31 Days of Spoooktacular: Portrait of a Slasher Movie

The slasher movie is, by far, one of the subgenres of horror that most sticks to a formula. And here is the formula: Pre-Credits Kill+Character Introduction+Cat Scare*+Minor Character Killed Off+Pointless Drama/Comedic Scene+Secondary Character Killed+Hero(ine) and Killer Meet-Up+Hero(ine) Triumphs+One Last Scare=Slasher Movie This is, for the most part, how every slasher movie plays out. You have … Continue reading 31 Days of Spoooktacular: Portrait of a Slasher Movie →

31 Days of Spoooktacular: The Learning Curve (Part 2)

A few months ago I talked about reading older horror authors in order to see what had come before and learning from it. Just reading modern work is like reading the stuff that came before, but diluted, with six degrees of separation. You'll see a little bit of Matheson and Lovecraft in a Stephen King … Continue reading 31 Days of Spoooktacular: The Learning Curve (Part 2) →

Learning the History

If there's one thing that I'm particularly weak on, it's my horror history. I don't read a lot of horror to start and I read even less of the older examples of the genre. Sure, I'll pick up some pulps or read more Lovecraft than can fill the forgotten tomb city of R'lyeh, but for … Continue reading Learning the History →