- Horror Movie - Horror Homeroom

Posted on August 18, 2015

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) Review

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 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.

Posted on August 7, 2015

Starve (2014) Film Review

Gwen

Synopsis of Starve: “While researching an urban legend on feral children, three friends find themselves trapped in an abandoned high school, where they are confronted with an evil more sinister than the legend itself.” (imdb.com)

Review: Starve whets the palate but never satiates the horror lover’s appetite.

Posted on July 15, 2015

The Gallows (2015) Film Review

Gwen

R | 81min | 2015 | (USA) | Travis Cluff , Chris Lofing

Synopsis: Twenty years after a tragic accident during a high school play the students try to pay respects by resurrecting the play. This time Charlie returns to finish business and steal the show.

Review: This one leaves audiences swinging limp in the wind.

The pros: Although the film is written by two men, it comes across quite female centered.

I find the weapon of choice to be quite interesting. I am not typically a subscriber to psychoanalytic theory when it comes to horror films. However, it is quite rare for the killer to use a weapon that is not categorically phallic. In fact the noose is everything opposite of phallic. It is a receptacle that encompasses and takes control over that which enters it. This brings me to my next point.

Posted on July 13, 2015

AMC’s Humans Review: The 21st-century Stepford Wives?

Dawn Keetley

Having watched two episodes of AMC’s intriguing new series, Humans (on Sunday nights at 9), I have been struck with how eerily similar it is to the 1975 horror-thriller, The Stepford Wives (Bryan Forbes). Humans is a British-American co-production, running for eight episodes, and based on the award-winning Swedish drama, Real Humans. It is, on the one hand, obviously sci-fi, yet it also partakes of horror, I argue, in that is fundamentally about the dread of an uncertain identity and the terrifyingly tenuous boundaries of the human. Who are we? Who are those around us? Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956) famously took up these questions—and, more recently, so did The Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard, 2012). As Marty (Fran Kranz) says, “We are not who we are.” The larger question horror asks is: Are we ever?