Movies / TV

Invaders From Mars (1953): Making Sci-Fi Feel Like a Nightmare

Framing the terrors of childhood, from Stranger Things to Spielberg to the monster matinees of the Atomic Age

May 4 • Alec Worley

Excalibur (1981): The Weird Wisdom of Epic Fantasy

Still a masterclass in movie mythmaking, knowing when to print the legend, and why the lessons of fantasy can only be learned by letting go

Mar 7 • Alec Worley

We Need To Stop Being Weird About Theme in Stories

What your story is really saying and why you need to stop saying it

Nov 5, 2025 • Alec Worley

Lessons from Hannibal Lecter: How to Write a Human Monster

Can horror be scary without the supernatural?

Sep 29, 2025 • Alec Worley

The Best Scene in 'An American Werewolf in London' (1981) Isn't the One You Think

How to write a comedy of terrors

Aug 28, 2025 • Alec Worley

Superman (2025): Telling a Superhero Story the DC Way

How James Gunn chooses myth over Marvel

Jul 16, 2025 • Alec Worley

28 Days Later (2002) vs. 28 Weeks Later (2007)

Predicting a bloody future without stating the bloody obvious. How Danny Boyle and Alex Garland reinvented the reanimated

May 19, 2025 • Alec Worley

Who Goes There? (1938) vs The Thing (1982)

John W. Campbell's classic novella of Golden Age science fiction and John Carpenter's modern horror masterpiece - both absorb new meanings in the age of…

Mar 26, 2025 • Alec Worley

Cronos (1992): Vampires Don't Have to Be Horrible

How Guillermo del Toro subverted the bloodsucking genre

Feb 20, 2025 • Alec Worley

The Green Knight (2021): Make Camelot Weird Again

How David Lowery brings strange new meaning to an antique fantasy text. And, yes, it’s a Christmas movie. Fight me.

Dec 13, 2024 • Alec Worley

The Furry Folk Horror of Watership Down (1978)

How the animated adaptation of Richard Adams’s novel terrified a generation and builds a non-human epic fantasy that casts a dark and enthralling spell

Nov 11, 2024 • Alec Worley

What Hawk the Slayer Got Right

Defending a sword and sorcery kinda-classic

Oct 25, 2024 • Alec Worley

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