Matt Konopka

2 weeks ago | killerhorrorcritic.com | Matt Konopka

First dates can be hell. I’ve been with my wife for over a decade now—how she isn’t sick of me yet, I’ll never know—but I haven’t forgotten the nerves that come with putting yourself out there. The awkward conversation. The sweaty palms. The stress in your gut when you know it isn’t going well. With Drop, director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky) packs all that tension into a tightly wound thriller that takes audiences out for a nerve-wracking night on the town pushed to the extreme.

2 weeks ago | killerhorrorcritic.com | Matt Konopka

When it comes to horror films produced in Ireland right now, filmmaker Damian Mc Carthy (Oddity, Caveat)—justifiably so—gets a lot of the glory. But another who more than deserves to be on everyone’s radar is Aislinn Clarke, whose sophomore feature, Frewaka, should cement her as a rising talent in Ireland and abroad.

3 weeks ago | dreadcentral.com | Matt Konopka

April 3, 2025, was the night filmmaker John Carpenter came home…or rather, the day the Master of Horror was recognized for his contributions to film history by finally receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Many a horror fan would argue the moment has been a long time coming for Carpenter. After all, we’re talking about the man who changed the very face of Halloween with the bone-white image of Michael Myers from his groundbreaking slasher, Halloween (1978).

3 weeks ago | dreadcentral.com | Matt Konopka

Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) wasn’t the first horror film to expound upon the terror of a nightmare, but it did wake filmmakers up to the possibilities that existed within that realm. More than four decades later, its influence is still being felt throughout the genre, as seen in Indonesian director Sidharta Tata’s newest film, Respati.

3 weeks ago | dreadcentral.com | Matt Konopka

Some would say one of the best parts about being a kid is not knowing. To a certain degree, it’s a gift not to know. Because when we do start to understand and leave behind our innocence like discarded snakeskin…that’s when things get scary. But that doesn’t mean that we should lie to kids, either. What some adults see as “protecting” youth is often robbing them of knowledge they deserve to have.