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Need a recommendation? We consume as many movies, TV shows, and books as we possibly can and let you know what we thought of them!

Eric’s Review: Val (2021 Popcorn Frights)

★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ Come for the promise of a devilishly sexy good time. Stay for some fantastic character arcs and hugely expressive acting performances. Val, which had its world premiere at Popcorn Frights is colorful, saucy, and snappy, with an undercurrent of something dark and ominous just underneath the surface.
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Mike’s Review: The Last Matinee (Popcorn Frights 2021)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ The Last Matinee is a loving homage to film. More to the point it’s a loving homage and exploration of Argento, Fulchi, grindhouse cinema, slashers, grimy movie theaters, and quite possibly the great Lamberto Bava film Demons. Don’t be fooled though. While The Last Matinee pulls from many of the classics, it’s got its own unique style and flavor, and it’s cram-packed with EYEBALLS. 
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Mike’s Review: Dashcam (Popcorn Frights 2021)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ The son of De Palma’s Blow-Out! The grandson of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up! A new vision of paranoid conspiracy theories as told through the latest fandangled piece of technology! Or in this case technologies. 
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Eric’s Review: The Ex (2021 Popcorn Frights)

★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ This sexy Russian thriller morphs into the supernatural when a youthful indiscretion comes back to haunt a young engaged couple. This movie packs a lot in: A false villain, a foolish internet posting, a love triangle, and a vengeful ghost. It doesn't always patch its plot holes, but it is entertaining. The Ex has gorgeous cinematography, and, did I mention it's sexy? I think I did.
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Eric’s Review: Ditched (2021 Popcorn Frights)

★★★ out of ★★★★★ After finding themselves upside-down in an ambulance, a group of paramedics, cops, and prisoner patients realize that they are the victims of an ambush, with the mysterious forces closing in around them. This siege thriller goes heavy with gore and extended exposition before settling in on a brutal and memorable final moment.
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Eric’s Review: Superhost (2021 Popcorn Frights Film Festival)

★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ Smash that Like Button! Two travel YouTubers on a mission to bolster their diminishing viewer interest visit a vacation rental cabin with an eccentric "superhost" who transforms from an off-putting oddball to imminent threat over their vacation stay. This movie has inertia like a locomotive covered in razor blades, with a near-perfect build of tension and release.
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Eric’s Review: Take Back the Night (2021 Popcorn Frights)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ A not-veiled at all analogy to sexual assault, Take Back the Night relects on the horrors of being attacked by a monster before, during, and after the event. This is a make-a-statement horror movie on a miniscule budget that is fighting well above its weight class, thanks to some standout acting performances and emotional resonance.
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Eric’s Portland Horror Film Festival Review: The Horror Crowd (2020)

★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ There have been a multitude of horror documentaries that chronicle the classic and most famous films of the genre, and there have been documentaries that celebrate certain favorite eras within horror. Director Ruben Pla focuses his efforts on the Independent films and shines a light on a number of the up-and-coming influencers within today's horror.
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Eric’s Portland Horror Film Festival Review: Red Snow (2021)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ A struggling horror novel author catches a fortuitous break, when a dashing young vampire crashes into her life. Red Snow is a cheeky and wicked little horror-romcom with great character chemistry that doesn't always go where you would expect.
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Mike’s Portland Horror Film Festival Review: Red River Road (2020)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ It’s fair to say that we might not know the full impact of the global pandemic tragedy for years or even decades. Some have been tragically impacted by the pandemic, some have wandered in a face-covered fog, and others have irresponsibly stuck their heads in the sand. Everyone has had choices to make during the pandemic and those choices have manifested in the horrible, but they’ve also been used for creativity and good. 
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Mike’s Portland Horror Film Festival Review: The Stairs (2021)

★★★★ out of ★★★★★ Straight outta the Pacific Northwest comes another joint from the same team that brought you 2018’s Big Legend.  A far more daring, if not a little less linear, than their first outing with Bigfoot, 2021’s The Stairs is a complex bit of business wrapped up in a cautionary camping tale. 
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Joseph’s Review: Man Under Table

★★★ out of ★★★★★ Man Under Table is a surreal, darkly comic commentary on the trials and tribulations of independent filmmaking. It has an air of dread and bleakness of the horror-adjacent kind.
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Eric’s Portland Horror Film Festival Review: Miimaland (2020)

★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ A group of paranormal investigators gains access to an abandoned amusement park in Malaysia called Miimaland, as part of a challenge by a shady hustler. What starts out as an amusing lark becomes a deadly curse trap that proves to be a haunted destiny for the crew.
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Mike’s Review: Maniac (2012)

🔪🔪🔪🔪 out of 🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪 Just when you thought it was safe to go to the movies, or watch a horror film, or be a woman, along comes a nasty bit of business courtesy of Frodo Baggins. 
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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.
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Eric’s Review: Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021)

★★★ out of ★★★★★ Once more into the maze! It's still full of tricks, traps, misdirection, and impossible challenges. As it was the last time, the killer escape rooms are hugely imaginative, even if the overriding plot isn't. It's an entertaining low-calorie thrill ride that is as entertaining and exciting as a roller coaster, but it has about as much nuance and character development as an carnie ride as well.
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Joseph’s Review: Great White

★★★ out of ★★★★★ Great White delivers some effective shark-attack–movie thrills with solid acting but not many new elements.
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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.
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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.
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