By Andreas Charalambous
The Return of the Living Dead is an imaginative, funny and timely reinvigoration of the ghoulish concepts George A. Romero pioneered back in 1968. Especially with its accent on comedy, one might expect that director Dan O'Bannon's variation on the theme would fail miserably (admittedly, early reception of this film was fairly negative), but quite to the contrary. This is one amazing horror film, and one that I can (and have!) happily watch over and over again. This film is the perfect blend of humour and horror. It reflects the punk nihilism of the age and the cold war fear of nuclear apocalypse. The film also depicts death in starker terms than many efforts that have come before, and describes with a strong sense of inevitability how a bad situation can quickly escalate to worse, to tragic, to completely FUBAR. Return surpasses Romero's 1985 film Day of the Dead in terms of its ingenuity, social value and overall entertainment, and consequently it's also one of the best horror films of the decade - have you already guessed I like this film...a lot!?
A film that would meet the approval of many a Horror fan, much like myself - is George A. Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead (1968). This film single-handedly shaped an entire horror sub genre and paved the way for the modern 'zombie' film. The film has an intriguing narrative - some of which may seem quite cliché to the modern zombie-saturated audience. However, the viewer must appreciate it's originality and the context of the time it was made.
By Andreas Charalambous
By Andreas Charalambous
Special effects maestro Tom Savini had a baptism of fire with his feature film directorial debut. Following on from directing a handful of episodes for TV horror series Tales from the Darkside, he made the very brave move of directing the remake of George A. Romero's 1968 Night of the Living Dead.
Here, we discuss Why We Heart what we see in Savini's Night of the Living Dead (1990).
By Andreas Charalambous
We take a look at the dark horror anthology Asylum - One of many to come out of the 1970s from British production studio, Amicus.
By Andreas Charalambous
Before he rapped about getting down with the hounds of hell in Michael Jackson's Thriller, Vincent Price takes to the disco dance floor in this 1981 cheese-fest horror, The Monster Club.
Is it literally murder on the dance floor, or is this film worthy of 'Staying Alive'?
Sorry... I'll get my coat.
By Andreas Charalambous
At a time when werewolf films were being done to death, we look at Legend of the Werewolf and discuss why it stands up as a fine example of lycanthropic horror cinema.