Tag: Mystery
Soaking in Strange Hours
Teeming with macabre delights, Erik Hofstatter’s story is one that you don’t so much read as ravish.
Threshold
An impressive slow burner that develops beautifully through to a spine-chilling climax, with unexpected, shocking results.
Rift
Ambiguous and beautifully insidious as result, Rift is an impressive sophomore effort from Icelandic filmmaker Erlingur Thoroddsen.
Holidays
As is generally the case for an anthology, Holidays is a mixed bag, touching all bases between effectively chillsome and irritating.
Backtrack
With a tenuously linked story that lacks supernatural finesse, Backtrack is confused, and a tiresome experience.
The Haunting of Black Wood
A carefully constructed and deliberately vague set-up that milks every ounce of tension, with twists coming thick and fast.
Iron Doors
Attempts to create something more thoughtful than the usual Saw-inspired torture porn, but lacks the edge to pull it off.
The ‘Burbs
For a film not well received at the time, The 'Burbs has dated very well. There is nothing a hard-core fan could want for in this package.
The Forbidden Door
Bleak and multi-layered, the performances are solid throughout, the film benefiting enormously from stylish cinematography.
FrightFest: Housebound
It is not just in its writing and direction that Housebound excels; the production design is a feast for the eyes.
After
With its engaging themes of destiny, fate, and redemption, After emerges as a strangely touching and haunting film.
The People Under the Stairs
While it is often overlooked, it is an effective horror flick with a dark sense of unease that is still incredibly palpable.
FrightFest: Haunter
Showcases a great deal of devil in its detail, with a tight-knit, metaphysical framework that may require multiple viewings.
FrightFest: The Dyatlov Pass Incident
The final act crosses the line between fantastical to slightly amusing ridiculousness.
The Corridor
A movie which feels like the filmmakers knew what they wanted to achieve, but were unsure on how to go about it.
The Fallow Field
That rarest of films, one that genuinely keeps you guessing to culminate in some palpable tension come the third act.
Cube
Vincenzo Natali's debut holds a beauty in purity that matches the mathematical conundrum its characters find themselves in.
The Pact
Juxtaposes the supernatural with real-life threat, whilst holding a very strong point in maintenance of mystery.
Absentia
Will keep you guessing, until all possibilities for explanation are eventually tied together in an excellent balance of subplot.
The Monk
An unusually restrained Vincent Cassel is a pleasure, but it's a drawn-out story that runs out of steam before a rushed conclusion.
The Cabin in the Woods
A perfect introduction to the genre, accessible enough to reel folk in. The rest of us will go giddy counting the references.
The Shrine
Effectively creates tension to complement an overall creepiness, to deliver a climax that keeps the viewer in the dark.
The Awakening
The raison d'être is ludicrous and sewn up in minutes, but the cast is very good, as is the cinematography and symbolism.
Death Bell
Believes itself brutal, when in reality a small number of strong images are tied loosely together with a basic story.
Julia’s Eyes
A mixed bag and too ambitious for so early in a career, however Guillem Morales should be noted for the future.
Re-Cut
A great example of how the first-person horror subgenre works its magic, but it also highlights some of its core flaws.