It’s an homage to every kooky cult classic that glowed like the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” idol to monster kids who grew up on video store weirdness.
MORTAL KOMBAT LEGENDS: BATTLE OF THE REALMS (2021)
Even if you had a blast with the live-action “Mortal Kombat” movie, I assure you “Battle of the Realms” is the wildest, wickedest, most fan-pleasing “Mortal Kombat” film of 2021.
KAREN (2021)
“Karen” becomes a live-action comic book whose over-the-top exploitation antics are ripe for howling at your TV with eye-rolling hilarity.
TED BUNDY: AMERICAN BOOGEYMAN (2021)
Between “No Man of God” and “Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman,” the 100-minute movie about two men talking suddenly doesn’t seem like the inferior option.
SUPERHOST (2021)
The simple approach works well for the movie this is: a snack-size serving of stalker horror that slots smoothly into Shudder’s grab-and-go menu of casual chills.
DON'T SAY ITS NAME (2021)
A little flash of flair peeks through, even though the film feels a lot like a standard Syfy movie without the cable staple’s usual order of cheese.
MAD GOD (2021)
For those of us who are fans of dementedly-designed miniatures, old-school animation, and midnight movie oddities, “Mad God” is a one-of-a-kind vision from a one-of-a-kind creator.
WHEN I CONSUME YOU (2021)
Perry Blackshear’s brand of intangibly implied insidiousness is back on track with welcome weirdness capable of worming its way into any susceptible psyche.
DEMONIC (2021)
If you or I brought this script to a studio, we would be laughed out of the room once they got to the part that sounds like an altar boy’s fan fiction.
HELLBENDER (2021)
There isn’t anyone doing deeper, equally intriguing work on a consistent basis in the DIY horror space than this remarkably impressive filmmaking family.
THE LAST MATINEE (2020 - Spanish)
The majority of the movie nails the feeling of a crisper, slicker Italian horror film from the 1980s even though it’s in Spanish.
OFFSEASON (2021)
“Offseason” excels at putting a bottle around insidious insinuations, but their hollowness tastes like a side salad of superficial visual spooks.
KING KNIGHT (2021)
“King Knight” is a dramatic comedy aimed at people who can relate to reckoning with a particular kind of identity crisis during the twilight of their thirties.
OLD (2021)
“Old” offers much to mull over as a slow-burn ‘Twilight Zone’ chiller, but more so as a quietly provocative piece about our relationship with mortality.
MASQUERADE (2021)
On paper, this sounds like a masterful cinematic illusion that would make M. Night Shyamalan drool. If it can be pulled off, which “Masquerade” can’t.
BLOOD RED SKY (2021 - German)
“Blood Red Sky” turns into one of the more “human” vampire movies out there because it’s really about a single mother fighting against forces trying to turn her into a monster.
THE BOY BEHIND THE DOOR (2020)
It might be for the best that “The Boy Behind the Door” becomes more fictional than factual, at least as far as rattling viewers with “ripped from the headlines” realism is concerned.
KANDISHA (2020 - French)
It’s standard slumber party stuff chock full of angsty young friends, a Ouija-adjacent summoning, a vengeful spirit, you know the drill.
FEAR STREET PART THREE: 1666 (2021)
I have a more favorable opinion of the entire “Fear Street” trilogy, what it intended, and what it accomplished, now that I know how the three chapters fit together.
MEANDER (2020 - French)
This looked like a lot of redundant crawling. Did I really want to spend 90 minutes stuck inside a tube watching one woman wriggle around?
Although sleeker and perhaps scarier, “Smile 2’s” fault is that it’s arguably “more of the same” rather than a real advancement on what came before.