Will Lasley
Bio
I’m an actor and director of stage and screen. But I also dabble in standup, and on this site, horror movie criticism. I’m just a guy who loves horror movies, and I like to share that love with the world.
Stories (92/0)
If ‘Gremlins’ Isn’t a Christmas Movie, Then Just What Is?
When I tell people that Gremlins, the 80’s classic from director Joe Dante, writer Chris Columbus, and producer Steven Spielberg, is my favorite Christmas movie, plenty of people inevitably scoff. I get told that it’s not a “real” Christmas movie, even though it seems to tick every box that a Christmas movie should. So why do so many think it doesn’t count? If Gremlins isn’t a Christmas movie, what is? Surely a movie doesn’t have to take place at the North Pole and star Santa himself in order to be considered a proper Christmas movie, does it? Some of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time acknowledge the nonexistence of Santa Claus, but that hardly disqualifies them in the public eye. So what is it about Gremlins specifically that makes people dismiss it? While people will probably be debating Die Hard’s eligibility as a true Christmas movie until the end of time, allow me to present my case for Gremlins, my very favorite Christmas movie.
By Will Lasley5 months ago in Horror
‘Dream Scenario’ Movie Review
Dream Scenario is the story of Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage). Paul is a biology professor who’s about as boring as he is insecure. Seemingly out of nowhere, people all over the world begin having dreams about him, including his students. While his wife (Julianne Nicholson) is instantly wary, Paul initially enjoys what he perceives to be appreciation. But soon the dreams become violent nightmares, and Paul must navigate a world that is suddenly frightened and repulsed by him.
By Will Lasley5 months ago in Horror
‘Thanksgiving’ Movie Review
Directed and co-written by modern horror maven Eli Roth, Thanksgiving is a contemporary slasher throwback based on his fake trailer from Grindhouse (2007). One year after a Black Friday riot that resulted in multiple fatalities, the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts is preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving when a mysterious masked killer begins butchering people involved in the altercation the year prior. Now Jessica Wright (Nell Verlaque), her ex-boyfriend Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks), and Sheriff Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey) have to unmask the slasher before Jessica, her friends, and her wealthy father (Rick Hoffman) end up carved.
By Will Lasley5 months ago in Horror
‘Saw X’ Review
Saw X, which takes place between the events of Saw and Saw II, sees John Kramer (Tobin Bell) coming to grips with his brain cancer diagnosis and attempting to tie up loose ends during his limited time left on Earth. When a member of his cancer support group (Michael Beach) tells John that he was cured by a doctor (Synnøve Macody Lund) offering experimental treatment, John decides to travel to Mexico for the procedure. When it ends up being a scam, he decides that Dr. Pederson and her associates need to learn a lesson about the value of human life, and it’s time for them to play a game.
By Will Lasley7 months ago in Horror
‘Talk to Me’ Movie Review
In A24’s latest horror film, this time coming from Australian YouTube sensations Danny and Michael Philippou, Mia (Sophie Wilde) is still coping with the loss of her mother (Alexandria Steffensen) when she and her friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) are forced to drag Jade’s younger brother Riley (Joe Bird) to a party. When partygoers bring out a mummified hand that can supposedly be used to communicate with the dead using temporary possession, Mia gives it a try. While she’s initially freaked out, she ends up loving the experience, and it becomes her drug of choice. But things go horribly wrong after Riley tries it, and the spirits start reaching out unprompted.
By Will Lasley8 months ago in Horror
'Brooklyn 45' Movie Review
Brooklyn 45 is a Shudder original from writer/director Ted Geoghegan. One night in December 1945, a group of five veterans get together at the request of Lt. Col. Clive Hockstatter (Larry Fessenden). There’s former interrogator Marla Sheridan (Anne Ramsay), her husband Bob (Ron E. Rains), a Pentagon clerk, Major Archibald Stanton (Jeremy Holm), and Major Paul DiFranco (Ezra Buzzington). Hockstatter asks that they perform a séance to summon his late wife, a staunch nationalist "patriot" who committed suicide when nobody believed her claims that their German neighbor (Kristina Klebe) was a Nazi spy. The séance appears to work at first, but things go awry, and the skeletons in the closet begin to reveal themselves.
By Will Lasley10 months ago in Horror
'Evil Dead Rise' Movie Review
From writer/director Lee Cronin and producers Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, this new spin-off of the Evil Dead franchise leaves the familiar cabin-in-the-woods setting for a dilapidated apartment building in downtown Los Angeles. Beth (Lily Sullivan) works on the crew for a rock band, but when she finds out she’s pregnant, she turns to her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) for advice. But after Ellie’s son Danny (Morgan Davies) uncovers another volume of the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, the Deadites are unleashed once again, and Danny, Beth, Ellie, older daughter Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and younger daughter Kassie (Nell Fisher) are directly in their path.
By Will Lasley12 months ago in Horror
‘Renfield’ Movie Review
Renfield is a horror-comedy that follows a present-day Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) as he attempts to break free from his master, the one and only Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage). But he’s going to need more than just his support group to stop the legendary vampire when they become tangled up in an ongoing battle between traffic cop Rebecca Quincey (Awkwafina) and hapless mobster Teddy Lobo (Ben Schwartz).
By Will Lasley12 months ago in Horror
‘Scream VI’ Movie Review
Scream VI is brought to us by the same team who revived the franchise last year with Scream (2022). It’s been a year since the events of the previous film. Sam and Tara Carpenter (Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega) are at Blackmore University in New York City, along with their friends Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding). But a new Ghostface starts killing other people around them, and the “Core Four”, as Chad dubs them, will need to enlist the help of old acquaintance Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), local lawman Detective Bailey (Dermot Mulroney), and newly-returned final girl-turned-FBI agent Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere).
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Horror
‘Cocaine Bear’ Movie Review
Based (rather loosely) on a true story from 1985, Cocaine Bear is about a bear that eats several duffel bags filled with, well, cocaine that had been dropped out of an airplane into the forest below before two drug runners (Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr.) can retrieve it for their boss, notorious drug kingpin Syd White (Ray Liotta). When two kids, Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and Henry (Christian Convery), encounter said bear, Dee Dee’s mom (Keri Russell) ventures into the woods to look for them, along with Ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) and environmentalist Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson).
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Horror
‘Knock at the Cabin’ Movie Review
From M. Night Shyamalan, Knock at the Cabin is about dads Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), and their daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui), who are on vacation at a lakeside cabin. When a man named Leonard (Dave Bautista) arrives and tries to befriend Wen, he is soon joined by three others (Rupert Grint, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn) who tell the family that they must make a devastating decision in order to prevent the apocalypse. And the longer they hesitate, the more people will die.
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Horror
‘Christmas Bloody Christmas’ Movie Review
In the latest from Joe Begos, it’s Christmas Eve, and co-workers Tori (Riley Dandy) and Robbie (Sam Delich) have nothing better to do than get as drunk as possible. But at the nearby toy store, a highly advanced animatronic Santa (Abraham Benrubi) begins a vicious killing spree. Why? Who knows?! But now Tori and Robbie have to find a way to stop it… or at least survive.
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Horror
