CategoryReviews
Honest horror reviews of films, series, games and books — no hype, no spoilers, just whether it is worth your time and your nerves.
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ForeignMoviesReviews
Prolific cinematic maverick Jess Franco directed roughly 7,865 movies in his career, so it seems inevitable he would ply his trade with a lil’ film noir… and he sure as shit did! To that end we turn our putrid peepers towards Severin’s release of Franco Noir, a collection of two noir film’s Franco created between 1962 and 1963. Kicking things off we have 1962’s (or 1964’s… the box says ’62 IMDb says ’64… feel free to let me know) Death Whistles the Blues: Trafficking sumbitch Vogel (Georges Rollin) sells out his accomplices Castro and Smith (Manuel Alexandre) which results in Castro being ventilated by the boys in blue, and Smith coolin’ his joltin’ jets in prison. Well all things come to pass, and our man Smith finally sees the light of day again… and he is hellbent on settlin’ the score against Vogel, with only a blues tune to herald his coming to lay down an ultimate ass-whippin’! All manner
Continue reading →
Amazon Prime VideoMoviesNewsParanormalReviewsStreaming TVTrailers
In The Deep House, A young couple, out to gain followers on social media, explore abandoned and long-forgotten places. On a mission to make it to 1,000,000 followers head out to find the location of a man-made lake where many homes lay drowned under its surface. After finding a guide, they hit the jackpot, discovering a large home intact many meters underwater. From the moment they enter the once beautiful home, things seem off, but when they make a disturbing discovery in the home’s basement, everything turns into a nightmare. When I first heard about The Deep House, I’ll be honest, I had my doubts. Billed as “a haunted house movie underwater,” I assumed the movie would not be anything more than a disappointment. I now regret jumping to that conclusion. I will admit when I am wrong. After watching it, I can tell you that it is the haunted house movie that I didn’t know we needed. The moment
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsStreaming TVTrailersTubi
Tubi has been on a roll with their new line of original horror films. The latest release, Unborn, is what I’m here to review today, though you should check out my review for their previous horror film Hellblazers. Pregnant women naturally face a range of fears, both real and valid, and those that seem a bit silly while they are pregnant. Unborn takes those fears and combines them with supernatural horrors. In the film, a couple desperate for a child finally get the good news they have been hoping for, but it doesn’t take long for Rachel (Jade Harlow) to begin experiencing strange things beginning with the image of her dead mother’s face showing up on her ultrasound. When people around her begin to become possessed, Rachel begins to search for answers, learning that her family has long been connected to a satanic cult that worships Lillith. The film is filled with emotion that by the end seemed to have
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Sundance Film Festival is absolutely killing it with its horror selections! Following are capsule reviews of two absolutely bonkers, can’t-miss features. Hatching Finnish/Swedish coproduction Hatching (Ruva, 2022) finds pre-teen gymnast Tinja (Siiri Solalinna in a captivating debut performance) trying to live up to the expectations of her domineering mother (Sophia Heikkilӓ), who vlogs about the wonderful life of their seemingly perfect family. Naturally, the online presence is merely an illusion, as evidenced earlier on when Tinja captures a bird that flew into their house, only to see her mother break its neck. Soon after, Tinja finds a bird’s egg near her home, and promises to take care of what will hatch from it. Big mistake, what with this being a horror film. It would be a shame to go into too many details here about Hanna Bergholm’s astonishing directorial debut Hatching, so suffice it to say that there are some amazing creature and body horror effects on display of both
Continue reading →
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MoviesNewsReviewsStreaming TVTrailersTubi
Tubi’s new original Horror Hellblazers takes us to a tiny remote town. Deep in the woods at dark a cult dances around a fire, led by a shaggy-haired Billy Zane. With a chant, the cult raises a demon and lets it loose to cause chaos and death. The town’s only hope of salvation is their new big city Sheriff, Joe (Ed Marrone), his two deputies (Crash Buist, Paige Sturges), and a trigger happy. ill-tempered old man (Bruce Dern). In the movie, the town must come together to try to survive the demon as well as the cult members who are hellbent on killing them all. There’s a ton of action as the residents of the town use anything they can find as weapons, guns, knives, bats, explosives, and even a chainsaw to fight to survive or they’ll end up on the demon’s menu. When I first reported on Hellblazers it was the cast that caught my attention, starring actors such
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof) heads to a hotel in the remote village of Stainbach after her mother, flight attendant Marlene (Sandra Hüller), falls victim to a severe mental episode while staying at the same location… a location that has been plaguing her chronic nightmares. Once there, Mona finds herself in a seeming fever dream filled with boars, ancient houses in the woods, and visions of suicides past that took place on those putrid premises… not to mention the hotel’s owners acting weird as all fuck… and those “sex” dreams… Will our hero uncover the town’s dark secret and how does it relate to her family? If there’s one thing director Michael Venus’ (who co-wrote the picture with Thomas Friedrich) Sleep is it’s dour… and weird… and a slow burn… alright, it’s a lot of fuckin’ things, including Grade-A fuckin’ excellent! Adding to the positives here is a stellar performance from Kohlhof who travels through this surreal misadventure in a perpetual
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Director Mimi Cave’s debut feature film Fresh is destined to be one of the absolute best horror films of 2022. It is also the most difficult type of film to write a review about, because it is the type of movie that first-time viewers need to go into as, well, fresh as possible. My review will be spoiler free. Fresh starts out as a dark satire on modern dating, an anti–rom-com that shines a spotlight on the pressures of meeting new people on dating apps and the benefit of having friends who know how to cyberstalk strangers. Then it heads headlong into some of the most nail-biting, uncomfortable fear fare imaginable. Daisy Edgar-Jones gives a superb performance as Noa, a young woman tired of swiping on dating app photos, receiving unwanted pictures of men’s genitalia, and first dates that lead nowhere. When she has a meet cute in the produce section with a plastic surgeon named Steve (Sebastian Stan in
Continue reading →
NetflixNewsReviewsStreaming TVTrailers
Over the past few years, Netflix has really expanded the genre library, bringing us both great horror films and series. One of their latest offerings is the James Wan-produced series “Archive 81”. If you are wondering if it’s worth the watch, we will answer that in this review. Mamoudou Athie stars as Dan, a quiet and slightly odd man, burdened by the death of his entire family when he was just a child. He is hired by the mysterious Virgil Davenport (Martin Donovan) to restore the tapes made by Melody (Dina Shihabi) at Virgil’s remote compound, which contains many secrets. As he watches the videos he discovers that the tapes chronicle her investigation of a cult that resides in the Visser apartment building in 1994. With every tape that he restores, he becomes more infatuated with Melody and is determined to find a way to rescue her from the other world connected to the cult, while also seeking answers of
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Director Christian Tafdrup’s Speak No Evil (Gæsterne; Denmark/Netherlands, 2022) may be the most uncomfortable horror film in recent memory, as it puts social niceties, including acting “correctly” and politely, under a microscope and plays with the ideas of what horror is before delivering an absolutely harrowing third act. Danish family Bjørn (Morten Burian), Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), and their young daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) meet Dutch family Patrick (Fedja van Huêt), Karin (Karina Smulders), and their young son Abel (Marius Damslev) during a trip to Italy. The two families strike up a casual friendship during the trip, and a few months later, Patrick and Karen invite Bjørn, Louise, and Agnes to spend a weekend with them at their home. Things start off a bit uneasily when Patrick insists that vegetarian Louise taste the wild boar he has prepared for their first meal together, and things get increasingly uncomfortable from there. Speak No Evil starts off as pitch-black comedy of manners
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
After a serious case of credits with training montage we get down to the meat n’ potatoes of Disciples of Shaolin; namely the arrival of Shaolin-style kung-fu bumpkin Kuan (Alexander Fu Sheng, who tragically died at age 28 from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1983) who arrives in town in the hopes of obtaining work at the local textile mill via his friend/fellow Shaolin kung-fu disciple Huang (Chi Kuan-Chun). Spoiler: Kuan obtains a job at the textile mill. And, what a job it is; fuckin’ around with looms and blatantly showing off his marital arts prowess exactly as Huang asked him not to do. Good thing too, as it’s just this kind of ass-kickin’ showboating that quickly results in our hero becoming the right hand man to the boss of the factory himself! Now, why would the boss need someone with those skills so damn bad in an industry based on thread count and long-lasting fabric durability? Because
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
ForeignMoviesReviews
Prolific cinematic maverick Jess Franco directed roughly 7,865 movies in his career, so it seems inevitable he would ply his trade with a lil’ film noir… and he sure as shit did! To that end we turn our putrid peepers towards Severin’s release of Franco Noir, a collection of two noir film’s Franco created between 1962 and 1963. Kicking things off we have 1962’s (or 1964’s… the box says ’62 IMDb says ’64… feel free to let me know) Death Whistles the Blues: Trafficking sumbitch Vogel (Georges Rollin) sells out his accomplices Castro and Smith (Manuel Alexandre) which results in Castro being ventilated by the boys in blue, and Smith coolin’ his joltin’ jets in prison. Well all things come to pass, and our man Smith finally sees the light of day again… and he is hellbent on settlin’ the score against Vogel, with only a blues tune to herald his coming to lay down an ultimate ass-whippin’! All manner
Continue reading →
Amazon Prime VideoMoviesNewsParanormalReviewsStreaming TVTrailers
In The Deep House, A young couple, out to gain followers on social media, explore abandoned and long-forgotten places. On a mission to make it to 1,000,000 followers head out to find the location of a man-made lake where many homes lay drowned under its surface. After finding a guide, they hit the jackpot, discovering a large home intact many meters underwater. From the moment they enter the once beautiful home, things seem off, but when they make a disturbing discovery in the home’s basement, everything turns into a nightmare. When I first heard about The Deep House, I’ll be honest, I had my doubts. Billed as “a haunted house movie underwater,” I assumed the movie would not be anything more than a disappointment. I now regret jumping to that conclusion. I will admit when I am wrong. After watching it, I can tell you that it is the haunted house movie that I didn’t know we needed. The moment
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsStreaming TVTrailersTubi
Tubi has been on a roll with their new line of original horror films. The latest release, Unborn, is what I’m here to review today, though you should check out my review for their previous horror film Hellblazers. Pregnant women naturally face a range of fears, both real and valid, and those that seem a bit silly while they are pregnant. Unborn takes those fears and combines them with supernatural horrors. In the film, a couple desperate for a child finally get the good news they have been hoping for, but it doesn’t take long for Rachel (Jade Harlow) to begin experiencing strange things beginning with the image of her dead mother’s face showing up on her ultrasound. When people around her begin to become possessed, Rachel begins to search for answers, learning that her family has long been connected to a satanic cult that worships Lillith. The film is filled with emotion that by the end seemed to have
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Sundance Film Festival is absolutely killing it with its horror selections! Following are capsule reviews of two absolutely bonkers, can’t-miss features. Hatching Finnish/Swedish coproduction Hatching (Ruva, 2022) finds pre-teen gymnast Tinja (Siiri Solalinna in a captivating debut performance) trying to live up to the expectations of her domineering mother (Sophia Heikkilӓ), who vlogs about the wonderful life of their seemingly perfect family. Naturally, the online presence is merely an illusion, as evidenced earlier on when Tinja captures a bird that flew into their house, only to see her mother break its neck. Soon after, Tinja finds a bird’s egg near her home, and promises to take care of what will hatch from it. Big mistake, what with this being a horror film. It would be a shame to go into too many details here about Hanna Bergholm’s astonishing directorial debut Hatching, so suffice it to say that there are some amazing creature and body horror effects on display of both
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsStreaming TVTrailersTubi
Tubi’s new original Horror Hellblazers takes us to a tiny remote town. Deep in the woods at dark a cult dances around a fire, led by a shaggy-haired Billy Zane. With a chant, the cult raises a demon and lets it loose to cause chaos and death. The town’s only hope of salvation is their new big city Sheriff, Joe (Ed Marrone), his two deputies (Crash Buist, Paige Sturges), and a trigger happy. ill-tempered old man (Bruce Dern). In the movie, the town must come together to try to survive the demon as well as the cult members who are hellbent on killing them all. There’s a ton of action as the residents of the town use anything they can find as weapons, guns, knives, bats, explosives, and even a chainsaw to fight to survive or they’ll end up on the demon’s menu. When I first reported on Hellblazers it was the cast that caught my attention, starring actors such
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof) heads to a hotel in the remote village of Stainbach after her mother, flight attendant Marlene (Sandra Hüller), falls victim to a severe mental episode while staying at the same location… a location that has been plaguing her chronic nightmares. Once there, Mona finds herself in a seeming fever dream filled with boars, ancient houses in the woods, and visions of suicides past that took place on those putrid premises… not to mention the hotel’s owners acting weird as all fuck… and those “sex” dreams… Will our hero uncover the town’s dark secret and how does it relate to her family? If there’s one thing director Michael Venus’ (who co-wrote the picture with Thomas Friedrich) Sleep is it’s dour… and weird… and a slow burn… alright, it’s a lot of fuckin’ things, including Grade-A fuckin’ excellent! Adding to the positives here is a stellar performance from Kohlhof who travels through this surreal misadventure in a perpetual
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Director Mimi Cave’s debut feature film Fresh is destined to be one of the absolute best horror films of 2022. It is also the most difficult type of film to write a review about, because it is the type of movie that first-time viewers need to go into as, well, fresh as possible. My review will be spoiler free. Fresh starts out as a dark satire on modern dating, an anti–rom-com that shines a spotlight on the pressures of meeting new people on dating apps and the benefit of having friends who know how to cyberstalk strangers. Then it heads headlong into some of the most nail-biting, uncomfortable fear fare imaginable. Daisy Edgar-Jones gives a superb performance as Noa, a young woman tired of swiping on dating app photos, receiving unwanted pictures of men’s genitalia, and first dates that lead nowhere. When she has a meet cute in the produce section with a plastic surgeon named Steve (Sebastian Stan in
Continue reading →
NetflixNewsReviewsStreaming TVTrailers
Over the past few years, Netflix has really expanded the genre library, bringing us both great horror films and series. One of their latest offerings is the James Wan-produced series “Archive 81”. If you are wondering if it’s worth the watch, we will answer that in this review. Mamoudou Athie stars as Dan, a quiet and slightly odd man, burdened by the death of his entire family when he was just a child. He is hired by the mysterious Virgil Davenport (Martin Donovan) to restore the tapes made by Melody (Dina Shihabi) at Virgil’s remote compound, which contains many secrets. As he watches the videos he discovers that the tapes chronicle her investigation of a cult that resides in the Visser apartment building in 1994. With every tape that he restores, he becomes more infatuated with Melody and is determined to find a way to rescue her from the other world connected to the cult, while also seeking answers of
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Director Christian Tafdrup’s Speak No Evil (Gæsterne; Denmark/Netherlands, 2022) may be the most uncomfortable horror film in recent memory, as it puts social niceties, including acting “correctly” and politely, under a microscope and plays with the ideas of what horror is before delivering an absolutely harrowing third act. Danish family Bjørn (Morten Burian), Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), and their young daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) meet Dutch family Patrick (Fedja van Huêt), Karin (Karina Smulders), and their young son Abel (Marius Damslev) during a trip to Italy. The two families strike up a casual friendship during the trip, and a few months later, Patrick and Karen invite Bjørn, Louise, and Agnes to spend a weekend with them at their home. Things start off a bit uneasily when Patrick insists that vegetarian Louise taste the wild boar he has prepared for their first meal together, and things get increasingly uncomfortable from there. Speak No Evil starts off as pitch-black comedy of manners
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
After a serious case of credits with training montage we get down to the meat n’ potatoes of Disciples of Shaolin; namely the arrival of Shaolin-style kung-fu bumpkin Kuan (Alexander Fu Sheng, who tragically died at age 28 from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1983) who arrives in town in the hopes of obtaining work at the local textile mill via his friend/fellow Shaolin kung-fu disciple Huang (Chi Kuan-Chun). Spoiler: Kuan obtains a job at the textile mill. And, what a job it is; fuckin’ around with looms and blatantly showing off his marital arts prowess exactly as Huang asked him not to do. Good thing too, as it’s just this kind of ass-kickin’ showboating that quickly results in our hero becoming the right hand man to the boss of the factory himself! Now, why would the boss need someone with those skills so damn bad in an industry based on thread count and long-lasting fabric durability? Because
Continue reading →
