horror movie review – Horror Ghouls

I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

Posted on December 20, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

The year is 1996, and the teenagers Owen and Maddy start bonding over a TV show called The Pink Opaque. The show is about two teenage girls, Isabel and Tara, who use their psychic powers to fight the supervillain Mr. Melancholy. Owen, who isn’t allowed to stay up late enough to watch the show, sneaks over to Maddy’s house so they can watch it together. Both of them live rather isolated lives, but Maddy ends up wanting to run away in order to escape her abusive stepfather. She wants Owen to join her, but he finds himself not being able to go through with it. So, Maddy ends up missing, and at the same time, The Pink Opaque is cancelled…

I Saw the TV Glow is a supernatural horror drama film, written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. The series in the film, The Pink Opaque, was inspired by 90’s TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990) and The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994).

If you’re familiar with A24’s repertoire, you know that they often release some really artsy movies (like Beau is Afraid). This one belongs to this category, as another unconventional arthouse film which is naturally divisive. They are also often filled with loads of metaphors and allegories, surrealism and awkwardness. I Saw the TV Glow looks, on the surface, to be some kind of 90s nostalgia throwback film, but it’s also layered as a much more complex coming-of-age movie. The director started writing the script three months after having begun hormone replacement therapy, and while wanting to make the movie about the transitioning of coming out, the director made the choice of leaving this more ambiguous. This makes the movie work as an allegory for a lot more, and portrays a lot of themes and situations many of us can recognize.

Now, I was born in the 80’s. This means I was a teenager during the 90s, and watched several of the typical 90’s TV shows, remembering some of them fondly. And there is a scene, where Owen in his older days decides to re-watch some episodes of The Pink Opaque, only to see that they’re not quite the way he remembered them. I think many of us can very much relate to how certain things are so layered with the rose-colored glow of nostalgia that we remember them so differently…not because they were different, of course, but because we were different. How the sort of magic that exists in your youth cannot be replicated in adult life, no matter how hard you try…and how you must simply come to terms with that, and find a new magic in your life and fill it with new interests and new things to do. Some people are not so lucky, though. In I Saw the TV Glow, Owen and Maddy become so consumed by the TV show The Pink Opaque because they use it as a coping mechanism.

I Saw the TV Glow is an arthouse movie that’s mostly an allegory for finding your identity. More surreal drama than horror, and definitely not everyone’s cup of Mad Hatter’s tea, but if you’ve lived for some time on this arduous earth, you’re most likely going to resonate with at least some of the themes it represents.

Writer and director: Jane Schoenbrun
Country & year: USA, UK, 2024
Actors: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan, Danielle Deadwyler, Fred Durst, Conner O’Malley, Emma Portner, Madaline Riley
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15574270/

End of the Line (2007)

Posted on December 17, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Karen is traumatized from some kind of horrible event on a subway train. We get to see a few flashback pieces from what she apparently went through, until we go all the way back to see what actually happened to poor Karen. We learn that she worked as a nurse at a psychiatric hospital, and on her way home she is approached by some weirdos on the subway train. What follows is a tension-filled ride where no one is safe.

End of the Line is a horror film from 2007, written, directed and produced by Maurice Deveraux. The film debuted to a limited release, received fairly positive reviews from critics and also won a few prizes a festivals. The film didn’t get a Blu-ray release until 2023, however, and have remained a lesser known movie.

Now, the horror genre has a lot of religious-themed movies (demons, possessions, cults and more), but more often than not the movie’s portrayal of such are often depicting them as the ones who are right, and sometimes ending up throwing away what could have been an excellent portrayal of religious madness (looking at you, Frailty!) in favor of a supernatural simplification. After all, there’s an even more unnerving horror behind the concept of individuals having such an unwavering faith in something that they would do “anything“ in the name of their god or savior. History has already proven how horribly that can go, and today is no different. The world is a place filled with people who would do pretty much anything for their faith, and would easily justify all means possible to achieve what they believe would be the “right“ thing. Religious fanaticism and the hypocrisy from therein is more than a good enough theme for horror movies, and End of the Line is a prime example of this.

While there are limited surroundings, the film doesn’t overstay its welcome and keeps everything at a decent pace. There’s enough tension to keep your attention, and it also keeps things behind a slight veil of mystery. There’s also some decent gore to appreciate here. While the crazy cultists are enough of a threat by themselves, there is of course a character that makes for a bigger villain than the rest: a guy named Patrick, played by Robin Wilcock. In many ways, this character works well in representing how cults and groups of certain types of people inevitably attracts those who join them not because they believe in their cause, but because they want to join in the mayhem and chaos they’ll evoke. Patrick isn’t a religious fanatic, but he finds himself attracted to the group as a means of doing what would otherwise be perceived as bad deeds but which he can now commit under the disguise of being “good“.

Other than knowing the obvious, that a religious cult is causing trouble at a subway station, I think this movie is best seen without too many spoilers, so I’m going to refrain from saying more. Overall, End of the Line is a fine low-budget thrill ride with some story aspects that easily ends up for discussion once the movie is over. What was really going on? Were the cultists right? While the film doesn’t give it away openly, there is actually a very clear answer to this which is shown early on during the film. I’m not gonna spoil, but I’ll give a little hint: muffin.

Writer and director: Maurice Devereaux
Country & year: Canada, 2007
Actors: Ilona Elkin, Nicolas Wright, Neil Napier, Emily Shelton, Tim Rozon, Nina Fillis, Joan McBride, Danny Blanco Hall, John Vamvas, Robin Wilcock, Kent McQuaid, Robert Vézina, David Schaap
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0494224/

Sleep (2023)

Posted on December 13, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

A newlywed couple, Hyeon-soo and Soo-jin, are as happy as they can be together with their adorable little fluffy dog. That is, until one night Hyeon-soo starts sleepwalking, and acts in ways that are totally unlike him. It all keeps escalating, to the point where Soo-jin fears that he will harm either himself or her. Soon, they also have a baby on the way…how can they make sure that his sleepwalking stops being a threat? And is it all really just a simple case of sleepwalking?

Sleep is a South Korean horror thriller from 2023, written by Jason Yu in his feature debut and stars Jung Yu-Mi and Lee Sun-kyun. This is one of the final films that Lee Sun-kyun starred in, as he died the same year after an incident of drug use allegations, charged on suspicion of using cannabis and psychoactive drugs. He tested negative, which probably should have been the end of that if it wasn’t for South Korea’s high moral expectations of public figures, and a very strong social disapproval of drug use. On December 27th, 2023, he was found dead inside his car with a charcoal briquette in the passenger seat, which is commonly used in suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning in South Korea. So this gives the movie an even darker sentiment than from the subject matter alone…

Now, Sleep has a premise that may sound a bit simple, but the film manages to deliver an overall suspenseful story. You keep wondering if the husband’s sleep disorder harbors something darker and more dangerous, and as the movie progresses you’re not really sure what to expect. There are some incidents which proves that Hyeon-soo’s sleepwalking incidents are far more than a mere nuisance, where no one is safe. The husband is a loving and good-hearted person while awake, but once he sleeps, there’s no way to predict what he can do. At first, the couple tries everything…making him go to bed in a sleeping bag in the hopes of him not being able to get up and start his sleepwalking shenanigans, an attempt that proves to be completely futile. Soo-jin is at her wit’s end, and place a bell at the bedroom door so she will wake up when he leaves the room. And soon, the sleepwalking becomes a danger to everyone. In some ways, I think Hyeon-soo’s sleepwalking and the fears and danger Soo-jin is placed in because of it, can be a bit of an allegory to living with someone who’s a substance abuser or someone having a mental illness that changes their personality and behaviour drastically. Soo-jin never knows how dangerous things might become when her husband falls asleep, and lives in constant fear of what could happen. Her own sleep is totally disrupted since she can never relax, being watchful every night of what her husband might be able to do once he’s in the sleepwalking state. The tension is very palpable due to the strong performances, and you feel sorry for them both.

Sleepwalking is not a theme that’s got a lot of horror movies dedicated to it, so far we’ve only seen the Swedish 2000 thriller movie Sleepwalker which deals with the same subject matter. Thus, Sleep is another entry into this genre, a suspenseful thriller powered by strong performances, where a man’s sleepwalking habits turns him into a danger to his own family.

Writer and director: Jason Yu
Original title: Jam
Country & year: South Korea, 2023
Actors: Jung Yu-mi, Lee Sun-kyun, Kim Geum-soon, Kim Gook Hee, Lee Kyung-jin, Yoon Kyung-ho
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8209702/

Heretic (2024)

Posted on December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are two Mormon Church Missionaries, who ends up at the home of a man called Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) who has asked for their visitation. Reed is a bit of a reclusive, but the lovely smell of blueberry pie in the oven that he tells them his wife is preparing, is quick to put the young women at ease. They begin discussing religion, and Reed starts asking a lot of questions and makes a few uncomfortable comments about their faith. They are being served one red flag after another, until they have had enough and decide to leave. Only to find out that they can’t, of course. And now they are trapped in Reed’s house, where he puts them up to challenges and giving them lectures, claiming that he has found the one true religion. And he wants to show these young women his findings…

Heretic is a psychological horror film, written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (Haunt, 2019 and 65, 2023).

This is a movie where the few characters and limited location leave the actors with limited tools, but in the right setting such movies can work wonders in building up a tense atmosphere. This one certainly belongs in that category. The acting is good and the characters believable, where Hugh Grant really sells it as the coldly vicious villain. This was his second horror film since The Lair of the White Worm (1988), where romantic comedies have been his main department over the years. Well, it’s often nice to do something completely different after such a long time! Also, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East were both raised Mormon so they carry their roles with what appears to offer a good insight and a convincing performance.

As can be expected, the underlying critique of religious structures and the control they maintain is served through much of Reed’s lectures. And while you’ll probably ponder a bit what the so-called “one true religion“ really is, which Reed claims he’s found, you probably won’t be too surprised once it’s revealed. The film also doesn’t hammer it down on your head which “side“ you’re supposed to agree with the most. In fact, Reed is undoubtedly completely right with many of the things he lectures about to the young women, but Barnes and Paxton also provides reasonable views and thoughts on their own beliefs. Now, I am not a religious person myself, but I did find myself agreeing with the young women on certain points even though they weren’t “right“…like how Sister Paxton mentions how prayer experiments have shown that praying doesn’t help, but she still considers it a nice thing to do in order to offer comfort to someone else. Reed might be right in a lot of his conclusions, but just like certain religious aspects which he’s eager to criticize, he’s using his beliefs to commit and justify his actions and thus inevitably placing him in the same category as other religious fanatics trying to control others.

I don’t want to spoil anything else as this movie is best watched while knowing as little about it as possible. Heretic is a suspenseful and dark theological thriller, very dialogue-driven but mastering it with great skill.

In the film’s credits, there’s the statement “No Generative Al was used in the making of this film“. So thumbs up for that!

Writers and directors: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Country & year: USA, Canada, 2024
Actors: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace, Elle Young, Julie Lynn Mortensen
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28015403/

Extra Terrestrial Visitors (1983)

Posted on December 6, 2024December 7, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

– Trumpy, you can do magic things!

Extra Terrestrial Visitors. Yup, this movie actually exists, and no, this is not a very long-delayed mockbuster from The Asylum. Extra Terrestrial Visitors was originally meant to be a straight-forward horror film with an Earth-stranding alien who goes on a murder rampage. Sounds just like in the right alley for the Spanish director Juan Piquer Simón, who had just made the ultra violent Grindhouse classic Pieces.

Then came the global megahit E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the producers demanded to have the script rewritten and add a storyline with a boy and a friendly alien and cut as many horror elements as possible. Not a good idea, to quote Tony Stark. In the UK, the film was released on VHS with the shamelessly fake clickbait title E.T.: The Second Coming. So what we have here is probably the most pathetic and desperate attempt to squeeze out a cash-in within the last minute. The producers who were confident enough to think that this kind of director was a good fit to piece together a mainstream, family-friendly E.T.-ripoff with zero to none resources, except an overuse of smog machines, must have snorted too much cocaine. Trumpy took the rest. Trumpy who? He’s a friendly, furry alien who has a big trunk like an anteater. More about him later.

A meteor crash lands in some rural forest landscape. Two poachers are out hunting and one of them sees a red gloving cave while the fog machine already works on overtime. As he goes into the cave, he enters a room filled with some large alien eggs. After he smashes them with his rifle, except one, he gets attacked and killed by an unseen entity. Mommy alien, we can guess. The last remaining egg gets later picked up by the boy, ~~Elliot~~ Tommy, who brings it home and hides it in his room.

Then we have a rock band, of some sort, who are in the studio recording. I can’t remember a single name, but what we have are two guys and four chicks. The melodrama is all over the place where it’s hard to give a single fuck. Here we also get some of the worst, retarded and hilarious dubbing I’ve heard recently. And the written-on-a-toilet paper dialogue with the amateur acting makes it all better. It’s already easy to see why this was picked up by Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The rock band drives out into the woods to have a picnic. They start to argue over some bullshit that makes one of the girls leave them and go into the smog-filled woods. And speaking of fog, I’d guess that this film has the world record for using smog machine. She stumbles upon mommy alien somewhere in the thick fog who makes her fall from a cliff and die. The rock band carries her body to the nearest house where they get to seek shelter. And yes, the same house where Tommy has hidden the alien egg in his room.

Suddenly, the egg hatches, and out comes a little cute alien who Tommy feeds with nuts and milk in all secretly in his room. And the faster he eats, the faster he grows until he’s as tall as Tommy. The alien is, assumedly, played by a kid in a cheap, funny costume that looks like something you’d see in the background of the Star Wars cantina just to fill some empty space. He has, as mentioned, a big trunk which he eats through and gives some blank, empty stares with stiff emotionless eyes. As hard as Tommy tries to act excited, there’s zero chemistry or charm here. It’s just unsettling and off-putting. To put the golden raspberry on top, he names the alien Trumpy. And he’s here to Make Earth Great Again. Or maybe not. Trumpy also has telekinesis power, and trust me, it’s cinema magic at its finest and will blow your mind.

And if you thought the dubbing was bad, you’ll have some serious brain farts when you hear Tommy. Trumpy’s alien mom goes on a rampage and body counting, because this was, after all, originally meant to be a horror film. Alien mom kills its victims by slapping and shoving them where they die instantly, one-hit-death Alex Kidd style. Lousy stuff. How does this turkey show end, you ask? Do we get an emotional goodbye scene like we did in E.T.? —Spoiler warning— After our two friends have a run in the woods, Tommy tells Trumpy to fuck off. I hate you Trumpy, he says. Uhm…OK. Poor Trumpy, I guess? And since there wasn’t any budget to make a cheap-looking spaceship to pick him up, Trumpy wanders into the fog-filled woods to never be seen again. The End.

Well, that was… something. Making Contact (1985) comes to mind, only this one is far more tone-deaf and completely inept in all aspects. To Juan Piquer Simón’s defense, he had no control over the final product as he was fucked over by the producers. Showbiz is brutal. Extra Terrestrial Visitors is still a fun, amusing trainwreck to watch for all turkey lovers. It’s available on Tubi and on Blu-ray from Severin Films.

Director: Juan Piquer Simón
Writers: Joaquín Grau, Juan Piquer Simón
Original title: Los nuevos extraterrestres
Also known as: Pod People
Country & year: Spain, France, 1983
Actors: Ian Serra, Nina Ferrer, Susana Bequer, Sara Palmer, Óscar Martín, Maria Albert, Emilio Linder, Concha Cuetos, Manuel Pereiro, Frank Braña
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086026/

Sting (2024)

Posted on December 3, 2024December 3, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

In a somewhat dilapidated apartment building, a mischievous and rebellious 12-year old girl, Charlotte, gets an unexpected pet when a glowing object crash-lands in her aunt’s apartment. From said object, a tiny spider hatches (nothing suspicious about that, right?), and Charlotte decides to keep it and names it Sting. Upon feeding it, it keeps growing at an alarming rate (still nothing suspicious about that, it seems), but she still decides to keep her new pet a secret from the rest of her family: her mother, her step-father (who is a comic book artist that creates a project in collaboration with her, which proves to go a bit sour) and of course her baby brother who is too little to understand anything at this point anyway. Her biological father is living abroad and that’s the reason he can’t show her any attention (or at least so she’s told). A little family drama aside, the real problem here is Sting’s growing appetite which makes it search for other prey. While Charlotte keeps it in a jar, it’s smart enough to open the hatch and get outside to do a little night-hunting. And now the entire apartment building are in danger from a spider that keeps growing and keeps eating…

Sting is a horror film from 2024, directed by Kiah Roache-Turner. The director, being from Australia, said that the inspiration for this movie comes from his fear of spiders: “I have raging arachnophobia because I’m an Australian, and everything in Australia is trying to kill you“. Truer words could not have been spoken. I’m thankful for the tiny and harmful little buggers we have here in Norway! Here, you’re not likely to get killed by any wildlife, aside from the odd chance of getting in the way of a very angry moose. And even that is highly unlikely.

Now, Sting is yet another creature feature about a monstrous spider, which we’ve had a few entries of as of late and with some similarities. Just like in Vermin (2023), the story is taking place in an apartment building and affects the population there, and like in the cheese-flick Arachnid (2001) the spider comes from outer space. Other than that, it manages to stand on its own legs and differs mostly in how it’s got a nearly family-friendly tone over it, where it almost starts a little heartwarming while Charlotte bonds with Sting. Then, the grisly murders committed by the monster-spider are quick to remind us that this is a horror film after all. Hadn’t it been for the violent deaths, Sting could easily have been more of a children’s thriller (nothing wrong with that, of course).

The movie does focus a bit on family drama, and while some of it was fun enough (like the overly grumpy old aunt and her antics) others parts of it felt a little contrived. What makes the movie entertaining, at least for my part, is the spider itself and the mayhem it causes. Many of the angles, having the camera lead us into air ducts, claustrophobic little hallways and so on, helps building the suspense and a feeling that the creepy-crawly could be anywhere.

There’s also more than a few references to be found in the movie, where the most obvious is the girl’s name being Charlotte (a reference to Charlotte’s Web, a well-known story about a pig becoming friends with a clever spider named Charlotte). And one of the characters carrying a nail gun for “protection“ is most likely a reference to Arachnophobia from 1990. The special effects in the movie are also pretty good, with several of them being practical effects. Richard Taylor was involved in the effects for the movie (whose company, Weta Workshop, also made effects for Lord of the Rings among several others).

Sting is a satisfying little addition to the creature feature list involving spiders, with some very nice special effects.

Writer and director: Kiah Roache-Turner
Country & year: Australia, USA, 2024
Actors: Noni Hazlehurst, Jermaine Fowler, Alyla Browne, Robyn Nevin, Ryan Corr, Kate Walsh, Penelope Mitchell, Jett Berry, Kade Berry, Silvia Colloca
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20112746/

Arachnid (2001)

Posted on November 29, 2024November 29, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Joli Mercer is piloting a stealth plane in the South Pacific, when a translucent spacecraft suddenly appears (in a scene with such godawful CGI effects it could have belonged in The Amazing Bulk). Poor Joli crashes with the thing as his plane begins to malfunction, but his bad luck doesn’t end there. He crashes on an island, together with the alien ship. He sees a desperate-looking translucent alien-thing which is suddenly attacked by a giant spider monster, which then kills Joli as well. Then, ten months later, Joli’s sister is on the search for him. She’s been hired to be the pilot of a medical expedition who are doing research after natives on the island have started dying from an unknown virus. Upon reaching the island, the plane starts malfunctioning and they need to do an emergency landing on the beach. From there on, they have to trudge through the jungle in order to reach their destination, and they discover that the insects around the area have mutated into large and more deadly creatures. One of the guys in the expedition gets attack by giant ticks that starts burrowing into his body, and a giant centipede is killing one of the natives. And no, they didn’t crash-land on Skull Island. Aside from all the horrible creatures, the biggest threat of them all is a giant spider: the killer arachnid from outer space.

You know a movie is a stinker when the director himself says he only did it for the money… “I basically did it for the money and it was a stupid script … I got to live in Barcelona for six months and, you know, they paid me well. Everything was good except I had to go to work everyday and shoot a dumb script. I haven’t seen that one since, you know, I made it. And some people say ‘Oh well, it’s actually better than you think’, but I basically tell people to avoid that one“ is what Jack Sholder (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, The Hidden) said about this film. Alright, then, that’s a way to wash your hands clean of something. We all need food on the table and can’t always work on passion projects…

Arachnid was released in 2001, and was the second film to be released under the Fantastic Factory Label (the first one being Faust: Love of the Damned from 2000) which was created by Brian Yuzna (Society, The Dentist) and Julio Fernandez in Spain. It was written by Mark Sevi, and then re-written together with Yuzna. The main spider design and the other creatures that used practical effects, were created by Steve Johnson. The film received a very negative reception upon its release, and while it’s easy to see this is “one of those“ movies, it’s actually a bunch of fun, much thanks to the practical effects which are actually pretty decent and feels like a nice little throwback. Already from the funnily sloppy opening scene you know what you’re in for, so better brace yourself for leaving your brain on the shelf for a little while. As we get introduced to character by character, one more clichéd than the other, the killings and creatures are what’s the highlight of the movie. There isn’t a huge amount of gore here (which is a shame, really, as that could have added an extra spritz on the already goofy concept), but there’s still some nice scenes, especially the one involving the ticks that eat their way out. Yum.

What makes the movie suffer from being a truly fun B-horror movie, is that the pacing is a bit too slow and the characters feel a bit too dull. A quicker pace, more interesting characters and more kills could have lifted the movie up several notches. Yes, it would still have been a “bad“ movie, but a bit more enjoyable. Overall though, Arachnid is a fun enough creature feature B-movie with some charming old-school effects.

Director: Jack Sholder
Writer: Mark Sevi
Country & year: Spain, USA, Mexico, 2001
Actors: Chris Potter, Alex Reid, José Sancho, Neus Asensi, Ravil Isyanov, Luis Lorenzo Crespo, Rocqueford Allen, Jesús Cabrero, Robert Vicencio
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271972/

Oddity (2024)

Posted on November 26, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Dani is the wife of a psychiatrist named Ted Timmis, and she’s alone in their newly acquired country house which they are renovating. Suddenly, Dani realizes that something’s wrong, and a man named Olin Boole appears outside the house. Olin is one of her husband’s former patients, and he claims that there’s someone in the house with her, and demands that she lets him in. Naturally skeptical of this seemingly unhinged person, she refuses. Until she actually starts believing him…and opens the door. Then we fast forward to one year after Dani’s murder which Olin Boole was believed to be responsible for, and Ted’s got a new woman, Yana, in the country home and appears to have moved on pretty well. Dani’s twin sister, Darcy, has not…she’s a blind clairvoyant with psychometric powers, meaning she can touch an object and sense its story. She also runs an antique shop, of course. Ted promised to hand her the glass eye that belonged to Olin, who is also dead, so he makes a hasty visit and hands it to her. Shortly afterwards Darcy makes an unexpected visit to Ted’s residence, much to Yana’s dismay, and she’s brought with her an odd and creepy looking life-sized wooden mannequin as a gift…

Oddity is an Irish horror film from 2024, written and directed by Damian McCarthy. It was shot in County Cork, Ireland, in a converted barn where the director also shot his first film Caveat. He worked on both films simultaneously. The creepy mannequin was created by effects artist Paul McDonnell, and since McCarthy is a guy who frequently browses antique stores, many of the props we see in the film are from his own collection.

This film surely is a slow-burner, where atmosphere and a creeping sense of dread is the foundation of what is essentially a straightforward murder mystery. It does have that classic old-fashioned ghost story vibe to it, and while the mannequin doesn’t necessarily play as much of a role in this movie as I initially expected, it does serve its purpose. The setting where Ted’s country house is almost castle-like in its appearance, and of course located far out in the middle of nowhere, helps setting the mood and a feeling of isolation. Haunted houses, murder mysteries and revenge isn’t an uncommon mix in the horror genre, but it is the excellent atmosphere that lifts Oddity up from what could have been standardized and too familiar. The creepy looking doll is of course also what keeps the anticipation up even higher.

Oddity doesn’t have that much to play around it, but it makes it all work nonetheless. It’s pure atmosphere and anticipation, and while the murder mystery isn’t really all that mysterious, the story still unfolds slowly enough while keeping you guessing a little bit. The ending is almost a bit sardonic, but also quite satisfying.

Writer and director: Damian Mc Carthy
Country & year: Ireland, 2024
Actors: Carolyn Bracken, Johnny French, Steve Wall, Joe Rooney, Gwilym Lee, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Ivan de Wergifosse, Shane Whisker
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26470109/

Salem’s Lot (2024)

Posted on November 22, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Ben Mears is a writer who has decided to return to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot in order to write a book about his childhood. When arriving there, he very quickly meets and befriends a woman named Susan Norton, just so we have established the love interest right away. At the same time, as kid named Mark Petrie must defend himself from the school’s bully, and a newcomer called Straker opens an antique store. This mysterious man, a European, has moved into the Marsten House which has been abandoned for a long time due to a history of murders. We soon learn that Straker is some kind of Renfield, and his vampire master is the Orlok look-alike Kurt Barlow. It doesn’t take long for people to start dying with strange bitemarks on their necks, and the survivors must try and combat the evil that has invaded their hometown.

Salem’s Lot is based on a 1975 novel by Stephen King, directed by Gary Dauberman. The novel was previously adapted for television in 1979, a mini series directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist, Texas Chain Saw Massacre). There was also a sequel called A Return to Salem’s Lot which was released in 1987, and even a TV mini series called Salem’s Lot which was released in 2004. They sure have given the novel a lot of adaptions, but none ever got to be shown in the theaters, which includes this 2024 version. This movie also had a fair bit of hiccups during its production, to the point where many suspected the entire film would end up scrapped. In 2023, however, Warner Bros decided to release the film on Max.

The film’s reception was not particularly good, and the trailers didn’t exactly promise anything of golden standard either, and this dampened our expectations. Overall, though, we found it to be.. quite decent, actually. There characters are ok, although not portrayed in such an in-depth manner that you could give too much of a shit about any of them. There are some creepy atmospheric scenes and it was able to create enough suspense to keep your interest up. It’s even a bit campy, which shouldn’t come as a surprise in a movie where a 12-year old is running around killing vampires and saving people like he’s some primary school Van Helsing.

Overall, Salem’s Lot is pretty fine for what it is, there is some decent atmosphere here and there and Barlow can come off as creepy enough when you don’t get to see him too clearly. Many people prefer Tobe Hooper’s 1979 mini series, and others again prefer the book. Without making any comparisons between neither book nor previous adaptions, this movie works well on its own. You just can’t avoid being left with a feeling that they didn’t really hit the nail on its head compared to what was probably the intended original vision (which had a 3-hour long duration).

Writer and director: Gary Dauberman
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Jordan Preston Carter, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp, John Benjamin Hickey, Nicholas Crovetti, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbæk, Alexander Ward
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10245072/

Immaculate (2024)

Posted on November 15, 2024November 15, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

This is the so-called “twin film“ of The First Omen, even though the script for Immaculate was already written way back in 2014. Sydney Sweeney was 17 when she auditioned for the film to play an aspiring nun. Nothing much happened after that and the film fell into development hell. What a fitting situation for a nun film. However, the script stuck with Sweeney and after some well-earned money after being in the hit TV show Euphoria, she bought the rights to produce the film herself. So this clearly became a passion project for her. She hired Michael Mohan to direct, who she’d worked with on the erotic thriller The Voyeurs (2021), and got a distribution deal with Neon.

The film starts with a spooky opening scene with a young nun who fails to escape from a secluded convent, a place we, of course, are going back to later. As she’s about to get through the locked gates, she breaks her leg and gets captured by a group of obscure cloak-wearing persons who then… bury her alive. God bless.

Then we’re introduced to the rookie nun Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) who’s just moved to Italy, all away from Detroit, to devote her life to her great Savior. Because when she managed to survive after drowning under the ice of a frozen lake, and being clinically dead for seven minutes, she swallowed the shiny Christian pill and never looked back.

The first act is pretty straight forward. She settles in the convent where she meets a variety of nuns. Some are young, some are old, and then we have those you’d stay far away from. The convent is also far in the middle of the countryside where the sense of isolation starts to creep in sooner than later. The language barrier is also strong, as she can hardly speak Italian. But if she did, the film would’ve had to require subtitles. And Americans are too lazy to bother with such a thing, so …

While she does the best she can to blend in, she starts having nightmares and sees creepy visions in her bedroom. And after taking a bloodtest, she finds out that she’s – pregnant. Just out of the blue. Huh. The staff is, however, ecstatic as they now see her as a Virgin Mary with a gift from God himself, and against her will, hold her captive in the convent during her trimesters. From here on, the similarities to The First Omen goes in their separate directions, where Immaculate serves its own unique little spin on the nun/pregnancy horror sub-genre.

Director Michael Mohan does a pretty good job, considering this is his first horror film with primary romcoms under his belt. A big leap, for sure. Solid camerawork all the way through with tasty visuals where the inspiration from classic Italian horror films really shines. While there are some cheap jumpscares shoehorned in here, the film relies mostly on mood and atmosphere where we have the isolated eeriness of the convent to creepy catacombs, all shot on locations in Rome and the outskirts. No frontal nudity here, unfortunately, just to make that clear. Sydney Sweeney is, for some, known for two things, but she’s also a top tier actress who conveys layers of intense emotions with her eyes alone – while she carries the whole film with a big bucket of blood to the s h o c k i n g ending.

Director: Michael Mohan
Writer: Andrew Lobel
Country & year: USA/Italy, 2024
Actors: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Simona Tabasco, Benedetta Porcaroli, Giorgio Colangeli, Dora Romano, Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi, Giampiero Judica, Betty Pedrazzi, Giuseppe Lo Piccolo
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23137390/