The Dark Projector

When you think of the movies that you like the most, which films immediately come to mind? Is it the Oscar-nominated dramas that make you think and feel complex emotions for a two-hour period? How about the action films that you’re embarrassed to say that you’ve seen the entire franchise and enjoy each new entry (hello, Fast and Furious !)? Maybe the romantic comedies that you watched growing up with friends and family that created formative and nostalgic memories for you that you relive each time you watch them? Or maybe it’s just the movies that scare the shit out of you? For me it’s a nice mix of all of the above. The concept of the guilty pleasure is something that I think kind of demeans the enjoyment that we get from them. What exactly is making us feel guilty about re-watching Dirty Dancing (Ardolino, 1987) or Clueless (Heckerling, 1995) for the umpteenth time? Why the hell should it bother us that we’ve seen all eight Fast and Furious movies, and also Hobbs and Shaw (Leit...

What can I say? The slasher sub-genre is one of my favorite categories within the horror genre. So, when faced with the reality of staying home far more often than normal, I thought, why not go for it and watch as many slasher films as I can. I won’t give you any exact numbers, because you’ll just be like, “Wow! That’s excessive!” But what I will do is break down some of the better entries of my latest horror project for you. If you too want to attempt to make quarantine a bit less painful and full of sleazy horror films, this is the list for you. The Burning (Maylam, 1981) This is generally regarded as one of the slasher classics but I, for some reason, had not watched it prior to COVID-19. Featuring some great practical make-up effects by the great Tom Savini, this 1981 film has a rather generic plot where Cropsy, Camp Blackwood’s caretaker, is accidentally horrifically burned in a prank gone dangerously awry by some of the campers. Five years later, Cropsy returns to exac...

What do you do when you're quarantined in your apartment?  You watch all of the Friday the 13th films, of course. When looking back at the Friday the 13th  franchise, it's fairly easy to get the various volumes tangled up and intertwined. A series with twelve entries has clearly cast well over one hundred victims for both Mrs. Voorhees and her son Jason to slash their way through. As a favorite franchise of mine, it is easy for me to distinguish one film from the next, however. This is due to narrative differences between the films, the performances of the many final girls and the victims, and the technical elements of the films themselves. When examining the films from a purely visual perspective, the third entry in the series clearly stands out as the most technically engaging due to its use of 3D technology. This quarantine period presented itself as the perfect opportunity to rewatch this franchise. And during this rewatch, Friday the 13th: Part III (Stev...

I know that after stating in my introductory post that horror films might be the focal point of this blog, that will not always be the case. A prime example is this first post. Instead of writing an appreciation for the Full Moon Entertainment cult Puppet Master films (which most definitely will occur in the future), I instead am drafting this piece on Autumn De Wilde's 2020 candy-colored literary adaptation Emma . This film serves as a rather important one for me at this odd point in time. Emma happens to be the last film that I will see in an actual movie theatre for what appears to be some time. Interestingly enough, Universal has announced that they will be releasing for early quarantined streaming for those practicing social-distancing at home. This was a film that I went to see without even seeing a trailer prior to my viewing of it. So for those of you in the same position, here is the trailer: Focus Features has released another stunningly costumed period piece. ...

Hello film folks! As you're reading this, you're also probably quarantined at home. What a time! Anyhow, I made this blog at least two years ago and I keep meaning to actually post something of significance to set The Dark Projector on it's path. You might be wondering, "why is this blog called 'The Dark Projector'?" I'll be perfectly honest with you. I felt that the title sounded cool. (That's the main reason). The other reasoning behind the name is it reflects the nature of the films that most interest me (horror, thrillers, noir, disturbing international films, cult classics, straight-to-video schlock, etc.) and the literal image of a film projector not being used paired with my sadness of the destruction of my campus' lovely theatre.  So, what will happen here? To be honest, it will most likely be a mix and match of my various film interests, combined with my increasing anxiety regarding my continued dissertation work, and more. Vid...