Dani (Florence Pugh) is a young lady who’s in mourning from the loss of her entire immediate family: her sister, while committing suicide by car exhaust, killed their parents as well. Meanwhile, her less-than-committed boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) has been planning a trip to Sweden with his buddies Josh (William Jackson Harper), Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren),Continue reading “Ari Aster’s ‘Midsommar’: It’s Long and Challenging, but Ultimately Worth It”
Tag Archives: review
‘The Gallows Act II’: Fun and Occasionally Creepy, Especially for the Under-18 Crowd
Loosely following the plot of the first movie (if you need a refresher you can read an exhaustive synopsis here, or if you’ve never seen it and want a quick spoiler-free plot outline, here are some), it opens with a rainbow of doomed teenagers (’cause it’s okay to bother casting a racially diverse group ofContinue reading “‘The Gallows Act II’: Fun and Occasionally Creepy, Especially for the Under-18 Crowd”
Babak Anvari’s ‘Wounds’ is Profoundly Disturbing–in a Very Good Way
Will (Armie Hammer) is an apathetic bartender who finds a phone left by four college kids. He ends up bringing it home and becoming obsessed with it. His girlfriend Carrie (Dakota Johnson) pleads with him to turn it in to the police, as it contains gruesome pictures of murders as well as texts pleading forContinue reading “Babak Anvari’s ‘Wounds’ is Profoundly Disturbing–in a Very Good Way”
‘Girl on the Third Floor’: The Dangers of Being Overly Cocky
Don (C.M. Punk AKA Phil Brooks) is a disgraced former lawyer who defrauded his clients. He attempts to appease his pregnant and long-suffering wife Liz (Trieste Kelly Dunn) by buying a cheap murder house, with plans to renovate it entirely by himself. While Sarah works from their current home, he stays in the new one.Continue reading “‘Girl on the Third Floor’: The Dangers of Being Overly Cocky”
Deon Taylor’s ‘The Intruder’: It Makes a Tired Genre Great Again
Annie (Meagan Good) and Scott (Michael Ealy) are a happy well-to-do couple buying a fancy house in fancy Napa Valley. The owner of the home they’re buying, Charlie (Dennis Quaid) is sorry to let his house go, as he lived so happily with his deceased wife there, but his daughter really wants him to moveContinue reading “Deon Taylor’s ‘The Intruder’: It Makes a Tired Genre Great Again”
Peter Jackson’s ‘Meet the Feebles’: Not Technically a Horror Movie, but it’s Pretty Damn Frightening
Peter Jackson‘s second film. It concerns the cast and crew of the childrens’ show Meet the Feebles, all puppets, who are trying to rehearse for their upcoming bid for syndication. We have Heidi the Hippo (Mark Hadlow), a binge-eating has-been, Wynyard the frog (Brian Sergent), a heroin addict with PTSD from his tour in Vietnam,Continue reading “Peter Jackson’s ‘Meet the Feebles’: Not Technically a Horror Movie, but it’s Pretty Damn Frightening”
‘The Curse of La Llorona’: The Scariest Thing About it is the Poster Art
America, 1973: mother Patricia (Patricia Velasquez) has issues with alcoholism, which isn’t helped by angry spirit La Llorona targeting her two sons. When her well-meaning social worker Anna (Linda Cardellini) takes the kids away (Patricia had been hiding them in a closet), La Llorona gets them, which makes Patricia less than pleased. In fact, sheContinue reading “‘The Curse of La Llorona’: The Scariest Thing About it is the Poster Art”
‘YellowBrickRoad’ is Disturbing, Engaging, and Creative
1940. Friar, New Hampshire. The entire population, obsessed with The Wizard of Oz, walks off into the woods. Some are found frozen, some are murdered in grisly fashion, but most vanish entirely. A lone survivor is recorded, terrified and nonsensical. Cut to 2008. An intrepid band of explorers set out on a book-writing expedition: writers TeddyContinue reading “‘YellowBrickRoad’ is Disturbing, Engaging, and Creative”
‘Three…Extremes’: Quality Stuff
Three short films by acclaimed Asian directors. “Dumplings” by Fruit Chan concerns an aging actress (Miriam Chin Wah Yeung) who finds a disturbing way to look more youthful. Park Chan-wook‘s “Cut” shows a director (Lee Byung-hun) taken hostage in his own home. “Box” by Takashi Miike involves a writer (Kyoko Hasegawa) whose horrible childhood comesContinue reading “‘Three…Extremes’: Quality Stuff”
1982’s ‘The Thing’: Please No More Remakes
John Carpenter‘s reimagining of 1951’s The Thing from Another World. A group of people at the National Science Institute Station in Antarctica are menaced by a shape- shifting alien that can pass itself off as a myriad of seemingly harmless things, from a dog to a fellow colleague. Since the being could rapidly infect theContinue reading “1982’s ‘The Thing’: Please No More Remakes”
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