Review: Vivian Kerr’s ‘Séance’
“‘Séance’ doesn’t quite match the thrills of the most trendy psychological horror flicks, yet its mature themes will resonate with adult viewers and anyone struggling to move on from the past.”
Review: Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’
“By its very nature, ‘Nosferatu’ is a pessimistic story, which might be why the biggest surprise of Eggers’ take is that it’s his most accessible effort to date.”
Review: Mary Dauterman’s ‘Booger’
“‘Booger’ is a surprisingly poignant and sensitive meditation on grief that utilizes a truly wild metaphor.”
Review: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ ‘Heretic’
“‘Heretic’ is the thinking man’s dumb horror movie of the year.”
London Film Festival Review: Marielle Heller’s ‘Nightbitch’
“‘Nightbitch’ is all empty message and no provocation, its few shots of a fully transformed protagonist shocking only because of how little effort was made beyond giving Adams some contact lenses…”
Review: Damian Mc Carthy’s ‘Oddity’
“‘Oddity’ is the scariest movie of the year.”
Review: Natalie Erika James’ ‘Apartment 7A’
“Natalie Erika James manages to follow a near-identical narrative formula to ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ but without the sense of genuine danger. A story that should retain its prescience is rendered nothing more than nostalgia bait.”
Review: Pascal Plante’s ‘Red Rooms’
“Perhaps Plante wasn’t sure how to end ‘Red Rooms’ without veering into sensationalism, which is commendable, but it doesn’t solve the problem of crafting an intriguing reason for why Kelly-Anne is so driven.”
Review: Coralie Fargeat’s ‘The Substance’
“‘The Substance’ feels weirdly outdated, despite the writer-director’s many provocative attempts to demonstrate how misogyny and ageism play out in contemporary media.”
Review: Chip Joslin’s ‘Insane Like Me?’
“‘Insane Like Me?,’ a vampire thriller with little visual style, relies on decent lead performances to make up for a clunky screenplay.”
Review: Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s ‘The Devil’s Bath’
“Fiala and Franz, who also co-wrote ‘The Devil’s Bath,’ aren’t interested in making viewers feel comfortable. What they’ve crafted, even more so than their breakout hit, is a tough, distressing watch by design.”
Review: Quarxx’s ‘Pandemonium’
“Quarxx guides the audience along through a French nightmare tale in ‘Pandemonium’ but doesn’t seem fully invested in what’s scary beyond the surface-level gore. He swings for the fences and falls on home plate in the process.”
Review: Chris Nash’s ‘In a Violent Nature’
“The package may be pretty, but there’s nothing of note inside, and what is there has been done better elsewhere.”
‘Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever’ Review: Borrowed Nostalgia for the Unremembered 90s
“‘Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever’ is formulaic to a fault… however, keep an eye on Fanny Bornedal. It won’t be long until she headlines (or co-headlines) a high-profile TV series or film on a major streaming service.”
Review: Everybody Needs to See John Rosman’s ‘New Life’
“Rosman builds to a powerful resolution and ideal ending moment in ‘New Life,’ using gore and traditional methods to escalate the tension, and then pulls the rug away from the audience — a reminder of who’s in control, a tease of what’s to come.”
Review: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s ‘Abigail’
“There’s more to love than hate in ‘Abigail’ — from the insanely over-the-top violence to the fresh take on vampire mythology — and most of the dangling threads pay off in a pacy, satisfying manner.”
Review: Arkasha Stevenson’s ‘The First Omen’
“What ‘The First Omen’ lacks in innovation it makes up for in boldness, pushing familiar supernatural genre tropes about the secret relationship between the Church and the Devil to ideological extremes.”
Review: George Henry Horton’s ‘Project Dorothy’
“‘Project Dorothy’ has nothing meaningful to say about the lingering AI threat to humanity.”
Manchester Film Festival Review: Matthew Butler-Hart’s ‘Dagr’
“‘Dagr’ isn’t a bad found footage movie, and it has its moments of fun, yet Butler-Hart’s film doesn’t sustain the promise of its opening scenes.”
Review: Teresa Sutherland’s ‘Lovely, Dark, and Deep’
“‘Lovely, Dark, and Deep’ teases a bright filmmaking future for Sutherland while spotlighting one of the horror genre’s most promising stars.”