Cullen Wade

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 89: The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) Not much to say. Modest-sized, kidney-shaped, well-maintained, no-frills backyard pool. Gets the job done & looks good doing it. Probably no more than 6' at its deepest though, so I hope you aren't dead-set on diving.

Welcome back to suburbia, scary swim team. There's a lot to look at.
#poolreviews #slumberpartymassacre #splasherflicks #horrorsky #booksky #filmsky #slashers

PAPER CUTS: “S(P)LASHER FLICKS” Wets Our Appetite For Unique Analysis (REVIEW) — Macabre Daily Review of the new book by Cullen Wade, “S(p)lasher Flicks: The Pool In Horror Cinema” (2026) where he does a deep dive into the psycholgoy, sociology, and symbolic meaning of the swimming pool within ...

@scaredsane.bsky.social at @macabredaily.bsky.social followed up our cool interview with this extremely complimentary #bookreview of S(p)lasher Flicks!

www.macabredaily.com/articles/pap...
#splasherflicks #booksky #horrorsky

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 88: The Twilight Zone: "The Bewitchin' Pool" (1964) Pool is so dang big they can't even fit the whole thing in one shot. Extremely excessive for a 4-person family. Also, unrelated, but I could never figure out why the parents talk like Mid-Atlantic yuppies but the kids sound straight outta the Georgia pines.

@svengoolieofficial.bsky.social reminded me last week that Son of Frankenstein is even more nonsensical with the accents.
#poolreviews #horrorsky #filmsky #booksky #twilightzone #splasherflicks

gonna tell my kids that every reference to "crypto" from the 2020s was actually short for cryptofascism & they will believe me because literally all of it will make sense

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 87: Fright Night (2011) Not sure why there's a full pool at a vacant house (especially in the desert), but I like the tile work. It's hard to be certain but I think that's a sun bench in the corner, which is always a nice feature.

In order for it to work, you have to believe in it, & I believe that this movie works.
#poolreviews #splasherflicks #horrorsky #filmsky #booksky #frightnight

I’ve been saying for years that Shudder justifies itself entirely on selection & price because the user experience is absolute dogshit.

The app (at least the Xbox app) finally got an update, & guess what: they did the seemingly impossible & MADE IT FUCKING WORSE.

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 86: Mortuary (1983) Even a well-known critic of pools with ocean view like me has to admit the slinky shape of this one is quite appealing. It is also, however, too big for a single-family home, & between the stonework, decorative planters, & deck furniture, it's a bit cluttered on the house side.

Another Monday, another '80s slasher with pretty good gender politics. Have a great week, scary swim team!
#mortuary #poolreviews #splasherflicks #horrorsky #filmsky #slasher

Humble Book Bundle: Dread & Darkness: A Horror Megabundle by Open Road Media A library of classic and modern horror fiction from some of the best writers of the genre! Grab this collection of over 50 books and support Save the Children!

Anybody care to explain why Humble Bundle is offering a deal on 52 horror books & NOT ONE by a female author? During Women in Horror month?

www.humblebundle.com/books/dread-...

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 85: Trick or Treat (1986) I can easily imagine a group of teenagers sneaking into the public pool to party thinking it would be more fun in the dark. At long last, a scene where it makes sense for the lights to be off.

Wake up, sleepyheads.
#trickortreat #horrorsky #filmsky #booksky #poolreviews #splasherflicks

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 84: The Stepfather (2009) 3 pools to discuss here. The strange shape of the school building makes me feel like I'm in an airplane hangar. Aunt Jackie's pool (top) is minimalist loveliness except that aggregate cantilevered coping I worry about keeping clean. The Hardings' pool (bottom) is modest & lovingly landscaped, & I'm a sucker for a tiered deck.

I was out of town yesterday so I missed posting a pool review. I know I've let you down. No gesture can atone for this failure, but as a token of my remorse, have a threefer.
#thestepfather #poolreviews #splasherflicks #horrorsky #filmsky #booksky

Me standing at the bottom of the staircase in Washington DC made famous by the film The Exorcist.

Every time I’m in Georgetown I gotta go pay my respects to poor Father Karras.

P.S. when I told my wife that Lewis Pullman had dated both Rainey Qualley & Kaia Gerber she instantly responded, "Forget nepotism, that's a whole lotta nepojism"

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 83: The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018) In theory I shouldn't like this one very much. Undistinguished concrete slabs on the deck & cheap aluminum coping are things I've complained about with other pools. But motel pools (a category that broadly includes RV parks) play by different rules. Nostalgia value matters, & the way the neon trees play off the stone wall gives this a lot of character.

Another movie I was lukewarm on at first, but gets better every time I watch it. Great pool, great song choice, & the scene they appear in is destined for canonical status--if it's not already there.
#thestrangerspreyatnight #poolreviews #splasherflicks #horrorsky #filmsky #booksky

I no longer think del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness would have much of a shot at being good, but I still think it’s a crime we never got a 3rd Hellboy movie from him.

To the question, I’d love to see what Julia Ducournau could do with Tiptree’s “The Girl Who Was Plugged In”

A flyer for “Chlorine & Kudzu: Southern Gothic meets Swimming Pool Scares” a book event on 3/19 in Charlottesville, VA with authors Cullen Wade and Elizabeth Broadbent.

I don’t think I have many Virginia ppl on here, but yall can see me & @elizabethbroadbent.bsky.social cuttin up at 2nd Act Books in Charlottesville on 3/19. It’s a @nighttidemag.bsky.social super teamup!
#horrorbooks #instore #horrorwriters

Don't know why but I somehow skipped #81 yesterday, which is extra tragic because this is one of my favorite pools.
#poolreviews #splasherflicks #horrorsky #booksky #filmsky #alltheboyslovemandylane #keepyouramberslandertoyourself

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 82: The Woman (2011) Impossible to say much because we don't get a good look at it, but--I know I'm always talking about safety & making sure kids don't fall in, but for a backyard pool this fence seems excessive.

I mean who would want to make their pool feel like jail?
#poolreviews #splasherflicks #horrorsky #filmsky #booksky #thewoman

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 80: The Velvet Vampire (1971) We never get a wide shot of the pool so it's hard to get a good read, but from what I can tell, this is as responsible as a pool in the desert can be. Xeriscaping, making use of rocks & vegetation with minimal water needs. Revenge & Death Valley, I hope you're taking notes.

Pool season is coming, scary swim team. Keep the faith.
#poolreviews #splasherflicks #horrorsky #booksky #filmsky #velvetvampire

Great film! You’re right that it seems kinda forgotten about now. I didn’t realize it was already 5 years old.
I remember getting hung up on the fact that it had the same ending as Saint Maud from that year, but of course that’s neither film’s fault.

Cullen Wade Joins Us For A Dip Into The World Of “S(P)LASHER FLICKS” (INTERVIEW) — Macabre Daily Brian Finnerty speaks with Cullen Wade, author of "S(p)lasher Flicks: The Pool In Horror Cinema" (2025).

Did a fun interview with @scaredsane.bsky.social over at @macabredaily.bsky.social. Lots of good words about #splasherflicks & an interesting chat!

www.macabredaily.com/articles/cul...

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 79: Infinity Pool (2023) The film's title is a misnomer, since there are at least 2 infinity pools at this Li Tolqa resort. One is an undistinguished rectangle, the other is this compellingly midcentury space-age job with lilypads for lounging. I know which one I'd spend my time in.

Where does Li Tolqa fall on your ranking of horror movie vacation destinations on a scale of "Nope" to "Absolutely fucking not"?
#horrorsky #filmsky #booksky #poolreviews #splasherflicks #infinitypool

Aaaahahahaha me af

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 78: Assassination Nation (2018) A modest backyard pool, just big enough to frolic around in with a few friends & to allow for some depth variation. I can't help but think the deck could use some adornment. Tile work is kind of boring too, but on the plus side, when empty this would be a very fun pool to skate in, if you're into that.

Sorry I couldn't get a clear screengrab of the illogical but iconic scene where her majesty Hari Nef nailguns a proud boy to death underwater.
#assassinationnation #filmsky #horrorsky #booksky #poolreviews #splasherflicks

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 77: Confessions (2010) Even without the puke-green water, leafy surface, & dead body, this pool would still be gross. The naked cement deck & stamped skimmer plates in utilitarian coping make this look more like an industrial reservoir than anything meant for humans.

Hey you look like you might be interested in a physical version of these pool reviews (all 104 of them), plus a bonus essay that will only ever appear in zine form. Plus you get it free if you purchase my book directly from me? Dang.
#poolreviews #splasherflicks #confessions #horrorsky #booksky

(also it's weird how 3/5ths of the supporting actress nominees that year were named Anne or Ann)

Not even hyperbole when I say Louise Lasser should have gotten Oscar consideration.

S(p)lasher Flicks Pool Reviews Day 76: Blood Rage (1987) I'm not even going to harp on the raised lip around the perimeter, because this has a major aesthetic problem. Grey coping, grey deck, grey & featureless beige walls. Even the tank is painted a pastel blue that approaches grey. Get some color in there, people!

That's not cranberry sauce! Nor is it a very good pool.
#bloodrage #horrorsky #filmsky #booksky #splasherflicks #poolreviews

Good morning east coast

Yo venture capital class, I heard you like AI, gambling, absurd masculinity, unprofitable business ideas, & eugenics, so I made an app where you show a robot a photo of a random cumstain & gamble on whether it can correctly identify the race of the person it comes from. That will be $3 billion plz.