leebutler Drama, Horror, Music, Review

Torn Hearts (2022) – Whatever Happened To Peg Bundy?

Released: 8th September
Seen: 2nd November

Torn Hearts Info

In 1962, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis starred in the surprising late career hit What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? which was a touchstone in both of their careers and also inadvertently created a new subgenre known as Hagsploitation, or Grande Dame Guignol. The genre itself revolved around older female actresses playing characters who used to be glamorous stars but have turned into mentally unstable recluses who occasionally do a little bit of murder.

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leebutler Horror, Review

Terrifier 2 (2022) – Did Somebody Mention Art?

Released: 13th October
Seen: 31st October

Terrifier 2 Info

For a little over a decade now, the character Art The Clown has been slowly building his reputation as one of the modern horror icons. He started small as a side character in a set of short films before getting to dive into feature-length fare with the anthology film All Hallows Eve in 2013 where people really started to notice this strange clown. Art was getting noticed by people and so the creator of this creepy clown, Damien Leone, decided to take his creation and give him a film all of his own.

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leebutler Horror, Review, Thriller

Halloween Ends (2022) – One Last Scare

Released: 13th October
Seen: 12th October

In 1978, John Carpenter changed the world of horror films and indeed cinema as a whole when he released Halloween. A simple but intense slasher film, Carpenter’s film was not only a technological triumph, thanks to its use of what would become known as the Steadicam shot, but one of the most tension-filled horror films to ever exist. Naturally, it spawned sequels, some good and some god-awful before eventually being revitalised in 2018 with another film called Halloween that asked the simple question “What would Laurie be like in the aftermath of such a traumatic night” and it was a genuinely great re-entry to the franchise. 

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leebutler Horror, Mystery, Review, Thriller

Hellraiser (2022) – Raises Hell

Released: 8th October
Seen: 9th October

Hellraiser Image

The Hellraiser franchise is one of the weirder major entries in the horror genre. Built around the idea of mixing sexuality and torture long before the phrase ‘torture porn’ was created as a pejorative for the more extreme kinds of horror, Hellraiser was always a series that sat just on the edge of the mainstream. You certainly knew about it thanks to the iconic image of Pinhead but it’s such a wild set of movies that even some horror fans might have issues with it (and also it kind of infamously started sucking around the 4th-5th movie, depending on which fan you ask). It’s also been the major horror franchise that’s avoided being rebooted longer than pretty much everything else… until now. It also is on the shortlist of “80s horror reboots that don’t suck”, a prestigious list if ever there was one.

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leebutler Horror, Review

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022) – Call Waiting

Released: 5th October
Seen: 5th October

Mr. Harrigan's Phone Info

Considering how ubiquitous they are now, it’s kind of fascinating to realise that the modern cell phone is actually not that old. The first smartphone hit the market back in 1994 and was a technical revolution, soon going from a plaything of the wealthy to something that you literally cannot exist without in the modern world. We now exist with the entire history of human knowledge on an electronic device that fits right in our pocket, it’s nothing short of a miracle device. Of course, as happens to all technologies that become popular, the cell phone is a prime tool to be used in fiction and if there’s anyone who is good at taking mundane everyday objects and making them terrifying, it’s Stephen King… usually, with Mr. Harrigan’s Phone there’s nothing actually terrifying going on.

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