the suspicion of being soulless Hollywood prestige in the same year as The Blair Witch Project. Which is like Nirvana killing the era of this film's Crüe. As evidenced by the disc's liner notes, it's mostly production design, and that certainly can't be faulted. No matter the opulence of its ornate manor, goodwill is stifled by trying to make mobs of digital effects scary. Unseen bumps, like running blind through dark woods, are…

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  Zombie Lake 1981

  ★★ Rewatched 27 Sep 2023 1

  Nazi zombies with a proclivity for nubile flesh terrorize a French village. Mayor Howard Vernon and a reporter try to decipher why they've risen while locals finally leave the bar to take up pitchforks. The mystery might have roots in a young girl and her rotting fascist father. Or not, not really explained...

  Similar to Orloff and the Invisible Man (1970), Eurociné scraps of a dozen better grinders. Long attributed to Jess Franco who left during scripting, not a bad…

Popular reviews

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  Evil Dead II 1987

  ★★★★½ Rewatched 07 Mar 2020 6

  WE aRe THe tHiNGs thAT wERe AnD Jayson can't look at Evil Dead II objectively at all.

  The film that blew wind into the sails of many a horror fan's maiden voyage or solidified lifelong love for the genre. I distinctly remember my first time. Back when Syfy was The Sci-fi Channel in 1995, and actually worth a damn, they used to do movie theme weeks. Maybe their most memorable was a zombie week dubbed Zombie-A-Go-Go hosted by Rob Zombie.…

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  Jeepers Creepers 2001

  ★★★★ Rewatched 10 Jul 2020 4

  Gotta hand it to the detestable supposed human behind this, he crafted one of the best contemporary horror films of the '00s with Jeepers Creepers. Justin Long and Gina Philips strike a sibling relationship with gentle barbs and genuine sense of caring that's rarely seen in the genre. The Creeper's unique mythos is well developed having a folksy bent that predates the recent trend in earthen-based horrors. Jonathan Breck plays up the character's toyful menace from seasonal generations of chasing…