Category: Horror Movies
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Fantaspoa 2026: ‘Animals of the Land’ is folk horror at its finest
Folk Horror can elicit terrible tremors of pure fear, unlike most other genres. Luke Jaden’s Animals of the Land, playing this year’s Fantaspoa, claws at the eyeballs. The writer/director needles to the very root of humanity, where a sick hunger for power lies in all its perverted glory. There’s something to be said about that…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Conversation with Casey de Fremery (My Severed Arm)
In a post-Scream world, a slasher must completely upend expectations to break through the noise. There’s just no other way around it. Well, unless you’re Terrifier, which is more splatter flick than slasher. With his short film My Severed Arm, writer/director Casey de Fremery knows exactly how to toy with genre conventions and pull no…
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Review: ‘Oddities’ leaps between genres with ease
Tyler Savage’s Oddities makes great use of its title to evoke mystery and weirdness. It’s not to be confused with Irish horror film Oddity from 2024. The writer/director explores human beings as trinkets and gadgets in a thrift store. Through a carefully intricate story (things are never as they seem…), Savage dresses up a darker…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Coversation with Alexander Watson (Demonetize)
Reactions to Influencer Horror lie at opposite ends of the spectrum: you either love it or loathe it. There is no in between. Alexander Watson’s Demonetize aims for the former. During a rather chaotic Panic Fest, the writer/director hopped on Zoom to discuss his film, as well as paranormal TV influences and getting the horror…
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Panic Fest 2026: ‘Dead Bloom’ blossoms with rich social themes
Domonic and Damien Paris’ Dead Bloom lives within the same realm as R.T. Thorne’s sci-fi/thriller 40 Acres. Both films use genre as a vehicle to explore deeper themes of systemic oppression and generational trauma. The monsters simply add to the horror already raging on the outside, layering on a thick coating of inner anguish that…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Conversation with Benjamin & Sascha Montgomery-Pierson (Ekelbrode)
Ekelbrode emerges as among the more character-driven shorts out of Panic Fest 2026. Based in an apocalyptic world, two characters find themselves in a control room and discuss the morality of war. Filmmaking team Benjamin and Sascha Montgomery-Pierson dissect the long history of combat in the United States (and beyond!), crafting emotionally-rich characters, and their…
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Halloween Returns – Pitch Deck
We all know the Halloween franchise won’t stay dormant for long. In the aftermath of David Gordon Green’s trilogy, there have been plans to launch a TV series by Miramax (let’s hope for an anthology!). And I’m betting heated conversations are happening right now for what to do next with a theatrical release. It’s just…
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Horror in Frame: A Conversation with Harry Aspinwall (The House Was Not Hungry Then)
A house as a horror character is a long-standing tradition. From The Old Dark House (1932) to The Night House (2020), the genre has dabbled in the concept of a residence being the source of evil. With his new film, writer/director Harry Aspinwall tears down the walls and invites the audience into a house of…
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Panic Fest 2026: A Conversation with Bo Webb (UN-DEAD)
Zombie films are a dime a dozen these days. You really have to spin a deliciously unique yarn to make some noise. Writer/director Bo Webb lands with a cannonball splash with UN-DEAD, a short out of Panic Fest. It’s a bloody good time, and it features an actor you likely know, Brian Huskey, whose credits…
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Panic Fest 2026: ‘Frankie, Maniac Woman’ delivers the female rage we need
Toss Maniac (1980), Violation, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation into a blender, and you get Pierre Tsigaridis’ ferociously biting and bloody Frankie, Maniac Woman. Co-written with Dina Silva, who stars as the titular character, the film burns Hollywood’s obsession with body image (specifically, the grossly dated skinny white woman standard) to the goddamn…
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Review: ‘Mฤrama’ unpacks generational trauma of the Mฤori people
Taratoa Stappard’s Mฤrama gives voice to the voiceless. Born to an English father and an Indigenous Mฤori mother (Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Toa me Ngati Tuwharetoa), the writer/director excavates decades of brutality imposed against the Mฤori people. The film, which carries as much cultural and cinematic significance as 2019’s La Llorona, feels devastatingly raw and visceral…
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Review: Samara Weaving kills in ‘Over Your Dead Body’
Samara Weaving is already having quite a year. While Ready or Not 2 currently plays in theaters and Carolina Caroline with Kyle Galner releases this summer, she sees another project landing this weekend. Jorma Taccone’s Over Your Dead Body features Samara Weaving in her most primal state. Nothing will ever surpass that throaty wolf howl…
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Panic Fest 2026: ‘Don’t Sleep Alone’ provokes sleepless nights
If you suffer from sleep paralysis, you know how debilitating and terrifying it can be. For many, a black shape creeps from the corner of the room and hovers by their bedside. Others might not see a figure at all, but rather a suffocating blanket of dread surrounding them. Writer/director Talo Silveyra excavates pure fear…
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Panic Fest 2026: ‘Demonetize’ marries scares and silliness
Influencer Horror isn’t for everyone. From Deadstream to Super Host and Livestream, the subgenre applies exploitative behaviors to horrifying situations to explore the deterioration of humanity, social trends, and our complicity in brainrot. Writer/director Alexander Watson fits his new film, Demonetize, playing this year’s Panic Fest, snugly into a similar thematic box. The film’s title,…
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Panic Fest 2026: Shorts Roundup, Volume 2
Panic Fest 2026 is still not quite over yet. As I dash to the finish line (I have a few films to watch, as of this writing), numerous reviews and interviews in the can confirm that this year’s festival might be the best in a long time. Various short blocks have been particularly rich with…
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[…] However, his songs here are as relevant and crushing as ever, as queer non-binary music critic Bee Delores recently…
[…] parental instinct at its core, which Ehrlich argued lands even through the film’s excesses. B-Sides & Badlands described the…