★★.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 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
It's Horror, eh? Get ready to experience a dose of Great White North horror in The Scariest Things Epsisode 172: Canadian Horror: AKA The David Cronenberg Invitational. Actually, Canadian Horror is much deeper than that auteur king of body horror, but you know we have to start there. The Scariest Things have picked out some deep cut choices from our Canuck neighbors!
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Cosmic Horror served two ways in the same book. John Langan's Bram Stoker Award winning novel The Fisherman serves a unique nested story structure to deliver the tale of how two widowed men deal with grief and loss by fishing, but are being drawn into literally hellish decisions.
As we enter into fall, Spooky Time takes some time to preview some upcoming big titles, as well as a promising franchise fan film, and we also look back at the best horror short films from the first half of 2023.
We’re always intrigued by folk horror cinema here at The Scariest Things, and the highly anticipated Falling Stars is one...
★★ 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.
Imagine a time when the visions of where technology could take us collided with the dreadful mysteries of what might be beyond. The H.P. Lovecraft theme for 2023 is The Arkham World's Fair, and the kickstarter campaign has been launched, and supporters will get access to some fabulous Arkham Fair themed rewards. Another fantastic lineup of films await, so come prepared with the proper SWAG!
★★★★ 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. "
It's been 16 long years, but the wait is over! Eli Roth teased us with some exceptional grindhouse glee in 2007 when he cobbled together a faux trailer for Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse.
★★.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.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Popcorn Frights! There's MORE! The popular festival is hosting its annual Wicked Weekend in Fort Lauderdale, featuring eight film events in five days. Seven highly anticipated preview screenings are going to be shown plus a 25th Anniversary screening of Halloween H20. It's a live in-theater event only, so plan your trip to Florida now!
A Night of Horror International Film Festival presents its 2023 edition in Sydney, Australia from September 29th to October 1st.
Godzilla Minus One is an impressive looking period piece reboot of the world's favorite atomic monster. Set in a crippled immediate post war Japan, Godzilla adds insult to injury, kicking the island nation while it's down. See the trailer here!
It's an exercise we all learned from the moment we started reading. Learn your ABCs by associating words with letters. Imagine if you learned how to read and write by associating the alphabet with horror movies. That's the theme of The Scariest Things Podcast episode 171. Write your own list, before you listen to our selections, and play along!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Joseph reviews French mystery thriller OUR FATHER, THE DEVIL.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
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.
The film Liz has been talking about since Panic Fest finally has a trailer and is coming to theaters soon!
Is there any creature more unlikely to be a horror threat than a sloth? Slotherhouse puts that conceit to the test, with the notoriously slow and peaceful creature cast as a vicious killer, set loose in a sorority house. Brilliant? Ridiculous? Both? The film Arrives in Theaters on August 30. See the trailer here!
Hello Angelinos! For those of you looking for something to do in the post-Hurricane environment of LA in September, we recommend you catch Lobelia, a Gothic Vincent Price homage from playwright and good friend of Scariest Things, Sharon Yablon.
As we celebrate the end of Summer, the Scariest Things is offering up a menu of cautionary tales. Going on Vacation may be the last thing you do. Eric, Liz, and Mike suggest you stay safe at home where you won't become victim to organ thieving maniacs. (Unless they decide to invade your home... we have another podcast for that). So listen in to our advice before entering the last dying days of summer for vacation horror!
★★.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 ★★★★★
🩸out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
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 ★★★★★
🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
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.