This is surprising, given that the Japanese horror feature was directed by Takashi Shimizu, the guy who birthed The Grudge franchise. Not that he’s an infallible filmmaker by any stretch of the imagination, but Labyrinth finds him revisiting those reliable themes, with the added dimension — literally — of playing in 3-D. (Well Go USA’s […]
horror
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Madison County
• “What are the chances … we take it, then get completely lost?”• “You kids best be gettin’ out of here.”• “Hello? Anybody home?”• “Maybe we should just go back.” They don’t go back. But at least in this indie effort, they’re off to meet an author. In other slasher films, the main goal is […]
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The Theatre Bizarre
Six stories are introduced by Udo Kier (Melancholia) as a crusty-faced automaton who commands the stage of the title venue, with which a young, disturbed woman (Virginia Newcomb) living across the street is obsessed. Drawn there late one night, she takes a seat amid an audience empty except the occasional mannequins; Kier plays host with […]
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Mother’s Day / 11-11-11
Produced in part by Brett Ratner and ostensibly a remake of a same-named piece of Troma trash from 1980, Mother’s Day is one of the better thrillers I’ve seen in recent memory, anchored by an honest-to-God great performance by Rebecca De Mornay as the mad matriarch of the title, as good as her celebrated comeback […]
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12 Creature Features
For me, only two of the titles stood out as new, or potentially just overlooked: 1974’s Horror High and 1968’s Kong Island. Both were novel enough that I could see paying $10 for it and not feeling short-changed, as long as you know upfront that the prints are less than pristine. As with such bargain […]
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The Red House
Then one night after joining the Morgan clan for post-labor supper, Nath mentions something about cutting through Ox Head Woods on his walk home, prompting the farmer to bark warnings about a supposedly cursed and evil piece of property deep within. Mr. Morgan begs Nath and Meg to stay away, to not go near that […]
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Dark Tide
In South Africa, Berry (New Year’s Eve) unconvincingly plays Kate, a shark expert and pro diver reduced to running ship tours for tourists, however few there are, after more or less turning one of her fellow divers to chum a year beforehand. Guilt keeps her from getting back into dangerous waters until her old flame, […]
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The Innkeepers
Heed its warning, my children. Like so many cerebral horror films in which gore is not their reason for being, carefully crafted sound design is a large, integral part of the experience, and writer/director/editor Ti West’s follow-up to 2009’s acclaimed The House of the Devil is indeed an experience. That said, I fully understand why […]
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The Terror Experiment
This one takes place in a federal building on Christmas Eve. (For a federal building on Christmas Eve, the place sure is packed.) A terrorist manages to infiltrate security enough to bring in a bomb, which he detonates on the fifth floor. (The explosion’s aftershocks are depicted via tilted, shaking camera.) The airborne agent gets […]
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The Wicker Tree
The new film is based upon Hardy’s own 2006 novel, Cowboys for Christ, but here’s the deal: If you’ve seen the original Wicker, you know exactly where this new one leads, and without the benefit of having Edward Woodward as your guide. In The Wicker Tree, it’s young Christian country starlet Beth Boothby (newcomer Brittania […]