Synopsis: A small town in North Carolina is experiencing some strange events. Machines begin to come to life and turn on human beings. A group of trucks come to life and surround a gas station, forcing a small group of survivors to band together. Theatregoers in 1986 may have noticed the trailer for Maximum Overdrive, …Read More

Synopsis: As an undisclosed threat rages outside, a family are faced with a difficult decision when another family begs them for shelter. It Comes at Night is an effortlessly unsettling and atmospheric gem that rivals The Witch as one of the most impressive chillers of the decade. Through its smart combination of suspense-inducing long takes …Read More

Synopsis: Sprightly student Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) travels to the small town of Whitewood, Massachusetts to conduct research for a paper she is writing on witchcraft. Upon arrival, Nan discovers the town residents to be rather old fashioned and that witchcraft may still be practiced by some of Whitewood’s inhabitants. When finally gaining a US …Read More

Synopsis: At the height of WWII, four boys out poaching in the woods make the grim discovery of a human skull in the gnarled branches of a wych elm tree. Thus begins the on-off investigation of a murder which remains a mystery to this day. ‘Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?’ This fascinating 36 …Read More

Synopsis: British detectives Eli Smith (Andonis Anthony) and Rebecca Faraway (Sarah Beck Mather) are assigned to investigate a series of Satanic murders in London but their task takes a turn for the terrifying when Faraway starts suffering bizarre hallucinations, possibly linked to the killings. During the first act of Charismata, writer/ directors Andy Collier and …Read More

Synopsis: Seventeen years after banishing Satan from teenager Nancy Aglet (Linda Blair), Father Jedediah Mayii (Leslie Nielson) must overcome ill health to once again do battle with Lucifer and rescue the repossessed Nancy from his malevolent clutches. In the 43 years since The Exorcist’s release, William Friedkin’s seminal classic has spawned its fair share of …Read More

Elvira’s Haunted Hills, released 13 years after its predecessor, is a parody of a certain type of horror film, a send-up of gothic conventions made famous by the likes of Roger Corman and Vincent Price. As such, the film is littered with references and sight gags – alluding not only to films like House of …Read More

Synopsis: When Detective Ray Beckett’s daughter is kidnapped by a demonic entity, he seeks the help of Taryn Barker; a badass female who has her own demons to face. There is something undeniably cool at the heart of Demon Hunter, where the stylish cinematography and upbeat soundtrack succeeds in presenting a slick and action-packed thrill-ride. …Read More

The 80’s were a great time for comedy horror films, and the decade was responsible for some of the best examples of the sub-genre. Of these, none are more titillating than Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, a film that pokes fun at horror tropes and subverts typical horror conventions. Having risen to fame hosting B-grade …Read More

Synopsis: An American family travel to Africa to visit husband/father, Hank: an animal rights activist who migrated into the wild. Upon arrival, wife/mother Madeleine and the three children get trapped in Hack’s dilapidated shack and targeted by a pride of carnivorous cats. Writer/director and star Noel Marshall’s directorial debut infamously featured African tigers, lions, cougars …Read More

Synopsis: A trio of nuns decide to take matters into their own hands when they discover that their priest has been engaging in some sickening and decidedly ungodly behaviour. In a review elsewhere for Izzy Lee’s previous short sharp shock, FOR A GOOD TIME CALL… (2016), I opined how it would be a fine thing …Read More

All the Colours of the Dark – released in 1972 – is a suitably psychedelic giallo film, complete with illusory, soft-focus camerawork; nightmarish dream sequences and a soundtrack inspired by ancient Tibetan mysticism. Best known for starring the beautiful Edwige Fenech, the film blends together a variety of psychoanalytic approaches and theoretical insights, posing questions …Read More

Writer/director Tommy Stovall offers up more drama than horror in his new independent film Aaron’s Blood, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but what works against the offering is the lack of originality and its attempts at putting new wrinkles into vampire lore by simply having a character state that some long-held ideas about vampires …Read More

Synopsis: Newlyweds George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin and Margot Kidder) purchase a cut-price house on the south shore of Long Island. After moving in with their children, the family soon find themselves haunted and under attack from malevolent spirits which want to kill and possess them. While UK horror fans wait with baited breath …Read More

Inferno – the second instalment of Dario Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy – was released to modest acclaim three years after 1977’s Suspiria. Compared to its predecessor, the film was considered to be something of a failure, deemed a much more predictable and unexciting piece of work by reviewers at the time. Although this isn’t entirely …Read More

Synopsis: A couple stumble into a room cluttered with scientific equipment and find a camera. On the tape, a scientist and his assistant attempt to prove his theory that sleep paralysis opens the door to a dimension populated by demons. Meanwhile, three further tales of demons and found footage frights unfold. For the first half …Read More

Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond (L’Aldila) is a strange film, mainly because of its complete refusal to follow any kind of conventional narrative structure. Fans of other Italian filmmakers – such as Bava and Argento – may have come to accept this as an integral part of European horror, but rather than just being circuitous or …Read More

Synopsis: Four years have passed since Regan McNeil was possessed by a demon. A psychiatrist and a priest attempt to gain entry inside her mind, and discover what she remembers. When cameras started rolling in 1977, John Boorman had an arduous task laid out before him. The director was at the helm of a follow …Read More

Umberto Lenzi, best known for Eaten Alive! and Cannibal Ferox, made a wide range of movies throughout his career, directing gialli, spaghetti westerns and European spy films. In the 1970s, Lenzi began to make Poliziotteschi movies, a particular brand of Italian crime films that became popular in the late 1960s. Almost Human (Milano Odia: La …Read More

Synopsis: After surviving an almost fatal accident, Dana (Shauna McDonald) recovers in hospital, but is soon terrorised by an evil presence that lurks in her room. Her fight for survival becomes a race against time as she struggles to convince those around her that her life is on the line. Dana’s accident left her almost …Read More

The found footage phenomenon is a trend that has become increasingly popular in horror movies over the last few years, largely because of the unexpected success of The Blair Witch Project in 1999. This wasn’t the first film to utilise this mode of storytelling (Cannibal Holocaust is a notable example), but The Blair Witch Project …Read More

Australian writer/director Nicholas Verso blends a coming of age story with dark fantasy and an homage to 1990s teen horror films in his debut feature Boys in the Trees. Though the film is never scary enough to be considered an outright horror movie and though the dialogue is sometimes a bit heavy handed, the film …Read More

Though touted as a dark horror comedy, I found Two Pigeons neither funny nor scary. It is instead an overly long, repetitive trudge that relies on gross-out gags to try and tell its tale of revenge. Dominic Bridges directs a joyless affair that takes a decent idea but goes nowhere with it. Hussein (Mim Shaikh) …Read More

Argentinian horror anthology Terror 5 is an interesting exercise in sociopolitical horror, but viewers (including yours truly) not up to speed on the country’s political climate and history may find that the anthology doesn’t offer many other new ideas. Said to be based on urban legends from that country, the movie does present a unique …Read More

Synopsis: In Francesca, two detectives must try to solve a 15-year old case of a missing girl to help catch a serial killer. The current killer is targeting people they think to be impure, believing that they are murdering people who deserve it. Francesca is an excellent homage to giallo films from the ’60s and …Read More

S&M: LES SADIQUES is über-talented indie filmmaker Alex Bakshaev’s follow-up to his 2015 offering THE DEVIL OF KREUZBERG. Where in that movie there were stylistic hints to his devotion to legendary Spanish trash-auteur Jess Franco, this latest opus could be said to be an out-and-out love letter, a case strengthened by the fact that it’s …Read More

As a sub-genre, body horror has often been used to explore adolescent anxieties about puberty, examining newly-awakened fears and desires that emerge as a person’s body begins to change. With this comes a terror of deformity and otherness, a loss of what was once familiar, as well as a certain apprehension associated with a person’s …Read More

Synopsis: When troubled teen Milo, who has a fascination with vampire lore, meets the equally alienated Sophie, the two form a bond that begins to blur Milo’s fantasy into reality. Once every blue moon, a first-timer’s feature is accepted at Cannes Film Festival. It’s actually probably one hell of a lot less often than that, …Read More

Synopsis: A father leaves his three children in the care of a relative while he goes away on business. When the youngest receives a hunting knife in the mail, she attempts to take it from him. As the two of them struggle, she’s accidentally stabbed and dies. The children go into a panic, and decide …Read More