Rob Staeger

The plot develops confidently (if unsurprisingly), abetted by coincidence and shoddy police work, but it's the tone that grates.

At no point does this film strive to be more than a second-rate version of what it is: a halfhearted attempt to make some scratch while pretending the devil exists. Some trick.

The drama plays out as expected — the ending, particularly, seems too pat — but offers several well-executed moments of tension along the way.

Early scenes overplay the shock of these phantasms, but just as you expect Geoghegan to crank up the effects, the film mixes in some subtler scares.

Conversations meander and fizzle; characters repeat themselves, speaking in banalities and clichés.

Green seems to be asking: In the face of beasts whose scale and life cycles we can't begin to grasp, how can we allow our fellow human beings to be so unknowable?

Ghoul rewards attention for much of its running time with subtle scares and growing unease, before squandering it in a shaky chase through twisted corridors that goes nowhere unexpected.

Director Jordan Rubin and the cast know the material is ridiculous, but calibrate the tone so that the dangers still feel dangerous.

Muck pairs a repellent concept with amateurish dialogue, acting, editing, lighting, and pacing.

Fans will clamor for Wyrmwood 2; the brothers have the talent to aim higher.

Eventually succumbs to the weight of plot contrivance.

If you're in the bag for werewolves (or have a thing for hairy dudes smoking distinctive pipes), Wolves is a beckoning howl in the night. As an action movie, however, it's surprisingly tame.

The scenery looks just fine, however; it's the performances and dialogue that wobble and creak.

Fewer cops and more full-tilt vampire batshittery might not have resulted in a more coherent movie, necessarily, but almost certainly would've made for a more captivating one.

Overall, it's a strong sampler, with surprising variety.

With Stonehearst Asylum, director Brad Anderson doles out a vintage Halloween treat — a straightforward Poe adaptation of the sort that Vincent Price used to star in — and gives it a freshness and complexity that make it a delight.

The film is playful throughout... Unfortunately, the shoddy treatment of the film's sole LGBT character and a tendency to use people in wheelchairs as punchlines mar this otherwise delightful gruesome confection.

Catch Hell suffers from both a drowsy start and a dragging ending.

After a promising start, rote possession imagery eventually becomes the focus, culminating in a by-the-numbers ending.

Unfortunately, Dinosaur 13 never manages to display the story's many complex parts in a way that enables viewers to grasp the whole beast.

Vincent Guastini's makeup effects are the star here, a refreshing change from the inky CGI morphing of too much modern horror.

The film's clumsy script elicits groans, but it's the plot that infuriates.

Restaging the 1978 Jonestown massacre for a present-day suspense movie is by most definitions tasteless, although The Sacrament infuses the past with ghoulish immediacy.

The resulting creep show has some frantic action scenes, but never quite enough spring in its step.

The feudal revenge drama sacrifices thrills in favor of moral reflection in the unspoiled French countryside, keeping most of its violence at arm's length.

In Fear traffics in suspicion, ratcheting tension, and shocks — including a few really effective ones — more than in satisfying explanations.

Director Mitchell Altieri helms the thriller with a sure hand.

The film is most successful when humanizing the people behind the objectification, with lives beyond the smut.