“The Nightmare” capitalizes so well on its mood of escalating tension that a waxing and waning interest level in the subjects and their stories has no choice but to sit in the second chair.

The film boils down to being straightforward practically to a fault, which should please anyone eager for a simple serving of traditional creature feature creeps.

Tim Kirk and Rodney Ascher deserve points for fusing irreverent pastiche with an original horror story ... But this particular experiment in creative entertainment is more failure than success.

“Terror of Frankenstein” is ... of interest chiefly to students looking to score a C+ on a book report with a Cliff’s Notes cinema shortcut, where Universal and Hammer can only promise a failing grade.

“Cooties” is a broken film that deserves to be more enjoyable than it is, but only one hand is needed to count legitimate laughs.

“Let Us Prey” has enough going for it to be worthwhile to thriller and horror fans hungry for a hearty helping of supernatural suspense, even if that interest turns out to be passing in the end.

Herbots’ superb craftsmanship supersedes shortcomings just as perfect casting and adroit portrayals transcend a stereotypical roster of red herring suspects and traumatized victims.

Effort doesn’t always translate into entertainment, and the greenness of those involved is what shines brightest on this movie’s screen.

More interested in creeping chills than gotcha boos, "From the Dark" never lets scaled-down production design stand in the way of crafty camerawork making the most of unsettling atmosphere.

With “Roadside,” it doesn’t appear as though writer/director Eric England has anything more in mind than to aim for mediocrity and barely hit the bullseye with a plop.

What they record results in a head-on collision of the “found footage” and demonic child subgenres, leaving “Infernal” to beat two dead horror horses with one limp stick.

“Hooked Up” is only 70-something minutes long, yet cannot find material to fill that space that isn’t annoying, boring, or both at the same time.

“The Final Girls” doesn’t just point out tropes with a wink, it plants well-worn chestnuts into clever setups before seeing them through to funny, original punchlines.

Although bookended by a pair of frightful sequences, the main meat of “Hangman” is almost completely devoid of anything genuinely nerve rattling.

This is how “slow burn” takes an intentionally torturous wick to a violently erupting conclusion with true efficiency and exhilarating effectiveness.

"He Never Died" is undeniably a Henry Rollins highlight reel and in that regard, no fan could ask for a finer showcase of his unique onscreen presence.

"Pod" is a dish best served cold, with limited foreknowledge and without expectation for anything more robust than a lean, mean blend of paranoid thriller and what’s-behind-the-door suspense.

“Unfriended” ranks alongside “Ouija” in terms of being entirely forgettable, yet nonetheless in possession of mass appeal for an undemanding set whose ages begin with the number one.

As a love letter to everything gruesome, gleeful, and glorious about 1980s genre movies and popular culture, “Turbo Kid” is engineered specifically for maximum midnight movie madness.

The final picture put together by “The Diabolical” is one of a classically creepy chiller with a sleek streak of sci-fi suspense.