This is the second part of a series on horror’s cultural moment As we continue to think about the rise of horror on the big screen this year (helped along by the non-big screen book Old Country), we can see that one easy cause for horror’s rise is that it is cheap relative to other genres. A few actors, some special effects (mostly practical rather than digital) and you’ve got yourself a movie. As just a quick couple of examples: The Conjuring (2013) cost... Read more
When I was growing up in the rural West, Washington DC was the home of the beast out of Revelation (which beast was a little fuzzy at times). Or maybe the dragon, or the whore of Babylon, or Gog or Magog, or any number of other bad guys from the Bible. It was the place where, so talk radio told me, godless atheists were injecting the poison of political liberalism into the veins of the nation and crime was the... Read more
This is the second part of a series on horror’s cultural moment Why is horror apparently ascendant at the box office? Why is Sinners beating, well, everything? This series attempts to answer these questions, and today I want to reflect for a moment on how the world is a horror story. Obviously to say the world is a horror story doesn’t mean nothing good ever happens. It doesn’t mean that the good guys don’t win (spoiler alert: He does). It doesn’t mean there’s... Read more
Harold and the Purple Crayon (Directed by Carlos Saldhana) is an excellent adaptation of the book–at least as excellent as we can possibly expect out of Hollywood in the 2020s. The plot is, well, it’s complex. The “old man” has stopped speaking to Harold, who uses his crayon to draw a door into the real world to search for the old man, only to get into hijinks along the way, eventually getting disillusioned with himself and the darkness of the world... Read more
Hollywood has always kept up a steady trickle of horror films of varying qualities for the public, but it seems that in 2025 that steady trickle is going to turn into a flood. Given the success of Heretic, Nosferatu, and indie-ish films like Terrifier, more than 50 big-budget releases are scheduled for 2025. (Nicely confirming my theory about genre films, btw.) I think this provides a good opportunity for us to reflect on the nature of horror, why it’s having a moment, and... Read more
Children’s books have the option (usually not available to adult or YA novels) of leaning in on visuals and mood, rather than linear plot. This is what happens in Pippa and the Singing Tree by Kristyn Getty and illustrated by P.J. Lynch. This approach obviously has to be done well, as it doesn’t have any action to lean on. Fortunately, Pippa and the Singing Tree lands this nicely. Because there’s no plot there’s not much to spoil–this is an extended (for a children’s book)... Read more
How do we view ourselves and how does that match up to reality? That’s actually kind of a tricky question, and one which is delicately handled in Sonia and the Biggest Block Tower Ever by Kathryn Butler and illustrated by Samara Hardy. In this short story, Sonia wants to stand out from the other kids. In order to do so, she begins to build a block tower and quickly lets her imagination build it up to the heavens. (I kept expecting it... Read more
I’m normally something of a completist with it comes to reading classic works. Certainly abridgements and collections have their place, but why not read all of Plato’s Republic, the church fathers, or the complete works of John Flavel? (Seriously, Flavel is solid gold.) But I’ll admit that even I struggle when it comes to John Owen. His writing is… difficult, to say the least. And yet, I’m still delighted that Crossway keeps coming out with the reissue of the Works of John... Read more
As we continue to predict what the future of media will look like in our chaotic 21st century, one thing to keep our eye on is animation. There has already been a revolution or two in this field–particularly with the development of CGI and the collapse of Disney as the sole animation studio in the country (yes, I know about Hanna-Barbera and Don Bluth–but look up where their animators came from, or went). Now any nerd with a computer can... Read more
Amazon has released the first three episodes of Reacher, and as with past seasons and versions, so far it is excellent. Beginning with a twist (and no, I’m not spoiling anything–it is both obviously a twist and quickly revealed to be one), we are thrown into a world of mystery, secrecy, and bodybuilders larger than Jack Reacher (no, seriously). Through the first three episodes the show has done a good job of both building the mystery and keeping it on a... Read more
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