“Alone” polishes dystopian bleakness with cinematic sleekness that entertains as an adolescent fantasy far more than it falls flat as slightly flighty fiction.
VIDAR THE VAMPIRE (2017 - Norwegian)
“Vidar the Vampire” highlights the absurdity of how anyone can interpret, or more accurately, misinterpret the ‘Word of God’ to mean anything anyone wants.
MOTHER KRAMPUS (12 DEATHS OF CHRISTMAS) (2017)
The back half’s rudder falls off completely, leaving “Mother Krampus” to sputter and stall as it flails to fill a 90-minute film with only a 30-minute idea.
POOR AGNES (2017)
Agnes presents herself as the Sun Tzu of serial killing, dispensing philosophy while dispatching victims and tormenting captives.
SKYBOUND (2017)
If The CW ever partnered with The Asylum to produce a made-for-TV disaster flick, it would probably look a lot like “Skybound.”
THE UNTAMED (2016 - Spanish)
An inelegant way to reductively encapsulate the sentiments above would be to simply say, “The Untamed” is “weird.”
RADIUS (2017)
Right away we are swept into a sci-fi Saturday night setting that packs “Outer Limits” intrigue into a “Twilight Zone” mystery.
THE ELF (2017)
While that would be cruelly inhumane for the animal, it would be more entertaining to watch than this movie, which is cruelly inhumane against viewers.
CURVATURE (2017)
As a satisfying spin down a straightaway, “Curvature” keeps enough gas in its tank to be moderately enjoyable in the moment.
DOUBLE DATE (2017)
I found myself won over by the flick’s surprising surplus of heartfelt charm and astonishingly sharp style for a low-budget indie.
THE BABYSITTER (2017)
"The Babysitter” earns her rate for a full evening of satisfying work, even if you’d think twice about recommending her to friends.
LIKE.SHARE.FOLLOW (2017)
For the PG-13 thriller with straightforward style that it is, “Like.Share.Follow” knows how to sharply stick to a tried-and-true plan.
NIGHTWORLD (2017)
This classic case of mediocre moviemaking with a TV thriller temperature puts the ‘l’ and the ‘n’ in ‘bad’ for a film more bland than outright awful.
MANSFIELD 66/67 (2017)
It couldn’t be more fitting for such a wonderfully weird story to be creatively captured within such a wonderfully weird movie.
CREEP 2 (2017)
When “Creep 2” finally figures out which branch is best to follow, a blinding “aha!” bulb course corrects the film for a far sharper second half.
THE LODGERS (2017)
This gorgeously haunting presentation hopelessly defeats itself fighting an unwinnable war to find a suspenseful story worth telling.
TO HELL AND BACK: THE KANE HODDER STORY (2017)
“To Hell and Back” celebrates the monsters and maniacs that made Kane Hodder famous while stripping off the makeup and masks for an intimate profile of the man underneath.
1922 (2017)
While a patient pace taxes the tank for more gas than the film carries, “1922” hit a higher rung than most on the ladder of Stephen King adaptations.
RUIN ME (2017)
The movie makes its mark by taking two memorable turns, giving its take on the “what’s really going on?” premise a sharper bite than most.
TRENCH 11 (2017)
Think of “It Comes at Night” in terms of atmosphere, except with actual infected attackers haunting the hallways as if they sprinted in from “28 Days Later.”
For veteran viewers, if not for the film’s makers, “Rosario” doesn’t include many memorable moments worthy of earning much enthusiasm.