Jesse Hassenger
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216articles
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2News
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173Features
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26Lists
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4Guides
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11Reviews
About Jesse Hassenger
Jesse Hassenger is a contributing writer at Polygon. A longtime film and culture critic, his work also appears at The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, The Guardian, GQ, Decider, and The Daily Beast, among others. He co-hosts The New Flesh, a podcast about horror movies.
Latest
Deep Water isn't a sequel or equal to the director's standout shark movie, Deep Blue Sea
Renny Harlin is back in shark-filled waters, but Deep Water doesn't run particularly deep
The man behind The Green Knight has delivered a ghost story like no other
In Mother Mary, David Lowery seems fixated on the less horrific dimension to ghost-like entities
40 years ago, Sam Raimi and the Coen brothers teamed up to make a movie hardly anyone saw or liked
Here's the thing, though: Crimewave is actually pretty fun, and it's streaming for free!
A brutal new thriller 16 years in the making is finally streaming, and it couldn't be more relevant
The movie has been in the works for years and it still feels up-to-the-minute
Lee Cronin unwraps a wilder, gnarlier version of The Mummy than any previous movie
This is a much gorier take on mummy movies than Brendan Fraser's action-adventure franchise
10 years ago, Green Room predicted a future more terrifying than a horror movie
Jeremy Saulnier's intense siege thriller still hits hard and sharp
15 years ago, Danny McBride went on an underrated quest for fantasy-comedy glory
Your Highness closely followed Pineapple Express, but didn't land the same way
Thrash lets Netflix take another enthusiastic bite at shark thrillers
It isn't one of the best recent creature features, but it gets the job done
10 years later, Karyn Kusama's psychological thriller feels more relevant than ever
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the movie about a death cult plays differently now that so many real-life people have joined up
Faces of Death (2026) is a well-made reboot that may disappoint true horror sickos
This firmly fictional 2026 remake has an irresistible premise and a polished execution
A witchy new horror-comedy crosses The Craft with millennial anxiety
Forbidden Fruits is one for the Taylor Swift fans who grew up watching Mean Girls
15 years later, Sucker Punch stands as one of Zack Snyder's best
It doesn't all work, but it sure beats him monkeying with established characters
Johannes Roberts is one of our best B-movie craftsmen
Primate, now on streaming, is a well-crafted killer-chimp B-movie
Gen Alpha's first body horror film is here
Alpha is the perfect title for a movie about a contemporary teenager haunted by a mysterious virus
Denzel Washington has made a lot of cop thrillers, but only one with Spike Lee
Lee and Washington have worked together five times, and even their most mainstream collaboration has plenty to say
Guy Ritchie has become the master of the franchise non-starter
His movies may not spawn sequels, but they leave audiences wanting more, which might actually be better
Before throwing a Hail Mary, Ryan Gosling went into a more serious space with First Man
This isn't Gosling's first time playing a moody astronaut
50 years ago, David Bowie defied the rules of pop-star cinema with this space oddity
The Man Who Fell to Earth sounds like a Ziggy Stardust movie, but it's much stranger
The director of Twilight made a better YA horror romance that far fewer people saw
15 years later, Red Riding Hood is even better out of the context that created it
This classic pirate movie just turned 100, has eye-popping stunts, and is streaming for free
That thing where a guy slides down a sail using a knife? That's one century old