TV

A collection of 165 posts

Film

Fear Itself: S1E06 "New Year's Day"

The Fear Itself series continues at The Avocado with Darren Lynn Bousman’s New Year’s Day. Do you remember when Bousman was the new “it” director in horror? I do. What a glorious time for incredible theatrical, grotesque, and absurd horror films. He used the success of his participation

Film

Fear Itself: S1E05 "Eater"

We continue our Fear Itself series over at The Avocado with Stuart Gordon’s Eater. This is arguably the best episode of Fear Itself and one of the best episodes in the entire Masters of Horror/Fear Itself series. You can read the full review over at The Avocado [https://the-avocado.org/2020/11/25/fe

Film

Fear Itself: S1E04 "In Sickness and In Health"

The Fear Itself review series continues at The Avocado with In Sickness and In Health. This is the episode I dreaded writing about the most because of the director/writer combination. Just know that the screenwriter on this episode made this long after committing his crimes against a child that land

Film

On Advocating for Accessibility in Digital Space

We all still have a lot of work to do to make the Internet and digital technology an accessible space for all people.

Film

Fear Itself: S1E03 "Family Man"

I wish I could easily send you off to watch Fear Itself’s third episode “Family Man.” Sadly, the only distributor for it in the US other than the DVD set uploaded episode five “Eater” twice instead of “Family Man.” Ronny Yu’s entry is one of the genuinely scary shorts in the series, playing on a mix

Books/Print

Spookier Times Episode 4: Gothic versus Ghost Stories, the Gothic Epistolary, and The Turn of the Screw

In this episode of Spookier Times, we take a deep dive into Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. We look at its genre, its modern adaptations, the use of epistolary structure in Gothic Literature, and some of the best adaptations of James' classic Gothic/ghost story.

Film

Fear Itself: S1E02 "Spooked"

The new article is up at The Avocado. Our subject is Brad Anderson’s “Spooked,” a beautifully styled paranormal thriller about a corrupt police detective being haunted by a suspect he killed. Shame the story doesn’t hold up to Anderson’s particularly over the top brand of psychological horror. You c

Reviews

NOS4A2 Season 1 Review (TV Series, 2020) #31DaysofHorror

NOS4A2 is a fascinating property to explore. The novel by Joe Hill is one of the strangest horror novels I’ve ever encountered. Joe Hill writes brutal weird fiction and this novel is among his strangest. It’s a cross-country and cross-dimension horror story about a monstrous man known as the Charlie

Film

Fear Itself: S1E01 "The Sacrifice" #31DaysofHorror

We’re starting our new recap series at The Avocado today with the unoffical third season of Masters of Horror. Fear Itself aired for one season, and actually, the second half of the show was pushed to the NBC website rather than be aired on TV. Here’s our review of S1E01 “The Sacrifice” from directo

Film

Spookier Times Episode 3: Halloween 2020: Roger Corman's Poe Films, Murder (The Look in Your Eyes), and Decoding the Beauty of Terror with Edgar Allan Poe

In the Halloween special of Spookier Times, we take a look at the father of American horror Edgar Allan Poe. His work is captured to near perfection in Roger Corman's collaborations with Vincent Price and screenwriter Richard Matheson. From there, we get a sample of the upcoming short musical "Tick,

Reviews

A Discovery of Witches Review (TV Series, 2019) #31DaysofHorror

A Discovery of Witches is an urban fantasy/romance/horror series about witches, vampires, and demons in academia. Dr. Diana Bishop is a historian specializing in the history of alchemy. She is also a non-practicing witch who doesn’t always have control over her powers. She takes a position at Oxford

Film

Masters of Horror S2E13: "Dream Cruise" #31DaysofHorror

We’ve finally reached the series finale of Masters of Horror in our review/recap series at The Avocado. Norio Tsuruta’s Dream Cruise is one of the most unique episodes of the second season, which is largely filled with far more adventurous titles than the first season. For one thing, he filmed it as

Reviews

The Boulet Brothers' Dragula: Resurrection Review (TV, 2020) #31DaysofHorror

The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Resurrection is a Halloween special. Seven previous contestants who did not take the crown compete in a pageant to win $20000 and a guaranteed spot to compete on season four. Due to pandemic and quarantine, the contestants competed near their homes with the help of the

Reviews

JU-ON: Origins Review (TV Series, 2020) #31DaysofHorror

JU-ON: Origins is a six episode horror TV series intended for the most hardened horror fans. The scares are hard. The subject matter is hard. The tone is bleak and the actions are incredibly brutal.

Film

Masters of Horror: S2E12 "The Washingtonians"

This week in our Masters of Horror review series at The Avocado, we take a look at Peter Medak’s The Washingtonians. This adventure/horror story adapted from a story by Bentley Little is a very different kind of episode. You can read the full review here [https://the-avocado.org/2020/10/14/masters-o

Reviews

Death Note Review (TV Series, 2006) #31DaysofHorror

Death Note is one of the most iconic anime of all time. It is based on a manga series from writer/illustrator Tsugumi Ohba that is just the perfect storm of high-concept horror storytelling. Light, a high school student preparing for college, discovers a mysterious notebook, labeled “Death Note,” th

Film

Masters of Horror: S2E11 "The Black Cat"

This week, we take a look at Stuart Gordon’s second episode of Masters of Horror. The Black Cat is an adaptation of Edgar Alan Poe’s story “The Black Cat” mashed up with his own life as told by his worst critics. You can read the full review at The Avocado [https://the-avocado.org/2020/10/07/masters

Film

Two Sentence Horror Stories Season 2 Review (TV, 2019) #31DaysofHorror

Two Sentence Horror Stories is an anthology horror series inspired by the subreddit of the same name. The series was created by Vera Maio for the CW Seed, the CW’s original free streaming platform, and currently has two seasons. Season 2 is available to stream on Netflix, and that’s the focus of thi

Film

Masters of Horror: S2E10 "We All Scream for Ice Cream"

This week, we take a look at the Masters of Horror episode We All Scream for Ice Cream. This is one of the few (arguably two) slasher episodes of the series directed by a master of paranormal horror. Tom Holland is the creator of Child’s Play and Fright Night. He’s also responsible for two of the be

Announcements

Announcing: Spookier Times

Introducing Spookier Times. This is a new biweekly podcast about everything horror, Gothic, and weird fiction across media. I’m incredibly proud of the project and the opportunities it affords in media criticism.

Film

Masters of Horror: S2E09 "Right to Die"

Season 2 of Masters of Horror was all about going there. Blame the censorship at the end of season 1 with the refusal to air Imprint. Or it could be that directors realized how much they could actually get away with and just ran with it. Right to Die is a horror film inspired by the debate over righ

Film

Masters of Horror: S2E08 "Valerie on the Stairs"

The newest edition of my recap series over at The Avocado is up. This week, we’re looking at the Mick Garris/Clive Barker collaboration Valerie on the Stairs, aka one of the scariest films ever made about writers. Check it out [https://the-avocado.org/?p=194885].

Reviews

Masters of Horror: S2E07: "The Screwfly Solution"

I’ve been reviewing/recapping the Masters of Horror series over at The Avocado [http://the-avocado.org] for a few months now. New posts going up Wednesday at 12:30pm. This week, we take a look at The Screwfly Solution, a post-apocalyptic horror from director Joe Dante. Enjoy [https://the-avocado.org

Reviews

Glow Up Season 2 Review (Reality TV Show, 2020)

Glow Up is a British reality show for makeup artists. 10 contestants compete in a variety of challenges to test their skills as professional makeup artists.

Reviews

Legendary Review (TV Series, 2020)

Legendary is a new competitive reality TV show about ball culture on HBO Max. Eight houses compete in weekly themed balls for a grand prize of $100,000 and the title of Superior House. The categories all come from the ball culture you might recognize from Paris is Burning or Pose: face, modeling, vo