Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4674 )

• Demonic Plot

  

  The problem with pithy titles is that many of them apply to more than one movie. That’s true of The Accursed, so I’ll specify that I mean the 2022 film, directe... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Sense of Scale

  

  Most people have trouble imagining very large numbers.  The things we count, in daily life, seldom top the thousands.  To the human mind, a million is an... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Academic Reading

  

  There is an art to writing biographies.  In the course of my training myself to write on literary horror, I’ve read a number of them. Read more

  Posted on 27 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Horror History

  

  The problem with writing about the history of anything is that time keeps unspooling. Published in 1967, Carlos Clarens’ An Illustrated History of the Horror... Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Still Sleepy

  

  Being outside in the cold for several hours makes it difficult to think clearly. That’s my official excuse for watching Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers. Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dreamers

  

  Dreams are strange things.  I’m talking literal dreams—what your mind comes up with when sleeping.  Some dreams come out remarkably clumsily, like they were mad... Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Not Crystal Lake

  

  I’d heard just enough about Sleepaway Camp to wonder if it was so bad it was good. I really knew nothing else going into it. I won’t spoil the ending, but you... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Day for Earth

  

  Sometimes things come just when they’re needed.  Although it was earlier this month, the Artemis II mission was a celebration of Earth Day. Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Just Handle It

  

  It happened again.  A few days ago I loaded my blog post and forgot to click “publish.”  The reason for this is probably silly.  Although I get out of bed... Read more

  Posted on 21 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Substitutes

  

  I discovered Mary Roach in a Borders store in Somerville, New Jersey. Well, it might’ve been Raritan, technically, but it was right off the infamous Somerville... Read more

  Posted on 20 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Intensity

  

  It was the biggest excuse for breaking up with me.  “You’re too intense.”  I lost track of the number of times college coeds told me that. Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Glowing Television

  

  I saw some colleagues rather cagily recommending I Saw the TV Glow when it came out. Considered psychological horror, it is a bewildering film. Read more

  Posted on 17 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Crafting Byron

  

  For a man who lived to be only thirty-six, Lord Byron tends to be featured in very long biographies.  I’ve been curious about him, but maybe not to the tune of... Read more

  Posted on 16 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Reclaiming the Past

  

  It started after Nashotah House.  That event shook me to my very core.  And I was approaching middle age.  I started taking an interest in my childhood. Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Row Your Boat

  

  I’ve long wondered about what appear to be coincidences. Specifically, about movies on the same topic that seem to come out at around the same time. I saw Gothi... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Confidential Hazing

  

  Set in a Long Island prep school, among a somewhat secret society called the Players, this is a dark academia tale of murder and discovery. Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Uncut

  

  I remember well the first time I encountered a book with uncut pages.  It was in Edinburgh and the book was mine on inter-library loan. Read more

  Posted on 12 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Tambora Crisis

  

  The name Wolfgang Behringer was familiar to me from his book Witches and Witch-Hunts, which I read several years back. I’ve been interested in volcanoes... Read more

  Posted on 11 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Alien Signs

  

  Personally, I find alien home invasion movies scary. The combination of being awoken at night by a terror that seems plausible and the fact that there is nothin... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Machen’s Monstrance

  

  It was a coincidence worthy of a story written by a mystic.  Arthur Machen became famous for his novella The Great God Pan. Descended from a clergy family, his... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY