Articles by Alex Kirschenbaum

Amidst the ongoing battle for eyeballs between the litany of big streaming platforms, a fight we have called the “Streaming Wars” in past blog entries, several new and persistent entities have emerged. Paramount+, formerly CBS All Access, is making a concerted push for a good chunk of the market, having yanked some of its biggest…

Though the title of our article may read as being particularly appetizing, unfortunately we will not be discussing a movie about, say, an abode made entirely of cheese, bread and tomato sauce. When that day does finally dawn, though, we will certainly be ready to type. If you’re wondering what movies were on the minds…

As the calendar turns to March, we’re sure you guys and ghouls are looking to get your horror fix. No matter your preferred flavor, the world’s streamers are supplying a litany of chilling, newly-available options for you this month. Granted, this whole list could just include new titles on Shudder or Screambox, but we figured…

Fair warning: the phrase “Capra-esque” might get a real workout in the ensuing review. Late great comedy director Ivan Reitman’s inventive political comedy Dave (1993), starring Kevin Kline in a dual role as both a sleazy president and his kindhearted regular-guy doppelgänger, stands as a shining beacon of sunny cinematic optimism from a happier time…

Garth: What do you do if every time you see this one incredible woman, you think you’re gonna hurl? Wayne: I say hurl. If you blow chunks and she comes back, she’s yours. But if you spew and she bolts, it was never meant to be. Sage advice from two legends. Really, this line from…

Suppress your bitter aching loneliness this holiday by watching some very anti-Valentine’s Day cinematic relationships on Shudder! We here at Trailers From Hell have culled through all of the least romantic flicks currently showing on that spookiest of movie streaming platforms, and found some intriguing viewing fodder if you’re less-than-receptive to the typical amorous pablum….

Our friends at JustWatch, which should be your go-to resource for the streaming homes of virtually every movie and TV show imaginable, have supplied us with an intriguing new list, cataloging their top 10 streaming titles throughout the month of January 2022. Like all of the lists JustWatch sends our way, these stats are predicated…

Welcome to the scintillating final chapter of our 2021 Streaming Wars saga! Check out the prior chapters here, here, and here. Thanks to our pals at JustWatch, we now have in our possession some insights into the fourth-quarter activities of all streaming platforms stateside, covering October through December of 2021, based primarily on JustWatch user…

The terrific survivalist buddy actioner Shoot To Kill (1988), a.k.a. Deadly Pursuit, stands tall as one of the great under-appreciated genre flicks of its day. This riveting, rollicking ride, starring Sidney Poitier, Tom Berenger, Kirstie Alley and a cadre of capable character actors, will get its time in the sun right now. Buckle up. At…

Well, loyal readers, it’s that time again. December 31st, and you know what that means… it’s Val Kilmer’s birthday! We here at Trailers From Hell would like to commemorate the moment with a look back at perhaps Kilmer’s signature role, the hard-partying sharpshooter Doc Holliday in the classic modern Western Tombstone (1993). The story of…

To ring in the new year, select members of the Trailers From Hell team celebrated by watching the holiday’s signature slasher picture, the rock ‘n’ roll serial killer thriller New Year’s Evil (1980). New Year’s Evil is a nasty little slice of fiction. The set-up: Hollywood TV punk rock host with the most Diane “Blaze”…

The original Universal Pictures iteration of The Wolf Man terrified audiences for the first time on this date 80 years ago, December 12th, 1941. Featuring one of the most iconic creature makeup designs in history (courtesy of the great Jack Pierce) and spooky performances by stars Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Maria Ouspenskaya…

It’s time to crunch the numbers once again for the third piece in our Streaming Wars series! Today, we’ll take a look at streaming market shares for the third quarter of the year, the sequel to our prior pieces analyzing the first and second quarters of 2021. We’d like to offer a hat-tip to our…

When appraised in the cold light of day, The Wild Life (1984) stands as a fairly minor ’80s teen comedy, lacking the flash of broader, more risqué fare like Porky’s (1982) or the great characters that populated instant classics of the genre like 1982’s Fast Times At Ridgemont High (more on that in a second),…

On this date, 35 years ago, the world was changed forever. Howard The Duck, the first feature film to be adapted from a Marvel comic, was unleashed upon the world on August 1st, 1986, leading to decades of beloved blockbusters that would — Oh wait, just kidding. It took a few more decades, and some…

Today, we present the follow-up to our examination of the fraught battle between the big-money streaming sites, which covered the first quarter of the year, from January 1st-March 30th, 2021. Let’s take a look at the market shares of the various, still-expanding streaming services in the United States for the second quarter of 2021, covering…

Our friends at JustWatch sent us some intriguing new information about just how the streaming wars have been shaking out through the first quarter of 2021 stateside, predicated mostly on JustWatch user engagement. The heavy streaming leader remained old faithful, Netflix, which managed to maintain 31% of eyeballs during the year’s first quarter, covering January through…

From the moment we first encounter unwell online gambler “Blackjack” Jack (Peter Vack), he is a cheerful loose cannon. In this case, it is while he is in the middle of getting his nightly kicks on an internet sex chat site. He has found his way into a video conversation with buxom black leather-clad dominatrix…

The disturbing British coming-of-age thriller I Start Counting (1970), starring Jenny Agutter, makes its US Blu-ray debut on a pristine remastered Region A disc, loaded with fresh extras, courtesy of boutique label Fun City Editions. Adapted from the 1966 novel of the same name by Audrey Erskine Lindop, I Start Counting is a welcome relic…

It’s December 31st, and I’m sure you know what that means, dear reader… that’s right, it’s Val Kilmer’s birthday! Today we celebrate by examining the John Holmes crime pic Wonderland (2003), starring Kilmer as the fallen star. I went into the proceedings expecting a more sweeping Boogie Nights-esque tale of an ill-fated career in the…

Let’s face it: a killer Santa is never not going to look kind of funny. Every entry of the Silent Night, Deadly Night saga knows this (although indignant protestors in 1984 apparently did not). And each opts to deal with this fundamental visual quandary in a markedly different way. In the original 1984 film, the…

A homicidal hockey mascot. A firefighter-turned-fire marshal-turned-Stanley Cup Finals goalie. Lethal gym equipment. A magnificent helicopter escape plan. Lots and lots of roundhouse kicks. All of these elements and more make Sudden Death, released on this date in 1995, the most glorious action extravaganza of superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme’s career. Essentially Die Hard At A…

Hulu cements its status as this year’s much-needed rom-com MVP with director/co-writer Clea Duvall’s Happiest Season, the streamer’s Christmas rom-com-dram starring Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, and Aubrey Plaza. After the smashing success of its Groundhog Day-at-a-desert-wedding summer hit Palm Springs, Hulu became the talk of Film Twitter with its starry, splashy, Sony-produced holiday love story….

2020 has been a brutal and depressing year, with a raging pandemic affecting every corner of the globe and massive civil unrest arising in righteous response to long-ignored systemic inequities stateside. (Incidentally, if you can avoid traveling for Thanksgiving, the CDC would greatly appreciate it.) It makes sense, then, that film fans have opted to…

Hey there, campers. Are you ready for another scintillating installment of our horror franchise power rankings, this time for the blood-curdling series that cannot be killed by conventional means, Friday The 13th? Please note: if you haven’t watched these movies but intend to one day do so, you’d be advised to read no further than…

Jason Voorhees, the Friday The 13th masked mass murderer who has terrorized horny teenagers at camp sites for generations, has had many faces. This is both a credit to the various makeup artists designing Jason’s gruesome face and the performers wearing those makeups beneath that iconic hockey mask. This Friday the 13th holiday, we rank…