Frightfest Review: The Diabolical

This was originally published at The Edge SUSU on September 1st 2015. 

The haunted house movie was essentially the sub-genre that killed torture porn. There was a momentary sigh of relief as everyone settled into their new favourite way to be scared every October, but since the first Paranormal Activity we’ve had five sequels, three Insidious films, two Conjurings (with a third on the way) and a whole host of pale imitations. Not to mention that Poltergeist (the film that they all draw on) has been given a crummy remake, that itself feels like an Insidious clone.

Frightfest Review: The Hallow

This was originally published at The Edge SUSU on August 31st. 

It has often seemed like every horror film released over the last couple of years is either a remake, a Conjuring clone, or a found-footage rip-off. Caught up in trying to pursue the hottest trends, most producers don’t have confidence in anything that falls out of the very specific bracket of what they think people want. As a result, so many specific types of horror film have fallen out of fashion, when it used to be such a diverse and lively genre, that boasted plenty of different variants and sub-categories.

Frightfest Review: Hellions

This was originally published at The Edge SUSU on August 31st.

 Bruce McDonald’s Hellions is almost the dictionary definition of frustrating, as it starts off by showing huge potential, only to then go and squander it all as it delves further and further up its own anus.