I watched Late Night with the Devil, but it failed to intrigue. A far more effective version of hell breaking loose on the telly can be found in Ghostwatch a BBC mockumentary that originally aired on Halloween night, 1992. Apparently Ghostwatch was so realistic that many citizens were fooled into thinking something truly paranormal was ..read more

“I’ve always wanted a pool.” Kurt Russell’s kid Wyatt stars as an ailing baseball player who lucks into a house with a magic swimming pool. Unfortunately, his family may not survive a comeback. I went into Night Swim under the impression that I would be watching a goofy monster-in-the-drain romp with a heavy body count ..read more

This is what I get for not staying in touch. It’s been quite a spell since I sat down with Godzilla. And King Kong? Forever. This is the fourth (!) Godzilla-Kong film in the Monsterverse series that started 10 years ago with Godzilla. Since then, both creatures have been busy with their lives. Godzilla appears ..read more

Mrs. Sharky wanted to watch a romantic comedy. Uh oh. I said, “What’s in it for me?” This is the type of give-and-take situation we domesticated adults must consider every single day, and believe me, it ain’t easy. Fortunately, my painstaking research turned up Warm Bodies, a zesty Canadian zom-rom-com that actually checked all the boxes for both our discerning tastes. What a find! Written and directed by Jonathan Levine, and based on a novel by Seattle writer Isaac Marion, Warm Bodies is the story of R (Nicholas Hoult), an unusually thoughtful zombie who wanders around an airport with his fe ..read more

Yech! Even with Ridley Scott directing, Alien: Covenant is a flipping flop. Maybe we should blame Michael Fassbinder who gets to chew twice as much scenery in the dual role of Walter (the helpful, supportive android) and David (the amoral narcissist android). Ten years after the events of Prometheus, which was also a dismal failure, a new crew of explorers and sleeping deep-space colonists get a fragmented distress signal from a nearby habitable planet. Though there is some space allotted for character development, nobody in the crew stands out from the usual trope type, except for Tennessee ..read more

Hey, you guys! Look at this footage I found! Through a mysterious editing process, Frogman brings together all the filmed components of a quest to locate a legendary cryptid that allegedly inhabits the swampier suburbs of Loveland, Ohio. Amateur filmmaker Dallas Kyle (Nathan Tymochuk) is worried that his career peaked as a child, when he snapped a photograph of a mysterious amphibian creature while on a trip with his parents. It happened near Loveland, Ohio, a small town that stays afloat financially by luring v-loggers, podcasters, documentarians, and other disposable media soakers to have a ..read more

Maybe the world isn’t ready for a sci-fi/horror Western starring a nonwhite cast, but I sure as hell am. Writer-director Jordan Peele muses on a number of subjects in Nope, some in subtle fashion, others with blunt force trauma. Otis Junior (OJ, played by Daniel Kaluuya) is a hard-working man who runs the Haywood family horse training business somewhere in the California desert, after the recent passing of his father (Keith David) under mysterious circumstances. His wayward sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) is trying to help out, but the fast-talking urbanite hype gal and the plain-spoken cowboy a ..read more

A beleaguered Georgia landowner summons a husband-wife team of investigators to document possible paranormal parties driving away his customers at a remote hunting lodge. The hunters are scared of ghosts that noisily walk around at night, and whose presence is felt by virtually everyone who stays there. Filmmakers Kendall and Vera Whelpton set up shop in the antler-festooned farmhouse, promptly noting atmospheric changes on their EMF readers, and seemingly making contact with an entity that flashes lights in response to questions. Eventually the Whelptons bring in a rather theatrical psychic ..read more

Even Stephen King loves Infested! So how come I don’t? French filmmaker Sebastien Vanicek spins an undeniably creepy tale about the rag-tag residents of a dilapidated apartment building besieged by Middle-Eastern spiders that reproduce at an alarming rate. Our hero is Kaleb (Théo Christine), an exotic animal fancier and sneaker pimp with a troubled personal life. Seeking to numb his sorrows with a little retail therapy, he buys an expensive spider from a shady agent and promptly loses the little bugger once he gets home. Next thing you know, there are spiders everywhere! Big ones, small ones ..read more

Welcome to a dark night of the soul. Even bad people have them. In some nameless Australian trailer park, Patrick (Brendan Rock) sits in his living room drinking whiskey. Outside, there is thunder and lightning, just like the night Frankenstein’s creature woke up. Patrick is alone, but not for long. A wayward woman (Jordan Cowan), lost in the storm and soaked to the skin, pounds on his door seeking a telephone. “You’ve knocked on the wrong door,” Patrick tells the shoeless visitor. Of course, things are not that simple. The wrong door depends on who’s standing where. You’ll Never Find Me, wri ..read more