As a seasoned film viewer, it takes quite an experience to truly rattle me. This is the long-term effects of a lifetime of desensitizing myself by a (possibly unhealthy) overexposure to horror films. I find…
Horror
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Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, Mark Jenkin will be the name on everyone’s lips when it comes to talking about British films. Bait will be included on film schools’ syllabi along with the likes of…
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ComedyHorrorReviews
‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’: A Slasher With Brains About the Dangers of Modern Communication
It seems that a fair portion of Film Twitter has turned on A24. I make this observation because I pretty consistently see people mocking it as a brand, or more specifically, the specific type of fan associated…
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If you were to ask me for a list of the most exciting directors working today, Jordan Peele would be very high on my list, if not at the very top. In 2017, Peele burst…
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Hot off the heels of winning the SXSW Audience Award with his charming, witty, and near-universally loved directorial debut, Saint Frances, writer-director Alex Thompson’s return to the silver screen appears to be a complete tonal shift,…
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A devious recipe of psychological manipulation, profoundly unsettling family dynamics, and grisly horror that never quite feels like it coalesces into a full meal, Peter Hengl’s Family Dinner is certainly one of the more interesting horror…
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HorrorReviews
‘The Innocents’ Is a Scary Kids Eye View of Superpowers
by Brian Connorby Brian ConnorKids, eh? Buncha weirdos the lot of ’em. Not yours obviously, they’re lovely. No offense meant. But they can be confusing little blighters at times, something horror movies have used since at least 1960 with…
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If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if Terrence Malick in The-Tree-of-Life-mode directed a horror film, it would probably look something like Goran Stolevski’s staggering feature debut, You Won’t Be Alone. My first bold statement…
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ComedyHorrorReviews
‘Black Friday’: The Good News Is It Includes Bruce Campbell, the Bad News Is That It’s Not Very Good
Adding Bruce Campbell to your cast will automatically attract any genre enthusiast. The man is a legend, possibly one of the most charismatic men on the planet. A man so charismatic, I’m seriously considering watching…
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1992’s Candyman is considered a classic of the slasher genre — mythologically inventive, steeped in relevant racial themes, and far more ambitious than contemporary slasher films; which at the time were so verging on self-parody…
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Agnes slides neatly into the subgenre of ‘nun horror’ with the likes of, you guessed it, The Nun. However, Agnes prides itself on building tension rather than being full of jump scares. When you’re placed…
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The Night House opens with Beth (Rebecca Hall) returning home after her husband’s funeral. She lives inside a luxurious lake house, itself designed by her late husband Owen (Evan Jonigkeit). Owen’s death was self-inflicted. It…
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HorrorReviews
Fantasia Film Festival 2021 Review: ‘The Last Thing Mary Saw’
by Bethany Lolaby Bethany LolaThe Last Thing Mary Saw is a 19th-century folk story, centered around sin and suspicion. We are introduced to Mary (Stefanie Scott) as she is blindfolded in a dark, candle-lit room. This is at the…
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Almost every conceivable trigger warning is in effect for Rob Jabbaz’s pandemic horror movie, The Sadness. Saying the film isn’t afraid to “go there” is probably the biggest understatement of Fantasia 2021 — it’s undoubtedly the…
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The 2016 horror/thriller Don’t Breathe was a surprise success that not only did well at the box office, but also proved to be a critical hit. The film followed a group of petty thieves who attempt…
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HorrorReviews
Fantasia Film Festival 2021: ‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’
by Bethany Lolaby Bethany LolaWe’re All Going to the World’s Fair captures the essence of online culture. Hints of Eighth Grade, Nerve, and Unfriended are all combined to make an anxious 86 minutes. Despite its parallels to those few…
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I spent way too long trying to work out a title referencing Olympia black metal outfit Wolves In The Throne Room and the best I could do was Wolves in the Hotel Room so… let’s…
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HorrorReviews
A Horror Critic Encounters a Serial Killer Support Group in ‘Vicious Fun’
by Brian Connorby Brian ConnorAhh, the 1980s. Season of mixtapes and mellow Rubik’s cubes. Ripe for nostalgia adjacent movies and TV like The Goldbergs and WW84, they’ve recently been a goldmine for horror makers. Boosted in particular by the…
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HorrorReviews
George A. Romero’s Restored ‘The Amusement Park’ Is a Terrifying Take on Aging
by Bethany Lolaby Bethany LolaGeorge A. Romero’s The Amusement Park is a nightmarish 53 minutes. Recently found and restored from its original production in 1973, the story deals with an interesting yet profoundly disturbing viewpoint of getting old. We…
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HorrorReviews
The Warrens Are Back in Action in ‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’
by Bethany Lolaby Bethany LolaEd and Lorraine Warren are back on our screens yet again, this time to tackle a supernatural court case based on the true story of the Trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson. In The Conjuring: The Devil Made…
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Warning: major spoilers for the first A Quiet Place ahead. The original A Quiet Place film was hugely successful, and first-time director John Krasinski did something that felt unique at the time. Not only was…
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HorrorReviews
Neil Marshall Returns to Small-Scale Horror in ‘The Reckoning’
by Brian Connorby Brian ConnorPlagues Used to be Even Less Fun The Great Plague of 1665 ripped a deadly swath through England, killing tens of thousands and destabilizing a country still recovering from the civil war a decade earlier.…
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Horror comedy is always appealing, especially for those of us who don’t have the stomach for full-on gore. So when I came across Boys from County Hell, I was immediately intrigued. On top of that, this…
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Ben Wheatley seems like one of the few directors who seems to be doing whatever he wants. From the occult thriller, Kill List; to an estranged couple who rekindle their spark through serial killing in…
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I hold Mary Shelley essentially to deity status. I consider Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in contention for the best novel ever written. The word “genius” is sometimes overused, but I genuinely cannot think of any other word…
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Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for another Nicolas Cage vehicle. What’s it going to be this time? Is it going to be some forgettable VOD schlock like A Score to Settle? Or is he actually…
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Religious beliefs — or idolatry of any symbols whether it be godlike or commercial — have been essential to our species. Look beyond the philosophical aspect and toward the fantastical elements of certain beliefs that…
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Ben Wheatley’s remake of Rebecca is, uh… something. From the beginning, it felt like an odd pairing. (“You mean to tell me the guy who had Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, Sharlto Copley, and…
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I should be straight up at the top of this review and say that horror is my favorite genre; I have always really loved werewolf films, I’m a sucker for gothic horror (Crimson Peak is…