Despiser (2002)

We look back on practical effects that might have been cheap, but they become appreciated for their aesthetic value and effort, in contrast to CGI now. So it will be with dated CGI, particularly as the decades pass and what was once the new thing becomes ossified into a time-stamped style. Directed by Phillip J. […]

Dead Heat (1988)

My favourite accounts on instagram, TV Hed Pde and VCR Of Death, have been independently shown one clip from Dead Heat (1988), the excessive scene where Treat Williams with half of his face looking like a zombie and a security guard fire submachine guns into each other’s torso for what feels like five minutes, standing […]

Pumpkinhead (1988)

Reading a TV Guide description of Pumpkinhead (1988) as a kid, the type of movie that would only be programmed super late at night on a weekend, always intrigued me. A man gets revenge on the bikers who killed his boy by raising up a supernatural creature. Reading that it was directed by Stan Winston, […]

Alison’s Birthday (1981)

Alison’s Birthday (1981) lets you know it’s an Australian horror story through the shot of a Cold Chisel album on the floor when a seance goes haywire. At age 16, Alison (Joanne Samuel from Mad Max) is mucking around with a ouija board with a couple of school friends, and receives a warning from the […]

The Oracle (1985)

After seeing the repulsive yet effective thriller, Tenement, I was interested to see more of director Roberta Findlay’s mainstream 1980s genre work, after a previous decade of working in exploitation and pornography. The Oracle (1985) is a low-budget supernatural horror movie that uses the planchette as its hook – a silver artificial hand in a […]