Supernatural

The Exceptional Horror of “Hereditary”

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Ari Aster’s Hereditary opens simply: the white letters of Ellen Graham’s obituary blazing on a inky background. The matriarch is survived by her daughter Annie, an artist who creates miniature dioramas of her everyday life. We see one of her miniatures now: a cut-out model of her home in the forest. As we zoom in, … Read more

“A Ghost Story” Ponders Time, Legacy, and the Meaning of Loss

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Writer-director David Lowery’s A Ghost Story is a contemplative tone poem on the vast expanses of time, captured in a single relationship between two people.  As the two main characters reach a turning point about where they are going to live, a car accident removes one of them from the equation – except that it … Read more

Jinn, Wartime, and Metaphor in the Amazing “Under the Shadow”

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And the jinn we created before from scorching fire. – Quran 15:27 “The Rocky Tract” Symbolism and metaphor are powerful weapons against oppression, and can also illuminate complex and unbearable situations like war and the subjugation of women.  Writer-director Babak Anvari’s debut feature Under the Shadow is a intelligent film that takes full advantage of … Read more

Building a High-Horror Franchise through Characters: “The Conjuring 2”

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The Conjuring was one of the most impressive horror films to emerge from Hollywood in the last decade, so James Wan’s follow-up to the 2013 hit has been widely anticipated.  In a turn that restores a modicum of faith in mankind, the sequel is an overwhelming success.  Ed and Lorraine Warren return with another paranormal investigation, this one based on their most-documented case:  The Enfield poltergeist. As before, the pair and their relationship form the kernel of a masterful supernatural high-horror film.  The Conjuring 2 will delight and terrify genre fans and whichever casual movie-goers have the courage to buy a ticket and peer through their fingers.

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