The Swerve ★★★★ out of ★★★★★ A woman battles depression, rodents, guilt, and more in this superbly acted slow burner […]
Archive for ‘Reviews’
Mike’s Review: Vast of Night (2019)
👽👽👽👽 out of 👽👽👽👽👽
UFOs are real! Well, they might be real. Or, they’re probably imagined. Rather, we’re all crazy and we’re collectively imagining them. Or, maybe, just maybe, they really are real and the space aliens are making us crazy in an attempt to make us believe/not believe that they’re real/not real. All are real possibilities and 2019’s The Vast of the Night lays all of them on the table for us to sort out.
Eric’s Review: Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ if you like Kaiju vs. Kaiju battles.
★1/2 out of ★★★★★ if you don’t
It’s rock-em-sock-em Kaiju in Godzilla’s return to the western screens. The monster-on-monster action is gorgeous and frenetic, and the humans are superfluous. This is Toho-style stompy monsters with a big Hollywood budget.
Eric’s Review: Nightmare Cinema (2019)
★★★1/2 Out of ★★★★★
Nightmare Cinema is an anthology horror feature, with some of the biggest names in the genre directing a series of grisly short films, and uses an abandoned cinema as the connecting thread. As with most anthologies, it’s a bit of a mixed bag in quality and style.
Eric’s Review: Depraved (2019)
★★★★1/2 Out of ★★★★★
Depraved is a modern retelling of Frankenstein and manages to preserve all the empathy of the source material while making a more sophisticated and nuanced take on the classic tale.
Liz’s Review: In Fabric (2018)
★★ 1/2 out of ★★★★★
The horror comedy (?) In Fabric unravels
Horror Shorts: Blood Stains (2018)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
What are you willing to sacrifice to realise your dreams?
Eric’s Review: Stay Out Stay Alive (2019)
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Digital effects wizard Deane Yurke takes a seat in the director’s chair for his first feature, Stay Out, Stay Alive, a cautionary tale of greed unchecked as five young campers fall prey to the lure of a haunted gold mine.
The Scariest Things Podcast Extra: The Overlook Film Festival in Review
The Scariest Things went to the Big Easy and saw LOTS of movies, and for good measure also checked out some really cool live panels. Many of these films will be getting wide release later this summer and fall, so give a listen for a preview of what’s worth checking out!
Mike’s Review: The Lodge (2019)
❄❄❄❄❄ out of ❄❄❄❄❄
2017 gave us Get Out. 2018 gave us Heriditary. 2019’s dive in to intellectual terror is the Lodge. Just as its forefathers were dark, brooding, thought-provoking, and terrifying, so is this year’s entry in to the new age of thinky-horror. Note: thinky-horror is not yet an industry-accepted term, but you heard it hear first.
Joseph’s Overlook Film Festival Reviews: “Dachra” and “Porno”
Dachra ★★ out of ★★★★★ Local-color sinisterness can’t overcome the exasperating squabbling of the three main protagonists in this Tunisian […]
Eric’s Review: Satanic Panic (2019)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
FANGORIA continues its reputation for bringing fun, low-budget elevated B-movie fare. Their new feature, Satanic Panic, has a look and production quality that belies its minuscule budget, and stars charismatic newcomer Haley Griffith.
Joseph’s Overlook Film Festival Review: “Knives and Skin”
★★★ out of ★★★★★ Style edges out substance in this Lynchian high school noir about a missing girl’s impact on […]
Eric’s Review: Come to Daddy (2019)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Come To Daddy is a movie with two lives. The first half is a taught father-son dysfunctional family character piece, and the second is a hyper violent fight for survival, featuring Elijah Wood.
Eric’s Review: Head Count (2018)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
A remarkable debut feature film that expands on a familiar curse, and continues to tweak and adjust the theme as the plot unfurls.
Eric’s Review: The Dead Don’t Die (2019)
★★ out of ★★★★★
It was bound to be a curiosity. A famous auteur art-house director, gifted with an all-star cast and a classic zombie tale, what could go wrong? Plenty.
Eric’s Review: Extra Ordinary (2019)
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
A near pitch-perfect possession horror comedy from Ireland, featuring one of the most endearing and unlikely horror heroines in recent memory.
Eric’s Review: Late Phases (2014) (AKA Night of the Wolf)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Chalk up one for the elderly and the blind! This little werewolf movie surprises in many ways.
Eric’s Review: American Mary (2012)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Brazen, wicked, and nasty, the medical-revenge flick American Mary takes a med student down a very dark career path as a chop-shop extreme make-over doc.
Joseph’s Review: Winterskin (2019)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
With shades of Stephen King’s Misery and hideous monsters added to the mix, this U.K. scare fare flick delivers the snowbound goods.
Mike’s Review: Hole in the Ground (2019)
★★★.5 out of ★★★★★ The new wave of horror cinema is officially upon us all. Gone are the jokey and […]
Mike’s Review: Annabelle (2014)
★★★ out of ★★★★★ Yes. Dolls are creepy. You know this. We know this. They just have a creep factor […]
Eric’s Review: The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
★★ out of ★★★★★
A couple of good set pieces and a solid premise can’t overcome a jump-scare laden and predictable plot. Unfortunately, The Curse of La Llorona pulled its punches.
Joseph’s Review: Our Evil (2017)
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ A sadistic murderer, a man haunted by the dead, and a young woman with a dark […]
Robert’s Review: The Final Wish (2018)
★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Don’t say the ‘W’ word! Don’t do it!
Eric’s Review: The Cleanse (2016)
★★★ out of ★★★★★
What would happen if you barfed out your inner demons, and they came to life? Good news! The Cleanse will answer that very strange question for you.
Robert’s Review: Arbor Demon (2016)
★1/2 out of ★★★★★
It’s Baby Busey vs. the Forest Grannies!
Eric’s Review: I Saw the Devil (2010)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Interlocking circles of revenge is the background of this brutal 2010 special agent vs. serial killer film. By the end of the movie, you are rooting for everyone to lose. (And yet, it’s still a pretty good movie.)
Mike’s Review: Mercy Black (2019)
★★★.5 out of ★★★★★
Say it ain’t so! A real life ghost story that just might be about real life GHOSTS! Not only is this a solid little flick with a gaggle of ghostly misdirection, it’s also a film that features THE Janeane Garofalo. Sadly, while Ms. Garofalo isn’t in the film too much, her absence is made up by lots and lots of strange and ghoulish apparitions — or not.
Eric’s Review: The Skin I Live In (2011)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
When the mysterious plot entanglements of this sexy thriller get untied, what once was very enticing becomes a very challenging watch.