Viola Davis should try Horror

by Cláudio Alves

Coming into its second week in theaters, the new Hunger Games movie keeps doing solid numbers. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a not-so-surprising success, reinforcing the franchise's popularity and audience's taste for fancy-dressed dystopia. What's more surprising, perhaps, is the relatively positive critical consensus. Though few herald the Francis Lawrence flick as best-of-the-year material, it's also not counted amid 2023's many busted blockbusters. The cast has been especially praised, including Viola Davis, who is expanding her repertoire to include one mad-eyed, crazy-haired villain in red. 

As Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul, she's the story's primary antagonist, an embodiment of its universe's power structures, bloodthirsty and ruthless. Seeing Davis triumph in the role makes one wonder how she'd do in more genre fare. Horror, for example…

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Gotham Awards 2023: "Huesera: The Bone Woman" Stands Tall in a Stacked Category

by Nick Taylor

If awards-giving bodies serve one purpose, it’s to point curious, nubile cinephiles towards films they might not have otherwise come across. Unexpected, eccentric nominations are almost inherently fun to observe, especially from organizations meant to honor smaller films. Sure, the Gotham Awards removing their budgetary caps is a disappointing move, but aside from Barbie, several of their choices reflect what a great year this is for smaller, genuinely independent titles. And if we’re talking about titles, how could I not jump at the opportunity to check out a film called Huesera: The Bone Woman? Michelle Garza Cervera was recognized in the Breakthrough Director category, and for me, this is the ideal way of rewarding the strengths of this potent film.

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A Haunting in October: Halloween Round-Up

by Nick Taylor

Boo! You all thought this half-alive miniseries was dead for good, but you were wrong! I have returned from the grave for one final shriek to celebrate some of my favorite new watches from this October, along with a shout-out to a surprisingly durable favorite. As I wipe off my makeup from a long night of trick or treating, enjoy your candy and feast your eyes on this!

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Happy Halloween with Hercule Poirot

by Cláudio Alves

I don't know about you, but after the double whammy of Belfast and Death on the Nile, I was ready to give up on Kenneth Branagh as a director. Yet, like Michael Corleone famously said: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"

Turns out that what Branagh and, more specifically, his Agatha Christie adaptations needed was a healthy shot of nonsense plus the spooky seasonings of horror. A Haunting in Venice, now streaming on Hulu, succeeds by untethering itself from literary fidelity, twisting Christie's Hallowe'en Party out of shape in pursuit of maximum entertainment. Though a sense of melancholy pervades, self-serious prestige is abandoned, or mayhap sacrificed at a witches' altar. And from its deadened carcass, Hercule Poirot emerges as the center of a ghostly storm, the skeptic anchor keeping this Hammer Horror resurgence from floating away on the Lido tide…

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Horror Costuming: The Bride of Frankenstein

by Cláudio Alves

As promised, the Horror Costuming series is back for a new spooky season, going further into the past than ever before. So much so that one delves into what now seems cliché, lest we forget that what is commonplace today was once new. There's no better example of this than the Universal Horror monsters of Hollywood's Golden Age, when studio head designer Vera West helped crystalize looks that would become classics. Think of Dracula's tuxedoed elegance with a red-lined opera cape, the Invisible Man's bandage and sunglasses combo, and, of course, the lumbering threat of Frankenstein's Monster.

Speaking of that 1931 James Whale-directed horror classic, today's topic of choice shall be its sequel. After the first movie's massive success, Universal begged the director for a follow-up, giving him unprecedented creative control. From there, we got the Genesis of the horror (tragi)comedy, a camp extravaganza like none other – 1935's The Bride of Frankenstein…

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