When A Stranger Calls (1979) - A Review

“Every babysitter’s nightmare becomes real…”

Considered to contain one of the scariest scenes in horror history, When A Stranger Calls has achieved cult status simply due to the first 20 minutes of the film. The story of a babysitter and a dangerous man upstairs evokes terrifying imagery, and has become an archetypical scenario for hundreds of horror movies to follow (i.e. The House of the Devil). Inspired by the success of Halloween in 1978, Fred Walton decided to revisit a short film that he had done entitled The Sitter, which became what we now know as When A Stranger Calls, one of the first of many home invasion films to come out of the horror genre. 

AJ Bowen and Sharni Vinson Dish on The Horror (and The Humor) of YOU'RE NEXT!

Bloody Disgusting's Evan Dickson posted this awesome interview with You're Next's AJ Bowen and Sharni Vinson yesterday and it's pretty awesome! Sharni dishes on being the strong and Australian Erin, while AJ dishes on injecting a little humor of into the horror. Dig in, and make sure you head out to your local theater to see You're Next this FRIDAY (Thursday night if you're lucky)!

“When a gang of masked, ax-wielding murderers descend upon the Davison family reunion, the hapless victims seem trapped…until an unlikely guest of the family proves to be the most talented killer of all.”  

HOME INVASION CELEBRATION WEEK - WHEN A STRANGER CALLS Review Coming This Afternoon

We're moving right along with Home Invasion Celebration Week, today's entry will be that of When A Stranger Calls, the 1979 feature directed by Fred Walston and starring Carol Kane and Charles Durning.

Funny Games (1997) - A Review

A Nightmare. 

There’s something innately terrifying about home invasion films. Someone coming into the place that you consider the most sacred, the place that you feel safest, and stripping you of all those comforts. The psychological toll, along with the physical, is enough to take the energy out of the audience and leave them on the edge of their seats in silent anticipation of what will happen next. I mean, isn’t that the point of a good horror film? 

I almost sympathize more with the victims of a home invasion horror film, but then again, this is one of my favorite sub-genres of horror. While there are tons of these types of films, it’s always special when you find an exceptionally good one, and Michael Haneke’s Funny Games is just that type of film. Intelligently written and beautifully acted, it’s another film that I regret having waited so long to see.