Matt Donato
Expertise
2000s Horror Remakes, Schlocky Slashers, The Chucky Franchise
- Matt is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association and other film critic organizations, lending over a decade of film criticism experience to awards season events.
- He has been a serving jury member at horror film festivals, has appeared in documentaries speaking about horror films, and has been sought after by outlets for his horror-specific coverage.
- Matt has seen over 125 Christmas Horror Movies, continually tops watching 100 new-release horror movies a year, and has earned a brand tied to highlighting horror films that others are not talking about.
Experience
Matt Donato is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic who stays up too late typing words for such outlets as IGN, Bloody Disgusting, Fangoria, Paste, and countless other publications. He co-hosts a podcast called Certified Forgotten about rediscovering horror movies with 10-or-less Rotten Tomatoes critic reviews and co-hosts a weekly livestream with Perri Nemiroff called the Merri Hour. You can catch him traveling (when safe) to film festivals such as Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Brooklyn Horror, and whichever others fit his schedule that year.
Education
Matt graduated from Hofstra's business program and lives the day-job grind when not writing about movies by night. It's given him a perspective into the industry side of studios and filmmaking, which adds depth to understanding how movie culture works as a whole.
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Stories By Matt Donato
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Hell House LLC is nothing if not creepy as all get out, and they earn that right because they have the worst clowns in the world.
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There are so many kills to choose from in the Final Destination franchise, but this one will stick with you forever.
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The Final Destination franchise is consistently solid, and the third installment has one of the most disturbing kills.
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Unfriended is packed with pulse-pounding terror, but this scene really establishes that this movie isn't playing nice.
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Let's look at two Nicolas Cage movies from 2021 and examine how one uses the actor to his full potential, while the other took the wrong lesson in casting him.
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A bird, a bottle, and a salted baguette. Here are the foods that defined the movies of 2021.
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Christmas may be over, but it's never a bad time to check out Joe Dante and Chris Columbus' Gremlins for some festive frights.
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'Twas the Scariest Scene before Christmas, and all across the site, only Krampus was stirring with such epic frights.
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It's one of the most memorable jump scares of all time, and it's held its position for a reason — it works!
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Platinum Dunes' 2009 remake of Friday the 13th stunned audiences by being legitimately scary, and the opening sets the tone.
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake from 2003 made a lot of brutal changes to its namesake, including making Leatherface inexplicably quiet.
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Haunted house story The Changeling is packed with scares, but the most terrifying one involves a wheelchair moved by unseen hands.
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This week's Scariest Scene is from Adam MacDonald's Canadian indie horror gem, Pyewacket, yielding different reactions from Matt and Ariel.
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Train to Busan is full of terrifying moments, from jump scares to unrelenting tension. But its greatest success is potent dread.
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Thir13en Ghosts is a treat when it comes to practical make-up effects and character design, yielding genuinely terrifying ghosts.
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In this edition of Scariest Scene Ever, we talk about one of the most famous deleted (and restored) scenes in horror history.
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Matt's pick for this week's scariest scene comes from Joko Anwar's Satan's Slaves, and it'll make you want to run away and hide.
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This week's Scariest Scene tackles arachnophobia with ... well, Arachnophobia. Ariel chose the film which was a first-time watch for Matt.
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Land of the Dead is one of George Romero's more underrated movies – and it features one the late filmmaker's greatest scares.
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We visited Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights, and came back pretty spooked. And also with a ranking of the new mazes.
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James Cameron's Aliens is fully loaded with terrifying scenes from start to finish, but this one makes Ariel cringe every time. But what does Matt think?
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Looking for something scary to watch? Here are 10 great horror movies streaming right now!
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This week's Scariest Scene column explores a truly explosive moment in Matt Reeves and Drew Goddard's Cloverfield from 2008.
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With Like Me arriving today, here are some other unsettling social media horror movies, just in case you want further reminder to turn off your phone.
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The scariest scene in the Evil Dead remake is a perfect jump scare, pulled off at just the right time and place to scare the crap out of you.
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The scariest scene in Banshee Chapter is all about your fear of stairs. And yes, aren't we all afraid of stairs in some small way?
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We need to talk about the scariest scene in Paranomal Activity and how the brilliant filmmaking does so very much with so very little.