Category: Reviews
The Ugly Stepsister
A superb addition to the blossoming canon of body horror focussed on the beauty industry’s inflictions on the female body.
Mom
When horror breaks rank and explores the raw realities of postnatal depression, we’re witnesses to something even more terrifying.
Birdeater
Brooding cinematography, jarring audio and an oddball cast build a sense of tension and paranoia that looms like a black cloud.
The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond
Like the very best gothics, this story keeps you reading fervently to the very end, with plot twists to keep you up late into the night.
The Watkins Book of Urban Legends
Engaging and insightful, rekindling the joyousness in the contemplation of the “it’s true, I swear!” secondhand stories we all tell.
Last Straw
The viewer gutting it out to the bitter end will be treated to some unexpected flourishes that are arguably worth the wait.
Inherit the Witch
For a few rare moments it all comes together for something approaching chilling, but the finished results are lacking.
The Vourdalak
A beguiling film that rewards patience, The Vourdalak looks like nothing else that’s graced our screens for years.
The Baykok
Frightful Folklore of North America: Illustrated Folk Horror from Greenland to the Panama Canal is available from Watkins Publishing.
The Beast Within
Stunning cinematography, strong performances and a palpable sense of isolation make for powerful viewing.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Faith in its characters and directorial vision, rather than gore and gimmicks, elevate this picture into a fable about morality.
The Coffee Table
The simplicity of its narrative arc is its biggest strength, allowing the script’s jet-black humour to work its absurd wizardry.
Lovely, Dark, and Deep
Consummately juxtaposes the staggering beauty of its locations with their immense (and somehow suffocating) vastness.
Lord of Misrule
William Brent Bell's irreverent world throws the viewer into what feels like something between a fever dream and a nightmare.
Herd
Herd implores us to ask the most important question at the heart of every great zombie fable: who are the real monsters?
Ghosts, Monsters and Demons of India
This trek through the dark corners of India’s cultural imagination gives a layered, textured view of the supernatural world.
Hunt Club
Hunt Club is an erratic, nebulous mess, but in many ways it perfectly mirrors and satirises the absurdity of toxic masculine ideals.
Swallowed
A more delicate expression of the body horror subgenre that is closer to reality and, arguably, more tragic and disturbing.
V/H/S/99
A gritty, bitty car crash into memory lane that impressively stitches its eclecticism together like a grotesque mixtape.
Lunacy
As a carefully cultivated horror story that resonates in the fear-laden recesses of modern life, Lunacy is a book to savour.
Bitch Ass
Some memorable performances, but ultimately fails to make us squeal or laugh. Go in with low expectations to enjoy the ride.
Most Horrible Things
Fails to find the level of wit necessary, yet in spite of so much, Most Horrible Things is compelling, exciting and surprising.
Vampire Cinema: The First One Hundred Years
A charming visual guide offers the convincing case that the vampire genre tells us more about who we are than we may think.
The Deep House
A suffocating rollercoaster that breathes new life into an enervated subgenre, trapping us into a nightmare that refuses to let go.
Hounded
Throwing subtlety aside, Hounded is a straight-up lampoon of the kind of snooty toffs that believe the world is their birthright.
Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences
With sleek production and sheer enthusiasm peppered throughout, this is an excellent companion to King’s own words on his craft.
The Watkins Book of English Folktales
This reissue, one of the most comprehensive on English folklore ever published, is a gift to the whole world, not just England.
The Retaliators
Objectively superficial and messy, but that doesn’t mean it fails to entertain; The Retaliators is arguably brainless genius.
The Witch
Commitment to authenticity creates a genuinely foreboding, oppressive climate that engulfs The Witch and its characters.
She Will
Haunting cinematography and subtle, constant terror are a perfect reflection of the patriarchy’s oppression of women.
Sick & Beautiful
A surreal psychodrama charged with urban decay and all the hopeless decadence a 21st Century audience could ever want.
Lingering
A psychological depth that pushes the meaning of ‘haunting’, urging readers to question the origins and nature of evil.
Friend of the World
Packed with big ideas that outshine its minimal budget, this Troma is daring, interesting and resolutely not for everyone.
The Righteous
A reluctance to spiral into the supernatural or grotesque prevents The Righteous from landing its message with conviction.
The Prey: Legend of Karnoctus
For fans of action with a twist of gore and a knowing wink, the laugh-out-loud Prey has a genuine sense of fun at its heart.
Night Caller
Both authentic and reverent of the genre’s greatest hits, Night Caller is as gleefully distasteful as the films that inspired it.
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
A delirious trip into the culture of the terminally online, with a sense of unease that's repellent and deeply relatable.
England On Fire
A enchanted wonderland to change the way you see England, not for showing anything new, but what has been there all along.
The Sacred Spirit
Interesting and intense directorial choices find the sweet spot where absurdity, anxiety and satisfaction coexist in harmony.
Father of Flies
Unreliable characters in an ethereal setting drive this powerful parable on disintegrating families and stolen childhood.
Agnes
Peppered with deadpan comedy, Agnes is a film of two halves that examines faith, loss, and what it truly means to be possessed.
The Exorcism of God
Creepy set pieces compound sequences that build to crescendo and do not relent, while quiet moments offer little solace.
Kissing the Lizard
Justin David tells a touchingly twisted tale, a story with a spinning compass that won’t let you figure out where home is.
The Beta Test
A cautionary tale for the post-Weinstein generation that lampoons the futility of Hollywood’s facile approach to money-grubbing in all of its glory.
Amulet
With an allegory that seethes on its underbelly, Amulet is a disturbing and enigmatic picture that reflects a strikingly bleak view.
Soaking in Strange Hours
Teeming with macabre delights, Erik Hofstatter’s story is one that you don’t so much read as ravish.
Prisoners of the Ghostland
The world Sono builds is engrossing and overwhelming, but the narrative never appears to shift out of first gear.
Jakob’s Wife
Hallmarks of the vampire genre coupled with a small-town America backdrop challenge patriarchal institutions.
My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To
Incredible performances drive an emotional weight that oozes a transcendent power guaranteed to haunt you.
Initiation
Despite some shortcomings, Initiation, particularly in the wake of #MeToo, should be applauded for tackling these issues with gravity.