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The Scathing, Romantic Parable of Wicker

The story of Wicker feels like it ought to predate that of the movie it is at risk of being confused with, The Wicker Man . It is credited to a fable called “The Wicker Husband”, which might be an old folktale from the pre-Norman past of England for its parable-like moral narrative and lack of official names for any of its characters who might as well be mere metaphorical symbols. But in actual fact it was a short story written just a few years ago by Ursula Wills, who does a remarkable job in adopting that particular style and character in a convincing but thoroughly contemporary manner. I can’t imagine a woman’s agency being all that popular a topic in even the pagan days of yore. It is filtered into movie form by directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, and while I can’t say whether its particular sense of humour and ironic tone is native to its source, it detracts surprisingly little from the ethos being communicated -that ethos being a rather stark reworking of Beauty an...
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The Evolution of Stephen King Adaptations

The 2026 Amazon Prime miniseries of Carrie is an important full-circle moment. It is a new adaptation of Stephen King’s first published novel releasing on the fiftieth anniversary of the first adaptation of that same novel -and the first adaptation of one of King’s works at all. It marks the longevity of both the writing career of one of the most successful novelists of all time, and how for almost as long that oeuvre has been a treasure trove for adaptation. And make no mistake, adaptations are a big part of King’s legacy. He would have been lauded as a successful writer regardless, but it’s the movie translations (and to a lesser extent TV) that have visualized his stories and made him not just a literary but pop cultural phenomenon. The iconography of such movies have become intertwined with the stories themselves, even where they have differed vastly from their source material. And there are many -including myself, admittedly- who know his work chiefly through these interpretatio...
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Back to the Feature: The Innocents (1961)

The ‘creepy child’ trope in horror most likely originates in Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw , one of the great classic ghost stories and works of psychological horror. But it is one thing to read about the eerie behaviour of two children, it is another thing to see it in practice -hence why the novel made for a popular adaptation on stage. However it didn’t make it to the silver screen until 1961, when playwright William Archibald adapted his own version, renamed The Innocents , with Truman Capote and director Jack Clayton produced a truly haunting work. And though movies like The Bad Seed and Village of the Damned had primed the pump, what we think of when we think of creepy children as a horror movie device perhaps found its first footing here. The spectre of Damien from The Omen , the kid from Insidious , Brightburn and so many other freaky manipulative movie children can be found in little Miles, however innocent he may or may not be. That is of course the other great sourc...
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An Action Film of Family, Duty, and Faith

In 2019, Mahershala Ali was cast in the title role of a new Blade movie to be developed in the MCU. He was quite energized in his involvement for a time, but after several years of stalled development and creative clashes over how to approach the project in the M arvel mold, it completely fell apart. But Ali had already done a lot of the physical action training and had built up a good relationship with Bassam Tariq, who had been hired to direct the film. Rather than let all of that preparation go to waste, the two of them decided to pair up for a comparable project, one that would have personal significance to both of them. There has very probably never been an American movie like Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother , an action-thriller film rooted in the faith and cultural traditions of Islam. And indeed I doubt any studio would have greenlit it without the involvement of a name star like Ali. The title is taken from a particular Islamic proverb in which a man asks the Prophet Muh...
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Wildwood is a Stunning, Sweeping Monument to the Beauty of Hand-Crafted Art

Wildwood is the new high watermark for stop-motion animation. After all the years and effort that was put into it, it would pretty much have to be. The latest film from the extraordinary Laika studio, and their first in seven years has been in development since 2011, back when the company had just one movie to their name -their only true hit Coraline . Based on the book by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, it was always an ambitious project -even for Laika; an epic fantasy adventure story that demanded an intensity of craft like nothing they had done before. That it took fifteen years and virtually all of the studio’s resources to make it to the screen is unsurprising. It is perhaps just as much so that the finished film is indeed a creative, artistic, and technical triumph like nothing else in American animation. But just because its successes may have been anticipated, doesn’t make the film any less a marvel to behold. Directed by Laika CEO and perfect nepo baby Travis Knight, Wildwood...
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