I saw Werewolf in the theaters. I’d seen Jaws, and loved monster movies like the 1979 Dracula w/ Frank Langella, so those sorts of scares didn’t feel nearly as horrifying as I imagine Mommy Dearest would have been. That was supposedly a PERSON, actually treating her kid that way. That’s real. Werewolves weren’t, thus could be as bloody and scary as they wanted. Also, Jenny Agutter got nekkid, which went a long way towards keeping teenage me VERY attentive.
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Clown in a Cornfield (2025) - dir. Eli Craig
Quinn is 17. Mom has died, and Dad has taken a job of town doctor in Kettle Springs, Missouri, pulling her away from her home in Philadelphia. She hates the town, the teachers hate her, she finds some friends, the founder’s day celebration is coming up, and the local corporate corn syrup mascot, Frendo the Clown, starts killing kids. You know, the usual…
This adorable little slasher is based of a YA book by Adam Cesare with a very modest $1 million budget. It’s tightly and efficiently constructed, perfectly paced, funny, suitably scary, and successfully updates the usual ‘dead teen’ formula with some cute Gen-Z gags about land lines and stick shifts as well as some other tweaks. There’s a fun moment when, if you’re a horror fan, you will recognize that the film is really a reverse Children of the Corn , but even if you miss that, it’s a really fun entry that meets and even exceeds its own ambitions.
Currently in theaters, but will be hitting Shudder fairly soon.
4 out of 5 kiloliters of red-dyed corn syrup.
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Jaws was another movie my mom took me to (I musta been 7 or 8?), scrambling to cover my eyes when the diver finds the corpse underwater and the eyeball is dangling from its face 
I had more nightmares from Poltergeist 
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So I should binge-watch Antiques Roadshow. 
If you are not appreciative of rather explicit medical procedures, gore, and other bodily disturbances, then yes, Antiques Roadshow would probably be a much better viewing choice.
Though god knows I’ve seen a few rather rococo bits of furniture on there that have been more upsetting than any Cronenberg film.
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‘As my mom probably would have said, there’s no accounting for taste.
WAIT - YOU DONT LIKE MY LIVING ROOM??
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That’s… a lot.
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Make your guests fell at home. You never know when a dictator might drop over to borrow a cup of … something.
I will say no more.
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Sybil (the TV movie) with Sally Field did me in, I couldn’t watch it to the end.
The Cloud Atlas still gives me nightmares.
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i saw Sinners last night. all i can say is you need to see this movie in a theatre right now. kinda great.
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Given the shit weather coming our way that is about to happen. Just have to find a place showing OV or at least with subtitles here in Berlin. Germany dubs most movies 
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I’ll put down $20 right now on Sinners getting an Oscar nom for best original song or best soundtrack.
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I loved it so much. And absolutely a cinema watch.
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I would love to be able to watch it but I’m avoiding explicit “horror” these days. Any reassurance?
It’s a movie with vampires, and all that comes with that as far as visuals. Lots of blood, fair amount of violence. There are frightening scenes. But there’s a LOT of depth in there.
If you’re avoiding horror because blood and violence and being frightened/shocked/excited in that way doesn’t feel nice at them moment and you’re worried that’s the only thing this movie has going for it, this isn’t that. Like, I’d say, avoid Clown in a Cornfield or The Monkey. Those are horror movies that are first and last, horror movies. That’s all they try to be. If you don’t want that, there’s not much else there.
Sinners is a horror movie, for sure. The finale is plenty bloody and violent. But there’s a LOT more fun than JUST the blood and violence. It’s got impressive depth, and, as I said, the music is worthwhile all on its own.
I can’t tell you if it’s past your own personal lines, of course. It is a horror movie worth seeing. But it is also a film worth seeing regardless of whether it’s horror or not.
If you do elect to watch it, I’d be very eager to hear your thoughts.
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American Primeval.
Really fantastic. Wish we had our screen & projector for this one.
That was awesome; thanks for taking the time.
I was Stephen King’s “biggest fan” back in the day, and I would have called that “horror” back then. It was rarely gory, and he left much to the imagination, which varied.
The Assessment (2024) dir Fleur Fortuné
Available on Amazon Prime
This probably falls within the new genre of ‘cli fi’ (climate fiction) where in a post-climate-collapse dystopia, elite couples must go through a gruelling 7 day assessment in order to be deemed worthy to be allowed a child. Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen are excellent in this.
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Woohoo. Season 4 of The Bear next month on Hulu!
Very excited about the Alien series 
