... it is always pretty to look at and never flat out dull, and that makes “Witching and Bitching” a fun and entertaining ride through elaborately wild territory.

“What We Do in the Shadows” has achieved nigh universal acclaim from those more prone to falling in love with the hypnotic charm of a satirical vampire mockumentary.

“LFO” dances around fascinating possibilities to be sure, but the final delivery is funneled through a stifling plotline that has too little payoff.

“Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead” evolves ... along its natural arc of “Evil Dead” homage by practically skipping the double dog dare of the second movie and going straight for over-the-top “Army of Darkness” outrageousness.

... the cleverness in the collective charm of everything mentioned above ends up working in unison to put “The Babadook” at the top of the list for the most emotionally engaging horror film of 2014.

"Rigor Mortis" is a border-blending fusion of Japanese ghost story and Cantonese vampire fiction spiked with sensationalized martial arts action as the cherry on top.

If a film by David Lynch mated with a movie from John Waters, and that offspring tried morphing into a Farrelly Brothers comedy , the result might look something like “R100.”

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.