Magnet has released new red band and green band trailers for the upcoming 4: Apocalypse, which marks the fourth and final entry in the popular zombie series. The film is directed by Jaume Balaguero, and stars Manuela Velasco, Paco Manzanedo, Hector
2
The Pyramid is a monument to stupidity. Ominous opening text tells us a documentary crew went to Cairo in 2013 to film a team of archaeologists and, “this is what happened to them.” But what starts as strictly found footage hokum with the establishing of a cameraman, wearable head cams, and a robotic rover, shifts to unaccounted-for sources, including jarring God’s eye view shots. As horror movie approaches go, positing as found footage only to ditch the style for more conventional chills is unadvisable and undermines any urgency that had been established. The Pyramid never justifies its tactics and, worse, each method employed is handled horribly.
3
Late Phases shows its cards early, establishing a sketch of a main character and the monster he’s pitted against. The setup shows promise with a no-nonsense, bloodthirsty, practical effects werewolf stalking a retirement community, but instead of using the unique setting for metaphor and/or mayhem, the film grinds in its transitions between tame terror and flaccid drama. The man-in-suit is amusing for all the wrong reasons, while the dime-store theater is stretched well beyond its depths. It all makes for an experience that taxes one’s patience instead of their nerves. There’s little that elicits a reaction other than boredom, save a few unintentionally laughable dialogue selections and perplexing story choices.
7.5
Historically, horror comedies have always been something of a mixed bag. It’s a tough endeavor to juggle the scary bits with the humorous bits, and while some have completely nailed it, others have crashed and burned. Fortunately, Gerard Johnstone’s Housebound falls into the former category, delivering a spooky, inventive horror film that doesn’t sacrifice story for ham-fisted comedy.
7.5
Some people are willing to do anything for fame. Sleep with a producer, humiliate themselves on a reality show, or even sell their body to a creepy satan cult. In directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer’s Starry Eyes, they explore that last one in great detail. This is slow burn horror at it’s best- slowly revealing itself to the audience before exploding into a torrent of carnage and mayhem. Featuring scenes of excessive creepiness and sparse bits of extreme violence, this is the perfect example of how horror movies used to be.
4.5
These days it seems like Jason Blum and his production company, Blumhouse Productions, are continuously churning out quality, low-budget horror, with hits like Insidious, Sinister, The Purge, and Paranormal Activity under its belt. With such a large slate of successes, it’s easy to become interested in anything that may have the Blumhouse moniker, so I was naturally hopeful for its newest release, Jessabelle. What’s more, this supernatural horror film stars Sarah Snook and Mark Webber, both of whom I like quite a bit, and it’s written by Reno 911! co-creator Robert Ben Garant. Sadly, despite the talent involved, Jessabelle doesn’t manage to be anything more than the next forgettable haunted house flick.
The Blumhouse-produced horror film Lazarus has been picked up for distribution in the U.S. by Relativity Studios. The film stars Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass, Evan Peters, and Donald Glover, and revolves around a group of medical students who discover a way to bring
This week’s Kickstart Sunday pick is the short film Squib from director Sydney Clara Brafman. This dark comedy revolves around two filmmakers running low on cash while trying to complete their slasher film, so they decide to cut some corners that may cause
Slashers and zombies and ghosts oh my, if you’re looking for a spooky movie to watch this Halloween but aren’t sure what to pick, here’s a list of ten gems you can watch right now on Netflix instant. Each title links
A new trailer for the upcoming horror/thriller Starry Eyes has been released, which revolves around a young actress in Hollywood who is willing to do anything for a big break, however nothing can prepare her for the horrors she unwittingly signs up
Touting itself as the first Iranian vampire Western, VICE Films has released a new trailer for the festival hit A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, which looks equal parts beautiful and unnerving. Written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, this black and
3
There are plenty of frightening things knocking about the local Wal-Mart, but Hasbro’s Ouija board – in the toys and games aisle right between Scrabble and Boggle – isn’t one of them. The mass-produced novelty made of common cardboard and plastic is not a vessel for contacting the spirit world but makes for a satisfactory piece of spooky entertainment for tween slumber parties. That’s clearly the target demographic for Ouija, a smorgasbord of homogenized horror that relies on jump scares and a rote haunted house story to supply the shocks. Predictably, the results are more tiring than terrifying.
The first teaser trailer for Leigh Whannell‘s Insidious Chapter 3 has been released, which acts as a prequel to the original two Insidious films. The film follows the team of paranormal investigators from the the first two as they attempt to help rid
The first trailer for The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, the sequel to 2012’s The Woman in Black, has been released, which takes place 40 years after the events of the first film. The film takes place during WWII, with Phoebe Fox
Deadline reports that Warner Bros. and New Line have decided to push back the release of The Conjuring 2 from October 23, 2015 to sometime in 2016. With the huge success of the first Conjuring along with the decent sales of
As someone who has grown to despise the found footage sub-genre over the last few years, it pleases me to no end to see a director deconstructing the tropes and making a film that satirizes everything about this tired style of horror
