Horror

CHICAGO – The fourth season of Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema series continues with a screening of the popular South Korean film “Train to Busan,” on Wednesday, April 19th, 2017, at the AMC River East Theatre in downtown Chicago. “Busan,” directed by Yeon Sang-Ho, broke box office records in major Asian cities when it was first released last year. For complete details and to purchase tickets, click here.

CHICAGO – When he got his chance, writer/director Jordan Peele (“Key & Peele”) completely understood what he had to do – combine his skewered hilarity, love of horror movies and true social conscience, and put them all into one great movie. Ladies and germs, “Get Out.”

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Tara Reid of ‘American Pie’ series and ‘Sharknado’ series.

CHICAGO – The “Days of the Dead” convention is an annual event in Chicagoland and elsewhere, that brings together admirers of the horror film genre, cult movies enthusiasts, vendors and panel discussions related to it all. Several celebrities also attend the event, including Alice Cooper, Ric Flair, Judge Reinhold and Shannon Elizabeth. The 2016 convention is being held this weekend – Nov. 18-20 – at the Chicago Schaumburg Marriott in Schaumburg, Ill. (see details below).

CHICAGO – The horror genre can be a complex creature. The great films can show you the difference between ‘horror’ and ‘terror’. Some horror is all shock and no substance, while terror can be all fear, but no shock. The difference between them is so nuanced that only a skilled director, like Fede Alvarez, can show you the difference in his latest film, “Don’t Breathe.”

CHICAGO – The horror genre in film is always looking for a shot in the old fear factor, and the new release “Don’t Breathe” delivers that injection (heh-heh). The second film by director Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead”) features character actor favorite Stephen Lang – he prefers “Slang.” The film opens nationwide on August 26th.

CHICAGO – It’s promoted as “for fans, by fans” and the Walker Stalker Con delivers the goods for those admirers of all things zombie, horror and cult based. The celebrities – including Chandler Riggs of AMC Network’s “The Walking Dead” – the exclusive talks/panels, the photo ops and the floor “walkers” themselves, will create an atmosphere of fun and dread at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., on Saturday and Sunday, May 28th and 29th, 2016.

CHICAGO – Horror films have many players, but few contenders. Writer/directors Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff debut with “The Gallows,” a “found footage” movie about a force that haunts a typical American high school, complete with familiar student types, and touches on the mysteries of unresolved events and their backlash.

CHICAGO – Finding something truly original in the horror genre is rare. The most effective scare tactics are ones that touch the heart of our familiarity and psychosis. Re-imagining a Mexican film from 2010, director Jim Mickle gets right to the gothic heart of it all in “We Are What We Are.”

CHICAGO – One of the more unique horror film stories is in the upcoming release of “We Are What We Are,” a re-imagining of a 2010 Mexican film, co-written and directed by Jim Mickle. In moving the story to America, Mickle changes the mood of how the rituals transpire, and attaches those rituals to extreme religion.

CHICAGO – There’s something that horror movie producers never seem capable of understanding. A great horror movie is like watching a magic trick. It doesn’t work nearly as well the second time. The sequels to “Saw,” “The Blair Witch Project,” and now “Paranormal Activity,” are not that dissimilar from watching the same rabbit come out of the same hat with nothing much different than a new colored bandana around its neck. “Paranormal Activity 2” has moments but doesn’t amount to nearly the same overall experience as the first.