The pursuit of perfection often comes with a toll, especially in the realm of horror. Director Hanna Bergholm’s feature debut spins a modern horror fairy tale around it, creating a coming-of-age creature feature born of the pressures of maintaining an idyllic façade. Hatching upends the ideal of maternal instincts and refuses to deliver on expectations. Tinja (Siiri Solalinna) […]
Reviews
[Sundance Review] ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ Is a Sensory Examination of Humanity Through Witchy Folk Horror
Australian-Macedonian writer/director Goran Stolevski weaves a complex emotional tapestry of humanity in his period folk tale that wields horror as a vehicle. You Won’t Be Alone reframes life and its stages through the lens of a witch, creating a sensory experience that’s artful, languid meditation with a helping of blood and entrails. In an isolated Macedonian mountain village in […]
[Sundance Review] High Concept Sci-fi ‘Dual’ Ponders Existence with Infectious Pitch-Black Humor
Riley Stearns’ follow-up to pitch-black comedy The Art of Self Defense once again puts his knack for off-kilter humor on display. Only this time, the writer/director applies it to a high-concept sci-fi story that uses an end-of-life decision as the starting point. Dual uses deadpan delivery and oddball performances to capture the strangeness of life, especially when faced with […]
[Sundance Review] ‘Master’ Casts a Bewitching Occult Tale of Academia and Social Critique
The prestigious halls of the New England set Ancaster College harbors a curse. Upper-level students scare first-year students with stories of a witch once hung there whose ghost returns every year to claim a victim on the anniversary of her death. Writer/Director Mariama Diallo uses that curse to connect the past to the present, blending a variety […]
[Review] ‘Watcher’ Is an Atmospheric and Stylish Paranoid Thriller Starring Maika Monroe
Director Chloe Okuno (“SLUT”, V/H/S/94’s “Storm Drain”) channels the likes of Roman Polanski and Alfred Hitchcock for her throwback style feature debut. Watcher preys on the paranoid vulnerability of an isolated woman struggling to adapt to a new country, creating a stylish and atmospheric thriller centered around voyeuristic paranoia and claustrophobia. American Julia (Maika Monroe) uproots her life to accompany […]
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‘Speak No Evil’ Is a Grueling Trip to Satirical Pessimism [Sundance Review]
Christian Tafdrup’s bleak Speak No Evil will undoubtedly draw some comparisons to nihilistic horror satires like Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. Both seek to make the viewer deeply uncomfortable while sending a caustic message. But while the latter chastised its audience for their consumption of violence, the former struggles with its polite society messaging. It results in a grueling […]
‘Fresh’ Serves Up Carnivorous But Unsatisfying Meat-Cute Tale [Sundance Review]
Modern dating can be hell. Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) knows this firsthand as she seems to swipe right on nothing but losers. Then she bumps into the charming Steve (Sebastian Stan) at a grocery store. The adorable meet-cute sets up a recipe for love until Noa discovers Steve harbors unusual appetites that will challenge her survival. Fresh takes […]
[Review] A Stop Motion Nightmare With Lynchian Flair, Netflix’s ‘The House’ Is Built Upon Dread
For as much as the home is meant to be a place of comfort, for some of us, it can be a hell. Netflix’s The House is a fascinating look into such horrors. The general premise behind The House is that it is a stop-motion anthology that revolves around one house, involving three separate stories […]
[Review] Boy Harsher Deliver Pulse-Pounding, Haunting Industrial Dance With ‘The Runner’ Soundtrack
Sometimes it may go over our heads how important music is to a film. Take the legendary 1978 Halloween for example – a film originally noted by a producer to not be that scary until said producer viewed the film with its now-iconic score. Music’s presence within a film has the power to elevate mood […]
[Review] Cosmic Horror Courtship Goes Awry in Eldritch Terror Dating Sim ‘Sucker For Love: First Date’
I’d imagine the world of dating has become more terrifying than ever before thanks to the events of the past two years. All that time cut off from the wider physical world contorts the social experience into a kind of lucky dip where you’re less likely to find a diamond, and far far more likely […]
[Review] With Grim Atmosphere and Bloody Violence, ‘Warhunt’ Is a Killer Horror-Action Flick
It’s 1945, and an American military plane soars over Germany’s Black Forest. One of the plane’s engines becomes destroyed by an extreme amount of crow feathers, causing the craft to plummet to the ground. Sergeant Brewer (Robert Knepper) and his outfit are charged with the task of finding the plane’s crash site; accompanying them by […]
[Review] ‘Monsters in the Closet’ Is Pure Schlock That Mostly Delivers on Grim Humor
Contrary to how some may view it, schlock is an artform. What matters is intent – the effort put in to create a genuine work where humor, action, or horror, are sincere. If filmmakers try to force feed viewers schlock, that could lead to an experience that is messy and bland. But the right formula […]
[Review] ‘Old Strangers’ Is a Brief Thriller With an Engaging Story and Palpable Tension
The dangers of COVID have wrought havoc on many people’s mental health. Folks who have been cooped up for so long inside and doing their best to remain safe and healthy are striving to find some form of solace; so, it would make sense if a group of friends planned a secluded get together out […]
[Review] ‘The Legend of La Llorona’ Hides Emotional Ghost Story Inside Cheesy Presentation
Directed by Patricia Harris Seeley, written by Cameron Larson (story) and Jose Prendes (screenplay), The Legend of La Llorona follows a family vacationing to Mexico in an effort to escape the grief that has fallen over them. The mom, Carly (Autumn Reeser) is somber and distraught, while her husband Andrew (Antonio Cupo) strives to make […]
[Review] ‘Scream’ Carves Up Killer and Heartfelt Commentary on Horror and Wes Craven’s Legacy
History tends to repeat itself. We’re meant to look to the past and learn from its mistakes. That holds true in life and in horror. Wes Craven‘s seminal 1996 slasher dissected the patterns of the genre with a self-referential wink while going for the jugular, but horror has evolved tremendously since. Some rules hold firm, […]