There is simple charm in the straightforward story and retro horror appeal that makes “The Funhouse” the gold standard granddaddy of killer carnival thrillers.

In the face of superior backwards-unfolding suspense yarns, you may not remember ("Amnesiac"), which poetically befits a film about missing pieces of memory.

It is the equivalent of filmic escargot in that it moves with the urgency of a you-know-what, yet is flavored as a delicacy for palates seasoned to its patient cinematic style.

It sandwiches in so much of the same recycled UFO-related references and fiction that the story mirrors the first-person format as being boringly outdated.

Forced to choose amongst any of Blumhouse’s other teen-targeted thrillers like “Ouija” or “Unfriended,” “The Gallows” has marginally more to offer as a paranormal activity chiller.

The movie’s most distinguishing characteristic is that it will forever be known as “that found footage flashlight flick.”

Take an assembly line attitude towards crafting a low-level motion picture, and the result is a movie so flavorless, it cannot even be described as vanilla.

“The Redwood Massacre” is one of those disposable movies where some short time after the fact, you’ll be unable to recall if you actually saw it or not.

A snickering good time for Lovecraft fans who won’t find sacrilege in seeing the grandmaster’s literary oeuvre repurposed for salaciously sex-oriented horror hijinks.

“The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?” remains a cornucopia of “what if” scenarios certain to tickle a touchstone of nostalgia for ‘90s superhero cinema.

Despite borrowing part and parcel from an overly familiar “found footage” formula, “Always Watching” deviates from tried-and-true patterns in ways that are not for the better.

Not only is its empty message outdated and untimely, “L.A. Slasher” is unfunny as a comedy and not frightening as a horror film.

It would be unfair to single out any performance in particular as amateurish, since the acting across the board is uniformly terrible.

“Inner Demon” ... needs an adrenaline shot to its average midsection to pick up the pulse and give audiences a standout reason to sit up and take notice.

“Dig Two Graves” is a rare genre drama that strays from sentimentality to deliver a suspenseful story executed with powered precision.

Director Eytan Rockaway sticks to a template of tried-and-true tactics to make a competently crafted slow-creep chiller, albeit one that would benefit from a more original edge.

“Caught” is what a Lifetime thriller would look like if a tranquil John Waters tried turning the network’s brand of suburban suspense into an almost R-rated black comedy.

“Intruders” makes up points as an original spin on the home invasion theme, functioning better than most for delivering home alone on a late night chills.

Miguel Llanso has created a nontraditional, unconventional film unlike anything seen before.  But to achieve what end, I’m not sure even he can say.

“Ratter” is a failed attempt at a cautionary tale about how our modern technological conveniences are supposedly just tools for madmen to torture us.