I’ve never reviewed a Poe adaptation, so The Oval Portrait seemed like a good fit for a quiet Sunday afternoon. I’ll be honest, I think it’s challenging to do modern gothic horror correctly. Many of the stylistic elements, the crumbling moody houses and castles, and the oppressive gloomy, isolated environments are made challenging by the intrusion of…

In The Mouth of Madness may be one of John Carpenter’s more overlooked movies. It’s a Lovecraftian-inspired story about the blending of fiction and reality. Carpenter made three movies focusing on the end of the world: The Thing, Prince of Darkness, and ending with In the Mouth of Madness. They’re not connected narratively, but each deal with our lack of understanding…

There was no need to remake Anaconda. There was especially no need to remake Anaconda as commentary on fan films and indie filmmaking. I always find it interesting when successful and well-regarded film makers make movies about making movies. Especially when they’re as unkind to the efforts of indie filmmakers as Anaconda (2025) is.  Humor is Subjective Which in some part,…

Flight 7500 is not a movie I should have watched at this particular moment, but since I make good decisions, here goes. Directed by the creator of the Grudge franchise, Takashi Shimizu. It’s a tense, claustrophobic movie full of interesting character moments and creative camera angles that take advantage of the confined space. Just the thing to watch before…

Tumbbad is a bit of an outlier for me. I’m not super familiar with Indian Horror or its genre standards. This one required a bit more research than usual, especially since the movie relies on so much historical and spiritual context.  Tumbbad is a generational period piece that warns about the dangers of capitalism in India.  It starts…

Snake Creek has no budget, but It’s not really supposed to. Styled and executed like a movie from a long-expired era, it’s not the lack of money that bogs down the quality.  It’s also not the cinematography. There are some lovely shots of the river setting and environment. It also has one of my favorite,…

The interesting thing about Kraken is that the trailer had no dialogue. This was either a very good or very bad sign. So, it immediately moved up my “must watch list”.  Kraken is a Norwegian horror movie about a sea monster in a fjord. From the beginning, the themes are clear. This is a movie…

Fatal Frame is a much larger franchise in Japan than here. There are eight games, two books, a manga, and a stage play.   The movie Fatal Frame Zero is based on a spin-off novel. While the structure is different from the games, it has many of the same elements and deserves to be appreciated as its own unique thing. …

Exit 8 is based on a game I’ve never played. It is, however, part of a subgenre of streaming content I’m obsessed with: the anomaly game. I love playing and watching streamers navigate these types of games. They’re deceptively simple: repetitive rooms or levels where the player has to identify the anomalies—horrific, out-of-place manifestations—in order…