Movie Reviews
Film and television reviewed the way I’d want to read them — with a rating that means something, an honest accounting of what works and what doesn’t, and craft notes for writers who want to understand how the machinery operates.
Each review includes a craft notes section for writers — specific observations about structure, character, world-building, and what the film does that you can actually use. Not theory. Technique you can steal.
Gothic (11)
May 19, 2026Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Coppola's 1992 maximalist Dracula. Oldman, Ryder, Hopkins, Reeves. Practical effects, period costuming, committed strangeness.
May 19, 2026Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
James Whale's sequel where the resurrected creature demands a mate, leading the doctor back to his laboratory.
May 19, 2026Crimson Peak (2015)
Guillermo del Toro's 2015 Edwardian gothic. Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain. Visual maximalism over plot.
May 19, 2026Frankenstein (1931)
Boris Karloff plays the creature stitched together from corpses and animated by a scientist who quickly loses control of his creation.
May 19, 2026Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Neil Jordan's 1994 Anne Rice adaptation. Cruise as Lestat, Pitt as Louis. Operatic vampire melodrama. Young Kirsten Dunst.
May 19, 2026Rebecca (1940)
Hitchcock's 1940 Daphne du Maurier adaptation. Manderley as character. Joan Fontaine. Won Best Picture, Hitchcock's only one.
May 19, 2026Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Roman Polanski's 1968 satanic pregnancy drama. Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes. The Dakota apartment building. Coven of nice neighbors.
May 18, 2026Sleepy Hollow (1999)
1999 Tim Burton gothic horror with Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane investigating Headless Horseman beheadings in 1799 New York.
May 19, 2026The Haunting (1963)
Robert Wise's 1963 Shirley Jackson adaptation. Hill House through implication rather than effects. Influenced every haunted house since.
May 19, 2026The Innocents (1961)
Jack Clayton's 1961 Turn of the Screw adaptation. Deborah Kerr as the governess. Atmospheric horror that earns its slow burn.
May 19, 2026The Others (2001)
Amenabar's 2001 haunted house with Nicole Kidman. WWII period, light-sensitive children, accumulated dread. Twist that works.