Cinema Shock

THE PEOPLE VS. PAUL CRUMP (1962) is the turning point for a young William Friedkin trying to claw his way out of live local television. We follow him from Chicago's North Side, listening in on corrupt cops at his...

In our latest bonus episode, we're reviewing Zach Cregger's new take on RESIDENT EVIL! Chosen by CinemaShock+ members as our September new release pick, this is the director of BARBARIAN and WEAPONS taking on one of the...

By the time BATTLEFIELD EARTH finally went into production, the disaster was already baked in. Born from cut-rate deal engineered by a former dry-cleaning mogul, unchecked artistic hubris, and an unyielding series of...

BATTLEFIELD EARTH (2000) was born long before cameras rolled, rooted in decades of calculated mythology and institutional control. In Part 1 of our look behind the film, we trace L. Ron Hubbard from his pulp fiction...

For our inaugural series on Cinema Shock, we're digging into the legendary collaboration between George Romero and special effects icon Tom Savini. While Savini didn’t work on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the story of...

THE THING bombed at test screenings, got savaged by critics, and lost the summer box office war to E.T. — a failure so bad it nearly ended John Carpenter's career. This episode covers the fight over the film's bleak...

Filming THE THING meant spending weeks in sub-zero temps in Stewart, British Columbia — and a bus crash that nearly killed the cast and crew before the shoot even began. In Part 3 of our deep dive, we cover the brutal...

THE THING (1982) shot its Antarctic scenes on the refrigerated soundstages of Universal Studios, where special effects designer Rob Bottin spent months building creature work nobody in Hollywood had attempted before...

For our August new release review, we're taking a look at the latest film David Robert Mitchell, THE END OF OAK STREET. Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor star as parents trying to hold a fractured family together when...

THE THING (1982) spent years stuck in development as John Carpenter transitioned from low-budget indie successes to his first major studio feature. This episode covers the project's long development history, discarded...

Expanding the dystopian wasteland of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) took dirt cheap, surprisingly effective special effects and relentless location scouting. Part 2 of our deep dive details the transition from practical...

In ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981), John Carpenter gambled his biggest budget yet on transforming a former Disney child star into the ultimate anti-authority badass. Part 1 of our deep diver covers the genesis of Snake...

The first cut of THE FOG had no tension. Carpenter knew it, Hill knew it, and the studio knew it. This episode picks up in the editing room, where a finished film was quietly falling apart, and follows the rescue that...

John Carpenter had just made the most profitable independent horror film in history, and his first instinct was to make sure nobody called him a "slasher" director. This episode covers the origins of THE FOG — how a...

Groovy. A new EVIL DEAD movie just hit theaters and we just had to talk about it! Every month, members of CinemaShock+ have the chance to choose what new release we review and for July 2026, they chose wisely! The...