Horror movies were a primarily US form for many years, as the genre was variably considered too juvenile, preposterous, violent, grotesque and/or tasteless in some nations. Government censors blocked their release where such material was considered inappropriate for public consumption; in certain other locations, the public simply wasn’t interested, whether the films in question were imported or homegrown.
Today, however, such cultural differences are largely gone. For myriad reasons, particularly the exported ubiquity of certain franchises online and in home formats, horror has become the most international of genres as well as the one that (due to its commerciality and usually low budget demands) many young filmmakers choose to start their careers with. So it’s not that unusual that this week brings new entries in the form from not just the US, but Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, and Iranian expats.
A NIGHTMARE WAKES Is a Baffling Ode to Mary Shelley
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The story of how Mary Shelley’s pioneering science-fiction novel
Frankenstein came to be written is as famous as the book itself. First conceived in 1816 the famous “year without summer“ it was the product of a contest of sorts. Mary, who was in Switzerland with her poet lover Percy Shelley, step-sister Claire Clairmont, doctor John William Polidori, and Lord Byron, came up with the story on a whim. The group, stuck indoors due to incessant rain, challenged one another to invent frightening ghost stories. Inspired by the great minds of her Romantic-era companions, Mary dreamt up a story that would become