Stories For Ghosts

I’m obsessed with The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

***Warning, mild spoilers for The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires*** Vampires are my favorite monsters. I love how they represent a dangerous, alluring mixture of lust, power, sin, and death. I cannot get enough of how they are compelled by their desperate thirst even as they leverage human weaknesses to seduce victims. Likewise, I’ve always appreciated author Grady Hendrix’s…

The Crazy Long List of Horror Films at Fantastic Fest 2019

Right now in Austin, Texas, film lovers from all over are converging to revel in their love of film. But not just any kind of films–weird films. Gory films. Films that make people squirm in their seats one minute and laugh out loud the next. I’m talking about Fantastic Fest 2019, the largest genre film festival in the United States.

Fantastic Fest 2019, as in past years, is devoted to horror,…

Horror at TIFF 2019: Lighthouses, Nic Cage, and Religious Dread

Earlier this month, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF 2019) delighted audiences and critics with a brand new slate of exciting films, not least among them being horror movies.

I just love festival horror films. Most of the time, horror films that make the festival circuit are much more exciting and innovative than your run-of-the-mill major studio, teen-horror flick. They may not…

September Horror Is All About Pennywise and Festival Flicks

September’s arrival means two things. First, that school is back in season, which means a return to old routines, much-appreciated cooler weather, and a fresh round of illnesses. (Yay for daycare, ugh!) Secondly, it means we’re officially less than a month away from 31 days of celebrating Halloween!

The best part about Halloween becoming more and more of an event is that we get a ton of scary…

Examining The Sins of Our Collective Past in The Terror: Infamy

***Mild Spoilers for The Terror: Infamy***

During the second semester of my first year of law school, I took Constitutional Law. I remember feeling so excited about this course because of all the landmark cases I would study and how much more I would understand about my country. Our Constitution is a complex document—hell, the ink was barely dry on the Constitution before the Founding Fathers…

25 Funky Fresh Horror Films from the 2019 FrightFest Film Festival

You know how sometimes there’s nothing good to watch? So many cable channels, so many streaming services, so many Blu-rays in your house, and yet you can’t find anything remotely interesting to watch? Either you’ve seen all the horror movies you own, or everything airing looks lame. So you end up watching The Office or Parks and Recreationfor the five billionth time, or whatever your…

All Spirits Carry Messages in Petra’s Ghost by C.S. O’Cinneide

The majestic peak of Alto del Perdón, also known as the Mount of Forgiveness, overlooks one of the most idyllic and picturesque countrysides in all of Spain. Located on the storied Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, between Pamplona and the town of Puente la Reina, Alto del Perdón basks in brilliant sunshine. An eye-catching metal sculpture, erected to honor past, present, and future pilgrims,…

August Horror Movies – The Horror Cup Runneth Over!

Guys, what did we do to deserve this many horror movies in a single month?!?! I’m overwhelmed with all these new August horror films! From a ton of VOD films (of varying quality) to some solid theatrical releases, the August horror cup runneth over.

For my part, I’m excited for Ready or Not, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Tigers Are Not Afraid, and The Divine Fury. Watch those trailers…

With summer drawing to a close, I find myself contemplating how the meaning of “summer” has evolved throughout my life. As an adult, summer means vacation, renewed gratitude for Texas-proof air conditioning, and drinking copious amounts of rosé poolside. As a teenager, summer was consumed with plans to drop the ten pounds that held me back from being irresistible, scrape together spending money,…

“You are followed.” Interview with C.S. O’Cinneide, Author of Petra’s Ghost

Petra’s Ghost, written by C.S. O’Cinneide, has a U.S. release date of August 13, 2019. It will be published by Dundurn.

Petra’s Ghost starts off with a young widower standing on a windswept hill. He holds a plastic baggie. It is filled with the ashes of his deceased wife, Petra. He has carried her all the way to Spain, to the sun-baked and arduous Camino de Santiago, so he can complete the…

Midsommar: Stunning But Very Cerebral Folk Horror

I live for provocative horror movies—the more beautiful, the more imaginative, and the more messed up, the better. Like so many, I want to be challenged by a horror movie. I want it to make me question why I have specific reactions, why I squirm in my seat, why I cheer when someone meets their deserved bloody end. This the expectation I carry into any movie, including into Midsommar, the latest…

July Horror Movies – Beat The Dead Heat with These New Horror Flicks

The heat is settling over the country, and so too are the July horror movies creeping onto the big and little screens. This new crop of horror movies is overtaking us all with a cloud of weird VOD releases and an eclectic mix of theatrical releases. To be honest, July horror is a crapshoot every year–for every sumptuously shot arthouse horror film like Midsommer, you have a cheap looking The…

Don’t Keep the Wicker Man Waiting: My Favorite Folk Horror Films

With the release of Midsommar, Ari Aster’s follow-up feature to last year’s Hereditary, folk horror is enjoying much deserved time in the spotlight. While the niche horror subgenre is known to many a horror fan (folk horror is one of my favorite subgenres), many curious viewers are at a loss when it comes to folk horror. What is it exactly?

Of course, as many folk horror fans will try to…

“Your Friend Till the End!” The Scariest Creepy Dolls

Dolls, by their nature, are weird.

Think about it—they’re (often) miniature representations of people meant to be played with. They’re inanimate objects. With another person or an animal, there’s an exchange, an actual relationship of some kind. But with a doll, there’s nothing inside the doll to interact with. Yet we design them specifically to encourage that interaction. In fact, we craft…

Totally Rad: Mandy (2018) Review

If you’re feeling the 80’s revival happening in recent horror movies, check out Mandy (2018), starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Panos Cosmatos (Beyond the Black Rainbow). Fresh off its screening at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Mandy might be Nicolas Cage’s best performance, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he makes another horror movie that’s as good as Mandy is.

Streamable on Shudder and…

June Horror is Mostly Fizzle, Not Enough Sizzle

Horror fans, I’m back!

Not to dwell, but life has been a little crazy for me lately, and I had to take some time to take care of family stuff (mostly taking care of an adorable new human who is utterly dependant on others). I had to put my love for horror on the back burner, unfortunately. But the flame of horror love burns eternal, and I kept obsessing over the latest horror trailers…

Horror and the 2019 Cannes Film Festival

(To read my past coverage of Cannes, see my 2016, 2017, and 2018 posts.)

One of the more exciting trends in horror over the last few years has been the proliferation of horror movies making splash debuts at renowned film festivals. Horror has been defying expectations and proving the genre haters wrong by showing up and showing out at festivals like Sundance and SXSW. Even genre festivals like