“Hover” plays less like a traditional Syfy thriller and more like an “Erin Brockovich” drama that happens to have a mild science-fiction overlay.
THE RUSSIAN BRIDE (2018)
“The Russian Bride” doesn’t establish a gun so much as it lays out an entire Chekhov’s arsenal of future story beats.
SATAN'S SLAVES (2017 - Indonesian)
Imagine “Hereditary” with a foreign fright film flavor, but presented with James Wan’s sense of cinematic spook-showmanship.
INCIDENT IN A GHOSTLAND (2018)
The movie stocks several secrets up its sleeve to notch it above being another routine run through a harrowing home invasion.
FAHRENHEIT 451 (2018)
Bahrani’s film comes off Frankenstein’s table as a lumbering brute built from mismatched parts that don’t work well in unison.
THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD (2018)
Simplicity stales quickly, drying the movie into a 90-minute apocalyptic redux that doesn’t seem to say much about the human condition, or the inhuman one for that matter.
DARKNESS REIGNS (2017)
“Darkness Reigns” forgets to oil its setup with an actual story, leaving an unpopped dud to rattle around an empty bag.
THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT (2018)
Pop scares and slaughter push mystery and tension aside, putting “Prey at Night” in line with any number of other “masked killer on the loose in the dark” films.
THE MIMIC (2017 - Korean)
Familiarity keeps Huh’s smoldering thriller from reaching a full boil, yet supernatural suspense stays simmering with a menacing mood insistently bubbling underneath.
TRUTH OR DARE (2018)
As long as a mouth expects the familiar taste of Taco Bell, “Truth or Dare’s” fast food flavor satiates a quick craving for scary movie simplicity.
THE RAKE (2018)
It’s in everyone’s best interests to move away from this forgettable flotsam as swiftly as possible.
MARY SHELLEY (2017)
“Mary Shelley” means to cram a kitchen sink of costume drama clichés into an overlong mood exercise obsessed with thickly laid theatricality.
UNSANE (2018)
“Unsane” takes a nifty nucleus for a psychological thriller and deliberately makes it decidedly less intriguing by giving it an unnecessary gimmick.
IN DARKNESS (2018)
“In Darkness” emerges from its overwrought, overwritten funnel as a visually juicy bite of overdramatic intrigue.
FERAL (2017)
Someone curious about seeing “Feral” in a theater asked, “is it worth a drive into Hollywood?” I considered replying, “it wasn’t worth the walk to my television to watch it on VOD.”
DELIRIUM (2018)
There’s a reason why Blumhouse movies are labeled “From the Producer of ‘The Purge’ and ‘Get Out’” instead of “From the Producer of ‘Visions’ and ‘Totem’.”
THE JURASSIC GAMES (2018)
“The Jurassic Games” earns a predominantly positive review because it is precisely the kind of knowingly campy B-movie I expected it to be.
CARGO (2017)
“Cargo” contains so much déjà vu drama, anyone who has taken this trip before can’t stop from sighing as each setup falls out of the copy machine.
COLD SKIN (2017)
The awfulness of loneliness coupled with Innsmouth insinuations wraps Lovecraftian themes within gothic Mary Shelley melodrama.
ESCAPE ROOM (2017)
If you believe “Escape Room” is “the most original and terrifying horror this year,” you might also believe a statue of Elvis exists on Mars.
“Strange Harvest” echoes “The Poughkeepsie Tapes” in a manner that’s able to maintain its own originality despite the déjà vu.