Channel Zero: Butcher's Block

Channel Zero consistently delivers without peer the strongest horror experience on television. Each season has its unique flavor and theme: Butcher's Block covers the disquiet of mental decay with side helpings of cosmic horror, existential dread and garnished with a thorough spectrum of viscera. This entry is more gruesome than its predecessors but greater chills come from psychological dread and disquiet, with excellent writing offering intelligent characters, insightful subtext and layers of commentary that never distracts or diminishes from the tale being told. The cinematography is vivid and vibrant, providing a twisted color scheme and distinction between reality and fever-dream dimensions. The performances are wonderful, from creepy hellish imp-minions, a riveting Rutger Hauer and the leads who deliver raw and powerfully engaging performances. Then there is the material, which is terrifying on both quiet and intimate levels to outlandish supernatural extremes. Some of the more surreal elements in this season and a twisted macabre humor might alienate some, but even the most absurd elements play nicely to the themes of insanity. Unquestionably best horror on television, with a strong argument for one of the best shows period, no horror fan should be missing this.

A

The Endless

This is an intelligent film whose full layers will likely not reveal themselves in a single viewing. There is a lot going on and the rules of engagement are bizarre yet internally consistent. This is a film made cheaply, but reliant on smart writing and good performances to deliver quality. Scares may be few, but the horror is profound. There is existential menace and cosmic horror at play at a level where horrible death is a preferable option. The dual leads are also the writers/directors which is normally a warning sign, but respect to levels of talent, as their easy charisma caries this film. There's humor at play, but for the most part this movie is introspective and thought provoking and the core mystery delivers. While well executed on a slim budget, there are certainly holes in logic and seams where the budget shows, but for what it presents, it presents exceptionally.

B+

Cargo

There's not too terribly much more one can add to the zombie genre, and this movie doesn't bother. What it does is uses the tropes and scope of a zombie apocalypse to tell an intimate tale about sacrifice, parenthood and legacies. And it does this very well, carried by a touching performance from Martin Freeman, consistently demonstrating his depth and skill as an actor. Now the film is filled to the brim with all the expected zombie cliches, tropes, and is far too methodically paced for the ADHD crowds, but Freeman's performance is engaging enough to maintain the audience's attention. Like most zombie films, Cargo is rife with sociopolitical and philosophical commentary, focusing on the nature and effect of colonialism on native cultures and the psyche of a nation. The set and setting is unique, especially considering how many post-apocalyptic zombie landscapes permeate the landscape, The focus on aboriginal Australia offers a refreshingly different perspective with a scope far more on individual humanity and the personal journey than dealing with the nature and execution of the global apocalypse. Horror aficionados might lament the lack of suspense, frights, zombie herds and fairly tame gore, but the tale being told is poignant albeit stretched too far in places. On the whole, offering nothing new, but a nicely told tragedy in an equally beautiful setting carried by a performance that makes up for flaws that might have derailed a lesser film.

C+

The Nun

This insipid entry into the over-bloated Conjuring franchise keenly demonstrates everything wrong with the state of studio horror. Where the conjuring franchise once offered a refreshing revamp of classic horror tropes, this entry seems content to simply check off each and every cliche and uninspired retread of overplayed jump scares. And to call them scares is disingenuous, as the film relies more upon startling and rupturing eardrums with discordant sound cues than providing actual scares. The demons/devils/ghosts and other apparitions fall into one of two categories: bland versions of scarier ghosts from other films, or a pennywise reject whose presence is more laughable than frightening. Like in the Conjuring 2 where this figure first emerged, each and every time the 'Nun' appears on screen, the more ridiculous it seems. If you can actually tell the character is onscreen. I credit this movie as literally the darkest film I may have ever seen. The majority of the film takes place at night and in dank and dark locations and it becomes almost impossible to discern actors from shadows, features of the sets, or any of the detail work of what should be a nicely impressive and creepy edifice. At best, you might be able to discern shades of muddy grey/blue from darker shadows of muddy dark-grey/blue, one of which might be a hissing snake-vomiting ghost, but chances are you won't care to see more regardless.

D-

La Piel Fría

Somewhere within this script is an interesting thematic exploration of xenophobia and the 'us vs. them' mentality of warfare featuring hints of PTSD, war-weariness, the loss of faith in humanity and nuanced philosophical call-outs. The set and setting looks great, with a stylishly bleak and foreboding atmosphere and some pretty decent makeup/creature effects. The acting is decent and the actors are supremely committed. Unfortunately, this potential gets lost in a live-action tower-defense game with a Lovecraftian #metoo side-story. The script creaks under the ambition of attempting to translate a decent novel and really doesn't seem to know where it wants to go with the material. Except one place it really wants to go, which: to be fair, frogs gotta love too. #sexydeepones. Before too long, everything degenerates into predictability and chaos with a nonsensical ending. I'm not saying this movie is atrocious, but it certainly is not good, unless you have an aquatic furry fixation, which... would that be scalies?

D

Pari

The subtitle for this film warns viewers: this is no fairy tale, but I argue otherwise. Pari presents a fairy tale in a more gruesome package derived from muslim and indian mythology. There are genuinely freaky and chilling moments strewn throughout the film, but I'd be hard pressed to describe the final product as a horror film. It feels the filmmakers lost track of the nature of the film they were trying to tell. There is some severe tonal and storytelling whiplash as it starts romantic comedy, then descends into horror, then whimsy, then romance, then tragedy. There are some elements delivered ridiculously and its hard a-times to figure out exactly whom to root for, but it's all in a very polished wrapper. At the end the final product is a bit of a mish-mash but surprisingly touching

C+

Down a Dark Hall

An excruciatingly slow build is helped by an likable protagonist and an intriguing setup. The film's direction and cinematography is skilled, with expected gothic color palates and striking candlelit scenes, but quality of the visual style is offset by questionable performances and distracting accents. There is a decent and refreshingly original idea behind the supernatural mystery but unfortunately the last act is shambles. There are some decent creepy vibes, if no real frights. Its all pretty tame fare with an over-reliance on expected tropes. Pity, as the ideas within warrant further exploration, and with more polish would have elevated this film beyond serviceable.

C

Veronica

Veronica wisely begins with the emergency recording from the events inspiring this tale in order to establish its credentials as a 'true' story and to keep people from tuning out through the slow build of a standard possession movie. And it it as standard as they come, from start to finish. The only thing unique about this film is the Spanish setting and an exceptional performance from the main actress. The interaction between the younger characters playing siblings is excellently portrayed and layered, adding levels of watchability even if the supernatural elements are rote. The creepy scenes are effective, if nothing particularly original, subtly blending CG and practical effects. The direction and cinematography are also quite good, the whole thing is very nicely presented, it just not presenting anything new.

C

Truth or Dare

This movie features characters barely sketched beyond selfish and insufferable but surprisingly, this helps make this film more interesting than it deserves. The script boils down to a notion of self-preservation: do you sacrifice your own good for others or conversely, how much horror will you inflict to survive? To its credit, the film wastes no time building sympathy pretty miserable humans, instead justifiably wrecking their interpersonal relationships even as doom approaches. Now, don't let my praise delude you into thinking this is by any measure a great film, it is paint-by-numbers tween-age horror whose deaths are telegraphed, scares sanitized and much of the dialogue and plot points are cringe-worthy. However, the writers were attempting to interject a slight ethical commentary, and an utterly kick-ass ending elevates what would otherwise be strictly average fare.

C+

Upgrade

This is low budget that gleefully pummels blockbusters to shame with unrelenting crazy awesome. Upgrade is intense and slick action-scifi with a darkly horrific core. The direction and cinematography are phenomenal and the intelligent script does an excellent job of world-building and providing levels of stimulation. At the core is a revenge tale seeped in technological terrors and body horror that rarely feels outside possibility. There is satire and dark humor at play that offsets the intensity and numerous gut-churning twists. Upgrade has a fairly short running time but rarely squanders any moment, barely slowing down once hijinks begin. And the hijinks are exquisite, providing amazingly innovative and visceral action sequences that exponentially intensify to a satisfying conclusion.

A

Patient Zero

This is a bad film whose actors seem aware they made a poor life decision. There is a kernel of a potential good idea lurking deep within this travesty, but nowhere evident in script or execution. None of the ideas make any sense, the characters consistently act in the most illogical manner, and the entire endeavor looks cheap, despite a decent cast and some apparent production values. The entire film is limited to one or two sets and the film is arguably an acting showcase for decent actors doing purposefully bad accents. Except for Natalie Dormer, who seems contractually mandated not to attempt poor accents following The Forest (2016). There are no scares or even attempts at such, except for a certain 'love' scene that's so poorly executed and ill-thought I'd argue is an attempt at a horrific object lesson for future actors in picking better scripts.

F

Hereditary

Every year there is a festival film that garners all of the acclaim and excessive hyperbole. This year's entry is Hereditary, and the praise is warranted even if the hyperbole is not. Hereditary is a meticulously directed and executed film buoyed by amazing performances; however, horror aficionados will recognize most elements quickly. Hereditary starts with a bleak atmosphere and oppressive feeling of dread and tension that ratchets exponentially into full crazy by the last act. What follows is a dark metaphor at how grief and madness shatters families, and this film is unrelenting in how far it will go in exploring the subject matter. For the vast majority of Hereditary, the argument could certainly be made a supernatural or psychological explanation could serve, with each being equally horrific. There are few jump scares, but this film is far more reliant on building a disquieting atmosphere and lingering on genuinely creepy scenes and performances. This is also for the most part a highly intelligent film, handling the clues and subject matter respectfully until the last act where everything degenerates into bedlam and info-dump. The ending will be divisive, as either one will enjoy the last act roller-coaster of madness, or laugh at the absurdity of certain elements. My gripes with the film begin about midway as characters engage in some exceptionally dumb life choices culminating in excessively ham-fisted exposition where the filmmakers suddenly lose faith in the audience's intelligence and capacity to follow the plot. Regardless, this film is an excellent horror film whose sense of dread will linger long past the credits.

Edit: Upon further reflection and revisiting this film again and again, the level of excellence this movie provides is exceptional. The layered writing, performances, themes and execution only gets more appreciable with each revisit. Even the more outlandish elements are directly inspired from grimoires and source material, and the filmmaker clearly did his research. As far as dumb life choices go, the characters in question are blinded by grief and being manipulated from the very onset by powers both human and otherworldly. This is one of those rare instances where I must unreservedly retract my initial assessment and rate this film accordingly:

A