Movies
A straight-up Lovecraft adaption from the hands of Keith Thomas. It's certainly not the most original premise (art as a gateway into darkness), but the execution is on point. This could be said about most of these Cabinet of Curiosities entries, to be fair. If you're looking for moody horror with some nice creature effects, del Toro got you covered. Thurber is a rising star in the art world, but his world is turned upside down when he meets Pickman. Pickman's a rebellious artist who looks for darkness hiding behind the beauty. His paintings are very powerful, so overwhelming in fact that they take over the minds of the people who lay eyes on them. It was fun seeing Crispin Glover again, the Lovecraftian elements get plenty of room to shine and the finale delivers. The build-up is a tad slow maybe and Pickman's art isn't quite as insane-looking as the story needed it to be, but these are minor qualms that don't take too much away from the film. Good fun.Read all
An new adaptation of the Steven King book. I wasn't a terribly big fan of the first film (which is quite the understatement), so the bar was set pretty low. It's certainly not worse than the '84 version, but it's still not a particularly good film and I don't think this version of Firestarter is going to bring King many new fans. Charlie is the daughter of a couple with psychokinetic powers. They've tried to suppress Charlie's powers, but as she grows up it becomes increasingly more difficult to keep her emotions in check. A group of scientists is trying to track the family down, hoping to study Charlie before she is completely out of control. It's a low-key, non-superhero like X-Men film. The horror elements are basic, the drama doesn't really work, and the styling is functional, but hardly worth a second though (even though John Carpenter helped with the score). Just random filler, much like the older King adaptations. Not terrible, but not very memorable either.Read all