Review: Reeker [2005]


Dir. David Payne

Cast: Devon Gummersall, Derek Richardson, Tina Illman, Scott Whyte, Arielle Kebbel, Michael Ironside, Eric Mabius, Marcia Strassman, David Hadinger.

It's become increasingly more arduous to formulate something fresh and inventive within the horror genre of late, what with ceaseless remakes and reboots that only succeed in disquieting and piquing real genre fans. So it's invigorating to come across a film that is bold and tries something new and idiosyncratic, Dave Payne's Reeker plows the, as yet, unfurrowed turf of effluvium related horror... baffled? Well read on dear friends.

Interview: Amber Moelter of ALM Talkies


Born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and raised in the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, Minnesota Amber performed as an actor, dancer, and singer in America, Australia, Asia, and Europe. She trained at the Academy of Arts, QUT in Brisbane, Australia in Contemporary Dance and later at London Studio Centre, attaining a BA Honors in Theatre Dance (Musical Theatre). While in London she acted in various shorts, pilots, and features including the leading roles in TrashHouse and Cross-Eyed Waltz

Review: Wes Craven's New Nightmare [1994]


Dir. Wes Craven


Cast: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, Wes Craven, David Newsom, Miko Hughes, John Saxon

New Nightmare is the single most sure-footed entry in the Nightmare series since the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, made prior to that other self-reverential, post-ironic box office favourite Scream, it once again asserts just how authoritative Wes Craven can be at envisioning hauntingly potent, conceptual horror movies. The film within a film paradigm has been applied many times before and since but here under Craven's dexterous touch fabricates a very interesting sojourn indeed.

Review: The Ring Virus [2000]


Dir. Kim Dong-bin


Cast: Shin Eun-gyeong, Jeong Jin-yeong, Bae Du-na

Originating from Ringu the Japanese horror novel by Koji Suzuki and the eponymous 1998 film by Hideo Nakata, this South Korean take is more or less a facsimile of 2002's US remake The Ring in as much as it is a remake that does little artistically to rationalize its existance at all. The Ring Virus tersely rehashes the prototype with a new cast, a new language, some praiseworthy moments and the integration of some of the novel’s plot points that were absent from the anteceding film. This adds up to an passable movie that may prove interesting for aficionados of the franchise (or for anybody curious in glimpsing how the same story can be filtered through the lens of contrasting filmmakers), but overall it is little more than a banal accomplishment.

Review: Dead Snow (Død snø) [2009]


Dir. Tommy Wirkola

Cast:  Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Henrikse, Charlotte Frogner, Lasse Valdal

Dead Snow is a film that every self-respecting horror fan should yearn desperately to love, with its miniscule budget, genre referencing, Norwegian roots and it's poetic, snow-blasted mountain locations. Oh, and did I forget to mention... Nazi Zombies. That's right, it's been a long time since we had Nazi Zombies on screen with the turgid Zombie Lake, and sadly Dead Snow doesn't really rescue the genre, but it's not for want of trying.

Review: Play Misty For Me [1971]


Dir. Clint Eastwood

Cast: Clint Eastwood,
Jessica Walter, Donna Mills

Now, many of you will be asking yourselves, why is this film turning up on a site committed to genre movies? Well one of the many ambitions of VisualCrack is re-discovering dispossessed genre titles that may have got lost behind the sofa of mainstream Hollywood. I tenaciously declare this is the case with Clint Eastwood's directorial debut, Play Misty For Me, this is the film that spawned a score of 'trendy psychological thrillers', most unsuccessful but a few going on to comprehensive box office domination like Fatal Attraction. So please, allow me my indulgence, and read on...

Review: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance [2005]


Dir. Park Chan-Wook

Cast: Lee Young-ae, Choi Min-sek, Byeong-ok Kim, Su-hee Go


Park Chan-Wook is most categorically a member of an intimate 'Modern Hollywood' collective, that comprises such cinematic prodigies as Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers, thanks to the fact he directed the noughties most prototypical revenge melodrama, Oldboy. This hypnotic, pitch-black drama gave audiences a protagonist in a jet black suit who conducted all manner of felonious physical barbarity on his adversaries. The fact that Oldboy was a foreign language, eastern themed film only embellished its perceived coolness. Here was a film that could have been formulated explicitly to amass the reverence of the genre connoisseurs.