Lights out is a clichéd but tightly-directed horror film that makes very effective use of well-timed jump scares and better than average performances to create an entertaining spook-fest. An extended trailer for this film was shown before The Conjuring 2 which may have given the impression that the two films were linked. Apart from the fact that The Conjuring 2
Read moreThe Conjuring 2, director James Wan’s sequel to his impressive 2013 retro ghost story is a fiercely effective spook-fest that betters the first movie for one of the best mainstream horror films of recent years. Like the first film, The Conjuring 2 claims to be based on real events and is once again plucked from the case files of ghost
Read moreWith its distinctive aesthetic style, The Witch: A New England Folktale is one of the more striking looking horror films of recent times. A patchy script, however, may leave eager horror fans dissatisfied. The story sees a family of 17th century pilgrims in New England banished to the wilderness when their overly pious father William (Ralph Ineson) angers the local
Read moreIs Ghost Dimension the end of the Paranormal Activity saga? A taped announcement from director Gregory Plotkin before the screening implied as much by claiming that this film would answer every question raised by the other Paranormal films. While this movie may not answer every question, it does offer a resolution of sorts. Like all the other Paranormals, Ghost Dimension uses
Read moreCombining supernatural scares with a touch of the dark, hypnotic mood of Jonathon Glazer’s Under The Skin, the sinister melancholia of Let The Right One In, the grim suburbia of John Carpenter’s Halloween and the sexualised teen world of Larry Clark’s films, the creepy, atmospheric It Follows manages to connect low budget art house cinema with classic teen horror. Impressively,
Read moreThe first two instalments in the Paranormal Activity horror movie series created a genuine sense of terror by subtlety placing intensifying supernatural events in a believable everyday setting. The story of an average person being targeted by an evil force recalled the demonic threat of The Exorcist while the home-movie found-footage aesthetic gave the films a disturbing verisimilitude. Subsequent instalments
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