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“I don’t wanna hurt anybody. I don’t enjoy hurting anybody. I don’t like guns, or bombs, or electric chairs. But sometimes people just won’t listen. And so, I have to use persuasion. And slides.”

As the weather cools and the holidays approach, we get the urge to curl up with loved ones around a crackling fire to watch a good old-fashioned family movie. A film where a loveable clan tries to overcome their problems by leaning on love and respect for one another. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we cry, but we hopefully emerge from this loving cocoon reaffirmed in our own sense of family values. For horror fans, only one household fits the bill. Barry Sonnenfeld’s Addams Family Values features one of the genre’s most beloved broods, a lineage of morbid misfits who live by their own rules and love to take pleasure in the spooky and macabre.

“The teachers are tough … but their exams are murder.”

It’s tough to be a teacher these days. Not only must they deal with overcrowded classrooms, tough administrators, crusading school boards, and budget cuts, but the actual job of educating youth is much more challenging than most can imagine. And that’s with students who aren’t trying to ruin your life. Douglas Grossman’s 1987 pseudo slasher Hell High features a group of defiant teens hell bent on corrupting their school’s proudest institutions while terrorizing students and teachers alike. They may not be the film’s central antagonists, but this group of young troublemakers may just be the most unlikeable bunch of high schoolers in horror movie history.

Miss Brooke Storm (Maureen Mooney) is a frustrated biology teacher trying to get control of an unruly class. When she asks rebel Dickens (Christopher Stryker) to file a recent test, he...

“I’m the cunt you married. The only time you liked yourself was when you were trying to be someone this cunt might like. I’m not a quitter, I’m that cunt. I killed for you; who else can say that? You think you’d be happy with a nice Midwestern girl? No way, baby! I’m it.”

Marriage is not for the faint of heart. Designed to be a lifelong commitment, this legal union begins with an extravagant party at which friends and family dress to the nines to celebrate your love over dinner and dancing. But once the party’s over, it’s just you and your spouse. Hopefully you chose the right person. David Fincher’s Gone Girl follows a troubled young couple who married each other for all the wrong reasons. Based on the novel by Gillian Flynn, this psychological horror story centers an outwardly...

“I killed Liz. I killed the teen dream. “Deal with it.”

Every high school has them: the beautiful ones. Glamorous, popular, happy, and thriving, these teenage dream girls rise to the top of any social environment and effortlessly achieve anything they put their minds to. Serving as both role models and fashion plates, they’re worshiped and revered by the rest of the school who grasp for scraps of their exorbitant power. While there have always been mean girls who also happen to be popular, this cinematic archetype arguably dates back to the weaponized girlie pop perfection of Darren Stein‘s Jawbreaker . Closing out the 20th century, this high camp film originated the now iconic hot girl walk while exploring the hell of teenage girlhood.

The social scene of Reagan High School bows to a foursome of gorgeous queen bees. While Courtney (Rose McGowan) rules the school with a patented brand of kink-tinged high-fashion cruelty,...

“Things get messy when you make a deal with the devil.”

Babysitters occupy a unique place in society. Somewhere between child and adult, they step into the family system for a brief moment in time to hold the line of parental responsibility. Of course people of all ages and identities can and do babysit, but when we think of the amateur profession, it’s a high school girl that usually comes to mind. She is polite, demure, and responsible, young enough to kick back and have fun with the kids, but old enough to take charge in the event of a crisis. Cosplaying the role of mother, she often becomes an object of sexual desire and stereotypical temptation for discontent fathers and curious young boys. McG plays with this enigmatic archetype in The Babysitter, a satanic horror comedy featuring one of the coolest and most endearing antagonists in recent horror memory.

“You will not leave this house alone.”

Paintings are known to inspire a variety of responses. We perceive art through the lenses of our own experiences and particular images are bound to evoke a smattering of complex issues – for better or worse. While an externalized representation of an upsetting event will often lead to recovery and healing, sometimes an artistic piece sparks painful memories and a trauma response causing physical harm. We see the latter scenario in Dario Argento’s debut film The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. When a string of grisly murders rocks the city of Rome, a violent painting provides the key to a long-ago crime that may have incited new violence.

Sam (Tony Musante) is preparing to move back to the US after a few unsuccessful years in Rome when he stumbles upon a scuffle that will change his life. In a darkened art gallery, a...

Most of us have a love-hate relationship with social media. Yes, our phones provide hours of entertainment and allow us to connect with the larger world, but the proliferation of social media also fosters harmful comparisons and can leave us feeling inferior to bare acquaintances and outright strangers. And that’s to say nothing of influencer culture. This brand of salesmanship revolves around glamorous social media personalities who draw our attention to products and practices. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this form of subtle marketing, the line between genuine truth and paid sponsorship can be frighteningly thin. Kurtis David Harder plays with the deadly consequences of social media reach with Influencer, a psychological thriller set in a gorgeous locale. While vacationing in Thailand, three different types of female influencers collide in a deadly game of manipulation and death.

Madison (Emily Tennant) is a social media star traveling on...

“That’s what I am to you, isn’t it? Swamp trash, just like my mom.”

We’ve all heard stories about Florida Man. Maybe he lost a wrestling match with an alligator, dropped his keys into a pit of snakes, or fell into a flaming dumpster as it floated off to sea. Whatever the case, this southern miscreant has a reputation for spectacularly trashy and ill-advised behavior. And it seems we can’t get enough. But decades before the world regaled the misadventures of Florida Man, John McNaughton gave us Wild Things, a sleazy, sun-baked noir about a troublesome Florida polycule. This salacious film not only features steamy performances from Matt Dillon and Kevin Bacon – each playing their own delightful versions of a proto-Florida Man – but two sexy lady killers who set the screen on fire with their seductive scheming and in-your-face sexuality.

Sam Lombardo (Dillon) is a dreamy...

“A crying woman is a scheming woman.”

Women are supposed to be natural caregivers. Once we become mothers, we’re expected to put aside our own physical pleasures and dedicate our lives to protecting our young. But what of the mothers who can’t keep their children alive? The women who fail in the one job they were made to fulfill? Even worse, what if this death is an act of neglect? Rather than hover and dote, what if a mother indulges her own physical pleasure at the cost of her child? Would we call that woman evil? Would we call her a witch? Lars von Trier reckons with the expectations we place on women in his controversial film Antichrist. By exploring the natural urges of a grieving mother, he interrogates the patriarchal construction of evil itself.

She (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and He (Willem Dafoe) are a married couple enjoying domestic...

“It has nothing to do with Satan, Mama. It’s me. Me. If I concentrate hard enough, I can move things”

Is it possible to go to prom these days without thinking about Carrie? Brian De Palma’s 1976 adaptation of Stephen King’s debut novel has become so ingrained in the zeitgeist that it’s nearly impossible to shop for a prom dress without a fleeting fear that it might become covered in blood. And perhaps that’s a good thing. Revolutionary at the time, the story concludes with a shocking act of righteous revenge, but mixed into the wreckage is a cautionary tale about bullying and religious abuse. Carrie may wield the fiery hand of justice in the film’s final act, but only after a lifetime of victimization at the hands of her classmates and mother. Maybe thinking about Carrie and the real life outcasts that share her...

“God took her from me on the day of her first communion, don’t you see? He waited until then to teach me that children pay for the sins of their parents.”

Is there anything quite so devastating as the concept of original sin? The idea that we’re damned at conception before we’ve had a chance to take our first breath? What will it take to find salvation and how much will we have to pay for the actions of those who came before us? It’s a particularly painful topic for women. With Eve’s first bite of the apple weighing heavily against us and men holding all the levers of power, the path to righteousness can feel like a minefield. Some women will kill to escape these oppressive gender-based norms while others double down and kill to make sure they stay in place. The Lady Killers...

“So hungry was I to realize my own powers, I hardly even chewed.”

We’ve all grown up hearing the classic fairytale. A brother and sister are turned out of their home and sent by their wicked stepmother to survive in the deep, dark woods. The ingenious Hansel leaves a trail of pebbles and breadcrumbs to find the way home, but they eventually fall into the clutches of a sinister witch. While Gretel does get credit for pushing the old witch into the oven before she can roast and eat Hansel, most of the story’s heroism still falls on male shoulders. But what if Gretel was actually the one responsible for the sibling’s survival? What if it’s her courage and fortitude that saves the day while her brother is little more than a burden? Oz Perkins’s nightmarish film turns the classic fairy tale on its head...

“You got involved with a woman who fell in love with you for your sanity and hoped it would rub off.”

What would the horror version of Kramer vs. Kramer look like? What about a murderous version of Marriage Story? While horror fans might enjoy throwing in gory dismemberment or supernatural chaos to these extremely human stories, would we be able to stomach the devastating mix of physical and emotional pain? Divorce is already hard enough! But that’s just what David Cronenberg gives us with The Brood. This 1979 film is a shocking and powerful story about the death of a marriage and the extensive collateral damage that lies in its wake.

Nola (Samantha Eggar) is a young mother taking time for herself. In order to process childhood trauma, she’s enrolled in extensive treatment at the Somafree Institure, a therapeutic retreat run by the illustrious Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed). His patented modality,...

“I’m an English teacher, not fucking Tomb Raider.”

What does it mean to be a strong woman? Is it visible muscles à la Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgment Day? Is it impressive feats of strength like climbing a mountain or braving white water? Is it putting yourself in harm’s way to save a friend? As it turns out, the answer is all–and none–of the above. There is no one way to be a “strong woman.” Sometimes it’s as simple as just showing up for the hard moments. Writer/director Neil Marshall explores the concept of female strength in his 2005 The Descent, a harrowing story of friendship and betrayal, strength and survival. In their latest episode, the Lady Killers kick off a series on Hidden Horrors by descending into the complicated themes of this terrifying film and facing off against the monsters lurking within the human heart.

“Are we going to prom or to hell?”

What’s the most important decision a teenager can make? Is it what to do with 5 million dollars two days before aliens blow up the planet? Is it what kind of corn nuts make the best pre-fraternity party snack? According to Michael Lehmann’s dark cult comedy Heathers, the most important decision a teenager can make is whether or not to die by suicide. But what if it’s not a decision at all? What if a hot killer couple blasts through the halls of their suburban high school dressing up their murders as altruistic revenge? The Lady Killers conclude Bad Romance month by putting on their red power scrunchies and fucking each other gently with chainsaws on a very special episode covering one of the hottest killer couples of all time.

Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) may be so “very,” but she...

“Please. I’ll do anything you want. Anything.”

Who among us hasn’t fallen for a bad boy once or twice? Maybe he’s the cute senior trying to cheat off of us in Algebra. Maybe he jumped our car when the battery died outside the mall. Or maybe he’s our fiancé’s hot brother knocking on our door in the middle of a rainstorm just desperate for a towel. Whatever the case, we all know what it’s like to get pulled into an illicit, but ill-advised affair. Sure it seems exciting at first, but it rapidly spirals into the further regions of hell.

Julia Cotton (Clare Higgins) finds herself in a similar situation in Clive Barker’s decadent masterpiece Hellraiser. When she hooks up with her future brother-in-law Frank (Sean Chapman) just days before the wedding, she allows herself to taste the sinful pleasures not available in...

“If you ever come near my family again, I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”

We’ve all heard the phrase “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” We pull it out when we see a woman reacting to the hurtful choices of a romantic partner, standing up for herself after rejection, or really expressing any kind of powerful emotions at all. It’s a bon mot so pervasive that it makes you wonder if there are any men in hell. Maybe it’s all just hysterical women pulling hair and trying to steal each other’s boyfriends. Regardless of this reductive phrase and dehumanizing stereotype, few films in the history of cinema explore the concept of the scorned woman like Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction. This cautionary tale about infidelity and revenge pits two women against each other for the love of one man with a surprising female killer emerging from the wreckage.

“Don’t you want to be an urban legend, Nat? All your friends are now.”

We heard from a friend of a friend of our roommate’s sister’s brother that there’s a killer on the loose at Pendleton University. Twenty-five years after administration officials swept a horrible tragedy under the rug, the current crop of attractive students are preparing to memorialize the dead in the most respectful way they can: by throwing a huge frat party. Sensitive Natalie (Alicia Witt) is trying to make a fresh start when her own painful past pushes its way to the surface. It seems someone is trying to send a message by murdering her friends and staging their deaths as urban legends. With the anniversary of the massacre approaching, Natalie has only her best friend Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart) and ethically challenged, but hunky reporter Paul (Jared Leto) to find the killer before...

“We’re in the mood for a little vivisection.”

We’ve all heard the saying “less is more.” Marie Kondo championed this minimalist sentiment when convincing us to rid our homes of unwanted items and Coco Chanel lived by the rule of taking one accessory off before leaving the house. We’re not sure Peter Jackson has ever heard this saying as his films tend to be extravaganzas filled with lavish plotting, eccentric characters, and over-the-top effects. And we’re not mad about it. Years before he wowed the world with expansive adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and a mammoth remake of the 1933 classic King Kong, Jackson honed his delightful excesses in the horror genre culminating in the 1996 splatstick comedy The Frighteners.

Michael J. Fox stars as Frank Bannister, a widower blessed – or cursed – with the ability to see the dead. When he runs afoul...

“Love is stronger than death… even than life.”

Twenty-five years before Bram Stoker revolutionized the world of horror with his iconic novel Dracula, another sensual vampire was drifting into the moonlit bedchambers of society’s upper crust. First appearing in a 1871 edition of the literary magazine The Dark Blue, Carmilla, a.k.a. Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, preys upon unsuspecting young women in the crumbling castles of the Austrian countryside. Despite never gaining the ubiquity of Stoker’s dark antagonist, Sheridan Le Fanu’s gothic novella Carmilla is one of the world’s first examples of vampiric literature and helped to establish the archetype of the lesbian vampire. Belgian director Harry Kümel combines this foundational text with the true story of Hungarian serial killer Elizabeth Báthory to create another sinister seductress in his 1971 erotic horror film Daughters of Darkness.

Newlyweds Stefan (John Karlen) and Valerie (Danielle Ouimet) are still enjoying the...

“Death of a loved one can lead people to do the strangest things.”

Of all the female killers in the wide world of cinema, few strike such an abhorrent cord as a mother who kills her children. Assumed to be natural caregivers and expected to automatically love their offspring, we place a special taboo on the women who not only fail to protect their kids, but actively cause their deaths. But mothers are not only human beings with complex inner lives, they are flawed, fallible, and just as likely to be cruel as the rest of society. Few films explore the mindset of a murderous mother like Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others. Within the trappings of a classic ghost story, this gorgeous film views its tragic heroine with a compassionate lens, extending an olive branch to a woman who has done the unthinkable. As the fog closes in and intruders threaten her carefully constructed life,...

“You’ll have to hide better than that.”

We’ve all got that one bad ex in our past. At first they seemed like a dream come true – an angel sent straight from heaven to be our perfect match. They were attractive, spontaneous, generous, kind … We spent most of our time indulging in months-long bone-a-thons and we just figured the future would take care of itself! And then we met the inlaws. Fortunately, no matter how stressful these “meet the parents” occasions may have been, they probably don’t hold a candle to what Grace (Samara Weaving) endures in Ready or Not. This gorgeous bride has just married the man of her dreams at a lavish estate wearing god’s gift to wedding dresses only to find out that she’s unwittingly entered into a bizarre gaming ritual that might end up costing her life.

This 2019 film from Radio Silence...

Of life’s many mysteries, few are as powerful or as complicated as religion and death. Are we alone at the moment we cease to live or will there be someone waiting for us on the other side? Who pulls the strings that guide our lives and what will they require from us during our time among the living? There are as many different answers to these questions as stars in the sky and how we answer them often reveals more about ourselves than any higher power.

With such mysterious forces at play, it’s no wonder religion and death occupy so much of the genre landscape. Catholic horror movies abound with many tackling demonic forces attempting to invade innocent bodies. But few films present such an intimate portrait of penance and pain as Rose Glass’ Saint Maud. This bleak film follows Maud (Morfydd Clark) a young in-home nurse as...

“Now is the time. This is the hour. Ours is the magic. Ours is the power.”

As the nights grow longer and the snow begins to fall, we begin to insulate ourselves from the outside world and spend more time with our nearest and dearest. While comforting for others, this time of year can also bring with it the horrors of complicated family dynamics. For every turkey-loving Thanksgiving stan who thrives on big family reunions, there’s another lost and lonely soul looking for a friendly face. Many of us find comfort in spending time with a chosen family of trusted friends, fellow misfits we know will accept us no matter what. But even these bonds can bend. Sometimes they break. While many horror films have tackled complicated family dynamics, the witches of Andrew Fleming’s teen witch classic The Craft stand out from the crowd. This iconic film serves...

The North Hollywood CineFest just announced their 2017 winners. This year's festival ran from March 24-30 and the fantastic line-up included new work from established and fresh filmmaking talent such as Speak Now by Melissa Vitello, Ghost in the Machine by Brock Humphrey, The Lady Killers by Phil Leirness, Bear with Us by William J. Stribling, Red by Branko Tomovic, Welcome to Willits by Trevor Ryan, ToY by Patrick Chapman, American Fango by Gabriele Altobelli, House By The Lake by Adam Gierasch, H.O.M.E. by Daniel Maldonado and many more...  The 4th annual film festival took place in the heart of the NoHo Arts District at the fabulous Laemmle NoHo 7 theater in North Hollywood. The complete list of the 2017 Awards winners can be found on https://www.nohocinefest.com/2017-awards Watch the 2017 Awards Nominees in the trailer below:      ...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The highly anticipated 4th edition of the North Hollywood CineFest kicks off tonight in Los Angeles. This year's festival will run from March 24-30 and the fantastic line-up includes new work from established and fresh filmmaking talent. Look out for Speak Now by Melissa Vitello, Ghost in the Machine by Brock Humphrey, The Lady Killers by Phil Leirness, Bear with Us by William J. Stribling, Red by Branko Tomovic, Welcome to Willits by Trevor Ryan, ToY by Patrick Chapman, American Fango by Gabriele Altobelli, House By The Lake by Adam Gierasch, H.O.M.E. by Daniel Maldonado and many more...  The festival kicks off on March 24 with I Had a Bloody Good Time at House Harker by Clayton Cogswell and offers many La and world premieres in the following days, including American Fango, Bear with Us, The Big Day and Speak Now. The 4th annual film festival will take...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The North Hollywood CineFest just announced their 2017 Awards Nominees for their highly anticipated 4th edition. This year's festival will run from March 24-30 in Los Angeles and the fantastic line-up includes new work from established and fresh filmmaking talent. Look out for Speak Now by Melissa Vitello, Ghost in the Machine by Brock Humphrey, The Lady Killers by Phil Leirness, Bear with Us by William J. Stribling, Red by Branko Tomovic, Welcome to Willits by Trevor Ryan, ToY by Patrick Chapman, American Fango by Gabriele Altobelli, House By The Lake by Adam Gierasch, H.O.M.E. by Daniel Maldonado and many more...  The festival kicks off on March 24 with I Had a Bloody Good Time at House Harker by Clayton Cogswell and offers many La and world premieres in the following days, including American Fango, Bear with Us, The Big Day and Speak Now. The 4th annual film...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The North Hollywood CineFest just published their program for their highly anticipated 4th edition. This year's festival will run from March 24-30 in Los Angeles and the fantastic line-up includes new work from established and fresh filmmaking talent. Look out for Speak Now by Melissa Vitello, Ghost in the Machine by Brock Humphrey, The Lady Killers by Phil Leirness, Despite The Falling Snow by Shamim Sarif, Red by Branko Tomovic, Welcome to Willits by Trevor Ryan, ToY by Patrick Chapman, American Fango by Gabriele Altobelli, House By The Lake by Adam Gierasch, H.O.M.E. by Daniel Maldonado and many more...   The festival kicks off on March 24 with I Had a Bloody Good Time at House Harker by Clayton Cogswell and offers many La and world premieres in the following days, including American Fango, Bear with Us, The Big Day and Speak Now. The...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The exciting North Hollywood CineFest is growing very fast each year. This year's festival will run from March 24-30 in Los Angeles and the fantastic line-up includes new work from established and fresh filmmaking talent. Look out for Speak Now by Melissa Vitello, Ghost in the Machine by Brock Humphrey, The Lady Killers by Phil Leirness, Despite The Falling Snow by Shamim Sarif, Red by Branko Tomovic, ToY by Patrick Chapman, American Fango by Gabriele Altobelli, House By The Lake by Adam Gierasch, H.O.M.E. by Daniel Maldonado and many more...   The 4th annual film festival will take place in the heart of the NoHo Arts District at the fabulous Laemmle NoHo 7 theater in North Hollywood. The complete line-up of features and shorts for the 2017 edition can...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

With writer and director Evan Tramel’s horror feature The Black Water Vampire releasing today on DVD/VOD via Image Entertainment, we caught up with the flick’s producer Jesse Baget to discuss the project, and received an exclusive new poster and four never-before-seen stills in the process.

Starring Danielle Lozeau (Legion), Andrea Monier (The Lady Killers), Anthony Fanelli, Robin Steffen and Bill Oberst Jr. (Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies), with special effects by Damien Leone and original music by Richard Figone, The Black Water Vampire follows the exploits of a documentary film crew who investigate a series of brutal killings known as the Black Water murders. As they delve deeper into the story, they stumble upon a horrifying secret... a secret they may not survive.

Baget told us of the evolution on the project which was filmed in Big Bear, California over the course of fifteen days. “I was surprised...