Joseph reviews three fine short films from MidWest WeirdFest.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Tense chiller TRADER boasts energetic direction and editing along with a jaw-dropping performance by Kimberly-Sue Murray as the only character seen on screen, a sociopath bent on making money from day trading, no matter the cost to others.
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
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Beaten to Death is a bloody and beautiful nightmare from down under!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 for otherworldly blood-spilling of various sorts
A bachelorette party goes to hell when the groom-to-be springs a supernatural surprise on his fiancée and her friends in this blood-soaked shocker.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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In This Episode of Spooky Time 11:
- Mike breaks down the various versions of the Boston Strangler.
- Liz gets you ready for Panic Fest, and shows of the latest novel from S.A. Cosby.
- Eric points you to two big new horror trailers, and shows off an essential horror movie reference book!
★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Put on your corpse paint and listen for the Invoking Yell!
Chattanooga Film Festival offers up its first wave announcement for 2023!
Panic Fest is back at the Screenland Armour theater in Kansas City, MO and virtually from your couch! The in...
The Overlook Film Festival just concluded its 2023 event, and it really flexed its influence this year. By my count there were two ★★★★★ movies and at least five ★★★★ movies, meaning that we will see several of them back at the best of awards this year. There are several films here that will be influential for years to come, I am certain. Overlook has once again treated us to some of the best curated films in the genre, and from this festival I can assure our fans that there is much to look forward to coming soon to a theater near you. Listen to Eric and Liz discuss the best (and worst) of the event.
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 for supernatural carnage
Marijuana trimmers find themselves smack dab in the middle of some occult goings-on in this well-paced chiller that debuted at Overlook 2023.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
By taping into today’s horrifying zeitgeist, drug addiction, Clay McLeod Chapman give us a terrifying dose of what ails us all. Ghost Eaters is the perfectly flawed mirror image of our collective societal faults. But don’t fret, McLeod Chapman sprinkles in a little bit of hope too!
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
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Joseph reviews pregnancy horror film CLOCK, which premiered at Overlook and heads to Hulu on April 28, 2023.
★★★ out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 for murderous revenge, exploding heads, and nasty tricks and traps.
Want to see a teenage girl completely wreck a cell of right wing domestic terrorists? If you do, the Wrath of Becky will satisfy your soul. You just don't go stealing a girl's mastiff. Light on logic but full of bloodshed, The Wrath of Becky has been featured at both SXSW and Overlook.
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 for constant pervasive gore, grotesque transformations, and severe violence against children
Evil Dead Rise is everything you would want a film in this franchise to be. It gets to the bloody action right from the start, and does not let up once it gets rolling. This incredibly gory film reconstructs the fundamental Evil Dead script in by making it a family-forward story, but it still walks a familiar path.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Accused is a white-knuckle, home invasion thrill ride that grabs you early and never lets you go.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸for raw intensity and domestic abuse, and a rough exorcism.
This is a horror movie that examines exorcisms, not from the horror of the demonic possession itself, but that of the zealotry and shoddy practices of non-sanctioned exorcisms as exercised by charismatic charlatans. It recognizes the fragility of those who are mentally ill and the unfortunate abuse that they receive when those who are supposed to love and care for them instead seek help from the questionable practices of religious hucksters.
Ladies and Gentlemen! Children of ALL AGES! Step right up and amaze at the sights and spectacles that are Circus and Carnival Horror. You will be thrilled! You will be astonished! You will be horrified! It is time for fun at the funhouse in Episode 164.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 for horrific gun violence, some torture, and some crunchy re-animated dead.
Ted Geoghegan wrote and directed a nifty mystery box of a film wherein a group of WWII army officers support their friend, Lt. Colonel Hockstetter (Larry Fessenden) in his attempts to to reconnect with his recently deceased wife. A terrific veteran cast delivers the drama in this well constructed (and occasionally bloody) ghostly escape room of a story.
★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 for copious amounts of bloodshed, dismemberments, beheadings, exploding bodies, the use of severed limbs as weapons, and eviscerations.
The Dracula tale has never been more fun to watch than in Chris McKay's Renfield. Nicholas Hoult is the remorseful and downtrodden manservant Renfield who struggles with how to escape servitude from his vile master. Nic Cage is perfectly cast as the dapper and ferocious Count Dracula, mixing a looming malevolence with goofy charm. Universal has found its footing again with its legendary roster of monster films. Renfield mixes full-theater belly laughs with spectacular gory action to create a movie destined to get repeat viewings. Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee would be proud.
★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
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The Last Shift gets the reboot treatment with and expanded cult universe and more gore.
Joseph reviews two fine features from Boston Underground Film Festival.
Sick of Myself ★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Nightsiren ★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
It's Spring Break Time! The Scariest Things has lined up some things for you to get ready for your Horror-Themed spring break!
- Robert advocates for Fright Rags for your Tee Shirt needs, before heading out for Festival Season.
- Mike has some great reading material for you from horror novelist Clay McLeod Chapman.
- Eric has found your Spring Break Horror Road Trip guide! And a wacky summer time horror camp.
Episode 9 Starts NOW!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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If you know horror you know Satan. You might even say horror and Satan are best pals. They’ve been hanging around for a long time always pushing boundaries and always trying something cheeky and new.
Sometimes this friendship is on the down-low and sometimes Satan gets a pinch uppity and decides to out the entire relationship. Or at least his (or her) relationship to the general public. When that happens it’s a messy and ugly affair.
Joseph reviews two splatterific mayhem-and-mirth features from FrightFest Glasgow.
Here for Blood ★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Smoking Causes Coughing ★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
★★★★★ out of ★★★★★
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Surreal sci-fi in bite sized pieces, Shatter Belt will shatter your expectations!
★★★★.5 out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸🩸🩸out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸for some gnarly gore, eye gouging, and repeated head wounds.
Each and every year there’s THAT horror film that shakes things up. Hits the festival circuit and creates tidal wave-sized buzz. Sometimes it’s deserved and sometimes it’s not. In the case of 2023’s festival darling Talk to Me, the buzz is profoundly deserved.
In Episode 8 of Spooky Time:
- Mike and Liz Report back from their experiences at SXSW
- Mike, got a chance to do some Texas Chainsaw Massacre touring .
- Eric comes to the table with his review of the Variety Top 100.
- Liz finds another favorite book of hers that is being given the chance at a premium TV series.
- Eric reports on Guillermo Del Toro's next Horror Movie. (It's familiar)
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 for mild gore and violence.
A hundred years on we’ve been blessed and not-so-blessed with hundreds, or maybe thousands or Frankenstein-related films. Remakes, reboots, re-imaginations, reworking of the Mary Shelley source material, and even re-re-working of Shelley’s book. The Frankenstein mythos has comfortable slipped into our collective horror zeitgeist.