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, … Continue reading Review: Malignant
Director: Michael Chaves Stars: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, John Noble The eighth film to emerge in this franchise since James Wan kicked it off in 2013, the laboriously titled The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It goes hard embracing the hoariest tropes that make popcorn horror movies easy pickings for criticism, and catnip for punters after … Continue reading Review: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
After months of lying dormant, biding their time, the nation's cinemas are poised to reopen. And while the awards season giants are queuing up to draw extra revenue following their spurious streaming debuts, there's also a scant smattering of new releases hotting up the listings. Among the most wryly amusing (hopefully) to arrive on opening … Continue reading Ranked: The Saw Films
Though we're only a year and a half from bringing the decade to a close (at which point there'll be plenty of lists like this), the release of the impressive A Quiet Place spurred the decision to tally up the best horror films to have been released since 2010, according to The Lost Highway Hotel. So if … Continue reading 25 Best Horror Films Of The Decade (So Far)
Longtime readers may remember that I wasn't overly generous to The Conjuring - James Wan's first venture into the supernatural tales of God-fearing paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren - criticising it for coming across like a shrewd, generic, confused and plagiaristic endeavour. I've rewatched the film since and my opinion has changed very little. It's watchable, … Continue reading Review: The Conjuring 2
With James Wan trading carnivalesque bumps in The Further for the ludicrous spinning wheels of the Fast & Furious franchise, it's up to prior writer/co-star Leigh Whannell to take the reigns of the Insidious franchise for this third instalment, faithfully subtitled Chapter 3 yet a prequel to the first two films. Corkscrewing timelines are nothing new to … Continue reading Review: Insidious Chapter 3
It may have taken prior directorial mainstay Justin Lin a few goes to truly nail down the formula, but let's approach Fast & Furious 7 as what it is; the latest entry in a franchise that bears as much resemblance to real life as Guardians Of The Galaxy. Except in Fast & Furious everyone's either Drax or Gamora. … Continue reading Review: Fast & Furious 7
Last year James Wan had a spectacular hit with derivative horror The Conjuring, one of the finest examples in recent times of marketing and hype boosting the reputation of a distinctly average film. The Conjuring falls down largely thanks to the feeling throughout that it is a patchwork movie; one made from countless pieces of more inspired … Continue reading Review: Annabelle
One of the most shocking things about James Wan's Insidious was just how much fun it was. It popped up a couple of years ago amid the usual glut of also-ran horror movies offered by Hollywood and became something of an instant hit. A large part of that success (but at the same time the … Continue reading Review: Insidious Chapter 2
Putting aside for a minute the barrel-scraping title (which sounds like the name of a filler episode of Angel), the new movie from James Wan offers little inspiration up front. From the trailer, which has been doing the rounds rather heavily, it looks like a predictable mix of haunted house scares and stale riffs on The Exorcist. … Continue reading Review: The Conjuring
