The Horror-Comedy That’s All Rum and No Coke There’s a special place in cinematic purgatory reserved for movies that try to be scary, funny, and thrilling all at once—then end up being none of the above. Rum, Sai Bharath’s 2017 Tamil-language horror comedy thriller (yes, all four genres crammed into one), is one such film. … Read More “Rum (2017): Spirits, Stones, and Spectacularly Stupid Decisions” »
Boys Trip Gone to Hell (Literally and Emotionally) If you’ve ever been on a group vacation that went horribly wrong—where the wrong turn wasn’t just geographical but moral—then The Ritual is your nightmare made cinematic. Directed by David Bruckner and based on Adam Nevill’s novel, this 2017 British folk horror film takes the classic “lads … Read More “The Ritual (2017): A Hike Through Existential Terror and Poor Life Choices” »
Remember to Forget The Recall If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if The X-Files had a low-budget cousin who got kicked out of film school, The Recall has your answer. Directed by Mauro Borrelli, this 2017 sci-fi “horror” film stars Wesley Snipes as a space cowboy with trust issues, R.J. Mitte as a vacationing … Read More “The Recall (2017): When Aliens Attack… and You Kind of Wish They’d Succeed” »
Welcome to the Haunted Resort—No Cell Phones, No Shame If you thought the afterlife was all wailing spirits and flickering lights, Raju Gari Gadhi 2 politely disagrees—it’s more like a TED Talk with a ghost, a therapy session led by a mentalist, and a public service announcement on internet privacy, all served with extra masala … Read More “Raju Gari Gadhi 2 (2017): Where Ghosts Have Morals and Nagarjuna Has Swagger” »
When Puppets Attack (Your Patience) Let’s get one thing straight: I love bad movies. I love them the way some people love burnt popcorn—ironically, nostalgically, with a pinch of self-loathing. But Puppet Master: Axis Termination? This is beyond “so bad it’s good.” This is “so bad it’s government torture under the Geneva Convention.” Directed (and … Read More “Puppet Master: Axis Termination (2017): Strings Attached, Sanity Optional” »
Shark Weak Let’s be honest: by the time a horror franchise hits its third installment, it’s usually floundering. But Open Water 3: Cage Dive doesn’t just flounder—it belly-flops off the diving board, smacks every rung of the shark cage on the way down, and sinks like a GoPro tied to a brick. Directed, written, edited, … Read More “Open Water 3: Cage Dive (2017): Found Footage, Lost Talent” »
A Ghost Story That Bites the Dust—and the Cuticles There are horror movies that chill you to the bone, and then there’s Nails, a movie that mostly just makes you want to change hospitals. Directed by Dennis Bartok, this 2017 Anglo-Irish “supernatural thriller” tries to combine the claustrophobic dread of The Others with the hospital … Read More “Nails (2017): File This Under “Manicure of Madness”” »
Red Dawn, 1814 Edition Ted Geoghegan’s Mohawk isn’t your grandfather’s war movie—unless your grandfather was a blood-soaked fever dream directed by Werner Herzog and scored by a thunderstorm. It’s an angry, artful, and surprisingly funny horror-action hybrid set during the War of 1812, when everyone was stabbing each other for flags no one remembers anymore. … Read More “Mohawk (2017): War Paint, Wounds, and Weird Glory” »
#RelationshipStatus: It’s Complicated (and Possibly Lethal) In a world where influencers are the new demigods, Like. Share. Follow. asks the important question: what if one of your followers decided to follow you… everywhere? Glenn Gers’ 2017 psychological horror movie turns the nightmare of social media obsession into a modern-day cautionary tale that’s equal parts eerie, … Read More “Like. Share. Follow. (2017): Love at First Click, Murder at Second” »
A Boy and His Chainsaw Every legend needs an origin story, and every origin story apparently needs a chainsaw. Leatherface (2017), directed by French gore artists Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, dares to do what few prequels attempt: make you feel sorry for a man who one day will wear someone’s face like a birthday … Read More “Leatherface (2017): A Love Letter Written in Chainsaw Oil and Bad Decisions” »