The Geek Dungeon
In our modern landscape of horror movies, where The Conjuring universe now rules dominant, like some oppressive dictator, it is always a nice moment when you see a smaller, lesser known horror movie shine through. And although Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is not a modern masterpiece, it is a strong little flick that I believe any horror fan will find some enjoyment in.
Last year it was announced that Warner Bros. in association with DC Films would produce a film that would focus solely on the infamous Joker character. This film would remain detached from the continuity of the dreaded DCEU, which has faced nothing but criticism from fans and media. In fact, this film would launch a new franchise of super-hero movies, one made up of solo, low-budget films that would change the face of the industry forever.
Here it finally is! After months of beautifully shot teasers, we finally have our official first trailer for the ninth season of American Horror Story (subtitled: 1984). It seems that Ryan Murphy has finally realised that there is now a universal interest in the 1980’s, although arguably even that obsession is now nearing its end. As a past fan of the show, I can happily state that I found this trailer to be the weakest we have ever had. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that this trailer doesn’t feel like it belongs to AHS at all.
In this world there is a small clutch of movie that can be termed as ‘survivalist horror’. Of course you could argue that any horror film is based around the goal of survival, but I am referring to the films where the horror stems from something natural, a part of our planet. Only four years ago we had The Shallows, a film that centred around a young woman fighting for her life against a great white shark, leaving her stranded and alone among the elements of the monster’s natural habitat.
Being a huge fan of the animated Teen Titans television show (and I mean the original) I was both shocked and sceptical when I started watching the live-action TV show Titans which was one of the first properties to be produced by DC’s new streaming service. Unlike the cartoon, which was willing to tread some dark territory, the show went full-on extreme in terms of the amount of violence and gore on screen. The characters constantly spouted profanities and there was even some graphic sexual content. The show also seemed to be following a group of characters who were not the ones I grew up with. Raven was not the monotone badass, Starfire was not the wide-eyed alien princess and Robin was not the usual boy wonder. And honestly, I kinda liked it. The show had its issues but it was also a fun and easy watch and I genuinely found some of the characters’ overhauling’s to be interesting and in tone with the rest of the show. And after what was a rather big cliff hanger ending, I am excited to see the second season trailer promising so much more than we got in season one.
Following a rather short and entertaining second season, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is now back with its third entry of cosmic princess action. And although this new season may be even shorter than the second (with only six episodes) it is saved by having an engaging story arc, as well as more action and character development than any other season thus far.