Welcome to Finland’s Least Popular Tourist Destination If you’ve ever thought, “Hey, I wish Friday the 13th were slower, sadder, and somehow colder,” then The Island of Doommight be your cinematic spirit animal. Finnish filmmaker Keke Soikkeli’s 2023 slasher is a bold attempt to resurrect the backwoods horror genre in a land better known for … Read More “The Island of Doom (2023): A Vacation So Bad You’ll Pray for the Killer to End It” »
The Blair Witch Goes on Tour — and She’s Into Black Metal Now If you ever wished The Blair Witch Project had better hair, more eyeliner, and a Chilean accent that could summon Satan, Invoking Yell might be your dark little prayer answered. Patricio Valladares’ found-footage head-trip about three women recording a black metal demo … Read More “Invoking Yell (2023): A Found-Footage Black Metal Fairytale About Friendship, Feedback, and Feral Spirits” »
Once Upon a War, There Was a Fairy With a Snack Problem There’s a fine line between folk horror and folklore that makes you wish for an early death, and Kenneth Dagatan’s In My Mother’s Skin pirouettes over that line in combat boots. Set in World War II Philippines, this Amazon-acquired fever dream promises gothic … Read More “In My Mother’s Skin (2023): The Fairy, the Flesh, and the Film That Eats Itself” »
here are two kinds of Godzilla movies: “Big lizard punches other big thing while humans yell exposition.” “Big lizard is a walking metaphor for humanity’s sins and everyone cries.” Godzilla Minus One looks at both categories and says, “Why not devastate your soul and your infrastructure?” Set in postwar Japan, this isn’t just “Godzilla attacks … Read More “Godzilla Minus One (2023) – A kaiju movie that spends as much time stomping on your feelings as it does on cities, somehow turns a $10–15 million budget into “why does this look better than half of Hollywood,” and makes survivor’s guilt the scariest thing on screen… until the lizard shows up.” »
If you’ve ever watched a traditional exorcism movie and thought, “Okay but what if we ditched the pea soup and Latin and focused on how horrifying this would be in real life?”, Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism is exactly that nightmare. This isn’t a “cool demon voice, bro” movie. This is “oh, humans are the real … Read More “Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism (2023) – A brutal, grounded exorcism horror where the real demon is weaponized faith, groupthink, and one man with way too much confidence and zero medical training.” »
If you’ve ever wondered, “What if Train to Busan, #Alive, and a COVID meme thread were melted together in a microwave and shot entirely inside a mediocre office building?” then congratulations, Gangnam Zombie exists specifically to answer that question. Badly. This movie has everything: A COVID-adjacent zombie virus from China A cursed cat in a … Read More “Gangnam Zombie (2023) – A discount Train to Busan that got off at the wrong stop, slipped on a K-pop ad, and woke up as a YouTube skit that accidentally became a feature film.” »
When Motherhood Meets the Necronomicon Some horror franchises fade quietly into the night. Evil Dead kicks down the door, vomits blood on your carpet, and hands you a chainsaw. Evil Dead Rise, written and directed by Lee Cronin, is the gleefully grotesque resurrection of Sam Raimi’s twisted legacy—a film that trades the woods for a … Read More “Evil Dead Rise (2023): A Bloody, Brilliant, and Beautifully Deranged Family Reunion” »
A Toast to Hell and Homeownership There’s something beautiful about a horror film that starts with good intentions and ends with a bloodbath. The Devil’s Left Hand, Harley Wallen’s re-edited and re-released version of his earlier Agramon’s Gate, proves that the devil really is in the details—and sometimes, in your living room. It’s a chaotic, … Read More “The Devil’s Left Hand (2023): When the Past, Demons, and a Housewarming Party All Go Horribly Right” »
The Movie That Promised Sharks on Cocaine but Delivered None of the Above Every now and then, cinema blesses us with a film so bad it becomes a spiritual experience. Cocaine Shark is not one of those films. It skips the so-bad-it’s-good sweet spot and dives face-first into the so-bad-it’s-existential category. This is a movie … Read More “Cocaine Shark (2023): Proof That Titles Can Be Lies, Crimes, and Cruel Jokes” »
The War Is Over, but the Dialogue Marches On Ah, Brooklyn 45. A film that bravely asks the question: What if ghosts weren’t the scariest part of a horror movie—what if it was the pacing? Directed and written by Ted Geoghegan, this supernatural “thriller” takes place in real time, which apparently means “a very long … Read More “Brooklyn 45 (2023): A Séance So Boring the Dead Would Rather Stay Dead” »