The Gore Connoisseurs

It’s a common trope in horror – not only is your protagonist menaced by an otherworldly threat, their loved ones refuse to believe them. It’s a cliché that can sometimes become wearing, but new Shudder release Spiral is a rare example of it being used to further character development and thematic explorations. Warning: This article contains spoilers for Spiral Characters’ refusal to believe the protagonist is a narrative technique employed for a variety of reasons - to create conflict between characters, to isolate the protagonist, and to simply pad out the runtime before things come to a head in the third act. The trope is memorably used in Fright Night (1985) when no one believes horror nerd Charley’s (William Ragsdale) outlandish claim that his neighbour is a vampire. It also led to Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) in Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) getting bars put on her bedroom window when no one believes her about Freddy Krueger. Hereditary , The Invisible Man and The Wretched a...

By now we’ve all seen so many zombie films it’s hard for new releases not to seem like more of the same. Yet the flesh-eating corpses have evolved a lot since they first terrorised cinemagoers - to the point where a lot of the time they aren’t even dead anymore . From voodoo curses to toxic gases and demonic possession, there have been countless different takes on our favourite putrefying cannibals, with tones ranging wildly from cheerful splatterfests to sombre meditations on the end of days. Zombies may have lost some of their bite through overfamiliarity, yet new innovations in recent years threaten to freshen up the rotting reanimated corpse of the subgenre. Early zombies Zombies in early horror films were a far cry from their modern counterparts. Here, they are associated with voodoo magic and are generally under a witch doctor’s control without their later cannibalistic tendencies. The action often takes places in Haiti or the Caribbean, making use of - some would say app...

Netflix’s zombie game has historically been pretty strong, with Cargo and Ravenous both standout entries in a sometimes tired subgenre. Buzzy new Korean movie #Alive looks set to continue the trend  – but is it worth a watch? In a nutshell: Layabout twenty-something Joon-woo (Ah-In Yoo) is left home alone in his parents’ apartment when the zombie apocalypse kicks off outside his window. Lacking in both groceries and basic life skills, does Joon-woo have what it takes to stay alive? This is a spoiler-free zone. #Alive 's hits This is the most relatable zombie film I’ve seen in a long time. Rather than the hardened and resourceful survivors we’ve grown used to, Joon-woo is too scared to leave his apartment and initially just goes back to his online gaming to pass the time. The movie has the patience to flesh out its characters, with most of the film focusing on Joon-woo’s attempts to keep despair at bay. That said, it’s not afraid to get its hands dirty with some nerve-jan...