Thriller
Travis Turner
A seemingly innocuous house party takes a grim turn in Travis Turner, the latest hangout movie from provocative writer/director Mike Klassen (9 Days with Cambria, Crackerhead).
Spiral: From the Book of Saw
The premise for Spiral (better known by its full title Spiral: From the Book of Saw) is an interesting take on the traditional spin-off, and a sigh of relief for a movie goer like myself who hasn’t kept up to speed on the Saw horror franchise.
The Retreat
Actor-turned-filmmaker Pat Mills has made some great comedies (Guidance, Don’t Talk to Irene), and he’s currently challenging himself by branching out to different genres (CBC Gem’s short-form series Queens dabbles with mystery, for instance). The Retreat is Mills’ shot at making a straightforward horror-thriller, and it doesn’t go as straightforward as his previous endeavours.
Willy’s Wonderland
Nicolas Cage’s cult appeal becomes rusty in Willy’s Wonderland, a tongue-in-cheek horror-thriller featuring the actor squaring off against animatronic creeps in an abandoned children’s play place.
Painkiller
Painkiller is more of a mouthpiece than a movie. The filmmakers are so excited by the film’s premise, that they would rather table action sequences and tense showdowns to have discussions about Big Pharma and the opioid epidemic it seems to be encouraging. I admire their enthusiasm, but this attitude has distracted them from making a good movie.
In the Earth
In the Earth is the first truly effective COVID-era horror/thriller. Mostly because it doesn’t call attention to the virus, and rather uses its inflections throughout this terrific biological (and supernatural) chiller.
