Shall we play a GAME? For some of the brainiest horror movies, go to the tradition of tricks and traps horror. The punishment for not figuring out how to win the game is often painful and deadly. And face it, you watch reality TV shows to see people get eliminated, right? This horror sub-trope takes that idea to the next bloody level.
★★★★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.
★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Swedish puzzler The House at the End of the Forest serves up more head scratching than it does hand wringing.
★★ out of ★★★★★
Lace up your hiking boots and grab your headlamp for a journey underground in It Came From Below.
★★★★ 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.
★★★★ 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.
★★★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.
★★★ 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.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
The insurance game has never been more cut-throat than it has in Keeping Company!
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Kratt, and Ultrasound screen as part of Montreal’s Fantasia 2021, which runs online from August 5–25, 2021.
★★★★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.
★★★★ 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.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Fans of classic J Horror rejoice! Howling Village takes you back to the golden age and your guide is Horror master and Ju-on creator Takashi Shimizu.
★★★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.
★★★★ 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.
★★★★ 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.
2021 has delivered a number of films that were held in reserve over the awkward year that was 2020. The studios held back some of their most proven titles, and when the theaters opened up a slew of them hit the theaters, and several of them were worth the wait.
★★★★ 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.
★★★ 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.
Every year, Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival serves up North America’s largest selection of genre-film goodness, and this year’s 25th edition running August 5–25 is no exception. Along with science fiction, thriller, dark comedy, action, animation, and other exciting genres, horror has always been a big part of Fantasia. Here are six of Fantasia’s exciting fear-fare feature offerings on tap this year.
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Throw the script overboard and set sail with Mareld!
Just off of a buzz generating debut at the Tribeca Film Festival, the trailer for Sean King O’Grady’s feature film […]
★★★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.
★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
edges, particularly the dialogue, but it has a lot of heart. The introduction of indigenous Borneo Iban villagers is respectfully done and makes this quintessentially Malaysian. You do root for the film, even while wincing at its deficiencies.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
An insightful take on a classic ghost story. Director Alex Galvin manages to maintain the melancholy tragedy of the Henry James Gothic tale, while adding in an appropriate modern twist that adds an extra layer of meaning to the proceedings.
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Horror takes to the skies once again with Netflix’s latest blood-soaked vampires-on-a-plane romp.
A24 heads to the farm with the Icelandic folk horror LAMB
Advance tickets are now on sale for both stream-at-home and in-person screenings of the Portland Horror Film Festival! All access passes are now available as well. The Scariest Things will be there, and we hope to see you there as well!
🔪🔪🔪🔪 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.
Skittering. Scuttling. Swarming. And sometimes… crushing. For millions of people, their greatest fears come with six or eight legs. Yipes! Is something crawling up my leg? AAAAAIIIIEEEE!
