Poché Pictures

If Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was a Gothic tragedy about man playing God, then Bernard Rose’s 2015 Frankenstein is the fever dream of a god who watched too many TED Talks about “disruptive innovation.” It’s smart, sad, violent, beautiful, and bleakly hilarious—all the things you’d expect when a self-aware corpse gets dumped into modern Los Angeles. … Read More ““Frankenstein” (2015): Bernard Rose’s Electric Ode to the Modern Monster—Now with Wi-Fi and Existential Dread” »

There are bad horror movies, and then there are found footage horror movies so inept they make you nostalgic for the days when “Blair Witch” just meant shaky cam and snot bubbles. The Final Project (2015) manages to take the already threadbare corpse of the found footage genre and drag it behind a pickup truck … Read More “The Final Project (2015): A Found Footage Failure So Bad It Should Have Stayed Lost” »

If there’s one thing the devil loves, it’s sequels. Apparently, he’s not content with possessing children, priests, or your Wi-Fi signal — now he’s after continuity rights. The Exorcism of Molly Hartley (2015) is the cinematic equivalent of finding out that the demon from The Exorcist went to community college and majored in disappointment. Directed … Read More “The Exorcism of Molly Hartley (2015): When the Devil Needs a Sequel Nobody Asked For” »

Every parent’s worst nightmare is hiring the wrong babysitter. Maybe she forgets bedtime. Maybe she burns the popcorn. Maybe she, you know, feeds the family hamster to a python and screens your homemade sex tape for your kids. Welcome to Emelie — the 2015 babysitter-from-hell thriller directed by Michael Thelin. It’s like Mary Poppins if … Read More “Emelie (2015): When Your Babysitter’s Resume Includes “Child Abduction and Light Cannibal Energy”” »

If you’ve ever stared at a blank canvas, heard a whisper that might’ve been the Devil, and thought, “You know, maybe I should paint about this,” The Devil’s Candy is your new favorite movie. Written and directed by Sean Byrne (The Loved Ones), this 2017 horror film is equal parts family drama, satanic panic, and … Read More “The Devil’s Candy (2017): A Heavy Metal Masterpiece Dipped in Blood and Parental Anxiety” »

Some horror movies sneak up on you. Others crawl under your skin and haunt you for weeks. Demonic (2015) kicks down the door, spills your popcorn, and yells, “Did someone say séance?” before tripping over its own pentagram. Directed by Will Canon and produced by James Wan (the patron saint of haunted real estate), Demonic … Read More “Demonic (2015): Where Ghost Hunting Meets Group Therapy and Everyone Loses” »

If Tenacious D and Evil Dead II had a headbanging, blood-soaked baby that grew up in small-town New Zealand, its name would be Deathgasm. Directed by Jason Lei Howden, this gloriously unhinged 2015 horror-comedy is a love letter to heavy metal, friendship, and the fine art of accidentally summoning demons because you couldn’t think of … Read More “Deathgasm (2015): When Heavy Metal Summons Hell and Somehow Makes It Adorable” »

If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if World War Z, Resident Evil, and a Mountain Dew commercial had a messy, blood-splattered love child — congratulations, you’ve just described Dead Rising: Watchtower. Directed by Zach Lipovsky (a man who clearly took “let’s make it fun” a bit too literally), this 2015 digital apocalypse … Read More “Dead Rising: Watchtower (2015): The Best Zombie Movie to Stream at 3AM When You’ve Given Up on Sleep and Sanity” »

If you’ve ever wondered what Dexter would look like if it were directed by an Instagram influencer with a ring light fetish and no sense of pacing, look no further than Final Girl. Directed by Tyler Shields — yes, the fashion photographer known more for shooting famous people holding fake severed heads than for directing … Read More ““Final Girl” (2015): A Revenge Fantasy That Forgot to Be Fun” »

If the apocalypse had an aesthetic director, Extinction would be their masterpiece. Directed by Miguel Ángel Vivas, this 2015 post-apocalyptic horror drama takes the zombie genre — usually sweaty, chaotic, and loud — and douses it in freezing silence and emotional frostbite. It’s the kind of movie where the undead are terrifying, yes, but not … Read More ““Extinction” (2015): When the World Ends, All That’s Left Is Snow, Zombies, and Matthew Fox’s Beard” »