Editorials
4 Horror Movies to Get You Through the 4th Of July Weekend!!
I’m keeping this list light since I’m optimistic that you’ll actually be outside this weekend, grilling with friends or whatnot (or dodging a hurricane if you’re on the east coast). Also? There’s just not a ton of 4th of July horror that comes immediately to mind.
America might not be as great as it once was (insert cranky old man persona here), but we can still celebrate what we’d like the country to be and get back to the glory days with these movies!
Head below to check it out!
Uncle Sam
It’s fitting that William Lusting directed this 1996 horror satire since it bears more than a passing resemblance (aesthetically) to Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2. I haven’t seen this thing in at least 10 years but I remember it being a goofy and fun exploration of all the ways a patriotic (actually I think he only became really patriotic after he died) undead Desert Storm soldier can serve his country from beyond the grave.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
To be perfectly honest I know for a fact that I haven’t seen this movie since renting the DVD (or maybe even VHS) about 6 months after it was first released in 1997. I was a fan of Scream (and still am), but I remember this being pretty much garbage. Still, the way things are in America today you might get a patriotic nostalgia kick by checking this one out again. Transport yourself back to a time before the bubble burst!
Cape Fear
On the other hand I rewatched this just a few short months ago and was sort of shocked by how fun it was. As a kid, I remember thinking this was some kind of serious “artistic” fare, but it’s actually Martin Scorsese at his pulpiest. A humid, sweaty southern gothic tale of revenge with one of the most scenery chewing performances Robert De Niro ever committed to film.
Jaws
What can I say about this one that hasn’t already been said? One of the best movies ever. And it takes place on the 4th of July. I know I’m f*cking watching it this weekend.
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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