Horror Costuming: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

by Cláudio Alves

Jonathan Demme's horror masterpiece, the only film in the genre to win the Best Picture Oscar, has been written about ad nauseam since its release. And yet, some elements of The Silence of the Lambs remain under-discussed. It would seem impossible, but such is the richness of this feature. Take its design, iconic but understated enough to be taken for granted. The costumes are especially deserving of attention, going way beyond Lecter's mask and Buffalo Bill's world of human skin suits. They were designed by Colleen Atwood, a future favorite of the Academy, and represent an oft-forgotten part of her artistry - the ability to ground grotesquerie in reality and use clothing to define the relationships between people…

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"It was the Boogeyman"

by Cláudio Alves

The release of Halloween Kills marks the twelfth feature in the franchise that originated with John Carpenter's classic slasher. It's been 43 years since it all started, but the story of Michael Myers keeps on engaging audiences. Unfortunately, four separate timelines have twisted it out of shape, making the monster into a druidic nightmare, a manifestation of murderous fate that chases after its own bloodline, a human psychopath, an inhuman abstraction. As for Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode, she went from the ultimate final girl to a scream queen offed off-screen to a traumatized woman and a violent avenger. Honestly, it's been a wild ride, and most of those sequels are misbegotten atrocities that deserve no attention. However, none of those sorry movies or their divergences from Carpenter's essential vision have retroactively worsened the first picture…

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Almost There: It’s time to vote! (Halloween edition)

by Cláudio Alves

It’s been a while since you, the readers, have decided what performance should be analyzed in the Almost There series. Since it’s October, let’s do a Halloween-themed poll to spice things up. While AMPAS is notoriously allergic to horror movies, some performances came close to an Oscar nomination, whether their movies were otherwise embraced or not. Here are ten examples, complete with the precursors they won, why I think they were close, and where you can find each flick. The contenders are…

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Streaming Roulette, Oct: The Manor, Black Widow, 'Just a Girl' and more...

New month and a... oops, we're approaching the halfway mark. How did that happen? It's past time for another round of Streaming Roulette where we point out a handful or two of random titles that are streaming and just for fun, freeze frame them at totally random places in the scroll bar...

I brought a little something to get the party started...

THE MANOR on Prime
Barbara Hershey stars in this new horror film about a woman convinced that residents of a nursing home are being killed. Bruce Davison co-stars so you get two 1990s Oscar nominees in this new film from a director named Axelle Carolyn...

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Horror Costuming: Hellraiser (1987)

by Cláudio Alves

Last October, I had a lot of fun exploring the art of costume design in horror movies. This Halloween season, the miniseries is back with new misadventures through the annals of horror history and some of its boldest sartorial visions. To get some semblance of order, the write-ups will start with an iconic nightmare of 1980s cinema and move, decade by decade, until a grand finale in the form of an Oscar FYC for the current awards season. So let's start things off by looking towards the meeting point of pleasure and pain, seeking where they become indivisible, and contemplating how such ideas can be materialized in costumes. Clive Barker's Hellraiser has such sights to show us…

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