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I first discovered After Midnight (1989) during my freshman year of college. There at I Luv Video was this VHS tape that gave me nostalgia for a movie I actually hadn’t seen yet. The woman on the cover, a character played by Jillian McWhirter, was quite literally trapped in time, and the tagline beneath her fiery fate read: “Anything Can Happen in the Dark.” As it turned out, my little case of memory distortion was rather fitting; this movie starts off with someone having a vague recollection, albeit of a terrible event.

Growing up I had passed by After Midnight many times at my local video shop, but it wasn’t until some years later that I gave it a watch. And after witnessing the nightmarish fate of those college students enrolled in The Psychology of Fear, I was hooked. Jim and Ken Wheat’s movie — their horror debut as...

Where there’s a drill, there’s a way. Corbin Bernsen stars as homicidal dentist Dr. Alan Feinstone in these two horror favorites, available for the first time on Blu-ray.

In The Dentist, Beverly Hills dentist Dr. Feinstone seems to have the perfect, ordered life — until the discovery of his wife’s affair with the pool boy sends him off the deep end, unlocking the killer inside.

The Dentist 2 finds the evil doctor in a maximum-security mental hospital…but not for long, as he escapes to a small town and turns his attentions to a new love interest and new victims.

There’s something inherently unsettling about teeth, and the addition of someone prodding at them with sharp instruments is especially invasive. On the other side of that coin, the negative association with dentistry can impact the professionals. Cult filmmaker Brian Yuzna tapped into these fundamental fears with his 1996 direct-to-video film, The Dentist, and its 1998 sequel, The Dentist 2.

In fact, Yuzna knew he could sell the movie based on the title alone, so he solicited writers to pitch him on the concept. It was his old pals Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli — for whom Yuzna had produced Re-Animator and From Beyond — that cracked the script. Charles Finch (who went on to executive produce David Cronenberg’s Spider) was later brought in to punch it up.

Continuing the underlying social commentary Yuzna explored with Society, the film centers on hot-headed dentist Alan Feinstone. After catching his wife (Linda Hoffman) going down...

With guys like Fred Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Leatherface dominating the cinematic slaughter scene (the new Texas Chainsaw killed the competition this weekend), it’s easy for horror fans to forget about the little people. But, we at FEARnet embrace the little people and think that they deserve their moment in the spotlight just as much as the big guns. So, we have put together a list of underrated psychopaths in horror cinema who we would like to thank for their thoughtful contributions to the horror genre.

The Dentist

Corbin Bernsen does crazy quite well. His performance as a psychotic dentist who wants to rid the world of filth is what makes The Dentist as enjoyable as it is. The film itself is just Ok, but Bernsen's performance is great. Watch out for Mark Ruffalo in one of his first feature film roles. The Dentist 2 goes a little off the rails.

Horror fanatics are still buzzing like chainsaws over the Academy Awards’ genre montage. Anywhere there could be a conversation about it online, there was one. Many were upset over the Twilight ‘tweens’ participation, as if their mere presence sent a message about the state of scary in Hollyweird, USA.

A few seemed happy, though, to just get a glimpse of their beloved Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 if only for a few seconds. But many called the selections generic and thoughtless, demanding the likes of Demons and TerrorVision instead (well, maybe not TerrorVision; that was just me).

How about Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer? Re-Animator? It’s Alive? Tombs of the Blind Dead? Coffin Joe? No list is perfect, but with a bit more care and a phone call to any one of us, the Oscars could have elevated that section into a real scream. Or maybe they...

It’s that time of year again, kids. Dread Central’s 2010 Horror at the Oscars coverage. Horror was indeed present this year and in black-tie. While Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall were honored a few months back at the Governor’s Award Ceremony, it was an unexpected delight to see Corman, recipient of the lifetime achievement Oscar, enjoy a standing ovation on national television.

I was, however, very disappointed that neither of them were allowed to speak. Roger Corman’s contributions to modern cinema are too vast for him to just stand up and wave. James Cameron was one of many Corman acolytes present, and his nomination speaks to Corman’s tremendous legacy. On the Terminator DVD Cameron mentions, "I trained at the Roger Corman Film School.” Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola, among many others, were also former students.

The terror continued with a spoof of Paranormal Activity...

No, it's not the beginning of a bad joke. They're just four guys you should never make angry. And now their movies -- Leprechaun 5, The Butcher, The Dentist 2, and Christmas Evil -- are available to watch free right here on New Fear Wednesday (and all week long!). You can also check out Catacombs, Fright Night, Dance of the Dead, Toxic Avenger 1-4, Brotherhood of Blood, No Man's Land, Trackman, Room 205, Artifacts, The Graveyard, The Roost, Blood Red Earth, and Stream. Watch a trailer from one of these films after the jump.

Another hump day is upon us, and with it a slew of new free movies right here on FEARnet.com. This week, you can check out C.H.U.D. II, The Dentist, The Dentist 2, The Butcher, Christmas Evil, Dark Path Chronicles, and, making its web premiere, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. You can also check out the original Resident Evil, Night of the Creeps, Infection, Days of Darkness, Dance of the Dead – all part of FEARnet's month-long celebration of "Infectious Films". So get infected yourself, and check out one of these films now!

It's about time these hideous cannibal neo-Nazis showed their faces to FEARnettians nationwide! This New Fear Wednesday we're exposing the sick, twisted and remarkably flesh hungry—as usual—in our 10 new Free movies! Start off with the cannibal crazies of After Dark Horrorfest's Frontier(s) and finish off with 9 other titles including The Dentist, The Dentist 2 (online tomorrow), The Graveyard, Gothic, Love Object, Trapped Ashes, Days of Darkness, The Entrance and Restraint. Our 10 new movies this week are added to 10 favorites from last week so be sure to check out FEARnet's Free movie page and check back each and every Wednesday for new titles. And remember, those cannibal neo-Nazis wont wait!