V/H/S Beyond ★★★ HORROR anthology films have been around for decades but now they have a regular franchise. V/H/S/ Beyond is the seventh instalment (if you exclude two spin-off films). While it continues with the found-footage approach, it leans more heavily into science-fiction than its predecessors. The format still comprises […]

Found footage franchise leans into sci-fi

Turbo ★★★ DREAMWORKS’ Turbo is an underrated animated film boosted by a collection of interesting voice performers. It’s a classic story about succeeding against all odds, in this case a snail who realises his ambition to win the Indy 500 car race. Ryan Reynolds plays young Theo, aka Turbo whose […]

Cast rev up Turbo

Terrifier 3 ★★★ STREWTH. Even die-hard horror fans might wince at a couple of the moments in Terrifier 3. I certainly did during the first Perth screening unleashed during the recent at 2024 Horrorfest. Writer/director Damien Leone made no secret of his intention to outdo the last film’s gore quota, […]

No clowning around in gore-filled Terrifier 3

(Re)Assignment ★★ TALK about suspension of disbelief. The 2016 noir revenge thriller (Re) Assignment (also known as Revenger) takes the concept to an extreme. Without spoiling the film, its success hangs almost entirely on a premise involving lead actress Michelle Rodriguez that is not only impossible to believe; it’s plain […]

(Re)Assignment premise defies belief

Subservience ★★½ CUT to film studio executives chatting. “That movie M3GAN, with the girl AI that turned on her family; that made plenty of dough. We should do something like that? “Yes, but what if instead of being a girl the AI was a hot woman? That way we could […]

Fox is no M3GAN

Never Let Go ★★★ FRENCH director Alexandre Aja’s Hollywood experience hasn’t been entirely successful, Yes, I’m sure he has made a nice living from films like Piranha 3D and Crawl, but critically he’s been a little disappointing. Aja burst onto the horror scene in 2003 with the great High Tension […]

Never Let Go sees Aja back in some form

The Boondock Saints ★★★½ VIGILANTE thriller The Boondock Saints is all over the place in many ways, but still a very enjoyable watch. Since its initial 1999 release when it flopped at the box office, this American/Canadian film has slowly achieved cult status to the extent that it spawned a […]

Oddball vigilante tale has cult status

Excision ★★★½ FOR some reason it wasn’t until the last year or so that I started noticing the striking cover for a horror film called Excision. Perhaps it coincided with a belated release for this 2012 American film on streaming services. Anyway, Richard Bates Jnr’s debut feature is an entertaining […]

Excision’s bloody brand of comedy

Prey ★★ WHAT kind of a film about lion attacks doesn’t show any lion attacks? Answer: A faith-based one. Prey (2024) is billed as an action thriller but provides little of either. Ryan Phillippe and Mena Suvari play a husband and wife forced to leave their Christian missionary station after […]

Prey a ham-fisted faith thriller

Kid Snow ★★★½ THE Australian film Kid Snow is advertised as a sports drama but it’s more of a romantic one. That doesn’t take anything away from the film, however, which has authentic atmosphere and natural drama and showcases two good young actors in Billy Howle and Phoebe Tonkin. It’s […]

A sporting romance

Butchers ★★½ Butchers Book Two: Raghorn ★★½ NOTES made while watching the 2020 Canadian slashers Butchers and its 2024 sequel . ‘Filmed OK. Looks decent.’ ‘Chapter names? Pretentious.’ ‘’One decent performance – by the guy playing the main villain (Simon Phillips).’ ‘Good ending. At least different with no final girl.’ […]

Canadian slasher makes it to a trilogy

Rebel Ridge ★★★ ACTION thriller Rebel Ridge is a bit of a departure for writer/director Jeremy Saulnier. The best known of his previous four films, 2013’s Blue Ruin and Green Room (2015), are hard-edged in look and execution and feature sudden scenes of strong violence. Rebel Ridge is a slightly […]

Saulnier tones down the violence