If you just want a cinematic spectacle of deadite-driven gruesomeness, “Evil Dead Rise” delivers more entertaining amounts of gore than any fan could hope for.
THE POPE'S EXORCIST (2023)
Russell Crowe does his demon dousing with the delightfully drunken haughtiness of Oliver Reed plus the scenery-snacking sensibilities of Tim Curry.
FROM BLACK (2023)
No one appears to be phoning anything in, but when you build something with blocks whose only color is beige, the final form can’t help but be basic.
THE WICKSBORO INCIDENT (2003)
The movie fondly reminds me of smirking at quickie conspiracy theory series in the days before 1am programming slots were taken over by Joey Greco and “Cheaters.”
KIDS vs. ALIENS (2022)
You can either look at “Kids vs. Aliens” as a low-budget Amblin adventure, or as a big-budget backyard B-movie. The latter makes it far more fun.
65 (2023)
Like a grandma too timid to cross the street for fear of getting grazed by a bicycle, “65” sticks to playing it safe at all times.
COCAINE BEAR (2023)
Elizabeth Banks and Jimmy Warden basically build “Cocaine Bear” like a classic Roger Corman drive-in flick, just with big studio bucks and an all-star cast.
UNSEEN (2023)
I’ve decided to give it a “neither here nor there” 50/100 because review scores need numbers, not shrugging shoulders emojis.
WINNIE-THE-POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY (2023)
Welcome to the bottomless sewer of lo-fi indie fright flicks. Don’t feel bad. Winnie-the-Pooh apparently dwells down here now too.
CHILDREN OF THE CORN (2020)
Believe me, I agree I’m the last person I’d expect to find defending a widely derided “Children of the Corn” movie as “not that bad,” even “decent, actually.”
CONSECRATION (2023)
Too low-key to be of consequential value as a memorable thriller, the only way to take “Consecration” is as a middling one.
THE OUTWATERS (2022)
The only thing keeping “The Outwaters” from exile in a DTV wasteland is the suspicious spin from prominent people promoting it as a major event in horror entertainment.
WE HAVE A GHOST (2023)
Landing where a lot of Netflix features often do in the end, “We Have a Ghost” settles for their standard of being “alright, I guess.”
KNOCK AT THE CABIN (2023)
As a character-driven thriller, “Knock at the Cabin” attracts attentive eyes by having its charismatic cast turn up the tension on a highly suspenseful mystery.
COLD GROUND (2017)
I don’t see a reason to recommend “Cold Ground” since it’s uneventfully dull. To keep it in the Fabien Delage family, track down “Fury of the Demon” instead.
BLOOD (2022)
What more would any reasonable person expect from a film that touts the tired tagline, “How far would you go to save your child?”
THE OFFERING (2022)
Typical though its subdued spooks may be, “The Offering” serves them up with elegantly unsettling flair.
SAVAGELAND (2015)
I walked away completely satisfied by the chocolate coating of “Savageland’s” impressive execution, but underwhelmed by the comparatively plain nougat at the story’s center.
M3GAN (2022)
It exists to be a standard schlocker with the right bite of B-movie nuttiness for making easily frightened dates shriek and their bemused companions smirk.
SORRY ABOUT THE DEMON (2022)
Maybe it’s fitting that Will is a mild-mannered man since “Sorry About the Demon” is a mild-mannered movie occupying a comparatively safer space among horror-comedies.
At least the movie only runs 70 minutes, though I suppose that extra 10 technically disqualifies it from being a literal amateur hour.