If there was ever a film that proved you can throw together an all-star cast, a high-concept premise, and Joel Schumacher’s neon lighting fetish and still end up with cinematic CPR that never quite takes—Flatliners is it. On paper, this should have been a sleek, terrifying exploration of mortality. Instead, it’s the cinematic equivalent of … Read More “Flatliners (1990)” »
In the annals of late-’80s/early-’90s horror cinema, The First Power holds a strange and sacred place. It’s the kind of movie that wears its neo-noir trench coat proudly, even though the buttons are falling off, and drags us into a Los Angeles where serial killers, psychics, and nuns all seem to share the same hair … Read More “The First Power (1990): Lou Diamond Phillips vs. Satan’s Favorite Gym Rat” »
Some horror-thrillers are underrated gems. Some are forgotten for good reason. And then there’s Fear (1990), which manages to be both: a made-for-Showtime movie that feels like a leftover pilot for a psychic detective TV series, but still delivers enough suspense, atmosphere, and sheer weirdness to deserve a cult following. It’s half Silence of the … Read More “Fear (1990): Psychic Powers, Ally Sheedy, and a Killer with a Bad Vibe” »
A Devil of a Mess They say lightning never strikes the same place twice, but apparently Pazuzu didn’t get the memo. After the first Exorcistscarred entire generations and the second film (The Heretic) scarred Warner Bros.’ reputation, William Peter Blatty came back to direct The Exorcist III. You’d think the author of the original novel … Read More “The Exorcist III (1990) – Review When Possession Meets Obsession with Being Boring” »
There are bad horror movies, and then there is Demon Wind—a movie so proudly incompetent it makes you wonder if the demons themselves weren’t behind the production. Directed by Charles Philip Moore, this 1990 direct-to-video oddity tries to combine The Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and a can of expired fog machine fluid … Read More “Demon Wind (1990)” »
There are films that redefine a genre, films that inspire generations, and then there are films like Def by Temptation—a cinematic séance that tries to summon erotic horror but instead conjures the ghost of a confused after-school special. Written, directed, and starring James Bond III (no, not the spy, though watching Roger Moore fight a … Read More “Def by Temptation (1990): A Cautionary Tale About Why Some Horror Movies Should Stay Buried” »
Every slasher has its niche. Halloween gave us a silent, unstoppable boogeyman. Friday the 13th gave us camp counselors who could barely survive walking and chewing gum. Nightmare on Elm Street gave us razor-fingered stand-up comedy. And then there’s Deadly Manor, which gave us… well, boredom in a crumbling New York house with peeling wallpaper … Read More “Deadly Manor (1990): Savage Lust for a Nap” »
Breaking News: This Movie is Terrible Some movies are so bad they’re good. Dead Men Don’t Die is so bad it’s embalmed. It’s like watching a zombie newscast from hell where Elliott Gould’s dignity is the first casualty. Written and directed by Malcolm Marmorstein—best known for writing Pete’s Dragon—this horror-comedy about voodoo, drug smugglers, and … Read More “Dead Men Don’t Die (1990) – Review The News Is Dead, the Jokes Are Dead, and You’ll Wish You Were Dead Too” »
Ah, Dead Girls. A slasher that tries to mix death metal, social commentary, and low-rent cabin-in-the-woods horror, but instead plays like the result of what would happen if Josie and the Pussycats got stuck in a weekend-long Unsolved Mysteries marathon. Directed by Dennis Devine, this 1990 straight-to-video gem is proof that if you throw a … Read More “Dead Girls (1990)” »
The words “made-for-television horror” usually conjure up the cinematic equivalent of lukewarm soup: bland, overextended, and incapable of scaring anyone except network executives worried about ratings. And yet, out of the murky depths of CBS’s January 1990 schedule, Stuart Gordon’s Daughter of Darkness emerged — a film that proves even TV movies can have teeth, … Read More “Daughter of Darkness (1990): When Made-for-TV Movies Decided to Bite Back” »