We’re coming in on a bit of a milestone here – in a couple of weeks, this blog will be 5 years old. I mean, that’s not so mature – it can’t buy cigarettes or vote or anything, but regardless, I’m proud to still be at it, five years in (and if it were a cheddar, it would be extra sharp with a bold, sharp bite). Who knows what it will grow up to be, but I feel we can at least breathe a sigh of relief that at this point, crib death is unlikely. And in that spirit of solace and joy, I thought it a good time to reflect back on some of what I consider to be my best work.
In these last five years, I think the character of the blog has stayed fairly constant, even if the publication schedule slowed considerably after the first year (to be fair, I started with a big folder of texts I’d already written, so it was easy to post twice a week – you might even call it cheating), and I have covered a wide range of films, books, and themes. I recently added a new page in the main menu – Themes, including groups of posts on the same topic or director (I just can’t stop writing about Lesbian Vampires or Fulci). If you’re new here, have a look. It could be a good starting point (besides this post, of course).
So, today, to celebrate this anniversary, I’m going to highlight a few of the texts of which I’m most proud (aiming for 10, might be 11 – Sophie only had to choose between two kids). Some of these have found a readership over the years (according to Google Analytics). Some haven’t really, but all have something that I love – an occasional turn of phrase that I take pride in, perhaps an observation I feel is significant, or in some cases, a vague feeling I managed to satisfyingly put a finger on. So, without further ado…
The Imp of the Perverse from October 5, 2021
Edgar Allen Poe was one of my earliest entry points to the genre. Long before I ever considered myself a horror fan, I had my “Collected Works” and loved, primarily, his prose (though a couple of poems stuck – like many, my introduction in primary school was certainly “The Raven”). As long as I can remember, I’ve loved his story, “The Imp of the Perverse.” In it Poe evocatively describes a significant human psychological tendency that often goes unnoted. Here, I discuss Poe’s tale, but also get into this idea of the drive to “do wrong for wrong’s sake” and its implications for the horror genre. This is a topic that had been on my mind for years since first reading the story in high school and it felt freeing to put it down on the page.
CRAFTing Class Systems from October 15, 2021
I was totally into The Craft when it came out in 1996 and it still has a nostalgic place in my heart, but I also always felt somehow uncomfortable with it, like there was some messaging that left a bad taste in my mouth. In this post, I do praise what I think is lovable about the film, but also, I think I manage to offer a reading of its class politics that kinda turned me off. It was satisfying to think that out and put it into words. And I must say, it’s a reading I haven’t seen elsewhere of the film.
A Christmas Treat from December 24, 2021
Bob Clark’s Black Christmas is just one of my absolute all-time favorites. Full of character, and characters, it is gorgeous, funny, dramatically rich, and at the end of the day, it is simply damn scary. I will always remember how the first time I saw it, when it was over, I had to go around my apartment, making sure all the lights were turned on and the doors and windows were locked. It really got under my skin. This is simply a celebratory post, trying to detail just what it is about this Christmas proto-slasher that works so well. I think occasionally, I’m successful.
An Early Self-Aware Slasher Classic: Slumber Party Massacre from September 6, 2022
Another beloved film, and in my opinion, so ahead of its time. It isn’t quite “meta” on the order of Scream, but coming at the tail end of the golden era of slashers, it really exists in dialogue with what had come before it. All while being so funny and playful and ironic, as well as occasionally actually disturbing and unsettling. It’s a perfect balance of cleverly and critically commenting on its own genre tropes, while at the same time, successfully enacting those tropes. It isn’t textual like Scream is – no one is talking about horror movies, but its perspective reads so strongly in the camera and the characters and the writing. It’s a surprisingly great movie and I rather like my description of it.
The Shining Compared – Book and Film from May 27, 2023
I’ve always had a deep affection both for King’s novel and Kubrick’s film, but they are so, so, so different. This isn’t about judging which is better (I know a certain Maine author has strong opinions on that point), but rather, I look at each on their own terms to see how, if anything, they complement each other. A few years back, I had the pleasure of catching Kubrick’s Shining at a midnight screening, and I came away from it with a new read on how the film works. For me, so much of their difference is rooted in the chosen main character. For King, it is clearly Jack, and it is a tragic story of an alcoholic father, who loves his family, giving in to his worst impulses, and becoming one who would do them grave harm. For Kubrick, I think the main character is really Danny, a young boy who loves his father, but is scared of him, who can’t really understand him, or what sometimes makes him and the rest of the horrifying world he inhabits so threatening. And that difference of perspective really changes everything – one is a terrifying tragedy and the other is cosmic horror. I go into it in much more detail in the post.
Monstrous Teenagers in the Fifties from May 31, 2023
This one is a little different – rather than writing specifically about one film, or even five films, in this case, I dug into a sub-genre (and one that many would not term “horror”). One week, I watched perhaps 12 “youth runs wild” pictures, all about juvenile delinquents and ne’er do wells, generally from the 50s. They may not feature werewolves or vampires (though, actually, a couple do), but they still express a deep fear society was dealing with at that time of the young, of the still new concept of “the teenager.” These untamed beasts were seen as a threat to society, to the country, to themselves, and the fear of them was surfacing in popular culture in much the same way that aliens and giant insects were representing a terror of the “red threat,” This post was in preparation for writing a script for an homage/sendup of these flicks for my cabaret group, La Folie Retro Cabaret Show.
Three Universal Draculas from January 2, 2024
I really enjoyed putting this one together. The Bela Lugosi Dracula is of course iconic, but many have never seen the Spanish language version that was filmed on the same sets concurrently. Tod Browning shot his film during the day and George Melford got access to the sets at night. They are of course similar in many ways – essentially the same script (though there are points of divergence), many of the same shots even, but they are ultimately very different films, each with its own significant strengths (which are interestingly often weak points for the other film). I dig through both in some detail, often with comparative screenshots. (Also, I briefly touch on the Frank Langella 1977 Dracula, but the meat and potatoes of the post are the 1931 films.) I feel the comparison yields insight and feel good about the work done here.
Accidentally Backing into Positive Messaging: Sleepaway Camp from July 5, 2024
Sleepaway Camp is one of those “guilty pleasures” for a lot of people. Campy and trashy and sleazy and fun. But I have no guilt – I think it’s actually quite a good movie, and in spite of falling into a trope which is often quite harmful (I won’t name it here because it is a big spoiler), I feel it is effectively very progressive and positive. Was it meant to be? Doubtful. I can only assume it was trying to be shocking and transgressive, but even if accidentally, I feel like this mean little slasher that features children being murdered at summer camp rather has its heart in a good place. And the fact that it isn’t “trying” to promote something “good” means that it is ironically better able to do so than something that is and which therefore, only comes across as strident and hectoring. And it is just truly a blast. I’m glad I was able to dig into these ideas.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls and “Good for Her” Horror from February 3, 2025
I am quite the fan of Grady Hendrix and was really struck by his most recent novel – seriously, I remember staying up way too late, reading perhaps the last hundred pages – the whole time trying to stop the bed from shaking cause I couldn’t stop weeping, but I didn’t want to wake up my wife who was sleeping beside me. Great book – dealing with both a very real, historical harm that was done to groups of young women, and also supernatural horrors and things that cannot be fully understood. But reading it also put me in mind of a strong current in at least contemporary horror – what can be termed “good for her” flicks and I wanted to explore that theme more broadly. I think there are many interesting discussions to be had around the topic, and I really enjoyed getting into it a little bit – some writing about books and movies, some theorizing, some personal response. This is one of my favorite posts.
Consuming Culture in Sinners from July 17, 2025
I came out of seeing Sinners in the cinema just all abuzz with excitement. I’d found it thrilling and moving and cool, rich with feeling and history. But the more I thought about it, I also found the movie challenging on a personal level. There were ideas being communicated that I clashed with emotionally, if not intellectually – issues of culture and cultural appropriation and cultural siloing. It really stayed with me on both levels – for the next week I found myself listening to the soundtrack and vibing with it, but I also found myself really thinking about its argument. Writing about the film was an interesting process, trying to engage honestly and emotionally with the perspective of the film, one that I didn’t share, but which I could appreciate.
Pride and Other Feelings: Cruising from July 2, 2026
The most recent inclusion on this list – one could argue that William Friedkin’s Cruising isn’t even a horror movie, but in my humble opinion, one would be wrong. Honestly, on first viewing, it simply blew me away – so rich and weird and hard to get a clean read on. I had a great time dwelling on this picture and trying to put my thoughts into some kind of order. And I think that I did. Ambiguous and sleazy and exploitative and artful – it really does hit my sweet spots.
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And there we are – five years down. Now, let’s see what the future holds. Will I keep writing about Lesbian Vampires? Probably, but I’ve covered all the classics and contemporaries don’t quite scratch the same itch. Will I keep digging into Fulci? I’ll always love him, but I may have exhausted most of his canon that I’m likely to write about. Will I carry on down the rabbit hole of Italian genre work? Indubitably. Shakespeare wrote that “past is prologue,” so I imagine in many ways my pet themes will continue to occupy me. But I think there may be some new paths ahead as well – I feel way too uneducated on a lot of international horror. Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, Japan – I’ve barely scratched the surface and I know there is so much great stuff out there. There’s still a lot of exploitation fare that I find fascinating, but I haven’t seen enough of – like I’ve only seen one Herschell Gordon Lewis flick. I’ve covered a lot of Italian stuff, but that road goes on forever, and I think I’ve only written about three Bavas, and he deserves so much more. I think in the process of thinking and writing about this stuff for the last five years, one thing I’ve identified is that I really appreciate when value is found in the underappreciated. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed in thinking about horror, but finding the art, the meaning, the beauty, the passion in something discounted as merely prurient trash is deeply satisfying. And I’m sure there is no end to the amount of works out there worthy of consideration. Miles to go before I sleep and all.
Thank you for being here with me. Whatever brought you to my page, I’m happy to have you and I hope you have a look around. Check out the menu above to see different categories of posts on offer. And if something catches your interest, I’d love to hear from you – please feel free to comment on anything. I love writing here, but blogging can be lonely work, and it would be so nice to know how you found me and try to take the conversation forward.
Until then, I wish you well out there in the digital darkness…