Killer Klowns From Outer Space Is The Last Great Creature Feature [Retrospective]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Killer Klowns From Outer Space Is The Last Great Creature Feature [Retrospective]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Killer Klowns From Outer Space (which just turned 30 on May 27th) was the culmination of a lifelong dream, as unlikely as it sounds. Bronx born Stephen, Edward, and Charlie Chiodo had all done respectably well in Hollywood as special effects artists, but had longed since childhood to make their own movie. Though they had done crew work on theatrical hits like 1986’s Critters, it was an ABC after school special that finally attracted the attention of potential investors.With only 1 pitch meeting and some concept art of a ray-gun-toting clown, the Chiodos got their chance to realize their dream. Production was greenlit on what would become 1988’s Killer Klowns From Outer Space.The trio collaborated on the screenplay, and middle sibling Stephen was nominated to direct. Though accomplished effects artists in their own right, the brothers called in favors to assemble some high budget SFX talents for their modestly-budgeted film. Also See: Wrinkles The Clown Shows Exactly How Not to Make a Documentary [Review] Rather than the slasher stalkers and fast times teens of the 80’s, the world of Killer Klowns is chock full of the monster kid culture of the post-atomic age. The Klowns and their array of circus themed, overly elaborate, comically oversized gadgety wouldn’t be out of place in Bill Finger’s era of Batman. The cotton candy cocoons in which they keep their victims are spun sugar homages to the Pod People from 1956’s Body Snatchers. There are scares here, but they are wrapped up is a sticky sweet layer of delightful camp. Even the plot is a loving homage to 1958’s The Blob. A cranky old man (alerted by his barking dog) is the first victim in both films. The protagonists are rather wholesome teenagers (played by actors a bit too old for that title) who discover the film’s big bad after seeing a shooting star from a local lover’s lane. The gruff town deputy won’t believe the protagonists, even after people start disappearing. While Killer Klowns never announces itself as a period piece, its clean cut kids, checkerboard floor greasy spoon, and officially designated make out point are certainly more 1958 than 1988. The charm lies in how deadly earnest this all is, how obviously gleeful the Chiodos are, as if they were still kids showing you some Super 8 they shot in the backyard. The film fully commits to the goofy space clown conceit, with balloon dog trackers, popcorn guns and deadly shadow puppets. The deaths are mostly goreless, choreographed fits of rubber masked mauling that would do any nuclear monster film proud. An ice cream truck and the friends we made along the way are what set the scene for a happy ending and a final frame that hinges on an old Soupy Sales gag. Also See: Frightening Moments from Mainstream Kids Movies That Traumatized Us for Life Other than the fantastic synth-fueled theme song, a few instances of rotoscoping and a candy neon color palette, Killer Klowns From Outer Space‘s plot and visual universe were a bit dated even at the time of its release. The practical effects hold up better than they perhaps should due to a talented team, but even those are now charmingly retro in the age of CGI. However, that same dated quality is likely the reason why Killer Klowns is a perennial favorite even 30 years after its release. It doesn’t matter if you watched the film in the theater during its very brief theatrical release, or as a bleary eyed 3:00 AM selection in its countless replays on late night cable. The second you hear that theme song, you know you are going to hop into that big top spaceship and blast straight to the creature feature horror traditions of years past, in what was (arguably) the last film to utilize them effectively. See Also: Greatest Show on Earth: Why People are Drawn to Carnival Horror Horror (along with the rest of pop culture) became much more sardonic and cynical as we moved into the decade of disaffection that was the 90’s. 1988 may have very well been the last moment you could make a silly little horror film about rubber-masked space clowns, and have people sit and enjoy the show, rather than rushing to look for the seams. WICKED RATING: 8/10 Director(s): Stephen ChiodoWriter(s): Stephen Chiodo, Charlie Chiodo, Edward ChiodoStars: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen NelsonYear: 1988Studio/ Production Co: Sarlui/DiamontBudget: $1.6 MillionLanguage: EnglishLength: 88 MinutesSub-Genre: Creature Feature Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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New on Netflix: May 29th, 2020

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Wicked Horror is the author of New on Netflix: May 29th, 2020. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

It’s Friday and you know what that means: It’s time to figure out what you’ll be binging during the upcoming week. Welcome back to New on Netflix! The streaming giant’s horror department has always been a mixed bag. However, I’d say they’ve really stepped up their game in the last couple of years with the release of amazing, essential watches. We’ve been treated to must see original programming like The Haunting of Hill House, Velvet Buzzsaw, Hush, and some of the classics we all know and love. Also See: Drowning and Eating Children: Mexican Folklore and the films of Guillermo del Toro This week, as we prepare to enter a new month, we have plenty of Netflix arrivals that will fill your nostalgia quota. The Boy June 1st has quite a few arrivals. First up is The Boy. When young American Greta takes a job as a nanny, she is surprised to discover the child she’s been entrusted to care for is actually a doll. The couple explains that they care for the child as a way to cope with the death of their son which occurred 20 years earlier. When Greta violates the strict rules she is given, a series of disturbing events quickly follow, giving her the impression that the doll is alive.  The Car Following a series of mysterious hit and run murders where witnesses claim there is no driver behind the wheel, Sherriff Wade is called in to investigate. The closer Wade gets to solving the case, the bolder The Car becomes. So bold it even threatens to terrorize a local parade where the town’s children and Wade’s girlfriend are in attendance. Available on June 1st! [Editor’s Note: I love this movie for the ridiculous good time that it is. If you haven’t seen it, give it a look.] Casper When James Harvey and his teenage daughter Kat move into a decrepit mansion in Maine, they soon discover the dwelling is home to spirits, including a young, friendly ghost named Casper and his uncles Fatso, Stinkie and Stretch. Hijinks ensue. Available June 1st! E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial After a gentle alien is left stranded on Earth, he is discovered by and befriends a young boy named Elliot. Soon after his arrival the alien dubbed E.T. falls ill, resulting in government intervention, which only puts Elliot and E.T. in a more dire situation.  Silence of the Lambs Clarice Starling, the top student of the FBI’s training academy, is put to the test when she is assigned to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath. The point of these interviews? To get insight into a particularly difficult and bizarre case.  Zodiac  Based on the serial killer of the same name, Zodiac follows investigators’ and reporters’ obsession with the killer who claims victim after victim and taunts the authorities with cryptic messages, cyphers and menacing phone calls. Super chill stuff. Hannibal: Seasons 1-3 Arriving on June 5th is all 3 seasons of Hannibal, a series that follows gifted criminal profiler Will Graham as he teams up with brilliant psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter. To an outsider looking in, it appears the two are a perfect match that can catch any villain that’s thrown their way. But Dr. Lecter has a dark secret; he has much more in common with the criminals they hunt than Will could possibly imagine. Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Exclusive Clip From Tainted Brings on the Violence

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Wicked Horror is the author of Exclusive Clip From Tainted Brings on the Violence. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Sadly, neo-N*zis are now more prevalent than arguably ever before, but upcoming horror movie Tainted aims to put them back in their place by showcasing the violent rehabilitation of one of their number. Naturally, it’s not an easy path back from the brink but the Russian mafia(!?) and a well-meaning woman (of course) help to make it as smooth a journey as possible. And not a Tiki torch in sight. Due for release on VOD from June 16, the upcoming flick is directed by Brent Cote and stars Alan Van Sprang, John Ralston, John Rhys-Davies, Sara Waisglass, Aaron Poole, and Lina Roessler. The intriguing synopsis is as follows: A reformed neo-Nazi is released from jail and is offered an olive branch from the Russian mob who put him in prison. His mission goes awry and his path for redemption lies in the fate of an innocent songstress. We’ve got an exclusive clip from Tainted just for Wicked Horror readers, which showcases the movie’s gritty, violent atmosphere while also hinting at the sweetness of the burgeoning relationship between a man who only knows violence and the young woman who might be his savior. Check it out below. You can also check out the full trailer for Tainted in all its gory glory here. Stay tuned to Wicked Horror for our review of the movie a bit closer to release. Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

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Killer Queen Is A Low Fi Wander Through Grindhouse Grittiness [Chattanooga FF Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Killer Queen Is A Low Fi Wander Through Grindhouse Grittiness [Chattanooga FF Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Killer Queen ‘s blood-splattered poster and lurid tagline of “She Kills And It’s On Super 8!” suggest a neo-grindhouse romp in the style of Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, or Rob Zombie. The emphasis on cheap film grain serves the same function as the holes on a pre-distressed denim jacket, a cheap short cut signal of a certain style of gritty authenticity. What Ramin Fahrenheit’s film actually delivers is certainly an homage to that bygone era, but is infinitely more authentic than a gimmicky use of the humblest of film stocks would suggest. Having recently escaped from a mental institution, Girl (Fatima Maziani) meets Boy (director Ramin Fahrenheit) in search of some drugs to calm the violent voices in her head. Rather than calm the voices, the drugs intensify them, and Boy begins an affair with Girl despite her being an active serial killer. See Also: Eight Grindhouse Movies That Need To Be Rediscovered As plots go, its an incredibly simple one. However, the cut and paste narrative loops of the film are shown from Girl’s perspective, becoming more non-linear and fractured as her mind fails her. She can’t trust herself, and neither can we, as the audience to her narrative. What Killer Queen lacks in story structure, it compensates for with a studied and almost slavish devotion to grimy grindhouse  aesthetics and atmosphere. Neither protagonist is ever given a name.  The recorded dialog never quite syncs up to the frame, the flat affect and tinny quality (and in the case of a supporting character named Aida, obviously a different voice actress) seem piped in from another room. Secondary characters drift in and out of the film, idle small talk of glorified extras is given as much focus as plot points, peppered with random asides. Focus is placed on inanimate objects, the action pushed to the edges of the frame. The color palette is grungy and washed out, other than the bright red blood of the Girl’s victims. What seems at first to be making a virtue out of budgetary necessities betrays its hand as the film goes on. Namely, that Fahrenheit has carefully studied the source material, with layered bits of everything from Doris Wishman’s indifferent framing to a lingering swipe of blood red lipstick worthy of an outtake from Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45. Anchoring this game of pin the references on the film stock is a fantastic Norman Orenstein score, equal parts Carpenter synths and Goblin style throbbing prog rock. See Also: Grindhouse Throwback Horrors That Work Astonishingly Well Killer Queen has an unusual problem, in that it does indeed deliver exactly what it advertises, a lovingly recreated modern exploitation film. Cult film fans of other languidly non-linear oddities like Messiah Of Evil will enjoy its careful homages, dream like atmosphere, and odd disconnection, seemingly a transmission from another time. Also See: Skull: The Mask is Nasty, B-Movie Fun [Chattanooga FF Review] However, to genre audiences who are not dyed-in-the-wool fans of exploitation cinema, Killer Queen is going to seem like a sleepily nonsensical slog by comparison to the gleeful splatter of the subgenre’s greatest hits, or the polish and brisk pacing of popular neo-grindhouse revivalists. Hopefully, Ramin Fahrenheit will receive the funding to turn his keen eye toward the livelier corners of the drive-in and disreputable in his next film. WICKED RATING: 5.5/10 Director(s): Ramin Fahrenheit Writer(s): Ramin Fahrenheit Stars: Ramin Fahrenheit, Fatima Maziani Release: October 1st, 2019 (Vancouver International Film Festival) Studio/ Production Co: Zed Republic Language: English Runtime: 88 minutes Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Attack Of The Demons Is A Hand Cut Bloody Valentine To Horror [Chattanooga Film Festival 2020 Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Attack Of The Demons Is A Hand Cut Bloody Valentine To Horror [Chattanooga Film Festival 2020 Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Eric Power’s Attack Of The Demons uses hand cut paper animation to mix pop culture obsessed sardonic slackers, a bit of homage to Lamberto Bava’s Demons and a slick synth-heavy score into a gory neon fever dream. It’s fall 1994 and a herd of tourists descend upon the small town of Barrington, Colorado to attend a battle of the bands, part of a popular annual music festival. When a cult takes advantage of the crowd to perform a summoning ritual and  unleash a horde of demons, three former high school classmates have to figure out how to survive the night and save the world.Kevin (Thomas Petersen) is a townie, who lives with and takes care of his grandmother. He could care less about the festival, as the town movie theater is doing a one night only showing of a rare Italian giallo called Grotesque Mirror.Jeff (screenwriter Andreas Petersen) is visiting his weird survivalist uncle, and passing the time by playing his way through vintage video game cabinets throughout town. Nat (Katie Maguire) rode back to her hometown with her mansplaining excuse of a music journalist boyfriend, Chet (director/animator Eric Power). All she wants to do is see her favorite indie band, Teek. All Chet wants to do is deride her for not loving more “important” music like festival stars the Banshee Riders. See Also: Demons is an Incoherent Yet Brilliant Film [Retrospective] With only three main characters, the film takes its time letting us get to know them before all hell literally breaks loose, and the trio spends a chance pit stop at a diner having a bit of an impassioned argument in defense of their individual favorites. It’s almost as if the filmmakers are speaking for themselves with these characters, and the spirited back and forth will be familiar to anyone who was ever the awkward kid at the back of the cafeteria debating the merits of slasher sequels or punk rock records with their motley crew of misfits. Attack Of The Demons also slips in a bit of lonesome black comedy when each character seeks out the thing they came for. Kevin is thrilled to have the theater ticket taker mimic his enthusiasm for Grotesque Mirror, only to find out she was putting him on as he walks into an otherwise empty theater. Jeff finds the retro fighting game he’s been searching for, only to lose immediately. Teek thanks the crowd, composed of…..Nat. In a pre Internet era, it wasn’t nearly as easy to find your tribe, and enjoying the obscure often meant you were enjoying it on your own. These establishing scenes are filled with knowing winks, from a familiar -GORIA letterhead peeking out from a stack of magazines in Kevin’s room to a near perfect recreation of the continue screen from arcade fight classic Street Fighter II, and the fact that the summoning chant used by the cultists contains an awful lot of repetitions of what sounds like “Argento, Lenzi, Bava”. There are definitely enough little details to justify multiple viewings to catch them all, and the sheer skill level and craft of the visuals only increases when the town is overrun by demonic entities. Taking advantage of the papercut medium to make things that would be impossibly expensive in a live action film, the creature design is complex and incredibly gory, with each fallen human (including Nat’s a-hole of a boyfriend) becoming a different sort of monstrous demonic entity depending on their manner of death. If David Cronenberg had any inclination towards arts and crafts, it would likely be something as disgustingly inventive as what is on display here. See Also: A Beginner’s Guide to Dario Argento In the back half of the film, we get introduced to a few new secondary characters, including Jeff’s mysterious uncle, and a somewhat inept demonologist named Stuart Combs (August Sargenti). While neither role is huge, the additional personas on screen accentuate one of Attack Of The Demons few obvious flaws. While John Dixon’s music score is a crisp recording, the character dialog is choppy, with slightly flat line readings from all the voice actors. When you account for the fact that budgetary constraints mean some of the cast had to voice some of the bit parts as well as our more central characters, the flat affect and tinny quality can be a bit of a distraction from the onscreen action, as there isn’t all that much to distinguish each individual. This also tends to dull the impact of the quieter, more emotional moments in the slower paced final third of the film, which feel rather draggy, despite the film’s concise 75 minute runtime. Slight audio issues aside, Attack Of The Demons is a blast from the past burst of black-hearted love for the horror genre, with inventive design and a labor-intensive hand cut style that has to be seen to be believed for sheer level of detail. Full of brisk energy, hidden in jokes and genuine giddy enthusiasm, I sincerely hope it finds a home for a wider release, as this much fun shouldn’t be confined to the festival circuit. Wicked Rating  – 7/10 Directors: Eric Power Writers: Andreas Petersen Stars: Thomas Petersen, Andreas Petersen, Katie Maguire Release date: June 16 2019 (Cinepocalypse) Studio/Production Company: TBD Language: English Run Time: 75 minutes Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Jumbo Can’t Sustain The Momentum of its Carnival Ride [Chattanooga FF Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Jumbo Can’t Sustain The Momentum of its Carnival Ride [Chattanooga FF Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo is a movie that defies any easy characterization, and is at alternating turns an outsider coming of age narrative, a family melodrama, and a visually lush tale of first love (and lust). Tying it all together is a loose “based on a true story” hook of objectum sexuality, where a human forms intense attractions to inanimate objects. In this case, the human is a withdrawn carnival worker named Jeanne. The object of her affections? An amusement park ride at her workplace. The thrill ride is actually called the Bump It, but Jeanne affectionately nicknames the structure Jumbo. See Also: The Pandemic Anthology is Horror Spiked with Much Needed Humor [Chattanooga FF Review] With a leading man made of metal, the bulk of the work of the love story falls on our principle actress. Noémie Merlant (Portrait Of a Lady On Fire) is well cast as Jeanne, using some impressive physical character work to fill in the gaps left by a somewhat minimal approach to dialog. Jeanne floats through her days like a sleepwalker, and stumbles through even the simplest of interactions with a wince and a hard swallow, as if the act of forming words is physically painful. Jeanne’s well-meaning mother Margarette (Emmanuelle Bercot) tries to draw her out with everything from pop song singalongs to awkward blind date set ups with Marc (Bastien Bouillon), Jeanne’s boss at the amusement park. Jeanne, meanwhile, is perfectly content to tinker alone in her room, building scale models of fairground rides. Clearly more comfortable amongst machines, Jeanne seems much more at ease in her nightly cleaning duties at the amusement park, delicately polishing steel and dusting lightbulbs. In the course of her duties, she notices one particular ride seemingly responding to her touch with anthropomorphized mechanical rumbling and blinking of lights. In a film full of self-assured, lush visuals, the scenes where Jeanne is courting the object of her affections are some of the most beautiful of all, mixing the magical realism of The Shape Of Water with the awe from on high effects of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Noémie Merlant’s face is bathed in the vibrant colors of the ride’s lights, finally alive, literally aglow with first love. The dizzying feeling of falling head over heels is made literal as she swoops through the air on a carnival ride for one, culminating in a sensually surrealist consummation of their relationship, puddles of the machine’s fluids gliding over Jeanne’s body. It is when Jumbo abandons these fanciful, fairy tale touches that the film comes crashing back down to earth. What surrounds the central love story is a thinly plotted melodrama, with all of the human characters’ erratic behavior and motivations merely in mechanical service to a familiar plot that manages to be both trite, and full of loose ends. A vague allusion to Jeanne being either a trauma survivor or possibly having a mental illness diagnosis leads nowhere. It’s never made clear if Margarette drove Jeanne’s father away, or if he left the family of his own volition. A random group of unnamed bullying teenagers pops in and out of the film, with no other purpose than tormenting Jeanne with stalkerish regularity, and forcing her to run off to wherever might be a more convenient location for the next story beat. Jeanne is at least given the empathy of a consistent characterization, and as the inevitable second act reversals and obstacles to her forbidden love occur, it gives Noémie Merlant another chance to showcase her intrinsic understanding of loss, loneliness and longing, in similar emotional territory to her masterful performance in Portrait Of A Lady On Fire. In lesser hands, the endless parade of well lit pouting, dramatic collapses and delicate tears would become soap opera levels of tedious. This grace does not extend to any of the other characters, who basically get reduced to plot devices. Marc’s overly persistent and forceful attempts to become Jeanne’s boyfriend are a source of menace in the first act, but we are clearly meant to feel sorry for him when Jeanne rejects him for good, and to see his outright humiliation of her at a end of season employee party as a tough love attempt to reconnect Jeanne with other people, when it is merely a jilted man’s cruelty. See Also: Skull: The Mask is Nasty, B-Movie Fun [Chattanooga Film Festival Review] Margarette doesn’t fare much better. Initially, she is a bit too concerned with being Jeanne’s friend, with all of the oversharing that comes with a heavy handed effort at being the “cool mom”. In the back half of the film, Margarette twists into a scheming harpy who is all too happy to toss her daughter out into the street, then plot with Marc to make sure the offending ride is sold off, attempting to make Jeanne “normal” by force. While this arc isn’t impossible given the context of their fight, the compressed amount of screen time in which it occurs makes it feel both rushed and contrived. The late in the film addition of Margarette’s new boyfriend, Hubert (Sam Louwyck) is left to be the moral center of the film, and facilitator of the heavily telegraphed third act reconciliation where Margarette learns to accept Jeanne (and her newfound love interest) as they are. Also See: Greatest Show on Earth: Why People are Drawn to Carnival Horror Lying underneath all of this paint by numbers script anemia is a bunch of big beautiful ideas, from the universal importance and validity of love to a unique, somewhat queer coded subtext on romantic awakening and coming of age outside of arbitrary standards. Unfortunately, Jumbo fails to give its human characters or underlying themes the needed emotional heft to be the feel good modern fable it aspires to be. While unfailingly stylish, a lack of sturdy structure makes Jumbo an aesthetically pleasing but frustrating ride through missed opportunity that collapses under the weight of its titular attraction. Wicked Rating  – 6/10 Directors: Zoé Wittock Writers: Zoé Wittock Stars: Noémie Merlant, Emmanuelle Bercot, Bastien Bouillon, Sam Louwyck Release date: January 24 2020 (Sundance Film Festival) Studio/Production Company: Insolence Productions  Language: French Run Time: 93 minutes Follow us social media! 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Homewrecker ‘s High Camp Horror Makes for a Delightfully Dark Midnight Movie [Chattanooga FF Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Homewrecker ‘s High Camp Horror Makes for a Delightfully Dark Midnight Movie [Chattanooga FF Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Zach Gayne’s Homewrecker was one of the less publicized selections at the 2020 Chattanooga Film Festival, despite its overall positive reception at last year’s Fantastic Fest, likely because the premise is so simple. Homewrecker centers on just two characters. Michelle (Alex Essoe, Starry Eyes) is a newly married thirty-something interior designer, who is guilted into making a new friend out of the forty-something Linda (Precious Chong) after one of their shared fitness classes. Convincing Michelle to stop by her house to consult on some redecorating, it’s quickly clear Linda is more than just lonely, and is dangerously obsessive. Plot wise, this film will be comfort food level territory to anyone who recalls the ’90s boom of thrillers focused on female jealousy and misdirected desire. From Misery and Single White Female to Poison Ivy and The Crush, Homewrecker has both subject matter and a trapped in amber retro sheen that are a perfect callback to a certain overblown strain of late night cable potboiler that is likely due a revival. What Homewrecker lacks in clever plotting, it amply makes up for in a script that absolutely sings with both hard truths and comedic barbs as the two leading ladies circle around each other in what becomes an increasingly fraught game of cat and mouse. Co written by the director and both of the film’s leads, the expert skewering of all of the various gendered expectations placed on women is a far more nuanced and layered take than we usually get in this subgenre of film. A barrage of knowing winks at both the real life pressures of and pop culture tropes inspired by those impossible standards is part of what makes this flick a joy to watch. Michelle is all amicable agreement and inflections that lilt upward, so afraid to offend she won’t even talk to her husband about her anxieties regarding their marriage and plans for a family. Every third sentence is started with an apology, and she can’t bear to upset Linda by refusing her increasingly invasive and inappropriate requests. By prioritizing politeness to the extreme, she sacrifices her own safety in a sea of red flags, only finding the strength to fight for herself in the film’s final act. See Also: Eight Truly Classic ’60s Horror Films That Still Hold Up Alex Essoe sells this character arc with quiet effectiveness, making Michelle meek but not cowardly, down but not quite out, in a way that is relatable to root for as she catfights for her life against the increasingly manic Linda. It’s a smart choice, and shows a strong understanding of genre film work, as Michelle is the more grounded anchor that keeps the picture in the realm of enjoyably soapy as Precious Chong’s Linda becomes increasingly unglued. Speaking of Precious Chong, she absolutely walks away with this film firmly tucked in her back pocket, her performance a modern Baby Jane pushed into the heyday of MTV. If Michelle is a digital age people pleaser, Linda has been crushed under retrograde heteronormative expectations of a woman’s principle value being in her ability to obtain a husband and bear children. At 44, she clearly sees herself as an inadequate “old maid”, trying to fill the gaps with painting, spin classes, and a doomed aggressive cheerfulness that lies somewhere between an aerobics instructor and Jesse Spano’s adventures with caffeine pills. This brightly brittle quality is absolutely shades of Annie Wilkes, and it comes as no surprise that Linda also has a discomfiting fondness for a sledgehammer, displayed in a decorative place of pride on her wall. I pity the fool who does not share Linda’s rabid dog nostalgia for both goofy teen queen board games straight out of Tiger Beat and the early filmography of Shannen Doherty. When Michelle tries to opt out of Linda’s hellish home confinement slumber party, both the horror and the comedy kick into high gear. Sodium thiopental sits alongside snide burn book snipes about the sexual consequences of TMJ. Escapes are thwarted by a sunny affirmation of self defense for the single woman. Linda and Michelle bash each other upside the head with the various tools of beauty culture and feminine sexual competition (from curling irons to “intimacy aids”) while literally fighting for their lives. A brilliant needle drop (arguably even better than the one featured in After Midnight) of Lisa Loeb’s 1994 hit “Stay (I Missed You)” is 3 minutes of coal black comedy perfection. This brings me to my one big issue with Homewrecker. While what the cast and crew were able to accomplish given just three locations and four total actors is commendable, Zach Gayne’s direction is workmanlike, at best. Both a television style split screen effect and a transition shot of a bubblegum pink bath bomb wear out their welcome due to repetitious overuse. In the more physical fight scenes, the editing is so muddled it’s rather difficult to tell what is going on at all. While Homewrecker as a whole punches above its weight class, the lack of a defined aesthetic in the visuals of the film are absolutely the place where the low budget seams start to really show. See Also: Six Drive In Films You Need To Seek Out Now! Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge brought a fresh, feminist spin to the rape-revenge exploitation subgenre, and Homewrecker pulls off a similar feat for hagsploitation, bringing psycho biddies into the modern age in a fast paced, funny 76 minutes that charms intensely without overstaying the welcome of its clever dialog and committed performances. A perfectly plucky little midnight movie, and an ideal candidate for a particular brand of cult following if given a chance with a wider release. WICKED RATING: 7.5/10 Director(s): Zach Gayne Writer(s): Zach Gayne, Alex Essoe, Precious Chong Stars: Precious Chong, Alex Essoe Release: TBD Studio/ Production Co: Dark Star Pictures Language: English Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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The Pandemic Anthology is Horror Spiked with Much Needed Humor [Chattanooga FF Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of The Pandemic Anthology is Horror Spiked with Much Needed Humor [Chattanooga FF Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

In lieu of the world crumbling into a glorified dumpster fire, it’s hard to not be scared. Look, we are in the middle of a pandemic, there is no getting around that. You can’t turn on your phone, TV, or car radio without being reminded of this fact. And pretending otherwise gets boring really fast. It never fails to intrigue and impress me what people have decided to do with all this unexpected free time. Some have decided to master their cooking skills. Others finally have a reason to do a deep clean of their homes. I, personally, am attempting to teach my eleven-year-old chihuahua how to sit on command. I have been unsuccessful so far. Then, there are the select few who have decided to get extra creative; to grab the metaphorical bull by the horns, taking the pent up energy their fear has given them and putting it towards something creative to cope. As well as comfort others. Musical duo Twenty One Pilots recently released a song all about the anxieties of self quarantine. This week, pop star Lauv debuted a podcast (episode 1 here) where he and fellow musicians to talk about mental health in times of isolation. And then there are the beautiful people of South America who have decided to participate in a film festival. Also See: Skull: The Mask is Nasty B Movie Fun  As part of Brazil’s digital Chattanooga Film Festival–happening Friday, May 22nd through Monday, May 25th–comes the premiere of The Pandemic Anthology, a collection of creepy short films submitted to Fantaspoa’s recent “Fantaspoa at Home” filmmaking competition. “Each terrifying segment, conceived and shot while social distancing, embraces an amazing “can-do” spirit that proves, even while quarantined, creativity is a monster that will never die.” The Pandemic Anthology consists of “…14 most representative and creative short films produced capturing this moment in time that, if humanity is lucky, will never be repeated.” Despite the circumstances, the most modern means and willing participants make for gripping stories that are reminiscent of goofy home movies tricked out with sick sound effects. The competition is fierce, however, one story in particular, Jerome: A Christmas Carol, is the stand out effort for me (as well as my personal favorite). It’s the story of a cat who is hungry. As a radio broadcast updates listeners on the world’s deteriorating status, the feline furiously searches around his home for something to eat, though the situation becomes deadly once viewers realize his owner has died; thus sealing the fate of our furry little friend. The final shot, where the cat lays beside his empty bowl, as the broadcast signs off with a “May God bless us all” makes for one hell of an ending. All in all, The Pandemic Anthology is a promising gem that shouldn’t be overlooked for it’s overlapping theme of the, y’know, whole pandemic thing. This film, as well as dozens of others, will be available to watch at any time while the festival is happening.  Additional details, ticketing for US residents, and more can be found here. Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Skull: The Mask is Nasty, B-Movie Fun [Chattanooga Film Festival Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Skull: The Mask is Nasty, B-Movie Fun [Chattanooga Film Festival Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

In the scene that best captures the essence of Brazilian slasher film Skull: The Mask, a monster (Rurik Jr.) stalks toward a priest (Ricardo Gelli). The priest backs toward a crucifix. He takes Christ’s hand, at first it seems, for comfort. But the hand comes out and reveals itself to actually be a sword hidden in Jesus’s arm. The priest and monster proceed to have an epic sword fight in front of a stained glass background.  The movie starts long before that fight in 2021. Skull: The Mask opens in 1944, with soldiers that look a lot like Nazis conducting a ritual to summon Anhangá, a Brazilian god. They cut a man’s stomach open and bathe the titular mask—which looks like the skull of one of the pig things from the rancor pit in Return of the Jedi—in blood and entrails. One of the maybe-Nazis puts the mask on. The mask doesn’t like that. The maybe-Nazi’s head explodes.  Fast forward to a little past the present day, 2021, and the mask is rediscovered. Prototypical corporate overlord Tack Waelder (Ivo Müller) sends Galvani (Guta Ruiz) to retrieve it when it’s discovered. Galvani takes it home to show her partner Lilah (Greta Antoine). Galvani fully intends to take the mask to Tack in the morning. Nervously, she and Lilah ask each other, “Are you afraid of something?” and laugh. After Galvani falls asleep, Lilah, who dresses like Death from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, conducts a ritual to wake the mask up. She succeeds, but the mask doesn’t want to be worn. Instead, it kills them both.  Detective Beatriz Obdias (Natallia Rodrigues), who’s partner complains, “You said you shot that guy because he disrespected you” is called in. It’s not her department, but she doesn’t want to leave. Soon Tack is on the scene. He’s callous, telling Beatriz to butt out, “Look, they are dead now. I really think you should focus on that matter.” But shortly after he’s blackmailing Beatriz into finding the mask.  Those two aren’t the only one’s looking for it. Manco Ramirez (Wilton Andrade) works unloading fruits from trucks. He doesn’t necessarily want to be involved with the whole magic mask possessing and killing people, but it’s in his blood. His grandfather had a collection of magic artifacts that could fight Anhangá, but the aforementioned priest, Father Vasco Magno won’t give them to him, sneering, “500 years of history in your rented shack.” Being sundered from his cultural history doesn’t stop Manco from hunting for Anhangá. Notice here also, the not subtle symbolism of the Priest refusing to let Manco have his family birthright, his culture.  There are a lot of moving parts, but that’s part of what makes this flick so much fun. There’s an energy that jolts through everything in co-directors and co-writers Armando Fonseca and Kapel Furman put into it. Not all of it exactly makes sense or comes together, but it’s all so entertaining it doesn’t matter. They knew Skull: The Mask was a B-movie, and like all the best of B-movie directors, leaned into the weirdness and the exhilaration. How does the priest know how to sword fight? Who cares! It’s awesome.  The same goes for the music. In each individual scene it’s perfect. The opening credits roll with a synth-heavy rock song that would fit well with anything that Dario Argento played with Goblin. Later when Beatriz is one screen, muted trumpets bellow as though this were a noir film. For Tack, it’s a quiet piano. The different musical motifs don’t come together as well as the film, but they all work by themselves.  The SFX add to the chaos. The mask looks amazing, as do the other creature designs. The beginning is shot with a filter to make it look like damaged film from the 1940s. The gore is over the top, a la George A. Romero. No one will mistake it for a snuff film, but there’s a lot of blood being pumped into the scenes that have it. Which is, again, fun! Maybe the best part of the film though is the fight choreography. Rurik Jr., who plays the monster, is a professional wrestler and it shows. In between decapitations and opening rib cages to rip out hearts, he’s hitting power bombs, chokeslams, and Ura Nages. Because of his wrestling background, he does strong work carrying himself with menace and whooping anyone who comes within arms length of him.  RELATED: See No Evil 2 is Better Than Its Predecessor [Review] Skull: The Mask isn’t a perfect movie, but the rough edges are what makes its magic so potent. It takes all of the unkillable killer of slasher flicks, the chest-bursting sequences from the Alien franchise, the drama of professional wrestling, and a hefty helping of camp and mixes them all into one amazing package. The cherry on top is the way Skull: The Mask actively critiques the way Christian missionaries erased native cultures in Brazil. You’ll regret missing this one.  Skull: The Mask is debuting as part of the Chattanooga Film Festival, which is open to residents of the U.S. You can purchase tickets here. Wicked Rating  – 8/10 Directors: Armando Fonseca and Kapel FurmanWriters: Armando Fonseca and Kapel FurmanStars: Natallia Rodrigues, Wilton Andrade, Rurik Jr.Release date: May 22, 2020 (Chattanooga Film Festival) Studio/Production Company: Infravermelho Filmes, Fantaspoa Produções, Boccato ProductionsLanguage: PortugueseRun Time: 89 minutes Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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New on Netflix: May 22nd, 2020

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Wicked Horror is the author of New on Netflix: May 22nd, 2020. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

It’s Friday and you know what that means: It’s time to figure out what you’ll be binging during the upcoming week. Welcome back to New on Netflix! The streaming giant’s horror department has always been a mixed bag. However, I’d say they’ve really stepped up their game in the last couple of years with the release of amazing, essential watches. We’ve been treated to must see original programming like The Haunting of Hill House, Velvet Buzzsaw, Hush, and some of the classics we all know and love. Also See: Tigers Are Not Afraid Returns Fairy Tales to Their Gory Glory [Steelbook Review] This week we have Adam Sandler in his best movie role yet and a thrilling police procedural with a twist. Uncut Gems Available on Netflix on May 25th is the beloved Uncut Gems. Charismatic and slightly annoying jeweler Howard Ratner is always on the hunt for the next get rich quick scheme. When he makes a high stakes bet he must balance between his business, family, an affair on all sides in pursuit of the ultimate win. La Corazonada Coming our way on May 28th is La Corazonda (Intuition), a thriller that follows officer Pipa who is finally assigned her first big case, the murder of a young woman, where all the evidence soon points to her boss. Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Alexandra Serio’s Tingle Monsters is a Trendsetter in Horror

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Wicked Horror is the author of Alexandra Serio’s Tingle Monsters is a Trendsetter in Horror. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Webby nominated director, writer and producer Alexandra Serio becomes the master of the constantly swinging cultural pendulum with the world’s first ASMR (short) horror film, Tingle Monsters. Brutal, compelling and a shining example of a psychological thriller that doubles as an exploration into the link between Internet harassment and physical violence against women by bringing together two fantastically different entertainment mediums. In Tingle Monsters, we meet Dee, an ASMR vlogger with a devoted fan base who returns from an extended absence with a livestream that quickly spirals out of control. While ASMR may be an acquired taste, it’s easily overlooked as the momentum of everything sweeps you along like a fever dream from the get go, leaving you as tense as a bow string. As short as Tingle Monsters is, everything plays out like an Ann Quin novella for the modern Internet user: Fabulously devious, deliciously wicked and spooky. Also See: Dewey Riley Set to Return for Scream 5 as David Arquette Signs On! Bottom line? This is a great story with outstanding potential to be a full length film; or at the very least a messed up graphic novel. I thoroughly enjoyed Tingle Monsters and am eager to see what Serio comes up with next. Treat yourself by checking out Tingle Monsters! Now available for free on Omeleto and Vimeo! WICKED RATING: 8/10 Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Five Movies That Didn’t Need to be Shot as Found Footage

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Wicked Horror is the author of Five Movies That Didn’t Need to be Shot as Found Footage. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Found footage can be traced back a long time, at least to Cannibal Holocaust in 1980. It was The Blair Witch Project that really made the concept popular, especially in the horror genre, yet it took a decade for people to actually start trying to recreate that success. The release of Paranormal Activity in 2009 kicked off a reign of found footage productions that continued for years beyond the film’s release. Related: Found Footage Films: A Brief and Twisted History Now, studios will often green light a feature of that type solely on the grounds that they will save a ton of money.  Paranormal Activity proved that a horror film could be made for only a few thousand as opposed to a few million. Unfortunately, not every genre production needs to be found footage and the titles we’ll be looking at in this list more than prove that. Devil’s Due Devil’s Due set out to be a found footage Rosemary’s Baby and that’s exactly what it is. The thought process behind it consisted of taking one of the all-time cinematic greats and saying “Well, what if it didn’t look like a movie?” Does this mean it wouldn’t be an amateurish version of the same type of story had it not been found footage? No. It would probably still have been bad, but it could have at least had some production value. Instead, what we’re left with is a paint-by-numbers feature that plays it safe at every turn and—as a result—is not remotely memorable. The camera has nothing to do with the story, and that’s important because, in something like this, the camera has to be a character for the movie to work. When that doesn’t happen, this is what we’re left with. Europa Report Europa Report could be lumped into the same boat as Apollo 18, in that they are both found footage space exploration movies, which is a concept that inherently doesn’t work. Europa Report is the better of the two, but it still didn’t need to be done in this style and ultimately doesn’t gel with the format. It’s a claustrophobic space thriller and should have been reliant on tension, atmosphere and character development. Instead, the flick focuses on the justification for the footage existing. Most of it looks as riveting as tuning into the NASA channel to watch satellites in orbit. That’s not to say there’s nothing eventful in the movie, or that there’s nothing of value, it’s just that as the feature unfolds, it becomes harder and harder to tell what’s going on or become invested in it. Project X Now, Project X is not a horror movie. But it warrants talking about precisely because of that fact. The found footage model is inherently a horror template. Project X was the film that took the first step in seeing if the cheapest model of filmmaking could be applied to other genres. It opened the door for films like Project Almanac and Earth to Echo to do the same. But it’s ultimately pointless. Project X is a sophomoric comedy. It’s a simple teen house party movie. It has no reason to be shot in the found footage style, and frankly it’s a little bit creepy to even conceive the idea that kids would be filming the entire thing. The Sacrament I loved The Sacrament, it was one of my favorites of the year, but that doesn’t mean I’m kidding myself into thinking there was any reason that it actually needed to be found footage. It’s a solid retelling of the Jonestown massacre with some wonderful build-up and tension. The performances are strong across the board, but the camera ultimately gets in the way. Near the end, it’s less and less justifiable. Almost every found footage movie reaches that point where people would generally just stop filming, and in The Sacrament it is particularly noticeable. Chronicle Like The Sacrament, this was a film that I loved but at the same time, I can’t justify it being found footage. Most movies are designed in this format if they have no other selling point, or if it’s the sole way a distributor would be able to market it. But Chronicle has so much going for it besides the fact that it is shot in the first person. It’s an original superhero movie in the midst of the age of comic book adaptations. It is also a super villain origin story, which is unique unto itself. The found footage style that is utilized in this film, while actually inventive, is the least important thing here. Chronicle would easily have worked without it. Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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How Hellraiser: Bloodline Went From An Ambitious Franchise Saver To The Pin In The Coffin

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Wicked Horror is the author of How Hellraiser: Bloodline Went From An Ambitious Franchise Saver To The Pin In The Coffin. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

The Hellraiser franchise has always been rocky. The first two movies are absolutely spectacular. Hellraiser III is a bit underrated, but not without its problems by any stretch. And then you have Hellraiser: Bloodline which, for most people, is when the franchise really began to go downhill. It’s tough to argue considering that, even from a financial standpoint, Bloodline shows the most dramatic decline in profits of any horror franchise ever. After this installment, the series would be sent straight-to-video, a well out of which it would never climb. Even the most lackluster Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Texas Chainsaw Massacre films didn’t result in those franchises suffering that fate (although it’s worth pointing out that Halloween would have suffered the same from Dimension, had it not been for a last-minute save by Jamie Lee Curtis). But Hellraiser: Bloodline was not intended to be the movie that sealed the franchise’s straight-to-video fate. Rather, it was envisioned as the most ambitious Hellraiser yet. It was going to be the film that saved the franchise and cemented it as a cornerstone of modern genre fare. In the eyes of most, it might not have turned out that way, but it was full of great ideas and was ruined—as many productions are—by total mishandling from the studio. Also See: Essential Quarantine Reading: 10 Books for the Bored Horror Fan The core concept is incredibly unique: a movie that takes place in three separate timelines, the past, the present, and the future, all tied together by a single family. Or rather, a single man, who is reincarnated with glimpses of his bloodline’s history. In each time period, he is trying to complete a single mission: design a box that destroys the demons his ancestor accidentally brought to earth. Looking at this idea on paper, the Hellraiser franchise beat Cloud Atlas to the punch by over a decade. With this unique structure, the fillmmakers allowed themselves to make a sequel that picked up from the end of Hellraiser III while simultaneously giving us the beginning and end of the franchise at the same time. This was an amazing idea and it could have worked. The problem was that a big idea like this demanded a big movie, and that’s sadly not what Bloodline became. Everyone went into this one with good intentions. Writer Peter Atkins, director Kevin Yagher—the amazing FX man behind Freddy, Chucky and the Crypt Keeper—and even Clive Barker himself believed they could make this the best Hellraiser yet. Atkins wrote a terrific story; like Hellbound, it was singular but not afraid to branch off into weird territory and do something different. Given that it was telling three stories at once, the script for Bloodline was the longest for any Hellraiser movie yet. And even though cuts were made, the movie resulted in a pretty long original cut. But even as they were shooting, things were being tossed out left and right and totally rearranged until they no longer made any sense. Dimension was worried about the movie from the moment they started shooting, and had arguably never really understood the franchise from the moment they picked it up. They didn’t like to use the term ‘Cenobite’ in their films because they didn’t know what it meant and wouldn’t let Barker explain it to them. Even though he offered up several ideas and tried to pitch designs for new Cenobites, Dimension would not take his input and generally didn’t want him involved in any kind of hands-on capacity. One of Barker’s biggest suggestions was that they should lessen Pinhead’s screen time, as he felt that was what had made the Hell Priest so impactful in the first two features. According to Barker, “My argument about Pinhead has always been that less is more. But the American audiences just go crazy when this guy comes on screen, so the studio said, ‘No. More is more.’” See Also: It’s Just a Game: The Meta Weirdness of Hellraiser Hellworld According to director Kevin Yagher, Dimension was not happy with the initial cut, which was very rough and delivered when there was still shooting to be done. They didn’t like that Pinhead didn’t make an appearance until forty minutes in and they didn’t like that there was relatively little gore compared to the other movies.The studio considered the film complete with three whole weeks of filming left. Joe Chappelle was then brought in for extensive reshoots—the same director who re-shot his own Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers into a completely different movie. When all was said and done, Bloodline was the shortest Hellraiser until the no-budget Revelations came along in 2011. It failed critically, but not as much as it bombed at the box office. Yagher even had his name removed from the final product. Bloodline is not the movie it should have been. But the great film that it was meant to be is clear while watching it. It’s sad that it wasn’t allowed to reach its full potential, but the finished product is not without merit. Even Barker, after everything, has some positive things to say about it: “I think there are some fine things in Hellraiser IV actually,” he told SFX. “There are some things that return almost to the tone of the first one. It’s uneven, no question, but overall I prefer it to number three.” As uneven as it obviously is, Bloodline gave us a great extended prologue centering on Lemarchand and the creation of the box. It gave us a great new villainess in the form of Angelique–a big deal as the franchise had been founded on female villains with Julia Cotton in the first two pictures. It gave us Doug Bradley in one of his finest performances as his most iconic character. There are moments in the movie that work. Even still, it’s tough to watch and not think of what could have been. Ultimately, it had such sights to show us, and it showed us only one or two. Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Eight Terrific Secondary Antagonists in Horror Movies

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Wicked Horror is the author of Eight Terrific Secondary Antagonists in Horror Movies. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

The killer is not always the killer in horror movies. One of my favorite things about the genre is that it takes characters who are pretty normal people on the surface and puts them in an unreal environment that forces them to confront what kind of people they really are. Sometimes they find an inner strength and rise above the situation. Sometimes they don’t. Characters like this can be just as interesting. You never really know what to expect from them. Sometimes they surprise you. Sometimes it’s a character who starts off perfectly likeable and then changes over time. The more they see, the worse they react and the less they’re able to recover. Stephen King handles characters like this terrifically and his fiction includes several of them. See Also: Five Terrifying Horror Novels That Need to be Feature Films A secondary antagonist can really be anyone who stands in the way of the hero and their goal. Technically, it could be someone like Dr. Crews in Friday the 13th Part VII, who is just an a**hole and makes the entire situation worse with their presence. But that’s not the kind of character I’m looking at here. Today, I’m looking at characters who either directly align themselves with the main villain or who wind up posing an almost equally serious threat to their well-being. Characters who might not be the Big Bad, but are still out for blood. Chris Hargensen in Carrie All versions of Chris that we’ve seen on screen border on sociopathy, but I think the most interesting of them is Nancy Allen’s portrayal in Brian De Palma’s original 1976 film. Chris barely gets through a scene without a violent outburst. She’s a little more outwardly psychotic than her novel counterpart, as she gets a thrill from the slaughter of the pigs and is sexually attracted to her own hatred of Carrie White. Yes, Carrie herself is the one who destroys the high school and her mother is her primary antagonist, but Chris is the one driven by bloodlust. She’s the one who makes the whole third act possible. Stu Macher in Scream Stu’s a character who’s always interested me. He follows Billy’s every command and is probably at least a little bit in love with him. But there’s a moment in Scream that’s always fascinated me. When Billy reveals the backstory of his mom leaving him after his dad’s affair with Sidney’s mother, Stu looks surprised. I always wondered if that was a performance thing until reading a draft of the script that confirmed it: Stu never once stopped to ask why they were doing it. He didn’t care. That, to me, reveals everything about his character. He was just in it for the fun and didn’t think about any of the consequences until the end, when it dawned on him that they could get caught. Mickey Altieri in Scream 2 Mickey might actually be my favorite killer in the whole Scream franchise. He perfectly embodies some of the cultural fears of the time, Timothy Olyphant gives a great performance, but what really sells it is his motive. He’s gonna blame the movies in a decade where that might actually have worked. There was an outcry against violent media, the likes of which we haven’t seen since. Everyone wanted to believe that movies were to blame for real life actions. Here’s the thing, though, Mickey didn’t believe any of that. He knew he was just looking for an excuse to kill people, but knew that people would believe him if he blamed his actions on outside influences. That’s still resonant in a way that it probably shouldn’t be. Evil Ed in Fright Night Evil Ed is a great character. He’s sympathetic, funny, tries his best to play the part of best friend, but he’s kind of weird and obnoxious in a self-sabotaging way. He starts out similar to Randy in Scream, but eventually he’s seduced and turned by main vampire Jerry Dandridge. For a secondary antagonist, he has a legacy that almost outshines that of Jerry himself. People remember Fright Night for this character and there was a disappointment when he didn’t return for Fright Night Part II. That definitely speaks to the character’s strength as well as Stephen Geoffreys’s memorable portrayal. Related: Script to Pieces: Farmer & Lussier’s Fright Night Remake Harry Cooper in Night of the Living Dead Cooper is kind of the classic thorn in the side who just makes everything worse by being there. But he moves up from just being an unlikable jerk when he takes up arms against the other protagonists and makes the lack of survival at the end possible. In the remake, he and Ben have an actual shootout, but in the original it’s a smaller scene. They both basically land one good hit apiece. It says a lot though that one of the changes made in the remake is that we actually get to see Barbara come back to put a bullet in Cooper’s head and pass it off as a zombie attack. This is all due to how hated the character had been for so long. Henry Bowers in IT There are several minor antagonists in IT, especially the novel. From the truly insane Patrick Hocksetter to Bev’s abusive husband with aspirations of murder. But Henry Bowers rises above them all. He was the real world monster the kids were afraid of in the summer of 1958. He was the boy that everyone could see would one day grow up to be a murderer. And he did. He tries to kill him in his youth and part of what drives his madness as an adult—other than his encounter with It—is that he failed at what he thought might have been the only thing that could ever have made him truly happy: the deaths of those children who made him feel vulnerable. R.M. Renfield in Dracula Renfield is kind of the classic secondary antagonist in horror, no matter which incarnation you choose. He’s a servant to the Count—and a loyal one. He only betrays Dracula toward the end and pays the price for it. But he still causes his share of damage as well. In the original 1931 film, Dwight Frye’s incarnation of Renfield is even scarier than Dracula himself. This is a man who starts out totally respectable, straight-laced, then becomes completely unhinged. His wide-eyed stare, his cackle, these are all qualities that Frye brought to the table to for an incredibly unsettling and iconic performance. Pinhead in Hellraiser People often forget that Pinhead wasn’t really the antagonist of any Hellraiser films with the exception of the third and fourth entries, Hell on Earth and Bloodline. In the original, the villains were Frank and Julia. They were the ones causing all of the actual bloodshed while the Cenobites were reserved for three major scenes. They’re used sparingly and that makes their appearances—especially that of their leader, speaking through Doug Bradley’s deep, commanding voice—all the more memorable. Related: Script to Pieces: Pascal Laugier’s Hellraiser Reboot Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Dewey Riley Set to Return for Scream 5 as David Arquette Signs On!

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Wicked Horror is the author of Dewey Riley Set to Return for Scream 5 as David Arquette Signs On!. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

After literal years of scuttlebutt, it seems the long-rumored Scream re-reboot is finally, actually on the way. Although series creator Wes Craven is sadly no longer with us and the MTV series ended after just two seasons with a whimper rather than a bang — one that massively insulted horror fans, to boot — Ghostface will seemingly return once again. Thankfully, although there might be plenty more wrong with this reboot, at least one element of it is certain to be spot on as an OG cast-member has signed on to reprise their role. The Hollywood Reporter announced that none other than David Arquette, who played the beloved, bumbling Dewey Riley in all four of the previous Scream movies, will be putting on his sheriff’s uniform to protect Woodsboro once again. “I am thrilled to be playing Dewey again and to reunite with my Scream family, old and new. Scream has been such a big part of my life, and for both the fans and myself, I look forward to honouring Wes Craven’s legacy,” he gushed (Craven passed away in 2015 and there’s a certain, very vocal sect of fans who don’t believe the franchise should continue on without him — myself included). See Also: Upcoming Scream Reboot to be Directed by the Ready Or Not Guys Happily, screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who gave the Scream movies their sharp (no pun intended) satirical edge is executive-producing too, so the fifth installment should at least feel like a Scream movie. Ready or Not directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, from filmmaking collective Radio Silence, are helming the project, so that’s another major point in its favor. The movie is being written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick (who co-wrote Ready or Not, too). “It’s impossible to fully express how much Wes Craven’s work and the Scream movies in particular mean to us as fans and have influenced us as storytellers,” enthused Radio Silence in a statement. Sidney Prescott herself, Neve Campbell, is slated to return alongside Arquette. No word yet on whether Courtney Cox, who completed their triumvirate, is also coming back but here’s hoping. Shooting is scheduled to take place in Wilmington, NC once the restrictions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic are lifted. Although it’s technically a reboot, the fact Arquette, Campbell and, hopefully, Cox are coming back suggests Scream 5 is also a sequel, similar to 2018’s spirited Halloween rebootquel. As much as horror fans might not want to mess with the peerless legacy of the franchise, it seems like the right people are onboard to relaunch it in a major way for a whole new generation. For now, let’s try to remain cautiously optimistic ’cause there are plenty of reasons to believe this could be great. Stay tuned to Wicked Horror for more info as it becomes available. Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

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Tigers Are Not Afraid Returns Fairy Tales to Their Gory Glory [Steelbook Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Tigers Are Not Afraid Returns Fairy Tales to Their Gory Glory [Steelbook Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid opens with a shocking set of juxtapositions. White text on a black background tells audiences that, “Since the beginning of the drug war in 2006, 160,000 have been killed and 53,000 have disappeared in Mexico… There are no numbers for the children.” From there, López takes her audience into a classroom where they’re discussing the nature of fairy tales. The children are wearing pristine white uniforms. Their symbolic innocence crashes against the sobering statistics.  As Estrella (Paola Lara) writes a fairy tale about a prince who has forgotten that he’s a prince, the scene changes again. Now the camera is following Shine (Juan Ramón López), a boy around the same age as Estrella. Instead of going to school, he’s stalking two gangsters through an alleyway. When Caco (Ianis Guerrero) steps into a corner to pee, Shine steals his phone and his wallet. It’s a wonderfully tense moment because as López shows again and again throughout the film, she knows how to milk a scene for all it’s worth.  The movie cuts back to Estrella in her classroom. Gunfire erupts outside the school. The children jump onto the floor. Estrella’s teacher hands her three pieces of chalk, telling her they are wishes. They wait on the floor until violence ends. On her way home from school, Estrella passes by a body surrounded by police. A line of blood, moving like a snake, follows her to her apartment, where her mother is nowhere to be found.  Everything in those opening minutes is better because of the film’s brilliant editing. The statistics set audiences up to believe what they’re seeing. Then putting a scene of Estrella in school next to a scene of Shine surviving on the street shows the vast gap in privilege that can exist. Finally, the shooting and Estrella’s missing mother breaks viewers’ hearts by showing how someone in Estrella’s position can end up in Shine’s.  The fairy tales the teacher is having the students write add yet another layer of contrast that carries on throughout the film. If you’re familiar with fairy tales through the sanitized Disney cartoon adaptations, it’s likely shocking to see those elements—three wishes that might actually come true—in a Mexico torn apart by a drug war.  If you’re more familiar with the Brothers Grimm versions, it’s more fitting than shocking. For example, in the version of “Cinderella” they collected in the 1800s, Cinderella’s stepsister cuts off her big toe to try to fit her foot into the glass slipper when the Prince brings it. The other stepsister cuts off the heel of her foot. Both times, the prince notices the profusely bleeding foot. Hopefully the shoe was sanitized before Cinderella put her foot in there. Like other recent releases—including The Shape of Water, The Lighthouse, Midsommar, and others—Tigers Are Not Afraid works to return fairy tales to their former gory glory.  RELATED: Drowning and Eating Children: Mexican Folklore and the films of Guillermo del Toro In her third feature, López’s imagery feels like it would fit into any kind of fairy tale. A grand piano burns bright in a tunnel. Koi fish live in a puddle inside an abandoned building. The light reflecting off their water shimmers on the wall. A graffiti drawing of a tiger comes alive and breaks out of its cage. All of the beauty is set opposite equally compelling ugliness: ruined buildings, gunshot wounds, and plastic wrapped murder victims.  What may be more impressive than the imagery are the performances López draws out of her cast. A good script, like the one López wrote for Tigers Are Not Afraid, could easily be sunk by bad acting. It’s happened to countless films with children, who are notoriously hard to work with, since, ya know, they’re children and it takes years to hone any craft. But both children, Paolo Lara and Juan Ramón López, imbue their characters with the playfulness of a child, but also the hardness of an adult. That dichotomy is clearest in a scene where Shine yells at Morro, a boy only a few years younger than him, for not eating his scavenged peas because they’re the only vegetable he’ll get today.  The kids, just like everything else in Tigers Are Not Afraid, are in a liminal place (think, dawn or dusk, the nebulous space between two definite things, where most magic in fairy tales take place). Because their parents are dead or gone, they’ve got to act as adults, which makes all the heartbreaking when López sneaks in a scene filled with joy. Two of Shine’s sidekicks argue at one point. One says the bad guys, “have satanic virtuals.” The other corrects, “Rituals.” Those human moments make the pain that comes their way so much harder to watch.  Tigers Are Not Afraid is well worth your time. If you don’t believe me, horror luminaries Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and the aforementioned The Shape of Water director Guillermo Del Toro have sung it’s praises. Del Toro loved it so much that he’s producing López’s next film and sat down for an hour long interview at TIFF that’s included in this Steelbook’s “Bonus.”  In that feature, Del Toro says, “There are movies that wake people up and movies that put people to sleep,” implying that Tigers Are Not Afraid, is the latter. For about forty-five minutes, he asks López insightful questions, before the forum opens up to audience questions, at which points you should turn off your TV or be punished with hearing the humble brags audience members always seem to find a way to work into their questions.  The Steelbook also includes a 45 minute making of documentary, adorable casting sessions, a director’s commentary, deleted scenes, and three photo galleries. In addition to all of that, like all Steelbooks, this one is a beautiful physical object.  Wicked Rating – 9/10 Director: Issa LópezWriter: Issa LópezStars: Paola Lara, Juan Ramón López, Ianis GuerreroRelease date: May 5, 2020 (Steelbook Bluray and DVD)Studio/Production Company: Filmadora Nacional, PeligrosaLanguage: SpanishRun Time: 83 minutes Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

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New on Netflix: May 15th, 2020

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Wicked Horror is the author of New on Netflix: May 15th, 2020. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

It’s Friday and you know what that means: It’s time to figure out what you’ll be binging during the upcoming week. Welcome back to New on Netflix! The streaming giant’s horror department has always been a mixed bag. However, I’d say they’ve really stepped up their game in the last couple of years with the release of amazing, essential watches. We’ve been treated to must see original programming like The Haunting of Hill House, Velvet Buzzsaw, Hush, and some of the classics we all know and love. Also See: Vivarium is a Visually Stunning Nightmare This week we have a short list featuring a gangster Johnny Deep. Let’s check out what’s coming to Netflix the week of May 15th, 2020! Public Enemies Available on May 16th is crime drama Public Enemies. Inspired by Bryan Burrough’s non-fiction novel Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, Public Enemies follows bank robber John Dillinger who becomes a thorn in the side of J. Edgar Hoover, resulting in him assigning the FBI’s top agent with the task of bringing him in dead or alive. Follow us social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Diablo Rojo PTY is a Journey in Search of a Destination [Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Diablo Rojo PTY is a Journey in Search of a Destination [Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Diablo Rojo PTY is the first ever horror movie from Panama so regardless of what anybody makes of the thing it’s safe to say it’s a big deal. The issue with reviewing movies like this, which have their roots buried so deeply in native folklore, is that for those unfamiliar with such myths, many of the most important elements don’t land unless they’re very clearly communicated. There’s an argument to be made about a movie breaking through regardless of how specific it is, for example The Hallow, which tackles Irish folklore with regards to changelings and wood nymphs, but still it’s worth remembering that a film invoking its native country’s myths and legends is reasonably going to make more of an impact on those familiar with such things. Diablo Rojo PTY takes place almost entirely onboard a so-called “Diablo Rojo” bus, which is done up to the nines like the vehicle is en route to Pride (and has taken several thousand uppers) all on its own. Young, bright-eyed actor Julian Urriola is Junito, second-in-command to driver Miguel (Speed star Carlos Carrasco), who dreams of driving his own bus someday. During a routine stop for food, Miguel comes afoul of a witch who looks a bit like Poison Ivy gone rogue (and by that I mean, her beauty routine ain’t what it used to be) and whatever spell she’s cast (it involves plucking chickens in a downpour) puts the bus on the road to mayhem. Along the way, two cops (a literal good cop, bad cop duo) and a priest join their party, making the group quite the ragtag bunch (of men; women are represented only as villains and, in one instance, utilized for a plot device involving a past love). See Also: Glenn Danzig’s Verotika is Truly, Unforgivably Terrible [Review] Once the group is sufficiently lost in the Chiriqui jungle, all manner of creatures start to emerge from the shadows, conducting acts of ritual slaughter, cannibalism, and plenty more besides. The film is tackling the Costa Rican and Panamanian folklore tale of La Tulivieja and, regardless of whether you have any familiarity with this particular story, at the very least Diablo Rojo PTY provides the authentic Latin flavour that was sorely lacking from last year’s The Curse of La Llorona (which, funnily enough, dealt with a similar theme of bad mothers and lost children). The problem is that there’s so little scene setting for those who aren’t in the know that it all becomes a bit of a muddle and, even worse as the bus drives on through the night, increasingly repetitive. There’s a ton of exposition just plunked down in the middle of scenes without any sense of intrigue being established. Although the film is billed as a horror-comedy, there’s little of either here aside from a genuinely great final shot, which hints at what might have been. It’s a shame because both Urriola and Carrasco are very good, their light-hearted jostle for control of the bus powering much of the narrative. Diablo Rojo PTY feels a bit like a stage play in the way its story and characters are laid out and, although it was evidently shot on location, the film feels contained in a manner that restricts its greater potential. Ricardo Risco’s score works overtime to set the tone to the point that it becomes headache-inducingly irritating. As annoyingly obvious a metaphor as this might be, the movie kind of feels like the journey at its heart; aimless, doomed, and ultimately a bit dull. Its story roams around in the dark, looking for a point it never quite finds, with various horrible creatures popping in and out of frame every now and again like a rickety old ghost train dropping plastic spiders on our heads. However, on a more positive note, the monsters themselves are quite cool and nicely ramshackle as only practical creations can be. Hamed Ortega’s VFX are strong across the board, with some terrific gore and body horror employed once things start to go downhill (though not literally, since the bus remains on a curiously straight road throughout). Diablo Rojo PTY feels dark, dank, and messy, and knowing its terrors are rooted in real-life legends offers them a certain three-dimensionality but it never quite achieves the scare potential the filmmakers (the movie was written and produced by J. Oskura Nájera and directed by Sol Moreno) were clearly aiming for. Maybe it was simply lost in translation, or perhaps a deeper understanding of the source material is required, but this version of the tale of La Tulivieja doesn’t tell us much beyond the fact there’s a scorned woman involved (a cursory Google suggests there actually is a decent basis for a horror movie here). Related: Black Christmas is the Perfect Horror Movie to End 2019 [Review] Diablo Rojo PTY is the first film of its kind from Panama and for that alone it should be heralded as a massive achievement, particularly considering it remains strictly loyal to its country of origin. It’s just a shame the movie doesn’t have more of an impact outside of that very specific demographic. WICKED RATING: 6/10 Director(s): Sol Moreno Writer(s): J. Oskura Nájera Stars: Carlos Carrasco, Julien Urriola, Leo Wiznitzer, Alejandra Araúz Release date: May 14, 2020 (Amazon) Studio/Production Company: Panama Horror Film Company Language: Spanish Run Time: 80 minutes Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

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You Die is the Killer App Movie That Countdown Should’ve Been [Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of You Die is the Killer App Movie That Countdown Should’ve Been [Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

You Die, an agreeable Italian genre offering with the wholly unnecessary subtitle, “Get the app, then die,” takes the premise that last year’s completely rubbish Countdown squandered within the first ten seconds and pares it right back, relying on physical actors and creeping dread to make its point rather than overcomplicating matters with unconvincing supernatural elements and characters we neither care about nor believe in. This is small-scale stuff, for sure, but it’s all the better for it, proving once again that big budgets and known performers (well, the annoying chick from You) don’t guarantee scare potential or audience enjoyment. Opening with a young woman walking alone in a deserted subway station, You Die begins by playing off the age-old fear of a male stranger when, first, another traveller stands for too long, his back to her, staring at a sign. When he wanders off, the woman breathes a sigh of relief, only to feel her heartbeat quicken again almost instantly when a creepy dude starts strolling down the tracks toward her, weapon in hand. After fleeing and tracking down an ex-lover, who conveniently lives alone, the woman grabs his phone and downloads an app to it before legging it once again, telling him simply to “Download it to someone else.” Related: Unfriended: Dark Web is, Nasty, Next Level Horror [Review] It’s an intriguing prologue, establishing the existence of the creepy titular app and its bizarre video-game like setup – which utilizes augmented reality to showcase how there are spirits wandering around everywhere, just waiting to pounce on unsuspecting living beings – without leaning too heavily on energy-sapping exposition. When the real protagonist of the piece, Asia (Erica Landolfi) emerges, she doesn’t even realize the app is on her phone until it starts beeping, leading her friends, disbelieving Viola (Alice Piano) and true love and horror aficionado Leo (Rocco Marrazzita) to coo over how cool it is (to be fair, the little red skull that fades in and out is dope ass, and the alert noise is super creepy, giving the app a genuine air of atmospheric impending doom). You Die is a goofy title for a goofy movie (not the Goofy Movie though, that’s a different vibe entirely) and there are moments, such as when the central trio sit down to watch a clearly terrible horror sequel called The Slaughter 3 and gripe over how terrible it is – “the movie sucks, the acting is terrible, and we know they’re all gonna die at the end anyway” Asia complains in a cheeky moment of maybe-prescience – that flirt with outright comedy. Leo has It Follows on Blu-ray, fishing it out while searching for their choice for the night. You Die actually pays homage to that movie via looming figures and the whole idea of passing the affliction on, but it’s evident the filmmakers are fans of horror and wanted to make it clear they’re not trying to rip anybody off. Likewise, a reference to The Ring also seems to tackle accusations of unimaginativeness head on. By relying on physical actors to play the ghosts, You Die displays an essential tactility. The threat feels realer because there’s somebody actually standing just beyond the frame. There are just a few instances of limbs reaching out of the phone screen to grab at characters, all very well done, but the filmmakers made the right decision by rooting their story in the real world rather than trying to paper over the cracks with dodgy VFX. It’s always scarier to have somebody physically there, and to feel that presence, than to spot the fuzziness on their outline. Emphasizing that this is a horror film made by horror fans, the jumps are well-timed and cleverly executed while an incident of body horror, with a wound-tattoo, is nicely gruesome and gooey. The setup itself, which sees the owner of the phone with the app on it given just 24 hours to pass it on (much shorter than the week afforded Sadako’s victims) or perish, is suitably intimidating. Asia quickly learns that, if she tries to delete it, she loses an hour. If she destroys her phone, however, the time runs out completely and she dies instantly. As the movie progresses, it becomes clearer, as with many films of this ilk, that there’s really only one way it’s going to end for poor Asia. But that doesn’t make it any less thrilling to watch her fight against the app with everything she’s got, and to hope for her survival against the odds. Landolfi gives a spirited, committed performance with ample support from Marrazzita as the clearly smitten Leo, the two forming a mini Scooby gang of two in order to crack the case. Although she’s side-lined for much of the action, Piano, too, is a likeable screen presence, whether she’s impersonating a horror icon or telling her BFF nonchalantly that dating apps “have never killed anyone” (another cheeky hint at what’s to come). With material this ostensibly silly, the central performances shine through even clearer. These young actors give it socks whether running screaming for their lives or vegging out on the sofa in front of a scary movie and You Die is at pains to showcase how addicted they are to their phones, also, making them the ideal victims for a killer app. See Also: The Dark Red is Another Great Film From Director Dan Bush [DVD Review] With a premise this strong and a cast this convincing, it’s a shame the trio of writer-directors (Alessandro Antonaci, Daniel Lascar, and Stefano Mandalà) behind this movie didn’t have more confidence in the material. The score is a little intrusive, and robs certain scenes of their tension, while there are moments, albeit few and far between, when things feel over-explained and the action stalls. There are also, obviously, the two aforementioned nods to other flicks that perhaps the filmmakers were worried they’d be accused of copying (there was no need, this flick definitely stands on its own). Still, You Die is a terrific concept in its own right, kept mostly in its simplest form for maximum scare potential. There are some dodgy moments, such as a distinct lack of blood on the affected area following a head injury, but they’re minor quibbles in what is otherwise a solid little bare bones chiller. WICKED RATING: 7/10 Director(s): Alessandro Antonaci, Daniel Lascar, and Stefano Mandalà Writer(s): Alessandro Antonaci, Daniel Lascar, and Stefano Mandalà Stars: Erica Landolfi, Rocco Marazzita, Alice Piano Release date: May 12, 2020 (Digital and DVD) Studio/Production Company: Eryde Produzioni Language: Italian Run Time: 94 minutes Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

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Composer Devin Burrows Talks The Music of The Wretched [Exclusive]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Composer Devin Burrows Talks The Music of The Wretched [Exclusive]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

In horror films, nothing good is ever down in the basement. In IFC Midnight’s new film, The Wretched this definitely holds true. It might even be an ancient witch who has possessed the neighbor next door. In case you don’t know: The film follows Ben, a rebellious teenage boy, who is sent to live with his father for the summer and work at the local marina. The idyllic tourist town offers little solace for him, however, as he is forced to deal with the local, privileged teens and his father’s new girlfriend. Ben’s problems grow increasingly disturbing when he makes a chilling discovery about the family renting the house next door. A malevolent spirit from the woods has taken ahold of the parents and starts playing a sinister game of house, preying upon the children and wiping away any trace of their existence. Ben’s suspicions of the supernatural horrors go unheeded and he launches a perilous crusade to put an end to the skin-walking witch’s reign of terror. Chilling and suspenseful, The Wretched offers a modern update to the retro young hero’s mission and promises to make viewers wary of every dark corner they encounter. There are many elements that make this film stand out from other recent horror offerings. A few of those being the practical effects by Erik Porn, the eerie cinematography by Conor Murphy and the performance of Zarah Mahler as the witch. Another component worthy of mention is the original score by composer Devin Burrows. The grandness and intensity of the 66-piece orchestra he used to create the haunting sounds makes for a terrifying and suspense-filled viewing experience. We talked to Burrows about this more below. The Wretched is now available on VOD. See Also: Seven Jump Scares That Have Never Lost Their Impact Wicked Horror: What was the initial appeal of The Wretched for you? Devin Burrows: The Wretched is a horror cocktail with so many wicked ingredients; I don’t know where to begin! The character development, the sense of humor, and the twists were all highly compelling. The fairy tale meets creature feature concept also felt very fresh. Brett and Drew, the Pierce Brothers, are very good at drawing the audience in with the characters and the story before things go wonderfully chaotic in the last quarter of the movie. I knew the film was going to require a lot of music, and I remember thinking: “this is going to be challenging, but it will be a blast to score”! Wicked Horror: The Wretched directors are big fans of thematic film scores like Psycho and Poltergeist. Did you go back and watch these films to get inspiration for The Wretched? Devin Burrows: I did watch Poltergeist! The Wretched is Spielbergian in a lot of ways. I remember watching Rear Window and Alien to get inspired as well. Alien is one of my favorite scores. Just like the script and the cinematography, many films informed this score; it also draws on inspiration from modern classical music. While The Wretched has many genre movie nods, Psycho  was a notable influence on the score, for instance; I think it manages to do something unfamiliar as well. We feel creatively driven to devise new and unusual forms. I hope we managed to contribute something original to the canon of film music with The Wretched. Wicked Horror: We heard that you didn’t score The Wretched in chronological order. Which scene did you score first, if it wasn’t the film’s opener? Devin Burrows: I began writing the music very early on when the directors were working on the script. In those first days, some great themes became the musical vocabulary from which I began to form phrases, sentences, and a narrative. I knew that the witch originated from a maw and that we needed a theme for her; I knew that Abbie and her son Dylan would venture into the perilous woods. These were the first scenes I began to score, armed with the script and the insatiable drive to paint the sonic scenery where the mystery would unfold. Wicked Horror: The woods has its own theme which is very menacing. What instruments did you use to create those sounds? Devin Burrows: To impart a unique animal-like quality to the woods, I used sarangi; we also used some other folk instruments like bowed psaltery. A lot is going on with music for the woods, though, and orchestral woodwinds and strings play an essential part as well. In those early days, the directors came over to my place so that we could experiment with instruments and see which they felt would suit the movie. We had a blast, and Brett and Drew fell in love with the sarangi and bowed psaltery! Each creative endeavor, each film, requires a unique musical texture to evoke the right mental imagery. The musical instrument selection process is fundamental and differs for each project. Wicked Horror: We read that you got to record The Wretched with an orchestra in Germany. What are the benefits of recording with an orchestra for a film like this? Devin Burrows: Before the Covid-19 situation, I was able to travel to Germany to record with the Brandenburg State Orchestra for the wretched soundtrack. It was a fabulous experience! The contrabasses and brass players performed the low and ominous glissandi of “Wretched Encounter” with gusto. There is nothing like recording with real players! The level of expression and attention to detail is phenomenal! For horror films, the string section can produce some hair-raising sounds, of course! An orchestra playing mildly atonal or aleatoric sounds can give the feeling that something is not quite right and add layers of tension to support the drama on screen. Wicked Horror: What scene in The Wretched was the most challenging for you to score? Devin Burrows: There are some moments throughout The Wretched where the witch’s curse is remarkably meaningful. I wrote a piece of music that could represent the witch’s magic as the central theme of the film. This melody is used in many contexts throughout the movie, reharmonized and altered to be eerie and haunting or emotional and heart-touching. That was one of the challenges of the score and also the most satisfying part of writing it; I take great pride in the result. We hear this theme throughout the movie, including at the end. Wicked Horror: At what point did you get to hear the sounds that Abbie’s body was going to make? Especially when she is standing naked at the top of the stairs. Did those sounds have any effect on how you scored those scenes? Devin Burrows: I don’t think we heard those sounds until we were on the dubbing stage for the first-pass of the audio-mix. We were all stunned! Eliot Connors is responsible for those sounds; he is a fantastically talented sound designer and mixer and has worked on several video-games and prominent features. It was an incredible collaboration. He and I each left room for one another to maneuver. There are places where the sound effects take over and others where the music comes into the foreground. The directors, Brett and Drew are film score aficionados; they’re into films like E.T. and The Lord of the Rings series. These are movies where the score plays a central role, and there are times when it carries the audience on an emotional journey. There are places when we put the spotlight on the impressive sound effects in The Wretched and places where we let the music take center stage. Wicked Horror: The sequence when Ben is on the computer researching the mark he found, the score is very reminiscent of Danny Elfman’s from Edward Scissorhands. Did this pass through your mind at all when you were creating it? Devin Burrows: I’m very flattered that it made you think of Danny Elfman’s music! I am an admirer of his work. Both works feel a bit macabre! We wanted the feeling of revelatory mystery that evoked the idea of forgotten people for that scene. It is inspired by the work of Bernard Herrmann and modern classical composers. I study orchestral scores quite a bit, like those of Prokofiev and Stravinsky. What you’ll find is that all of your tastes, your influences, become a part of you. As you practice something more and more, like writing music, you start putting your stamp on it. Suddenly you’re summoning a unique musical magic. I think we conjured some forgotten spirits for that scene. Wicked Horror: What is your favorite horror movie? Devin Burrows: Rosemary’s Baby is a favorite of mine, as is Poltergeist. Put me down as a “classic horror” fan. I like a lot of newer horror films as well. I think The Wretched manages to deliver for fans of classic horror and people that like fun movies in general. I hoped audiences would dig it, and the response has been overwhelming! Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. 

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