Steven Scaife

Columbus, United States

Freelance Pop Culture Writer at Freelance

Freelance Pop Culture Writer at Slant Magazine

Writing on everything, unfortunately. Bylines at Slant, Polygon, Unwinnable, Fanbyte, Buzzfeed News, WaPo, IGN, EGM, etc. He/him. 📧 stvnscaife at gmail

Articles

Best Wishes to All Review - IGN

2 weeks ago | ign.com | Steven Scaife

Best Wishes to All is now streaming on Shudder. A child with paper wadded into his bleeding eye sockets like they’re plugging a bloody nose. A human pyramid serving as a makeshift delivery table for a pregnant woman. A man flailing on the ground in his underwear, unable to see or speak because his eyes and mouth are sewn shut.
Best Wishes to All Review

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Steven Scaife

Best Wishes to All ReviewBest Wishes to All is now streaming on Shudder. A child with paper wadded into his bleeding eye sockets like they’re plugging a bloody nose. A human pyramid serving as a makeshift delivery table for a pregnant woman. A man flailing on the ground in his underwear, unable to see or speak because his eyes and mouth are sewn shut.
A Story-Heavy Sci-Fi Survival Tale

2 weeks ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

Most games include at least one white guy with facial hair, but The Alters dares to dream bigger. The latest survival game from Frostpunk and This War of Mine developer 11 bit Studios imagines a whole community of thirtysomething fellas, all of them Jan Dolski. Jan—the first one, at least—is the lone survivor of an ill-fated space expedition, and his only hope of running all the corporate tech left behind is to clone himself.
‘The Better Sister’ Review: A Charmingly Silly Murder Mystery Adaptation

1 month ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

Not every book needs a multi-episode TV adaptation. And based on how most of those adaptations turn out, most do not. As adapted from Alafair Burke’s novel of the same name, however, Amazon’s The Better Sister features a familial web so tangled that it all but justifies its existence. High-powered publishing exec Chloe Taylor (Jessica Biel) is married to lawyer Adam (Corey Stoll), who used to be married to Chloe’s alcoholic sister, Nicky (Elizabeth Banks).
A Lovingly Esoteric Tribute to Growing Pains

1 month ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

The latest from Katamari creator Takahashi Keita might sound conventional, given his typically kaleidoscopic standards. Where Wattam followed a green block man called the Mayor with a mustache on his face and a bomb under his hat, To a T centers on a human teenager with no political convictions. The character, whose default name is Teen, lives in their small town with their single mom and dog, whose default name is Dog.
An Endearing But Clumsy Sci-Fi Comedy

1 month ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

The rogue security cyborg (Alexander Skarsgård) at the center of Apple’s Murderbot is less a vengeful killer than a quiet quitter. Having hacked the module that compels it to follow orders, Murderbot doesn’t seek revenge against the humans who birthed it into a lifetime of corporate bondage, it just wants to be left alone to watch TV. The robot continues to give its security job the absolute minimum of attention while downloading soap operas directly into its eyeballs for covert binging.
Clown in a Cornfield Review - IGN

1 month ago | ign.com | Steven Scaife

Clown in a Cornfield opens in theaters May 9. Some titles let you know exactly what you’re in for, and if Clown in a Cornfield isn’t a memoir by a Midwestern comedian, then it can only be a slasher. Adapted from Adam Cesare’s acclaimed 2020 novel, it’s full of rowdy teens who drink and then die at the hands of, yes, a red-nosed madman in a maize crop.
Leaning Further into Comedy

1 month ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

Vagabond sleuth Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) may have the ability to spot any lie, but almost as uncanny is her way of entangling herself in the lives of strangers who just happen to turn up dead. We witness a murder play out in the opening third of each episode of Poker Face and then flash back to see everything from a different perspective, in the process learning how Charlie was enmeshed in the events that took place.
Soccer Fever Is in the Air

1 month ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

In the summer of 2001, Ecuador is still recovering from total economic collapse. But hope is seen on television, as the country’s national soccer team is on the cusp of qualifying for the World Cup. For the people of Ecuador, the qualifying matches are as much a distraction from everyday troubles as they are a rallying cry of defiance and perseverance. These matches have a different effect on Julián, Despelote’s eight-year-old protagonist.
'Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 2' Review

2 months ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

What’s most refreshing about the first installment of Don’t Nod’s Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is its focus on everyday life circa 1995. “Tape 1” has a supernatural hook, but it’s almost beside the point compared to the more important business of getting to know four girls as they form a punk band in their small Michigan hometown of Velvet Cove. Unfortunately, “Tape 2” doesn’t quite validate that observational focus.