Marc Paterson

A strong stomach is needed to watch Nicholas Pesce’s feature debut The Eyes of My Mother. But while the film shares many traits with other trauma-based horror movies of its time, Pesce’s film doesn’t share their lofty metaphorical ambitions. It is a straight-ahead character study of a terrifying human being that will test your morality just as much as your endurance.
The Eyes of My Mother centers around Francisca, a young girl living with her mother and father in a remote farmhouse. Her cold ...

From a forgotten B-movie that fell into public domain, to a timeless classic that influenced both visionary directors and artists alike.
The sight of Candace Hilligoss emerging from the Kansas river, caked in mud with a lost look in her eyes, has to be one of the most enduring images in cinema. The existential dread of being isolated from society is captured in the celluloid of Carnival of Souls like Tinkerbell being trapped in Hook’s lantern. The influence of Herk Harvey’s lone masterpiece c...

Jurassic World: Dominion is the Nostalgia-saurus Rex of the franchise, reuniting many of the original 1993 cast. Mattel’s 2022 Hammond Collection toy line for die-hard dino-fans is now on sale, so let’s take a look back at 1993’s merchandising monster.
The real money makers were of course the dinosaurs (which, let’s face it, the kids loved more than the humans). The ever-popular T-Rex had a junior and senior edition. Velociraptors had the cheap stocking-filler model as well as Dino-Screamer e...

From Satanic rites to campfire ghost stories, horror is full of rituals. But only one film can claim to be a ritual during both its production and in the final release. Begotten (1989) is a disturbing vision of sacrifice, death, and rebirth that borders on the unwatchable. The story behind its creation — and its creator — is one that descends deep into the occult, alternate realities, and how art is a ritualized ceremony of catharsis.
You could be mistaken for thinking this movie was made in ...

Erik Burnham and Dan Schoening’s Year One gives Ghostbusters the Citizen Kane treatment
Everyone knows the Ghostbusters right? The librarian, Slimer, Terror Dogs and Mr. Staypuft? They crossed the streams and saved the world and everyone cheered their name. But what really happened at the Rose nightclub? Did they ever go back to catch the librarian? Why did the containment unit explode when the power was shut off? What was Winston’s first assignment? So many questions.
Ghostbusters: Year One ...

In this world of cinematic universes and comic book multiverses, if you ever wondered what a universe populated by Christopher Reeves’ and Margot Kidder’s Lois and Clark would look like then wonder no more. Riding high on the success of Jeff Parker’s Batman ’66, writer Robert Venditti and Artist Wilfredo Torres have produced a love letter to Richard Donner’s 1978 blockbuster in their six-part series Superman ’78.
“Superman ’78 stands as a tribute to director Richard Donner, who made a generat...

My many articles for HuffPo

Welcome 90’s Fans! This week Marc Paterson takes us by the hand into 1999’s seedy world of … Well, we’ll let you find out for yourself because we don’t talk about Fight Club.
Where do I start with Fight Club? I’ve read the book twice, maybe even three times and in my late twenties, it was my bible.
Nihilism was my coping strategy, living in a concrete box, alone, not really knowing who I actually was. That book held me together by telling me that everything falls apart in the end. That, and t...

Hello to you, geeky chums! Join us in welcoming a new member to the WGN family Marc Paterson. Naturally, he was anxious about making his debut, so what better way to relieve that nervous tension than to look at some of cinema’s greatest worriers.
Over to you Marc…
Bonnie Tyler sang, ‘I need a hero,’ and often is the time when all of us need exactly that – especially in these trying times – but sometimes heroes can be a bit too gung ho. Look at what Bruce Willis did to that building in Los Ang...

“You’ll never reach a man’s soul through a lens."

Kafka falls through the door and turns, a look of pure horror at the scene before him: a vast, cavernous room. Inside, a gigantic monstrosity beyond comprehension. Beneath it, a man, tethered, terrified.

Kafka, confronted with the nightmares he’s written about, now realized in front of him, falls to his knees in despair. “You’ll never reach a man’s soul through a lens,” he says.

Dr. Murnau, dressed in a black business suit and white necktie, h...

The best Phillip K. Dick adaptation isn't the one you're thinking of...
Beneath the red sands of Mars, a crisis is averted in an underground station. The male technician raises his visor to see his attractive female colleague. Impressed with his heroism, she strips. Soon they’re making love and then… she wakes up. She’s in a Rekall simulation booth and he is her co-worker. Before we have time to get to know either character, an android bursts through the door and shoots them both dead. This i...