Tom Cruise feels totally miscast in The Mummy, a horror mishmash that the filmmakers spent far too much money on. Thought safely entombed deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella – Kingsman: The Secret Service) whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in the present day. She was destined to…
A pall of foreboding hangs over almost every scene in the harrowing thriller Hounds of Love. That foreboding turns to dread and then white-knuckle fear. The film marks an auspicious feature debut from writer/director Ben Young. Hounds of Love is set in Perth during the summer of 1987. Teenage girls are disappearing from the streets. They…
Who would have thought that one of the more perceptive observations on race in America would come via a comedy-horror movie? And while Get Out is a world away from well-meaning documentaries on the same topic, it probably has more to say and does so more deftly. Get Out is the brainchild of Jordan Peele,…
Take the concept of being held against one’s will in a confined space for an extended period and add a seriously deranged personality and you have the makings of a horror thriller. But what if that deranged personality was, in fact, many people and you never knew who you were going to confront? That is…
Ex Machina was a compelling science fiction thriller concerning artificial intelligence. Morgan – which is in the same sphere – starts with promise. A corporate troubleshooter, Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) is sent to a remote, top-secret location, where an A.I. experiment has been underway with a skeleton crew for seven years. But something has gone…
Boys in the Trees is another local coming of age story that joins a growing number of recent Australian films exploring familiar themes of the pain of growing up, friendship, angst, romance, the loss of innocence, memory. However, this one is suffused with a surreal quality, quirky touches and an unsettling supernatural element. It has…
Backtrack is an atmospheric Aussie psychological thriller with supernatural undertones that borrows elements from the superior The Sixth Sense and Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, among others. The film explores themes of grief, redemption, loss, forgiveness, and confronting the ghosts of the past. Troubled psychologist Peter Bower (played by Oscar winner Adrien Brody, from The…
First up, a question: when should a horror movie be allowed to run for 2¼ hours? The short answer: never! The best thing about The Conjuring 2 is the realistic sets and settings replicating Britain in the late ‘70s. The furniture, the houses, the clothes – what a hoot! The storyline however seemed to me…
– The Witch – Only in cinemas from 17 March 2016 We have 5 double in-season passes thanks to Universal Pictures. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE New England, 1630. Upon threat of banishment by the church, an English farmer leaves his colonial plantation, relocating his wife and five children to…
There is school spirit and then there is a school’s spirit. An horror story set in a US high school, The Gallows started life as a promotional trailer from a couple of newcomers. Twenty years after an accident caused the death of the lead actor during a play, students at the same small town institution…
