Being ‘TOGETHER’ Becomes the Ultimate Act of Codependency

July 22, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Alison Brie, Damon Herriman, Dave Franco, Horror, Michael Shanks, NEON, Together 7 Comments

A fantastically icky mash-up of black comedy and body horror, Michael Shanks’ Together is a biting satire about the horrors of codependency. And like any body horror that earns its stripes, it’s not for the squeamish. Real-life married couple Allison Brie and Dave Franco star as Millie and Tim, a decade-long duo who’ve decided to take the plunge and carve out the next chapter in their relationship. What follows is a twisted love story that’s equally weird, funny, and utterly nasty, taking their “growing together” to grotesquely literal extremes. Read More

All These Years Later, ‘I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER’ Is Still Copying ‘Scream’

July 17, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chanda Dancy, Chase Sui Wonders, Elisha Christian, Freddie Prinze Jr., Horror, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jonah Hauer-King, Leah McKendrick, Madelyn Cline, Neal H. Moritz, Saira Haider, Sam Lansky, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers 2 Comments

A legacy sequel nobody asked for, reviving a three-decade-old franchise that, let’s be honest, was never exactly beloved to begin with, 2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer is generic modern slasher fare, but also kinda better than it has any right to be as an IKWYDLS fourquel. It slightly exceeds the low bar you’d expect, but not by enough to call it a top-to-bottom success. In a bit of (presumably knowing) irony, this sequel owes much to Scream (2022), just as the original was clearly cribbing from Scream (1996). You could argue the similarities between the franchises are coincidental, but like the skeptical cops of Southport, North Carolina, I’m not sure I’m buying it. The two franchises have been linked for decades, both helping to revitalize the slasher subgenre in the ’90s, earning a few sequels, and inspiring short-run TV spin-offs. It’s just that every time out, Scream had IKWYDLS beat. That still holds true today. Read More

‘BRING HER BACK’ Is As Bleak As A24 “Prestige Horror” Comes

May 20, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged A24, Bill Hinzman, Billy Barratt, Bring Her Back, Danny Philippou, Horror, Jonah Wren Phillips, Liam Damons, Michael Philippou, Mischa Heywood, Sally Hawkins, Sally-Anne Upton, Sora Wong, Stephen Phillips 3 Comments

Australian writer-director twins Danny and Michael Philippou are quickly redefining a kind of no-holds-barred prestige horror filmmaking. With their sophomore feature Bring Her Back, absolutely nothing is off-limits. This bleak and deranged story of a brother and sister taken into the home of a foster mother, played by Sally Hawkins (who is most definitely not the kindly counselor the world believes her to be), lands among the most disturbing entries in the “elevated horror” genre, mostly by inflicting gruesome body horror upon children in ways that is as horrifying as is it narratively compelling. It’s a tough film to stomach, not just for its barbaric depictions of violence against kids, but for its thematic notes of child abuse and the grief of losing a child. Bring Her Back is horrifying in its premise, but it’s dramatically anchored by its mirrored narratives about families in grief: one side of the coin desperately trying to stay intact after a tragedy, the other willing to go to truly ungodly lengths to reconstruct what’s been taken. Read More

Brutal Sequel ’SMILE 2’ Hosts The Curse of Celebrity

October 16, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Dylan Gelula, Horror, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Naomi Scott, Parker Finn, Reviews, Rosemarie DeWitt, Smile 2 7 Comments

Six days have passed since the chilling finale of writer-director Parker Finn’s Smile, and Joel (Kyle Gallner) is frantically trying to escape the sinister forces closing in on him. After investigating a string of interconnected victims, each of whom killed themselves in gruesome fashion, he knows the only way out of the loop is by passing the curse on—by killing someone in front of a witness. Thanks to his police access, he’s found the perfect lowlifes deserving of such a fate and is ready to dole out karmic justice, moral consequences be damned. Things don’t exactly go as planned and the curse instead lands in the lap of low-rent drug dealer Lewis, played with fiery, cracked-out intensity by Lukas Gage. He wastes no time handing the curse off to client and pop-superstar Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) on the precipice of greatness. Soon, she’s haunted by diabolical smiling faces – as well as the public. Her big comeback tour, meant to mark her recovery from addiction and personal tragedy, derails as she unravels under the grin of her supernatural oppressor. The recovering pop star’s descent into madness is exacerbated by the expectations of her fans, the relentless pressure from her team to continue performing, and the watchdog gaze of the media—all of whom seem to be waiting for her to slip up and fall apart. And they don’t even know about the whole demonic possession thing. Read More

‘TERRIFIER 3’ Clowns Audiences With Depraved Slapstick Slashing

October 11, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Amelie McLain, Damien Leone, David Howard Thornton, Elliot Fullam, Horror, Kailey Hyman, Lauren LaVera, Reviews, Samantha Scaffidi, Terrifier 3 3 Comments

“It’s a Terrifier Christmas!” chimes the Terrifier 3 in-movie musical anthem, dripping with sardonic holiday cheer. Lyrics like “Let the horror fill your heart” and “He’ll burn your face with acid, he’ll saw you clean in half” set the tone for this third Terrifier film— the fifth time rising horror icon Art the Clown has graced the screen in a decade. This time out, the bloodthirsty clown is celebrating the most festive season of all. Donning the iconic red suit and hat a la the Grinch, who looks like a certifiable saint in comparison, Art joyfully embraces the Christmas spirit by sawing the jolly white beard off a still-breathing Santa Claus and attaching it to his chin. Naughty or nice, it’s all the same to Art, whose killer holiday spirit manifests as a singular goal: to “out-do himself and top his latest kill.” Or so goes the song. Not even good little boys and girls are spared from his murderous glee. Read More

Demi Moore is Breathtaking in Body Horror Triumph ‘THE SUBSTANCE’

September 17, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Coralie Fargeat, Demi Moore, Dennis Quaid, Horror, Margaret Qualley, Reviews, The Substance 10 Comments

Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is staring down the barrel of her 50th birthday, and her Hollywood star has more than a few cracks—both literal and metaphorical. To make matters worse, the once-popular aerobics queen just overheard her sleazy, keyed-up boss (played with pure snake oil charm by Dennis Quaid) plotting her replacement. The network wants someone younger, fresher, tighter in spandex. Enter a shadowy black-market pharma company with a miracle drug, the titular Substance, promising to rewind crucial time on Elizabeth’s biological clock. The promise is…misleading. As she drinks down the sketchy elixir of youth, she doesn’t just regain her youthful glow—she begins to lose herself, piece by horrifying piece, to the younger version she thought she so badly wanted. Read More

Eerie and Atmospheric ‘LONGLEGS’ a Supernatural Serial Killer Haunt

July 9, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Horror, Longlegs, Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Oz Perkins 9 Comments

Longlegs, NEON’s much-anticipated horror film from Oz Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Gretel & Hansel), straddles the line between detective procedural and supernatural haunter with a masterful command for atmosphere and tone. As thematically dark and unforgiving as it is formally constructed and rhythmically precise, Perkins’ nightmarish vision of a satanic doll maker (played with creepy but characteristically over-the-top intensity by Nicolas Cage) and the FBI agent (Maika Monroe) pursuing him is in no rush to reveal its macabre story, demanding patience from viewers in pursuit of a frightful theatrical experience. Read More

Sundance ‘24: Buzzy and Mind-Bending ‘IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE’ Pulls Off a Terrific Magic Trick

January 20, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews, Most Popular Tagged Alycia Debnam-Carey, Brittany O'Grady, David Thompson, Gavin Leatherwood, Greg Jardin, Horror, It's What's Inside, James Morosini, Madison Davenport, Nina Bloomgarden, Reina Hardesty, Sundance, Sundance 2024 10 Comments

Eight former college friends reunite the evening before their friend’s wedding to play a heady game with far-reaching consequences. Such is the set-up for Greg Jardin’s utterly transfixing debut feature, a precisely-constructed explosion of creativity that smashes together the college reunion comedy, puzzle box thrillers, and a Shane Carruth-esque level of science-fiction precision. Skillfully paced to snatch your attention early on and never lose it for a moment, experiencing It’s What’s Inside is like watching a flawlessly executed magic trick for the very first time. Read More

Shallow, Campy ‘NIGHT SWIM’ Mostly Treads Water

January 4, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Amélie Hoeferle, Bryce McGuire, Charlie Sarroff, Horror, Night Swim, Reviews, Wyatt Russell 4 Comments

A former Major League Baseball player moves his family to a house with a haunted pool in the campy Jan-horror release, Night Swim. Six months after receiving a career-ending MS diagnosis, Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell), his wife Eve (Kerry Condon), and their two high school aged children, Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and Elliot (Gavin Warren), struggle to accept the reality that life as they once knew it is over. Put off by the idea of moving to an assisted living community, Waller finds himself drawn to a house with a shady past (an instance of its evil detailed in the mildly effective cold open) and a mysterious pool. He soon discovers that its waters, drawn from a nearby natural spring, have healing qualities. But not all who wade into its wet quarters fare so well. Read More

‘THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER’ Fails to Resurrect the Terror

October 4, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ann Dowd, David Gordon Green, Ellen Burstyn, Exorcist: Believer, Horror, Leslie Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett, Movie Reviews, Olivia Marcum, Out in Theaters, The Exorcist: Believer 5 Comments

If there’s one thing an Exorcist movie, be it a sequel, prequel, remake or sequel, needs to be, it’s scary. David Gordon Green’s 50-years later requel, The Exorcist: Believer fails that most fundamental test. The very celluloid of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist hums with tension and terror – each shot more possessed with unspeakable dread than the last. It’s the original nightmare-inducing horror film, a palpable shock to the system that stands up half a century later. It’s especially remarkable when you consider the context: just five years earlier, filmmakers were ensnared in the strict confines of the Hays Code, a moral guideline that prohibited profanity, suggestive nudity, graphic or realistic violence, and sexual persuasions. The thought of a 14-year-old child actor old uttering lines like, “Your mother sucks c*cks in hell” was plain unthinkable just a few years prior. It’s also pretty unthinkable today. Read More