I came to the horror genre late. There’s a story that involves Killer Klowns and a terrified little boy, but that’s a story for another time. The experience led me to miss out on years of genuine scares because once you become an adult, it gets a lot harder to be scared. Regardless of the frequency…
It can be really nice to go into a film blank. No expectations, no idea, no concern. It’s the way we most classically enjoy stories. Someone just starts talking and you listen, letting them aurally guide you on a journey to some mystery location. So I urge you, don’t read this review, at least not yet. Go against…
Early in my screening of Pet I was struck with concern. All signs pointed to this piece of genre fare being something recycled and typical. Its main character was a strange loner…
Thomas (Garrett Hedlund), a famous, floppy-haired, self-absorbed actor has run off from his family and his commitments to the desert, where his full schedule includes drinking and sulking and wrecking a Jeep technically owned by his million-dollar production company. He encounters a nutty and armed man by the name of Jack…
After chasing off yet another roommate, coffee shop owner Bobby (Patrick Renna) and his best friend and roomie Raymond (Tommy Savas) set out in search of a replacement. They’re both delighted when sexy, open-minded Chloe (Annie Monroe) applies, and they happily invite her to move in. Despite seriously dating…
There are a few constants in Guillermo del Toro films: beautiful set and costume designs, stunning cinematography and colorful characters. There is no denying that the set and costume design in Crimson Peak is breath-taking but unfortunately those are the high points that come from this film. Good news for those that love a good costume drama, bad…
Of all the psychological dramas of the 1940s, George Cukor’s Gaslight stands out as one of the best. This could be due to Ingrid Bergman’s Oscar-winning performance or Cukor’s inspired direction, but more likely it’s because it is possibly the most devious of them. This is also a rare American remake that is better than the original…
Catherine (Elisabeth Moss) spends a week decompressing at the lake house of her best friend Virginia (Katherine Waterston). Life is pretty hard for Catherine, who is reeling from being dumped by her boyfriend just weeks after her famous father committed suicide. ..
“Fearful is the last place of injur’d innocence,” goes the Goethe quote on which The King’s Surrender opts to open, an amusingly ambitious announcement of dramatic intent for a film that feels like a German The Sweeney. This is wholly naff nonsense that ought to know better, a perfectly passable tense thriller whose damaging drawback is never admitting it’s…
Green Room, written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, is a revenge thriller set at a rock venue where a hardcore punk band is trapped in a Green Room facing off neo-Nazis after witnessing a murder at the club. With its one-location setting and the constant Nazi threat, Saulnier’s follow-up to Blue Ruin is intense, bloody and also quite dark-humored. It’s a…