A conversation between Nadine Smith and Mike Thorn
Rob Zombie’s two films work together to form a very complex and thoughtful exegesis on American serial killer mythologies, with the first film primarily exploring social, familial and institutional systems while the sequel delves into the intricate and vexing connections between violence and un- (or sub) consciousness.
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Retro Review by Zach Dennis
Jaws 2 does neither and as a follow-up to Jaws feels out of its depths and floundering, but I’m not sure it ever had a chance to swim.
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Tony Todd and Michael Culkin star in director Bill Condon’s Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh
Review by Courtney Anderson
Candyman and Farewell to the Flesh both strike me as a movies that could’ve made for a fascinating interrogation of vengeance, racism, and historical erasure, but end up being a mangled White Savior™ stories where the villain is also the victim, one whose story is refurbished as a weapon against him.
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Anne Heche reprises Janet Leigh’s iconic role in director Gus Van Sant’s Psycho
Review by Reid Ramsey
Having set out to make a nearly shot-for-shot remake, Van Sant’s Psycho only barely strays from the original. That seems to be the purpose, though. In interviews he has talked endlessly about his desire to show Hollywood what a genuine remake is like.
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Chloë Grace Moretz stars as Carrie White in director Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie
Retro Review by Andrew Swafford
Kimberly Peirce’s remake of Carrie is a much kinder version of the story. It is a version that understands Carrie’s pain and one that goes out of its way to give every character a sense of humanity, softening the blow of the story’s cruelty while making its evils sharper in their recognizability. Does this make it a better film?
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Brian Peck and James Karen star in director Dan O’Bannons’s Return of the Living Dead
Retro Review by Nadine Smith
Nowhere is the evolution and mutation of the zombie and its corresponding genre more apparent than in Dan O’Bannon’s Return of the Living Dead (1985). Loosely adapted from a novel of the same name by John Russo, Romero’s co-writer on Night of the Living Dead, Return is a horror-comedy with an upfront awareness of the genre’s boundaries and peripheries.
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