The Moon is Full, the Patience is Not Late Phases is the kind of movie that makes you realize horror doesn’t always need a monster—sometimes, the real terror is watching a good idea die slowly over 90 minutes. Directed by Adrián García Bogliano, this werewolf drama thinks it’s delivering deep emotional commentary about aging, isolation, … Read More “Late Phases (2014): The Wolf of Retirement Lane” »
Welcome to the Station from Hell Some horror movies creep up on you. Others break into your psyche like a meth-addled raccoon at 3 a.m. Last Shift, directed by Anthony DiBlasi, firmly belongs in the latter category. It’s lean, mean, and terrifyingly effective—a claustrophobic descent into madness that somehow manages to be both a love … Read More “Last Shift (2014): A Graveyard Shift to Die For” »
Thanksgiving Leftovers, Served Bloody If you’ve ever spent Thanksgiving alone and thought, “You know what would really spice up this cranberry sauce? A murderous cult,” then Kristy is the holiday film for you. Directed by Oliver Blackburn and written by Anthony Jaswinski, this 2014 horror thriller is what happens when Home Alone goes to college … Read More “Kristy (2014): The Little Lifetime Slasher That Could” »
The Curse of Mediocrity There are horror movies that scare you, horror movies that make you think, and then there’s Jessabelle—a movie that makes you wonder if your streaming service accidentally played the wrong file. Directed by Kevin Greutert (of Saw VIfame) and written by Ben Garant (of Reno 911! fame—yes, really), Jessabelle is the … Read More “Jessabelle (2014): The Bayou Boogaloo of Bad Decisions” »
The Slowest, Scariest Thing You’ll Ever See Coming There are horror movies that make you jump, horror movies that make you scream, and then there’s It Follows—the horror movie that makes you look nervously over your shoulder every ten seconds for the rest of your life. Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, this 2014 … Read More “It Follows (2014): A Walk of Shame from Hell” »
Welcome to Paradise (Population: Lunch) Ah, Panama. Land of lush jungles, tropical cocktails, and… the Chupacabra. In Indigenous (2014), director Alastair Orr takes that classic horror setup—young, attractive tourists + exotic location + local monster legend—and spins it into something surprisingly entertaining, occasionally clever, and gleefully ridiculous. It’s a film that delivers what it promises: … Read More “Indigenous (2014): Blood, Beasts, and Bad Vacation Choices” »
Trick or Treat? Try Terror and Trauma If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if The Blair Witch Project and Jackass had a Halloween baby—one raised on Red Bull, night vision, and questionable life choices—look no further than The Houses October Built. Bobby Roe’s 2014 found-footage horror gem turns a road trip through America’s haunted … Read More “The Houses October Built (2014): A Haunted Road Trip Straight Into the Heart of Fear (and Fun)” »
Check-In Time: Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here If Dante had been Pakistani and alive in 2014, he would’ve added an extra circle to Hell just for Hotal (alternatively spelled Hotel, presumably because even the film couldn’t commit to itself). Written and directed by Khalid Hasan Khan, this psychological thriller—or as I like to … Read More “Hotal (2014): A Five-Star Stay in the Basement of Cinema” »
The Horror of Watching Paint Dry — Now With Ghosts If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if The Blair Witch Project and Ghost Hunters had an unwanted child raised on energy drinks and bad improv, the answer is Hollows Grove (2014). Directed by Craig Efros in his feature debut, this found-footage horror film manages … Read More “Hollows Grove (2014): Found Footage Found Nothing” »
Digging Graves and Raising Hell Every now and then, a film comes along that reminds you why genre cinema exists—to blend the profound with the absurd, to make the macabre look gorgeous, and to convince you that a trip to Hell might actually be worth the ticket price. John Geddes’ Hellmouth (2014) does exactly that. … Read More “Hellmouth (2014): A Graveyard Shift Straight to the Afterlife” »