Hollywood Gothique

Reviews of movies playing around Los Angeles, in nationwide release or at local art houses and specialty venues

Sitting down to write a review of THE LAST EXORCISM PART II, I find myself somewhat in the position of the modern satirist, who finds the real world has become so ridiculous that there is little room to push the envelope even further for comic effect, rendering the concept of satire almost redundant. In my [...]

DARK SKIES proves once again (as if any proof were necessary) that Blumhouse Productions has codified its horror template to the point that their films are the cinematic equivalent of blues music: the lyrics may change, but the subject matter or tone; and regardless of the writers and performers, you will hear the same 12-bar [...]

If you are a fan of Peter Jackson’s LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, good fortune has smiled upon you this weekend, because THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY contains more of what you enjoyed before – much, much more. In fact, there is so much LORD OF THE RINGS that there is barely any room for [...]

You make think that RISE OF THE GUARDIANS is family-friendly fantasy that recasts traditional cultural icons as superheroes, but in reality this is one scary flick – maybe not enough to send adults screaming from the theatres, but it could cause more than a few nightmares among younger viewers. You see, bad dreams are at [...]

There are good and bad aspects about a film series, such as HARRY POTTER or THE TWILIGHT SAGA. The bad aspect is that the story has to be stretched over multiple installments that create a deadening sense of inertia: it’s a bit like reading a lengthy novel that forces you to wade through pages and [...]

“Love is a monster,” proclaims the poster – and in this case, the film means it literally. Or figuratively. Or something. You see, JACK & DIANE’s lesbian love story is intercut with darkly disturbing animation inserts by the Brothers Quay and a few scenes of bestial man-in-a-suit monster action. Unfortunately, these teasing glimpses of horror [...]

Writer-directed Amy Herckling’s horror-comedy is a bit “clueless” about what makes vampirism interesting. VAMPS is built around a premise as thin as the last anemic drops of blood dripping from the veins of a blood-sucker’s victim: For a couple of beautiful women, being vampires isn’t all that different from being ordinary humans; you share a [...]

This is probably the first horror film from the sound era that stands the test of time as a great piece of cinema (unlike its predecessor DRACULA, which retains its classic status in spite of its cinematic shortcomings, mostly on the basis of Bela Lugosi’s performance in the title role). This rather truncated and altered [...]

At first glance, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 seems to offer evidence that, despite the filmmakers’ best intentions, the indubitably effective formula of the original PARANORMAL ACTIVTY has run out of ectoplasm. A closer look, however, suggests that this third sequel is a daring formal experiment, one that seeks to answer the question: How far can we [...]

I might as well say it right at the top: SINISTER – the new film from PARANORMAL ACTIVITY producer Jason Blum – is not very…well…sinister. If we define the word as meaning, “ominous, forbidding, portending of doom,” the film starts well enough, with suggestions of dark and sinister events to come; but soon other words [...]

THE DEVIL’S BRIDE (1968, known as The Devil Rides Out in its native England) is one of the last fine examples of the classic Hammer Horror style. Before closing up shop in the mid-1979s, the studio’s subsequent output would include some good, and even a few great, films, but the familiar motifs had been mostly [...]

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is one of those miraculous little films (a bare 69 minutes) that exists almost as much in the mind of the viewer as on the screen. Its story is actually relatively simple, but its treatment is sophisticated, creating an engaging, mature drama that hypnotically draws the audience into its shadowy [...]

Italian maestro of horror Dario Argento reaches his peak with this modern thriller about a mystery author whose latest book is serving as inspiration for a series of brutal murders that take place while he is on a promotional tour in Rome. The film synthesizes all the familiar Argento motifs (psycho killers, bloody violence, convoluted [...]