Cinefantastique Online

The voice of Cinefantastique Online. Updates about what is happening on the website, along with opinion and analysis of the state of the horor, fantasy, and science fiction genres.

Summer is almost here! For many, that means fun in the sun, but for those of us at Cinefantastique the season means horror, fantasy, and science fiction films rolling into theatres on a weekly basis. Listen to a podcast preview of what’s coming up or check out our capsule previews.

This morning we posted three reviews by Keith Brown, who runs the excellent Giallo Fever website (whose motto is “Taking Eurotrash seriously…but not too seriously”). The proximate cause for this excursion into horrifyingly violent crime thrillers of the Italian variety (known as gialli in their native land) is the recent DVD release of BLADE OF [...]

Sarah Roemer, star of THE GRUDGE 2 and DISTURBIA
I don’t know why, but actress Sarah Roemer (THE GRUDGE 2, ASYLUM) is suddenly hot. I don’t mean in the “hot chick” sense but in the sense that suddenly search engine traffic for her is up (although presumably there is some directly proportional relationship between the two [...]

Watching IRON MAN 2, I began to suspect that one reason for the recent success of Marvel Comic book adaptations is that their menagerie of superhero characters is less iconic than their DC counterparts.

Just wanted to remind everyone: the theatrical release of George A. Romero’s SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD is nearly a month away, but the film is now available for “pre-theatrical rental.”

Welcome to Cinefantastique’s first mini-blog-a-thon. With the remake of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET currently in theatres, now is a good time to take a retrospective look back at  some of our favorite Freddy moments from the old films. Although the 1984 original was born during the slasher era, the franchise had much more going [...]

In horror, fantasy, and science fiction, sometimes even the worst of the worst garner a moment of sympathy.

Surfing the Internet the other day, I stumbled upon an advertisement posing as an article, which posed the question, “What is the Asian secret to strong lush hair?” I did a screen grab, so that you can see what I am talking about without having to click through the link:

As you can probably guess, my [...]

The self-styled superhero risks his own life to rescue a helpless victim of street crime.
Well, the geek, fan-boy wet-dream of a movie known as KICK-ASS is now in theatres, and critical reaction has been adoringly positive (one might even say “kiss ass” in its kindness), with the Rotten Tomatoes tomato-meter currently registering a 77% approval [...]

The recently released AFTER.LIFE is intended as a thought-provoking horror film, but the only lasting thought it provoked in me is the question: Why is Christina Ricci not a horror star? She surpasses the chill-factor of her supposedly creepy co-stars, projecting not only a melancholy gloom but also an eerie allure perfectly suited to the genre.

Back in January, I wrote a little editorial (”Conservatives Carp at Avatar“), in which I noted that right-wing “thinkers” and gone off the rails with specious and downright silly arguments about percieved faults with the themes in James Cameron’s blockbuster film. Months later, I see that Cameron has finally fired back, during a press conference [...]

Old legends never die; they just fade away…
Ray Harryhausen with the Medusa model from the 1981 CLASH OF THE TITANS
Over at NJ.com, Stephen Whitty has an interview-profile of Ray Harryhausen, the legendary special effects maestro responsible for the original version of CLASH OF TITANS. The 90-year-old Harryhausen is a major influence on today’s fantasy filmmakers, [...]

Considering the mythical nature of dragons, you would think they would be th superstars of cinefantastique; instead, they have too often been relegated to supporting status in sub-par films. Fortunately, there are a few good dragon movies out there, and even the dramatic disappointments can feature impressively realized reptiles of mass destruction.