Halloween Treats: Argento's "Deep Red"

by Nick Taylor

If a true cinephile has opened their third eye, they know the best time to watch horror movies is whenever they want, without the pretext of a Halloween or some such ritual to pop in a scary story. But we can never take Halloween’s power for granted, and to offer fealty to all the ghosts and ghouls haunting The Film Experience, I come with tales of scary movies past (and present??). Our first offering is Dario Argento’s Deep Red, a paragon of giallo cinema.

If you choose to read on, join me under the cut... just mind the entrance wound on your way in...

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A Haunting in October: Halloween Round-Up

by Nick Taylor

Boo! You all thought this half-alive miniseries was dead for good, but you were wrong! I have returned from the grave for one final shriek to celebrate some of my favorite new watches from this October, along with a shout-out to a surprisingly durable favorite. As I wipe off my makeup from a long night of trick or treating, enjoy your candy and feast your eyes on this!

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A Haunting in October: "Kuroneko"

by Nick Taylor

Cats! We love ‘em. I know I do. Are we all cat people? No, but variety is the spice of life. Spirits of wronged women avenging their own deaths? Well loved across all kinds of cultural traditions and generic conventions. Putting cats and wronged women together, then, should be an instant recipe for success, yes? Especially if the title in question is as lauded as Kaneto Shindo’s 1968 film Kuroneko?

Set roughly one millenia before it was filmed, Kuroneko follows two women, mother Yone (Nobuko Otawa) and her daughter-in-law Shige (Kiwako Taichi), who live together in a bamboo cottage on the outskirts of a peasant village...

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A Haunting in October: "Paranormal Activity"

by Nick Taylor

Disclaimer: This review was originally penned via Oujia board by a nigh-unspeakable entity which used me as the vessel to transcribe its words.

Hello, uglies of The Film Experience! I’m very excited to debut our Halloween series, A Haunting in October. We’ll be devoting extra-special attention to films about ghosts, hauntings, and phenomena from beyond the grave. To kick off the proceedings, I’ll be starting with Paranormal Activity, which premiered in 2009 after two years of festival debuts and studio juggling to become a smash box-office hit, the pandora’s box for the past fifteen years of found footage horror, the origin point of a seven-film franchise (they released one in 2021???), and potentially the most profitable movie ever made. It’s a genuinely astonishing feat for a film shot in seven days with barely a script to its name. The best part? It’s actually scary, even if I have nits to pick.

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October Diary: My Spooky Season Favorites

by Nick Taylor

Hello, ghosts and ghoulies of The Film Experience! Did y’all have a good October? I did! Much like many film-obsessives, I used this month as an excuse to seek out horror films I've had lounging on my to-watch list from across all corners of the genre. With Halloween soon approaching, I figured it would be fun to share five of the best from my diary while my roommates and I try to trick the host of an upcoming Halloween party into putting on Troll 2. Without further ado, let us begin! More after the jump... 

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