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 (86/0)
‘Orphan: First Kill’ Movie Review
Depicting the events directly prior to the 2009 cult classic, Orphan: First Kill once again stars Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther (aka Leena), the psychotic dwarf posing as a 10-year old girl. Following her escape from a mental institution in Estonia, Leena begins posing as Esther, the long-missing daughter of wealthy American couple Tricia and Allen Albright (Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland). But when people around her begin to grow suspicious, “Esther” realizes her master plan may have backfired in some unexpected ways.
By Will Lasley9 months ago in Horror
‘Prey’ Movie Review
Prey, which takes place a few hundred years before the events of Predator, follows a Comanche girl named Naru (Amber Midthunder) who is in constant competition with her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). Both are incredibly skilled hunters, but of course, Naru isn’t given the same credit as her male peers. But when a Predator (Dane DiLiegro) lands in their territory, Naru is finally given the chance to show just how good of a hunter she is.
By Will Lasley10 months ago in Horror
‘They/Them’ Movie Review
They/Them is a new Peacock original slasher film written and directed by award-winning playwright and screenwriter John Logan. The film is about a conversion camp for queer youth run by the charismatic Owen Whistler (Kevin Bacon) where we follow a group of new arrivals, particularly a nonbinary teen named Jordan (Theo Germaine). I don’t want to say anymore about the plot, but needless to say, they don’t exactly try to make queer conversion therapy look good (which it isn’t).
By Will Lasley10 months ago in Horror
‘Nope’ Movie Review
In Nope, OJ and Emerald Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer) run a ranch that wrangles and trains horses for the film industry. When OJ sees what could only be a flying saucer in the clouds, he and Em become determined to capture irrefutable video evidence of extraterrestrials with the help of tech wiz and conspiracy theorist Angel (Brandon Perea) and veteran Hollywood cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott). But it looks like the threat might be greater than expected, and the staff and patrons of a local theme park run by former child star Ricky Park (Steven Yuen) might be in grave danger.
By Will Lasley10 months ago in Horror
‘The Black Phone’ Movie Review
The Black Phone, directed by Scott Derrickson and based on the short story by Joe Hill, is about a boy named Finney (Mason Thames) whose life is already hard enough. He’s constantly bullied at school, his father (Jeremy Davies) is an abusive alcoholic, and his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), seems to have prophetic dreams, which catches the attention of the police and the ire of their father. But when a serial child abductor called the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) kidnaps him, Finney finds a disconnected telephone in his new “room” and begins to hear surprisingly helpful voices on the other end.
By Will Lasley11 months ago in Horror
‘Crimes of the Future’ Movie Review
After eight years of hiatus, legendary filmmaker David Cronenberg returns to the director’s chair with Crimes of the Future. In an unspecified later day, almost every human being on Earth has evolved to no longer feel pain. Because of this, people have become obsessed with mutilating their own bodies for the intense sensation, because, as one character puts it, “surgery is the new sex.” One of the last remaining people to still experience pain is Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), who lives in almost perpetual agony. His body is constantly growing superfluous organs, and he and his partner, Caprice (Léa Seydoux), have taken the modern performance art scene by storm by turning the removal of these organs into an exhibition. When Lang (Scott Speedman), a man whose son was recently murdered, asks to have him publicly dissected during their act, Saul and Caprice are both intrigued and suspicious.
By Will Lasley11 months ago in Geeks
'Men' Movie Review
In the latest from Alex Garland, Harper (Jessie Buckley) decides to rent a house in the country to get away for a while after the death of her husband (Paapa Essiedu). While there, she encounters various odd, off-putting male characters (all played by Rory Kinnear), and she begins to get the feeling that she’s in danger.
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Horror
'Firestarter' (2022) Movie Review
In this new film adaptation of the 1980 novel by Stephen King, Andy and Vicky McGee (Zac Efron and Sydney Lemmon) are former government test subjects with superhuman psychic powers. Their daughter, Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), also possesses incredible abilities, specifically the ability to create fire with her mind. As she struggles to hone her abilities, they are forced to go on the run, as very powerful people are after her and want to bring her back to the facility that once tortured her parents.
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Horror
‘The Twin’ Movie Review
In this Shudder original, after the death of their son Nathan (Tristan Ruggeri), American couple Rachel (Teresa Palmer) and Anthony (Steven Cree) move to rural Finland, Anthony's ancestral home, with their surviving son Elliott (also Ruggeri), Nathan's identical twin. But their attempt to escape is threatened when it appears that Elliott is somehow communing with Nathan.
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Horror
‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Movie Review
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the MCU’s first foray into horror, continues their more recent exploration into the nature of the multiverse, as began with “WandaVision” and Spider-Man: No Way Home. When Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) encounters a young girl named America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) with the ability to travel through the multiverse, he consults Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) for help. But Wanda has also been dabbling in the multiverse thanks to an ancient book of witchcraft called the Darkhold, and evil forces from across all dimensions are being unleashed.
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Geeks
'Morbius' Movie Review
In Sony's latest non-MCU Marvel villain origin movie, Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) attempts to cure his unspecified blood disease, as well as that of his childhood friend Milo (Matt Smith), by mixing his DNA with bat DNA. The serum he creates succeeds in restoring his strength, but it also turns Morbius into a real-life vampire, and he must continue to consume blood in order to maintain his newly regained strength. But FBI agents Stroud (Tyrese Gibson) and Rodriguez (Al Madrigal) are hunting him down, and his only true ally is his associate, Dr. Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona).
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Horror
‘Vampire’s Kiss’ - A Misunderstood Stroke of Genius
In 1988, director Robert Bierman, writer Joseph Minion, and star Nicolas Cage brought to a life a little movie called Vampire’s Kiss. It was the story of a pretentious publishing executive named Peter Loew who, following a one-night stand with a biter played by Jennifer Beals, believes himself to be a vampire. Over the course of the film, he spirals further and further into insanity, and by the end, the audience is still not quite sure what all was real or simply in his head. The movie provides Cage with the opportunity to show just how far he’s willing to go for a role, and his 100% unhinged performance has become rather infamous. This has led to a lot of people seemingly misinterpreting the film, both tonally and thematically. As one who loves both the movie and its star, I really wanted to give my thoughts on this oddly divisive curiosity of a film.
By Will Lasleyabout a year ago in Horror
