Horror Homeroom

Posted on August 21, 2015

Why Sinister (2012) Is Much better Than Its Reviews Say

Dawn Keetley

Sinister 2 opens today (Friday 21, 2015) and I do not have high hopes for it—which is not a result of my less-than-positive feelings about the first film, released in 2012 and directed by Scott Derrickson. In fact, I think Sinister is a great horror film (in my top ten for 2012), and I disagree with the lukewarm response it earned from critics (only a 62% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Indeed, my low expectations for Sinister 2 come precisely from my sense of how good Sinister is.

Sinister is about a true-crime writer, Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke), who moves to the site of a horrendous murder—the owners and two of their three children were hung from the tree in their back-yard and their third child disappeared—in hopes of writing his next best-selling book. He discovers a case of film reels that detail other family murders spanning from the 60s to the 90s, and as he tracks down connections among the killings, he starts to experience strange things in his new house.

Posted on August 20, 2015

Sinister (2012) Offers an Unintentional Hero

Gwen

It goes without saying that mothers bear the brunt of blame in horror films. Most often it’s monstrous mothers to blame for allowing evil into the sacred temple of the family home. Sinister is one of the few films centered on the ineffective father. More importantly, it is part of a smaller subsect of horror films that critiques the biological father rather than the interloping step-father. Scholars such as Vivian Sobchack and Tony Williams suggest that the horrific father is often indicative of challenged patriarchal power. If indeed this is correct, then who is challenging the power and why?

Posted on August 18, 2015

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) Review

Elizabeth Erwin

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer | 98 min | 1986 | John McNaughton | X[i]

Synopsis: Henry is an unrepentant serial killer who forms a murderous bond with another man.

Review: Michael Rooker’s chilling tour de force performance is perhaps the greatest serial killer characterization ever committed to film.

Grade: A

Viewing Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is not for the faint of heart. Stark and unyielding, the film is a deeply unsettling look into the mind of an unrepentant murderer. The film centers on pathological murderer Henry, who discovers a kindred spirit in his roommate, Otis. The two engage in vicious murders as Henry schools Otis on the finer points of evading capture. Their relationship is tested when Otis’ sister Becky comes to visit and becomes enamored of Henry. Based on the life of Henry Lee Lucas, the film is both a psychological exploration as well as an explicit foray into gore.

Posted on August 16, 2015

Horror at the Edge of the Human: AMC’s Humans

Dawn Keetley

In the late 1970s, Robin Wood offered his famous argument that the “true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilization represses or oppresses,” and for Wood that was primarily sexuality (notably bisexuality and female sexuality) as well as women, the proletariat, and racial and ethnic groups.[i] Thinking about two of the most interesting TV series of the summer—Channel 4/AMC’s Humans and CBS’s Zoo—it occurred to me that horror may be much less driven by gender, race, sex, and class in 2015 than it was in 1978.

Posted on August 14, 2015

Brotherhood, the Bible, and Manhood in Treehouse (2014)

Gwen

Treehouse (2014) provides us with an underlying religious message about how living a righteous life brings about strength and salvation. I am not here to suggest anything about the writer or director’s affiliation, only to pull forth a narrative that seems too obvious to ignore. Throughout the 98 minute film, there are frequent references to Biblical passage woven in with similar, more subtle language and situations.

The film uses themes of brotherly love and an omnipotent father to elicit the evolution from boy to manhood. One is able to jump to this less obvious conclusion by following the overt signs…literally.