I've been very lazy with reviews this year and WILL get through the huge backlog of films, but I saw the "midnight" release of undertone and wanted to jot down my thoughts. This is not a spoiler-free review, and I'd highly recommend going in as blind as possible.

Horror movie marketing seems to work against itself, especially when every new release is advertised as some version of "the scariest movie of the year" (e.g., Longlegs, Smile). I kept seeing this…

Ever since I saw Curry Barker's Milk & Serial, I've been super excited to see what he could do with a bigger budget. Obsession is Barker's spin on a Monkey's Paw or evil Djinn-type movie, and yet it feels wholly original. It's an anxiety-inducing nightmare where the tension constantly builds and rarely lets up. The best scare in the movie had the entire theater jumping, and I even heard a few gasps during the fantastic head-smashing scene. There's a perfect amount…

1408 is a solid ghost movie and is among the better PG-13 horror movies that were all the rage in the aughts. The movie presents several themes to explore, though only a few are layered enough to feel strong. I'm not sure whether it would've been better if the movie were 20 minutes longer, or if they'd spent that time fully fleshing out the themes of grief, cynicism, and the effects of fear on the human mind. While we have…

I'm a sucker for "trapped-in" horror movies, so the concept alone was almost certainly going to work for me. There are several aspects about Pretty Lethal that kept reminding me of Green Room. A horror comedy version of Green Room could be interesting, except all stakes are removed once the comedy takes center stage. This might be cynical of me, but unless they nail the comedy portion, it's harder and harder for me to enjoy horror movies where the characters…

I will split this review up into a spoiler free section and a spoiler section. Both are labeled as such, so if you haven't seen the movie yet and plan to, please stop before the spoiler section.

SPOILER FREE:

Decided to see the midnight showing of Longlegs to give myself the best chance to love it. It's now been an hour since I left the theater and I'm listening to the score of the movie on repeat in the background…

The Witch is a masterclass in both cinematography and atmosphere. Everything is intentional and executed near perfectly. It’s a slow burn, but time and time again I’ve revisited it and never once felt bored. Robert Eggers’s obsession with period accuracy shines through the dull, dreary setting and results in a beautifully grounded folklore tale about witchcraft. One of my only criticisms of this film is that it pretty much requires you to watch with subtitles because of the period-accurate language…