Meg Shields

Based in the Pacific North West, Meg enjoys long scrambles on cliff faces and cozying up with a good piece of 1960s eurotrash. As a senior contributor at FSR, Meg's objective is to spread the good word about the best of sleaze, genre, and practical effects.
Jaws Dolly Zoom

How Does the Dolly Zoom Work?

By Meg Shields 

Here’s how cinematographers accomplish the disorienting trick also known as “the ‘Vertigo’ effect.”

Tenet exposition

What ‘Tenet’ Can Teach Us About the Limits of Exposition

By Meg Shields 

For a director as dedicated to visuals as Christopher Nolan is, you’d think he’d be a little more into “show don’t tell.”

Horror Streaming January

All the Horror You Need to Stream in January 2021

By Meg Shields 

New year, old horror. From genuinely horrifying horror comedies to a Peter Cushing retrospective, here’s our guide to the month of horror streaming.

Darth By Darthwest: Star Wars and North by Northwest mashup

More Mashups Should Send Cary Grant to Space

By Meg Shields 

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…Cary Grant still outclasses everyone.

Macbeth 1948 shakespeare movies

Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, and the Dilemma of Adapting Shakespeare

By Meg Shields 

Shakespeare is the most screen-adapted writer of all time. And as far as cinematic adaptations go, 1948 was the best year.

Gremlins Holiday Horror

The Trailblazing Tonal Shift of ‘Gremlins’

By Meg Shields 

The words “blender” and “murder” shouldn’t be this funny, and yet here we are.

Vhs Tape

The Magic of VHS: How Low-Res Taught Us to Love Movies

By Meg Shields 

Here’s why the imperfections of VHS endeared so many of us to cinema, and why a low-res viewing experience isn’t necessarily a bad one.

Best Movie Trailers 2020

The Best Movie Trailers of 2020

By Meg Shields 

From the memorable to the meme-worthy, here are the movie trailers that piqued our interest in 2020.

Best Video Essays

The 20 Best Video Essays of 2020

By Meg Shields 

In a year when we needed distractions, these were the video essays that kept us digging deep into the content we love.