• They’re All Gonna Laugh at You: Revisiting Carrie (1976)

    Throughout the month of October, we’ve been exploring some of the best (and worst) Stephen King adaptations put to the big screen. Some are laughably bad, and some are just plain a waste of time. Others are excellent; iconic, even. But none of them so far have been as...
  • The Franchise Files – Survival of the Dead (2009)

    In 2009, revolutionary filmmaker George A. Romero would make his final zombie film with Survival of the Dead, a Hatfield and McCoy-type story but with zombies. And in keeping with his roots, it would be a relatively small project – certainly nothing of the scope of epicness like World War Z. Romero, until...
  • Killer Trucks: Maximum Overdrive (1986)

    Stephen King, for such a prolific writer, has made some terrible choices throughout his career. This is never more apparent than in Maximum Overdrive, a 1986 film that he wrote and directed based off a short story called Trucks. It’s scored entirely by AC/DC. It’s not good. At all. By this time in...
  • Creepshow (1982): An Immortal Horror Classic

    The comic book aesthetics of 1982’s Creepshow have often been imitated but rarely, if ever, replicated. There’s an unmistakable charm brought to the film which came from the highly potent combination of horror maestro George A. Romero and literary mastermind of creep Stephen King. But it goes further; they add in...
  • The Franchise FIles – Diary of the Dead (2007)

    Romero has always been one for getting a message across in his movies. But in Diary of the Dead, released in 2007, it feels like the message is much more important than the entertainment value of the movie. It’s different, that’s for sure, but it’s absolutely the weakest entry in the...
  • Stephen King’s 1992 Film ‘Sleepwalkers’ is Insane

    Sleepwalkers, Stephen King’s 1992 screenwriting effort, seems to be largely forgotten. And that’s really a shame. Not because it’s good – it’s not – but because it’s so overwhelmingly ridiculous. In the realm of bad horror movies, Sleepwalkers is a force to be reckoned with. It’s not exactly Troll...
  • The Franchise Files – Land of the Dead (2005)

    Finally, after twenty years, George A. Romero would release a film in the franchise he started, in the genre he revolutionized, with Land of the Dead. And although there are some questionable aspects about it, the movie is nevertheless a solid entry into the series. Filled with political allegory and disgusting, flesh-eating...
  • The Franchise Files – Dawn of the Dead (2004)

    There’s a general sense of hatred in the horror community for remakes, and I think it’s silly. Sometimes, yes, they’re cash grabs – but many fail to realize that some of our other horror favorites are cash grabs as well. Think about, oh, I don’t know, nearly every single Stephen...
  • The Franchise Files – Night of the Living Dead (1990)

    As far as remakes go, the 1990 version of Night of the Living Dead is a pretty interesting one – but only really if you’re curious about what goes on behind the scenes. The actual movie is more or less a direct replicant of the original except in color and some...