Stephen King and I go way back. I think IT was actually the first book of his that I read, way back in high school, and for years I kept coming back for more. But I didn’t keep reading King solely because of the scares . What drew me in, more than anything, was often his insistence that good and evil were quite tangible. And that we were called to choose one side or another. That thread holds true in... Read more
IT made an estimated $123 million this weekend, setting a record for highest debut ever for a horror movie. Based on Stephen King's uber-creepy (and even more demented) novel of the same name, IT refers to the fearsome evil embodied... Read more
We all know ‘A Christmas Carol.’ We’ve seen Ebenezer Scrooge played by Alastair Sim, George C. Scott, Mr. Magoo and Sam the Eagle. He’s as much a part of Christmas as Santa Claus. Kind of weird to think that, before Charles Dickens came up with the character, the guy didn’t even exist. The Man Who Invented Christmas tackles A Christmas Carol from a different angle: That of Dickens himself (who, incidentally, just happens to be one of my favorite authors). And... Read more
Sometimes, I don’t get us. We Christian moviegoers can sound oh-so-superior when we critique Christian movies. We whine a lot. We complain about the scripting, the acting, the hokey dialogue, the maudlin sentimentality. And what happens when we’re given a Christian movie that’s good? More often than not, we ignore it. Take the disappointing story of All Saints, released by Affirm Films this weekend. Everything seemed lined up for this little movie: The summer’s biggest blockbusters had come and gone,... Read more
They would come without question. They’d gather in the sanctuary, light streaming in red and green and gold through stained glass windows, music from the choir spilling and flowing through the space. They’d sing and greet one another and listen to the sermon—hearing once again of God’s truth and mercy, of Jesus’ love and sacrifice, of our own duties to our fellow man and woman. Church is no longer what it once was 800, 300, even 100 years ago. Many... Read more
There's no doubt that the doll in Annabelle: Creation is a truly terrible toy. She's not some misunderstood waif, playing out her own bad decisions. She's not a tortured antihero taking moral shortcuts to a worthy end. The doll is... Read more
The wind howls. A door creaks. And then in the darkness—just out of the corner of your eye—you see something move. Was it a bit of paper, picked up by a draft? The family cat? Or was it … something else? Gary Dauberman knows how to bring such scenes to terrifying life. The screenwriter seems to specialize in horror scripts, particularly those involving the supernatural. The writer behind 2014’s hit horror flick Annabelle has been busy lately: He’s crafting a... Read more
We need rules. If we loved each other perfectly, we'd have no use for laws and courts and prisons. But our better angels are tethered to unseemly demons of greed and lust, rage and fear. And so from the time... Read more
A calendar tells us that summer runs from June 21 to September 21. Most of us ignore that calendar and kinda pencil summer in between Memorial Day and Labor Day. But if you're in the movie biz, summer runs from... Read more
I'm still processing the death of Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park. Linkin Park was a part of our household when the band was the biggest thing around. My son was a fan, and so I heard Chester's voice—sometimes... Read more
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