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Although overshadowed by director Roman Polanski’s more famous horror efforts, REPULSION and ROSEMARY’S BABY, the more obscure THE TENANT is actually their equal and in many ways their superior — a haunting, mesmerizing tale of a man’s loss of identity and descent into madness.

Though controversial among fans, Season Three once again demonstrates the writers’ tight control of the subject matter.
WARNING: The following contains Season 2 spoilers.
When last we left Dexter Morgan, not only had he narrowly escaped being exposed as the Bay Harbor Butcher (after his long-time dump site was discovered by divers), but he managed to set up [...]

[ July 31, 2009; ] Freestyle Releasing unleashes this horror-thriller from Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the screenwriting team behind FEAST and the recent SAW sequels. If nothing else, the premise – a combo of crime-thriller and torture-porn – is certainly intriguing: a thief named Arkin (Josh Stewart) breaks into his employer’s house but finds that the inhabitants have been [...]

Although it cannot quite live up to its reputation, Polanski’s startling psychological horror film is a bona fide genre classic.
Back in the day when newspaper and magazine critics had some influence, Roman Polanski’s REPULSION was one of the few horror films (along with Alfred Hitchock’s PSYCHO) that earned any respect. Variety called it “a classy, [...]

Here I sit, trying to imagine the pitch meeting for Dexter…
“We’ve got this cop, working for the forensics department of the Miami Police Dept.”
“Go on, I’m loving it…”
“His specialty is hunting serial killers that he feels are especially deserving.”
“Serial killers, too?!? That’s fantastic, I think we’re gold. What about babes?”
“Well, he’s a sociopath, so he [...]

Do not buy a ticket to this movie. Do not rent this movie. Do not watch this movie for free. If you have a choice between seeing this movie and being incarcerated in Guantanamo, choose the latter, because sitting through this suckfest is such torture that it qualifies as a crime against humanity that should [...]

Thanks to the enduring popularity and critical respect afforded to Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960), the character of Norman Bates has emerged as one of the premier icons of the horror genre. Norman is memorable because he appears, at first, to be shy and sympathetic – a lonely boy-man under his mother’s thumb. Even when he [...]

The man who adapted Robert Block’s novel discusses his contribution to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film.
As told to Steve Biodrowski
Joseph Stefano has a long list of credits of various shapes and sizes (including his work as a songwriter), but he will always be fondly remembered by genre fans for two outstanding projects: he produced and wrote [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: With all the annual ”Top Ten Lists” lists sending our memories racing back to the best that 2007 had to offer, we thought this would be a good time to post a review of a fine borderline genre film that we had previously overlooked because it came out early last year, before Cinefantastique Online [...]

A laudable attempt at atmosphere and a handful of creepy moments are not enough to redeem this muddled mess, one of the “8 Films to Die For” in the 2007 After Dark Horrorfest. Unlike most of its brethren in the fest, CRAZY EIGHTS has a few familiar names and faces in the cast: Dina Meyer, [...]

As a thriller, this is mechanical and predictable – barely one-step away from cookie-cutter formulaic – and yet the film actually works up a decent amount of genuine feeling, thanks to the cast of characters. Fear may be in short supply, but you do want to know what happens next – well, you do know what [...]

PENNY DREADFUL is an enjoyable combination of psycho-thriller and slasher horror, which somehow achieves a slick, Hollywood-calibre visual style in spite of its modest budget. The film is not afraid to deliver gruesome horror, but it also dwells on the suspense, offering a tense situation featuring a vulnerable character trapped in a terrible predicament guaranteed [...]

When reviewing disreputable genres, it is not uncommon to extoll the virtues of little known films in the hope of starting a buzz that will attract attention to films that might otherwise be obscured by more high-profile projects. To some extent, this happened with PERFECT BLUE, the anime psycho-thriller that received an art house theatrical release in [...]