Slasher films occupy a niche role in the canon of horror films. I’m talking Halloween, Child’s Play, Happy Death Day, all the best sleepover movies when you’re 14. Often considered one of the lower horror…
Horror
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HorrorReviews
Bret Easton Ellis and Crispin Glover Team Up for the Painfully Dull ‘Smiley Face Killers’
Bret Easton Ellis was just twenty-one years old when he published his first novel: Less Than Zero. Success followed, and with the publication of the highly controversial third novel, American Psycho, came fame. As an…
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HorrorReviews
Vince Vaughn Channels His Inner Teenage Girl to Remarkable Effect in Christopher Landon’s ‘Freaky’
by George Clarkby George ClarkChristopher Landon’s latest horror-comedy Freaky is an utter delight. Starring Kathryn Newton, Uriah Shelton, Celeste O’Connor, Misha Osherovich, and the one and only Vince Vaughn, the film follows Kathryn Newton’s Millie who, after swapping bodies…
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The horror genre is a good starting point for an aspiring filmmaker. From a financial standpoint, you will likely attract more investors if your low-budget film happens to be a horror film. Most of them…
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Night Of The Living Dead. Paranormal Activity. The Blair Witch Project. All micro-budget horror films that made an absolute fortune at the box office. Which, unfortunately, leads hundreds of people to think making a horror film…
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HorrorReviews
FrightFest Film Festival 2020 Review: ‘The Nights Before Christmas’
by Lisa Geurtsby Lisa GeurtsWatching a Christmas film around Halloween felt a little odd; however, scary stuff mixed with Christmas is an excellent combination. It’s still a common phenomenon to share ghost stories at Christmas time, after all. Let’s…
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HorrorReviews
FrightFest Film Festival 2020 Review: ‘The World We Knew’
by Lisa Geurtsby Lisa GeurtsBritish gangster noir meets the haunted house genre in the gripping and visually stunning The World We Knew. The film opens right where we need to be: gang members have a robbery go wrong, and they flee…
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Loner Jack throws away some of his old stuff after his parents die in a freak accident, including his childhood teddy bear, Benny. But, in a twist of fate, Benny springs to life! He desperately…
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Don’t Look Back starts with a haunting montage of (what looks like) real-life footage bystanders shot on their phones of people being attacked… or worse. Immediately, you begin thinking about what role you would play…
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HorrorReviews
FrightFest Film Festival 2020 Review: ‘Dangerous to Know’
by Lisa Geurtsby Lisa GeurtsWriter’s Note: the following discussion of Dangerous to Know includes brief mentions of suicide. It is difficult not to be utterly impressed by Dangerous to Know. The film is an ultimate passion project, made almost entirely by director…
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When I noticed the name Clancy Brown in The Mortuary Collection‘s description, it was all the motivation I needed. He is one of my favorite character actors. In fact, he’s so good, he even makes…
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The original Tales from the Hood from 1995 was an enjoyable mixture of horror schlock and social commentary, emulating the spirit of the classic HBO TV series, Tales from the Crypt, with its whimsical attitude…
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HorrorReviews
‘Death of Me’ Is a Waste of Time for the Audience, But a Nice Paid Vacation for the Cast and Crew
It’s not easy being a horror buff in 2020. By now, a lot of intriguing horror films should have already come out: from Spiral, the new Saw movie starring Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson;…
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Upon finishing Antebellum, I needed about half an hour to gather my thoughts. I then needed another two hours when I saw the overall critics and audience consensus on Antebellum was definitively disappointed. Did I…
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HorrorReviews
‘Spiral’ is Excellent Queer Commentary Through a Horror Lens
by Lisa Geurtsby Lisa GeurtsIn Spiral, we follow Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) as he moves to a small town with his partner Aaron (Ari Cohen) and Aaron’s sixteen-year-old daughter Kayla (Jennifer Laporte). They instantly notice the town is not accustomed to…
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HorrorReviews
Fantasia Film Festival 2020 Review: ‘The Mortuary Collection’
by Nick Kushby Nick KushAt this point, we should pay attention anytime Shudder picks up a horror movie out of a festival. Or, when they pick up a film in general, for that matter. The service’s original programming is…
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Horror-comedy is an absolutely fascinating genre. It’s an excellent means of psychological and social commentary, while also being light and often so outlandish that one has to laugh between the jump scares. In my experience,…
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HorrorReviews
‘Random Acts of Violence’ is a Grisly Critique of Horror Entertainment
by Nick Kushby Nick KushThe most ingenious line from Wes Craven’s Scream (among many other great soundbites from a continually prescient movie) is Billy Loomis noting, “movies don’t create psychos, movies make psychos more creative.” Jay Baruchel’s Random Acts…
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HorrorReviews
‘Host’ Provides Good Scares as Both the Viewers and Characters Deal with the Pandemic
by Lisa Geurtsby Lisa GeurtsHost was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic (so quite recently…) and completely via Zoom. It’s based on director Rob Savage pranking his friends on the software, which went viral. (For all the fun, you can find…
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HorrorReviews
‘Sputnik’ Orbits Your Ethics in this Solid Creature Feature
by Chris Wagerby Chris WagerSputnik is a perfect example of how to take a premise that has been done almost perfectly in the past and show the audience that there is room for more. Once you look past the…
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Promising to do for Airbnb what Unfriended did for Skype, The Rental takes two genre types and blends them to chilling effect. Two couples, comprised of Silicon Valley tech-bro Charlie (Dan Stevens) and his partner…
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Clearing up after a film shoot, Day (Theeradej Wongpuapan) takes a break to float in a 6-meter deep pool on an inflatable. Unfortunately, it’s a slowly draining pool and after a little nap, he wakes…
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For a country with a population of only five million people, Norway punches above its weight in the world of scary movies. Maybe it’s the unfathomable depths of the fjords, maybe it’s the long dark…
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When I saw Relic at the Sundance Premiere in January (it feels like an eternity ago), I was floored. Catching up with the film before sitting down to pen this, soon to be, overwhelmingly positive review,…
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HorrorReviews
‘The Beach House’ is a Great Place to Stay for Horror Fans
by Brian Connorby Brian ConnorYoung couple Emily and Randall (Liana Liberato and Noah Le Gros) travel to a getaway beach house for a weekend of relaxation. On arrival, they find the beach house double-booked with an older couple Jane…
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What a FUN movie Scare Package is. Shot by seven different directors, the film is packed with diverse storylines. I am reasonably familiar with the anthology genre, and I like that it is mainly just…
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What I expected from The Dinner Party was a wonderful combination of horror films Would You Rather and Ready or Not. Even though those movies are both about playing a traditional game with a horror spin, and The…
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HorrorReviews
‘The Wretched’ Adds Up to a Better-Than-Average Horror Movie
by Chris Wagerby Chris WagerPop quiz hotshot, when a witch moves in next door with the power to make you forget about ever having kids with a meer whisper, what do you do? The Wretched takes some elements from The Burbs, The…
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Cults. They’re fascinating, aren’t they? Groups of people who are convinced of one belief system or one way to live at the expense of their best interests, charismatic leaders, and often weird outfits. The cult…
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HorrorReviews
‘The Invisible Man’ is the True Start of the Year in Horror
by Aubrey McKayby Aubrey McKayWith a new calendar year, we are usually bombarded with a large number of bad movies. Whether it is big studios dumping films that don’t look too promising, betting on a movie star to bring…