"Beautiful in its narrative simplicity, observant in its human complexity, and vital in its stylistic precision, "Hush" is the kind of nerve-shredding thriller which lays waste to its viewers' fingernails while leaving said audience literally perched on the edge of their seats. There are no needless subplots on hand to muddy the waters or lugubrious tangents to slow the pacing. Director Mike Flanagan is laser-focused on what he has set out to do, and achieve, and he does it magnificently." - Dustin Putnam, TheFrightFile

"There's an elegance to Bone Tomahawk that doesn't let up even when it veers into cult-movie territory. Zahler is a patient director, willing to let scenes unfold, with tension developing organically. He uses music sparingly; the early scenes in town are almost unnaturally quiet, with the moody, minimalist score (credited to Jeff Herriot and Zahler himself) only kicking in once the search party strikes out for the territory. As the men become more and more desperate, the camera comes in closer and closer. But even the final act is devoid of the kind of unhinged stylistic hysteria that can take over films that upend genre. You could even say that's what makes it so disturbing — the director's unflinching eye reveals both character and violence." - Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

"Opening with silent statistics for the missing and dead in Mexico, paired with a teacher instructing her class to write a fairy tale, there's no denying what López wants to say here. Like her producing-partner-to-be, López uses genre elements to frame a real, devastating story, this one being about children who learn to fend for themselves in a world that has abandoned them. The themes inherent in this narrative are often bleak, but like the best fairy tales, there is triumph as well. Beyond sociological truth, López infuses her narrative with acceptance and solidarity, friendship and comfort in the face of death. The abstract symbols serve the story, but its core rests in the small, intimate moments, which build to a finale that's both thrilling and deeply emotional. López is a voice that should make us pause, one whose certainty and passion seem essential in a world that often lacks both." - Ben Larned, Daily Dead

"More or less a two-hander for co-stars Patrick Brice and indie-cinema multihyphenate Mark Duplass, who reportedly improvised from a jointly written bare-bones outline under Brice's direction... Right from the start, "Creep" primes viewers to suspect that nothing is what it seems. Indeed, even before Aaron actually begins shooting Josef's monologues, he comes across as dangerously naive, if not downright clueless, simply by agreeing to spend a long day alone with a much-too-ingratiating stranger in and around a cabin in a remote mountain town. Sure enough, there's an entirely predictable revelation of deception around the midway point. But then something else happens, followed by some other, far more unexpected things." - Joe Leydon, Variety

"The movie does an uncanny job of re-creating the visual feel of Murnau's film. There are shots that look the way moldy basements smell. This material doesn't lend itself to subtlety, and Malkovich and Dafoe chew their lines like characters who know they are always being observed (some directors do more acting on their sets than the actors do)... Vampires for some reason are funny as well as frightening. Maybe that's because the conditions of their lives are so absurd. Some of novelist Anne Rice's vampires have a fairly entertaining time of it, but someone like Schreck seems doomed to spend eternity in psychic and physical horror." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"What saves Bring Her Back from collapsing under its own cruelty is the Philippous’ perverse fidelity to the physical. This is a masterclass in staging the indignities of the body. Blood is a sticky, congealing mess, while drool clings to lips and piss stains fabric. The sound design doubles down on these corporeal violations with bones protesting, knives worrying their way through flesh, and teeth detonating like porcelain. These effects owe nothing to the slick sadism of torture porn and everything to the clammy tactility of J-horror. They infest you, crawling under your skin with the intent to stay there." - Ayaan Paul Chowdhury, The Hindu

"Long before 10 Cloverfield Lane gets to the issue of whether or not there are monsters above ground, it's evident that Howard is monster enough below it: a figure of frustrated, resentful masculinity (he alleges, offhand, that his ex-wife turned his daughter against him) finally crowned with the authority he feels has long been denied him. While the original Cloverfield deliberately positioned its cast of twentysomethings to be dwarfed by a largescale disaster, 10 Cloverfield Lane is rewardingly claustrophobic, keeping its focus tight on the characters and their cramped space while whatever disasters there are loom outside the bunker." - Allison Willmore, Buzzfeed News

"A slick cross between a Hitchcock movie (two in particular, but to identify them would give away too much) and Stir of Echoes, What Lies Beneath is a supernatural thriller whose plot struggles to hold water. It's the sort of thriller where the twists and surprises are decided first, and then the writers hang the story around those twists as best they can... What Lies Beneath works – to the extent that it works – because of Robert Zemeckis... Zemeckis is synonymous with slick, but he does have an impressive record of making the most out of material even when it's weak. He gets an audience to care about what's going on in a story rather than think about what's wrong with the story. He knows how to entertain." - Carlo Cavagna, AboutFilm.com

"The broad strokes in which Hollywood is painted may give the feeling that we've all been here before but trust me, we haven't. Benjamin Kracun's vibrant cinematography captures the surface sheen of Los Angeles perfectly and the aesthetic jars beautifully with the spilled blood and guts on display. High spec, cutting edge apartments are redecorated with fluids of all types. Even the grimy back streets conceal shiny rooms for those in the know. The Substance, while making serious points about how women in the public eye are built up and torn down on a depressingly regular basis, revels in its ridiculousness and the final sequence cranks up the fantasy dial to eleven as our star heads to present a prestigious New Year's Eve programme and makes an entrance which is tragic, darkly hilarious and astonishingly gross, culminating in a parting shot which brings us full circle and finally allowing a moment to take in the assault to the senses." - Darren Gaskell, Love Horror

"The story being depicted elaborates on the original scenario and is endlessly intriguing. We only got a taste of the virus' demonic nature in the original and here, that concept is expanded in a frightening manner. This is no longer the story of crazed infected humans running around biting each other's faces off; it's a terrifying tale of deadly people being influenced by a demonic source... Balagueró and Plaza really know what they're doing. The continuation of their story is what keeps you intrigued, but it's the eeriness and constant need to be prepared for what's lurking around the corner that makes this film downright as horrifying as it is relentless. REC 2 it isn't as good as its predecessor, but only finds itself a notch below, making it an enjoyable and honorable sequel" - Perri Nemiroff, CinemaBlend

"A savage allegory about the sacrificial, soul-crushing price of fame and recognition in a town notoriously guilty for building up its talent only to tear them down, the perfectly titled "Starry Eyes" spares no one. Shooting on location in Los Angeles... writer-directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer paint a despairing but, from certain angles, accurate portrait of Hollywood's grim underbelly. Beyond the sunshine and palm trees is an imminent danger that nears, each callback Sarah receives taking her closer to the part and further from her identity... Soaked in viscera and complemented by composer Jonathan Snipes' phenomenally foreboding old-school, synth-heavy music score, the powerful finished product announces Kolsch and Widmyer as filmmaking forces to watch and remember." - Dustin Putman, TheFrightFile.com

"Just as we fall for their characters falling for each other, Benson's metaphorically resonate script providing their space to emote is matched visually by Moorhead's cinematography. Whether static aerials showing rotting corpses with snakes slithering through them, the shallow depth of field focusing on exactly what he wants us to see (showcasing Louise's delicate balance between life and death with budding and withering flowers animated along her path), or a magnificent long take of Hilker following Pucci as he works his frustration out through the winding cobblestone alleyways of Apulia, the sense of place becomes a character in itself. Add the in-close cropping of creature effects and you get a genre film unencumbered by genre aesthetic. So if you're someone who believes horror is mood, gore, and little else, Spring proves its validity as legitimate cinematic art." - Jared Morbarak, The Film Stage

"Remarkably, given the premise, only one of the five short segments that make up V/H/S is an outright failure. The others — from such US indie darlings as House Of The Devil director Ti West, mumblecore luminary Joe Swanberg and fledgling YouTube collective Radio Silence — share an experimental bent, a knack for well-timed twists and they don't pander to the squeamish. It puts these spooky miniatures head and shoulders above the bulk of this year's featurelength horror fare... Forever chasing scares both cerebral and visceral, the filmmakers leave little space for cynicism and plenty for admiration — an invaluable accomplishment in a film form that's so susceptible to weak spots." - Charlie Lyne, Little White Lies

"In transliterating a foreign-language horror hit into an Anglophone movie it doesn't follow [shot-for-shot]... though it does lift many scenes verbatim... If anything, this is a grimmer reading: as per Lindqvist, Abby genuinely feels for Owen, but the film suggests – via a photo-strip showing that she has been with her current protector since he was Owen's age – that the vampire is going through another iteration of a relationship she has had before and will have again... Let Me In isn't as rich or daring as Let the Right One In and seldom improves on it – but it plays better as a horror film, more concentrated in its focus on the creepy and shocking aspects of its unusual love story." - Kim Newman, Sight and Sound

"To absorb the extraordinary details, colors, shapes and situations that are rife with layered danger is to witness this director's fierce commitment to his own vision of what life could, or should, be. Del Toro's latest, "Crimson Peak," is a case in point. Set in the early 20th century, the action takes place almost entirely in the confines of a dark, decaying, sprawling manor house in northern England called Allerdale Hall. The hall sits atop a mine of red clay that brings about all kinds of building stress: red liquid oozing from walls, thick red water clogging the pipes and trickling down faucets, as if the whole place is in a permanent state of menstrual seizure... But del Toro has always trafficked in very expensive, well curated yuck. And as a result, "Crimson Peak" is all sexy gothic decor mixed with dungeon-like discomfort." - Kaori Shoji, Japan Times

"One could catalog all the awesome things in "Mandy" — the dueling chainsaws, the Cheddar Goblin, the nightmarishly enveloping score by the late Jóhann Jóhannson, Nicolas Cage at his screaming-in-his-tighty-whities best — without quite penetrating the awesomeness of "Mandy." Suffice to say that Panos Cosmatos' metal-to-the-max revenge thriller is more than just the sum of its deranged set pieces, choice as they are: Its slow-drip blend of hardcore pulp and demonic fantasy has a patience and all-consuming conviction that simply cannot be faked. Pulverizing though it may be, "Mandy" isn't an assault; it's an immersion, and one that demands the attention of a big screen." - Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

"Director James Watkins expertly uses shadows and empty spaces to create a percolating sense of dread, and he waits until the last possible moment before allowing his audience the catharsis of a shock... there's barely a glimpse of anything scary in this film, but that's precisely what makes it so terrifying. Neither the 1989 televised adaptation nor the enduringly popular stage play are entirely faithful to Hill's novel, and this latest version takes the plot down some cobweb-strewn corridors of its own, but its marriage of gothic fiction and gothic fashion feels entirely right for our times. Like all of the best ghost stories, The Woman In Black is only enriched in the retelling." - Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph

"ONE CUT OF THE DEAD is as much fun as any movie in memory while it's playing out, and as a bonus, it elicits a different kind of admiration when it's over. Thinking back, you realize what an insane logistical challenge it must have been for Ueda and co. to pull this off, and are amazed at how natural and easy they make it look. Similarly, everyone in the cast gives their parts their all (Hamatsu's multifaceted turn is especially memorable, as is Harumi Shuhama, as a makeup artist who undergoes a transformation of her own), and yet their performances seem even more impressive upon reflection on the circumstances in which they were delivered. ONE CUT OF THE DEAD is such a marvelously good time, and made with such clockwork precision, that after you've seen it, it's hard to decide whether to watch it again or seek out a documentary on how it was made." - Michael Gingold, Rue Morgue

"You’ll walk away from The Ugly Stepsister remembering how you hopefully managed to keep it down during the handful of not-for-the-squeamish sequences – especially the impressively vile climax – and less for Blichfeldt’s well-considered, sharp-eye formalist filmmaking. Imagine all the intricate costumes and lushly dressed sets of a period piece, but filtered through an icky mauve color palette – I think the official hue is “nausea” – and imbued with the fetishy sensibilities of David Cronenberg and giallo masters like Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento. It’s an impressive amalgamation of influences, shrewdly applying a fresh coat of bloody mucus to an overly familiar fairy tale." - John Serba, Decider

"Noroi's sense of realism may be unmatched in found-footage, and the journey of its idealistic, headstrong protagonist makes for gripping viewing; it's the inseparable nature of the film's form and content, however, that makes it a contender for one of the best horror films I've ever seen. Kobayashi's film must feel real or else his journey would feel fake. If Noroi possessed the slightest suggestion of falsehood, the audience would have free reign to retreat to a comfortable spectator's position, ready to let this fiction play out without any personal consequence. By convincing us of its veracity and giving us a protagonist whose drive for earth-shaking answers mirrors our own, Noroi directly interrogates our hunger for truth. In seeking truth, Noroi concludes, we become swallowed up by it. We've sought out Pandora's box and wrest it open, and we deserve whatever comes out." - Julian Singleton, Cinapse

"We've seen medical gear — gurneys, rubber aprons, cutlery — in myriad horror movies, "The Human Centipede," "Dead Ringers" and "Audition" among them. But maybe not metaphors like the caged bird Mary keeps, in a nod to Jean-Pierre Melville, or her uncommon path to self-sufficiency (at one point she literally sews up her own wound), a transformation skillfully elucidated by Ms. Isabelle. This film — the second from the Soskas, and shot in their hometown, Vancouver, British Columbia — combines gore, quiet dread, feminist conviction and a visual classicism, often using a red palette, with impressive, unbelabored dexterity. (In an amusing sequence, the Soskas play goth twins who want to surgically exchange their left arms.)" - Andy Webster, The New York Times

"Gerald's Game is a single-setting thriller for the majority of its runtime, so Flanagan and his longtime cinematographer Michael Fimognari use constrictive camera shots and precise editing (which Flanagan also handled) to maintain a suffocating sense of atmosphere throughout the scenes set in Jessie and Gerald's bedroom, in spite of the unchanging scenery... Gerald's Game generates horror more through suggestion that onscreen imagery for much of its runtime, but be warned: when things do get explicit, the movie becomes rather graphic and very disturbing, very quickly." - Sandy Schaefer, ScreenRant

"Directed by Higichinsky, this freaky Japanese horror film uses all kinds of physical cinema techniques, such as shock cuts, flash cuts, dissolves, skip frames and superb digital effects in a constant effort to keep the film alive and spinning. Occasionally it employs a William Castle-like device of digitally swirling a small spot in the corner of the frame -- and you may not even notice. Some scenes are so unbearably spooky that they give you that cold, clammy feeling and make your stomach drop out from under you, as if in a terrible nightmare. It's one hell of a brilliant horror film with an original idea and style to spare." - Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

"This is not your average devilish demon wreaking hellish havoc while looking for a human host cliché. A clever origin story accompanies Deborah's mania and the supporting players in her life are woven into its fabric very well. One item to note is that snake-related mythology plays an important role. Anyone fearful of slithering shapes will have double the reasons to find the film's imagery terrifying and its climactic scene uniquely disturbing. Something else deserving a mention is how the film's characters are written to behave with rational thought. When inexplicable events and increasingly deadly circumstances reach an intolerable point, one member of the documentary-making trio says enough is enough and abruptly exits, never to be seen again." - Ian Sedensky, Culture Crypt

"There are evils in this movie that linger in shadow and puppeteer the movements of certain characters within it. The slow-burn dread in this film was accompanied by some of the slowest walking I have ever seen, and it worked. It worked so well, in fact, that I found myself squirming in my seat as the elongated dread lingered and pulsed... Both the scene and the narrative itself simmer to the sound of silence and build to strings, drones, and other malicious sonorous instruments of torture. The consequence of the play between the evocative quiet and acrimonious sound... left me feeling suspended in the anticipation of something dreadful in the shadows." - Laura Birnbaum, Film Inquiry

""Final Girls" isn't the first movie to show self-aware characters using their knowledge of horror films to plot an escape. Drew Goddard's "Cabin in the Woods" and Wes Craven's "Scream" mined that ground a while back. But give director Todd Strauss-Schulson some serious credit here. "Final Girls" still manages to use a quick wit and a few surprises to keep things interesting for the audience... The most surprising thing about "Final Girls" is how sweet it is. The subplot about Max and her mother leads to a number of tender scenes, and "Final Girls" has a genuine heart in the middle of all of its experimentation and social commentary. None of the characters are especially deep, but almost all of them are easier to cheer for than the cannon fodder of the "Friday the 13th" films." - Josh Terry, Deseret News

"What we have here is a genuine outlaw work of art. They are to be treasured. From Louis-Ferdinand Celine's twisted tales of the perverse in '30s Paris to Henry Miller's examination of the extremes of heterosex and John Rechy's of the extremes of homosex, and Jim Thompson's bleak, nihilistic noir fables, to Sam Peckinpah's blood-spattered Götterdämmerungs, they are tough to sit through and impossible to forget. They get way deep inside, to the reptile walnut of brain still in the center of the head.... it seems to be Noe's first philosophical position, that natural man is a monster." - Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

"By giving us the facts as seen through the eyes of the various beholders, the film is asking us to be the jury that decides the case, and the information provided is very intentionally left open to interpretation. Rather than seeming wishy-washy and indecisve, this results in a film with a great deal of tension and suspense. Structuring the story as a courtroom drama increases the horror because it takes place in a believable context: whether you think Emily is ill or possessed, what happens to her is almost beyond endurance. Moreover, because the fate of the priest rests on the trial's outcome, it's clear that the horrific events in the story have dramatic consequences: what happens is part of a convincing story, not just a series of gratuitous special effects shocks." - Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

"Guadagnino fashions his own menagerie of nightmares, some of which would feel right at home in Argento's own phantasmagoria: shots of girls creeping down halls, discovering secret passageways and other gruesome findings. Rather than recreate the original's iconic murder sequences, he crafts his own indelible sequences of brutality, leaning on horrific imagery, Thom Yorke's haunting (and, again, comparatively restrained) score, and an array of impressively diabolical gore effects. One girl's body unnaturally contorts against itself, falling victim to the witches' curse, leaving her in a lifeless, mangled heap; other victims aren't so lucky, as they're left rot in the school's hidden passageways, their skin seemingly flayed off. Horrific, scattered bursts are but preludes to the blood-soaked crescendo, where exploding heads play like staccato grace notes of a twisted concerto." - Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror!

"It's Australian director Justin Kurzel's first feature, and on the basis of this, he's not only remarkably assured at telling a story as economically as possible through images, but also knows how to conjure up an authentic sense of place — in this case, the working-class milieu of Adelaide, Australia's northern suburbs—and come up with the right visual shorthand to vividly evoke mood and reveal character. Kurzel also seems to have a sure touch with actors, judging by the utterly natural performances he elicits from a mostly nonprofessional cast. All of this helps to make The Snowtown Murders an indubitably unnerving experience; as a horror film about an innocent teen who somehow becomes an accomplice to a band of serial killers, Kurzel's film is grimly, viscerally effective." - Kenji Fujishima, Slant Magazine

"More tales of terror are unearthed from another pile of dusty old videos in this slick sequel to the 2012 horror anthology. Like the original, the top-and-tail story takes place in an "abandoned" house where, on this occasion, it's two private investigators on a missing-persons case who come across the cassettes. But whereas the first film's quintet of stories were of varying quality, the calibre of the four shorts here is consistently higher... the pick of the bunch is Safe Haven, co-directed by Timo Tjahjanto and The Raid's Gareth Huw Evans, in which a film crew's visit to the compound of an Indonesian cult turns decidedly nasty. The deceptively sedate beginning soon gives way to a cornucopia of artery-rupturing gruesomeness, which will assuredly have some viewers all a-splutter." - Jeremy Aspinall, Radio Times

""We Are What We Are" is mostly not terrifying, offers almost nothing in the way of traditional horror-movie shocks and jolts, and does not get bloody until the last 20 minutes or so. (At which point, whoo-boy.) It's a sinister, wistful and even sad portrait of one family that has followed the insanity and bloodthirstiness of American history into a dark corridor with no exit. There's a hint of Terrence Malick (or David Lowery, of "Ain't Them Bodies Saints") in the often-gorgeous photography of Ryan Samul, and a hint of Shakespearean grandeur in Sage's portrayal of a dignified and honorable American father infused with an ideology of madness. I'm pretty sure I've never seen an exploitation film played so effectively as human tragedy." - Andrew O'Hehir, Salon

"For the American émigrés that populate ‘The Grudge' are portrayed as struggling with the basics of Japanese language, confused even by the products on a Japanese supermarket shelf, and generally lost and out of place – and it is a mutually uncomprehending relationship between an American and a Japanese which turns out to have engendered the curse at the heart of the film. Shimizu, it seems, is not only exploiting this cultural clash to amplify his characters' alienation, hopelessness, and terror, but also to comment wryly on the bizarre love affair between America and Japan which makes a film like this possible. It is as though the original ‘Ju-on' had been merged with Lost in Translation, and the result is an intelligent reflection on Hollywood's flawed attempts to recreate Oriental horror in its own image –as well as a great scare or three for the uninitiated West." - Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette

"It places instances of graphic, shocking (and shockingly graphic) sudden violence right alongside moments that are singularly quiet and eerie, communicating wrongness with surprising restraint. It's as content to put everything in our faces as it is to suggest and leave things off-camera, and the result can be a little disorienting, but not in a bad way. There's a real absence of safety in this approach, and the rhythms of the film are such that those moments will absolutely catch you off-guard. It's a film that has no interest in letting you catch your breath and that's as much about its willingness to abandon predictability as the urgency of Pedro's situation." - Cliff Evans, A Lifetime in Dark Rooms

"28 Years Later shifts narrative and tonal gears in such a manner that some will deem it muddled or inconsistent. But I found it enlivening, entirely congruent with Boyle’s uptempo, patchwork style. It offers a distinct intensity from the director, who indulges in enough distracting stylistic flourishes, the film feels hectic and overwhelming during the first act. But Boyle – notably shooting entirely on iPhones – concocts some otherworldly imagery, memorable for its strange beauty and suggestiveness. The film does eventually find its groove, when Spike and Isla undertake their adventure, leading to a third-act left turn that somewhat mirrors that of 28 Days Later, and lifts it provocatively out of the confines of genre." - John Serba, Decider

"It's difficult to talk too much about Housebound without spoiling it. First-time writer-director Johnstone's ingenious script consistently wrong-foots the audience and shifts from one subgenre to another without ever once losing its grip on the comedic elements. It's creepy, tense and scary. The film's greatest success is the relationship between Kylie and her mum. Their back and forth, complete with ancient resentments, is beautifully observed, and both O'Reilly and Te Wiata are absolutely spot-on as the bitter teen and the well-meaning mum respectively. It's also worth mentioning Harper, who is a particularly deadpan delight as Graeme." - Jonathan Hatfull, SciFiNow

"This brilliantly unsettling horror film sweeps in on a humdrum English coastal town with a fierce cargo of religious mania, psychological power games and the odd moment of nightmarish ickiness... Ehle is great as the worldly, weary Amanda, and in a just world, Clark would be winning awards for a remarkable piece of physical acting. It spans convulsions of divine ecstasy and a quiet unravelling as Maud shuffles through the gaudy seafront arcades and pubs of the town (unnamed but filmed in Scarborough) convinced of her higher purpose. You suspect you know where it's all going to end up, but that drains it of precisely none of its guttural power." - Philip De Semlyen, Time Out

"Making the most of a modest budget, director and co-writer Mickle profitably focuses on establishing character and the film's overall haunted tone rather than simply conjuring gratuitous mayhem. An effective economy of style and the faded color scheme admirably suit this stripped-down aesthetic. The lead performances are solid, despite somewhat generic characterizations, and all-importantly, the vampires' acting, makeup and costuming are persuasive, even if they appear nearly as dim-witted as a typical zombie. Stake Land's trenchant worldview, both dystopian and completely rational, shows more affinity with the likes of The Road, 28 Days Later and Night of the Living Dead than it does with movies inclined to romanticize or demonize vampires. The message that America, with all of its social ills and conflicts, is a nation devouring itself seems particularly appropriate as budget battles and culture wars rage on unabated." - Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter

"Loud, brash, neon-colored and shot like a music video, the flick is unabashedly cool. Fargeat is not afraid of being slick or stylizing the action. Even the gallons of blood she utilizes are of the stickiest, gooiest, reddest variety. They cling to the actors' bodies like latex skin-suits... Revenge is sexy, but the female gaze is steadily applied throughout. The rape itself is quick, and mostly off-screen — a deliberate departure. Male nudity is cleverly utilized; first, for power and strength, before Fargeat strips the veneer away and leaves her antagonist naked, injured and struggling to fight against her strong, marginally more clothed heroine." - Joey Keogh, Vague Visages

"Gloom and evil fascinate Osgood Perkins. Implacable, patient, cruel malice permeates his films, and none more so than Longlegs, a nerve-racking and dour excursion into diabolical and gruesome terror. His films feel like a reaction to the recent trend in horror that posits the monster is more interesting than its victims – an idea that is often a crutch for weak filmmaking and worse character development. Even when Perkins' protagonists find themselves sliding slowly to become the antagonist, it's true, seeping, simmering, seething evil that is the ultimate threat, pervasive as fog or the smell of rot under your nose." - Richard Whittaker, The Austin Chronicle

"The main problem with the film is that it feels like a cynical repackaging of an already established classic. However, as remakes go, it's very well made and decently acted and it never approaches ‘bad movie' levels – even the script is pretty good... It is, however, much gorier than the original - the violence and pain on display here is worse than anything in Kill Bill. Legs get chainsawed off (chainsawn?), people get hung on meat-hooks (as in the original), people get chainsawed in the back, and so on - it's pretty much non-stop terror from the moment the first one of them disappears and you're more or less guaranteed to end up hiding behind your hands at some point." - Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

"Berberian Sound Studio has something of early Lynch and Polanski, and the nasty, secretive studio is a little like the tortured Mark Lewis's screening room in Powell's Peeping Tom, but that gives no real idea of how boldly individual this film is. In fact, it takes more inspiration from the world of electronic and synth creations and the heyday of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and it is close in spirit to Kafka's The Castle or to the Gothic literary tradition of Bram Stoker and Ann Radcliffe: a world of English innocents abroad in a sensual, mysterious landscape... With a face suggesting cherubic innocence, vulnerability and cruelty, Toby Jones gives the performance of his career, and Peter Strickland has emerged as a key British film-maker of his generation." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

"In this Conjuring, the haunted-house tropes play second fiddle to something less graspable, even though there's no question that a game of fright is in full, masterful swing. Cinematographer Don Burgess' camera prowls and swoops, Bishara's choral score sends shivers up the spine and Wan uses prolonged silence as well as sounds — creaking floorboards, a screeching backyard swing — to maximum unsettling effect. The director knows how to turn objects, from an antique zoetrope to a ringing telephone, into icons of free-floating evil or, in the case of a crucifix, into tools of redemption." - Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter

"mother! is more successful in how it goes about its concerns as opposed to what it's about. This speaks to Aronofsky's filmmaking in general, which is defined by its confrontational, oft-times discomforting qualities... But the virtuosity of his filmmaking, a kind of sensibility that combines cinema vérité with a distinct spiritual omnipresence, gives the auteur a distinct voice. He's a filmmaker that is capable of projecting anxious gestures from the movement of his camera. The way he spirals around his characters suggests an apprehension that's unspoken but felt... However uneasy or discomforting mother! may be thematically, Aronofsky's formal bravura has reached an apex." - Daniel Nava, Chicago Cinema Circuit

"Bored with shiny horror movies featuring perfect-looking, plastic-souled teens you care for not one jot? Then this throwback haunted house pic is for you. Not only does it feature middle-aged protagonists, genuine suspense and a creepy mythology, it boasts some of the best ghosts since The Devil's Backbone... Then, just as you're thinking We Are Still Here is akin to Ti West's The House Of The Devil and The Innkeepers in its old-school, modulated menace, it takes a left-turn into balls-out bloodletting. Arteries spray, torsos spill, heads pop. It might have unbalanced the movie were it not an extension of the carefully seeded fun – far from being cruel and torture porn-y, this is Geoghegan now tapping the outré horrors of the '80s. He splashes in plasma and viscera like a kid in a puddle, and his joy is infectious." - Jamie Graham, Games Radar

"Host is a Zoom-inspired flick that, in less than an hour, gets more mileage than all The Conjuring movies combined. A circle of friends hire a psychic to conduct a séance online and spice things up in the midst of the COVID epidemic. Like in every group, there's a skeptic all too happy to sabotage the ceremony — only instead of poking holes, this creates a virtual vessel that allows spirits to travel to the mortal plane. Host has no fat and makes great use of personal screens' negative space and the social dynamics that unfold on Zoom. The jump scares are effective as is the incidental comedy." - Jorge Ignacio Castillo, Planet S Magazine

"A clever and thoroughly chilling tale of group psychosis, Ti West's thriller "The Sacrament" takes its inspiration (and many of its details) from the 1978 events at Jim Jones' People's Temple in Guyana... If you don't know what happened at Jonestown, this film will shock you; if you do know, it brings an entirely different kind of horror — that creeping-up knowledge that something inevitable and awful is coming, and can't be stopped. West's found-footage structure doesn't always entirely make sense, but it's easy to forgive "The Sacrament" its flaws. The eerie quiet, near its end, is utterly haunting; a lost Eden, in the sunshine." - Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

"Enjoyable, well made and genuinely creepy horror flick that transcends its ridiculous premise thanks to a strong script, some sure-handed direction and superb performances from a talented young cast... The script is excellent and director Carter Smith gets the tone exactly right, playing everything straight, despite the ridiculous premise, and orchestrating some genuinely creepy scenes. He also includes some impressively nasty gory moments that, crucially, derive naturally from the characters and situations rather than just looking to gross you out for the hell of it... In short, The Ruins is a worthy addition to the Tourism Is Bad genre that ensures that you'll never look at a rustling vine quite the same way again." - Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

"There's brutally visceral and punitively realistic gore galore on display here, but Cronenberg's sophomore effort also deals in strikingly contemporary issues. Personal privacy and the paranoia arising from the dwindling availability of it via faceless, corporate data-scrapers, technology-enabled mind control and assassination in the pursuit of unknowable reasons by shadowy, pseudo-governmental organizations, and the erosion of personal identity and the accompanying mental decay all thread throughout the film like live wires throwing off giddily lethal sparks." - Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle

"The escalating incidents of pedophilia, incest, and necrophilia that follow reflect a country traumatized by otherwise unspeakable acts of violence committed under the auspices of war. We witness the disgusting underbelly of a broken civilization where human values no longer exist. There are no degrees of separation from a communal psychosis that affects every citizen. By putting the narrative in a psycho-sexual-cinematic context Spasojević invites the viewer to compare his made-up pornography of death to the similar underlying nature of capitalism's commercial cinema of the West and its attendant sponsors. In order to see the message of Srđan Spasojević daring work of filmic art you need only consider the capitalist aspect that makes it possible." - Cole Smithey

"A harrowing and often darkly hilarious horror satire about family values, feminism, and the nature of violence from the twisted minds of Lucky McKee and Jack Ketchum. A true find at Sundance for all fans who love gore and the twisting of Americana... When most horror movies today are concerned about gory pay offs instead of character driven violence or death, McKee connects us to the family and their dramatic dynamic through a series of musically-cut vignettes that add a haunting layer to the underlying theme of American Dream traveling through the bowels of hell. While the main focus is on Chris and the woman, each one of the characters in the Cleek family give exceptional performances." - Benji Carver, Film School Rejects

"An outright horror film that nonetheless veers on occasion into surreal black comedy, The Signal... takes Marshall McLuhan's famous statement "the medium is the message" to extremes not explored since David Cronenberg's seminal, frighteningly prescient Videodrome in 1983... The Signal is a shuddery critique of the ultrapervasive influence of big (and little) media on humanity and the paranoia engendered by its sheer invasiveness. It's also a snarky stab at the desensitizing aspects of everything... Both apocalyptic and suitably vague, The Signal's only serious weakness comes from some borderline histrionic performances; then again, it's tough to call hysteria anything other than a sane response to a world gone mad." - Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle

"These short films collectively are an ambitious, well-conceived, beautifully presented example of what can be achieved when a director is allowed to present a completely original concept around a common theme, without censorship or meddling studio hands to muck things up. While most if not every frame presented shows an original and new spin on the term "horror", these films present an elegance that surpasses one singular, often cheaply-perceived genre. Each director has his strength: for Fruit Chan, a strong narrative and a coherent and intriguing plotline; for Chan-Wook Park , a macabre new version of the classic guts and gore mystery; and for Takashi Miike, it's a surprisingly sympathetic, subtle, and thoughtful philosophical work that is as heavy on the eyes as it is on the viewer's emotions." - Tyler Robbins, Snowblood Apple

"It lacks the structured tightness that the first film had in abundance where its contained environment reigned supreme. However, with so much crazy and ancient mysticism to cover (but never to the point where its integrity suffers), Muschietti's direction maintains an enjoyable pace throughout. It does enough to hold itself together in its poignant moments, but serves the jump scares as well-timed defibrillator shocks to give you that necessary jolt to the system... It was always going to be a challenge to re-capture lightning in a bottle knowing the bases it had to cover. But it embraces all of its craziness (faults and all), and if you've come this far and willing to embrace its tonal shifts, the immense fun waiting to be experienced will be worth the wait." - Kelechi Ehenulo, Confessions From A Geek Mind

"A striking palette of black and white cinematography from Zach Kuperstein recalls the scarred, destitute lives from the ruins of Arturo Ripstein's filmography, a macabre yet uncharacteristically sound portrait of psychological unraveling. We all know the kind of potent degeneration to be fashioned on isolated farmhouses where dysfunctional children are paired with musings of surgical practices... [director Pesce] debuts a spectacularly gruesome calling card which may deconstruct the notion of the physical lens through which living beings observe the world, but seems to hint these particular organs are hardly inherent windows to the soul." - Nicholas Bell, IONCINEMA.com

"It's typical King stuff, really, with small-town intrigue, sharply drawn and instantly recognizable players, and enough chewy New England accents to fill Boston Garden. But from the opening shots and synth notes — which build a bridge between the tone of "The Shining" and Flanagan's own, thoughtfully constructed edifice — to a spectacularly chilling closing scene, "Doctor Sleep" makes a convincing case for its own greatness. Part of that is allowing the characters to breathe as they rapidly develop from one ominous scene to the next. "Doctor Sleep" may be a terrifying reminder that the world is a hungry place, that the darkness wants nothing more than to swallow up the light. But the wordless moments of humor and heart in the quieter scenes show Flanagan's deft way with storytelling." - John Wenzel, The Denver Post

"There's enough blood in the unrated French horror film "Frontier(s)" to satiate even the most ravenous gore hounds. The real surprise here is that this creepy, contemporary gross-out also has some ideas, visual and otherwise, wedged among its sanguineous drips, swaying meat hooks and whirring table saw. Much like other recent French-language horror films ("High Tension," "Calvaire," "Inside"), this one owes a debt to the modern American slasher flick, the original "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," among many others, though "Frontier(s)" adds an amusingly glib and timely political twist to its wholesale carnage... "Frontier(s)" finally works because its shivers are as plausible as they are outrageous." - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

"With relatively simple though often distressing visual effects, Relic (the title might refer to the house, to Edna or to a gene variant, among other things) delivers some of the most disturbing, close to the bone horror to grace the screen for years, in a film that is also tender and humane. The aching loss at its core reflects more than one person's disintegration. James speaks to deep terrors of the sort we can avoid only by eschewing realism; horrors that do not recede when the screen goes black." - Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film

"I'm not going to bother here with the argument that tremendously over-the-top gore like this is or isn't a wicked thing, or a guilty pleasure, or balls-out fun; when I'm watching a movie in which the filmmakers are plainly loving their gore as much as Tommy Wirkola plainly loves gore, that is what I am going to respond to. Dead Snow is a movie made with a childlike glee for the material, which translates into marvelously playful geysers of blood. It's all so much fun, made with a minimal level of contempt for the characters that makes it far unlike so many American horror films, and for this reason the comedy in the film (which is a horror-comedy more than it is a horror film with comedy relief) actually works, better than the comedy works the vast majority of English-language horror. This is the sprightliest movie about mowing down revenants with a chainsaw that you are are ever likely to see." - Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

"The violence remains appalling, but it's an essential element in this brutally inspired mystery. The low-tech dentistry, the masticated octopod, they're part of the modern hell in which a Korean businessman finds himself... [Oldboy] tantalizes and tortures you as it lures you into its mysterious vortex. You die from what you see and from what you don't know. And it takes looking beyond the violence to realize the power of Choi's performance... There is a conclusion to all this, an existential punch line that explains everything in a climactic pileup of melodramatic detail. But whatever you make of that, you will surely leave this movie shocked, shaken and surprisingly moved. And definitely stuck on that poor octopus." - Desson Thomson, Washington Post

"Everything made by Pedro Almodóvar seems to have been developed from the outside in: surfaces yield psychology, decor becomes depth, kitsch proves porous, a parade of pop props dimpled with wells of violently conflicted feelings and frustrated lusts. Seen through this lens, The Skin I Live In, based on Thierry Jonquet's 1995 novel Tarantula, can be read as a work of perfect unity between its filmmaker's MO and its fabulous premise... An uneasy forecast of looming advances in posthuman sciences, an extravagant extrapolation of Eyes Without a Face, and a fresh opportunity for Almodóvar to fix his unapologetically (queer) male gaze on more immaculate female flesh, The Skin I Live In embodies a rather studied sort of perversion that nonetheless resonates with Almodóvar's evolving concerns in interesting ways." - José Teodoro, Film Comment Magazine

"Hounds of Love is a reminder that men can make feminist films. Like recent indie movie Berlin Syndrome, Young's offering boasts a male psychopath and a resourceful victim (not to mention a protective mother). Yet the movies are poles apart. While Cate Shortland's heroine is never more than the sum of her much-ogled parts, Young's has a point of view that can't be ignored. The result is psychologically impressive and fiendishly involving. Everything — from the flawless cast to the malnourished decors and oppressive, electronic soundtrack — hooks us into the teen's fight for survival." - Charlotte O'Sullivan London Evening Standard

"‘Ichi the Killer' is a bizarre sado-masochistic love story, an unnerving excursion into criminal and sexual extremes, and a comicbook explosion of lurid colours and freakish characters – but most of all, it is a furious, frenetic and at times very funny piece of bravura filmmaking, with outstanding performances, spectacular setpieces, dizzying moodswings, a killer soundtrack, and a mindbending conclusion. Guaranteed to amaze, shock, disgust and intrigue in equal measure, ‘Ichi the Killer' is one of the most striking films ever made." - Movie Gazette

"It helps to find the very dark, dark humor in "Calvaire," a grueling, disgusting and quite effective horror film from Belgium. Part "Psycho," part "Deliverance" and all creepy, it is simultaneously off-putting and absorbing... What sells this movie is the realistic attention to detail and the bravura direction of Fabrice Du Welz, who draws a gut-wrenching performance from Lucas, who cries, squeals and screams with the best of them... this feels different and fresh. At the very least, it gets under your fingernails." - G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

"With his remarkable feature debut His House, British writer-director Remi Weekes achieves what seasoned horror filmmakers struggle to pull off: tackling social issues like immigration, xenophobia, genocide and gender roles, alongside weighty themes like psychological trauma and grief, all while delivering throat-clenching scares. It's one of the rare movies that can be enjoyed simultaneously by horror fans as a straight-up fright flick and by non-genre fans as a wrenching, timely drama." - Mark H. Harris, Black Horror Movies

"The film is overlong, with too many unnecessary scenes (a lot of the movie seems like pointless running around), but it packs in a few scary moments and offers a nicely ambiguous conclusion. In Silent Hill, atmosphere trumps storyline... I have never played the game Silent Hill, but that didn't stop me from appreciating some of what director Christophe Gans (who displayed a similar visual flair in Brotherhood of the Wolf) puts on the screen - although I suspect aficionados will have a better grasp of what is transpiring. Silent Hill looks great. The town is suitably eerie and the periods of darkness are ominous. The movie is all about visual appeal, feel, and tone, because the story underwhelms." - James Berardinelli, ReelViews

"While the "documentary" conceit demands a certain suspension of disbelief, Shyamalan is resourceful about finding ways to tell the story without cheating... As personal as anything Shyamalan has done, the film maintains an unusual mood that combines low-key comedy with intangible unease. As usual, there are oddball digressions that serve no apparent purpose, such as a crazed monologue about aliens who trap people in a pond; the ending is disconcerting in a different sense, supplying an upbeat moral that doesn't quite gel with what has come before. What remains clear is that Shyamalan hasn't lost his disgust with humanity: whatever twists lie in wait, the main source of dread is the mundane horror of old age." - Jake Wilson, Sydney Morning Herald

"If the skin-deep connotation of his titular creature wasn’t apparent enough, it might be because the real subject at hand isn’t the shark, or the man who feeds it, but the lust for blood that sustains he who feeds and watches it. And given how much the film hums with the warbles of Ozploitation, this is no mere conjecture. Set to a propulsive score by Michael Yezerski, its screenplay, courtesy of Nick Lepard, slickly dispenses with the cheap thrills we’ve come to expect without saturating the mix. In examining the death drive and its fetishistic obsessions, Dangerous Animals should, in theory, be a nauseating experience. That it should exploit these obsessions and make us gleefully willing subjects of them reveals not shoddy writing, but a deft and knowing hand." - Morris Yang, In Review Online

"This isn’t a horror movie in the traditional sense; the terror comes from the growing, ratcheted-up exhaustion each of our characters feels, as each new stumble or logistical hurdle puts them on an instant clock for death. The deaths themselves are brutal to the point of splattercore—skulls burst open with the force of bullets, legs are pulverized by tank treads—which punctuates how psychologically damaging it must be for the kids. Lawrence delights in showing us what it must feel like to force yourself to keep walking after your ankle is broken, or to get a bullet in the brainpan because you can’t stop shitting yourself fast enough to take another step. Children cry out for their mothers, or beg for mercy, or worse, defiantly try to go out on their own terms." - Clint Worthington, RogerEbert.com

"Coincidence or not, the visual aesthetic and energy of Fresnadillo's film bears a striking resemblance to Cuarón's — both use a pallette of dull and desaturated colors, as if the colors itself were weary of the worlds they're inhabiting. Fresnadillo's camerawork, like that in Children of Men, is jittery, so restless and panicky, in fact, that you think it might burst forth from the screen. It's the director's deft and sylish hand with this material that makes 28 Weeks such a refreshing jolt, plying a genre routinely deadened by sub-par slasher-fests. The exhilaration evident in the smartly-cut action sequences, the glances at pathos in the sequences of loss, betrayal, guilt, and abandonment underscore Fresnadillo's considerable directorial powers; the man is taking his job seriously and at full-steam, never condescending to it." - Jay Antani, Cinema Writer

"For parents, the film will play on their personal fears and insecurities. Some parents (non-horror fans and insecure parents) will likely be appalled by the idea of children killing their parents, and vice versa (likely the reason why the film didn't see a theatrical release). Others will simply enjoy the scary good ride – which is a brilliant byproduct of our own fears driven by pandemic paranoia. Director Tom Shankland skillfully crafts intensity through mostly non-scary images. With the help of his equally talented editor (Tim Murrell), Shankland intercuts several horrifying moments, juxtaposed with an energetic, pitch-perfect score from Stephen Hilton. And with such quick, focused intensity at play, seemingly innocent images like pinwheels and coffee mugs, or shots of children playing, drive fear into the hearts of his audience." - R. L. Shaffer, IGN DVD

"You know from the very first sequence that Coraline is an extraordinary movie that is going to rattle the bejeezus out of young audience members and - the truth be told - their fathers as well... the most imaginative film in memory, a carnival of wonders - magical gardens, a charmingly choreographed circus of mice, a couple of old actresses who get together to put on a fairly lewd but very funny variety show - that at the same time seems to come directly from your nightmares. Seeing Other Mother change from button-eyed ideal to long-necked witch with steel-needle fingers and a hunger to keep you prisoner, is a deeply shaking transformation that isn't easy to throw off once the show is over. Coraline will haunt you." - Jay Stone, Canada.com

"As the film's character based plot wraps its well scripted hands around the viewer's neck, the same noose closes in on César, as he dodges and uses his false smiles and quick thinking to avoid detection. Both eerily realistic and uncomfortable, the viewer can never be sure whether what they are watching borders on the absurd. But the movie loses all pretension that is found in more Americanised horrors, and avoids the temptation of over-scoring itself in an attempt to add drama, and instead lets the looks and silence in-between them to create the tension. This ensures a well rounded but by no means flat film, that will leave you squirming in, and on of the edge of, your seat." - Ross Shapland, Shapstik on Screen

"A tricky film to advertise without revealing its conceit — even its distributors have largely avoided disclosing the nature of Justin Long's role — Barbarian plays like a midnight festival darling, bucking expectations while maintaining artistic finesse... The film's rapid swinging between styles can be distancing at times, with shifts in narrative focus that often arrive just when the tension begins to crescendo. But these mildly jarring resets are part and parcel of the film's devious game of tonal hopscotch, and Cregger knows exactly how and when to twist each screw, reminding the viewer how funny, intense and disturbing a movie can be, all at the same time." - Siddhant Adlakha, Empire Magazine

"Rather than attempting to take us on a Hackers-style trip behind the screens, Unfriended plays on the addictive pull of the screen itself. Like James Woods being physically seduced by his TV in David Cronenberg's Videodrome, the real horror here is our irritating antiheroes' inability to pull themselves away from their laptops. Despite repeatedly telling each other to "just log off", all are compelled to stay online; to open links that can only work their destructive magic if empowered to do so by the "user" – a word with entirely appropriate drug-addiction overtones. While the cast expend much energy trying to figure out the identity of their tormentor (the narrative follows the familiar "anniversary of death" riffs of Halloween, My Bloody Valentine, I Know What You Did… etc), the film forces its audience to spend 80-odd minutes effectively staring the bogeyman straight in the face." - Mark Kermode, Observer

"A really smart little horror flick. How horrific is it? I'm far from brave, but good at temporary detachment - at the eager restoration of disbelief - and I still had to turn away at several points... This modest little genre piece is smarter than most of the overproduced and heavily marketed studio fare that's been filling the multiplexes this fall. It's short, taut, nicely shot, well-acted, astutely directed, specific where it might have been generic, original enough to be engrossing and derivative enough to be amusing. In other words, it knows exactly where it belongs and how to be its best self. What a revolutionary concept." - Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

"This horror flick about young campers stalked and slaughtered by gruesome backwoods barbarians is a fairly decent crossbreeding of Friday the 13th and Deliverance. Despite the typical hunky-guys/babes-in-tank-tops Hollywood cast, Wrong Turn is gritty and uncompromising, and it includes several suspenseful and shocking moments. Unlike Deliverance, though, it's not consistently believable enough to make you think seriously about cancelling that next trip into the forest... If screenwriter Alan B. McElroy had found more plausible ways to put his characters in danger, Wrong Turn could have been a real doozy of a fright flick. But it's still chilling enough to please fans of nature-set nasties like The Hills Have Eyes." - Steve Newton, Georgia Straight

"Spaniard Jaume Collet-Serra's wickedly entertaining, if slightly over-stretched, variation on the familiar ‘evil child' scenario displays an unusually complex grasp of twisted psychology... Producer Joel Silver regularly specialises in routine horror remakes, such as Collet-Serra's previous ‘House of Wax'. But here, courtesy of an insidious screenplay by David Leslie Johnson, we are in more disturbing territory. More of a psychological thriller than a horror movie, ‘Orphan' does contain explosions of shocking, though not especially graphic, violence." - Nigel Floyd, Time Out

"What makes "The Devil's Candy" a standout is how well-developed these characters are. This is ultimately a movie about parenting, and how even "hip" moms and dads fear the choices they make are hurting their young. More importantly, Byrne is as skilled as ever at constructing sequences at once bizarre, suspenseful and oddly beautiful. In his cinematic universe, even something as simple as a pane of red glass or a heavy metal guitar riff can turn in an instant from innocuous to ominous." - Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times

"Companion is an absolute delight of a film, shocking without being overly gory or nasty, and constantly escalating the stakes with striking images and a perfect, iconic ending that begs for some kind of world expansion. The world of unread user agreements, controlling men shirking judgement and technology used to cover up for rampant male inadequecy springs vibrantly to life, and Thatcher stakes her claim to being the scream queen du jour after last year’s Heretic. Companion is a fresh, easily recommendable thriller precisely because the ideas are fresh and modern, and explored in an original way" - Film-Authority.com

"Director Wingard and his regular screenwriter collaborator Simon Barrett are interested in genre mash-ups and the dramatic possibilities of comedy-horror, as evidenced by their previous full-length feature "You're Next." "The Guest" goes even further in that direction. The music (by Steve Moore) suddenly blasts throughout, with moments of pulsing techno unease, as Anna, crouched in her bedroom decorated with Goth-Girl skull-and-crossbones, desperately tries to figure out more about the hot interloper... Wingard and Barrett have a perfect eye and ear for this type of material. They have fun with their influences, paying homage to John Carpenter and others. They're not afraid to be silly and bold." - Sheila O'Malley, RogerEbert.com

"[Director Green] clearly has an eye for the cozy, autumnal feel of Carpenter's original film. From moment one through to the explosive denouement, Green's Haddonfield feels like a real place filled with real people. And while he does indeed borrow from Carpenter's cinematic toolbox, this is still very distinctly a Green film. He has brought the imagery into a modern lens, without leaning into the gaudy, aggressive modernity that Zombie tried to invoke with his tale on the material. In the same way that Pineapple Express borrows from a lifetime of crime films to create an atypical stoner comedy, Halloween is reverent to even the worst entries in the preceding franchise, while creating a film wholly its own in both style and structure." - Dan Scully, Cinema76

"So this is where it all began. Sort of. In 1998, recommended by Kiyoshi Kurosawa to write and direct one or more of the segments for the Kansai TV horror film anthology "Gakko no Kaidan G", Takashi Shimizu introduced Japanese audiences to Toshio and Kayako Saeki... If a film can cause a reaction without needing to rely on exposition or narrative, then you know that visually it's doing something right. And Shimizu has the power to do that. There aren't many directors that are able to create such a feeling through the use of lighting, composition and montage, I'd say Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hideo Nakata are the only others who can do this effectively, but Shimizu is in the league of these greats. "Ju-on" is not the perfect horror film. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's the start of a style that Shimizu would perfect, and that's something beautiful." - Matthew Hardstaff, J-Film Pow-Wow

"The movie could have explored its intriguing ideas in even more depth, and it certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel. Jennifer's Body is still a better-than-average horror movie, and considerably more pointed too. Several moments are genuinely creepy. Other moments are darkly funny. Cody's script - under the director of Girlfight's Karyn Kusama, who brings a top-notch visual style - manages to combine those things into something that is a lot of wicked fun. The message: inside every adolescent girl is a figurative man-eater waiting to be unleashed. And inside every teen boy is a desire to be feasted on by the hottest girl in school. You can agree with that sentiment or not, but it may just define adolescent sexuality. If nothing else, it makes for a hell-raising good time at the movies." - Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat

"Campbell could have been born to play Elvis – he completely nails both the voice and the mannerisms, even under a hefty amount of old age make-up. It's a superb performance – if there were any justice, Campbell would get an Oscar nomination. Davis is equally good and the pair make a great screen couple – their friendship is genuinely touching... Bubba Ho-Tep isn't quite the full-on schlock-fest you might be expecting - in fact, it's relatively short on action, and the actual showdown, though funny, is rather anti-climactic. Instead, the film emerges as a surprisingly moving story about death, dignity and doing what needs to be done. (Noting, in the process, that anything's better than meeting your maker while on the toilet)." - Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

"Final Destination Bloodlines has no pretension of being anything other than a great Final Destination movie. It clears that bar and then some, bringing back the same meticulously absurd kills the franchise is known for while also adding new twists to the formula and depth. This isn’t a film that wants to investigate what makes Final Destination good; it’s a film that knows exactly what draws people in and plays almost exclusively to that appeal. The results are one of the most purely satisfying horror franchise entries to come out in a good while." - James Preston Poole, But Why Tho?

"The Night House provides a truly unique horror experience. Similar to movies like Midsommar and Vertigo, the horror depicted goes beyond simple scares. It's a journey into the very heart and soul of a person. It speaks to the universal process of grieving and the secrets we keep to protect the ones we love. When loss comes, the desperation to fill the void left can trump every other need. The Night House captures these truths in this unforgettable psychological horror." - Lindsey Dunn, 1 of My Stories

"Like many of the current crop of art horror films, director Trey Edward Shults's film has a strong social subtext. Like most zombie movies, it's about what happens when society fails and it's every man and woman for themselves. But by removing the zombies from the equation, its solutions to the question become much more stark. What happens in a hypercapitalist society where everyone is heavily armed, resources are scarce, and cooperation is taboo? It looks something like Travis' nightmares, which provide the spooky counterpoint to the brutal, bloody realism of the rest of the film. What is the frightening "it" that comes at night? It's us." - Chris McCoy, Memphis Flyer

"Like "28 Days Later," this is a film in awe of its creations, eager to unleash them into a world that lacks the glitz and polish of a supernatural thriller and focused in the intent to expand their visage into one of remarkable believability. There are moments here when we are not just staring back at movie villains or even watching on with misplaced hope at the antics of a cluster of desperate survivors. If a good horror picture means to transport us into the fabric of its bleak narrative and imprison us there, then here is one of those rare movies that penetrates the membrane separating all those disposable "gotcha" scarefests from genuinely engrossing supernatural thrillers, and finds a resonating chord." - David Keyes, Cinemaphile

"So what is the use of a genre film that doesn't conform to the conventions of genre? Plenty. You know this movie is called The Human Centipede. You will watch the film knowing you will see a human centipede. And when it is over, you will be able to claim you have now seen a human centipede. The evocative title, the lack of motive and the absence of genre tropes are completely intentional – Six is giving us what we want, reminding us all the while that getting exactly what we want is usually the last thing we should ever really have. Basically, The Human Centipede is a better, more effective satire (experiment?) than Michael Haneke's Funny Games." - Simon Miraudo, Quikflix

"Opening with an incredibly morbid and disturbing sequence that will later be expanded upon, Jordan Peele's Nope is an intriguing mystery box of a film that once again proves Peele knows how to really get under the skin of an audience while delivering plenty of subtle humour throughout. Peele likes placing his main characters in such extraordinary circumstances and his writing really does a great job in emphasising the fear and uncertainty they possess in the midst of it all, Nope being the perfect title for this film with how OJ and Emerald approach their many encounters with the unidentified flying object and the strange happenings that occur when it appears." - Josh Barton, Barton Reviews

"As with Ducournau’s feature debut "Raw," "Titane" is fascinated by the body’s vulnerabilities and urges, its ravenous processes, and how the collective "we" attempt to deal with all of this, either by gorging ourselves or, conversely, by sublimating the need into other things. Neither process is pleasant and/or socially acceptable. You can’t control the inherently uncontrollable. "Titane," this year’s Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, is an extreme movie, violent and pitiless and funny, but the space it provides for not just tenderness but contemplation makes it an "extremely" thought-provoking film as well." - Sheila O'Malley, RogerEbert.com

"Katz walks a fine line between humor and malevolence in his directing debut and handles it deftly, making sure that a laugh is never far away even if you're cringing at the next method that Colin dreams up for Vince and Craig to debase themselves. And while it would be easy for a movie like this to descend into simple torture porn or gross-out comedy, it never does because we are invested in Healy's poor schlub right from the start. His desperation and looming financial and housing crises ring all too true, and even as Craig begins to lose touch with his basic decency, you root for him because he's trapped in an unwinnable situation." - Don Kaye, Den of Geek

"For people who miss the early-'80s heyday of the slasher film, Hatchet will seem like a gift from the horror-movie gods; for everyone else, it'll at least be a fun way to kill 80 minutes... There's nothing revolutionary about Hatchet; with its simplistic plot and cameos from horror legends Robert Englund and Tony Todd, it's a deliberate throwback to the uncomplicated slasher movies of yore. But Green re-creates the style with affection and a knack for building suspense. The acting is above average, the bits of comic relief are actually funny, and multiple limbs are severed in highly graphic fashion. What more could you ask for?" - Josh Bell, Las Vegas Weekly

"There's not a single facet of Nosferatu that doesn't impress for the sheer artistry on display. Night scenes aren't simply well-lit; they're re-envisioned as monochromatic nightmares, evocative of black and white gothic horror classics. Craig Lathrop's exquisite production design whisks audiences on a tactile journey filled with dread-inducing decrepit castles, a city torn asunder by plague, gypsy camps, and beyond. Robin Carolan's triumphant score, combined with Damian Volpe's unsettling sound design, only furthers the immersive gothic spell. As beautiful as the costuming, set pieces, and dreamy cinematography can be, complete with quiet long takes and ethereal camera work, it's equally matched by the horror on display. Violent deaths, an excess of blood, and necrophilia ensue in great abundance." - Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting

"Maybe Richard Kelly's fate is to be the cult circuit's Michael Cimino — forever admired for one great film amid subsequent missteps, including a director's cut of the same movie. Kelly has yet to match the mysterious mood or magnitude of his filmmaking debut, 2001's "Donnie Darko" — a collision of time-travel sci-fi, commentary on '80s Reaganomics malaise and teen angst that's simultaneously witty and poignant... And what works as nervy comedy also foreshadows Donnie's burden and reinforces Kelly's thematic idea that teens can be capable of amazing, world-changing things. Concluding with compassionate nobility and an unforgettable epilogue, "Donnie Darko" represented the one moment when Kelly's eccentricities weren't extraneous and ambition matched his grasp." - Nick Rogers, The Film Yap

"Landon is careful not to let his focus stray too much, though, nor does he allow that schmaltzy sentiment to overwhelm the horror sensibilities here. In fact, he and co-writer Scott Lobdell deviously play against audience expectations, gleefully stringing them along with an increasingly unhinged murder mystery with outrageous twists and turns that would feel quite at home in a giallo. Despite taking an obvious cue from Ivan Reitman's seminal film, the script isn't expressly concerned with capturing existential angst of Groundhog Day, preferring instead to send audiences on an unrelenting thrill ride full of deviations, red herrings, and a wildly trashy finale." - Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

"Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon returns to literary horror with Dagon, another H.P. Lovecraft adaptation that takes his trademark grisliness to Spain for a real fish-out-of-water yarn having to do with love, sex and demon worship... Despite the Lovecraftian pedigree, what we really have here is a cheap horror potboiler: Stuart Gordon's Attack of the Fish People. I swear that's not a bad thing... Given the downright conservative tone of most horror films lately, the ripping and raping that caps Dagon's leisurely build is itself startling. Replete with gore and nudity, the final reels make it to giddy exploitation territory." - Bryant Frazer, Deep Focus

"Noe's superb direction makes all the difference. While this kind of story could easily wind up as a suffocating, sensory overload, Noe's camera follows each subject in Climax with a steady and curious, if emotionally distanced, eye. He's not afraid to ditch one agonised torture subject to follow another more interesting (read: dirtier and more gruesome) one. The sheer artistry and skill of that is something to behold. It's comparable to a poet composing a sonnet with broken glass and rusty nails. But the intent behind this artistry is so god damn devious and borderline juvenile. Because the mere act of watching this fictional movie nearly emotionally aligns you with the real-life perverts and voyeurs." - Rhys Tarling, Isolated Nation

"Whatever its weaknesses, 1408 holds you captive. The film may seem like a one-room version of THE SHINING, condensed and tight rather than big and sprawling like the Kubrick movie, but Hafstrom does an impressive job of keeping its limited space visually interesting for feature length, and when all else fails the story succeeds on the strength of Cusack's performance. The actor is allowed to give a virtual one-man show, ranging from funny to fearful, alternating between broad physical action (when the character explodes in rage against the room's asault on him) with quieter interludes of angst and despair. Forcing the audience to experience his terror with an almost first-hand immediacy, Cusack runs the emotional gamut, delivering a performance as layered and complex as any of the 2007s Oscar nominees. Thanks in large part to his efforts, 1408 comes close to being a character study rather than a horror film – WILD STRAWBERRIES, with ghosts. Unlike too many movies that aspire to more than mere horror, this one achieves its goal without neglecting the fear factor." - Steve Biodrowski, ESplatter