Horror on Screen

Music - Editorial

How the Crowd-Sourced Investigation ‘Death in Ice Valley’ Became the Podcast of the Year

“Death in Ice Valley,” a joint effort from BBC World Service and NRK, scooped the podcast of the year award at The Drum’s Online Media Awards 2019. In this case study, we hear how it was made. The mystery “Death in Ice Valley” is a podcast series that sounds like no other in the world: an immersive listening experience that involves thousands of followers in a live investigation, actively trying to solve a 48-year-old real-life mystery. It is a unique collaboration ...

Movies - Editorial

Why Some Of The Most Frightening Movies In Recent Memory Worked So Well

BOO! The “jump scare,” a horror film technique that startles audiences with a sudden haunted image or ugly mug, has become synonymous with cheap thrills. And with good reason. Sure, jump scares work. But they work in the way that scaring someone with a bullhorn works. They lack the sophistication and skin-crawling stickiness that modern moviegoers crave. More recently, though, psychological thrills and under-the-skin chills loom large. And as a result, some of the most frightening movies of recent memory ...

Movies - Editorial

The Role of CGI in Modern Horror Movies

As fans of John Carpenter‘s “The Thing” will loudly remind us, until relatively recently, horror movies were the domain of practical creature effects. It wasn’t until the late 80s and early 90s that the power of computer graphics and digital compositing allowed filmmakers to conjure up new creatures and new worlds, and in some cases, newfound scares. “IT (2017),” for example, utilized a masterly meld of both practical make-up and CGI, which morphed Bill Skarsgård’s sinister acting into a performance ...

Movies - Editorial

Scientific Adviser From ‘Contagion’ Says The Movie Was A Warning

As the novel coronavirus continues to spread around the globe, the 2011 pandemic movie “Contagion” has recaptured the public’s interest. Now, a health expert consulted for the film says parts of the movie’s plot should’ve served as a warning about future outbreaks. The film has been praised by some in the scientific community ― then and now ― for being accurate, albeit extreme. The plot follows the fictional MEV-1 virus, which was rapidly transmitted to people around the world as authorities ...