February is the month of romance, right? So, why not cuddle up with a significant other (or just by yourself) and watch one of the new releases from The Criterion Collection? 

READ MORE: January Criterion Releases Include ‘The Mother & The Whore,’ ‘Jo Jo Dancer,’ ‘Yojimbo’ & More

February is led by the release of “Punch-Drunk Love,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s off-kilter rom-com.

Continue reading February Criterion Releases Include ‘Punch-Drunk Love,’ ‘Drugstore Cowboy’ & More at The Playlist.

There’s no one right way to be a vampire, even if it comes with the same sleep schedule. Cinema has helped us grasp this concept over the decades, with variations on the folk horror archetype colored by some most frightening of human feelings: addiction, lust, control, and isolation. For as much as vampires cannot see themselves in the mirror, they’re reflections of ourselves, shapeshifting throughout different cultural periods.

The tradition of vampirism also brings out authorship from directors, with many using the setup for their own expression: the likes of Park Chan-wook, George Romero, Jim Jarmusch, Abel Ferrara, Catherine Hardwicke, Guillermo del Toro, Amy Heckerling, for just a taste.

Continue reading The Greatest Vampires In Cinema at The Playlist.

Beyond his attention to aesthetic detail, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has a way of imbuing objects with meaning through their relationships with characters. The most minute, diegetic details become part of the story and play vital roles in the manifestation of character actions and destiny. Nothing in his films are ever done without thoughtful reason or purpose. Del Toro’s use of objects is a meaningful way by which we can explore this mode of mise en scène.

Continue reading Guillermo del Toro’s Everyday Objects & Miraculous Contraptions at The Playlist.

Halloween is now less than a week away, but Hollywood has mostly failed to deliver on the scary movie front this year. “Ouija: Origin Of Evil” is better than you might imagine, and “Boo! A Madea Halloween” is… a movie with Halloween in the title. But otherwise, from arthouses to multiplexes, there are slim pickings, unfortunately (Tom Hanks has a movie out, but sadly he plays boring old professor Robert Langdon, rather than David S.

Continue reading The 25 Best Horror Films Of The 1990s at The Playlist.