'Mortuary' Poster. Directed by Tobe Hooper. Image courtesy Echo Bridge Entertainment.

Tobe Hooper ‘Mortuary’ – brain-dead zombies and black fungus

Mortuary, directed by Tobe Hooper, received a limited theatrical release in 2006. The film tells the story of the Doyle family, who, after the unexpected death of the family patriarch, decide to uproot to rural California, in the process taking up residence at a local graveyard and managing a failing mortuary business. The mortuary, Fowler Mortuary, turns…

Poster for 'Memory' 2006), starring Billy Zane.

Review of ‘Memory’ from 2006, starring Billy Zane

Memory (2006) is a low-budget thriller starring Billy Zane (Titanic), with supporting roles from Tricia Helfer, Terry Chen, Dennis Hopper and Ann-Margret. The film was directed by Bennett Joshua Davlin, who also wrote the novel from which the film is based. With a budget of approximately $3.5 million, according to IMDB, Memory seemed to have a very limited theatrical run, then saw a…

Eli Roth 'Thanksgiving' promo

Is Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ any closer to a release date?

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s a good time to check in on Eli Roth’s planned feature-length film Thanksgiving. The film has been eagerly awaited by fans ever since Eli Roth’s faux movie trailer of the same name made a surprise appearance in the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse. Roth’s 2-1/2 minute trailer nearly earned Grindhouse an NC-17 rating due to…

'They' (2002) film poster.

2002 film ‘They’ explores night terrors

They (2002) was directed by Robert Harmon, known for directing the original The Hitcher film from 1986. While They is no The Hitcher, the film is reasonably well-shot and provides some minor scares, despite being unimaginative and predictable. They is presented by Wes Craven. They tells the story of four young adults who suffered “night terrors” as children. The central character Julia…

'Sharknado' promo poster

‘Sharknado’ feeding frenzy leads to Aug. 2 theatrical release

The feeding frenzy surrounding Sharknado continues to grow, according to Entertainment Weekly. The SyFy original debuted on July 11, 2013 with a respectable 1.4 million viewers, slightly below average for the network’s original films. Sharknado then went “viral”, particularly among Twitter users where it was trending at a staggering 5,000 tweets per minute. The film has continued to garner…

'Curse of Chucky' Blu-ray / DVD cover

Chucky returns in ‘Curse of Chucky’, direct to Blu-ray/DVD

Chucky, America’s favorite killer doll, is back yet again in the upcoming Curse of Chucky. It’s been a long time since Chucky last graced the big screen. The last entry in the Child’s Play series was 2004’s Seed of Chucky, which received mixed reviews due to its absurd plotline and raunchy humor. Curse of Chucky ignores Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky entirely,…

Wes Craven ‘Cursed’ falls short of potential

Flawed production leads to disappointing results for collaboration between ‘Scream’ creative team of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson 2005’s Cursed seemed to have all the elements of a great horror film, at least on paper. For starters, it was written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven, the same creative duo behind the wildly popular Scream series. Scream was a…

Poster for the 2010 mockbuster 'Mega Piranha' from The Asylum.

‘Mega Piranha’ – so bad it’s good?

April 10, 2010 saw the release of Mega Piranha (buy here), which debuted on the SyFy network. The film was obviously intended to ride the coattails of Alexandre Aja’s Piranha remake of the same year. Produced and released by The Asylum, Mega Piranha follows the company’s pattern of releasing “mockbusters”, low-budget fare with similar titles and plotlines as…