By 1991, horror had already given us just about every cursed pregnancy imaginable: demon spawn, mutant spawn, or just a spawn that cried so much you wished it was demon-mutant. Into this proud tradition waddled The Unborn, a Roger Corman–produced slice of science fiction horror directed by Rodman Flender. Marketed as “Rosemary’s Baby for the … Read More “The Unborn (1991): Rosemary’s Baby Meets The Fly at a Fertility Clinic Near You” »
Some sequels exist only because Roger Corman found five bucks and a free weekend. The Terror Within II is not that movie. No, this one is more ambitious: it’s the moment Andrew Stevens decided, “What if I not only star in the sequel, but write and direct it too?” Normally, that’s the kind of hubris … Read More “The Terror Within II (1991)— Mutants, Plague, and R. Lee Ermey Screaming at the Apocalypse” »
If you’ve ever wondered what Stand By Me would look like if it swapped out heartwarming nostalgia for undead greasers who dress like they’ve been haunting a Hot Rod magazine since 1963, look no further than Sometimes They Come Back. This 1991 made-for-TV horror movie—based on Stephen King’s short story—delivers a surprisingly entertaining ride. It’s … Read More “Sometimes They Come Back (1991): Greasers, Ghost Trains, and Stephen King’s Small-Town Therapy” »
Every now and then, Hollywood stumbles into something so unsettlingly perfect that it makes you look at your fava beans differently. In 1991, Jonathan Demme directed The Silence of the Lambs, a film that made cannibalism chic, moths terrifying, and convinced the world that the creepiest thing a man can whisper isn’t “I love you,” … Read More “The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Dinner, Death, and Daddy Issues: A Classic Served Rare” »
By 1991, Sharon Stone was still a year away from becoming the Queen of Cinematic Leg Crossing in Basic Instinct, but she was already sharpening her chops—and, fittingly, her scissors—in this fever dream of a psychological thriller directed by Frank De Felitta. Scissors is part Hitchcock homage, part soap opera meltdown, part surreal stage play, … Read More “Scissors (1991): Sharon Stone, A Pair of Blades, and the Most Bonkers Apartment Lease You’ll Ever See” »
There are bad sequels, and then there are sequels that feel like they were made on a dare. Scanners II: The New Order is firmly in the latter category, a direct-to-video Canadian “thriller” that proves not every franchise needs a second chapter—especially when your first one peaked with a guy’s head exploding in glorious slow-motion. … Read More “Scanners II: The New Order (1991) — The Direct-to-Video Headache No One Asked For” »
Some movies are classics. Some are cult favorites. And then there are films like The Runestone, a 1991 adventure-horror fever dream that somehow decided Ragnarok should unfold in a Pennsylvania coal mine. It’s a movie that mixes ancient Norse mythology, New York City chaos, and Peter Riegert popping Pez like a diabetic on borrowed time. … Read More “The Runestone (1991): Norse Mythology Meets VHS Madness” »
If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if a group of film students got drunk, borrowed a Catholic school, and then smeared fake blood everywhere while pretending they were making a slasher—Splatter University is your answer. Unfortunately, it’s an answer to a question nobody sane ever asked. Directed by Richard W. Haines and … Read More “The Refrigerator (1991) When Your Kitchen Appliance Has a Better Acting Career Than the Cast” »
By the time Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge rolled around in 1991, Full Moon Features had fully embraced its business model: crank out direct-to-video horror flicks with just enough gore, nudity, and stop-motion trickery to distract you from the fact that the budget was roughly the cost of a used Honda Civic. This entry in … Read More “Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge (1991)– When Nazis Meet Murder Puppets and Everyone Loses” »
There’s a special kind of cinematic masochism that comes with watching a horror franchise limp into its fourth entry. By the time you reach Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil, the series has fully embraced the “direct-to-video energy” of a mall kiosk bootleg, where the horror isn’t so much on screen as it is … Read More “Prom Night IV(1991): Deliver Us From Evil — Deliver Us From Boredom” »