There's no denying short films have gotten short shrift on Thomas J. I've got a few stashed away here and there (and here, too) but the overwhelming majority of my total output has been focused on feature-length productions. And why not? It's very difficult to review a short film and not spoil it! I've been … Continue reading Short, Sweet and Screamy: “Huluween” Reviews
#creepy
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Release: Friday, May 3, 2019 (limited) →Netflix Written by: Michael Werwie Directed by: Joe Berlinger Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile may appear on the surface as a redundant exercise. Do we really need another take on the American nightmare that was Ted Bundy? Like it or not we have come to know the man behind at … Continue reading Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Under the Shadow
Release: Friday, October 7, 2016 (limited) [Netflix] Written by: Babak Anvari Directed by: Babak Anvari For the better part of the 1980s tension between Iran and Iraq had been escalating into large-scale armed conflict, an eight-year period of violence recognized today as the Iran-Iraq War. Then-president Saddam Hussein, hoping to pounce on Iran in post-Islamic Revolution turmoil, invaded without warning … Continue reading Under the Shadow
They Look Like People
Release: Friday, February 26, 2016 (limited) [Netflix] Written by: Perry Blackshear Directed by: Perry Blackshear They Look Like People is the debut feature from Perry Blackshear, a quietly unassuming hybrid of horror and psychological thriller elements built on a shoestring budget. The film, which revolves around a young man who has visions of an impending apocalyptic event, premiered at the … Continue reading They Look Like People
Clown
Release: Friday, June 17, 2016 (limited) [Theater] Written by: Jon Watts; Christopher D. Ford Directed by: Jon Watts Jon Watts' body horror film, a production slotted directly between his much-acclaimed debut thriller Cop Car and his shot at making Spider-Man cool again (again) is simple and direct. Unfortunately Clown is so stripped down it pretty much fails to register at … Continue reading Clown
Hush
Release: Friday, April 8, 2016 (Netflix) [Netflix] Written by: Mike Flanagan; Kate Siegel Directed by: Mike Flanagan What you don't hear definitely can hurt you in Hush, Mike Flanagan's second consecutive exploration of the human sensory system and how much we depend on it, especially in stressful situations. In 2013 Flanagan emphasized, even obsessed over visual stimuli, how one's mind … Continue reading Hush
Creep
Release: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 [Netflix] Written by: Patrick Brice; Mark Duplass Directed by: Patrick Brice Creep is Brice's directorial debut, pairing the writer-director with master of strange Mark Duplass of mostly independent film fame. As with his sophomore effort The Overnight the less I mumble on, the higher Creep's potential to surprise becomes. And if I'm not just … Continue reading Creep
Maggie
Release: Friday, May 8, 2015 [iTunes] Written by: John Scott III Directed by: Henry Hobson In defense of a very deliberately paced, melancholic film misleadingly billed as a thriller, Maggie serves as Arnold Schwarzenegger's finest hour (and a half). Of course, describing Arnie's role here as the best thing he's ever done may seem a relative compliment. There has been … Continue reading Maggie
It Follows
Release: Friday, March 13, 2015 [Theater] Written by: David Robert Mitchell Directed by: David Robert Mitchell Subtly unsettling and certainly spooky the unseen, inexplicable threat at the heart of It Follows is not likely to strike you right away, but if you let it that paranoid feeling will eventually find you. David Robert Mitchell has come up with a … Continue reading It Follows
Only Lovers Left Alive
Release: Friday, April 11, 2014 (limited) [Netflix] Written by: Jim Jarmusch Directed by: Jim Jarmusch Vampires have never seemed as hipster as they do in Jim Jarmusch's beautifully framed and deliberately paced tale of two long-time lovers reuniting in Detroit -- but in an incredible twist of fate script they have also never seemed so appealing. Tom Hiddleston … Continue reading Only Lovers Left Alive
