"There is a pretty good chance that a film like “Else,” the fascinating feature debut from director Thibault Emin that’s an extension of his short of the same name, is going to fly under the radar for many. This is a real shame because those who see it will find that not only does this film grow on you, but it burrows inside your very skin. Remaining mostly confined to one apartment as the world falls apart due to an unknown epidemic that’s taking hold, “Else” is a film you watch in a combination of awe and horror. As we see in all its gruesome glory what this disease can do to us, the film takes a plunge into something hauntingly beautiful. It’s a movie about the forces that consume anything and everything to make them into something that is a part of a collective. The more it expands on this, the better it gets, sweeping you up in stunning visuals that swallow you whole.

It’s also more metaphysical in nature, asking questions about the body, the self, where one begins and the other ends, as well as what happens when we let others into our life. It takes us into a world that is far bigger than us and often beyond easy understanding, creating arresting visuals that implant themselves in your mind..."

"Regardless of how many folks decry that there are too many remakes these days, the horror genre has been remaking the same films and stories since the era of silent film. Despite popular belief, a lot of horror movie remakes are pretty damn great, but an unfortunate truth is that when it comes to Americanized remakes of international works, the track record isn't quite as impressive. For every "The Ring" or "Funny Games," there are at least a dozen cash grabs that completely lose sight of what made the original film great. Oftentimes, it's because American sensibilities and the relationship with threats of danger just don't meld well with the story at hand. This is why when we see the various security cameras of various countries in "The Cabin in the Woods," the style of horror differs greatly from the horror shown in the American cabin.

Which means "Eden Lake" and "Black Mirror" director James Watkins had his work cut out for him with Blumhouse and Universal's remake of "Speak No Evil," the 2022 Dutch hit from Christian Tafdrup that exploded in popularity after IFC Films and Shudder released the film stateside. The intensely bleak psychological horror film was declared by many as one of the very best of the year, and Blumhouse wasted little time snagging the remake rights. Lovers of the original were understandably skeptical, but "Speak No Evil" (2024) joins the ranks of the rare Americanized horror remakes that get it right. Instead of rehashing the same story beat by beat, Watkins — armed with a stellar ensemble cast led by a career-best James McAvoy — takes the central conflict of the original and explores how couples from different cultures would react under the same circumstances. The result is an assault of relentless tension and the best possible outcome for an Americanized remake..."

"Mike Flanagan is no stranger to giving people nightmares, thanks to a filmography that includes The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and Gerald’s Game. (His 2011 feature debut, Absentia, haunts me anytime I see a sidewalk that enters into a tunnel.) With a new Exorcist film on his list of upcoming projects—something he recently told the Hollywood Reporter he views as “an opportunity to make the scariest movie I’ve ever made”—he was asked which movies he personally finds terrifying, and his answer was surprising.

Speaking to THR in the same interview, he gave special props to 2008 New French Extremity entry Martyrs (“There’s a lot of gore, but it’s gore with a point. I generally don’t love splatter”) but saved his highest praise for another movie, also from 2008: “The last one that truly frightened me into getting up off of the couch was an Australian movie, Lake Mungo. It chilled me to the bone...”

"... the film works because Hsu and Kun-Lin expertly deploy these (often heartfelt) conventions to great effect. They know exactly how to get audiences to invest emotionally in the characters’ relationship and the ending of the film is a genuine crowd pleaser in large part because we care so much about this ragtag team.

The other reason the film is such a success is because it is a textbook execution of a horror comedy: it is laugh out loud funny and surprisingly gory...

... Then there’s the film’s use of comedic sound effects, which includes cartoon boings and other Looney Tunes-esque audio cues. These elements effortlessly reinforce the film’s inherent silliness. Then add in a not-surprising but deliciously spot-on karaoke backstory for one character, a gag with a removable mustache, and the satire of the industrial work complex that rewards youth, ostentatious behaviour and a large social media following above all else. Dead Talents Society is plenty of fun, but it is also making some astute political commentary.

All of this is delivered in a highly energetic package by Hsu, who easily balances the film’s heartfelt character beats with the zany comedy. There are several sequences that play like a heist film as characters must execute their con on the living in order to successfully pull off a scare. The direction, sound effects and Shieh Meng Ju’s editing lends the film a zippy, high octane energy.

Overall Dead Talents Society is a genuine crowd-pleaser: it’s fun, funny, extremely clever and filled with lovable characters. It’s an instant horror comedy classic and one of the best genre films of the year..."

"It’s fair to say that, in recent times, horror movies have become some of the most popular cinematic offerings. For whatever sociological or psychological reason, the audience seems to love the experience of being scared, and the result has been that many horror films are enjoying unprecedented commercial and critical success.

Over the last few years, films from the likes of Ti West, Robert Eggers, and Ari Aster have captivated horror fans’ attention, but that doesn’t mean that every single horror movie is capable of delivering quality. In fact, history has proven that horror films frequently arrive without being able to make good on their promise.

There are several reasons that a horror movie might fail even though it seems that, on the surface, it should succeed; a brilliant cast might fall victim to a poor script, or the scares of a film just might not land. Whatever the reason, though, it’s always a disappointment when we watch a shitty horror film that we hoped would do the real business.

We’ve compiled a list of ten horror movies that ought to have been better considering their premises, casts or origins. So, from completely overhyped supernatural offerings to dodgy remakes and sequels, here is a selection of admittedly terrible horror films that had so much promise..."

"As he branches out away from the world of horror, Mike Flanagan offers a cautiously optimistic update for Oculus 2. The 2014 horror movie served as Flanagan's first wide release and an adaptation of his short film Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan, centered on Karen Gillan's Kaylie and Brenton Thwaites' Tim confronting the literal demons of their past in the form of a haunted mirror that led to the deaths of their parents. Garnering largely positive reviews and grossing nine times its budget, the movie was an early step in Flanagan's eventual successful career.

While speaking with Screen Rant for the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of his new movie, The Life of Chuck, Flanagan was asked about the possibility of Oculus 2 happening. The writer/director confirmed he has "a lot of stories" in that universe that he would "love to tell", though indicated that the biggest hurdle facing development on a sequel is determining who owns the rights to the original..."

"Two Mormon missionaries go into the woods and are sure of a big surprise when they call on a seemingly peaceful cottage in Heretic.

A24’s horror thriller — which premieres in Special Presentations at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Sunday — is the latest film from ascendant writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, and audiences will be pleasantly surprised to learn the actor playing the diabolical Mr Reed, who welcomes the unsuspecting young women into his home for a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse, is none other than Hugh Grant..."

"This post contains spoilers for "The Thing."

There are several stand-out sequences in John Carpenter's cult classic "The Thing." The opening itself, where a Norwegian helicopter pursues a sled dog and attempts to shoot it, immediately sets the tone for this morbid tale enmeshed in distrust and paranoia. What initially feels like a senseless attempt at violence (or a classic case of humans behaving irrationally due to extreme isolation) is gradually revealed to be a sincere endeavor to rid the world of an evil force that can morph into people we know and trust. The inhabitants of the Antarctic research station feel helpless in the face of such a perfect organism — one that can mimic, adapt, and deceive at will — but the most cynical among them, MacReady (Kurt Russell), comes up with a litmus test to prove everyone's humanity and lure out the pretender.

The method employed is rather crude, but it accomplishes the goal anyway: a red-hot wire is dipped into blood samples on Petri dishes, with the intent to figure out if the creature's self-preservative instincts would react to such intrusion. Uncontaminated human blood would merely make the wire fizzle, but a mutated sample would respond violently to such a perceived attack ... and it does. Although MacReady's extreme (yet understandable) method doesn't quite go according to plan, resulting in some innocent deaths, the culprit is eventually lured out, thrashing grotesquely in a bid to shield itself from harm.

This tense, memorable sequence was the impetus behind Carpenter helming "The Thing," as it presented a unique opportunity to remake Christian Nyby's "The Thing from Another World" (along with adapting its brilliant source material, "Who Goes There?") while also allowing Carpenter to put his singular spin on it..."

"The humble TV show is a difficult medium to make horror stories work in, but several series have managed to ascend the ranks of the genre. While countless incredible horror films have endlessly proven the potential of the horror story in movie format, the many constraints of network television have made the success of creative horror TV series far less common. That being said, there are a number of standout horror shows that have stood the test of time as genre-defining works of art.

The best horror shows take advantage of long-form storytelling to cast their protagonists deeper and deeper into despair over the course of a thoughtful story that puts character above all else. Conversely, TV is particularly suited to anthology stories when it comes to horror, with the episodic format of a series being the perfect platform to put forth a wide breadth of uniquely terrifying premises. In either case, it's become clear that a macabre fascination with scary stories has infiltrated both networks and streaming..."

"One question repeatedly popped into my mind during “The Substance,” an outrageous and beyond bizarre horror movie that had its North American premiere Thursday night at the Toronto International Film Festival.

What’s wrong with these people?!

Our judgment begins with the damaged-to-deranged characters.

Elisabeth Sparkle, played to the hilt by Demi Moore (what’s wrong with her?!), is an Oscar winner turned fading fitness guru a la Suzanne Somers whose luxurious Hollywood home is plastered with giant portraits of her in her prime.

After Elisabeth is abruptly fired from her TV job, “Sparkle With Elizabeth,” the gutted actress learns of an underground drug called the Substance that promises to create a younger, sexier doppelgänger of a person. A certifiable California narcissist, Elisabeth signs right up.

This is when we start to wonder what’s wrong with the astronomically talented and created writer-director Coralie Fargeat, whose French nightmares this astounding film surely sprang from.

When Elisabeth injects the plutonium-green Substance, her back gorily splits open, and her nubile clone pops out like a xenomorph in “Alien.”

The one unbreakable rule, with gnarly consequences, is that the young counterpart can walk the earth for only seven days at a time — while Elisabeth basically hibernates — before they swap places again.

Almost immediately, Liz’s piggish former boss (Dennis Quaid at his funniest) casts the gorgeous clone, who names herself Sue, as his hot new workout show host of a program called “Pump It Up.”

Elisabeth awakens only to be taunted by billboards and posters of Sue, and develops a love-hate relationship with her popular counterpart.

Moore, at her most game and frequently unclothed, gives one of her best performances in years — going from It girl to Gollum in over two hours. Impeccable makeup and prosthetics help, but the true terror is created by her beneath the surface.

Qualley, by contrast, spends most of the film smiling and squatting — never boringly, mind you — but that shiny veneer conceals building resentment and darkness.

Opportunist Sue would rather not take a weeklong nap after seven days and goes to harmful extremes to stay awake. (Something is definitely wrong with her.)

That leads to a Grand-Guignol finale so weird, warped and funny that we sit in awe of the fact that investors actually said, “Sure, we’ll pay for that.”

As for the audience, something is wrong with us, too.

I enjoyed this ride of titillation, torment, insanity and exploitation to such a preposterous extent that I’ve considered signing up for online therapy to wrestle with it.

Perhaps that’s because, as jaw-droppingly odd as it is, “The Substance” is part of a grand, campy tradition. The movie is the hotter, younger offshoot of “Death Becomes Her” and, being set in a two-woman LA household stewing with envy, even “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”

By the end, it’s “Frankenstein” and “Young Frankenstein.”

Where Fargeat’s film distinguishes itself — and will send some viewers sprinting to the bathroom — is the amble body horror elements.

Hers is a provocative, gruesome, bloody and, for some, nauseating movie that will be hugely controversial when it hits theaters later this month.

Much like the title drug, it’s hard to broadly recommend it without listing off a host of side effects.

However, at the movies today, there is nothing wrong with unbound creativity, epic vision and some gonzo entertainment.

And, by the way, in its smart send-up of our youth-obsessed culture, there’s even a little substance, too."

"Welcome to Horror Explorer, a curated column showcasing the month’s best movies, series, books and everything else spooky worth checking out. I’m William Earl, the editor of Variety.com and the publication’s resident horror enthusiast. Please drop me a line at wearl@variety.com if there’s something I should check out for next month’s missive..."

"Every genre has its films that serve as the gold standard of the style, and that goes doubly true for horror movies. The best horror movies convey the best things about the genre while still being excellently made films on the technical side in their own right. It's safe to say that some of them are even near perfect, with little to no flaws that hold them back no matter how many years it may have been since they first debuted on cinema screens.

There are several aspects that horror movies have to succeed in to be considered near-perfect. For one, they must be sufficiently scary, able to summon genuine dread and terror without the use of cheap jump scares or fake-outs. They also have to be proficient films as a whole, avoiding the usual pitfalls of bad movies like poor acting, shoddy writing, low-quality production design or cinematography, and lackluster editing or sound design. When a horror film is able to succeed in all of these categories while also adding something new to the formula, it creates a truly legendary experience..."

Not much to it really. The "mystery" didn't develop much, there wasn't a sense of suspense, the "mystery solving" sequences didn't solve much, the acting wasn't good, there wasn't any sense of evil on the satanism.

Really blah. A waste of time for real horror fans, IMHO.

"Blumhouse recently revealed the logo for its upcoming Universal Monsters movie Wolf Man and now, with Halloween Horror Nights having kicked off in Orlando, it looks to have unveiled a first look at its titular character, too.

'Enter the Blumhouse' is one of this year's attractions at the event, where attendees can come face to face with studio favorites like M3GAN, The Black Phone's The Grabber, Happy Death Day's Baby Face Killer, and more. Nearby, there's a photo op stand for Wolf Man, where someone in a mask and a tatty boiler suit lunges at passers-by with their bloodied hands.

With videos emerging on social media, many have assumed it's a hint at what Christopher Abbott will look like when he transforms in the new movie. Some, it's fair to say, are hoping that that's not the case..."

“The Ritual,” the upcoming exorcism horror in which Al Pacino and Dan Stevens play troubled priests, has sold out for most international territories by XYZ Films.

From director David Midell, the film was written by Midell and Enrico Natale, and produced by Andrew Stevens, Mitchell Welch and Natale. Ashley Greene and Abigail Cowen round out the cast.

XYZ, which has been quietly growing its own releasing arm on top of its sales operations, is planning a U.S. theatrical release in 2025.

Based on a true story, “The Ritual” follows two priests — one questioning his faith (Stevens) and one reckoning with a troubled past (Pacino) — who must put aside their differences to save a possessed young woman through a difficult and dangerous series of exorcisms. The film is an authentic portrayal of Emma Schmidt, an American woman whose demonic possession culminated in harrowing exorcisms. Her case remains the most thoroughly documented exorcism in American history.

"EXCLUSIVE: The L.A.-based Screamfest Horror Film Festival has unveiled the first wave lineup for its 24th edition, taking place at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood from October 8-17.

Among the films to look out for at this year’s festival are two produced for Hulu by WorthenBrooks (formerly 20th Digital Studio), on which we were first to report: Screamfest alum Brandon Espy’s Mr. Crocket and Justin Harding’s Carved, both of which will premiere on Hulu later this year.

A supernatural horror film starring Jerrika Hinton and Elvis Nolasco, Mr. Crocket follows Summer Beverly (Hinton) as she embarks on a chilling journey to rescue her son from a sinister children’s show host with otherworldly powers. Starring Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Carved is a fun romp centered on a group of survivors trapped in a Halloween village battle with a sentient, vengeful pumpkin.

In addition to Carved, world premieres at this year’s fest will include Drained, from filmmakers Sean Patrick Cronin and Peter Stylianous, and Dario Germani’s ALO – Antropophagus Legacy. Among other films to see is Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy’s SXSW title Dead Mail, in which an ominous help note finds its way to a 1980s post office, connecting a dead letter investigator to a kidnapped keyboard technician.

Highlights from this year’s shorts program include filmmaker Felipe Vargas’s Hive starring Xochitl Gomez; Dakota Daulby and Harrison Houde’s Adjoining starring Brenna D’Amico; Jake Bradbury and Toni Blando’s Disfigura, featuring Hellboy‘s Doug Jones; Fresh Blood starring Clara Mcgregor (American Horror Story) and directed by Emma Westenberg; and The Underground from director Rachel Talalay. Tickets will be on sale soon at the link.

Stated Rachel Belofsky, who founded Screamfest in 2001, “We’re excited to offer horror fans a diverse selection of terrifying films from across the globe.”

For Screamfest’s full feature line-up, read on..."

"First impressions are everything. Whether it be a first date, a job interview, or meeting your significant other’s rogues gallery of eccentric family members, first impressions tell people who you are and what you are about. The same is true with films. In an age where moviegoers have one eye on their phone and one eye on the silver screen, movies need to quickly inform audiences why their particular tale is worth an audience’s time and (in the case of horror) sanity. Before we know a narrative’s particulars, those opening scenes—or a film’s cold open—inform the audience of what is to come. This could be traditional terror or, even more importantly, evoke the tonal direction a creative is striving for with their work.

Here are five of the most compelling contemporary cold opens in horror..."

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/in-a-violent-nature-review-1235026238/

It starts, as so many great, grisly excursions into the underbelly of cinema do, with dumbass youngsters and a curse. Traipsing around in a forest, two guys come across a graveyard. One of them pockets a locket he finds hanging on a stick. Seconds after they walk off, someone, or perhaps some thing, rises from beneath the earth. {...}

Trailer

Old school horror game Post Trauma has popped up at Future Games Show at Gamescom Presented by Sid Meier's Civilization® VII to reveal a release date with a new trailer.

Debuted during the Expansion Pack post show, the sneak peek starts with an ominous shot of an abandoned train on the subway, setting a suitably unsettling dark and scary tone for what's to come as we slowly make our way through the rest of the trailer. We see our main character explore an abandoned underground before realizing that, actually, he isn't the only one there – the giant arm shooting out the floor is a highlight, but the big ol' heads with arms and legs are not. Far from a few friendly faces, we see all sorts of nightmarish beings that'll make your quest home anything but pleasant.

The trailer also features voiceover work from various characters and a closer look at new faces and environments. Excitingly, it ends with the reveal that Post Trauma will come to Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on October 29, 2024. That's just two days before Halloween, which feels very appropriate.

Steam

Article

The Dæmon is a 2024 horror film about a man seeking to understand why his father took his own life. “The Lovecraftian slow burn follows a family attempting to reconcile past traumas, only to face demons infinitely more sinister than their own.”

The movie was written and directed by Matt Devino and David Michael Yohe, making their feature directorial debut.

"When taken from the right perspective, every story is a horror story: for henchmen just trying to earn a paycheck, James Bond is a horror slasher with a body count (and, let’s be honest, style points) to rival Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. Let’s not forget that Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, while yes, a nuanced family drama for the ages, also features a cameo from Lucifer himself, discussing the call—and the point—of the pit with Ivan Fyodorovich in the depths of a feverish nightmare. Even Elden Ring (all of Miyazaki’s Soulsbourne games, really) is really just cosmic horror masquerading as vaguely-post-apocalyptic high fantasy.

I’ve written before about horror’s profound genre inclusivity, and let me tell you: once you start looking at your favorite stories through that lens, you can’t really unsee it ever again. But that’s only because horror has always been there, lurking in the shadows of every story, hiding in the attics and the sewers, just waiting to be uncovered..."

new horror releasing July 29, 2024 – August 4, 2024

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/25970715

Directed by: Graham Hughes Release date: August 23, 2024 (US)(VOD)

Follows two documentary filmmakers who decide to investigate the disappearance of a graffiti artist who seemingly ‘vanished’. As they delve deeper into their research, they encounter an ominous freestanding door which leads them on a dark journey through the dimensions behind it. Determined to uncover the truth the pair soon realise they have stumbled across something far more terrifying than they could have ever imagined.

https://www.firstshowing.net/2023/intriguing-multiverse-sci-fi-horror-project-hostile-dimensions-trailer/

"Vast and isolated settings of the woods are often used in the horror genre, easily being able to elicit a gnawing discomfort and uneasiness. Lovely, Dark, and Deep may start by capitalizing on the spookiness of the woods, but gradually it spirals into an unfathomable fever dream that invokes just as much terror as hopelessness. Teresa Sutherland's debut feature doesn't bother dipping its toes into cosmic horror, and instead dives headfirst into unknowable terrors that lurk deep within the shadows of the forest and the corners of Lennon's (Georgine Campbell) mind. Purposefully dredging up old traumas by returning to the site of it, Lennon slowly devolves from the plucky protagonist who easily traipses her way around the national park to the harrowed shell of a person who cannot differentiate reality from the more sinister imagery. We tumble down this rabbit hole beside her, braced for the haunting visuals and chilling ending..."

"James Wan is finally done with ‘Aquaman’ and already has a couple of projects lined up. It’s already been announced that he is adapting “The Call of Cthulhu,” based on the 1928 H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same name. However, Wan has seemingly lined up another film as his potential next project..."