“Even though ‘The Psychic’ and ‘The Black Cat’ don’t exist as prominently in the cultural consciousness as ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and ‘Halloween,’ there is a sense that the Final Girls do exist in the wider world of horror…”
“While ‘Teorema’ and ‘Visitor Q’ share a common DNA, what’s most striking is the way each film uses The Stranger. Both figures bring with them a kind of new order, as if they were missing puzzle pieces for the families that they integrate themselves into.”
“As a genre exercise, ‘Z’ shows promise for what Christensen might do with a higher budget.”
“Taken purely at its basest form, ‘Vivarium’ is a terrifying isolation horror movie that goes for the jugular.”
“Politically motivated but never preachy, ‘Blood Quantum’ is a zombie movie for the ages that honors the grandest traditions of the genre while remaining true to its own unique essence.”
“Relishing in its ability to wrong foot and thrill right to its final moments, ‘Bacurau’ is an unashamedly cinematic experience, with its makers playing in a sandbox of tropes and expectations, subverting them to put forward a radical and wholly essential message.”
“In these increasingly confusing times, taking solace anywhere we can is more important than ever, and it’s impressively weird, intelligent movies like ‘Sea Fever’ that offer such comfort.”
“The female gaze is strong in ‘The Other Lamb,’ lovingly capturing Cassidy’s delicate, open features particularly when they begin twisting into something resembling anger…”
“In order to fully engage with horror films, it’s important to look at the monster and the world that’s being upended by that monster.”
“Not quite comedies, not entirely horror movies and not normal family films, Dante’s work continues to impress with the layers each work reveals over time, a key factor in their lasting power.”
“The problem with ‘Dark Whispers: Volume 1’ is the same as with any horror anthology — the stories are only as good as what’s come before.”
“Whannell’s ‘The Invisible Man’ is an absolute banger, and stands tall as the most spectacular evolution of the story to hit the big screen.”
“Great art has every piece in intimate communion with the art as a whole. ‘Gretel & Hansel’ takes an elemental approach to the folklore, gasping with the fears of the original material while exhaling a new mystique of its own.”
“Ferrara throws everything at ‘Siberia,’ turning it into a playground for emotive relation. But it is Dafoe, his muse, who so thoroughly brings the audience along with the randomness…”
“Franz and Fiala scale down Kubrick’s more expansive vision, and the result offers its own kind of skin-crawling satisfaction.”
“A thrilling, gloriously gory and gleefully simple exercise in cyberpunk nastiness, led by a crew of done-with-this-shit action movie icons, ‘VFW’ is a relentlessly entertaining riot.”
“‘Scare Me’ takes a while to get going, awkwardly finding its footing through its opening scenes, but when it settles into the long night of storytelling in the cabin, Ruben’s debut feature becomes a total delight.”
“‘Color Out of Space’ is one of the weirdest, most disgusting, thought-provoking and provocative releases of the year…”
“There is a danger and dynamism to 20s cinema which was gradually eradicated by the standardisation of production processes.”
“Playing with of-the-moment vocabulary familiar on college campuses, the latest ‘Black Christmas’ upends several slasher conventions, even if the film is a step down from the director’s excellent ‘Always Shine.'”