“Cowboys vs. Zombies” at least features the cowboys and the zombies promised by the title.  It’s what the movie doesn’t have that makes it a terrible choice for 90 minutes of what is supposed to be entertainment.

In spite of story changes that significantly alter critical character motivations, the setting and the photography renew a fair portion of that fumbled atmosphere.

Through a perfect storm of acting, characterization, direction, sight, and sound, Roman Polanski takes a sensational nightmare of inconceivable proportions and makes it frighteningly plausible in spite of its inherent absurdity.

Even if some pieces of the mystery are bobbled a bit, the rest of the production exudes enough confidence to sustain interest in the outcome and in the experience.

“Lucky Bastard” is one of the more believably structured stories to use the “found footage” frame, but its NC-17 subject matter is too sleazy to have broad appeal that will work for all thriller fans.

The hubris felling ("Scream Park") is that it thinks it is a throwback homage to festival-set fright fare, yet doesn’t realize it has to exhibit some sort of twist, cynicism, or reverence for the subgenre in order to rise above being boringly derivative.

Swap the menstruating girl with a teenage boy, remove all of the personality, and “Way of the Wicked” can be described as a male version of “Carrie” with a slight hint of “The Omen,” albeit far less interesting than either.

“Compound Fracture” falls into that category of movies you want to like more than you do simply because you can see the filmmakers giving it an honest go.

“Piggy” is not a cheap slasher at all, but a psychological character study that accentuates mood and motivation instead of gory body counts and typical horror movie trappings.

“The Zombinator” plays like stoned teens decided to live action role play poorly conceived “Walking Dead” fan fiction with a Terminator as the lead while someone hit record on a home video camera.

The overall value of “Lesson of the Evil” as a meaningful film is debatable, although it is assuredly a demented portrait of a sociopathic psycho like only a twisted visionary can create.

... the downside is that the movie features a rote story framed in a milquetoast production where nothing stands out as noteworthy one way or the other.

From a fox mixed with a woodlouse to a falcon merged with who knows what, “Blood Glacier” is at its demented best when throwing monstrous mutations on top of outmatched scientists.

Simultaneously sad, sweet, inspiring, and even suspenseful, “Bottled Up” is a fascinating, and at times heartbreaking, David versus Goliath story where Goliath unfortunately emerges as the victor.

The true intention of “App” is to reinvigorate the moviegoing experience with a playful dose of creative fun. In that regard, “App” succeeds.

Anyone able to conceptualize the horrifying history fueling the fiction may find “The Sacrament” almost as terrifying as the real thing.

The result is a movie capable of commanding attention when the sexiness fires on all cylinders and the bizarreness mystifies before getting too far ahead of itself.

I’ve heard more emotion from Siri when asking my iPhone to find a sushi bar with a good happy hour than these girls offer after anyone in their friend circle dies.

“All Cheerleaders Die” makes an inspired mix out of familiar concepts and unfurls in a manner that is unusual and unexpected, but nearly always entertaining.

“Blood Shed” struggles to be unique against a script and a story that is poorly paced and confusingly underdeveloped.