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horrorhead

Do We Need Graphic Torture in Our Dystopias?

Welcome back to Horrorhead, a column all about the connections between horror and scifi. On Battlestar Galactica, there's an ongoing theme of torture: humans gang-rape an imprisoned Cylon; the Cylons beat a man so badly he loses his eye (not to mention all the humans they kill outright); and there's even a little human-on-Cylon washboarding early in the series. These are not scenes that take place entirely offscreen. We see beatings; we see the bloody, freaked-out face of Six the Cylon after she's been raped so many times she can't stand up and has lost the will to eat. The question is, do we need to see these scenes? Would this series be as powerful without them? And by extension, would any torture-laced scifi flick like The Hills Have Eyes or Cube be as enticing if it lost the mutilations or the razor net that falls from the ceiling and reduces living humans to little cubes of flesh? (Spoilers ahead.) More »

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10:43 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Annalee Newitz
2,973 views, 58 comments

Latest by thephotoman: Does BSG need torture? Well, to answer this question, I ask what it would look like without the torture. Then I point out two shows that have similar overarching plots (in one case, the same exact overarching plot) more »

horrorhead

Five Reasons to Watch Movies that Hurt You, Haunt You, and Make You Want to Vomit

Welcome back to Horrorhead, a column where we explore the intersection of horror and scifi. I wasn't born a horror movie fan, I made myself one through years of careful practice and studious watching. Everybody has an origin story, and mine begins with the pulsing, gooey strands of sludge that enveloped and destroyed every single point-of-view character in the 1970s version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I was so young that I missed the political allegory about Nixon, and the joke about how Spock plays one of the pod people. I crunched down into the fake velvet movie theater seat, wondering if there was a way to worm out of the narrative but still make it through. My first discovery came then: If I plugged my ears, blocked out the heart-beating soundtrack, I could survive the alien invasion. More »

Feature

11:19 AM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Annalee Newitz
8,711 views, 50 comments

Latest by Garrison Dean, King Awesome: @Signal: To be honest ever since I moved to Seattle a year ago and read World War Z I feel that it is a great place to be. Surrounded by Water and the Cascade and lympic Mountains (hell non more »

horrorhead

The Most Shocking Science Caught on Film

Welcome back to Horrorhead, where we explore the intersection of horror and science fiction. I talk a lot here about "science horror," which I usually mean as the opposite of supernatural horror. Science horror is basically the dark side of science fiction, whereas supernatural horror can be anything from reality TV bunk like Ghosthunters to really excellent spirit flicks like The Ring or dark fantasies by Stephen King. What makes science horror scary is science itself, and the mad doctors who steer it into the crawly places full of reanimated bodies and reality-warping physics. But some kinds of science are more terrifying than others. That's why I've delineated four branches of science most likely to show up in the next science horror movie in your queue. More »

Feature

11:20 AM on Wed Apr 2 2008
By Annalee Newitz
9,400 views, 35 comments

Latest by Cacafuego: @Womblebug: Yeah, either Sean Pertwee or Jason Statham. more »

horrorhead

Battle of the Genitals in Science Horror Movies

Critics are always saying that horror movies are about fearing vaginas, but they're wrong. Sure there's vadge imagery aplenty in horror (just watch the run of Alien movies if you don't believe me), but the scariest science horror flicks of the last thirty years are actually about everything that can go wrong with a dude. I'm not just talking about the malfunctioning penis that blows up Tokyo in Legend of the Overfiend. I'm talking about something deeper. And yes, maybe even . . . harder. More »

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10:41 AM on Wed Mar 19 2008
By Annalee Newitz
10,456 views, 79 comments

Latest by SigmundTheSeaMonster: Let us not forget the ever so vaginal orifice of the Dune "spiced" Navigator. more »

horrorhead

The Seven and a Half Rules for Making Scary Aliens

Welcome back to Horrorhead, a fortnightly column where we explore the intersection of horror and scifi. For every bland, friendly Star Trek alien with a crinkle-cut french fry nose or waffle forehead, there are dozens of insanely scary aliens that could rip your face off. Certain alien characteristics, whether physical or psychological, are enough to put you into "no I will not jump during this dark corridor scene - shit I am now jumping" mode. But what exactly makes an alien truly horrifying, as opposed to just, you know, alien? Aided by Hollywood movie history, we've put together a definitive set of rules for making aliens that are guaranteed to freak you out — or at least make you queasy. More »

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10:20 AM on Wed Mar 5 2008
By Annalee Newitz
7,197 views, 74 comments

Latest by Kanamit: Read the story, saw the episode, ripped the name. Where were the bugs in Independence Day (the movie, not the original novel--jk)? @Huxleyhobbes: I pretty much agree with you. Greatest scary alien aspect: inhuman thought process. Alien perspective = The Unknown = more »

horrorhead

Mind Control Movies That Make You Scream

Welcome back to Horrorhead, a column where we explore the intersection of horror and science fiction. Something about the mid-twentieth century got people really spooked about mind control. Maybe it was the Cold War, with all its brainwashy propaganda; maybe it was the prominence of social cleansing pundits like Fredric Wertham, who went on a successful crusade to stamp out "youth destroying" comic books and nearly destroyed the comics industry in the process. Whatever the cause, people started mainlining movies about the horrors of mind control in the 1950s and never stopped. More »

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10:10 AM on Wed Feb 20 2008
By Annalee Newitz
2,434 views, 27 comments

Latest by IchabodCrane: The Tingler was never about mind control. The Tingler is, OMG, the Tingler is loose, loose in this comment thread! Everybody scream, scream as if your life depended on it! Heh, I kid. If you want true surreal goofiness in your mind more »

horrorhead

How Pollution Created the Creepiest Movie Mutants

Welcome back to Horrorhead, a column where we explore the intersection of horror and scifi. Back in the 1950s, it seemed like every monster was created by radiation: giant ants, a giant tarantula, and even a giant dinosauroid thing called Gojira. But ever since the 1970s, an even scarier byproduct of human invention has been creating gloopy crawlies: pollution. These aren't your friendly Toxic Avenger "fall into a vat of waste" types though. These are the real deal, created by environmental pollutants and industrial waste dumped into the natural world. Read on if you want to take a look at movie mutants who were made by our environmentally-degraded world . . . More »

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11:00 AM on Wed Feb 6 2008
By Annalee Newitz
2,731 views, 32 comments

Latest by Klebert: @annalee: Well, sure - but not just Overfiend... Maybe the Anime/Manga world was a lot milder when I was 5. -Kle. more »

horrorhead

The Scariest Settings Ever Created in Scifi Movies

Welcome to another installment of Horrorhead, a column where we talk about the intersection of horror and scifi. Anyone who saw Alien as a kid knows that the smashed-up alien ship where Ripley's crew first finds the alien is one of the scariest places ever. It's basically a haunted house set in space, with its bulging, intestine shape, cobwebby alien skeletons (their ribs burst open), luminescent mists, and the hushed creepiness of that cargo bay full of dormant eggs. Setting is a crucial ingredient in scifi horror, and for your spine-tingling pleasure, here are some of the scariest settings ever created for scifi film. More »

Feature

10:06 AM on Wed Jan 23 2008
By Annalee Newitz
68,671 views, 80 comments

Latest by enveno1: @GameraTheGreat: I totally agree more »

horrorhead

Your Cell Phone and Television Are Haunted by Scary Girls

Yes kids, it's time for Horrorhead, a fortnightly column where grossout chaser Annalee Newitz talks about the dark intersection of scifi and horror. Tonight I'm going to a "special advance press screening" of cell phone horror flick One Missed Call because I'm so starved for new scifi-horror that I'll take anything — even a haunted technology movie. That's why I wound up seeing The Ring so many times (haunted videocassette — so analog!), Pulse (haunted Sprint network), and even Poltergeist (they're here! in the television set!). Don't even get me started on the haunted Web site thing (even one of the Hellraiser movies is about an MMO — or is it IN YOUR MIND?). And now there's One Missed Call, with its spooky mobile phones that kill you. More »

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9:15 AM on Thu Jan 3 2008
By Annalee Newitz
2,312 views, 26 comments

Latest by noncornbatant: Check out the Marshall half-stack and Stratocaster in the background of the photo. Reminds me of Caspar Broetzmann, whose music (played on that exact gear) would make a perfect soundtrack for movies like The Ring. The music alone is scarier more »

horrorhead

Aliens Kick Predator's Ass and That's Final

Welcome back to Horrorhead, a fortnightly column about all things scifi and horror. This week, a crucial topic: Aliens vs. Predators. Not the movie, the smackdown. Colin Strause, one of the two Brothers Strause who directed the upcoming Aliens vs. Predator sequel, is known across the webonets as a serious Predator fan. The brothers claim that Predators are somehow better than Aliens because they're more humanoid, use tools, and are therefore relatable. But I'm here to say fuck that. Who wants "relatability" in a monster? Seriously, Colin, the Aliens win hands-down in any horror/scifi smackdown. Here's why. More »

9:00 AM on Wed Dec 19 2007
By Annalee Newitz
683 views, 3 comments

Latest by Dekker: Numbers should count. The ability for a specimen Internecivus raptus (cough cough, Alien) to take on both the characteristics of its host and to reproduce quickly make it more like a "disease" than a monster. more »

horrorhead

A Monster Worse Than Virus Zombies

Welcome to Horrorhead, a fortnightly column about the dark, twisted part of science fiction - the part that borders on horror. If you're looking forward to I Am Legend next week, you know it's basically a vampire horror story translated into a microbial scifi nightmare. But what makes I Am Legend scary isn't the spectre of virus-deformed post-humans. It's something more fundamental. More »

9:00 AM on Thu Dec 6 2007
By Annalee Newitz
478 views, Comment