Category: Horror Movies
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Trans Rage in ‘The Bride!’
I never expected Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! to affect me so deeply. When I watched it a few days ago, I was practically driven to tears. From the cold open, Jessie Buckley, as Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, there’s something eerily visceral and transcendent about the words pouring forth from her lips. “What I…
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Thrill Me: Send Help
As India Ramey sings in the title track to her new album: “Welcome to my villain era!” It’s true. The past week has been a whirlwind of WTF and sadness. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, I’m here. I have my health. I have my cats. And I have friends who care. That’s…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Conversation with Justin Streichman & Gustine Fรผdickar (Lady Puritan)
Surrealist horror takes monstrous shape in Justin Streichman and Gustine Fรผdickar’s Lady Puritan. It’s a film that injects a David Lynch sensibility directly into the veins. And that’s no easy feat. When images itch and swirl in your eyeballs, the short doesn’t let up. In a recent Zoom conversation, Streichman and Fรผdickar discuss their cinematic…
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How ‘Send Help’ Taught Me to Save Myself
“No help is coming. So, you better start saving yourself,” warns Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) in the last few moments of survivalist horror/thriller Send Help. I’ve been telling myself that for weeks, ever since I first witnessed Sam Raimi’s latest cinematic marvel. It’s a brutal refrain, piercing the camera lens through Linda’s thorny, yet totally…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Conversation with Steve Flavin (Wrathbone)
Horror has a serious horror/musical problem. Where are all the horror musicals?!? In a genre that has such foundational films as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Little Shop of Horrors, the genre sure does avoid comingling with musicals. Writer/director Steve Flavin agrees. Behind Wrathbone, in which Flavin also plays two characters, one of them…
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![100 Reviews in 100 Days [Submissions Open]](https://bsidesbadlands.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/100-reviews-in-100-days.png)
100 Reviews in 100 Days [Submissions Open]
Think of the “100 Reviews in 100 Days” campaign as a marathon. I watched 778 films in 2025, mostly horror, so I’m well-trained. Starting June 1, I want to watch and review your short or full-length horror feature. With the onslaught of films released every week, I know there are dozens, if not hundreds, of horror…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Conversation with Matt Webb (The Recluse)
The great thing about horror is that it’s every genre fused into one. There’s horror/comedy, horror/action, horror/thriller, etc. As with Matt Webb’s The Recluse, it perfectly teeters around the edges of horror/thriller, borrowing elements from both to make an impactful, character-driven story. In a recent Zoom call, the writer/director discusses existential dread, his draw to…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Conversation with M-Alain Bertoni (Closing Shift)
Work in retail for any amount of time, and you’ll know what dealing with a Karen means. In his new short, Closing Shift, writer/director M-Alain Bertoni takes things to extremes when a family of Karens terrorizes a movie theater. Bertoni hopped on a recent Zoom call to discuss the impetus behind the film, the state…
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Fantaspoa 2026: ‘Armageddon Road’ spins new Biblical gravel
Horror has a very long history of exploring Biblical and other religious texts. The genre often positions faith as monstrous or the root cause of humanity’s downfall. The First Omen, Mother!, The Exorcist, and The Lodge are just a few examples, but these themes run deep. With Armageddon Road, playing this year’s Fantaspoa, writer/director Karen…
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Panic Fest 2026: Shorts Roundup, Volume 3
Panic Fest 2026 finally closes with my final set of shorts reviews. In Volume 3, you’ll find reviews for three standout films. Spanning the supernatural and thriller, this last batch goes for the jugular. Several moments across this volume’ll leave your jaw on the floor. And you might not want to pick it back up…
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Fantaspoa 2026: ‘Animals of the Land’ is folk horror at its finest
Folk Horror can elicit terrible tremors of pure fear, unlike most other genres. Luke Jaden’s Animals of the Land, playing this year’s Fantaspoa, claws at the eyeballs. The writer/director needles to the very root of humanity, where a sick hunger for power lies in all its perverted glory. There’s something to be said about that…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Conversation with Casey de Fremery (My Severed Arm)
In a post-Scream world, a slasher must completely upend expectations to break through the noise. There’s just no other way around it. Well, unless you’re Terrifier, which is more splatter flick than slasher. With his short film My Severed Arm, writer/director Casey de Fremery knows exactly how to toy with genre conventions and pull no…
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Review: ‘Oddities’ leaps between genres with ease
Tyler Savage’s Oddities makes great use of its title to evoke mystery and weirdness. It’s not to be confused with Irish horror film Oddity from 2024. The writer/director explores human beings as trinkets and gadgets in a thrift store. Through a carefully intricate story (things are never as they seem…), Savage dresses up a darker…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Coversation with Alexander Watson (Demonetize)
Reactions to Influencer Horror lie at opposite ends of the spectrum: you either love it or loathe it. There is no in between. Alexander Watson’s Demonetize aims for the former. During a rather chaotic Panic Fest, the writer/director hopped on Zoom to discuss his film, as well as paranormal TV influences and getting the horror…
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Panic Fest 2026: ‘Dead Bloom’ blossoms with rich social themes
Domonic and Damien Paris’ Dead Bloom lives within the same realm as R.T. Thorne’s sci-fi/thriller 40 Acres. Both films use genre as a vehicle to explore deeper themes of systemic oppression and generational trauma. The monsters simply add to the horror already raging on the outside, layering on a thick coating of inner anguish that…
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Comments
This is one of my favorite horror comedies that's came out in a long time. It's the absolute perfect popcorn…
[…] However, his songs here are as relevant and crushing as ever, as queer non-binary music critic Bee Delores recently…