Dangerous Animals has the potential to be a sleeper hit of the summer. So, it’s unfortunate Sean Byrne’s horror-thriller film has been released prematurely. But nevertheless, the film will initially attract a crowd from the squeamish to the chortling yucksters who share a mutual interest – everybody loves a shark movie. While Byrne’s movie has plenty of deep sea casualties, the film’s secret sauce is the star power of Jai Courtney; a comment that could be…
The Woman in the Yard finds Blumhouse Productions singing a different tune compared to their back catalogue of modern horror classics. It’s a tune that’s still worth singing, but it isn’t without some unnecessary vibrato that may rub some people the wrong way. The premise starts out simple enough: a single, depressed mother, Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler of Netflix’s western The Harder They Fall) and her two kids (Peyton Jackson, Estella Kahiha), who already have a tense…
Based on Adam Cesare’s popular YA novel of the same name, Clown in a Cornfield is a mishmash of pseudo comedic and horror elements, but it doesn’t come together as a cohesive horror-comedy. Director Eli Craig (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil) is given an array of teenage anti-heroes; a clan of “bad apples” who have given their town an infamous reputation from phoney online videos featuring a ghoulish, stalking clown named Frendo. When they begin to be…
What’s the literary equivalent to an earworm? Someone reads something so unique that it carves out a place in that person’s subconscious. I’m inquiring because I think that’s what happened with filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt, and what compelled her to make The Ugly Stepsister. This horror spin on the classic tale of Cinderella runs with the concept of people so desperate to find an ideal life with their yearning prince that they would mutilate themselves to fit the…
Last Halloween, Netflix released a short spin-off of Sing featuring the animated cast taking part in a fairly faithful recreation of John Landis’ iconic music video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. It was an innocuous distraction, fit for the season, that introduced kids to zombies. Any kid who was interested, entertained, or joyfully spooked by that short film should make Night of the Zoopocalypse their next watch. It’s basically a longer version of that short film except, in this…
Your Monster is billed as a horror-fantasy, with notes of a rom-com, featuring a Broadway hopeful (Melissa Barrera) discovering a hunky beast (Tommy Dewey) in her closet. Sounds wild, right? What if I told you writer/director Caroline Lindy plays everything “straight”? What if I told you that the film is so quiet, you can hear the emptiness between lines of dialogue? Granted, this is a deliberate choice to play up the film’s quirkier qualities, but…
With an impressively involving story using multiple methods to scare the viewer, Hold Your Breath is just the ticket for this year’s Halloween season.
While a filmmaker who commits to their premise is usually worth commending, The Front Room repels the viewer towards condemning it.
Oddity is a decent horror endeavour where the scares are more memorable than the film itself. This ghost story, about a clairvoyant’s mission to find out the truth behind the death of her sister, is a haunting slow burn that loves to steep itself in atmospheric chills. But also, the production can’t help itself when given the opportunity for shriek-worthy jump scares. Writer/director Damian McCarthy (Caveat) shows plenty of skillful competence for building tension. Even…
