Rivals of Terror: Horror Movie Villains (2019): Rivals of Terror

By Steve Hutchison

Aliens, clowns, demons, dolls, ghosts, giants, lycanthropes, robots, vampires, zombies; choose your poison! 2000 horror and horror-adjacent movies have been analyzed. They have been divided according to 10 antagonist types. Each list is ranked and reviewed by film critic Steve Hutchison. How many have you seen?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Hutchison
• Release date: Apr 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781778871924

Steve Hutchison

Artist, developer and entrepreneur in film, video games and communications Steve Hutchison co-founded Shade.ca Art and Code in 1999, then Terror.ca and its French equivalent Terreur.ca in 2000. With his background as an artist and integrator, Steve worked on such games as Capcom's Street Fighter, PopCap's Bejeweled, Tetris, Bandai/Namco's Pac-Man and Mattel's Skip-Bo & Phase 10 as a localization manager, 2-D artist and usability expert. Having acquired skills in gamification, he invented a unique horror movie review system that is filterable, searchable and sortable by moods, genres, subgenres and antagonists. Horror movie fans love it, and so do horror authors and filmmakers, as it is a great source of inspiration. In March 2013, Steve launched Tales of Terror, with the same goals in mind but with a much finer technology and a complex engine, something that wasn’t possible initially. He has since published countless horror-themed books.

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Tales of Terror’s

Rivals of Terror 2019

Horror Movie Villains

INTRODUCTION

Aliens, clowns, demons, dolls, ghosts, giants, lycanthropes, robots, vampires, zombies; choose your poison! 2000 horror and horror-adjacent movies have been analyzed. They have been divided according to 10 antagonist types. Each list is ranked and reviewed by film critic Steve Hutchison. How many have you seen?

Aliens

Aliens, or extraterrestrial beings, are forms of life which did not originate on Earth. They are a major archetype of horror movies. In this book, film critic Steve Hutchison reviews and ranks 50 of the best horror movies featuring aliens ever released. How many have you seen?

The Faculty

1998

Six students find out their teachers are from another planet.

A splendid cast is introduced very early on, including the protagonists who are presented through character cards right after an epic prologue. There are obvious Body Snatchers and Scream influences, here. It’s no coincidence that Kevin Williamson, of Scream fame, is screenwriting. The Faculty is punctuated by an amazing rock soundtrack just when you think the film couldn’t get any cooler.

The students, in The Faculty, are mentally and physically abusive, from the get go, so we’re not sure exactly what they become when they’re possessed, and that’s a grey zone that never gets addressed. Some of the infected become more aggressive and some more passive. All characters are right out of a comic book and the acting is irreproachable. In fact, the film itself is almost perfect.

The Faculty is as mainstream as horror films get, but horror buffs will see it from a particular angle. It’s an alien invasion, a slasher, a whodunit and, well, it’s teen horror. What else is there to like? The actors are amazing: Josh Hartnett, Famke Janssen, Robert Patrick, Laura Harris, Salma Hayek, Piper Laurie, Usher Raymond and Elijah Wood, to name a few.

8/8

Aliens

1986

The survivor of a space invasion awakened from stasis by her employer is asked to assist a troop of soldiers in hunting aliens.

Ripley, played by returning actress Sigourney Weaver, is offered a promotion if she resumes her nightmare. She accepts, curiously, but for the good of a franchise’s birth. This time, her friends have big guns! They are not pencil pushers stuck in space; they’re tough soldiers on a kamikaze mission. Aliens is more military and borrows from action flicks, as well as horror and science-fiction.

Everything is bigger, more frantic, rougher. There is sporadically elongated group dialog and the movie has many crowded, elaborate battle scenes. It also behaves like a slasher film, as the support characters meet their end in dark corners. There is plenty of room for character exposition and it significantly pays off when things get tense and out of control as the bodies start piling up.

The players are vivid, cartoonish, superficial but purposely and not more than your average video game character. The effects range from rear projection to puppetry; all taken to gigantic proportions, this time. The detailed sets match those of the original. Elements that were left unexplored the first time around are given a meaning and a purpose. This certainly lives up to the original!

8/8

Alien

1979

An ore harvesting crew discovers a dead alien and large unidentified eggs inside an abandoned spaceship.

From stasis cages and poorly lit tunnels to the deep isolation of space, and considering how small the sets appear to be, Alien is vividly claustrophobic. It succeeds both on the horror and science-fiction levels. It’s disorienting from the start and confinement isn’t even the horror of it all. There is a giant extra-terrestrial aboard the ship and it’s more a monster than a cute humanoid.

The beast is gradually revealed but never fully. Mystery and build-up are some of the many strengths of the well-paced script. There is unifying rigor in the creature and ship design. The rooms aren’t just atmospheric; they are conveniently built, from the storyboard phase, to inspire distress. In a way, after all, this is a slasher taking place in space with, for victims, bored public workers.

The cinematography is a delight; always mastered, always vibrant. The effects are something else. If you needed a reason to fear alien invasion, this is it. They are depicted as smart but too savage, too animalistic to negotiate. Dense in detail and scientific procedural, Alien is high caliber sci-fi that’s virtually flawless on all aspects and speaks to a rather intellectual niche.

8/8

Predator

1987

Commandos on a rescue mission in a jungle are ambushed by an invisible beast.

Because predator is a horror movie strongly inspired by creature films from the realms of science-fiction and action, it presents protagonists with caricatural courage, big muscles, big guns and bad tempers rather than frail individuals. Arnold Schwarzenegger is, as usual, a man of few words. His stoic presence is all we need. The rest of the cast is also rather purposely downplayed.

The first act would have you think this is a war movie, but then greatness ensues... Predator is all about the alien, really, and what a great creature design we’re treated with! The effects aren’t always crisp and photographically seamless, but they bring something new to the audience. The jungle is a character of its own. The whole film is spent there and the makers make the most of it.

Although Predator could rightfully be labeled slasher, it mostly bathes in a heroic military score that keeps us away from a clichéd victimization of the cast. The structure isn’t unlike that of most action-thriller movies of the time. Well shot, frantically paced and skillfully directed, this is an instant classic that was allocated the big budget its premise deserved.

8/8

The Thing

1982

In Antarctica, a group of scientists comes in contact with a hostile alien parasite that lurks inside their camp.

This is a remake of the movie The Thing from Another World, a 1951 John W. Campbell story adaptation. The actors are all male and all geared up to face the worst conditions; more specifically, here, an upcoming battle against a powerful being that wraps itself in mystery. The Thing can hardly be summarized with words and doesn’t communicate the way we do.

The Thing establishes suspense like few horror films do; by laying down the facts, raising questions that may never find answers, then offering you so much more than the many outcomes you could possibly imagine. It uses perfectly paced sequences leading to unexpected jump scares. The animatronics are one of the kind and among the best and scariest ever seen in the genre.

The lighting is always just right; not revealing too much or too little. The thick ambiance is reinforced by an ongoing storm that implicitly restricts and locks the protagonists in; therefore accommodating the creature and forcing the victims to find creative ways to survive. Fortunately, they have big muscles, free access to a large arsenal and aren’t the scared type...

8/8

Starship Troopers

1997

Recruits of a young generation of space warriors face an increasing alien invasion.

Starship Troopers is an unlikely genre and subgenre cross-over made by people in perfect knowledge and control of their craft. No aspect of the making is undershot and the CG is great. The result is a virtually flawless production that meets Hollywood standards but not its conventional narrative script structure. It can be called an epic despite the fact that it doesn’t take itself seriously.

It’s a mix of war and science-fiction with scenes and antagonists right out of a horror movie. Aside some jump scares and monstrous creatures, it isn’t exactly scary. The characters are impervious to fear, resilient to pain and their pride and dedication makes them detached from potential danger, but they are vulnerable to the small things: fun, sadness, friendship, love, jealousy, envy…

The beasts look great and are a memorable conceptual design. They are the center of this ground-breaking masterpiece. The actors, their performances and their character are a homogeneous combined delight. Their illustrated chemistry comes out as authentic. Their coming of age is an ironically plausible depiction of a blooming cynical generation born during an alien invasion.

7/8

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

1988

Alien clowns from outer space terrorize a small town.

Calling these clowns creepy would be an understatement, but they are equally rollicking. They’re basically mascots with a facial rig, but what a strange and amusing design they are. They look like they are made of Play-Doh. Killer Klowns from Outer Space is one of the most imaginative horror movies ever made. It’s completely out of left field. The deeper you dig, the weirder things gets.

The protagonists are fun, but their personality is surpassed, in terms of eccentricity, by the clowns themselves. You couldn’t possibly squeeze more juice from this concept. This script has been thought through and through. We’re eventually transported into the clowns’ spaceship, a giant labyrinthine funhouse that is absolutely surreal and that the human mind can’t comprehend.

As colorful and infantilizing as it is, you might want to reconsider showing this movie to a kid. It is gory and politically incorrect. It was made by three brothers who couldn’t care less about your sanity. Killer Klowns from Outer Space is an alien film, a slasher; it contains both science-fiction and horror elements, and it even succeeds as a comedy. Its flaws are mostly subjective.

7/8

Night of the Creeps

1986

Alien brain parasites turn their hosts into zombies.

This is the quintessential cheesy supernatural 1980’s horror movie. It’s also a homage to 1950’s science-fiction. There are similarities between the two decades, cinematically, and Fred Dekker, writer and director, points them out. Night of the Creeps is about a fraternity initiation gone terribly wrong, and it’s about alien leeches. It’s light-spirited, fun and highly atmospheric.

If you think the first act is amazing, you’ll be pleased to know that the second half of this film is just bonkers. You’ll wish that’s all the movie was. Of course, then, we wouldn’t have exposition. The characters are colorful. There’s the ginger kid, his crippled friend, the love interest, the bullies. Then, there’s Tom Atkins playing a cop who’s getting too old for this shit.

I promise you, if you’re a fan of the 1980’s, that you’re going to have a blast with this one. If somehow you haven’t already seen it, stop what you are doing and watch it. There’s mild nudity. College girls sure love to shower. Gore is abundant, and the practical effects are something else. Words cannot describe how magical Night of the Creeps is.

7/8

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

1978

A group of friends suspect that the human race is being replaced by alien duplicates.

Like zombies, body snatchers are here to invade us, but they do it through our social weaknesses and our need for sleep. They are therefore not so much a physical threat, affecting us on the psychological level instead. They walk and talk as we do, or at least try to. You could recognize them if you noticed their moral rigidity and lack of emotion, but it’s subtle and not enough to act upon.

The visual effects are infinitely more elaborate than those of the original film. The performances are more authentic, although the overacting can get annoying and comes across as pretentious. Those quirks fortunately dissipate as the paranoia element intensifies. The odd character exposition proves to have been necessary when it is revealed that personality is what the invader cannot replicate.

There is little room for comedy and scenes are often barely lit because, once aware of the invasion, the main protagonists need to remain unnoticed, avoid eccentricities and sudden noises. The ambiance is deliberately depressing and gets very thick by the third act. 1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of the best horror films to depict hopelessness in an apocalyptic context.

7/8

Alien: Covenant

2017

The crew of a colony ship discover an uncharted planet where danger awaits.

It seems, when it comes to criticizing this franchise, that Part 1, Alien, and Part 2, Aliens, are the only unanimous choices. 3 was too artsy. 4 didn’t understand Ripley. The Alien vs. Predator films were too superficial for purists. You hear it all. And Prometheus got some fans mad. Well, perhaps Alien: Covenant will meet the franchise’s lovers halfway. Yes, it might just be the right formula.

It has the type of procedural Alien had, but with Prometheus’ flavour. It has guns and explosions, being reminiscent of Aliens, but it’s also its own thing. It’s well balanced. It’s gory, tense; it can be slow and it can be larger than life. There are many surprises along the way; some you will see coming and some you won’t. Like fireworks, it gets more intense the closer you get to the end.

Many scenes were specially crafted to reminisce about past installments. Some are right out of a slasher flick. Cyborgs are prominent. Xenomorphs make special appearances. They’re modeled in 3-D but it allows realistic articulation. It makes them more agile than puppets have been in the past. We feel a strong influence from HR Giger, one of the men responsible for the original creature design.

7/8

Prometheus

2012

A group of space archaeologists place their hopes on a star map said to lead to an ancient civilization.

It all confusingly starts with a translucent humanoid disintegrating, then the plot starts centering on a bored android who greets a group of people awakening from stasis aboard a spaceship. This addition in the Alien franchise tells the story of a scientific expedition motivated by existential hypotheses. The script is daring and shocks through unlikely devices; namely religions and beliefs.

An immersing exploration scene gradually pulls us from the sterility of the ship to the claustrophobic setting of an underground alien shrine. The environments are constantly evolving when not literally self-destructing for our enjoyment. This is a visually charged movie with a thin story and great performances. It also relies highly on dialog and gets increasingly tense in the second act.

The creature effects, mostly practical, look amazing, eluding to the Aliens movies while teasingly remaining everything but. The interior and exterior sets are once again a textured masterpiece. As a stand-alone film, this is the perfect excuse for a nice controversial blend of horror, adventure, science-fiction, science, faith and philosophy.

7/8

The Predator

2018

A young boy accidentally summons intergalactic hunters while manipulating alien technology and it’s up to his father to save the day.

This film is everything fans of the Predator franchise could hope for, and even more. The pacing is tight, the special effects are badass, the actors are all talented and giving it all they have, the predator looks like a million bucks and, guess what, he brought friends. His friends come with spoilers, so let’s leave it at that. The original score returns to send shivers down our spines.

The predator’s gear, here, plays an important role. Alien technology in general is treated like some kind of puzzle to solve in order to assist humans against predators and to move the plot forward. Each of the Predator films, so far, has reinvented the franchise in their own way, and this new installment is no exception. It is one of the best sequels.

It takes place in space, in the sky, on the ground; in the forest and on the road. It is action-packed and extremely satisfying. It’s an unusual combination of genres and it’s ambitious. Some of the protagonists are nutcases, and they turn an otherwise serious film into a comedy. Yes, a comedy! It took a while, but they finally did Predator justice.

7/8

Species

1995

An alien hybrid escaped from a laboratory is hunted down by a team of specialists.

The quintessential horror movie villain is historically male and the main victim female. The roles are switched, here, in a sensual, sexy and sexual high-end supernatural thriller with gore and strong elements of science-fiction and action. The main protagonist, a femme fatale and the ultimate threat, uses seduction as a weapon and a means to an end: she needs human sperm to reproduce.

The actors are all excellent. They are perfectly in tone with a screenplay that only moves forward and fast. Like the good guys, we’re always two steps behind the monster, though we see her murdering people and getting naked. Natasha Henstridge is beautiful and can act. She makes us believe one can murder innocently. She delivers a sometimes titillating, sometimes unnerving performance.

Because this is a slasher, the writer depicted her as some kind of black widow or succubus. She picks her men carefully, avoiding weak genes and disease when she detects it. She is a metaphor to romantic fears some have. It took a 1990’s melodramatic thriller to address the subject, something few films have before. The end result is a relatable, tense and scary ride with clever twists and turns.

7/8

Body Snatchers

1993

A family moves into a military town they suspect is being invaded by an alien parasite.

The actors are on top of their game. They’re not always directed properly, and the photography isn’t always flattering them, but the story is cohesive enough that the suspense comes through. This revision of the classic Body Snatcher story is unlike the book and the two previous films in that it embraces its previously unexploited scientific and militaristic potential for narrative.

The age of the main protagonists is another notable difference. Because they range from child to teenager, we witness the invasion through their rebel eyes and feel more vulnerable when the horror kicks in. The younger cast, paired with a particular pacing, also sets a vague teen slasher tone that isn’t unlike that of other films of the era.

The pod people are creatures of subtlety and subterfuge, and it is masterfully conveyed, here, as it always was in the franchise. Most zombie productions struggle to create a sense of paranoia, whereas this series inspires fear by implication and with little gore. It doesn’t shy away from visuals, though. The antagonists are complex creeping plants and the effects do them justice, once again.

7/8

Event Horizon

1997

A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned, severely altered.

You might agree, when all is said and done, that Event Horizon is everything horror science-fiction should be. It takes place in space, aboard a ship engineered by Sam Neill’s character. Joely Richardson and Laurence Fishburne play important characters, too, and are friendlier. They will make you believe you’re out there, with them, in space, about to be sucked into a black hole.

You wouldn’t believe how much stuff is crammed into this film. It is relatively short and surprisingly dense, but it was heavily edited, as requested by the studio. It even has slow moments of calculated build-up. It always pays off. The script is clever, and the directing immersive. The costume design is appropriate, and a lot of thought went into the ship’s design.

Of all things that can be said about Event Horizon, calling it Lovecraftian is no exaggeration. It is about the things that can’t be described, unseen, forgotten, with a quintessential science-fiction procedural that drives us to the darkest corners of the mind. This is never mentioned with dialogue, but you can just feel it through and through. The deeper you get, the more you can feel it.

7/8

Life

2017

A team of scientists aboard the International Space Station discover a rapidly evolving Martian life form.

The first thing we notice about Life is its recreation of life in space, down to the last detail. No, this wasn’t shot in weightlessness. It’s one hell of an illusion. To emulate a lack of gravity, the actors were suspended by wires that wound up erased in post-production. The second thing we notice is the similarity with both 1979’s Alien and 2013’s Gravity.

You can compare this film to many, but, when all is said and done, it is its own thing. The creature design is simple but effective. The characters are not complex. Most are barely exposed. We care about them because we sure wouldn’t want to be stuck in space with an alien creature that outsmarts us. This double threat creates a lot of anxiety. It’s very claustrophobic.

The effects are ambitious and nearly perfect. The photography is so breath-taking you’ll forget you’re watching a movie. The acting is irreproachable. Some are big in Hollywood, some are unknown. All do a bang-up job. This is the kind of film that makes you think twice about space travel and alien life. As if it couldn’t get cooler, Life is actually a slasher, of all things!

7/8

Detention

2011

A group of co-eds try to avoid being murdered by a serial killer while serving detention.

Detention has dense, hilarious integrated graphic design that might take a few revisits to fully grasp. The compositing, in fact, is one with the story. Characters interact with it, constantly breaking the fourth wall. The film is broken down into chapters, and the title cards can get confusing... somewhat pointless, at times. This movie is clever, but it’s an acquired taste.

This is the millennial version of a slasher flick, except it’s not exactly meant for them. Detention is a ninety-minute inside joke on the 1990’s. 1992, if we want to get technical. It deals with time travel, and aliens, somehow. There’s body horror, attempted suicide, a masked murderer. The film is all over the place. Humor-wise, it is the Napoleon Dynamite of horror movies.

Shanley Caswell is a solid protagonist, but Spencer Locke is the ultimate revelation. Though she first appears to be paper thin, her character ends up with the most interesting arc. Parker Bagley, the bully, will make you piss your pants. Detention contains one of the most creative and upbeat opening credits ever imagined in a horror movie, and what follows is absolutely fascinating.

7/8

Little Shop of Horrors

1986

A nerdy florist develops a relationship with a talking plant that grows when it is fed human blood.

Reuniting some of the funniest comedians of its time; Rick Moranis, Steve Martin and Bill Murray, namely, Little Shop of Horrors is the darkest of black comedies. If it wasn’t so hilarious and symphonic, it would simply be a gross movie about an arrogant alien plant who feeds on human blood. It ends up being much more: a love story, a theatrical homage and a source of masterful puppetry.

Some songs work better than others. It gets you wondering what this would’ve been has it not been a musical. It is a period piece depicting the 50’s and 60’s with surrealism injected. The great set design contributes to a unique vibe, along with old graphic design and a dense atmosphere right out of an oil painting. The visual style is at times reminiscent of the original Roger Corman film.

It’s not innocent enough for a young audience despite its comical appeal. It’s not gory either but the carnivorous plant is so ingeniously designed and rigged that it can scare. Although some plot devices and resolutions rely on the main protagonist being submissively obedient, we accept what we see because of the slapstick comedy layer. The story is cleverly told and the last scenes are a blast!

6/8

The Blob

1988

An extra-terrestrial substance invades a town and grows at it eats.

This is by far the best installment in the franchise. Part 1 was too procedural and Part 2 was too parodic. This one is a straight-out horror slasher. Our main characters are a football jock, a cheerleader, a motorcyclist, a sheriff and a pharmacist. They all meet, at some point, an alien substance that grows as it eats. They live in a town inspired by the 1950’s, homage to the original film.

A convincing love triangle gives us all the character exposition we could ask for with very little effort and no waste of time. It doesn’t take long before the crawling ooze finds its first victim and devours him; one of many violent scenes to come. The effects used to make the monster come alive are ambitious, clever and cutting-edge. The gore is spectacular and the creature design revolutionary.

The movie is directed skillfully. The practical effects wouldn’t work so well without perfect use of cameras, lighting and outstanding timing. The excellent script makes every second of the film enjoyable. The dialog ranges from warm to amusing, there is no boring moment, the pacing is perfect and the characters are colorful. The Blob, in a nutshell, makes the best of a great gimmick.

6/8

Bad Taste

1987

A group of hitmen are hired to exterminate alien invaders.

Bad Taste is a slapstick horror comedy like no other. It’s about mercenaries hired to take down a hoard of aliens. We know they’re aliens because they wear blue jeans and blue shirts. They’re pretty stupid, too. In fact, no character in this film has an IQ above 70. All the characters lack coordination to a ridiculous extent. The heroes let their guns do the talking.

This is one of the funniest horror movies out there. It’s also one of the goriest. The violence is cartoonish, so you won’t be traumatized. The shooting locations are splendid. This is often the case with films shot in New Zealand. If Bad Taste had been filmed in the United States, it would’ve taken place in a forest. Shooting in nature, with natural lighting, makes the movie look cheap, though.

Peter Jackson writes, directs and acts. This is his baby. He shows what he can do with a minuscule budget. As soon as the protagonists get a hold of that rocket launcher, though, there seems to be no limit to how much he’s ready to spend. His sets are limited and so is his cast. Curiously, there are no women in this. The acting is pretty bad but it gets the story across.

6/8

They Live

1988

A drifter discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to see through an alien barrier.

In They Live, John Carpenter widens the gap between rich and poor in his very own way. The rich are aliens that can be detected when a special kind of sunglasses is worn. Of course, if you, as a viewer, are wealthy and successful, then this film is irrelevent. Carpenter himself represents the one percent, so this film more or less comes from the heart. Regardless, it’s a damn good story!

It’s very masculine. It’s rough around the edges. It makes no sense. It feels like it was written and directed by a raging teenager. It contains one of the most pointless and lenghty fight scenes in horror film history, between two protagonists, no less, and it pulls no punches when it come to killing aliens. Everything great about They Live is gratuitous.

The alien make-up looks amazing. They’re the kind of design you’ll remember for the rest of your life. Carpenter could’ve gone for the classic extra-terrestrial look, but he aimed for something unique and scarier instead. Most visuals, in fact, are dead on. The practical effects, sounds and photography are reminiscent of 1950’s horror science-fiction.

6/8

TerrorVision

1986

A family’s satellite TV system starts receiving alien signals.

There are many funny horror movies, out there, but very few are first and foremost comedies. Calling TerrorVision dark humor would be an understatement. It’s hilarious and it’s terrifying all at once. The main protagonist is a kid, but this is a movie for adults. Don’t let the vibrant lighting and the childish vibe fool you. There are swingers, here. There’s sex everywhere you look.

This would only be half as memorable without all the kinkiness. We’re talking polyamory, homosexuality, bisexuality, orgy, BDSM and a sex-themed pleasure-dome. The characters are all colorful. Fourteen of them converge to the only set in the movie; a house everybody would love to own with a big pool, an elaborate TV system, sculptures, sexy paintings on the walls and a bunker for good measure.

Just when this film couldn’t get any cooler, despite a complex structure, it becomes a slasher. If this all resonates with you, you won’t just enjoy TerrorVision, you’ll fall in love with it. Sure, the acting is pretty bad; the dialogue even worse, but the film’s flaws are simply charming. Small budget productions are rarely so entertaining. You’ll want to rewatch this over and over.

6/8

Waxwork

1988

A wax museum owner lures six people into alternate dimensions where death awaits them.

Characters right out of a teen slasher turn what at first seems like a cliched 80’s movie into an infinitely more innovative one. It doesn’t hurt that Gremlin’s Zach Galligan leads the gang. Smart, brave, he opposes an arch-villain played by the great David Warner. Both actors lighten the mood of an otherwise darker film that is, as it turns out, generously sprinkled with gore.

The blurred photography creates a unique signature and a sense of safety that make the sporadic blood and ripped flesh all the more shocking. We constantly toggle from safe scares to horrifying visions. Watered down movie monsters like the mummy, the werewolf, the vampire, the zombie and Marquis de Sade are each given their moments to shine. They are guaranteed to conquer the horror fan’s heart.

Half of Waxwork plays out like an anthology, with each section featuring a classic horror creature, and the rest of it is an atypical procedural. The script is condensed and at no time do we feel bored. When dialog isn’t convincing, most actors compensate with dynamism and a semi-comical presence. The game of cats and mice ultimately culminates in a grand finale you should stick around for!

6/8

Village of the Damned

1995

A small town’s women give birth to hostile children with psychic abilities.

This is based on a novel and, more precisely, on a 1960 horror film by the same title. It is a faithful remake in that it hits the same notes and depicts the same events. This said, 1995’s Village of the Damned is more emotionally driven than its predecessor. It also feels more complete when it comes to action and gore. Furthermore, it keeps the procedural light in order to preserve the mystery.

Actors Christopher Reeves, Kristie Alley and Mark Hamill are perfect for their parts. They do a convincing job with pivotal roles. John Carpenter directs, so we’re in good hands when it comes to crafting an ambiance, pacing and lighting a scene, or for turning thriller into horror. He can capture the atmosphere of a small grieving community like no one else.

The movie doesn’t rely on effects, but we do get a few and they look decent. Instead, it focuses on drama and exposition. There is an aura of sadness, despite the supernatural threat, that is truly poignant. We care deeply for the townsfolk we learn to like, the parents and, to a degree, the miracle children as well. Village of the Damned is a slow burn with bursts of tension and a brilliant arc.

6/8

Goosebumps

2015

A teenager teams up with the daughter of young adult horror author after the writer’s monsters are set free in the real world.

This film, as intended, is very much in the spirit of the Goosebumps books. This is true of the monsters, especially, but not the stories. There are no real subplots, here, only the main plotline. The characters are colorful and witty, and the dialogue is fun. The film is well-written and directed dynamically. There are several action scenes; all perfectly coordinated.

The special effects are exciting. They are mostly computer generated and that’s not really a problem, since the movie isn’t trying to scare us as much as it attempts to fascinate us with twists and turns we don’t see coming. There are minor plot holes, here