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Hello to all my ghosts, ghouls, and goblins. It’s the most wonderful time of the year: spooky season, and it’ll be our third year together. Hard to believe time passes so quickly when you’re in the grave, but I’ve been planning this one for a whole year, complete with a whole new ranking system. This month, everybody, and I do mean everybody, is getting their just desserts. Therefore, I present Halloween Haunts III: The Revenge! For our first week, we’re going to explore eco-horror. Let’s hope Mother Nature isn’t too unhappy with us.
-Melanie Roland, Senior Patients' Rights Attorney
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October Haunts: Eco-Horror | |
A guide to eco-horror movies | The eco-horror genre in cinema shows us how we really feel about nature. | | | |
The Evolution of Eco-Horror | The genre presents evil as the result of our fractured relationship with the environment. But does it provide solutions beyond annihilation? | | | |
'The Last of Us': Where Mycology and Climate Apocalypse Collide | A zombie fungus caused by climate change is the premise of HBO's "The Last of Us." The real threat is fungi that harm the most vulnerable. | | | | |
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FRIGHTENING FACTS: At a dinner party in the home of Orson Welles (you might know him as the director of Citizen Kane), Gabriel Figueroa, a cinematographer from Mexico, told producer William Alland about a myth he'd heard of a race of half-fish, half-human creatures in the Amazon. Unable to get the story out of his head some ten years later, Alland created “The Creature from the Black Lagoon,” considered one of the most iconic monster movies of all time and reflective of environmental issues. | | |
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WATCH: The Feast (2021)
☠️☠️☠️/5
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'The Feast' Ending, Explained - Who Was Cadi? What Was "The Rise"? | The Feast, depicts an affluent family on a lavish secluded estate, throws a small feast, and soon faces the wrath of the nature. | | | |
“'Once you've taken everything, what will be left?' 'The Feast' is a based on a Welsh folktale about Blodeuwedd, a woman made of flowers who was later turned into an owl. I debated giving this movie 2 or 3 skulls, and while there are no jump scares, it's a slow burn, with an intense atmosphere and gory finale are definitely going to test some stomachs.” | |
Stream on Hulu with service | |
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WATCH: Annihilation (2018)
☠️/5
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"Annihilation" Is All About Being Destroyed by Nature | We could be destroyed by worse things, I guess | | | |
“Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson? Sign me up. Not to actually go to ‘The Shimmer’ but just to watch the movie. From a reasonably safe distance. Not too many scares in this one but you’re not going to look at bears the same again.” | |
Stream for free on Paramount with service | |
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WATCH: The Host (2006)
☠️/5
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The Host: Diving into Eco-horror on the Han River - Nekromancy Magazine | Snaking like a spine through the centre of South Korea's capital, Seoul, is the Han River, a monumentally important geographical feature that has provided both an economic and cultural backbone for the country since its earliest kingdoms. In the present day, along the banks of the Han between Mapo and Wonhyo bridges, sits a giant sculpture of a gwoemul - a monster. | | | | |
“’The Host’ is one of the best monster movies you’re ever going to see. At times funny, sweet, bleak, it really touches on a really wide range of emotions. It’s also inspired by a true story of dumping in the river, which makes this movie all the more frightening.” | |
Stream for free on Paramount with service | |
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WATCH: Mother! (2017)
☠️☠️/5
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Explained: How Mother! Is An Allegory For Climate Change | Darren Aronofsky's 2017 film mother! is one of the most daring, anxiety-riddled depictions of climate catastrophe on film. | | | | |
“Oh geez, ‘Mother!’ is directed by Darren Aronofsky, who also directed ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Requiem for a Dream,’ so if you’re familiar with either of those movies, you know you’re in for a wild ride. Not particularly scary but there’s a gruesome scene involving a baby so warning for that. You’re going to hate ‘Mother!’ or really like it. Metaphors, metaphors, and Michelle Pfeiffer—where has she been?” | |
Stream for free on Pluto, stream for free on Paramount with service | |
Stick around at the end of this month for a frightful brown bag lunch about the nature of revenge and REI: remember when those killer whales were attacking those yachts earlier this year? Mother Nature has a bone to pick, and it just might be yours. | |
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To recap previous October Haunts series, you can visit the links below:
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