Director: Keith Thomas Stars: Zac Efron, Gloria Reuben, Ryan Kiera Armstrong Stephen King's Firestarter sits somewhere unassuming toward the bottom of the mid-tier of his work, and the same could be said for it's 1984 adaptation starring a young Drew Barrymore. By this yardstick the call for this remake seems relatively minor, yet here it is. …
Review: Agnes
Director: Mickey Reece Stars: Molly C. Quinn, Jake Horowitz, Ben Hall ***Warning, this review contains spoilers, and I would recommend viewing the film with as little foreknowledge as possible*** Sick of the tropes and predictability of cheapo exorcism flicks? So is Mickey Reece. One of the rising stars of the American indie scene, Reece has …
Review: Fresh
Director: Mimi Cave Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Andrea Bang Steve (Sebastian Stan) is a prosperous doctor with a nice house. Chic wall art. Stylish design flourishes (he has doors that make rooms look like paddocks). He can cook. He's handsome and charming (in an American way, at least). But he has little in the …
Review: Master
Director: Mariama Diallo Stars: Regina Hall, Zoe Renee, Amber Gray Institutional racism comes under sharp and shrewd scrutiny in Mariama Diallo's feature debut Master, a fresh addition to the growing subgenre of wintry campus horrors that forefront the experiences of women (snappy title pending). Here Diallo takes on the collegial experience from the vantage of …
Review: X
Director: Ti West Stars: Mia Goth, Brittany Snow, Jenny Ortega Does life imitate art or art imitate life? It's a cyclical conversation, particularly here in Ti West's sickly curdled Texan horror yarn. Following a brief detour into the realm of the western (In A Valley of Violence), West is firmly back in his wheelhouse, but …
Review: A Banquet
Director: Ruth Paxton Stars: Sienna Guillory, Jessica Alexander, Lindsay Duncan There is, both ironically and fittingly, a lot to digest when it comes to Ruth Paxton's spiky debut feature A Banquet. In it's strenuous cold open, we're presented a brief portrait of long-term care. Holly (Sienna Guillory) has been looking after her terminally sick husband …
Review: Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Director: David Blue Garcia Stars: Elsie Fisher, Nell Hudson, Sarah Yarkin I'm a frequent Texas Chainsaw Massacre apologist, especially when it comes to some of the much-maligned remakes and sequels. I'm ring-fencing Tobe Hooper's original here. It's a visceral classic that might just be the ultimate horror film. It's so inimitable, in fact, that those who've tried …
Review: Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Director: Johannes Roberts Stars: Kaya Scodelario, Robbie Amell, Avan Jogia Play pretty much any video game nowadays and there'll be a selection of optional 'trophies'; pre-set goals to complete to improve your overall ranking and measure how thoroughly you've bested it. A fairly commonplace one - and one present on the recent Resident Evil II …
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Review: Antlers
Director: Scott Cooper Stars: Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T Thomas, Keri Russell The small coal mining town of Cispas Falls, Oregon has fallen into economic decline, breeding a sickness of poverty and addiction that manifests strange and terrible beasts here in Scott Cooper's Antlers. Presented in a washed out, wintry palette that chimes with the sense …
Why I Love… #143: Messiah of Evil
Year: 1973 Directors: Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz Stars: Marianna Hill, Anitra Ford, Michael Greer Everyone has their favourite era for horror movies. For a lot of people, the 1980s are unbeatable, pumped up on the stylistic tics of MTV and the outré hair and fashion styles of the decade. For others, the 1930s offer all …
Review: There’s Someone Inside Your House
Director: Patrick Brice Stars: Sydney Park, Théodore Pellerin, Jesse LaTourette The slasher movie is back. There's a new Scream movie causing hubbub on the internet. Halloween Kills is doing monster box office in the face of a day-and-date streaming release. Even Chucky is back on telly in the rightful hands of Don Mancini. If our last decade saw …
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Review: Halloween Kills
Director: David Gordon Green Stars: Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Anthony Michael Hall Earlier this week Captain Kirk himself was fired into space, in a sense completing a circuit that began back in the 1960s. Here on Earth, however, the raggedy-ass face of William Shatner is out there scaring the bejeezus out of teens in the …
40 Great Horror Movies of the Last Decade
It's October which, for some of us, means one thing - horror movies. As is fairly well represented here at The Lost Highway Hotel, horror movies are a pride and joy. Few genres are so daring, so inventive or so resonant with the world we live in. It's an area of filmmaking that encompasses our …
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Review: V/H/S/94
Directors: Simon Barrett, Chloe Okuno, Timo Tjahjanto, Jennifer Reeder, Ryan Prows Stars: Anna Hopkins, Kimmy Choi, Kyal Legend For me, personally, there was a mini horror renaissance around 2012/2013 when I started to discover the genuinely diverse and even subversive scope of independent horror movies that were bubbling beneath the surface, spurred on by the …
Review: Malignant
Director: James Wan Stars: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, Michole Brianna White Throughout an already significant tenure in popular horror cinema, James Wan has been most commonly creeped out by the idea of losing control. Be it succumbing to Jigsaw's traps or getting possessed by whatever malevolent ills stalk the shadows of Insidious and The Conjuring, …