Children are fodder for some of the best horror cinema ever made. The genre thrives on making the ordinary unfamiliar, after all, and what could be more normal than your own children? They are expressed as innocent and vulnerable across … Continue reading REVIEW: The Innocents (2021)
M. Night Shyamalan’s most recent feature finds him doing precisely what he does best. Old is a tightly wound thriller based on a simple concept, which Shyamalan then manipulates and explores to tremendous effect. While not quite as impressive as the early … Continue reading REVIEW: Old (2021)
Writer/director Edgar Wright highlights the dangers of nostalgia in this tightly-made and somewhat slippery thriller, one that represents a significant shift in his directorial aesthetic. One could quibble over the film’s treatment of mental illness and sex work in a … Continue reading REVIEW: Last Night in Soho (2021)
When Japanese horror cinema broke internationally from the late 1990s, it was largely through the work of three directors: Hideo Nakata via the iconic Ring (1998), Kiyoshi Kurosawa with the films Cure (1997) and Pulse (2001), and Takashi Shimizu with The Grudge (2002). While Nakata and … Continue reading REVIEW: Suicide Forest Village (2021)
I have mentioned several times in the past my preference to judge films based on two key questions: ‘What is the filmmaker trying to do?’, and ‘Do they achieve that goal?’. I think this approach is particularly key when it … Continue reading REVIEW: Automaton Transfusion (2006)
I am a sucker for creature features: throw a hideous bloodthirsty monster into a narrative and it’s likely that on one level or another I am going to find entertainment value. Add in some quality production values, a half-decent script, … Continue reading REVIEW: Antlers (2021)
Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 film Possession has a notorious reputation and history. It is a French/West German co-production, shot in Berlin, performed in English, and follows the collapse of a marriage between a spy (Sam Neill) and his wife (Isabelle Adjani). It is … Continue reading REVIEW: Possession (1981)
Hollywood’s penchant for recycling horror movie franchises hits a fresh height with Candyman (2021), Nia DaCosta’s timely, relevant, and whip-smart revival of the 1992 Bernard Rose original. That older film adapted a Clive Barker short story into an effective blend of scares … Continue reading REVIEW: Candyman (2021)
Ring, the original novel by Koji Suzuki, works from a killer premise. It focuses on a haunted videotape: if you watch it, you receive a mysterious phone call. Once you have answered that call, you have seven days left to … Continue reading REVIEW: Rings (2017)
During a widespread viral pandemic, a scientist and a park guide head into the forest in a search for a missing colleague. By the time they reach the site of her experiments it becomes clear that they are not alone … Continue reading REVIEW: In the Earth (2021)
FictionMachine 