Alone: Lean, Tense Survival Horror in the Pacific Northwest
Tag: Indie Horror
Let’s Scare Julie: Clever Approach, Fumbled Ending
Don’t confuse it with Let’s Scare Jessica to Death. That’s 1970’s surrealist horror. Let’s Scare Julie is the latest indie horror with a trick up it’s sleeve looking to fill 2020’s void in the absence of theatrical releases. First-time writer and director Jud Cremata pulls a trick out of Alfred Hitchcock’s playbook. In his 1948 […]
Read MoreAlive: The Horrors of a Bad Health Care Plan
1BR – Psychological Thriller Sublets Some UnnervinG Horror
Horror is often most potent when it touches a nerve. Yes, jolts and jumps make for good popcorn horror. But when a movie pulls back the curtain on social anxiety or ill, it has the power to disturb. By now most of us have heard somewhere that millennials will be the first generation to fare […]
Read MoreGame of Death: A Rated-R Teen Jumanji Meets Natural Born Killers
No, not that Game of Death. Anyone looking for the classic Bruce Lee martial arts movie will be disappointed. No one’s wearing a yellow tracksuit in this joint American-France-Canadian indie horror outing. This Game of Death actually premiered at the SXSW Film Festival way back in 2017. Where it’s been for the last three years […]
Read MoreEscape Room: Same Title, Definitely Wrong Movie
Like haunted attractions or amusement park ‘dark rides’, the escape room fad was tailor-made for horror movies. Not surprisingly then, a handful of recent horror movies have released in the last few years exploiting the trend. But what were the odds you’d have two similarly-themed horror movies with the exact same title? Of course, odds […]
Read MoreBeneath: Fishy Thriller Not Quite the ‘Catch of the Day’
As the weather warms up, people will inevitably be heading out to enjoy nature. Fortunately, horror is here to remind us that nature is far less impressed with us. Whether it’s eco-horror or just ‘killer animal’ movies in the tradition of Jaws or Burning Bright, nature striking back usually makes for great late-night horror viewing. […]
Read MorePitchfork: A Better-Than-Expected Rural Slasher Flick
Sometimes simple is better. After roughly four decades of slasher movies, there’s probably not much else that can be done with the subgenre. But sometimes there’s nothing wrong with just a straightforward ‘stalk and slash’ movie. Case in point, the 2017 limited release, Pitchfork. With a generic horror movie title and some equally run-of-the-mill promotional […]
Read MoreI Trapped the Devil: A Devilish Christmas Horror Movie
The Devil has proven to be a reliable go-to villain for horror movies. From the Satanic panic movies of the 1970’s to demonic possession flicks, Satan – whether as a physical entity or a psychological mechanism – is tried and true horror narrative. IFC Midnight release – and one of 2019’s better horror movies – […]
Read MoreBliss a Bloody, Hallucinogenic Descent Into Madness
Apparently, art is a cruel profession. Just in 2019 alone, Velvet Buzzsaw, The Perfection, and Gasper Noe’s Climax have all set their respective horrors in the world of art. Now writer and director Joe Begos’ indie horror movie, Bliss, promises a drug-fueled orgy of blood and sex as a painter descends into madness. To date, […]
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