Sean Patrick
Bio
Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.
Stories (289/1969)
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Classic Movie Review Saw 6
Since the series debuted in 2004 I have been trying to convince people of the insidious brilliance of the Saw movies. Not merely another torture porn horror series, the Saw movies have a theory behind them. The lead character Jigsaw, aka John Kramer, played by Tobin Bell, believes that he can teach those who have taken their lives for granted to appreciate the gift of life. Jigsaw’s 'tests' are designed not merely to put these people in life and death situations but to reveal their true selves, their inherent nature, morality and character. Each is given a chance to reveal who they are through the choices they make and in doing so save their life or doom them.
By Sean Patrick3 years ago in Horror
Classic Movie Review: 'Scream' My Summer of Classics
Scream was a flashpoint in the horror genre of the mid to late 1990s. Some credit a smart marketing campaign, the film was distributed by Dimension Films, a branch of then indie powerhouse Miramax. Putting aside all that we know about Harvey Weinstein and his company, they made Scream a phenomenon through incredible word of mouth at a time when the horror genre was at the lowest of lows.
By Sean Patrick3 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'Nope' Spoiler Free Review . Top Story - July 2022.
A shoe stands on its end, the toe pointing into the air. It’s an evocative image, shoes don’t do that. But a shoe does do that in the new Jordan Peele horror thriller Nope. Come to think of it, the sight of a shoe in such an unnatural position is the kind of image that might cause one to say ‘Nope’ while slowly backing away from whatever might be the cause of this image. It’s not just a shoe though, there’s a well placed drop of blood on that shoe as well that offers another disturbing aspect to this sight. Then the context for the shoe comes fully into frame and…
By Sean Patrick3 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'The Black Phone'. Top Story - June 2022.
The Black Phone is a terrifically terrifying tale. Directed by arguably the best horror movie director working today, Scott Derrickson, The Black Phone delivers both an incredibly rich story and a legitimately scary horror movie. Featuring one of the best performances of Ethan Hawke’s extraordinary career, The Black Phone is far more than a one man show. Scott Derrickson has thought of everything in The Black Phone and takes care to cast the movie perfectly while pacing it to near perfection as well.
By Sean Patrick4 years ago in Horror
Classic Movie Review: Celebrate Blob-fest with 'The Blob'
It’s been more than 60 years since audiences mobbed the theaters to see The Blob starring Steve McQueen and 60 years on, The Blob remains one incredibly fun flick. This naked propaganda piece about the slow spread of the Red Menace remains a glorious piece of nostalgia and a genuinely clever piece of filmmaking that combines the best kind of camp with the best kind of star power.
By Sean Patrick4 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: Alex Garland's 'Men'
Alex Garland is a remarkable director. From the flawlessly composed shots to the immaculate production design, to the unsettling storytelling, Garland has a most unique sensibility. For his latest effort, Men, starring Jessie Buckley, Garland’s craftsmanship is as exceptional as his story is layered and disturbing. Examining misogyny, both external and internalized, as only he sees it, Garland has delivered a film that is more than the equal of his first two extraordinary films.
By Sean Patrick4 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'Hatching' is One of the Best of the Year
Hatching takes the story of a girl ‘coming out of her shell’ to a frightening and enlightening place. This stylish film from Finland may have a rather blunt metaphor regarding a young woman transitioning into becoming a teenager but that bluntness is part of the disorienting and exciting horror/thriller vibe that director Hanna Bergholm is going for in Hatching. The bluntness is completely intentional and it works like a magic trick to keep you looking one way while you are upended by the style of the storytelling, the frightening metaphoric imagery, and the exceptional use of color.
By Sean Patrick4 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'Children of Sin' is Better Poster than a Movie
Children of Sin has a terrific movie poster. The poster is 80’s style, hand drawn, animated art that evokes the aesthetic of direct to VHS horror movie discoveries of the 1980s. It’s a great poster that creates an aesthetic expectation that is sadly unfulfilled in the actual movie. Whereas the poster is distinctive and eye-catching, the movie is indistinct and rather by the numbers in style and in execution.
By Sean Patrick4 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'Room 203' Hopes You Are Afraid of the Dark
Room 203 is yet another horror movie that mistakes darkness for atmosphere. This by the numbers exercise in haunted house and demon possession tropes is, at times, so dark, in terms of what you can see, that trying to follow the story is impossible. Perhaps the movie might look better on a big screen, but watching on a professionally set up HD Television, I felt like I was staring into a dark room while stock music played.
By Sean Patrick4 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'We're All Going to the World's Fair' is a Terrifically Moody ARG Horror Movie. Top Story - April 2022.
One of my favorite YouTube rabbit holes to fall into is Alternate Reality Games or ARG’s. An ARG is an interactive online mystery that invites people watching and participating to keep track of and document clues to a central mystery. These stories often involve elements of true crime, they begin with a murder or an urban legend, they have suspects and clues and make use of YouTube, Reddit and various other forms of social media to expand the mystery in unique ways. The stories are densely packed and easy to get lost in for a few hours.
By Sean Patrick4 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'Kicking Blood' is a Nice Twist on the Vampire Genre
Kicking Blood stars Alanna Bale as Anna, a vampire. Anna has a taste for blood and while she is a murderer, she tends to enact her need for blood on bad people who deserve to have their life force sucked out by a vampire. Her first kill, that we see, is that of a man who works at the same library where Anna works. First, Anna witnesses this jerk breaking the heart of her elderly co-worker all while also acting creepy toward Anna.
By Sean Patrick4 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'The Yellow Wallpaper' is Haunting and Tense
The Yellow Wallpaper opens on a shocking sight. A family of three is in a carriage on their way to a country home for the summer. A mother, a father, and a small baby that will not stop crying. After the husband demands that the wife do something about the crying baby, she picks up the child and hurls it out of the window of the movie carriage. It’s a striking scene, one deeply symbolic of the rest of the movie which takes on postpartum depression through the lens of a horror movie.
By Sean Patrick4 years ago in Horror
