For as much derision as the technical drawbacks and scripting shortcuts earn, the earnest attempt at a legitimate story wins back forgiving favor as a movie that at least has something to say.

“Ghostlight” has a fair enough framework to tell a competent ghost story. But it suffers from ambition that the script, cast, and technical limitations do not have the chops to fully back up.

Buckhalt’s movie is a formula slasher through and through, although what it lacks in originality, it partially makes up for with a sincere spirit behind the camera.

The “let’s see what happens” approach to making a new age noir thriller reads like an auteur working with one hand instead of two, simply to see if he can do it.

I don’t watch very many horror-comedies, but when I do, I like them to be like “Devil in My Ride.”  Which is to say, genuinely funny.

With moderate tweaking to deepen character development, and cleverer motivations to explain some puzzling behavior, “Neverlake” might have been a true stunner.

Its intangible intentions make “Malignant” a mostly one-man show that has a hard time creating enough entertaining reasons to stay tuned for its message.

Either intentionally as part of some misguided production design to look twenty years older than it is, or unintentionally because director David DeCoteau cannot shake loose from his late 20th century straight-to-video prime, “666: Devilish Charm” looks like it was conceived and shot in 1994.

As “Report 51” progresses, it transforms from an outer space-related horror into a “Blair Witch Project” meets “Paranormal Activity” fusion where its aliens are portrayed as feral banshees instead of as intelligent lifeforms.

Explored stylishly, the idea at the story’s core can potentially power an intriguing movie.  “Mischief Night” is not that movie.

“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.