Collective Nightmares

Funny Games (Haneke 1997) Haneke‘s Funny Games hold a special place in Marshall’s heart.  It is the last film he got to watch with his brother Carson before he passed away. And it is exactly the kind of film they loved: heady, shocking, challenging, bizarre, and expertly crafted. Laura and Marshall revisit it to discuss …

Continue reading "Funny Games (1997)"

The post Funny Games (1997) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

Eden Lake (Watkins 2008) This episode we discuss the 2008 British horror film Hidden Lake where our discussion ranges from the social contract, to classism, to gender. The film explores the age-old question of just what one’s options are when a group of people nearby are being absolute jerks? We found that our reactions to …

Continue reading "Eden Lake (2008)"

The post Eden Lake (2008) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, interview Zack Parker about his films, Inexchange (2006), Quench (2007), Scalene (2011), and Proxy (2013), as well as his graphic novel The Cure (2020) about living in the time of COVID19.

The post Zack Parker (2020) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

Proxy (Parker 2013) The fourth in our mini-series devoted to the films of Zack Parker.  Proxy is a shocking, ambitious, and unique independent horror film. It is a rare film that we compare favorably to our exemplar Martyrs (Laugier 2008). Next up we talk to Zack himself about all of his films thus far! Be …

Continue reading "Proxy (2013)"

The post Proxy (2013) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

Scalene (Parker 2011) Our mini-series devoted to the films of Zack Parker! His films fall distinctly into two halves and with Scalene begins the latter half of his movies thus far. His evolution as a filmmaker becomes obvious here as this film far exceeds his prior two efforts. This led to a sticky and difficult …

Continue reading "Scalene (2011)"

The post Scalene (2011) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

Inexchange (Parker 2007) The second episode in our mini-series devoted to the films of Zack Parker! His four films fall distinctly into two halves. We discuss the first two films first, this episode covers his first film Inexchange (2007). The first two films, including this one, were made on a shoestring budget and are more …

Continue reading "Inexchange (2006)"

The post Inexchange (2006) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

Quench (Parker 2007) Thus begins our mini-series devoted to the films of Zack Parker! His four films fall distinctly into two halves. We discuss the first two films first, starting here with his second film Quench (2007). The first two films, including this one, were made on a shoestring budget and are more interesting in …

Continue reading "Quench (2007)"

The post Quench (2007) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

Swallow (Mirabella-Davis 2019) SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Swallow (Mirabella-Davis 2019 2019) TOPIC INDEX – Swallow (Mirabella-Davis 2019) (times are approximate)  0:35 – Introductions 5:30 – Discussion begins 5:30 – Viewing context: COVID19 and Marshall’s anxiety 9:37 – The thumbtack 14:36 – Being scared (emotional experience of the film) 18:00 – Use of color, camera work, …

Continue reading "Swallow (2019)"

The post Swallow (2019) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

Dark Waters (Haynes 2019) Dark Waters is based on the true story of Dupont knowingly poisoning a community and ultimately the world for decades. The guiding question for us with this film is: is this a horror film? Arguably not typically considered one, this begs another question: why not? In terms of horrific actions, the …

Continue reading "Dark Waters (2019)"

The post Dark Waters (2019) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

The Platform (Gaztelu-Urrutia 2019) The Platform is lean, mean machine of a film. It is built around a deceptively simple premise. From that, the film explores fun and fundamental questions about social control, the social contract, and how to accomplish social change in a rigged social structure. A testament to accomplishing so much with a …

Continue reading "The Platform (2019)"

The post The Platform (2019) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.