Terry Mesnard

Terry Mesnard Patron

Rotten Tomatoes approved critic, owner/EIC of Gayly Dreadful, co-host of the Scarred for Life Podcast and editor of We Are Horror.

Favorite films

  • Alien
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
  • The Blob

Recent activity

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  • 825 Forest Road

  • Redux Redux

  • The Block Island Sound

    ★★★★

  • The Brave Little Toaster

Pinned reviews

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  • Tigers Are Not Afraid

    Tigers Are Not Afraid

    ★★★★½

    Review from Telluride Horror Show:

    When I’m asked why I love horror so much, I typically explain how horror, more than any other genre, can tackle an issue and present it in a way that’s both enlightening and exciting. Adding the veneer of horror to a story frees the filmmaker to really dive into the subject matter and create something that transcends real life.

    Take the fairy tale aspect of Pan’s Labyrinth, for example. Guillermo del Toro frames an examination…

  • Revenge

    Revenge

    ★★★★½

    The helicopter sails over a desolate landscape. Its destination is a beautiful modern home; a colorful oasis in the otherwise brown desert. The camera closes in on a young woman as she departs the copter. It keeps low, focusing on her short skirt, her legs, her ass. She’s all bright colors; pink and sex. She sucks on a lollypop. Her neon star earrings bounce as she walks. She oozes sexuality and the camera eats it up. It languishes on her…

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  • Paddington

    Paddington

    ★★★★★

    Nicole Kidman was delightful.

  • Paddington 2

    Paddington 2

    ★★★★★

    Yeah, this really was that good, huh?

Popular reviews

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  • Swallowed

    Swallowed

    ★★★½

    A point of sometimes intense discussion in the queer community centers around the kind of content queer filmmakers should put out into the world. This takes multiple forms, but one such discussion is between whether films should appeal to a wider (read: straight) audience as a way of “bridging the gap” and the desire to be combative or strictly for the queers. Crossing entertainment entities, I know, but think Will & Grace compared to something by Bruce LaBruce like Otto; or,…

  • The Outwaters

    The Outwaters

    ★★★★

    Yep. Still gnarly AF. 


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    You don’t see found footage films like The Outwaters very often. Inspired from some of the subgenre’s highly rated stalwarts, notably The Blair Witch Project, Willow Creek, writer/director/cinematographer Robbie Banfitch infuses a sense of expressionism and surrealism in a film that begins as a slice-of-life drama and ends up in a realm of madness and cosmic horror. What elevates the film, though, is that he takes the basics of the found footage subgenre and presses…