The Horror Vision

In the wake of another 31 Days of Halloween, we discuss making a concentrated effort to see some movies we’ve always meant to, but hadn’t until now! The Hitcher! Demonic! Satan’s Little Helper, and MORE!

You can grab Ivy’s new novel Mother Dear right HERE!

It’s hard to do a truly spoiler-free review for this movie since it’s based on Rosemary’s Baby. But we avoid specifics and give you the run-down on whether or not this is worth your time.

Shortly after the ninth anniversary of his passing, we remember the Master of Horror by looking at three of his lesser-known films.

Garth Ennis CROSSED

The fact that one of us loved it and the other hated it makes for some good conversation!!!

Spoiler-free review to start, then provide ample warning when we deep-dive this mutha!

For our 200th episode, we’ve each come to the table with a Horror Hill that we would die on! The movie we love that no one else does, and the movie we hate that the rest of the world treasures!

“One of the most liberating developments in the history of free expression was the invention of VHS.” – Joe Bob Briggs.

Word. This has really been on my mind lately. I’m compiling a list of titles that aren’t currently available on physical media or streaming (in The Dark Backwards‘ case, tubi has it, but fuck commercials). None of the movies on this list were problematic enough to be ‘censored’ into streaming/physical media limbo, however, that almost makes it worse!

Tom Stern and Alex Winter’s Freaked is a 90s film I had never even heard of until Beyondfest did a screening at the Egyptian Theatre in January 2020. The night was amazing (read my thoughts here). Several of my compatriots here at The Horror Vision were familiar and ecstatic that this screening might herald a new release, however, three-and-a-half years later, that has not been the case.

I discovered The Dark Backward on Prime back in 2019 and, after watching it several times in a month, contemplated paying upwards of $50 for a DVD copy. I never did that, hoping against hope eventually someone would release this cleaned up on Bluray. Still waiting, but in the interim, like so many other movies that used to be included on Prime without ads, this has been relegated to Freevee or Tubi or Fuckkee and remixed with ads for boner pills and burger king. Fuck this planet!

Fingers. What the hell can we say about Juan Ortiz’s 2019 WTF? masterpiece of feel bad, feel weird, feel me there again and I’ll tell black comedy that really doesn’t quite constitute a Horror film in any way other than it really leaves one feeling… violated?

And finally, after taking Richard Bates Jr.’s Suburban Gothic. I’m really not sure where the hell this one went. My biggest mistake was taking a film I love this much for granted while it lived on Shudder for several years. Now, I can’t find it to watch anywhere, and the only DVD copy I’ve seen on an auction site recently went for $50. Bates is a working auteur, several of his more recent films live on Paramount Plus, and Excision just popped up on Prime again, so where the hell is Suburban Gothic?

A Prayer to the Gods of Physical Media:

Oh great and powerful deity

Please release these films on Blu-ray in the near future

Please

A new episode of The Horror Vision Presents: Slasher Party is coming! Guess what we’re covering this time???

I asked my compatriots on The Horror Vision Horror Podcast to each pick a movie they are looking forward to releasing in the second half of 2024. Here’s what they gave me.

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Tori: “I pick Starve Acre. The trailer is super creepy and doesn’t give too much away. It’s alluding to a tragedy that throws a family into chaos. It looks set in the English countryside and give off a lot of Folk Horror vibes. And Morfydd Clark and Matt Smith are starring in it.”

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Missi: I pick The Beast Within. Because I love monsters–& I LOVE WEREWOLF FLICKS–they’re my favorite. We don’t have enough good ones & we don’t get enough new ones. I really like Kit Harrington. I think he’ll be an excellent wolfman. I am ALWAYS on the hunt for the next great werewolf film!

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John: I pick Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu. I can’t think of anyone more qualified to take on cinema history’s original Gothic tale. Eggers is going to take Murnau’s film (and Stoker’s story) to deeply disturbing places. The trailer promises a tale of spreading pestilence for a post-pandemic world and the striking imagery for which Eggers and cinematographer Jarin Blaschke are known. And let’s not forget: Willem Dafoe as the Professor.   

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Ray: I am excited for Heretic because its the same writing/directing team that gave us 2019’s Haunt. I love Horror that challenges Christian belief structures, and Hugh Grant is playing against type as the heavy in a Horror movie!

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Anthony: Looking forward to getting “Chest Bursted” at Alien Romulus. Pretty sure we’re in for a big surprise with this one!

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Shawn: My pick is Elric Kane’s The Dead Thing. I know nothing about this film, but I’m a fan of Colors of the Dark podcast and Elric has never steered me wrong on a film. His fervor for Possession put it on my radar, and that flick might have changed my life. Plus, holy cow, is this a badass poster or what?

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Of course, there are a lot more films coming that we don’t even know about yet. Last September when I scored tickets for Damien Rugna’s When Evil Lurks at Beyondfest, I had no idea what the film was or that it would skyrocket to the top of my year-end list. I love that film with all my heart, and look forward to what surprises lay just around the corner in the dark side of 2024!!!

Our new Horror Fan Shudder streaming guide!

Watch the video:

Or listen to the podcast:

Watch the video:

Or listen to the podcast:

Watch the video…

Or listen to the podcast:

Watch the video…

Or listen to the podcast!!!