No matter how many boilerplate story beats and seen before character types are used as links in its predictable plot chain, “Ragnarok” squeezes so much quality from its all-ages appeal that fun trounces formula.

Even if it seems initially satisfying as disposable horror entertainment, subsequent franchise installments now have a long run challenge to bring the series back to a sane track of forward-moving progress.

“Moebius” makes it entirely too easy to be preoccupied with swimming against unrelenting waves of wordless weirdness drowning whatever it is the movie means to convey.

“Beast of the Bering Sea” is either a home run dinger in a Little League ballpark, or a big time strikeout in a Major League stadium.

The scariest thing about the movie is the prospect of falling asleep suddenly and hitting your head on the armrest.

More than just well executed and highly entertaining as first-person horror, “Afflicted” turns into the most believable body horror transformation movie I have ever seen.

If SyFy and The Asylum have taught us anything about post-2010 made-for-television monster movies, it is that high expectations may as well have “no admittance” crime scene tape blocking all entrances.

If you thought actor John Jarratt’s off-kilter killer was the best part of “Wolf Creek,” then the sequel is like a caramel-covered brownie fudge sundae for a fat kid indulging a sweet tooth.

“Wolf Creek” is so successful at injecting unease that a climax accused of being visceral torture for shock’s sake is highly terrifying despite the “it’s been done before” scene arrangement.

“Stage Fright” is broadly funny without being overly silly, gory without being grotesque, and unique in its appeal without ever compromising its identity.

Without the presence of Eric Roberts and Danielle Harris, “Camp Dread” would be nearly unrecognizable as a professionally made feature.

It feels like the movie’s people, places, and things were thrown in the air and inserted wherever they fell in the storyline on the floor.

Caradog James does not break new thematic ground with “The Machine,” but the rich simplicity with which he frames his take on sentient robots makes for a sleek production with streamlined storytelling.

“I can’t believe we’re going off to college in just a couple months.”  I can’t believe it either.  Unless they mean they are going there to drop off their kids, since they certainly look old enough to have them.

“Haunt” is highly successful at gradually weaving a drape of dread over itself, although it is less on the mark at keeping that fire stoked as the momentum runs out of steam.

“Doc of the Dead” zips through key points of zombie history so breezily that it barely pauses to pat each head in a breathless game of Duck Duck Goose.

Occupy the time with mulling over the puzzle of where “13 Sins” is headed next and becoming absorbed in its mystery can end up turning into a great deal of mind-teasing fun.

There is such a bland sense of style to “The Dinosaur Experiment” that no amount of willfully excusing its low-budget shortcomings can even out the poor plotting, characterization, dialogue, and direction.

... the final direction loses its focus before buckling under the weight of characters, concepts, and side plots that do more to weigh down the core story than they do to enhance it.

... those details are the pitchfork stabbing holes in “Children of Sorrow” to the point where the moments that work take on a lot of unnecessary water from the ones that don’t.