No One Gets Out Alive is the kind of horror film that looks at your expectations—cheap jump scares, dumb decision-making, cardboard characters—and politely smashes them with an obsidian blade. Santiago Menghini’s directorial debut takes Adam Nevill’s novel and turns it into a grim, sweaty nightmare about immigration, exploitation, and a moth goddess with very strong … Read More “A Horror Movie That Actually Gets the “Horror” Part Right” »
Nenjam Marappathillai is the rare horror film that looks at the standard “innocent girl, evil rich man, haunted mansion” template and decides that subtlety is overrated and insanity is a virtue. Directed by Selvaraghavan, it’s a movie that feels like a fever dream sponsored by divine retribution. After years of delay, lawsuits, taxes, and probably … Read More “A Holy Ghost of a Revenge Story” »
Miracle Valley is a 2021 American horror film written, directed, produced by, and bravely inflicted upon the world by Greg Sestero. After surviving The Room and turning that catastrophe into an actual career, Sestero apparently looked at the Arizona desert and thought, “What if I made a movie that feels like heatstroke, only less coherent?” … Read More “Welcome to the Desert of Diminished Expectations” »
Ruth Platt’s Martyrs Lane is the kind of ghost story that sneaks up on you quietly, like a child in white standing at your bedside at 3 a.m. asking if you “want to play.” Only this time, she’s less interested in jump scares and more into excavating your unresolved trauma. It’s a slow-burn British gothic … Read More “A Ghost Story with Actual Feelings? How Dare You, Martyrs Lane” »
If you’ve ever walked into a nursing home and thought, “This place feels a little cursed,” The Manor politely leans in and replies: “Oh honey, you have no idea.” Axelle Carolyn’s gothic supernatural chiller is one of those sneaky horror movies that starts like a Lifetime drama about aging and ends with you yelling, “Wait…did … Read More “The Manor (2021) – Retirement home, but make it demonic” »
There are haunted house movies, and then there are haunted systems movies. Madres is very much the latter: the ghosts may rattle the cabinets and bleed down the walls, but the real horror here is paperwork, power, and people in white coats who smile too much and listen too little. Set in 1970s rural California, … Read More “Madres (2021) Pregnancy, patriarchy, and medical malpractice.” »
If you’ve ever looked at a peaceful mountain cabin and thought, That place definitely has demons, Luzifer is here to validate your instincts in the loudest, most unsettling way possible. Peter Brunner’s film is a strange, feral little miracle: part arthouse drama, part supernatural horror, part “what if Jesus moved into a Red Bull commercial … Read More “Luzifer” »
If you’ve ever stared at a malfunctioning office elevator at 11:30 p.m. and thought, If this thing drops, at least I won’t have to finish this report, Lift is your movie, your therapy, and your HR complaint form all rolled into one. Vineeth Varaprasad’s directorial debut is a slick, compact horror-thriller that traps two overworked … Read More “Lift (2021) – When corporate life literally kills you” »
There are religious horror movies that warn you about the dangers of sin, and then there’s The Last Thing Mary Saw, which mostly warns you about the dangers of living with your family. Set in 1843 in Southold, New York, the film traps you inside a rigid Calvinist household where joy is basically contraband and … Read More “The Last Thing Mary Saw (2021) – Piety, patriarchy, and witchy lesbians” »
There are “back to nature” movies, and then there’s In the Earth, which strongly suggests that nature has seen what we’ve done, taken notes, and would like to return the favor through noise, spores, and a light show that feels like being drop-kicked into a screensaver from hell. Ben Wheatley’s pandemic-shot psychedelic folk horror is … Read More “In the Earth (2021) Pandemic folk horror, mushrooms, and a forest that absolutely wants a word” »