Horror
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the horror genre.
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Sleepy Hollow
It’s difficult to imagine any other popular director of the time who could command such a budget for an old tale and do it better than Tim Burton. Sleepy Hollow doesn’t fully transfer the power of the original story, but the soul is there. Johnny Depp’s timid and conflicting character holds the narrative together as… (read more)
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Scream
Wes Craven’s 1996 seminal satirical slasher stunningly surpasses swathes of shallow, shlocky ‘Scream’ siblings. (read more)
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A Nightmare on Elm Street
After so many lackluster slasher “legends,” I expected A Nightmare on Elm Street to be a bore—but it’s damn good. It has the two things so many slashers lack: pacing and logic. The threat is established early and, instead of repetitive gore-fests, an actual plot exists where the characters come to understand and fight against… (read more)
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
One of the very rare movies I watch that I feel could benefit from being significantly longer. Tim Burton‘s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street adaptation cuts out parts of the original play, and it can blatantly be seen through the story’s ruthless pace and sudden character development. And yet, its tone saves… (read more)
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Young Frankenstein
Oh, no! Young Frankenstein is perfectly good with nothing easy for me to pick on. All I can give this one is that it was a movie almost completely focused on laughs, and I’ve laughed harder. Gene Wilder is phenomenal, yet Peter Boyle almost steals the show. It’s a waste he practically disappears from the… (read more)
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The Neon Demon
There’s some incredibly harsh imagery in The Neon Demon, complete with heavy, sharp, contrasting colors. This sleazy gloss accompanied by Cliff Martinez‘s distorted synthesizer compositions made me immediately think the movie had potential to be a favorite. But the style here seems like it should be multiplying the base concepts of industry corruption and the… (read more)
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The Blob
“The Blob” could also be used to describe the quality of its screenplay. Grotesque practical effects, and some terrible green screening. A slow start with too much focus on plot and characters, but a lightly likable cast. A solid premise with genuinely tense potential, yet limited by frequent dips into B-movie self-parody. This movie never… (read more)
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Pet Shop of Horrors
This mini-series adapts part of the ‘Pet Shop of Horrors’ manga, and does a fine job of establishing atmosphere, but some horror and narrative elements lack teeth. (read more)
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Fight!! Iczer-1
Touches of gore and horror aren’t enough to save Fight!! Iczer-1 from being a largely bland, unexceptional OVA. (read more)
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Demon City Shinjuku
Pulp horror auteur Yoshiaki Kawajiri bats under par in Demon City Shinjuku, which fails to shock its way into being memorable. (read more)