Tomorrow in the letter, I get into a classic with an outrageously bleak, cruel, and perfect ending: George Sluizer's The Vanishing (Spoorloos). Sign up here www.deadofnightletter.com and spend a few minutes in your inbox tomorrow contemplating this malevolent gem. #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

so @amcinematheque.bsky.social has an amazing Naruse retrospective just beginning www.americancinematheque.com/series/mikio... #filmsky

Tomorrow in the letter, I get into a classic with an outrageously bleak, cruel, and perfect ending: George Sluizer's The Vanishing (Spoorloos). Sign up here www.deadofnightletter.com and spend a few minutes in your inbox tomorrow contemplating this malevolent gem. #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

I am seeing two movies on nitrate today. If I don’t die in a fire it should be quite a good time.

This week’s letter— - frames-within-frames as visual conduits of suspense - how a chimp’s human qualities are portrayed as sinister in Primate - & melancholy vampire Adeline in @keithrosson.bsky.social’s bleak road trip Coffin Moon www.deadofnightletter.com/haunted-maul... #filmsky #horrorsky

Booked tix to see Wuthering Heights . . . If the rest of you are any indication, it certainly won’t elicit a strong reaction of any kind from me.

This week’s letter— - frames-within-frames as visual conduits of suspense - how a chimp’s human qualities are portrayed as sinister in Primate - & melancholy vampire Adeline in @keithrosson.bsky.social’s bleak road trip Coffin Moon www.deadofnightletter.com/haunted-maul... #filmsky #horrorsky

Wouldn’t be happening if there were meaningful civilian control over LAPD.

Thinking about watching Primate and feeling like the likelihood of me rooting for the chimp is quite high.

newsletter dropping tomorrow on - how a haunting sticks first to people, not places, in refugee experience horror His House - inappropriate laughter and how emotional swings shape performance - a road trip novel of revenge and vampires sign up here: www.deadofnightletter.com #filmsky #horrorsky

One thing My Bloody Valentine (1981) serves as is “a testament to the power of shooting on location.” It was apparently a nightmare shoot, but the real mine kills it on screen. www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

Caught this on nitrate last night courtesy of @amcinematheque.bsky.social. What an absolute delight!

💙💜🩷♥️🖤💚🩵🧡💛🤍 💙💜🩷♥️🖤💚🩵🧡💛🤍 💙💜🩷♥️🖤💚🩵🧡💛🤍 💙💜🩷♥️🖤💚🩵🧡💛🤍 www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #filmsky #horrorsky

💙💜🩷♥️🖤💚🩵🧡💛🤍 💙💜🩷♥️🖤💚🩵🧡💛🤍 💙💜🩷♥️🖤💚🩵🧡💛🤍 💙💜🩷♥️🖤💚🩵🧡💛🤍 www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #filmsky #horrorsky

Sam Raimi does Swept Away—On power reversal in Send Help . . . www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

Celebrating Friday the 13th by wreaking bloody vengeance on behalf of my son (Kuato from Total Recall).

A Valentine’s Day recommendation: a tale of the erotic as a doorway to escape, liberation, and danger— @beckycloonan.bsky.social and @tulalotay.bsky.social’s Somna. www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #horrorsky #comicsky #horror

On My Bloody Valentine’s “final couple” . . . www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

pushing us all into the fire

Sam Raimi does Swept Away—On power reversal in Send Help . . . www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

Just out, an extra-romantic Valentine’s Day edition of the newsletter, with an embedded love song mixtape. This week, indulge in a liaison with horror. ❤️💜🩷🤍 www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

On My Bloody Valentine’s “final couple” . . . www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

Just out, an extra-romantic Valentine’s Day edition of the newsletter, with an embedded love song mixtape. This week, indulge in a liaison with horror. ❤️💜🩷🤍 www.deadofnightletter.com/3-valentines... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

My partner is comfortable with a fair amount of mayhem in movies but she has a real aversion to on-screen vomiting. Anyway, last night we went to see Send Help . . .

“Trophies also betray a misguided sense of mastery, announcing victory with a smug, foolhardy finality …” On trophies and The Head Hunter at www.deadofnightletter.com/off-screen-w... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

This week’s letter—On fantasy horror (via The Head Hunter) and harrowing drives (via Hallow Road and You Are On The Fastest Available Route). www.deadofnightletter.com/off-screen-w... #filmsky #horrorsky #fantasy #horror

Jeff Bezos's legacy: (a) a rapacious company that sends a bunch of trash through the mail, exploiting workers and harming the environment, (b) looking like an absolute dope while wearing a cowboy hat into space, and (c) destroying a news institution of longstanding importance.

exactly the thing

This week I thought about going deep on oatmeal Freddy but it is perfect and requires no exegesis.

Thinking about cinema, dreams, and cinema as dream in Wes Craven's New Nightmare. www.deadofnightletter.com/one-two-l-a-... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

On communal ick—watching The Ugly Stepsister in theaters. www.deadofnightletter.com/one-two-l-a-... #filmsky #horrorsky

Remarkable speech on the Kansas House floor yesterday by Rep. Abi Boatman. “I have sat here for 5.5 hours and listened to this entire room debate my humanity and my ability to participate in the most basic functions of society. I hope none of you have to ever sit through something like that.”

This week I thought about going deep on oatmeal Freddy but it is perfect and requires no exegesis.

Thinking about cinema, dreams, and cinema as dream in Wes Craven's New Nightmare. www.deadofnightletter.com/one-two-l-a-... #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

Hot off the presses!—on metacinema, discomfort, and a wild serial killer thriller. www.deadofnightletter.com/one-two-l-a-... #filmsky #horrorsky

“Here, a killer in a Santa costume is the foundation of a bonkers, supernatural, pulp horror crime story.” - On Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025). www.deadofnightletter.com/the-blood-on... #filmsky #horrorsky

vital viewing today (and a masterpiece)

that ICE budget sure could buy a lot of people healthcare

“Before the holographic, there was cybernetic, before cybernetic, mechanical, before mechanical, there was us.” This week I recommend the weird horror/coming-of-age gem The Fairgrounds, from Uncertain Sons (@undertow.bsky.social) by @thomasha.bsky.social. www.deadofnightletter.com/gator-weather/

On Ralph Fiennes’s Dr. Ian Kelson in The Bone Temple—“scientist, keeper of culture, [atheist] priest”— at www.deadofnightletter.com/gator-weather/ #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

They’re scared because their whole movement is a house of cards—all stupid cruelty, posturing, and bullshit.

Victory is never certain of course, but we can fight these fascists every fucking day.

Victory is never certain of course, but we can fight these fascists every fucking day.

Solidarity with Minneapolis.

I’m thinking about climate change horror via Alexandre Aja’s Crawl at www.deadofnightletter.com/gator-weather/ #filmsky #horrorsky #horror #climatechange

Justice for Renee Good—and for all those victims of ICE brutality whose names we don’t know—includes the dismantling of ICE and the immoral border/immigration regimes adopted by governments across the globe.

On Ralph Fiennes’s Dr. Ian Kelson in The Bone Temple—“scientist, keeper of culture, [atheist] priest”— at www.deadofnightletter.com/gator-weather/ #filmsky #horrorsky #horror

“Before the holographic, there was cybernetic, before cybernetic, mechanical, before mechanical, there was us.” This week I recommend the weird horror/coming-of-age gem The Fairgrounds, from Uncertain Sons (@undertow.bsky.social) by @thomasha.bsky.social. www.deadofnightletter.com/gator-weather/

We are wasting gallon after gallon of fresh water so AI can summarize single paragraph emails.

I’m thinking about climate change horror via Alexandre Aja’s Crawl at www.deadofnightletter.com/gator-weather/ #filmsky #horrorsky #horror #climatechange