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 6 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

‘RENFIELD’ Is a Cringy Husk of a Vampire-Comedy

April 12, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Out in Theaters, Renfield, Reviews, Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ridley, Shorhreh Aghdashloo Leave a comment

In a world where the utterly iconic What We Do in the Shadows exists, it’s a real affront to the entire motion picture medium that a hacky, low-brow vampire-farce like Renfield somehow passes muster and makes its way onto our screens. Reanimating the corpse of the Dracula story for this “horror-comedy” – one that’s notably short on both horror and comedy – director Chris McKay (The LEGO Batman Movie, The Tomorrow War) mashes together the lowest common denominator (demon-inator?) of both genres to make something that is almost entirely devoid of charm, joy, and a pulse. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘MANDY’

September 10, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Aaron Stewart-Ahn, Andrea Riseborough, Benjamin Loeb, Horror, Johan Johansson, Nicolas Cage, Out in Theaters, Panos Cosmatos, Reviews 1 Comment

If you’ve ever asked yourself “What the fuck did I just watch?” just wait until you get a load of Mandy. The avant-garde metal midnighter from Italian director Panos Cosmatos yields a phantasmagoric descent into hell itself, where none other than Nicholas Cage (in all his unhinged glory) plays a logger named Red Miller who hunts down an LSD-fueled Christian cult and a literal biker gang from hell to avenge the love of his life (Andrea Riseborough, rocking a heavy metal Shelley Duvall look) . Turns out, hell hath no fury like a Nicolas Cage scorned. Read More