When it comes to the Academy Awards™, there’s an annual elephant in the room for grimdark nerds like us: Will any horror, sci-fi or fantasy films get Oscar™ noms/wins outside of the obligatory costume, sound, and visual effects categories this year? You don’t need to tell us that fantasy, science fiction and horror all deserveContinue reading “Women in Horror, Fantasy & The Oscars™”
Category Archives: horror
Six Magical & Monstrous Winter Movies to Watch
That fuzzy Omen Punxsutawney Phil has declared we’ve got six more weeks of winter ahead. Whether you believe in groundhog shadow magic or not, February can be a little… blah. So let’s escape together with a movie marathon in the Grimdark. 😈🎬 Note: I’m not including The Thing or The Shining in this lineup, becauseContinue reading “Six Magical & Monstrous Winter Movies to Watch”
A Last-Minute Dark & Weird Holiday Gift Guide
‘Tis the season, and no matter your chosen religious or pagan winter festivities, it’s “about that time” to wrap up—pun intended—your online shopping if you want those gifts to be delivered relatively on-time. I’ve noticed so many dark and offbeat gifts out there on the internet—thanks, ad sense 🙄—I thought I’d put that to goodContinue reading “A Last-Minute Dark & Weird Holiday Gift Guide”
Trauma as Power: A Dark Epic Fantasy Trope
Stark Contrast If I had to pick one and only one defining difference between vanilla high fantasy and dark [chocolate—sorry!] high fantasy, it’s in the core modus operandi of the protagonist. Heroes in vanilla fantasy grow to overcome their trauma, or at least succeed despite their inner wounds. Not so in dark fantasy: antiheroes embraceContinue reading “Trauma as Power: A Dark Epic Fantasy Trope”
Fear is the Anticipation of Evil
Aristotle said, “Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.” One of the reasons dark fantasy gets compared to horror is because of the unrelenting darkness and brutality of its worlds. Where it’s not just a matter of IF something terrible will happen but WHEN. But the most terrifying element of dark fantasy isContinue reading “Fear is the Anticipation of Evil”