★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Speak No Evil is going to be the film everyone is talking about!
Archive for ‘Reviews’
Eric’s Review: Don’t Breathe 2 (2021)
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Stephen Lang’s Blind Man is back. Though this time he’s managed to flip the script and is now the nominal protagonist in the sequel to the 2016 break-out surprise hit. Once the fearsome monster from the first movie, he is still a force to be reckoned with, but now he has a young charge to care for. It is tense and exciting, but there are still some major questions that require answers though.
Liz’s Review: Master (Sundance Film Festival)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
A witch is not the only thing that haunts a college campus in Mariama Diallo’s debut feature, Master.
The Scariest Things Review: Scream (2022)
The movie that brought meta front and center to horror, and gave an adrenaline boost to a tired slasher genre is back with its fifth installment. The movie remains meta, and brings a fresh new group of victims… I mean characters… to the screen, along with a few old familiar friends. Is it any good? For a feature this significant it takes all three of the Scariest Things Podcasters to weigh in.
Mike’s Review: Sssssss (1973)
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Don’t say it…hissss it! The tagline from the trailer for the most unusual horror film ever made really hits the nail on the head.
Joseph’s Reviews: Nocturna: Side A — The Great Old Man’s Night and Nocturna: Side B — Where the Elephants Go to Die
Nocturna: Side A — The Great Old Man’s Night ★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ Director Gonzalo Calzada takes two decidedly different […]
Mike’s Review: Beyond the Darkness (1979)
★★★.5 out of ★★★★★
Come for the insane 1970s Italian gore! Stay for the superb Goblin soundtrack! It’s all here! Frankly, is there anything more you could ever ask from a horror film? Well, maybe.
The Scariest Things Episode CXXXIII: An Examination of Ti West’s Masterpiece: The House of the Devil (2009)
We have decided to do something a little different, this time: A single film analysis. We look back at one of our favorite independent horror films of the last 20 years: The House of the Devil (2009), by Director Ti West. It’s a near-perfect exercise in horror story development and execution, and you can hear our rationale in this bonus podcast episode!
Joseph’s Review: The World We Knew
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
British featureThe World We Knew combines a gangster film with supernatural and psychological horror elements. The result is a sharp-as-nails outing that delivers plenty of eeriness along with solid direction and crackerjack performances.
Liz’s Book Report: Devil House
John Darneille invites readers to move into the Devil House.
Mike’s Review: Death Valley (2021)
★ out of ★★★★★
It’s always disappointing when someone takes one of your favorite horror sub-genres and brutally bastardizes it. The “we’re trapped in a secret military base and there’s only one way out” storyline takes some care and feeding. The situation is made even worse when it’s given the ham-fisted SyFy treatment. Little attention, little point, and little effort.
Mike’s Review: Bingo Hell (2021)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Last year brought us engaging septuagenarians battling it out the save their decrepit community center in VFW. Earlier this year saw the posthumous release of George Romero’s frightening PSA, Amusement Park. concerning the oft forgotten repugnance of elder abuse. Now, Amazon Studios is treating us to the latest in elder horror, Bingo Hell. The golden (girls) age is upon us with a new subgenera of horror, AARP horror. You heard it here first!
Eric’s Review: Bashira (2021): Another Hole in the Head Film Festival
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Bashira is an artistically ambitious and technically accomplished feature debut film from special effects auteur Nickson Fong. As much as it is a treat for your eyes and ears, though, the film’s plot is overly complex and the execution of the work sometimes over-shoots the target. The story often feels like two competing stories going at the same time.
Liz’s Top 10 Horror Films of 2021!
Big studio productions, festival gems and a TV series- they’re all on my list of the best of the best in 2021.
Mike’s Top 10 Horror Films of 2021!
In 2020, the global pandemic gave us an interesting dynamic in film. Stripped down productions. The re-rise of independent horror. Big budget films either shelved, delayed, or cancelled all together. Last year’s horror scene definitely had a peculiar and, well, dystopian quality.
Enter 2021! The big budget films that coldly sat on the shelves for the last year, or in some cases years, or in other cases almost a half century, are now out in the theaters for us all to enjoy. And enjoy them we did! It shouldn’t be a terrible surprise that (often) the more money, time, energy, and talent you ply to your project the better quality you’ll receive in return. Mostly.
Here’s some of the best from another spooky year…
Robert’s Top 10 Horror Films of 2021
It’s that time of year again! This is what’s been stewing in the cauldron all year long. Welcome to my Top 10 for 2021.
Joseph’s Top 10 Horror Films of 2021
What a great year for horror films! I hope some of your current and future favorites are on my list!
Mike’s Review: The Brilliant Terror (2021) (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
To be clear, horror is the human condition. Sure there’s ghosts, robots, cannibals, witches, and Jason Voorhees, but all these finely finessed sub-genres are really just an extension of the human condition. Much ink has been poured over this subject, but rarely does a horror documentary get at this hyper-simple truism.
Eric’s Review: Human Resources (2021): Another Hole in the Head Film Festival
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
A remarkably nuanced slice of horror at work, from a 19-year-old writer/director that poses the question as to how far would you be willing to go to unearth and expose the dirty secrets at your place of employment. The movie is probably twenty minutes too long, but the plot has a solid mystery backbone to tell a good story, and it is graced with great characters and snappy dialogue.
Mike’s Review: My Cherry Pie (2021) (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival)
★★.5 out of ★★★★★
There’s no telling if 2021’s My Cherry Pie qualifies as Oz-spoitation, but it sure looks, sounds, and feels like something straight off of 42nd street. It’s not the pastoral Picnic at Hanging Rock, nor is it the ever-haunting Lake Mungo. Think Wolf Creek with little-to-no-budget, an extra bit of nastiness, and a pinch of grindhouse.
Joseph’s Reviews: “The Last Frankenstein” and “Night, Knight Teddy” (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival)
Joseph reviews two films from Another Hole in the Head Film Festival: “The Last Frankenstein” and “Night, Knight Teddy.”
Eric’s Review: Crabs! (2021): (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival)
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Do you miss goofy ’80s era R-rated monster movies? Crabs! is one of those cheesy nature-gone-wrong films that doesn’t take itself too seriously and manages to deliver some good gory entertainment. It’s inconsistent, but there’s enough here to have a good night with a bag of popcorn and a B-movie creature feature.
Eric’s Review: Apps (2021) : (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
If V/H/S was done in Spanish, that would be Apps, an Argentinian horror anthology that is filled with plenty of shocks and bloody mayhem. Each chapter is really well executed and continues to prove that Argentina is a major player in the horror movie market.
Mike’s Review: The Whooper Returns (2021) (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival)
★★★.5 out of ★★★★★
It’s always fascinating to see how something of little-to-no-value can bring out the worst in people as soon as they realize that someone else is interested in the same valueless item. This dynamic is made all the worse when it’s families fighting over the same scrap of trash. Worse yet? When that scrap of trash is the site of a 1979 horror film, the Whooper.
Liz’s Review: The Advent Calendar (2021)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Stylish, creepy and strange. Begin the countdown to Christmas with The Advent Calendar.
Mike’s Review: Slumber Party Massacre (2021)
★.5 out of ★★★★★
Alright. Move along. Move along. There’s nothing to see here. Really, there’s nothing to see. A sad commentary on what should have been one of the most celebrated films this side of Halloween Kills. But, it’s true. The reimagining of the Slumber Party Massacre is a dull and uneven homage to its predecessor.
Joseph’s Monster Fest Reviews: “Button Man” and “Scam”
Joseph reviews two fine films from Australia’s Monster Fest film festival: sylvan horror short “Button Man” and Ozploitation feature “Scam.”
Eric’s Review: Super Hot (2021)
★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Super Hot is a film that has been popping up on my recommended list on Amazon Prime, so I gave the little nerds vs. vampires movie a shot. Kandace Kale is solid as the goofy deadpan lovelorn lead, and at its best, the movie has its fun and silly moments. On the whole, though, it’s a pretty pedestrian production. (Shrugs)
Joseph’s Review: Shepherd
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Shepherd eschews jump scares and gore in favor of an unrelenting creepiness as its main character finds that the isolation he seeks may be a terrible choice.
Liz’s Review: Demonic (2021)
★1/2 out of ★★★★★ Directed by Neill Blomkamp Way back in 2009, Neill Blomkamp burst onto the genre scene with […]