This is the fifth part of a series on the cultural moment of horror Horror is a genre that anyone can write. Wait, what? I mean, that–of all the genres of fiction (and we could have a long conversation about what counts as a “genre” and what fits where), horror is arguably the simplest to write and/or film. In an era when the quality of writing coming out of Hollywood is… questionable… to be generous, horror is a genre of fiction that the... Read more
This is the fourth part of a series on the cultural moment of horror Horror is a genre that lends itself to whatever length the artist and consumer want. What do I mean by that? Well, in a world where Percy Jackson is still fighting gods (or whatever–I’ve not read the series) after seven books, maybe you want to just read a single book and be done with the story. If looking at the MCU is overwhelming, maybe you just... Read more
Let’s start with some confusion. The book under review here is called Tim Keller on the Christian Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel (by Matt Smethurst). This book is excellent, so there’s no confusion there. And it’s helpful whether you’re familiar with Keller’s ministry or not, so no confusion about that either. It’s clearly divided into distinct topic chapters–all good there as well! Overall, Tim Keller on the Christian Life is an excellent, useful, and devotional work that should absolutely be... Read more
This is the third part of a series on the cultural moment of horror Horror is a comfortable genre. Wait, what? How can horror be “comfortable”? Isn’t it the genre where people are chopped up onscreen, jump scares abound, and the bad guy always somehow slips away at the end or comes back to life in the sequel? How does horror offer “comfortable engagement”? Simple, horror is full of recognizable tropes that require little or no work on the part... Read more
Is Jeremy Clarkson Really a Farmer? Clarkson’s Farm is back for its fourth season, and so far like the previous three seasons it is excellent. It has all the drama and action and humor of the previous seasons, and delves deep into questions like “will Jeremy ever get this ‘farming’ thing sorted out?’ ‘Will the locals ever stop hassling him?’ and ‘Will we ever be able to understand Gerald?’ But having grown up in an agricultural setting, I think an... Read more
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
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