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★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Joseph reviews the mind-boggling Japanese horror film VISITORS: COMPLETE EDITION, which screened at Fantastic Fest.
★★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Eileen is a moody noir thriller of the highest caliber that delves into the deepest, darkest parts of the human psyche.
Hole, Incomplete, and La Vedova Nera reviews from the 2023 SLASH Filmfestival
★★★ out of ★★★★★
If a film title contains the word “haunting” does that automatically qualify it as a horror film? Horror has a deep and weird history with “The Haunting of…” films. Haunting in Connecticut, The Enfield Haunting, Haunting of Bly Manor, Haunting of Hill House, the Haunting of Julia, and even the Haunting of Sharon Tate. So many hauntings.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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The age old question of "who let the dogs out" finally gets an answer!
★★.5 out of ★★★★★
What’s the scariest thing you can include in a horror film? Why the unknown and the unfamiliar, of course. What’s more unknown and unfamiliar than the darkest musical art form, Black Metal? Well, really nothing. That is as scary as music gets.
★★★3/4 out of ★★★★★
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The Last Video Store reminds you to be kind, rewind...if you escape, that is.
★★.5 out of ★★★★★
A quiet and ethereal film about and equally quiet and ethereal creature. The Wendigo may be the most ill-defined creature in all of horror. Not just because the Wendigo pulls directly from many different tales of Native American lore, but the fact that the perfect Wendigo film has yet to be made. Antlers from 2021 is close, but that’s a whole other story.
Toronto International Film Festival Midnight Madness reviews:
WORKING CLASS GOES TO HELL (2023)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Riddle of Fire (2023)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Intensity: 🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
★★ out of ★★★★★
Bad Things actually has some really good things going for it. Not all these things are bad. Bad Things also has one of the coolest and most well preserved 1970/80s remote travel lodge hotels. The location is perfectly roiled in soiled dreams, loneliness, and unmet expectations. The hotel is just drenched in melancholy. But sadly, that’s Bad Things biggest problem — not the melancholy, but the fact that they wasted this incredible set.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Joseph reviews Takeshi Kushida's FrightFest feature MY MOTHER'S EYES, "which blends psychological and physical horror in a remarkable studied but immediate manner. "
★★.5 out of ★★★★★
We know them. We love them. They’re little rapscallions, religious zealots, and outcasts. But that’s why we love them! That said, the question is not whether we love them, but rather do we need to go back to the exact same Children of the Corn story 11 times. Really, it’s been 11 times and we’re not even counting the TV series.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Joseph reviews French mystery thriller OUR FATHER, THE DEVIL.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Joseph reviews the German shocker HOME SWEET HOME: WHERE EVIL LIVES, which screened at FrightFest.
THE KNOCKING (2023)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
HOSTILE DIMENSIONS (2023)
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Intensity: 🩸🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Joseph reviews two solid films from London's Pigeon Shrine FrightFest.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
What do you get when you combine Doug Bradley, religious horror, practical effects, signals from space, and a cool retro vibe? Who cares! It's DOUG BRADLEY!
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸
A tense, character-driven survival flick played against a background of feuding paramilitary groups and an epidemic of zombie infection.
★★.5 out of ★★★★★
In the latest installment to the cringe-inducing horror sub-genre, Home Invasion Horror, we get a fair-to-midland entry with a little heart. Think Funny Games, but less terror, suspense, and sadism. Just some light torture and some fun cameos.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 For Gonzo cartoon violence
Hundreds of Beavers is a genre and expectation defying film. It is a black and white "silent" black comedy, using furries and Looney Tunes manic comic violence to huge effect. This indie darling has been racking up best-of-film awards at numerous film festivals, and The Scariest Things can thank the Popcorn Frights Film Festival for this screening. One of the funniest things you are likely to see, and a big theater showing would be a blast. (Only horror adjacent though)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Imagine if Terrance Malik directed a horror film. This isn’t the start of a bad joke with an equally bad punchline. Would it have gore? Chainsaws? Over the top supernatural happenings? Or would it be a somber and contemplative affair? If you know the films of Terrance Malik then you know the answer.
★★★ out of ★★★★★
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In the proud Canadian tradition of sex, disease, and madness, Wintertide follows a woman struggling with depression in a post apocalyptic winter where the sun hasn't come up in 100 days and people are turning into unthinking strays, gone mad from isolation and lonliness.
★★★★★ out of ★★★★★
101 Books to Read Before You're Murdered gives you the joy of the school book fair- but makes it scary!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Japanese time-looping science fiction comedy RIVER is a whimsical delight!
★★★ out of ★★★★★
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A struggling married couple who have been evicted from their home makes a fateful decision to sleep the night in their car on a wooded road. At times thrilling, and at other times head scratching, this film has a great heart but a flawed mind. Convincing performances by Tedra Milan and Michael Reagan make this worth watching.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 for screaming and addiction recovery.
Skinamarink with real scares! Found footage follies! The year of Australian horror! Puzzle Box is the complete horror spook show!
If you haven’t been paying attention 2023 really is the year of Australian horror.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Sorry Charlie is a one-woman showcase for actress Kathleen Kenny, who plays Charlie, a crisis hotline volunteer who survives a serial rapist attack, but is convinced that he is still stalking her. A great cat and mouse thriller with a compelling central figure who has managed to avoid being just another victim.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Pandemonium is a philosophical, black comedy horror trip...to hell!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Horror maestro André Øvredal has turned the story of Dracula into a 19th Century period piece version of Alien. A doomed ship of sailors are unknowingly transporting Dracula in his coffin to England, and a merchantman sailing vessel is a perfect hiding place for the devil that is Dracula. The much anticipated movie is dreadful, as in FULL OF DREAD. About as scary as you're going to be able to get with Dracula.