Whether you saw its twist coming or not, “Goodnight Mommy” is keen to brutalize both your nerves and your expectations.

Arthouse theaters are a blessing sometimes. Sure, I’ll take in a STAR WARS movie or get dragged along to some “event” blockbuster once in a blue moon, but for the most part I don’t want to deal with inflated prices or the noisy, smartphone-obsessed sheep so eager to pay them. Therefore, smaller venues are my weapons of choice.

I spent a good chunk of my formative years in L.A. grindhouses, but let’s gets classy today instead. Well, at least as classy as we can be when we’re reviewing a movie centering around  torturing people with Super Glue and cockroaches.

Twin boys, Lukas and Elias, have a problem: they’re fairly sure the bandaged woman who recently returned home from plastic surgery is not their mother. With only one way to find out, they begin a heinous attack on their “mom” in an effort to find out the truth. All of this is carefully orchestrated by the interesting Austrian aunt/nephew duo of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. I say ‘carefully orchestrated’ because the payoff of the film isn’t really about the identity of the mother. 

Some moviegoers say they figured out the film’s famous twist early on in the proceedings, and I imagine a number of them are familiar with the German tongue. (The flick’s native title is “Ich Seh, Ich Seh” meaning “I See, I See”). From a personal standpoint, I was kind of amused that GOODNIGHT MOMMY’s twist queued up somewhat with the ending to my own first novel, “Woof”, which was released just months later. A second viewing of the film will make you slap your forehead that you didn’t catch the huge clue Franz and Fiala throw at you in the first five minutes. However, I’ve watched this at least three times now and each time I’m allowed to better soak up its more subtle, scary details. Without the need to figure out the “puzzle” of its plot, it almost seems to become a more enjoyable experience, which is weird to admit considering the film is ultimately an exposé of regret and blame.  

Regardless of the twist, the film is meticulously constructed and quite effective. Though Franz and Fiala’s touted follow-up, THE LODGE, didn’t quite hit the bullseye for me, the talent of this pair is undeniable. I’m looking forward to taking in their latest release, THE DEVIL’S BATH, in the near future.

#letsallgotothelobbytogetourselvessomemeat #goodnightmommy #ichsehichseh #veronikafranz #severinfiala #thelodge #thedevilsbath #twistending #austria

Coming clean: 2025 has been a tough year, and so I’ll be reducing the output of unboundhorrorblog.com in 2026. This will entail periodic posts rather than regular ones as life has become very different for me. I wish you all the brightest of holidays, and I’ll be back again soon.

After officially having its coffin nailed shut at the end of 2024, “What We Do in the Shadows” ended its six-season run. For all of you who might still be having withdrawals, here’s the show’s popular ‘Jackie Daytona costume’ meme. This weekend, raise a bloody glass to our sexy, bickering, and slightly idiotic vampire friends. Any regular human bartender would agree it’s the right thing to do.

#killermemes&comics #whatwedointheshadows #jackiedaytona #mattberry #halloweencostume

If your 500-year-old skeleton is too slow, just get yourself some extra horsepower!

What happens when you strap cloaked skeletons on horses, give them swords, and let them occasionally nibble on hapless Portuguese folks? You get a novel drive-in classic and an international audience eager for a second helping, that’s what! 

Written and directed by Amando de Ossorio, TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1972) sketched a tantalizing tale inspired by the Knights Templar, a powerful, skilled, and innovative Catholic military order that burgeoned in the Middle Ages. All good things must come to an end, though, and the group collapsed a few hundred years later in a grand frenzy of political fuckery that included the requisite torture and death.

Turning the maligned knights into undead avengers, rising from their graves each night to snack on tourists, de Ossorio positively ran with the concept. The result was an irresistible mix of questionable acting, rape, murder, and cool, slo-mo skeletons on horseback that became a global hit. Afterward, there was only one thing left to do: crank out some sequels. 

Like its predecessor, RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD exists in a number of versions, but the most complete ones begin the film with the original persecution of the Knights Templar. Their distinct, white mantles are toasted a crispy black as each knight is sentenced to be set afire, but not before they have their eyes burned out first just, you know, for good measure…and to reiterate the whole *blind* dead thing.

Hell hath no fury like a templar scorched, and you can’t keep a good ghoul down for long. When a crazed hunchback offers a human sacrifice to the knights, they’re soon poppin’ up all over the place again! You can only imagine how pissed off the Templars are once they find out the townspeople are actually preparing a 500th anniversary shindig celebrating their defeat. Ooo-wee!!! 

De Ossorio has cited fellow drive-in touchstone, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), as one of the main inspirations for his franchise. Never has the influence been more obvious than his first sequel: A group of townsfolk hole up before inevitably double-crossing one another to keep from being shish-ke-babbed by the galloping undead. 

Despite the expected limitations of its budget and era, I was surprised by how effective RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD was more than 50 years after its debut. For quite a while, I had purposely avoided it, making the admittedly small-minded assumption that there wouldn’t be much left to drink after a second trip to the Templars’ well. But if ripped-out hearts, hacked-off limbs, and decapitations are your bag, then this little number could slake your nagging thirst for the macabre. Even better, it might get you second-guessing whether you’ve been sleeping on de Ossorio’s other works, as well.

#historicalhorror #returnoftheblinddead #knightstemplar #middleages #catholicism #amandodeossorio #nightofthelivingdead #portugal #driveinmovies

I remember being a little surprised when I originally saw FRIGHT NIGHT PART II back in the day. It exceeded my expectations, but I don’t know how it would hold up for me now after all this time. I need to spin it again sometime soon.

Much like director Tommy Lee Wallace’s earlier sequel, HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982), the film has seemed to garner more fans in recent years. These newfound fans have no doubt spurred a forthcoming 4K release from Synapse Films, so fans should keep an eye out for it in 2026.

Taken from Fangoria Poster Magazine #3 (1988)

#onesheetwonders #frightnightpartii #tommyleewallace #halloweeniiiseasonofthewitch #synapsefilms #fangoria

Today, we bring you a nifty little item. This is the original design sheet for Freddy’s glove in Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Dated April 28, 1984, roughly six months before the film hit theaters, Jim Doyle sketched out on a sheet of graph paper the design for one of the most iconic weapons in film history. This included details that noted use of a Wells Lamont brand work glove, as well as where to position the finger loops for maximum finger dexterity. Without a doubt, this is a great example of ‘the making of a monster’ and a priceless piece of film history.

#fearflashbacks #anightmareonelmstreet #wescraven #jimdoyle #wellslamont #gloves #freddykrueger #newlinecinema

As I’ve slogged through the interwebz, I’m finding that the HELLRAISER series is the perfect target for meme culture!

#killermemes&comics #hellraiser #cenobites #dating

How do you kick off one of the most hotly contested horror films in history? By giving as little information as possible, that’s how!

Kubrick was a very intelligent guy, and that usually goes hand in hand with being pretty goddamn weird, too. Naturally, when ol’ Stanley adapted Stephen King’s 1977 bestseller, “The Shining”, for Warner Brothers, he decided to do things his way, taking a hard left and discarding a lot of King’s narrative and intent. This also included a landmark, wordless teaser trailer that erupted in a slow-motion torrent of blood, helping galvanize the film’s awesome image in the annals of horror cinema.

Today, we give you THAT trailer, which was possibly the very first thing audiences ever saw in conjunction with what would become one of the most famous fright films ever.

#terrifyingtrailers #theshining #stanleykubrick #stephenking #warnerbrothers