Author: Justin

Today, I’m looking at something a little different—two classic animated Disney shorts. I grew up watching old Disney shorts on the Wonderful World of Disney and the Disney Channel (you know, back when it actually showed old Disney stuff). I will always have a soft spot for them, and while neither is “scary” even for a child, they’re still quite entertaining. Lonesome Ghosts is the more famous of the pair. Originally released in 1937, it stars Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as “ghost exterminators.” If that sounds awfully familiar, it should also be noted at one point Goofy says, “I ain’t…

What made films like E.T. and The Goonies classics of the 1980s? To watch the recent wave of 80s nostalgia led by Stranger Things and the It remake, one might think all you need is some kids on bikes and a terrorizing threat. Summer of 84 follows that same formula, but there are hints it might be trying to break free. Four young boys discover a serial killer is targeting kids like them, and one of them believes his neighbor may be the killer. Cue kid-style detective work and getting trapper in the wrong place at the wrong time. You’ve…

Here’s a fun idea for a film. Make a horror anthology where most of the crew, including writers and directors, are women. In a genre traditionally dominated by men (though Debra Hill wrote most of the original Halloween), it should bring a unique perspective to the mix, right? Unfortunately, not entirely what you may be hoping for. The stand out segment is the opening adaptation of Jack Ketchum’s award-winning short story “The Box.” It’s a creepy tale about a mother and her two kids on the train home when a man sitting next to the boy shows him something inside…

This holiday special is technically called Garfield in Disguise but was renamed a year after its premiere to Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, and that’s probably what most people know it better as today. For me, much like with It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, this was an annual Halloween tradition. It didn’t hurt that I was a pretty big Garfield fanatic as a kid. Garfield learns about Halloween as a holiday full of free candy from Blinky the Clown and tricks Odie into going trick or treating with him, so he can get two full bags of candy. Greed gets the…

Here’s an interesting naming conundrum. There are now three films simply titled Halloween. One is a remake, but one is this sequel. This year’s Halloween ignores all the other films in the series, except for the original Halloween. Instead, it serves as a direct follow-up, which we’ve already had once before with Halloween II, and it also serves as a “Where is she now?” for the Laurie Strode character—which we already had with Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, which this film also ignores. Confused yet? What you really need to know is that this film picks up forty years after…

Everyone always claims they want smart horror movies, but do we really? I think that’s the question at the heart of The Cabin in the Woods. For all the crowing moviegoers do about people splitting up or opening the cursed box, would you really be happy if they fought back against everything that makes your horror films tick? The basic premise, and there’s no way not to spoil a bit here, is that a group of teens go off to a cabin the woods and wouldn’t you know it, all sorts of grisly things start showing up to kill them.…

While I will admit the third or fourth entry of the series might be the best, the sixth entry has always held a special place in my heart. It’s remarkably self-aware in a way that movies of this era often weren’t. One of the first kills comes when a couple runs into Jason while driving. The woman stops the car and the man says to go on. She replies that she’s seen horror movies and any crazy guy in a mask should be avoided. In fact, one could argue it did Scream basically a full decade earlier. The setup is…

Of my beloved Halloween traditions, watching this one is right up there with John Carpenter’s Halloween. It’s a tradition so annualized for many people my age who recall it coming on CBS every fall and followed not that far after by Charlie Brown’s Christmas special. So, what more is there to say about it? Surprisingly, quite a bit. For those unfamiliar (what sort of beast are you?), it’s the story of Linus staying up all night on Halloween awaiting the arrival of the Great Pumpkin. Linus believes that it’s a sort of gourd-Santa, bringing toys to good boys and girls.…

So far, I’ve only been reviewing single episodes of shows, and while I am still only technically reviewing the premiere episode entitled “Snacks for Strays,” I don’t entirely feel like this is the kind of show that makes sense to review a single episode. View this more as a very positive reaction to the show so far. Imagine if someone combined Rachel Ray with The Muppets and Beetlejuice and you have a rough idea of The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell. I first became aware of McConnell a couple years or so back when her baked creations started appearing on…

In a month-long celebration of Halloween, it’s hard to pick just one episode of The Twilight Zone to watch. While Futurama famously parodied with their own show within a show called The Scary Door, the truth is that a lot of Twilight Zone episodes aren’t really scary as much as they are just plain odd. So, when picking an episode, I poked around for one many fans listed as one of the scariest, but I think “Twenty-Two” is interesting for more than just the horror element. Barbara Nichols stars as Liz Powell, a dancer who has been checked into the…