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Nathan sat in the cold booth, clinging on to the scalding hot cup of coffee so tight that his knuckles had turned white. His fingers weren’t the only part of his body that craved heat, but his situation wasn’t so dire that he was ready to fling hot coffee at his own face. As he sat, he looked up at the old, barely functioning television positioned above the counter. “Now we turn our attention back to The Moose – a killer, as violent as he is enigmatic, that has been prowling the otherwise peaceful streets of Canada. The latest is he has claimed another victim. Maple Creek local man Jason Jones was found in what is thought to be a disused meth lab hanging upside down with all of his blood drained into steel drums.” Nathan grimaced and took a sip of the burning liquid, smiling as it washed over his numb lips. Nathan tried to shut the newscast about The Moose’s rampage out of his mind – after all, he thought, if anything was going to kill him that night, it would be ice on the roads. That’s what Nathan thought. But Nathan, of course, thought wrong. After Nathan had suitably warmed himself and got some food and coffee into his stomach, he ventured back out into the cold. The wind had settled somewhat, and the snow had lifted; if he made good time, he could still get to his destination before nightfall. As the sun sank below the horizon and darkness overtook the night, Nathan was thankful for the coffee he’d drank back at the rest stop. He flicked his lights on full, and just a few yards ahead, the beams illuminated a sight he never thought he’d see… A hitchhiker! He slowed his car down and pulled into the layby a few yards ahead of the woman, who excitedly picked up her weatherbeaten backpack and ran over. “Hey!” she said breathlessly. "Thanks for stopping.” “No worries.” “Where are you heading?” “Maple Creek. Where are you hitchhiking to?” he asked. The woman laughed, a relieved smile forming. “Maple Creek," she said, beaming. Nathan unlocked the car doors. “Well, if you want to hitch a ride, you’re welcome to.” “Yes please.” The woman said enthusiastically. She opened the passenger door and got in, stuffing the backpack in the footwell. Nathan pulled out of the layby and back onto the road – the road which was far less populated than it had been earlier in the day. Not that Nathan minded that – he was a man who enjoyed the romanticised idea of one man in a vehicle on the open highways of Canada. “So, why Maple Creek?” “I was born there, I have family there. Just visiting, got to keep up my Good Daughter Score," she said with a laugh. “Oh shit, how rude am I? I’m Megan. Thank you for stopping.” “I’m Nathan. It was a pleasure to stop," he said with a dopey grin. The drive passed pleasantly with the two of them exchanging stories about growing up in Maple Creek and offering opinions on the stories that were making the news. Of course, the discussion got more serious and somber in tone when the story of The Moose’s reign of terror was inevitably brought up on the news. “That’s scary shit.” Megan mumbled flatly, her posture changing. She shrank back in her seat and began to fidget nervously, her eyes darting around as if she were looking for an escape route. Nathan noticed her movements out of the corner of his eye. “Hey, are you okay?” “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine," she said, a little too quick… quick enough for Nathan to realise that she was lying. “I can change the station?” he offered. Megan shifted nervously. “You can let me out here.” “What?” “Here. Let me out. Please.” “But…” “Now. Please.” She snapped, now looking visibly distressed. Nathan relented and parked up in a layby and unlocked the door. Megan grabbed her backpack and got out of the car. She reached into her backpack and pulled out an expensive-looking flashlight, switched it on, and began to walk quickly. Nathan killed the engine and got out of the car. “Megan.” He called. She turned around. He was bathed in torchlight. “What?” “Why are you leaving? Is it because of the news? Are you scared?” “Of course I’m fucking scared.” “And you don’t trust me?” “You’re a man.” “Megan, we’re going to the same place. You can trust me. I’m not The Moose," he said softly in a measured tone. Megan stared at him, unblinking for a few moments before exhaling heavily. She trudged slowly back over to him. When she was closer, she looked into his eyes. “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay, it’s okay to be scared. But you don’t have to worry about me. Like I said: I’m not The Moose," he said with a friendly smile. Megan returned the smile. “I know," she said before slamming the head of the flashlight into Nathan’s temple. He yelled out in pain and went down. His head slammed into the bonnet of his car as he fell. Megan rushed to his side and checked his pulse – he was still alive. Nathan groaned and his leg twitched, but Megan was quick and slammed the torch against his temple again. Nathan’s head slumped forward. She heaved Nathan into the passenger seat, and she got into the driver’s seat, adjusted the positioning of the seat, and drove off into the night. *** Nathan let out a loud moan as he woke up. He opened his eyes and then quickly shut them again as a stinging liquid hit his irises. He turned his head, opened his eyes slowly, and saw that his arms and legs were bolted to the ground. He couldn't move. In an erratic exercise in futility, Nathan tried to free his limbs, but alas, he was unable to. He tried to work his hands or legs free – the foul-smelling liquid had made him wet and slick – but the restraints were much too tight. He was most certainly trapped. The sprayers overhead ceased spraying and Nathan was left in silence – without the sound of the sprinklers to distract him he became acutely aware of just how sodden he was and how putrid the stench was. He heard the door open and now that he was able to he opened his eyes and looked at the figure who was approaching him. She was wearing a containment suit, but Nathan still recognised her – it was Megan. She’d hit him in the head with a torch! “What do you want? Why am I here?” he asked, struggling to keep his composure as some of the mystery liquid seeped into his mouth. “And what the fuck is this shit?” he spluttered. Megan chuckled. “Well, let’s see,” she began, “let’s start with the liquid, shall we? That is a mixture of cedar oil and beaver pheromones.” “What the…” “You’re here,” she interrupted, “because what baby wants, baby gets. And I’m baby.” She walked to the door that she had come through and turned. “Oh Nathan, as for what I want, I would have thought that would be rather obvious to you. I want you to die.” She turned to leave. “Why me? What the fuck have I ever done to you?” Nathan yelled desperately. Megan stopped and turned around. “Nathan, you’ve done nothing to me. We’ve never met before. I don’t know you, you don’t know me. Why you? Because you stopped. If you’d carried on driving, someone else would be here instead of you. You may be the main character in your own story, but in my story… you’re a footnote. This isn’t about you, this is about me. I like to kill people. I am The Moose!” She turned and left the room as Nathan yelled uselessly for help. The door closed. It locked. All around the room, small segments of the wall opened, revealing pitch-black apertures – and from within Nathan could hear a scratching sound. A scratching sound that was getting progressively louder as something, or some things, approached at speed. “What’s happening, what’s going on?” Nathan screamed, his voice cracking and leaving his mouth as a high-pitched squeal. The scratching noise reached a crescendo and a horde of beavers swarmed into the room. The beavers were in a frenzy – they could smell the pheromones and the smell of wood – they were consumed with the urge, the need to strip bark and mate. All of the beavers that had flooded into the room were male, and as the lack of wood and viable mates became ever more apparent, their confusion and fear swiftly changed to anger and frustration. At first, they snapped and swatted at each other, but animals so often work together, especially when they are up against a foreign threat. And so it was that their aggression towards one another paused and was turned upon the large pink creature on the ground. One beaver tentatively nipped at one of Nathan’s exposed toes. “Ow, you motherfucker!” he yelled. Another beaver - this one much bigger and evidently much bolder - rushed forward and sank his large teeth into one of Nathan’s love handles and tore away a small chunk of flesh. The wound wept thick tears of blood as Nathan howled at the ceiling. The beavers quickly realised that their foe was little threat to them, and so, one by one, they rushed forward to take a bite. One bite turned to a second bite and a second bite turned to a third. The hungry, aggressive beavers severed with their mighty teeth, rending flesh, stripping muscle, slicing tendons with each bite, all the while Nathan screamed incoherently and wept. A sizeable cluster of the blood-sodden beavers rushed to Nathan’s neck and began to chew, and as their hunger grew and their frenzied tearing continued, Nathan’s screams became quieter and quieter. His screams were completely and utterly silenced when one of the fatter beavers, who had worked up a monstrous appetite, tore apart Nathan’s throat and eagerly dived in. Its teeth shredded his windpipe and silenced his impotent screams, and as his body filled with spilled blood, and as the animals worked their way inwards, he looked up. And as he died, as his vision turned black, the very last thing he saw was a particularly fat beaver clambering onto his face. This beaver had a hunger… for eyes. FIN.
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 Source: Bruno Mattei's THE TOMB - US Trailer |  Source: The Mummy Official Trailer #2 - Brendan Fraser Movie (1999) |
Now let's talk Bruno Mattei's The Tomb (2006). An archaeology team goes to Mexico to study ancient Mayan culture and hunt for buried treasure! It's silly but has some entertaining action and horror sequences.
I love Bruno Mattei, and I love Cruel Jaws, the only shark movie I’m aware of that pays homage to Star Wars by blatantly stealing its theme song! The Tomb takes a similar approach, embracing the idea that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery by merging narrative and visual elements of The Mummy (1999) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
Do those seem like very specific references? Well, this movie features a rip-off of the entire Salma Hayek dance scene from FDTD, so you tell me!
For this reason alone, I'd say the movie is worth watching.
I love Bruno Mattei, and I love Cruel Jaws, the only shark movie I’m aware of that pays homage to Star Wars by blatantly stealing its theme song! The Tomb takes a similar approach, embracing the idea that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery by merging narrative and visual elements of The Mummy (1999) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
Do those seem like very specific references? Well, this movie features a rip-off of the entire Salma Hayek dance scene from FDTD, so you tell me!
For this reason alone, I'd say the movie is worth watching.
Source: Children of Sin (2022) - Official Trailer
With Children of Sin (2022), director Christopher Wesley Moore delivers a twisted tale of religious trauma! Nothing brings out the bitterness of one particular wolf more than digging into the roots of extreme fundamentalism, and this one packs a punch.
A pair of siblings gets sent to a retreat to be cleansed of their sins and set back on a path of righteousness chartered solely by a singular old woman who lives alone with her beliefs and her secrets.
Never a good start to your day but ALWAYS a good start to a horror story!
A pair of siblings gets sent to a retreat to be cleansed of their sins and set back on a path of righteousness chartered solely by a singular old woman who lives alone with her beliefs and her secrets.
Never a good start to your day but ALWAYS a good start to a horror story!
Source: Children of Sin (2022) - Official Trailer
Jo-Ann Robinson shines as the pious headmistress, whose faith is so powerful, it causes her to run around terrorizing teens and waxing poetic in christo-crazed reveries! I’ve written in human form about how much I love Jo-Ann Robinson, and it’s fun to watch her take on a very different role from the one she tackled in When the Trash Man Knocks (2023).
That’s it for now, greasy humans! Watch these movies, or they may watch YOU instead!
by Jimmy O'Hara
“Freddy’s here and he’s…queer?”
The year is 1985, and Freddy Krueger’s deadly streak has returned to the satanic-panicked homes of Elm Street.
This time, he’s back with a vengeance that’s gnarlier, more imaginative, and more gay?!
Yeah, more gay than he, or any slasher masked villain icon, has ever been before on the silver screen.
Source: Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Official Trailer A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) is widely regarded as the lackluster follow up to the pop culture and blockbuster monolith that was its predecessor and subsequent franchise creator. But to its gay star, gay screenwriter, and gay fans, it's a sexy sequel full of fabulous pride! Scream, Queens! Freddy is back to SLAY!
The queer imagery explodes off the screen from the moment the credits begin to roll. The allegorical bullying on the yellow school bus ends with an absurdist nightmare death sequence with Freddy that propels our lead, Mark Patton’s Jesse, into a sexy cold sweat in his even sexier tighty-whities. A Kate Bush poster on the wall above his bed, a “no chicks allowed” sign on the bedroom door, and a baseball shaped lamp that quite literally looks like a cock! Could it get any GAYER!?
Yes! A quick cut to Jesse in gym class with sweaty thirty three year old models playing high school extras in jockstraps, short shorts, and certified 80s midriffs. Jesse’s new to Elm and this school, and his new frenemy Ron teases him about their teacher hanging out at “BDSM clubs and liking pretty boys like you”.
The queer imagery explodes off the screen from the moment the credits begin to roll. The allegorical bullying on the yellow school bus ends with an absurdist nightmare death sequence with Freddy that propels our lead, Mark Patton’s Jesse, into a sexy cold sweat in his even sexier tighty-whities. A Kate Bush poster on the wall above his bed, a “no chicks allowed” sign on the bedroom door, and a baseball shaped lamp that quite literally looks like a cock! Could it get any GAYER!?
Yes! A quick cut to Jesse in gym class with sweaty thirty three year old models playing high school extras in jockstraps, short shorts, and certified 80s midriffs. Jesse’s new to Elm and this school, and his new frenemy Ron teases him about their teacher hanging out at “BDSM clubs and liking pretty boys like you”.
Source: Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Official Trailer / Imgflip Luckily, Jesse has a straight, popular girl crush, Lisa, to help him navigate it all. So why is Jesse struggling to commit to her for…unexplainable reason?! Even more unexplainable, Jesse’s dreams have become increasingly violent. As the nightmares get more vivid, so does the homosexual subtext!
The most overtly queer sequence is without a doubt Jesse’s first DEADLY nightmare. Jesse dreams he finds himself barefoot, shirt unbuttoned, hot and sweaty (he spends much of the film like this) at a leather gay bar where he runs into his Gym Teacher, just as Ron had chided earlier. His teacher takes him back to the school gym to run barefoot laps as punishment (wink, wink), and he watches him from the sideline in his leather daddy vest, assless chaps, and matching leather wrist cuffs.
As Jesse hits the showers, his teacher removes a jump rope from his utility cabinet and places it in the seat in front of his desk - presumably to engage in B in BDSM with his student! Questionable 80s morality even for Freddy I guess, as it is at this moment that our infamous nightmare creature sinks his claws into the first victim, Daddy Gym Teacher, by binding him with the jump rope in the showers and whipping him to death. Jesse is terrified. Did he have a kinky sex dream about his gym teacher or did he kill his gym teacher!? As the lines between dream and reality blur throughout the film, so do Jesse’s sexual desires.
The homosexual yearning peaks again when Jesse helplessly climbs through Ron’s window (emulating Glen and Nancy in the first film, wink, wink) in search of someone to…sleep with! He doesn’t go to his family or Lisa, but his homeorotic frenemy! Ron lies on leather pillows and sheets, decorates his room with female punk rock bands, and sports a “no turkeys” sign taped to his bedroom door. “No turkeys” can be rephrased for a modern audience as “no posers” or “come as you are” (WINK! WINK!).
The most overtly queer sequence is without a doubt Jesse’s first DEADLY nightmare. Jesse dreams he finds himself barefoot, shirt unbuttoned, hot and sweaty (he spends much of the film like this) at a leather gay bar where he runs into his Gym Teacher, just as Ron had chided earlier. His teacher takes him back to the school gym to run barefoot laps as punishment (wink, wink), and he watches him from the sideline in his leather daddy vest, assless chaps, and matching leather wrist cuffs.
As Jesse hits the showers, his teacher removes a jump rope from his utility cabinet and places it in the seat in front of his desk - presumably to engage in B in BDSM with his student! Questionable 80s morality even for Freddy I guess, as it is at this moment that our infamous nightmare creature sinks his claws into the first victim, Daddy Gym Teacher, by binding him with the jump rope in the showers and whipping him to death. Jesse is terrified. Did he have a kinky sex dream about his gym teacher or did he kill his gym teacher!? As the lines between dream and reality blur throughout the film, so do Jesse’s sexual desires.
The homosexual yearning peaks again when Jesse helplessly climbs through Ron’s window (emulating Glen and Nancy in the first film, wink, wink) in search of someone to…sleep with! He doesn’t go to his family or Lisa, but his homeorotic frenemy! Ron lies on leather pillows and sheets, decorates his room with female punk rock bands, and sports a “no turkeys” sign taped to his bedroom door. “No turkeys” can be rephrased for a modern audience as “no posers” or “come as you are” (WINK! WINK!).
Source: Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Official Trailer It is too late for Ron though, as Freddy quite literally COMES OUT of Jesse and kills his forbidden lover. It is also too late for Jesse, sadly. He has fallen victim to years of crushing repression as result of a life confined to stifling conservative suburbia. It IS a horror movie, after all! A true nightmare on Elm Street that rings far too true for many queer horror fans. Sure, it lacks the structure of the first film, but Freddy’s Revenge is full of queer imagery, subtext, and pride. Perfect for repeat viewing throughout this very special month!
Jimmy O'Hara
is a queer writer, screenwriter, actor, and horror buff from Chicago, Illinois.
Dispatches from The Wolf Cave
Week 1: It's a Wonderful Slice (2024), The White Bishop, Creepy Crawly (2022), Mary Had a Little Lamb (2023)
I’m back! Sorry I was gone so long, but life doesn’t slow down for anyone. Especially not for me, who seems to be in very high demand these days from the waxing and waning of that gibbous thing in the sky.
Connie, what’s a “gibbous”? Some kind of cheese? I knew that thing was made of cheese!
Going back and forth between my wolf and human forms can be quite taxing. There’s the pulling and the itching and the stretching and, most disturbing of all, the popping! The Popping of The Teeth, as it's referred to in ancient werewolf lore: The teeth eject themselves and clatter to the floor, leaving my gums flapping in the wind wilder than gramma’s curtains in a windstorm.
(Actually, I never knew my granny, which makes it easier to eat yours when she ventures into my woods, muahaha.) Make way for the canines, you sorry excuse for a tooth!
I meant my real tooth, Connie; I’m not calling your grandmother a tooth.
By the way, speaking of taxing: Did you know that were-beings are taxed at a higher rate than normal citizens, and SINGLE were-beings are taxed even higher? Make it make sense!
Anywho, between brooding about the unfairness of life, attending to my cat dad duties, and dealing with a nasty bout of indigestion from a rotten possum, I’ve been slagging behind on my horror movie updates.
Consider this the first dispatch from my Wolf Cave! A regular roundup of movies I’ve watched recently that, for some reason, I think you should watch, too. They run the spectrum of low-budget to big studio productions. They’re stories from every decade and every subgenre I can get my beady little eyes on. I’ll look at new directors and horror titans. And I will try to keep my Critters obsession from spilling over too much.
It’s shorter this week because I talked so much, but I promise that next week will feature loads more movies.
So, let's sink what teeth we have left into our first selections. And don't forget to floss afterwards, you sickos!
Connie, what’s a “gibbous”? Some kind of cheese? I knew that thing was made of cheese!
Going back and forth between my wolf and human forms can be quite taxing. There’s the pulling and the itching and the stretching and, most disturbing of all, the popping! The Popping of The Teeth, as it's referred to in ancient werewolf lore: The teeth eject themselves and clatter to the floor, leaving my gums flapping in the wind wilder than gramma’s curtains in a windstorm.
(Actually, I never knew my granny, which makes it easier to eat yours when she ventures into my woods, muahaha.) Make way for the canines, you sorry excuse for a tooth!
I meant my real tooth, Connie; I’m not calling your grandmother a tooth.
By the way, speaking of taxing: Did you know that were-beings are taxed at a higher rate than normal citizens, and SINGLE were-beings are taxed even higher? Make it make sense!
Anywho, between brooding about the unfairness of life, attending to my cat dad duties, and dealing with a nasty bout of indigestion from a rotten possum, I’ve been slagging behind on my horror movie updates.
Consider this the first dispatch from my Wolf Cave! A regular roundup of movies I’ve watched recently that, for some reason, I think you should watch, too. They run the spectrum of low-budget to big studio productions. They’re stories from every decade and every subgenre I can get my beady little eyes on. I’ll look at new directors and horror titans. And I will try to keep my Critters obsession from spilling over too much.
It’s shorter this week because I talked so much, but I promise that next week will feature loads more movies.
So, let's sink what teeth we have left into our first selections. And don't forget to floss afterwards, you sickos!
IT'S A WONDERFUL SLICE (2024)
dir. Michael Moutsatsos starring Rick Ryan, Sandra E. Williams, Joshua Salaza Fallat, and Steven Natale
Three things: 1) I love X-mas horror. 2) I love anthologies. 3) If Michael Matsoutsos did it, and Phil Herman’s name is attached to the project, I’m going to watch it. That’s how I wound up with It’s a Wonderful Slice playing in the Wolf Cave. Multiple homicidal Santas run around the woods hacking away at their victims. Why, you ask? Their motivations differ, but some of them are angry about not being left milk and cookies for their X-mas services! Wouldn’t you be upset, too?
These are the same woods in which Krampus prowls around on all fours looking for prey! The same ones where stock footage wolves feast upon the slabs of an unfortunate victim of a pissed-off Santa. Elsewhere, an obsessed fan stalks a vacationing celebrity and a woman vents childhood frustration on a kidnapped Mall Santa. It’s Santas and holiday terror galore! This anthology from Michael Matsoutsos features five unique slices of horror that will satisfy fans of low-budget genre flicks. If you like this, you should check out Matsoutsos’ other work, especially his 2019 slasher The Butcher, in which he portrays a chef who goes crazy because of Mad Cow disease. Awesome!
Watch the trailer here!
These are the same woods in which Krampus prowls around on all fours looking for prey! The same ones where stock footage wolves feast upon the slabs of an unfortunate victim of a pissed-off Santa. Elsewhere, an obsessed fan stalks a vacationing celebrity and a woman vents childhood frustration on a kidnapped Mall Santa. It’s Santas and holiday terror galore! This anthology from Michael Matsoutsos features five unique slices of horror that will satisfy fans of low-budget genre flicks. If you like this, you should check out Matsoutsos’ other work, especially his 2019 slasher The Butcher, in which he portrays a chef who goes crazy because of Mad Cow disease. Awesome!
Watch the trailer here!
THE WHITE BISHOP
By Brandon Perras-Sanchez and Aron Beauregard
Okay, it’s not a movie, and it’s true that I cannot read, but my court order specifies I must attempt to enhance my literacy at least once a year. Sigh. I mean, growl.
I guess I’ll trade out one annual hobby for another. Goodbye, Australian walkabout; hello The White Bishop, a new horror story from Brandon Perras-Sanchez and Aron Beauregard!
I watched Perras-Sanchez’s movie Saint Drogo a few months ago, and it left such an impression that I reimposed my hibernation just to compose myself! I loved that movie’s religious folk horror vibes, so I was pleased to see those themes emerge again in the plot description of his collaboration with Beauregard: “A skeleton crew of desperate men looks to capitalize on a handsome reward offered by an eerie outsider. But when they brave the harsh winter waters to transport an ominous crate, their food supply mysteriously spoils, forcing them to stray off course. After several weeks of dead winds, absent sunlight, and diminishing rations, the crew begins to question not only their faith, but each other.”
Sounds fantastic to me! Find The White Bishop here.
I guess I’ll trade out one annual hobby for another. Goodbye, Australian walkabout; hello The White Bishop, a new horror story from Brandon Perras-Sanchez and Aron Beauregard!
I watched Perras-Sanchez’s movie Saint Drogo a few months ago, and it left such an impression that I reimposed my hibernation just to compose myself! I loved that movie’s religious folk horror vibes, so I was pleased to see those themes emerge again in the plot description of his collaboration with Beauregard: “A skeleton crew of desperate men looks to capitalize on a handsome reward offered by an eerie outsider. But when they brave the harsh winter waters to transport an ominous crate, their food supply mysteriously spoils, forcing them to stray off course. After several weeks of dead winds, absent sunlight, and diminishing rations, the crew begins to question not only their faith, but each other.”
Sounds fantastic to me! Find The White Bishop here.
CREEPY CRAWLY (2022)
Dir. Chalit Krileadmongkon, Pakphum Wongjinda starring Chanya McClory, Mike Angelo, Benjamin Joseph Varney, Kulteera Yordchang
Last week it was body-snatching slugs, and this week it’s a body-snatching centipede monster. What’s with the body-snatching insects? Who cares! This Thai creature feature is very creepy, very crawly, and very relevant to our times.
It’s true COVID-19 horror: A group of travelers has to quarantine at a Bangkok hotel, and soon they realize it’s not just a deadly virus they have to worry about. Why not throw Edgar the Bug at them, too? But this sucker has Edgar beat in body count and in gross-out. It’s quite a ride!
It’s true COVID-19 horror: A group of travelers has to quarantine at a Bangkok hotel, and soon they realize it’s not just a deadly virus they have to worry about. Why not throw Edgar the Bug at them, too? But this sucker has Edgar beat in body count and in gross-out. It’s quite a ride!
MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB (2023)
Dir. Jason Arber starring May Kelly, Christine Ann Nyland, Mark Sears, Gaston Alexander
You know the story: Mary had a little lamb, and everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go. That’s the basic premise here, too, except Mary’s lost the plot all alone in the woods, and instead of following her to school, her “little lamb” stomps around the grounds wielding an ax! A true crime podcast plans to get to the bottom of mysterious disappearances in Mary’s woods, but the lamb has other plans for the ragtag crew.
The tagline for this is ITS FLEECE WAS RED AS BLOOD, which fills me with such glee, I could burst out into nursery rhyme! There’s something about the way these horror riffs on fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and classic children’s stories remind us not to take everything so seriously that I find to be precisely what we need in these self-serious times!
There’s loads of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey alumni involved in this, including Danielle Scott, Lila Lasso, Gillian Broderick, and producer Scott Jeffrey. I particularly enjoyed seeing May Kelly again after enjoying her, and many others from this cast, in The Killing Tree (2022) and The Curse of Humpty Dumpty 2 (2022).
These movies are low-budget blasts; they’re consistently great, deadpan funny, and bluntly brutal. Any time one of these fairy tale massacres comes out, I am tuning in!
Whew. Well, that’s enough gushing about the humans for this week. How many more of these do I have to do? See you next time!
The tagline for this is ITS FLEECE WAS RED AS BLOOD, which fills me with such glee, I could burst out into nursery rhyme! There’s something about the way these horror riffs on fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and classic children’s stories remind us not to take everything so seriously that I find to be precisely what we need in these self-serious times!
There’s loads of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey alumni involved in this, including Danielle Scott, Lila Lasso, Gillian Broderick, and producer Scott Jeffrey. I particularly enjoyed seeing May Kelly again after enjoying her, and many others from this cast, in The Killing Tree (2022) and The Curse of Humpty Dumpty 2 (2022).
These movies are low-budget blasts; they’re consistently great, deadpan funny, and bluntly brutal. Any time one of these fairy tale massacres comes out, I am tuning in!
Whew. Well, that’s enough gushing about the humans for this week. How many more of these do I have to do? See you next time!
Source: AfterDark Substack by Jimmy O'Hara
All Hallows Eve is significant around the world for various historical, cultural, and pop-cultural reasons, but for horror fans, the hype also revolves around the equally emblematic slasher hit Halloween (1978).
Starring legendary, future Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis in her debut/breakout role, the small indie genre film perfected the slick storytelling of Black Christmas (1974) and combined it with the viscerally grunge gore of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) to cement the subgenre for over the next two decades; it propelled the slasher horror genre into the 1980s just in time for the encroaching reek of Reagan era satanic panic.
Forty years later, Halloween (2018) premiered at the back end of the 2010’s to resurrect the slasher genre from a depth of hell in which even Jason and Freddy wouldn’t find themselves lurking. Once more, the slasher lives on to see a new decade: The 2020’s– bigger, better, and scarier than ever before seen on screens.
Jason sycophants and Crystal Lake campers may be offended that Friday the 13th (1980) is not being credited as patient zero for the slasher BOOM that defined the 80s. Yet, despite premiering at the top of the decade, Friday the 13th would not have become the blockbuster series it continues to be (A24’s Camp Crystal Lake serialized adaptation drops later this year) if Carpenter’s hit hadn’t first succeeded in subverting horror fans, critics, and general audience perceptions alike two years prior.
Without Halloween, audiences would have never met Jason and his mother, Freddy and the dream warriors of Elm Street, or even Ghostface and his movie buffs DECADES later. Nearly three hundred (300!!!) American slashers were produced between 1980-1989 alone. Those kinds of numbers, and their continuous cultural impact, are hard to recreate. But the 2020’s dare to try, and it's all thanks to Carpenter's franchise.
Cut to 2018, Curtis is in a career resurgence…EXACTLY forty years after her debut in Halloween. It was the perfect time for a Halloween revival and, with the help of a changing world, evolving tastes, and the viewpoints of a new generation, the perfect time to breathe new life into the slasher! Since 2018, and even more since the 2020’s began, audiences have been treated to revivals of their favorite franchises including Scream, Friday the 13th, The Strangers. And movies like MaXXXIne, Fear Street, and Bodies Bodies Bodies are shining, fresh stars for a new, slasher-loving generation.
The slasher was first introduced during a conflicted era in American history; in the shadow of a war and political stagnation, social repressions manifested on the surface of mainstream consciousness revolving around gender and sexuality. It was similar to where we are now; in the wake of a global pandemic and rampant and rising conservatism, a new generation is reshaping the dialogue that will define America’s future (or else face a fate worse than a slasher victim). In this environment, it’s natural that the slasher be reworked as well.
An iconic, genre-defining, critically acclaimed, and period-reflecting slasher masterpiece like Halloween or Scream has yet to reveal itself in this new generation. It will though, sooner rather than later, because the 2020’s are THE first decade to watch for horror since the 1980s concluded.
About The Bitter Wolf
Part-time wolf.
Part-time human.
Full-time horror lover!
I live in a cat with my cat, Connie.
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