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Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘You Should Have Left’

Out of all the movies I’ve been excited about, You Should Have Left has been at the top of the list. Now that I’ve seen it I would like to share my thoughts with you. Kevin Bacon stars as Theo whose dark past haunts him, as does his nightmares. Filled with anger and jealousy, he tries to find some peace in the home he and his wife have rented for a getaway, but his life begins to unravel and something begins to manipulate his reality. As always, Bacon is fantastic. While he’s known for his roles in films like Tremors, he’s so great in serious roles and has a way of really making you feel what his character is experiencing. He reunited with director David Koepp for the film, who he worked with on the brilliant 1999 horror Stir of Echoes. They two are a great combo. Amanda Seyfried plays the role of Susanna, Theo’s much younger, beautiful, actress wife

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 20, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Brahms: The Boy II

It’s rare these days to see a sequel outshine its predecessor, but that is the case with director William Brent Bell’s Brahms: The Boy II. The first movie introduces a nanny hired to babysit a doll. She eventually discovers after witnessing what she thinks is a possessed doll that there is a man living within the walls of the manor. The Boy II expands on the doll’s history. It centers on a couple (Katie Holmes and Owain Yeoman) and their young son Jude (Christopher Convery) who move into the guest house on the property of the manor from the first film. Due to the trauma caused by a home invasion, their son has stopped talking. While exploring the property Jude discovers a doll buried in the dirt, the infamous Brahms. Soon Katie Holme’s Liza begins to believe that the doll is not only a bad influence on her son, but that Brams may very well be possessed. I was surprised

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 1, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘The Dinner Party’ Is Sophisticated Horror With A Twist

As elegant as it is disturbing, the indie horror film The Dinner Party invites viewers to witness a gathering they’ll never forget. From director and star Miles Doleac who co-wrote the film along with Michael Donovan comes the film that follows a playwright and his wife who have been invited to a dinner at a patron’s home. What the couple doesn’t know is that they’re on the menu. As always, Doleac’s films continue to please. The Dinner Party has an heir of sophistication and beauty but also the intensity and horror that will keep viewers intrigued. The cast of The Dinner Party includes Doleac, Jeremy London, Bill Sage, Sawandi Wilson, Lindsay Anne Williams, Alli Hart, and Mike Mayhall who did wonderfully in their roles, especially our heroine played by Hart who captures both innocence and strength. The Dinner Table takes a stab at the elite, bringing the thought that the affluent can get away with murder, and often do. It

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 25, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘The Fanatic’ Will Leave You Asking WTF Did I Just Watch?

The Fanatic…where do I start? John Travolta stars as “Moose”, an autistic man who collects autographs and movie memorabilia. Obsessed with actor Hunter Dubar (Devon Sawa), “Moose” will stop at nothing to get close to his favorite actor. Travolta, rocking a terrible mullet, mimics what I assume he thinks is the way an autistic man would talk and act. Within the first few minutes I felt gross just for watching it. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not the fact that Travolta impersonates an autistic person, it’s the way that he did it. It just feels off and it is extremely one dimensional. For example, Leonardo Di Caprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape was brilliant. That’s how that’s done. Written and directed by Fred Durst (yes, that Fred Durst, the one from Limp Bizkit) the movie left me wondering what Durst’s original vision was and if this is close. Maybe he did it all for the nooky. Sorry, that was

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 21, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘Z’ Is The Horror Movie Fans Deserve

Let’s face it when a movie gets a lot of hype ahead of its release we usually find ourselves left disappointed. That is not the case with writer-director Brandon Christenson and co-writer Colin Minihan’s spooky AF film Z. I was not prepared for this frightening flick. I was expecting a decent movie, but Z is so much more. I’ve been a horror fan for so long that I’ve become pretty jaded, but Z reminded me of why I fell in love with the horror genre in the first place. As horror fans, we are always in search of the next high, that moment when we feel like our heart will jump out of our chest, the times when we flinch in fear and are left with thoughts of a story swimming around in our heads. Z does that. The film follows a family whose son has become dangerous. He blames everything on his invisible friend Z, but it doesn’t take

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 20, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Underwater (2020)

From the first moment that I saw the trailer for director William Eubank’s aquatic horror Underwater I’ve been eagerly awaiting to sink my teeth into it. Now that I have seen it, I’d like to share my thoughts with you. The first thing I need to say is that like many movies released over the past few years, the trailer reveals way too much. This has become a serious problem. There has to be a better way to tease a film than spoiling 80% of its story. The movie opens with Kristen Stewart brushing her teeth in her underwear, just minutes before the movie’s action kicks off. That is one thing I can say for this movie, it’s action-packed from beginning to end. And don’t worry, there’s plenty of scares. And surprisingly, not all of them are jump scares, there’s plenty of well-built and cultivated terror. The setting, seven miles down and five thousand miles from any land, really adds

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 18, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘The Wretched’ Makes Witches Scary Again

From Brett Pierce and Drew Pierce, the writing-directing team behind the zombie cult hit Deadheads, comes a new tale of terror, The Wretched. John-Paul Howard (Hell or High Water) stars as Ben, a rebellious teen who has been sent to stay with his father (Jamison Jones) for the summer. One night he notices a creature lurking outside his home and follows it to his neighbor’s house. As he begins to watch the house he notices something strange. An evil force, a witch, is at work and it is erasing the memory of the children it encounters. We get a few witch movies every year, but most often they lack that special “Jene sais quoi.” That’s not the case with The Wretched. The movie makes witches scary again. In fact, she’s downright terrifying. And damn, she looks great! Special effects company Bitemares Inc. did an absolutely incredible job. The whole film features amazing effects. And we see things we’ve never seen

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 1, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Vivarium

You would think that a brand new subdivision would be an ideal place to start a future, but that is not the case in Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium. When a young couple, played by Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots, enters a real estate office they get more than they bargained for after finding themselves trapped in a neighborhood. Unable to leave until they raise a mysterious child, the couple finds them fighting for their lives and their sanity. Vivarium is unlike any movie I’ve ever seen. The way Finnegan and co-writer Garret Shanley manipulate your emotions is both subtle and clever, leaving you with an undeniable uneasy feeling in your gut as the story plays out. Imogen Poots is the heart of Vivarium. I was so impressed by her performance. She captured her character Gemma’s every emotion so well and made the movie feel real. You really could almost feel her pain. Poots has fantastic range. Eisenberg’s crotchety character Tom was

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Apr 27, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Dark Light (2019)

I try my best to avoid major spoilers when I do a review, however this time I feel the need to talk about the movie Dark Light in detail. Consider this a warning. Netflix’s Dark Light, from writer-director Padraig Reynolds, follows a newly divorced woman who moves back into her childhood home with her young daughter. It doesn’t take long before she begins to experience strange events such as lights in the cornfield and her daughter disappearing on several occasions, only to be found in strange places. When I came across the movie I found the trailer both intriguing and well done, so I decided to give it a shot. The story its self held a lot of potential, unfortunately, it’s got more plot holes than Michael Myers has victims. The casting of the lead actress, Jessica Madsen, is a double-edged sword. Don’t get me wrong, she is fantastic in her role as a terrified mother. The problem is that

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Apr 19, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘We Summon The Darkness’ Is Badass And Bloody

Heavy metal and murder fill the 80s set horror We Summon the Darkness, starring Alexandra Daddario (Alexis), Maddie Hasson (Val) and Amy Forsyth (Bev) as a trio of young women on a mission. They head out to a concert, where the girls meet three guys, Mark (Keean Johnson), Kovacs (Logan Miller), and Ivan (Austin Swift). After the show is over, the girls take the guys back to Alexis’ father’s (Johnny Knoxville) house to continue the party, but these guys have no idea what the girls have in store for them. From the getgo you can tell something is off. I mean why would three hot girls be interested in three losers? Once back at the house the girls begin a game of “never have I ever.” During the game, they reveal their real intentions, but of course, nothing goes as planned and chaos ensues. There are a few things that just didn’t quite make sense. Here’s an example, Bev’s choice

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Apr 10, 2020

More from Movie Review

Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘You Should Have Left’

Out of all the movies I’ve been excited about, You Should Have Left has been at the top of the list. Now that I’ve seen it I would like to share my thoughts with you. Kevin Bacon stars as Theo whose dark past haunts him, as does his nightmares. Filled with anger and jealousy, he tries to find some peace in the home he and his wife have rented for a getaway, but his life begins to unravel and something begins to manipulate his reality. As always, Bacon is fantastic. While he’s known for his roles in films like Tremors, he’s so great in serious roles and has a way of really making you feel what his character is experiencing. He reunited with director David Koepp for the film, who he worked with on the brilliant 1999 horror Stir of Echoes. They two are a great combo. Amanda Seyfried plays the role of Susanna, Theo’s much younger, beautiful, actress wife

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 20, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Brahms: The Boy II

It’s rare these days to see a sequel outshine its predecessor, but that is the case with director William Brent Bell’s Brahms: The Boy II. The first movie introduces a nanny hired to babysit a doll. She eventually discovers after witnessing what she thinks is a possessed doll that there is a man living within the walls of the manor. The Boy II expands on the doll’s history. It centers on a couple (Katie Holmes and Owain Yeoman) and their young son Jude (Christopher Convery) who move into the guest house on the property of the manor from the first film. Due to the trauma caused by a home invasion, their son has stopped talking. While exploring the property Jude discovers a doll buried in the dirt, the infamous Brahms. Soon Katie Holme’s Liza begins to believe that the doll is not only a bad influence on her son, but that Brams may very well be possessed. I was surprised

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 1, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘The Dinner Party’ Is Sophisticated Horror With A Twist

As elegant as it is disturbing, the indie horror film The Dinner Party invites viewers to witness a gathering they’ll never forget. From director and star Miles Doleac who co-wrote the film along with Michael Donovan comes the film that follows a playwright and his wife who have been invited to a dinner at a patron’s home. What the couple doesn’t know is that they’re on the menu. As always, Doleac’s films continue to please. The Dinner Party has an heir of sophistication and beauty but also the intensity and horror that will keep viewers intrigued. The cast of The Dinner Party includes Doleac, Jeremy London, Bill Sage, Sawandi Wilson, Lindsay Anne Williams, Alli Hart, and Mike Mayhall who did wonderfully in their roles, especially our heroine played by Hart who captures both innocence and strength. The Dinner Table takes a stab at the elite, bringing the thought that the affluent can get away with murder, and often do. It

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 25, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘The Fanatic’ Will Leave You Asking WTF Did I Just Watch?

The Fanatic…where do I start? John Travolta stars as “Moose”, an autistic man who collects autographs and movie memorabilia. Obsessed with actor Hunter Dubar (Devon Sawa), “Moose” will stop at nothing to get close to his favorite actor. Travolta, rocking a terrible mullet, mimics what I assume he thinks is the way an autistic man would talk and act. Within the first few minutes I felt gross just for watching it. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not the fact that Travolta impersonates an autistic person, it’s the way that he did it. It just feels off and it is extremely one dimensional. For example, Leonardo Di Caprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape was brilliant. That’s how that’s done. Written and directed by Fred Durst (yes, that Fred Durst, the one from Limp Bizkit) the movie left me wondering what Durst’s original vision was and if this is close. Maybe he did it all for the nooky. Sorry, that was

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 21, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘Z’ Is The Horror Movie Fans Deserve

Let’s face it when a movie gets a lot of hype ahead of its release we usually find ourselves left disappointed. That is not the case with writer-director Brandon Christenson and co-writer Colin Minihan’s spooky AF film Z. I was not prepared for this frightening flick. I was expecting a decent movie, but Z is so much more. I’ve been a horror fan for so long that I’ve become pretty jaded, but Z reminded me of why I fell in love with the horror genre in the first place. As horror fans, we are always in search of the next high, that moment when we feel like our heart will jump out of our chest, the times when we flinch in fear and are left with thoughts of a story swimming around in our heads. Z does that. The film follows a family whose son has become dangerous. He blames everything on his invisible friend Z, but it doesn’t take

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 20, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Underwater (2020)

From the first moment that I saw the trailer for director William Eubank’s aquatic horror Underwater I’ve been eagerly awaiting to sink my teeth into it. Now that I have seen it, I’d like to share my thoughts with you. The first thing I need to say is that like many movies released over the past few years, the trailer reveals way too much. This has become a serious problem. There has to be a better way to tease a film than spoiling 80% of its story. The movie opens with Kristen Stewart brushing her teeth in her underwear, just minutes before the movie’s action kicks off. That is one thing I can say for this movie, it’s action-packed from beginning to end. And don’t worry, there’s plenty of scares. And surprisingly, not all of them are jump scares, there’s plenty of well-built and cultivated terror. The setting, seven miles down and five thousand miles from any land, really adds

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 18, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘The Wretched’ Makes Witches Scary Again

From Brett Pierce and Drew Pierce, the writing-directing team behind the zombie cult hit Deadheads, comes a new tale of terror, The Wretched. John-Paul Howard (Hell or High Water) stars as Ben, a rebellious teen who has been sent to stay with his father (Jamison Jones) for the summer. One night he notices a creature lurking outside his home and follows it to his neighbor’s house. As he begins to watch the house he notices something strange. An evil force, a witch, is at work and it is erasing the memory of the children it encounters. We get a few witch movies every year, but most often they lack that special “Jene sais quoi.” That’s not the case with The Wretched. The movie makes witches scary again. In fact, she’s downright terrifying. And damn, she looks great! Special effects company Bitemares Inc. did an absolutely incredible job. The whole film features amazing effects. And we see things we’ve never seen

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
May 1, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Vivarium

You would think that a brand new subdivision would be an ideal place to start a future, but that is not the case in Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium. When a young couple, played by Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots, enters a real estate office they get more than they bargained for after finding themselves trapped in a neighborhood. Unable to leave until they raise a mysterious child, the couple finds them fighting for their lives and their sanity. Vivarium is unlike any movie I’ve ever seen. The way Finnegan and co-writer Garret Shanley manipulate your emotions is both subtle and clever, leaving you with an undeniable uneasy feeling in your gut as the story plays out. Imogen Poots is the heart of Vivarium. I was so impressed by her performance. She captured her character Gemma’s every emotion so well and made the movie feel real. You really could almost feel her pain. Poots has fantastic range. Eisenberg’s crotchety character Tom was

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Apr 27, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Dark Light (2019)

I try my best to avoid major spoilers when I do a review, however this time I feel the need to talk about the movie Dark Light in detail. Consider this a warning. Netflix’s Dark Light, from writer-director Padraig Reynolds, follows a newly divorced woman who moves back into her childhood home with her young daughter. It doesn’t take long before she begins to experience strange events such as lights in the cornfield and her daughter disappearing on several occasions, only to be found in strange places. When I came across the movie I found the trailer both intriguing and well done, so I decided to give it a shot. The story its self held a lot of potential, unfortunately, it’s got more plot holes than Michael Myers has victims. The casting of the lead actress, Jessica Madsen, is a double-edged sword. Don’t get me wrong, she is fantastic in her role as a terrified mother. The problem is that

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Apr 19, 2020
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: ‘We Summon The Darkness’ Is Badass And Bloody

Heavy metal and murder fill the 80s set horror We Summon the Darkness, starring Alexandra Daddario (Alexis), Maddie Hasson (Val) and Amy Forsyth (Bev) as a trio of young women on a mission. They head out to a concert, where the girls meet three guys, Mark (Keean Johnson), Kovacs (Logan Miller), and Ivan (Austin Swift). After the show is over, the girls take the guys back to Alexis’ father’s (Johnny Knoxville) house to continue the party, but these guys have no idea what the girls have in store for them. From the getgo you can tell something is off. I mean why would three hot girls be interested in three losers? Once back at the house the girls begin a game of “never have I ever.” During the game, they reveal their real intentions, but of course, nothing goes as planned and chaos ensues. There are a few things that just didn’t quite make sense. Here’s an example, Bev’s choice

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Apr 10, 2020
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