Night Caller by veteran writer/director/producer Chad Ferrin is a tense thriller that follows the journey of telephone psychic Clementine Carter (Susan Priver) who receives a call from a client that triggers clairvoyant visions of brutal psychosexual violence at the hands of the killer (Steve Railsback) on the other end of the phone, the murder and […]
Streaming VOD Reviews
[Review] Occupation: Rainfall (2022) High Octane Invasion Sequel Fires a Lot of Ammo and Scores Some Hits
I come to the Saban produced alien invasion film Occupation: Rainfall a bit flat footed, not having seen his 2018 series origin Occupation, which appears to establish the characters and circumstances by which the Australian capital of Sydney finds itself under a punishing invasion by a hostile race of aliens referred to as Greys. Two […]
[Review] The Wild Man of the Navidad: Throwback Creature Feature Offers Plenty of Cryptid Creepiness
Loosely based on accounts of a creature that is said to be the subject of one of the first Bigfoot sightings in Texas in the 1800s as well as in a more modern encounter, The Wild Man of the Navidad (2008 but receiving a new DVD rerelease) hearkens back to the heyday of 1970s docudrama […]
[Review] DIGGING TO DEATH (2021)
Saddled with a new mortgage that he can barely afford, recently divorced dad David Vanowen (Ford Austin) decides he can save some money by installing his septic system. He’s not a licensed contractor or even a construction worker — he’s a computer programmer — but the always optimistic Vanowen tells himself, how hard can it […]
[Review] AMITYVILLE POLTERGEIST (2021) Gloomy Spooks and Lady Ghouls
Desperate to make cash and too squeamish about selling his blood for money, Jim (Parris Bates) decides to take a job housesitting. It sounds like a pretty sweet gig: $100 a night, and all he has to do is make sure nobody breaks in and damages the place until the owner, Eunice (Rebecca Kimble), returns. […]
Review: CBS All Access: ‘The Stand’ – Where Things Are Three Episodes In
Everyone knows – I’m Gruesome Magazine’s resident Stephen King fan. I have been a fan of his written word – and the projects derived from them – since Carrie and although I love the original Mick Garris directed mini-series, like many fans I have longed for a more elaborate visual retelling of this horror classic. […]
[Review] PARALLEL: Alternate Realities Bring Out the Worst in Four Friends in This Terrific Science Fiction Chiller
I have been a big fan of director Isaac Ezban’s work since seeing his first two features The Incident (2014) and The Similars (2015) during their film festival runs, and have been anticipating his third feature at the helm, Parallel (2018), since first hearing about it. Whereas Ezban wrote and directed those first two Spanish-language […]
[Review] REDWOOD MASSACRE: ANNIHILATION – Cranks the Tension Up to 11
A group of people heads off into the woods to track down a deranged killer who, according to urban legend, slaughtered dozens of people a decade ago. Some of them have a direct connection to one of the victims, some are just there for the thrill of the hunt. One of them is there for […]
[Review] TOKYO HOME STAY MASSACRE – Messy Tribute to Gory Classics
It’s clear from the way they pay tribute to the filmmakers that came before that first-time writers/directors Kenta Osaka and Hirohito Takimoto watched a lot of horror movies before sitting down to create Tokyo Home Stay Massacre. Some of their tributes will be immediately identifiable, such as the spooky creature with the extremely long hair […]
[Review] THE DEVIL TO PAY is a Rare Gem
“They want nothing from you and God help you if you try to interfere.” It seems a little corny for husband and wife filmmaking team Lane and Ruckus Skye to begin their feature film debut with a dire quote from a 2010 census to underline the dangerous nature of people living in the remote region […]
[Review] BEAST WITHIN (2020) Falls Short of the Mark
Whether it’s a closeup of Lon Chaney Jr’s face getting hairier and hairier using lapse-dissolve photography in his various Universal Monster Movies or Rick Baker’s Oscar-winning full body transformation of David Naughton in An American Werewolf in London, the measuring stick for all werewolf films is the transformation scene. A good transformation scene not only […]
[Review] LAST LAUGH (2020) This Killer is No Joke…
It’s not much of a gig for Myles Park (Steve Vanderzee) being the opening act for a Hollywood sell-out trying to return to his stand-up roots to prove he is more than just a guy making bad movies for the money. But it takes place in a real theater and that sure beats telling jokes […]
[Review] THE FACELESS MAN (2020) Inspired Madness with a Dash of Confusion
The Faceless Man is a confusing mess. The first 10 minutes feel like a high school theater production of an angst-filled father/daughter melodrama that takes place in the middle of a crowded cancer ward. It’s badly acted, badly written, and almost bad enough to make you stop watching altogether. But please don’t. When the action […]
[Review] THE SILENCING a frustratingly messy movie filled with twists and turns that lead nowhere
The body of a teenage girl is found washed up by the banks of a river. Police arrive, look around for a bit and deduce that she wasn’t just killed. She had been hunted. It’s unclear how they leap to this conclusion given the minimal investigation, but it’s still just the opening minutes of The […]
[Review] COMPOUND FRACTURE – Sinister Tension Oozes Off the Screen
It’s been a long time since Michael Wolffsen (Tyler Mane) has been back to the family compound, and it’s not because his life away from home has been so fabulous he didn’t have time to look back. If anything he’s spent all those years obsessing over what he left behind, always worrying that someone or […]