Leave and Its Black Metal Satanic Premise May Not Leave Audiences Chilled

Another new release on Shudder and another horror movie delving into family relationships and secrets. Following on the heels of the quietly excellent Attachment, Norwegian horror movie Leave teases a mix of a supernatural Satanic thriller grounded in the country’s infamous Black metal scene. If a family with a secret isn’t enough to give you […]

Read More

Mandrake a Quietly Unsettling Folk Horror Release From Shudder

Over the last several years, folk horror has seen a resurgence in popularity. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, British folk horror delivered memorable classics like Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man. More recently, The Witch, Apostle, The Ritual, Men, and Midsommar – to name just a few – have sparked new interest in the […]

Read More

Darkness Falls Less Scary Than a Trip to the Dentist

Amidst a current ‘Golden Era’ of horror, it’s hard to remember that the genre experienced lean times in the 90s and early aughts. Yes, Wes Craven’s Scream sparked a brief neo-slasher trend. And several years later, Saw kicked off the ‘Torture Porn‘ craze while Hollywood raided VHS shelves for remakes. In between these trends, studios […]

Read More

Glorious Offers Fun Cosmic Horror on a Refreshingly Small Scale

Shudder’s latest release, Glorious, comes with quite a bit of fanfare for a smaller horror movie. Starring J.K. Simmons and True Blood alumni Ryan Kwanten, the cast is impressive for a small budgeted movie. And its premise of a supernatural force talking to a doomed man through a bathroom ‘glory hole’ promises something fresh. To […]

Read More

Infrared Forgets to Include a Movie With Its Final Ten Minutes

As July winds its way down into the dog days of summer in August, Infrared joins a handful of new horror releases this week. Of course, Nope is the big story of the week as one of the year’s most anticipated movies. On the other hand, Infrared is an indie found-footage horror movie making its […]

Read More

Incantation – Taiwanese Found-Footage Horror Looks to Cast a Curse on Netflix

Though the found-footage horror subgenre’s peak days passed several years ago, filmmakers still find ways to wring out scares from the mockumentary approach. Thus far in 2022, Netflix hasn’t offered much to horror fans, seemingly deferring to Shudder. And what the struggling streaming platform has delivered – Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Choose or Die, for […]

Read More

On The Third Day Strives for Poignancy, Settles for Middle-of-the-Road

Following on the surprisingly good Virus: 32, Shudder recently began streaming another Argentinean horror export, On Third Day. As its title implies, the thriller’s mysterious story revolves around some religious cult or conspiracy. Aside from its basic premise, which involves a mother’s son who goes missing after a car crash, On The Third Day comes […]

Read More

The Dark Half a Middling 90s Stephen King Adaptation

A handful of Stephen King adaptations from the 1990s are quite good – The Shawshank Redemption and Misery remains classics. Despite its lack of impact, Needful Things is also much better than its reputation suggests. Not surprisingly, there’s a few dreadful cinematic works based on King’s work from the flannel decade. Graveyard Shift, The Lawnmower […]

Read More