Cinefantastique Online

News, reviews, interviews, retrospectives, and editorials that take you behind the scenes of horror, fantasy, and science fiction films

Don't Go in the… Never Mind: Sarah Paxton (left) and Pat Healy probe where novice ghost hunters shouldn't probe in THE INNKEEPERS.
There are compelling reasons why, when traveling, one should skip the chain lodgings and stay at one of America’s classic hotels. There’s the friendly and courteous staff, the opportunity to experience a [...]

We Blame Slytherin: Daniel Radcliffe unearths the secret of a hostile spirit in THE WOMAN IN BLACK.
The balmy days of February have triggered an uncommon sense of renewal, nowhere more so than in the cinema, where, after a customarily dismal January (we’re looking at you, THE DEVIL INSIDE), there now come glimmers of hope in [...]

Not Your Typical Hit: Pro assassins find themselves in over their heads in KILL LIST.
What starts out as common, garden-variety crime thriller turns… bizarre, and then frightening, in director Ben Wheatley’s twisty new film, KILL LIST. The tale of middle class hit-man Jay (Neil Maskell), who with colleague Gal (Michael Smiley) goes [...]

You May Feel a Burning Sensation: Brittania Nicol discovers the secrets of THE WICKER TREE.
A story as relevant as yesterday’s headlines, or too late a tale? Some thirty years ago, Cinefantastique hailed Robin Hardy’s THE WICKER MAN as “the CITIZEN KANE of horror,” lauding the Anthony Shaffer-scripted story of a god-fearing police detective trying  to [...]

Deal Me Some Death, Baby: Kate Beckinsale does even more of what she does in UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING.
The UNDERWORLD franchise’s relentless, death-dealing vampire, Selene (Kate Beckinsale), goes under ice at the beginning of UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING, and so does most of the series’ political intrigue, swapping out the power struggles from the previous entries in favor of [...]

The Romance Will Poke Yer Eyes Out!: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is now enhanced with 3D.
Does Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST need to undergo digital conversion to the 3D format in order to lure audiences back into the theater? It shouldn’t, not really. BEAUTY is a certified classic, the first animated film to net a [...]

Mother and Child Reunion?: Fernanda Andrade (top) learns the risks of reconnecting with Suzan Crowley in THE DEVIL INSIDE.
What kind of film is worthy of the sacrificial lamb slot that is the first release of January? What sort of slipshod storytelling does it take for audience members to start hurling epithets at the screen as [...]

Embrace the Po: Hong Kong action is celebrated in KUNG FU PANDA 2.
So, there, that’s one New Years resolution out of the way for me. A few months after the theatrical release of KUNG FU PANDA 2, I was able to score an interview with its director, Jennifer Yuh Nelson. With the [...]

Ghost Protocol in the Machine: Tom Cruise (falling) shows Michael Nyqvist (demonstrating the wrong way to order at the McDonald's drive-thru) how to keep things moving in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL.
What says Christmas Spirit more than nuclear holocaust, life-or-death chases in an automated car park, and scaling the world’s tallest building? Maybe that’s why [...]

Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Just in time for Christmas, the Cinefantastique Laserblast crew – that would be Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski – offer up their recommendations for  DVDs and Blu-ray discs that would make perfect stocking stuffers for the horror, fantasy, and science fiction fan in your life. Suggestions range from the 1932 [...]

A Break for Books: Tintin (Jamie Bell) pauses amidst all the action in THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN.
Time to close the year off with some rip-roarin’ adventure, so why not throw in a little, continental flair in the process? Steven Spielberg has decided to take that route, and make his debut in the [...]

A Justified War: Robert Downey Jr. (right) faces down Jared Harris in SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS.
Abandon all propriety, ye who enter here. Once again, under the direction of Guy Ritchie and as embodied by Robert Downey Jr, the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes shakes off his tweedy cobwebs and gets down, dirty, and flat-out [...]

The Christmas season is upon us, and as we have had occasion to mention, that means ghosts and spirits. And what greater Christmas ghost story is there than Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL? That is the subject of this week’s Cinefantastique Round Table Podcast: Dan Persons, guest John W. Morehead (of Theofantastique.com), and Steve Biodrowski [...]