Introduction

My name is Dmitry, and it took me too long to realize I love horror. 

Now I'm deep in. (All of these movies here are personal favorites.)

Ever since I was a kid, I was always enthralled by Halloween iconography, dark fantasy stories that stuck with me, sci-fi aliens, and other permutations on the concept of monster. I eventually realized that oh, wait, that was kind of my thing and I started diving more into horror media. Most of my favorite media has a spooky element, as does most of the creative work I do myself, which includes writing, 2D art, and other forms of physical artwork. 

I was brought up in horror by two main sources. First is the long-running Bogleech blog by Jonathan Wojcik. Through his reviews of creature designs in narrative media and toys and decor, he introduced me to critical perspectives on horror character design and the sheer inventive creative potential of horror. Next is the YouTube channel Dead Meat, primarily hosted by married couple and (in my view) wide-scale horror cultural ambassadors James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca. Through their YouTube channel, they analyze films and horror pop culture through Kill Count film recaps and in-depth podcast discussions that have introduced me to a lot of new titles and helped me turn my literary-analysis brain to horror films and what they achieve with story and craft.

I also consider myself to be a weenie when it comes to startles and so that made me very hesitant to edge into watching horror movies. It's definitely worse for me when I know something is going to jumpscare me a lot, so a work's reputation for startles is a really tough hurdle for me to overcome. I found myself to get into horror movies well by starting with older seventies films which often leaned more unsettling and disturbing than startling, or otherwise bizarre and unforgettably unique. I've since gotten braver, though I admit to making things easy for myself by turning down the volume when I know a scare is coming. Still, I've found many gems and had some real scares now. Horror has definitely shown me the potential of media in unique ways.

What I want to do here on this blog is offer a perspective on select horror media that resonates most with me. Maybe that'll regard thematic analysis and subtextual messaging--if I find a perspective within a work which I haven't seen discussed to death already. Otherwise, a lot of movies resonate with me in ways beside literary ethos, and I think I can contribute to the discussion by analyzing how they made an impact on me through other forms, like through acting quality, fear factor, adaptation, or story structure. I've actually privately formulated a structure of four primary qualities with which to categorize the standout aspects of horror movies, just to give me a way to organize my takes on movies with structure while allowing for nuance as well. I'm not going to use this system as a hard framework or rating system for articles here because I don't connect well with review gimmicks, but these are the kinds of standout factors that can all be expected to feature on this blog. (And of course, a movie can excel in more than one of these categories).

• Exceptionally horrifying: These are the movies that redefine fear with creative imagery putting a new spin on horror, or tension, scares, and visuals that legitimately frighten me and make me uncomfortable. 
• Exceptionally entertaining: These movies have excellent flow and pacing, or fantastic spectacle, and make for a really satisfying and fun ride. Not all good movies are fun, but no fun movie can really be considered bad in my heart, so being a great ride is kind of a free pass--entertainment value can cover for the lack of excellence in the other categories and a movie that's mostly a wild time and great entertainment can absolutely be a classic. 
• Exceptionally crafted: These movies have cinematography, scripting, acting, set design, costume design, and editing that all do the very best possible service to the script. The other three factors are reliant on some kind of craft, but I think of this category as shorthand for "the best of the best of filmmaking" or "the best possible version of this story has just been made". 
• Exceptionally deep: These movies are beloved by both literary thematic analysts and determinedly literalist script theorists. Ambiguity, detail, and metaphor and commentary make these films worth sitting with, re-watching, and engaging deeper with because they have something to say with the way they're telling the surface narrative. Expect a lot of foreshadowing and symbolism and tiny details that knit together. These films are often exceptionally crafted as well because they have so much intent in their storytelling.

I see all four of these factors as being worth discussing. As long as the horror piece stands out to me, I'm here to talk about it--how something scared me, how fun and exciting a ride was, how well-executed something was, or how much I was left with after the film. My reviews probably won't always be one-topic as I'll likely veer off into praising multiple aspects of something besides the anchor point of the article, but I can't help it. I love to talk about stories. Maybe on the off chance, I'll be more critical of something if I have critiques I find important, but I'm mostly here to talk about how cool horror is and throw more recognition toward things that get passed over purely for their genre being so challenging. If there need to be more voices in the crowd to get horror the respect it deserves, I'm glad to be one of them shouting loud!

My reviews will tend to go into spoiler territory beyond the first couple of paragraphs that set up the concept and intrigue of what I'm discussing, so don't read too far into any article if you haven't seen the subject and you think you should!

And yes, I know blogging is kind of a dead medium in 2023, but it's the vehicle which I feel most suited for in the delivery of long-form discussion. I hope any who find this place will enjoy it!

I also have a much more informal toy/art blog where I review, discuss, and customize toys that catch my interest, over at Teatime Tangents and Toys (another hobby I can partially credit Bogleech with forming in me). I share other artwork on my Instagram account @mr._witch_db.