Here are three reviews from South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, for a highly artistic Spanish historical chiller, a moody Vietnamese horror based on Asian urban legends, and a fine Hong Kong psychological horror thriller.
Archive for ‘Reviews’
Eric’s North Bend Film Fest Review: Tailgate (2021)
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
The ultimate road rage movie that collides with a nail-biting home invasion film. This Dutch film absolutely pours the intensity on in a way unseen in many a year. A rude and headstrong man picks the wrong enemy in a highway tailgating incident, subjecting his entire family to the revenge of a nuanced killer who uses rat poison as his weapon of choice.
Joseph’s Review: Great White
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Great White delivers some effective shark-attack–movie thrills with solid acting but not many new elements.
The Scariest Things Review: The Forever Purge (2021)
★★★1/2 and ★★★★ out of ★★★★★
The Purge series has a way of reflecting the anxieties of the moment, and the latest installment, The Forever Purge, pours gasoline on the subject of immigration and the ugly political divide within the United States. It is a ferocious dystopian view that if you squint, is frightening as to how close we are to this dark reality. Your feelings about this film may get framed largely from your political point of view.
Liz’s Review: Fear Street Part One: 1994
Spend your summer in Shadeyside with Fear Street!
Mike Review: The Fury (1978)
★ out of ★★★★★ It looks like a horror film. It acts like a horror film. It’s directed by cinema great and heir to the Hitchcock throne. Its promotional materials portend horror is just around the corner. But don’t be fooled, this super-star-packed 1970s telekinetic hype machine is nothing but a boring and unnecessarily long after-school special.
Joseph’s Review: He’s Dead and So Am I (Chattanooga Film Festival)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
This horror comedy about two ghosts trying to work their way out of purgatory features humor that ranges from the broad to the uncomfortable, and is brought to cinematic life by a game cast.
Joseph’s Review: Werewolves Within
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
The new park ranger in town teams up with the local mail delivery person to try and calm down the unconventional locals when it seems a werewolf may be on the loose in this lighthearted creature-feature comedy.
Robert’s Review: The Superdeep (2020)
★★★ out of ★★★★★
In 1984, an ambitious epidemiologist with flexible ethics is called on by the government of the USSR to investigate — and collect samples from — a top secret research site built inside the deepest hole ever drilled into the Earth.
Joseph’s Review: The Nowhere Inn (Slash ½ Film Festival 2021)
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Where does Annie Clark end and her St. Vincent rock star persona begin? Her friend Carrie Brownstein attempts to document that until the answer to that question winds up in an absurd, sometimes surreal blur in this ambitious mockumentary.
Mike’s Review: Fulci for Fake (2019)
★★ out of ★★★★★
Some will say the epicenter of the Fulci universe lie in the greatness of the gory triptych: The New York Ripper, The House by the Cemetery, and The Beyond. Others will point to the early, less gory but equally frightening confines of The Psychic, Don’t Torture a Duckling, and A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin. No matter where you fall on the Lucio Fulci spectrum it’s awfully hard to argue about his immense and ever-lasting output. Stanley Kubrik only directed 13 films. But Fulci? He directed 61.
Robert’s Review: Slaxx (2020)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Killer pants. Designer jeans to die for. Corporate greed meets its match in a pair of pants thirsting for vengeance.
Mike’s Review: Wrong Turn (2021)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★ Once a film franchise crosses over in to four, five, or six sequels, or god forbid a complete reboot, it deserves lampooning and a heaping dose of criticism. That many sequels is often a reflection of the imagination tank run completely dry. Take your original story/villain and wash, rinse, and repeat.
Mike’s Review: Begotten (1989)
★★★ out of ★★★★★ Umm what just happened? Was that a dream? Did I just have a stroke? Did my ego and id simultaneously implode? Unclear on all fronts. One thing is certain. This is a film like no other and it’s not something you can ever unsee.
Joseph’s Review: Agnes (Tribeca Festival 2021)
Destined to be one of the most talked-about and divisive fright-fare films of the year, auteur Mickey (Climate of the Hunter) Reece’s possession-horror feature brings “But is it horror?” to a whole new level.
Liz’s Review: Censor (Panic Fest 2021)
★★★ out of ★★★★★ Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond Enid (Niamh Algar) is a film censor in London who’s job it is […]
Mike’s Review: The Amusement Park (1973/2021)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★ Everyone gets old. It’s no more complicated than this little horrifying truism. The world of horror is filled with ghosts, homicidal nutcases, Pazzuzu, creepies, crawlies, and robot-monsters. But, nothing, repeat, nothing, is more frightening at the prospect of losing your mental and physical faculties and facing the sad and potential finite end of life.
Joseph’s Reviews: Twisted Dreams Film Festival Online 2021 Horror Shorts: Possessions; Goodbye; and Sundown Trail
Along with the terrific feature-film lineup from Twisted Dreams Film Festival’s 2021 virtual version, the festival serves up plenty of short-form fright fare, too. Here is a second set of capsule reviews of just a few of the short films on offer.
Liz’s Review: In The Earth
★★★ out of ★★★★★ Written and Directed by Ben Wheatley During the lockdown of 2020, while the rest of us […]
Joseph’s Reviews: Twisted Dreams Film Festival Online 2021 Horror Shorts: Momma, Don’t Go; Make a Wish; and The Guard Station
Along with the terrific feature-film lineup from Twisted Dreams Film Festival’s 2021 virtual version, the fest serves up plenty of superb short-form fright fare, too. Here are capsule reviews of just a few of the short films on offer.
The Scariest Things Review: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
★★★1/2 and ★★★★ out of ★★★★★
The highly anticipated return of the demonologist duo, The Warrens, has arrived on the big screen. It starts off with a ferocious roar of an opening scene, and largely holds its dramatic tension to the finish of this exorcism mystery meets courtroom drama.
Eric’s Review: A Quiet Place Part II
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
A worthy sequel to the science-fiction horror modern classic. A Quiet Place Part II is very much an extension of the first movie. It feels like one continuous story. Intense, expertly crafted, and wonderfully acted, this movie doesn’t break a lot of new ground but it builds upon what the original did so well. It’s a first-rate thrill ride!
Mike’s Review: Satan’s Slave (1976)
★★ out of ★★★★★ Crack open the dusty dictionary parked over on your bookshelf and look up staid British horror film. We’ll wait. What’s it say? 1976’s Satan’s Slave? Yep, that’s what we thought.
Joseph’s Review: Digging to Death
A man going through some difficult times discovers $3 million on his new property, but it comes with ever-heavier emotional baggage and a corpse that won’t stay buried in this well-crafted chiller.
Mike’s Review: Army of the Dead (2021)
★★ out of ★★★★★ Gone are the days of Bub from Day of the Dead. Gone are the days of the zombie nurse, the fat guy, and the Hare Krishna from Dawn of the Dead. Gone are the half-dogs and headless zombies from Return of the Living Dead. Most importantly, gone is a fun but serious dissection of societal woes and man’s modern day pitfalls. IInstead we’re now being fed a pile of ghastly super-hero zombies, that shriek like space aliens, set inside a hyper-realized video game construct. It’s a sad state of affairs to be sure. One might even say that the zombie genre has jumped the shark, or in this case the albino zombie tiger.
Joseph’s Review: Seance
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
The directorial debut from renowned screenwriter Simon Barrett treads familiar territory but is crafted with great affection for a few different horror subgenres.
Eric’s Review: Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Spiral: From the Book of Saw attempts a fresh start to a somewhat tired franchise, and packs in A-list celebrities into a pedestrian plot, that ties itself up with too much exposition and not enough of the tricks and traps that made Saw such a draw.
Joseph’s Review: Don’t Let Her In
★★★ out of ★★★★★
A mysterious woman turns out to be a real roommate from hell in this fun new terror tale from Full Moon Features.
Joseph’s Review: Vurdalak Blood (Fantaspoa 2021)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
The vurdalak legend finds new blood in this exciting, top-notch chiller.
Mike’s Review: Things Heard and Seen (2021)
★ out of ★★★★★ Serious question. Are horror movies required to be scary? Can they just pass off a sense of dread and doom in other less frightening but equally provocative ways? Answer: it sure makes horror more horrifying if there’s some actual horror in the horror film.