Faces of Death, on Shudder

It miight be the most censored film of all time. Yet, it might also be one of the “banned films” that has been least defended by ostensive civil libertarians. Arthur Spevak helps explain their reticence. The serial killer decides to remake scenes from the notorious fake mondo documentary horror movie in Daniel Goldhaber’s like-titled Faces of Death, which premieres this Friday on Shudder.

Margot Romero was once a reckless online influencer-provocateur until one of her online stunts ended in tragedy. In a soul-killing effort to atone for his sister’s death, Romero works as a content moderator for Kino, a tiktok clone that naturally discourages moderation. At first, she approves videos posted by a mysterious user, assuming they are fake. However, she grows alarmed as the gore appears increasingly realistic.

Of course, her boss dismisses her concern, because Kino and tiktok are evil. Even when she identifies missing persons in the video, the police dismiss her concerns. Noticing deliberate similarities to the original 1978 Faces of Death, Romero starts tracking the poster online. However, her digital sleuthing brings her to the attention of the killer, Spevak, who is indeed remaking Faces of Death.

Arguably, Goldhaber’s new riff-reboot is a lot like Censor and the thematically similar but vastly superior Berberian Sound Studio. It is a horror movie that hates horror movies (which is weird, considering Goldhaber’s Shining-inspired “Red Rum (Colorado)” is such a great “state” within the 50 States of Fright series). Nevertheless, Goldhaber and co-screenwriter Isa Mazzei clearly suggest horror films and rubbernecking online videos have a desensitizing effect, corroding viewers’ empathy and decency. They offer Spevak as a compelling exhibit A.

Whether you agree or not (and tiktok’s amplification of antisemitism is well documented), Goldhaber’s execution is tight and tense. True to horror movie traditions, the characters often display poor survival instincts. Yet, the malevolent vibe is always quite potent.

Forbidden Fruits, on Shudder

Are these mallrats a cult or a coven? Which would be worse? Or is there really a difference? And  where do they still have malls? Apparently, Texas. Maybe that’s why everyone is moving there. Regardless, locals would be safer ordering from Amazon in Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits, which premieres tomorrow on Shudder.

Apple and her two co-workers are the Mean Girls of the mall, which rather tracks considering scenes from Mean Girls were also shot at the real-life Sherway Gardens mall (in Toronto, not Texas). She jealously guards their place at the top of the hierarchy, but she allows Pumpkin to make the unprecedented social climb from pretzel store to their “Free Eden” boutique. Evidently, her name is just sufficiently fruit-like to qualify.

Awkwardly, Cherry resents Pumpkin joining the Free Eden sales staff, because it jeopardizes her status as Apple’s favorite. Fig is more down-to-earth than the infantilized Cherry. She even has a healthy relationship with her secret boyfriend. However, all three store clerks share a dark secret regarding Pickle, Pumpkin’s predecessor, who roams the mall in a mentally agitated state. Supposedly, one of Apple’s spells accidentally backfired on Pickle, but Pumpkin suspects it was more intentional. In fact, Pumpkin has further suspicions regarding Apple and her coven. That is why she started working in the mall in the first place.

Like Aleshea Harris’s Is God Is, Forbidden Fruits started life as a stage drama, Lily Houghton’s awkwardly titled Of the Woman Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die, but Alloway and the playwright pumped up the genre elements when adapting it for the screen. Most of the film has a weird “what am I watching vibe,” but that makes it memorable, in a good way. It is not exactly horror, at least not really, but there is certainly a macabre undertone and eventually a good deal of blood.

Arguably, it is a rather incisive satire of Wiccan New Age feminist ideology, in which the rhetoric of self-empowerment becomes a spell to smite thine enemies. Whether intentional or not, Apple’s contempt for traditional family and general bourgeoisie striving soon reveals its horrifying true face.

The Voices of Our Mother, on Shudder

About all the only thing Harriet spared her children was wire-hanger trauma. Indeed, the damage done while she stood by, watching disinterestedly as her husband beat her four children, has probably irreparably poisoned their relationships. Not surprisingly, when she suffers a stroke, none of them is keen to care for her. However, they soon start to suspect Harriet might have literally had the devil in her. It will be a rough family reunion in director-screenwriter Mark O’Brien’s The Voices of Our Mother, which premieres this Friday on Shudder.

Only the family matriarch, Johanna, ever provided her grandchildren any degree of protection. Yet, she always coddled Harriet, to the point of infantilizing her. When she finally dies, Harriet predictably reacts badly. At first, her doctor assumes she suffered a stroke, but tests prove she is remarkably healthy physically.

Of course, once they reluctantly take her home, Harriet starts exhibiting Reagan MacNeil like behavior. Unfortunately, the dissension between the grown children makes them especially ill-equipped to deal with the crisis. William is on the verge of bankruptcy, so he resents every potential expense. He also resents his twin sister Theresa for stealing his girlfriend, who eventually became her now deceased wife. Younger brother Martin is a hopeless drug addict, who resents his siblings for a shameful secret to be revealed later in the film.

The youngest, Annika, took nun’s vows, so she might be the best prepared for the demonic terrors, but she somewhat resents herself, for largely abandoning her family when they most needed each other. However, helpful Father Roslovic might have insight into Harriet and Johanna that will help Annika confront the evil plaguing her family.

Honestly, O’Brien’s family dysfunction might be more terrifying than his demonic horror. That’s because his mercilessly and unforgiving dialogue is so believable. Judging from this film, O’Brien might be able to remake Mommie Dearest and somehow make it work (but he’s probably much better off sticking with the horror genre).

As it happens, the film also has an unusually strong message regarding the power of faith. It is almost tempting to recommend it to the Evangelical community, but pretty much every other aspect would likely put them off. Oh well.  Regardless, it shares a very Blatty-esque perspective on the existence and nature of good and evil.

This is Not a Test, on Shudder

This will sort of be like The Breakfast Club for Sloane Price and some of her classmates, except instead of learning to understand each other’s differences, they will simply try to avoid getting bit by zombies. Admittedly, their high school is a good place to set up barricades, but the Gen Z’er’s definitely lack the survival instincts of Gen X’er’s in Adam MacDonald’s This is Not a Test, which premieres tomorrow on Shudder.

Considering how relentlessly Price father abuses her and her older sister Lily, the zombies probably don’t look so bad to her. Seriously, why does every father have to be an abusive pedophile in horror movies? It is like Stphen King’s weird, deep-seated resentments were contagious. Indeed, this is the first example of how This is not a Test looks and feels an awful lot like an awful lot of other movies.

Regardless, one fateful morning, the zombie hordes descend on Price’s street like locusts. Amid the mayhem, she connects with cocky jock Cary Chen, the popular Casper twins (Trace and Grace, seriously), and Rhys Moreno, who always carried a torch for her. Somehow, they manage to reach and secure their high school—but probably not to a sufficiently safe degree. Of course, there is considerable friction in the group, as well as sexual tension, to undermine their concentration and team-work.

The Last Sacrifice, on Shudder

In America, small towns are friendly and welcoming. Not in England (and particularly not the Cotswolds). That’s basically why we have folk horror. They are used to having neighbors die in gruesome unexplained ways, so they resent it when outsiders come to investigate them. That was the case for Sgt. Neil Howey in Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man and also for the legendary Detective Sergeant Robert Fabian when investigating the real-life murder of Charles Walton. Filmmaker Rupert Russell delves into the case widely considered to be the partial inspiration for The Wicker Man, in the context of the rise of Wicca/witchcraft in 20^th Century United Kingdom, in the documentary The Last Sacrifice, which premieres tomorrow on Shudder.

If Russell only addressed the Walton murder, his film would still be one of the more interesting true crime docs. Walton sounds like a perfectly nice farm laborer and landscaper, who had the grisly misfortune to be impaled with his own pitchfork and slashed with his pruning shear, so probably not suicide.

In fact, the case was so sensational, DS Fabian was dispatched to lead the investigation, but he was shocked by the locals, whom he found disinterested, recalcitrant, and uncooperative. At the time, Fabian never failed to solve a case, so this blemished his perfect record.

Subsequently, many “experts,” like anthropologist Margaret Murray, argued the Walton murder was a ritualistic sacrifice related to witchcraft. They found a receptive audience thanks to the likes of Alex Sanders, who became a tabloid celebrity as the face of hip swing sixties Paganistic wicca.

Although not directly related to the Walton case, Russell’s discussion of Sanders and related figures makes sense, because it perhaps helped inspire the general milieu they capitalized upon. Horror fans will also enjoy the way he uses clips from folk horror films, especially Wicker Man, but also including films like Wheatley’s Kill List, Aster’s Midsommar, and Hammer’s The Witches, to illustrates various concepts and themes (while clearly labeling them as fiction).

To Russell’s credit, he also includes skeptical voices, who openly doubt claims Walton was murdered as part of a pagan sacrifice. However, his on-camera experts draw sufficient parallels with Hardy’s film, so that fans of the cult classic should not feel misled.

Mother of Flies, on Shudder

Mickey considers Solvieg a healer. The locals call her a witch. This is not a case of potato-potahto. Viewers can tell from some of the flashbacks that the locals are probably more right than wrong. Either way, Mickey entrusts herself to the strange woman’s care in the latest film from the Adams Filmmaking Family (John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser), Mother of Flies, which premieres this Friday on Shudder.

Sadly, Mickey’s cancer has returned while she was away at college—aggressively. Exhausted with conventional treatments, she has convinced her father Jake to accompany her while she visits Solveig. Of course, Jake is suspicious, but Micky assures him Solveig is not trying to swindle her. She didn’t even advertise or pitch her services in a commercial sense. According to Mickey, Solveig came to her in a dream.

Jake is still skeptical, as well he should be. He doesn’t take to Solveig’s vegetarian cooking, while some of the “healer’s” “treatments” look quite distressing. Yet, Mickey believes Solveig’s weird occult remedies must be working. Awkwardly, the college student starts to resent her father’s doubts, arguing they undermine the faith Solveig’s treatment requires.

The Adamses have confirmed Mother of Flies was inspired by their own family history of cancer survival, but most viewers could guess as much just from watching. Every frame rings with uncomfortable authenticity, while a good deal of dialogue sounds adapted from memory. It is definitely one of the most emotionally sophisticated horror films of the year. To some extent, the serious, very mortal issues of mortality overshadow the supernatural horror that should drive the film. However, Solveig is always massively creepy.

Marshmallow, on Shudder

Anyone who knows anything about horror movies understands only bad things happen at summer camp. That is just as true for Camp Almar in this film as it was for Camp Crystal Lake in the Friday the 13^th franchise. However, the situation is a lot more complicated for young, insecure Morgan. His camp harbors some seriously sinister secrets in Daniel DelPurgatorio’s Marshmallow, which starts streaming tomorrow on Shudder.

Awkward Morgan could use a boost of confidence, so his kindly grandfather Roy cautiously suggests two months of summer camp might not be such a bad thing. Then he has a heart attack and dies. Morgan’s parents send him to camp anyway.

Maybe old Roy was right. Morgan quickly befriends fellow nerds Dirk and Raj. He also meets Pilar, a girl who is willing to talk to him. Unfortunately, he must room with CJ, the camp’s violent bully. Morgan is also freaked out by the stories of “The Doctor,” the camp’s supposed bogeyman (told round the old campfire, with hot chocolate—hence the title). Consequently, his friends initially assume his imagination has simply gotten the better of him when Morgan warns them the Doctor is tazing kids with a cattle prod. Yet, sure enough, it turns out to be true.

DelPurgatorio and screenwriter Andy Greskoviak deliver plenty of fan-pleasing retro 80’s horror vibes, while still telling a relatively original story. This is more than a slasher film, but it still has some of those elements. Nevertheless, there is little outright gore in Marshmallow. Instead, DelPurgatorio prioritizes suggestive mood and eerie atmosphere. Although it culminates with some genuinely surprising lunacy, the second act is arguably even more fun, in a nostalgic, throwback kind of way.

Wolf, on Shudder

It wasn't just My Bloody Valentine. In the horror genre, gas masks typically provide killers anonymity rather than save lives. This series isn’t exactly horror, but the principle remains the same. That much is quickly evident, but the titular lupine reference largely appears metaphorical. Be that as it may, DS Jack Caffery relentlessly pursues several extraordinarily savage human monsters in creator-writer Megan Gallagher’s six-episode Wolf, based on Mo Hayder’s novels, which premieres today on Shudder (and AMC+).

Caffery is definitely one of those edgy cops. He originally joined the force because of his guilt stemming from his older brother Ewan’s childhood disappearance. Caffery knows Ivan Penderecki, the neighbor who still lives across the street abducted Ewan, but the police could never prove it. Recently, Caffery moved back to his old Welsh home, just to observe Penderecki from Ewan’s former room.

Since crime ripped Caffery’s family apart, he has a certain rapport with other survivors. That is why he feels comfortable reaching out to a grieving father who turned vigilante for information regarding Penderecki, while they served time in the same prison. Technically, “Walking Man” never had dealings with the creep, but he knows the guy who beat Penderecki to within an inch of his life. Walking Man will reach out if Caffery does him a favor first.

The off-the-grid hermit found a lost dog with a fragment of an S.O.S. note. Walking Man is convinced a family might truly be in danger. As he investigates, Caffery starts to agree. Indeed, they would be the Anchor-Ferrers, who have been taken hostage by two home-invaders masquerading as policeman. “Honey” and “Molina” are a nasty, sadistic duo. However, there might be a third-party toying with them, as well.

Coincidentally, Caffery’s off-the-books case brings him back to the area of the notorious “Donkey Pitch” double homicide that he worked as young constable. He soon suspects the unknown family’s peril might be related to that supposedly closed case. Indeed, Honey and Molina intentionally incorporate elements of the Donkey Pitch crime scene in the torments they devise for the Anchor-Ferrers. Of course, poking around the old case causes friction with the original investigating DS, Maia Lincoln, which is particularly awkward for Caffery, given their history of furtive hook-ups.

Don’t freak out. The dog suffers a bit of rough treatment, but he will be just fine at the end. There are no guarantees for anyone else, although it is probably safe to assume Caffery survives, since Hayder wrote seven novels featuring the angsty DS—but there are no assurances regarding his mental or emotional state. Incidentally, the late author worked as a model and actress under the stage-name Candy Davis, most notably as the bombshell secretary on Are You Being Served, before reinventing herself (and eventually winning an Edgar Award) under her Hayder pen-name.

It is clear Gallagher incorporated elements from multiple novels, but she did so in a way that makes sense. Nevertheless, squeamish viewers should consider themselves forewarned. The torture the Anchor-Ferrers endure will be tough for even jaded viewers to take. There is also some creepy material involving raves and cults, which presumably explains how Wolf landed on Shudder for American audiences. Regardless, series directors Kristoffer Nyholm and Lee Haven Jones certainly maintain a high degree of tension.

The Jester 2, on Shudder

It seems like stupid horror movie characters never manage to overcome the monsters stalking them. Fifteen-year-old Max is a notable exception. She stymies her supernatural slasher within the first act. However, she faces even greater horrors as a result. That might not sound fair, but Satanic deals really aren’t known for being equitable. The titular character continues to do what he does best in director-screenwriter Colin Krawchuk’s The Jester 2, which premieres today on Shudder.

Poor Max’s mother doesn’t allow her to trick-or-treat anymore and her high school classmates belittle her for her passion for magic. They shouldn’t have scoffed, because she immediately recognizes the card trick the Jester tries to show her. It turns outs the Jester can’t kill her, because he didn’t “trick” her first. That is a big problem for him, because he must trick and kill four sacrifices everyone Halloween night or the Devil will take him back to Hell for an uncomfortably nasty eternity.

Awkwardly, this becomes a big problem for Max too, because she essentially inherits oversight responsibility for the Jester’s Faustian contract. Of course, the Jester is happy to sacrifice any old anyone, but Max insists they should be more selective. Nevertheless, she quickly realizes even her worst bullies do not deserve the Jester’s treatment.

Krawchuk’s sequel is considerably better than the Terrifier rip-off that fans might assume, based on the Jester’s clown-like makeup. Krawchuk creates some intriguing lore for his signature bogeyman. Yet, the film’s greatest asset would be Max’s resourcefulness. Having already bested the Jester once, viewers can reasonably root for her to do it again.

Reflection in a Dead Diamond, on Shudder

Maybe all those martinis are not so good for a secret agent, even if they are stirred and not shaken. Retired spy John Dimon had more than his share of debauched indulgence—and it now shows. Unfortunately, he suspects bad karma and old enemies from his former life have come back to settle the score in Helene Cattet & Bruno Forzani’s Reflection in a Dead Diamond, which premieres this Friday on Shudder.

Explaining the storyline of a Cattet & Forzani film is always a tricky proposition. They mainly care about imagery, rather than the stuff that preoccupies middlebrow squares, such as plot. Their first two films, Amer and The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears were tributes to Italian Gialos, while Let the Corpses Tan riffed on hardboiled Poliziotteschi movies. With Dead Diamond they take on the spy genre. While there are a few Bond references here and there (as well as more liberal indulgences in bondage), their reference point is really Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik and its source graphic novels, with maybe a little bit of Irma Vep and Les Vampires thrown in for good measure.

So yes, that means there will be a lot of leather cat suits. Apparently, Dimon’s old nemesis Serpentik is up to her old tricks—or maybe he is just having flashbacks to his groovy glory years. Honestly, viewers can hardly better tell when anything happens than he can.

Like the filmmaking duo’s previous film, Dead Diamond is more of a series stylized set pieces rather than a linear (or even fractured) storyline. So far, their approach worked best in Corpses Tan, which makes their latest feel like a step backward.

Haunted Season: The Occupant of the Room, on Shudder

You would think Algernon Blackwood would be the BBC’s favorite ghost story writer, since he worked for the broadcaster in the late 1930s. Instead, M.R. James has been their go-to for their annual A Ghost Story for Christmas seasonal series. However, this is Shudder’s yearly holiday horror anthology, Haunted Season. Blackwood finally gets a well-deserved adaptation that isn’t “The Wendigo” when Kier-La Janesse’s “The Occupant of the Room” premieres tomorrow on Shudder.

Who would want to vacation in a remote Swiss Alpine resort at the height of winter? Evidently, many folks do, because when Minturn arrives at the dead of night, he finds the inn is entirely booked. Technically, there is maybe one room, since the strange “English Woman” occupant hasn’t been seen since she left on a hike. Of course, he takes it. Its cold outside.

However, as Minturn settles in, the room seems to exert an unsettling influence over his state of mind. Something is wrong there, in some way related to the rightful occupant.

“Occupant” is an understated and elegant ghost story, very much in the structural and tonal tradition of The Yellow Wallpaper, or Repulsion, while maintaining its refined British sensibilities. It is a slow-builder that makes good use of its full half-hour running time. This is definitely Janesse’s best work as a director so far (especially since her folk horror documentary, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched largely repeated the same commentary, repeated over and over).

Sew Torn, on Shudder

If MacGyver and Rube Goldberg started a sewing circle, they would invite Barbara Duggen to join them. She can do almost anything with a needle and thread, except keep her late mother’s custom seamstress business afloat. A briefcase full of cash would certainly help, but no matter what choices she makes, someone always comes after her in Freddy Macdonald’s Sew Torn, which premieres today on Shudder.

After enduring the verbal abuse of her senior citizen bridezilla client, Duggen drives through the wreckage of a shootout between drug dealers. Instead of calling the police (or rather the Scandinavian village’s sole cop/justice of the peace/notary), she wires up the scene with thread, to finish them off. When the ambusher still survives, she carries him home, rigging him into an unlikely needle and thread pulley system. How does it end? Not well, as viewers know from the gruesome prologue montage, so the film rewinds to let Duggen chose two more alternatives.

Calling Sheriff Engel from the scene also turns into a nightmare for Duggen, because the eccentric peace officer immediately uncovers her plan to make off with the loot. For her third go-round, Duggen forms an alliance with Joshua Armitage, the bleeding and battered drug courier, who also happens to be the much-abused son of Hudson Armitage, the drug lord making each branching fork end so badly for her.

Frankly, some of Duggen’s threaded contraptions are a little too convoluted for viewers to fully comprehend the mechanics involved and a little too cute to take seriously. However, the ironic sense of humor adds a good deal saltiness. Regardless, it is inventive, which is cool.

Hell House LLC: Lineage, on Shudder

The Carmichael Manor is so notoriously haunted, even bottom-feeding reality TV crews stopped coming. Henceforth, no more found footage for the Hell House LLC franchise. Of course, they still have the evil clown mannequins. They also have a returning cast-member, but Vanessa Shepherd has been a mess since surviving the third movie. She’s not the only one. Frankly, nearly everyone in Rockland County lives in terror of the evil forces hopping from the Manor to the notorious Abaddon Hotel and back again in Stephen Cognetti’s Hell House LLC: Lineage, which premieres this Thursday on Shudder.

Evidently, back around the time Jason Voorhees drowned at Camp Crystal Lake, a car full of drunken guys slammed into a young girl as they were all leaving the Rockland County Fair. Since then, the hit-and-run dudes had prodigious offspring whom the uncanny mannequins have steadily murdered.

At least that seems to be the gist of it, according to Alicia Cavalini (a journalist, researcher, or something). She finally started to connect the dots between the carnival and all the horrors at the Carmichael and the Abaddon, but Shepherd can’t really deal with her revelations. She is too busy with her own nightmare visions and mourning friends, who are dying like flies. However, Cavalini convinces the reluctant Father David to perform an exorcism.

Father David is a man of faith, but he understands the dangers much more than Cavalini. In fact, he is probably the franchise’s most interesting character, thanks to Mike Sutton’s grounded, humanist portrayal. On the other hand, Elizabeth Vermilyea’s Shepherd is such a neurotic basket-case, you wonder why Cognetti spends so much time with her.

OTHER, on Shudder

If you put dumb people in a smart house, it reverts back to being dumb again. The same is true for movies. It turns out Alice’s late estranged mom’s house was too smart for her own good. Evidently, someone or something else hiding in the shadows has a better command of the system than she or Alice in David Moreau’s OTHER (a.k.a. Other, a.k.a. O.T.H.E.R.), which premieres today on Shudder.

Despite the inconvenience, Elena felt compelled to hide her face while she was running for her life, but the mystery stalker kills her anyway. For reasons that will be revealed later, Alice wants to have her body cremated quickly, so she can be done with her once and for all. However, she is stuck at her mother’s remote smart house, because the medical examiner won’t release her mom’s body. Also, the key-fob for her rental car mysteriously disappears.

The audience can see an indistinct shape scurrying down halls and around corners, but Alice can’t seem to notice. She is too busy fighting with the alarms and environmental controls. To further confuse matters, there is also a weird live-streamer skulking around the surrounding woods, who shouts unhinged-sounding warnings to Alice that she should cover her face.

Frankly, it is hard to describe OTHER, because it is so disjointed. It plays out like a collection of high-concepts mushed together during a brainstorming session. Arguably, even the title does not make much sense up until the final five minutes.

It is a shame Moreau did not spend more time filing down the awkward excesses of his script, because the execution is often oddly effective, particularly the way he contrives to avoid showing any faces except that of his star, Olga Kurylenko. The vibe is like a drunken fusion of Italian giallos and the unconventional POV of Good Boy.

V/H/S/Halloween, on Shudder

Most anthology films are like trick-or-treats bags on Halloween night. There’s always a lot of stale candy corn mixed in with the candy bars. In this case, the ratio of candy corn to candy bars is annoyingly high. However, each installment faithfully respects the found footage format and the theme. A new V/H/S anthology film has become a Halloween tradition on Shudder, so they truly embrace the holiday with a series of Halloween festivities that go spectacularly awry in V/H/S/Halloween, which premieres tomorrow on Shudder.

Ironically, the least Halloweeny parts of V/H/S/Halloween are the framing bits, known collectively as Bryan M. Ferguson’s “Diet Phantasma.” Supposedly, Diet Phantasma is a Halloween soda, but it is a little too horrific, causing outlandishly gory side-effects for the test subjects. Frankly, these wrap-arounds are rather confusing, because it is never clear what is the nature of the soda that makes it so deadly, and illogical, because killing off one test subject after another creates huge legal liabilities in the real world.

Likewise, the trick-or-treating gone horribly wrong premise of Anna Zlokovic’s “Coochie Coochie Coo” is all too familiar buy now. The two mean girl prospective victims are also a chore to spend time with. This segment is only really distinguished by some gross-out imagery.

Fortunately, it is followed by one of the strongest constituent films, “Ut Supra Sic Infra,” directed by Paco Plaza, co-creator of the [REC] franchise. After a Halloween party ends in a mysterious massacre, the police bring the sole survivor to the scene of the crime for a re-creation of the deadly events. For reasons that make horror movie sense, the found footage cuts out after someone reads the cryptic titular inscription on the wall three times. Unwisely, they make it a scrupulously faithful re-creation. The results are wild and macabre. If anything, this segment could have been drawn out longer, but least it never overstays its welcome.

Arguably, that is exactly what Casper Kelly’s “Fun Size” does. It also features teens who are a little too old and a little too rude for trick-or-treating, but they encounter a more original danger. It starts with a bowl full of weird, retro-sounding candy nobody recognizes. The sign says only one per person, but one idiot takes two. Suddenly, the bowl magically sucks them into a sinister candy factory, where they are menaced by a massively creepy pumpkin-headed ghoul. At first, it is subversively funny, but then it starts to drag.

Night of the Reaper, on Shudder

Babysitting is one of the most dangerous professions in cinema, but it somewhat counter-intuitively has a high survival rate, thanks to “final girls” like Laurie Strode. Tragically, that was not true for Deena’s sister Emily. A masked killer murders Emily in the prologue, carving the heart out of her family in the process. Nevertheless, she agrees to sub for her babysitting friend in Brandon Christensen’s Night of the Reaper, which premieres Friday on Shudder.

If you are wondering, yes, there will be Blue Oyster Cult, but you have to wait for the closing credits to hear it—but its worth the wait. Night of the Reaper starts out like a loving homage to 1980s slashers, albeit a surprisingly tight and tense one. Deena is back in town visiting from college, but she agrees to fill in sitting for Sheriff Rod Arnold’s kids, because her friend Haddie contracted a nasty stomach bug. Deena knows it must be serious, because her friend’s interest in the older Sheriff is a completely unguarded non-secret.

It has already been quite a day for Sheriff Rod. Someone has been leaving old school VHS tapes for him throughout town. Ominously, they prove several presumed accidental deaths were actually the work of a serial killer. That killer soon starts toying with Deena and the Arnold children, but the circumstances will be different this time around.

Honestly, Night of the Reaper is the horror film I’ve been waiting years for. The big twist is a doozy that upsets everything in a good way. The result is a heck of a cat-and-mouse game that Jessica Clement (playing Deena) and the other pertinent party do an excellent job of selling. The third act is clever, but grounded, avoiding hipster glibness in favor of incredibly sinister life-and-death gamesmanship. Similarly, Ryan Robbins is terrific seething for payback as Sherrif Arnold.

Clown in a Cornfield, on Shudder

This is slasher horror, but it obviously brings to mind some of Stephen King’s greatest hits. Think of it as Children of the Corn, with Pennywise’s makeup and wardrobe. Obnoxious, entitled teens had better beware in Eli Craig’s Clown in a Cornfield, based on Adam Cesare’s novel, which premieres this Friday on Shudder.

After her mother’s tragic death, Quinn Maybrook’s father, Dr. Glenn, relocated to quiet Kettle Springs, MO, despite her reservations. She quickly falls in with the cool kids, but ironically Cole Hill and his pals are pariahs amongst Kettle Springs adults. Awkwardly, they were trespassing in the local factory, filming one of their smartphone horror movies on the very night the town’s main source of employment burned to the ground. Technically, they were cleared by the investigation, but everyone rendered unemployed still blames them.

One of their favorite subjects is Frendo the Clown, who was like the Mr. Peanut of Baypen Corn Syrup, which wasformerly manufactured at the now destroyed factory. Periodically, slasher killers have hacked up Kettle Springs teenagers while dressed as Frendo, as viewers witnessed during the 1991 prologue. Clearly, someone has revived the tradition, specifically with the intent of targeting Hill’s cronies. Inconveniently, for the Maybrooks, that now includes Quinn.

Craig and co-screenwriter Carter Blanchard deftly split the difference between knowing irony and faithful reverence for the old school slasher genre. Craig and company spare us the constant stream of hipster commentary. Yet, a sly sense of humor peaks through, from time to time, as when the Gen Z kids panic when confronting the mysteries of rotary phones and stick shift cars.

Katie Douglas and Carson MacCormac bring a lot of energy to the film and develop decent rapport as Maybrook and Hill. However, Aaron Abrams really elevates the film as Dr. Maybrook, who is unusually resourceful and relatable for a horror movie parent.

Monster Island, on Shudder

The original Creature from the Black Lagoon was found in the Brazilian Amazon. That is a long way from a tiny South Pacific island, but the similarly tropical climate would logically be habitable for similar gill-man-like creatures. Based on the fin on its head, the monster in question looks like a creature cousin, but one of the Japanese soldiers recognizes it as a mythical Orang Ikan. Whatever it is, it is hard to kill and the circumstances of WWII do not help much either in director-screenwriter Mike Wiluan’s Monster Island (a.k.a. Orang Ikan), which premieres this Friday on Shudder.

Frankly, things cannot get much worse for Bronson, considering he is an Allied POW aboard a so-called Imperial Japanese “Hell Ship.” The captain decides to execute him for a failed escape attempt, along with Saito, a supposed “traitor.” However, while the officers focus on executions and torture, the U.S. Navy sinks the ship.

Ironically, Saito and Bronson survive, washing up a little speck of an island, chained at the ankles. The first thing they do is fight each other, but the monster coming out of the water convinces them to fight together. Despite the language barrier, they come to an understanding that continues to hold when a group of more violently militant Japanese soldiers reach their island paradise.

Monster island starts with a nifty concept, essentially fusing Creature from the Black Lagoon with Hell in the Pacific, which Wiluan and company execute quite well. It is a tight, tense film filled with peril. The design of the Orang Ikan is several steps up from the vintage Creature, but it looks familiar enough to pay homage.

Dean Fujioka and Callum Woodhouse (a world away from All Creatures Great and Small) are also both terrific as Saito and Bronson. They must convince viewers quickly that their characters can agree to an alliance, which they do, with great success. They also look believably haggard, beat-up, frightened, and generally wrung through the wringer. This is not a buddy-movie, it is an extreme survival film, and both thesps truly act like survivors.

Wiluan’s screenplay is not particularly complex, but it fully explores the implications of the wartime setting. Given the circumstances, this might be the most dangerous island yet, eclipsing Skull Island, because of Saito’s ex-comrades. Very highly recommended, Monster Island starts streaming Friday (7/25) on Shudder.

Hell Motel, on Shudder

The Cold River Motel is more notorious than the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles or the Stanley in Colorado, so, naturally a small group of true crime weirdos want to stay there for its grand re-opening. Years ago, a pair of satanists tried to summon the demon Baphomet with their human sacrifices. Decades later, they have apparently returned for a second attempt, but maybe someone else had the same idea. That means the rest of unhealthily obsessed but harmless guests find themselves in serious trouble throughout creator-writers Aaron Martin & Ian Carpenter’s eight-episode Hell Motel, which premieres tomorrow on Shudder.

Unwisely, the well-heeled Portia indulged her lover Ruby’s enthusiasm for grisly murders by buying the old Cold River Motel and renovating it a theme resort for oddball fans like her. For the exclusive by-invitation-only opening, they invited Paige Harper, a fading actress, who starred in the exploitation franchise inspired by the real-life ritual murders. Joining her are Andy Lecavalier, a true crime academic, Balke Williams, a podcaster who survived a serial killer attack, Crow, a psychic blah-blah-blah, Kawayan, an artist who specializes in crime scene-themed installations, and Adrianna, who sleeps with serial killers. Their disgusting dinner will be catered by Hemingway, an arrogant celebrity chef, who uses his own blood in his cocktails.

Pretty much any of them could be viable suspects, even before Shirley and Floyd Dantree crash the party. They came seeking shelter from the storm, but what were they doing in the middle of nowhere, anyway?

You can usually guess who gets killed at the end of each episode because they typically have their backstories explained in flashbacks. However, Martin and Carpenter take a page out of the playbook used by the under-appreciated 2009 series Harper’s Island for its first choice of victim. Regardless, they build a great deal of suspense by turning the secret satanic killer loose to compete against the returning Cold River Killers (who are revealed quite early), because even when the survivors come close to identifying the originals, viewers know there is still someone else out there, killing victims while wearing a Baphomet mask, just like his or her predecessors.

Indeed, series director Adam MacDonald maintains a high level of tension, but viewers should also prepare for a good deal of brutal gore. Of course, most of the guests are so creepy, they are almost asking for their grisly fates. For instance, Genevieve DeGraves, Eric MacCormack, and Shaun Benson are each flamboyantly nutty as Adrianna, Hemingway, and Crow.

Frewaka, on Shudder

Most people think weddings and births are good things, but spooky old Peig warns her new Galic-speaking home-care nurse, as transitional junctures, they actually make people more vulnerable to the “Sidhe,” Ireland’s malevolent fairy folk. She should know, since she claims the Sidhe kidnapped her on her wedding day. Shoo (Subhan) was warned her new charge had been diagnosed with delusional paranoia, but obviously there must be something to Peig’s story, because director-screenwriter Aislinn Clarke’s Frewaka premieres today on Shudder.

Shoo’s abusive mother just passed away, but she still hopes to marry her Ukrainian girlfriend Mila, once they have the money. That is two red flags for the Sidhe. Just being around Peig constitutes the third, since the old lady considers herself under a constant state of supernatural siege. She lasted this long thanks to all folk charms protecting her house, which Shoo initially dismisses as mere clutter.

Things get weird quickly. However, a bond starts to grow between Shoo and Peig, as a result. It seems to be them against the fairy and human worlds, because the locals give off serious Wicker Man vibes.

Admittedly, Frewaka is not as straight-up scary as Clarke The Devil’s Doorway, but the unsettling atmosphere of paranoia and ancient corruption definitely gets under viewers’ skin, Even though her prior film was set in a Magdalene convent, Frewaka more vehemently expresses Clarke’s sense of Ireland’s historical inequalities. Yet, the Church is almost entirely absent here. Instead, it is paganism all the way through.