★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
The directorial debut of super-scribe Brian Duffield is a splatterific horror-adjacent rom/com that brings the feels along with exploding teens.
Latest
2020
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Killer pants. Designer jeans to die for. Corporate greed meets its match in a pair of pants thirsting for vengeance.
Writer/director Michael Lovan sits down with us to talk about his debut feature, Murder Bury Win (2020), and its impending release!
★★.5 out of ★★★★★ A stunningly beautiful film that follows a not so beautiful period of time in Guatemala's tumultuous and unfortunate history. This horror film, that's awfully light on the horror, shows audiences that sometimes the scares don't come from ghouls, but they come from right-wing juntas.
★★ out of ★★★★★ Witches are a tricky lot. Literally. Filled with deceit and deception. They conjur up horrible thoughts in your tiny little brain. They’re always on the hunt for a new (or renewed) sacrifice. Most importantly they travel in unrelenting satanic packs of malice. The Pale Door has more fiends than you can shake a stick at, but, unfortunately, doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot with this spooky pile of occult weirdos.
★★★ out of ★★★★★
Delicious cherry pie. Would you like some eternal imprisonment with that or just coffee?
★★★★ out of ★★★★★ There exists that great space in documentaries that take place decades after the event occurred. It's this beautiful melange of revisionist history, lucid thoughts, purposeful sleepwalking, and repressed memories. All answers are correct and infallible when the documentary is filtered through the iconic lens of a single and thoughtful directorial darling. THE William Friedkin is the ultimate bridge between Hollywood's glorious beginnings and the revolutionary young guns of the 1970s. It should come as no surprise the Friedkin has some rather insightful things to say about one of the greatest films of the 1970s, possibly the greatest horror film of all time, and in some camps, THE greatest film ever put down on celluloid -- the Exorcist.
★★★ out of ★★★★★ I mean, really, who are we to ever question the greatness of the great Charlie Kaufman. A visionary. A cinematic poet. A deep thinker that throws head-scratchers our way every chance he gets. A repertoire filled with unimpeachable films. One after another. BUT, he's never really dabbled in the horror genre, nor has he dealt with a storyline so chilling, unnerving, and downright baffling. And it kind of shows.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★ "Timely, topical, and terrific." Well that's what the Scariest Things Podcast would say if Variety came calling for a pull quote. Joe Burke's (Four Dogs) brand spanking new horror short Desert Quarantine is a perfect reflection of a perfect reflection of society's current spate of worry, hate, fear, and confusion.
What?!?!? First Thom Yorke dips his toes in the water with his somber interpretation of the Goblin's color-soaked Suspiria vision, and now Daft Punk is scoring the next Dario Agento film? Color us shocked and awed.
Have you had enough yet? Did you lose out on the last role of toilet paper? Are you debating the merits of the Exorcist vs. Exorcist III with your cat? Has the isolation started to creep under your skin and in to your psyche? Good! You're in luck. There's a new short horror anthology that looks at the dark and horrific side of ISOLATION!
★★★ out of ★★★★★
It's a remake? It's a reboot? It's a... sidequel! And we've got jump scares aplenty in the most recent addition to Grudge lore.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
What you can't see can kill you in this terrifying and timely update of Universal Pictures' The Invisible Man.
★★1/2 out of ★★★★★ Word has it that the kids are in to mash-ups. Girl Talk, Danger Mouse, a little Jay Z, a little Beatles. Throw it all together and see what sticks. 2020’s the Marsh (originally released in 2018 in Australia) does just that -- but maybe a little too much.
F.C. Rabbath returns with a ghostly new horror-adjacent project, The Waiting. Coming in 2020!
★★★ out of ★★★★★
In 1984, an ambitious epidemiologist with flexible ethics is called on by the government of the USSR to investigate -- and collect samples from -- a top secret research site built inside the deepest hole ever drilled into the Earth.
★1/2 out of ★★★★★
A Blair Witch knockoff out of Russia that fails to deliver.
★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Barbara Crampton steals the show in this Norwegian folk-horror affair replete with vivid nightmares, tentacles, and the sea.
We wouldn't have survived the ridiculousness of 2020 without our favorite genre. Here are my Top 10 favorite movies of last year.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★ How’d you like a little Chekhov with your Texas Chainsaw? A little Edward Albee with your Conjuring? Or even a dash of Ibsen with your Insidious? Sound too good to be true? Well it’s not.
★★ out of ★★★★★ What in the world happens when filmmakers run out of ideas? Well, it's rather simple. A) In most cases they go back to the well, B) there's always a sequel, or prequel, or a reboot, C) the idea is reimagined through the lens of an out of copyright idea, story, or myth, or D) they just run out of ideas. Sadly, for 2020's The Hunted, the answer is D.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★ The perfect metaphor/antidote to 2020. Well-meaning people set out to change the world, lessen their foot print, and revel in their own brainy viewpoint. Only to be horrifically outdone by the unplanned mysteries of mother nature and her largely uncaring and brutish ways. Devolution is exists in a very real space with very real consequences. It's everything that 2020 has offered. From the hopefully earnest to the horrifically primal.
Blumhouse is back on the scene with a brand new joint that's guaranteed to give you a mean case of the shivers. Don't look now, but the Vigil is coming your way on July 31, 2020.
★★.5 out of ★★★★★ A somber, quiet, and contemplative affair. This faux mythology, while largely devoid of dialogue, packs away some interesting social/sexual dynamics. Fans of Troma and Full Moon be forewarned, this film is NOT for you. While it is a monster movie that's loosely based not the eastern European "Rusalka" water harpy myth, this is not the Toxic Avenger, nor is it the Evil Bong.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★ More often than not the horror story teller is beset with complex stories, radical exposition, and meandering narrative. The horror fan and the horror filmmaker so desperately want to hear and tell a compelling and multi-layered story. But as we all know too well, these stories are overtaken by this well-meaning desire and evolve in to a product so complex that they forget their intended purpose -- the SCARES! The prescient and timely The Isolation Horrors is superbly aware of this exposition trap and manages to create an exquisite economy of horror story telling.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Controversial, violent, and inflammatory; this darkly-comedic horror-adjacent battle royale will definitely give you something to talk about.
★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Don'tcha hate it when a gang of crazies interrupts your relaxing weekend at a remote cabin with an unexpected home invasion?
The most fully realized film version of an HP Lovecraft story? More psychedelic freakouts from Nick Cage? The return of more Mandy-like weirdness? A real live Cthulu monster? Director Richard Stanley's (Island of Dr. Moreau, Hardware, Dust Devil) return to greatness? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS!
The son of the original Psycho has reimagined the witchy tale from The Brothers Grimm and it's being released on January 31st.
US + Get Out + Lost + the Shining + the Others + The Grudge + butterflies + Janelle Monae = possible (?) greatness! Antebellum is one of the hot new things coming out in 2020 and we here at the Scariest Things Podcast are INTRIGUED.