It’s not a story. It’s not even scary. It’s a series of frightening faces lunging at the camera in monochromatic night vision.
30 YEARS OF GARBAGE: THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS STORY (2016)
Seeing creators and collectors recall the cards so enthusiastically fires up flux capacitors of fondness using weapons-grade nostalgia.
THE ICE CREAM TRUCK (2017)
“The Ice Cream Truck” is something like “Desperate Housewives” meets… well, I’m not exactly sure what. The movie isn’t entirely sure either.
CUT SHOOT KILL (2017)
“Cut Shoot Kill” puts a spin on the fictional-fear-becomes-reality premise that is intermittently enjoyable, albeit ultimately ordinary.
THE MANSION (LE MANOIR) (2017 - French)
In cases like these, I can’t quite tell if my mumbled “meh” and shrugged shoulders have more to do with the movie or with me.
TEEN WOLF (1985)
“Teen Wolf” towers over pedestrian plotting and by-the-book building blocks to be an amusing star vehicle with classic 1980s charm.
THE NIGHT WATCHMEN (2017)
It comes down to whether or not farting vampire clowns getting high on weed tickles your funny bone.
FASHIONISTA (2016)
“Fashionista” throws a lot at the wall while blindfolded, and hopeful intentions of artistry aren’t enough to make much of it stick.
SLITHER (2006)
"Slither” comes about as close as any contemporary genre film can to capturing the feel of a 1950s Saturday matinee monster movie.
THE HOUSE AT THE END OF TIME (2013 - Spanish)
Matching a free flow of fear with relatable family drama, “The House at the End of Time” makes for a movie that is emotionally engaging as well as subtly chilling.
ALIEN INVASION: S.U.M.1 (2017)
The slowed speed sends a sense that identical ground could be covered in half the time as a single TV episode just the same.
SLEIGHT (2016)
Its bones are given life by a unique skin of subtle fantasy providing a patina of escapist entertainment this sort of story usually doesn’t have.
AWAKEN THE SHADOWMAN (2017)
"Awaken the Shadowman” steps up to the plate with ambition, then squares up to bunt with two strikes, promptly fouling into an out.
PHOENIX FORGOTTEN (2017)
“Phoenix Forgotten” gains a fair deal of ground only to give it up for a last act playing in the deep end of “found footage” predictability.
DEAD SHACK (2017)
“Dead Shack” has a casual approach to its comedy, which mostly comes courtesy of humor that is amusing as opposed to laugh out loud hilarious.
IT STAINS THE SANDS RED (2016)
Not since “The Battery” has an economical indie figured out that scaling all the way back to an intimate focus is a much smarter way to stand out.
78/52: HITCHCOCK'S SHOWER SCENE (2017)
An edutaining examination of how the master of cinematic suspense carefully crafted perhaps the most memorable movie moment of all time.
SHIN GODZILLA (2016 - Japanese)
All of this inactivity on Godzilla’s part leaves “Shin Godzilla” to become the monster movie equivalent of C-SPAN.
SEQUENCE BREAK (2017)
Earnest elbow grease is evident. “Sequence Break” is just a touch too slender in scope to pack a knockout punch as slickly sinister sci-fi.
KILLING GROUND (2016)
The great effect “Killing Ground” achieves from this conceit is the simultaneous suspense of wondering what will happen as well as what already did.
Coralie Fargeat and “The Substance” showed me things I’ve never seen before alongside things I didn’t even know a movie could do.