Category: Horror

Action, Character Development, Comics, Horror, Movie Review, Movies, Mystery, Thriller

July 20, 2018 • 0 Comments

GLASS — Coming January 2019

POSSIBLE SPOILERS about UNBREAKABLE and SPLIT below. You’ve been warned.

M. Knight Shyamalan exploded onto the movie scene with THE SIXTH SENSE in 1999. The movie was not just a hit; it was a pop culture phenomenon. He followed up the supernatural thriller with UNBREAKABLE in 2000, a movie many found even better than THE SIXTH SENSE. UNBREAKABLE featured an everyday man (Bruce Willis, playing David Dunn) who was the lone survivor of a train crash that killed hundreds.

TSJ Reviews the Videogame THE EVIL WITHIN

July 5, 2018 • 0 Comments

TSJ Reviews the Videogame THE EVIL WITHIN

THE EVIL WITHIN
Creator: Shinji Mikami, Tango Gameworks
Studio: Bethesda Softworks
Console: Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Windows
Year Released: 2014

I’ve been working on this one for a while now, following the fantastic ALIEN: ISOLATION (see review here) that I finished in December 2017. THE EVIL WITHIN is effective in terms of setting, mood and mystery. In fact, it might be the goriest game I’ve played.

The First Time I Saw JURASSIC PARK

June 16, 2018 • 0 Comments

The First Time I Saw JURASSIC PARK

It’s hard to believe that JURASSIC PARK was released 25 years ago this week. I still remember seeing it at the Galleria. My friend Adam turned to me as the lights went down and said, “So what’s this film about?” He had no idea. It was a Friday night and our group of friends always hung out on the weekends.

A Look at the New HALLOWEEN Trailer

June 10, 2018 • 0 Comments

A Look at the New HALLOWEEN Trailer

Michael Myers is back.

He’s one of the greatest slasher villains of all time and featured in a franchise that co-created the genre. (Many also give credit to BLACK CHRISTMAS in 1974.) John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978) could be considered one of the most successful independent films ever. Made on a budget of only $375 000, it earned $70 000 000 at the box office the year it was released and spawned a series that currently consists of eleven films. John Carpenter really hit it out of the ballpark and he exploded onto the horror scene and never looked back. (I spoke on a radio show about my love for this film and how it inspired me here.) Of particular note was the soundtrack that he created out of desperation: they didn’t have a budget to hire someone to score the film, so Carpenter did it himself.

It’s Murder … in Space by Timothy S. Johnston

March 24, 2018 • 0 Comments

TSJ’s Thoughts on His Second Novel THE FREEZER

What Really is the Most Dangerous Life Form in the Solar System?

The Best Movie Sequels of All Time

March 14, 2018 • 0 Comments

The Best Movie Sequels of All Time

Before I begin, here are a few basic facts about me that you might already know by now:

I love movies.

I love genre movies — thrillers, action, adventure, horror, science fiction.

I love sagas, series, and trilogies. Call them what you want; I love to revisit characters and storylines that captivated my attention in the first film.

The Greatest Trifectas in Film History

January 31, 2018 • 3 Comments

The Greatest Trifectas in (Recent) Film History by TSJ

While writing the blog entry “Where Has the Character-Driven Action Film Gone?” (found here) I mentioned the idea of a trifecta — or “triple” — in film history. There are few directors who can create successful film after successful film. Having one critical and commercial hit is difficult enough. Having two in a row is even harder. And three? Nearly unheard of.

I decided to create a list of the greatest triples in film history. Even the concept seemed absurd, however — what gives me the right to create such a list? Who am I to say one director created a “better” trifecta than another? Moreover, how does one define success or failure in the creative/artistic industry? Sometimes a box office hit can be a critical failure, or vice versa. Well, to be blunt, this is my blog. I’ll write what I want. However, to identify triples and narrow the field it was necessary to create a list of criteria that I would follow.

TSJ’s Top Three Movies of All Time

January 13, 2018 • 3 Comments

People often ask me about my favorite movies. I try to watch a lot of thrillers and horror, especially in the Science Fiction genre, I like to talk about movies, and I enjoy reviewing great ones on my blog. So, I figured that this might be a good place to write an article about my top three films of all time.

Counting down from Three to One …

TSJ Remembers Wes Craven

January 5, 2018 • 0 Comments

When I learned of Wes Craven‘s passing in the Summer of 2015, it hurt.

He was one of the originals. He was a horror director who helped create the “slasher” genre, but he did so with more backstory and style than some of his peers. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET brought us Freddy Krueger, one of the greatest villains of all time.

So many films of the slasher genre involved teenagers being teens, and having to deal with the repercussions of bad or questionable choices. When this movie appeared I was fourteen years old and among the age demographic that Craven had targeted. (I was perhaps a tad on the young side of the demographic, but the movie had a greater effect on me because of it.) Nightmares are by nature scary and intangible things and have the potential to impact in emotional and scarring ways. Wes Craven tapped into this in a very effective way, and Freddy’s history ensured that he was an invincible villain. Freddy became iconic and instantly recognizable around the world.

TSJ Reviews ALIEN: ISOLATION

December 30, 2017 • 0 Comments

ALIEN ISOLATION is an incredible game. It’s dark and moody and genuinely terrifying.

These days I don’t have much time for video games, but when I do play, I choose ones that fall into the genres that I love: Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery and Thriller. I play on the X-Box, mostly because when the Nintendo-64 was retired, the original X-Box was the console with the most familiar controller and the game most similar to GOLDENEYE and PERFECT DARK — that game was HALO. (I just never got into the Sony Playstation — though I loved playing TWISTED METAL 2, 3 and 4, as well as METAL GEAR SOLID.) Some of the titles I’ve played in the past few years include BIOSHOCK, FALLOUT 3, and the DEADSPACE series.