The actors’ earnestness balances with the filmmakers’ sarcasm to strike the right mood of weirdness that is sometimes amusing, sometimes revolting, but usually entertaining.

For fans, “Batman: The Killing Joke” is popularly regarded as one of the greatest Batman tales ever told. For the film, it’s “just another” animated Bat movie.

How you felt about the flavor from the first season of "Fear the Walking Dead" is a fair indicator of how you might take to this film’s tone.

If a Jason meets Freddy madman stalking teens in tank tops is enough to make “Knucklebones” worth a watch, you don’t need me raining on the parade with critical comments.

“The Gateway” is precisely the sort of inspired indie effort that fledgling genre filmmakers with minimal resources and maximum outside-the-box initiative should make.

“The Amityville Terror” is what you get when limited time, a limited budget, and limited enthusiasm come together to pinch out an unoriginal horror film.

The movie brims with nightmarish nuance, though its late inning struggle to remain cohesive comes at the cost of undercutting its overall impression.

Second guesses and conflicting intentions create a tone so disoriented, the likeliest audience reaction is utter uncertainty over what to make of the movie.

"Assassination Classroom: Graduation” trades in a fair slice of the first film’s weird whimsy for a follow-up filled with bleak backstory.

In addition to chilling horror entertainment, “Seoul Station” offers a layer of thoughtful introspection regarding societal struggles to anyone desiring more meaning behind their monsters.

Maybe the film works better for those who mistakenly believe downtown L.A. is some sort of “kill or be killed” wasteland of “Escape from New York” proportions.

Blending these subgenres intriguingly transforms associated tropes into a thoughtfully-plotted thriller that gives “We Go On” a unique identity in horror.

This “Fury of the Demon” may be as fictional as its namesake, but it is completely convincing and creatively compelling from its first minute to its last.

“The Unseen” isn’t always upfront about its entertainment intentions or its story’s destination, which presents a problem for the fiction’s flow.

By treating its silly premise seriously, “Bed of the Dead” finds its way past the easy way out of comic campiness to muster merit for midnight movie cult status.

“The Frankenstein Complex” is a rare documentary that can celebrate the wonderment of practical movie magic while exponentially increasing anyone’s appreciation of the craft.

Built from a carbon-copied template of tropes and seeming indifference from the filmmakers, “Ghosthunters” is a struggle to sit through.

There is zero doubt in my mind that had I seen the film in a theater, an audience would have collectively released a deafening groan of disappointed disapproval.

“The Dead Room” is neither original nor especially frightening, yet the technical tactics distract from dullness with subtle creativity.

If you were to close your eyes and listen to dialogue alone, you’d swear you were hearing a half-speed rehearsal read-through where no one knew the camera was rolling.