Shawn Van Horn

Quirky characters and an unpredictable story combine for a film that will break your heart while making you laugh.

It's a nice slice-of-life character-driven film, which is always great to see, but there is very little drama or conflict to keep the viewer invested past the colorful animation.

Jack Quaid and Jeffrey Dean Morgan give heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious performances as two men who need to prove to themselves and everyone around them that they can save the day.

The best thing Whistle has going for it is that the "monster" is actually pretty creepy, and the rules created behind what it does are intriguing enough. The gore and death scenes are effective, pulling in the viewer, as the character building pushes them away.

This isn't the scariest zombie movie you'll ever see, and the second act begins to drag as it readies itself for the finale, but if you want a highly original one that makes you feel, Die Alone is flesh worth sinking your teeth into.

V/H/S/Halloween is dark and demented, and is the funniest movie of this franchise. But if the V/H/S series just turned it down a notch and tried some different storytelling formats, the next one could be even better.

A fun, high-octane action movie about a chase against time through a fascinating city.

Empathetic human performances turn Sovereign into more than a typical crime thriller.

Steve and Audrey Zahn pull it off in a beautiful film that will uplift your heart after breaking it.

The performances of Holland and Mara mask the weaknesses of a slightly unfulfilled adaptation, which has charm in its flaws. The ending attempts to set the themes right, but needing to think about it afterward means it's not a film you'll forget about so soon. Seek out The Dutchman. It's well worth the challenge.

V/H/S/Beyond falls in the middle of the pack for the franchise. It's not as terrifying as the first film, and nowhere near as bad as V/H/S/Viral. Instead, it's more on par with recent entries.

If you're a moviegoer who desires smart, original horror, skip Witchboard. You're better off just watching Sinners or Weapons again.

In the moment it works, and despite its flaws, Goodrich is just more proof of how good we've got it that we get to witness an actor like Michael Keaton.

In Your Dreams deserves to be held up with the best of what other animation studios have done, and as one of the most visually stunning, funniest, and beautifully touching films of the year

It is just as chaotic, caught between peril and hope, as our reality. The ugliness and the potential of humanity are rarely this captivating.

There are more misses than connections in the third act, and for its title, it's never really vicious enough despite the blood and gore to come. Still, it'll keep you on your toes as it's cutting off someone else's.

Adulthood is a film with three-dimensional people who are good for some laughs due to their reactions, but the surrounding plot is high-stakes and filled with suspense. Every single time you think you know where it's going, a new twisting avenue carries us somewhere else.

It's well-acted and not schlocky, but it's one of those presents you open on Christmas, excited to receive it, only to forget about it the next day.

It's content with being simply silly when it could have been so much more. Still, Doin' It will make you laugh out loud throughout its runtime, and Lilly Singh shows that she has what it takes to succeed on the big screen.

Elevation is a thin story with every trope and stereotype you've seen from better monster movies

If you haven't seen many demon possession movies, or on the opposite spectrum, if you can't get enough of them, Rosario is a decent 90-minute watch. It's not awful, it's not going to insult you, but it's a retread of better movies with every predictable plot point you can imagine.

The Old Guard 2 feels like nothing more than setup, with scene after scene of dialogue and exposition and little actual fighting.

In the Lost Lands could have been an exciting story about witches and werewolves in the post-apocalyptic world, but instead, it's more lifeless than the green-screen backgrounds that consume its runtime.

Outside of a few creepy images, The Ritual is not even remotely scary.

You won't forget Alan Ritchson. If he can make crap entertaining, imagine him in a comedic role with a much better script

If anything else, Abruptio will make you highly uncomfortable, and it's so unnerving that it will give you nightmares. Perhaps that's the whole point of using puppets.

Puzzle Box is a middle-of-the-road found footage film; not great, and not horrible, but it's the characters that make it memorable.

In the beginning, it feels like this will be a fresh and fun take on all of those masked villains, but sadly, it quickly becomes little more than a paint-by-numbers slasher that forgot what it was trying to be in the opening scene.