Director: Bryan Bertino Stars: Xander Berkeley, Marin Ireland, Michael Abbot, Jr. Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael Straker (Michael Abbot, Jr.) are siblings, reunited when they return to the rural Texan homestead to look after their parents. Their father (Michael Zagst) is comatose, and their mother (Julie Oliver-Thouchstone) has taken her own downturn due to the … Continue reading Review: The Dark and the Wicked
Director: Mike P Nelson Stars: Charlotte Vega, Daisy Head, Bill Sage For the better part of a decade, the Wrong Turn franchise terrorised straight-to-DVD horror with a slew of tawdry sequels that ranged from bad and really very bad. Indeed the otherwise functional 2003 original came to feel like something of a minor masterpiece by comparison. … Continue reading Review: Wrong Turn (2021)
Director: Kevin Lewis Stars: Nicolas Cage, Beth Grant, Emily Tosta Nicolas Cage has comfortably settled into a mid-career groove of plentiful straight-to-VOD productions that tilt toward his strengths in manifesting either world-weary boredom or wide-eyed mania. Kevin Lewis is the latest director to be blessed with the actor's largess, and this cheap but cheerful horror … Continue reading Review: Willy’s Wonderland
Director: Jens Dahl Stars: Sara Hjort Ditlevsen, Signe Egholm Olsen, Morten Holst The cosmetics industry is worth billions; from the pastes and poultices we use the create the brief illusion of youth through to surgical procedures designed to enhance or preserve. To freeze time. Jens Dahl's ice-cold, slow-burn body horror counters that, while some people … Continue reading Review: Breeder
The following contains significant plot spoilers for the movie. The link between rain and catharsis is a staple of cinematic storytelling, often representative of a release of tension, a moment of acceptance, or some other instance of resolution. From Rutger Hauer musing on memories like "tears in rain" as his Roy Batty shuts down at … Continue reading Minutiae: The Rain Dance in Kotoko
Director: Remi Weekes Stars: Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu, Malaika Wakoli-Abigaba Remi Weekes' film, new to Netflix, turns the apprehensions and traumas of two refugees arriving on UK soil into the stuff of empathetic nightmares. It's an odd but welcome get for the streaming service, which more often trades in the kind of louder, brighter material that can … Continue reading Review: His House
Year: 2000 Director: John Fawcett Stars: Katherine Isabelle, Emily Perkins, Jesse Moss When it comes to teen horrors that writhe exquisitely in the perverse joys of the macabre, few come close to touching John Fawcett's turn-of-the-millennium offering Ginger Snaps. Conceived in partnership with Karen Walton and brought to life from her acidic script (gleefully prefiguring the … Continue reading Why I Love… #121: Ginger Snaps
Director: Natalie Erika James Stars: Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote, Robyn Nevin With most UK cinemas shuttered, you might be hard-pressed to find a new set of scares this Halloween, but consider the arrival of Natalie Erika James' new Australian offering, which has plenty of chills to suit your needs this October 31st. Indeed, chilly is … Continue reading Review: Relic
Director: Rose Glass Stars: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lisa Frazer How does one quantify faith? What is the yardstick or barometer? Placing metrics on the quintessentially unquantifiable has been the cause of frustration and burden for as long as there have been organised doctrines to follow. As in film criticism, objectivity is scarce, possibly futile. … Continue reading Review: Saint Maud
Year: 2010 Director: Alexandre Aja Stars: Jerry O'Connell, Elisabeth Shue, Kelly Brook The so-called 'B-movie' (the original concept itself long abandoned by cinemas) spins in and out of the modern mainstream with some regularity, usually dependent on some aberration or other hitting it big or creating meme-worthy content. From killer sharks to killer crocs to … Continue reading Why I Love… #119: Piranha 3D
Director: Charlie Kaufman Stars: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, David Thewlis I get anxious when I have to go home to see family. It's only a 10 mile trip, thereabouts, but it takes a lot to go and I feel bad that that's the case. Seeing family makes me feel infantilised in ways that frustrate and … Continue reading Review: I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Director: Josh Boone Stars: Blu Hunt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams Given that the combined efforts of the MCU and DCEU (is that right?) have bludgeoned virtually all enthusiasm to watch superhero movies from my shambling body, my very visit to see The New Mutants is as much a surprise to me as anyone. Especially given how … Continue reading Review: The New Mutants
Director: Rob Savage Stars: Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb Horror filmmaking has long been at the forefront of social commentary and trends (sometimes even leading the charge), so it seems perfectly legitimate that the first high profile film of the lockdown age comes from the more ghoulish end of the cinematic spectrum. New … Continue reading Review: Host
It seems churlish to say, but for a little while there in the '00s, Hollywood horror movies got really... mean. In spite of Kevin Williamson's injection of post-modernist humour, the '90s weren't a vintage decade for the genre, at least, not in the West. This was kind of surprising, especially considering the pre-millennial tension that … Continue reading What About… House of Wax
Director: Marc Meyers Stars: Alexandra Daddario, Amy Forsyth, Maddie Hasson I have to confess; obnoxious as it may have seemed to some/most, I have a soft spot for illogical 3D cheese-fest Texas Chainsaw from the early '10s. It's one of my comfort blanket movies. Bright and dumb enough to sustain me when I want to switch … Continue reading Review: We Summon The Darkness
