J*A*S*M

For the last couple of months this was one for me of the most anticipated films of the year, and I’m glad it didn’t disappoint. And if you’d like to know how it would be like if you stayed in a Room for thirty years, have a look here :D

The last couple of minutes ruined a little what would have otherwise been a perfect impression. The effects and make-up look lower quality than up to that point (and therefore the monster no longer looks as scary) and that “dawn” looks almost kitsch. Otherwise, The Hallow is excellent for any fan of supernatural monster horror, and one of the best films of this kind in the 21st century. It’s executed without hesitation, the creators try to scare, not with gore but through the atmosphere of a dark forest at night and an abandoned building. The perfect design of the monster, where no expense was spared, takes things really high up. The leading characters are likeable and well portrayed (which doesn’t fully apply to some of the secondary characters, but they only appear for a moment always). With The Hallow, Corin Hardy has not discovered America, but he delivers a convincingly executed, entertaining, tense and really atmospheric film; I enjoyed every minute of it and I’m sure I haven’t watched it for the last time. In addition to the aforementioned, I have another minor quibble: given that the horror action doesn’t get going until about the half hour mark, and doesn’t let up until basically the end, the ending could have been a little more intense, so it would feel more like a true “finale”, instead of only the “end of an hour long ride with a monster”. This autumn keeps on improving the statistics of horror movie quality, and by December the TOP 10 will be full.

I deal in a similar fashion with most films like this: with Boo!. But in Lumberjack Man, the overall awkwardness feels intentional, even funny in some places. That is already suggested by the idea of a demonic lumberjack – pancake maker, which cannot be taken seriously. So, if you fancy laughing to an awkwardness so tangible that it can almost be touched, go for it.

I think that, when it comes to film quality, there has never been a better horror movie with aboriginal cannibals. A week ago I complained that in Roth's Green Inferno hardly anything happens for half of the film. Here, the proportion between “introduction” and “action” is even more sober, but it doesn’t matter at all when you can see the difference in talent between Roth and the first-time director S. Craig Zahler. Ninety minutes are dedicated to introducing characters stubbornly determined to rescue the abducted inhabitants of a village. That’s enough time to sincerely start rooting for them, which also helped by the superb performances. The extremely brutal final half-hour then feels like a sucker punch, because the tribe of cannibals don’t fool around. It is very clear for everyone that these nice characters have walked into a place where they should have never been at all. I never imagined that the horror genre could blend so smoothly with the western. But Bone Tomahawk is both a really good western and really good horror. Very close to perfection.

This is the ideal moment to put an end to this series. This farewell party is way better than anyone could have hoped after the tragic fourth episode and the Latin American spin-off.

Guess how Berkshire County differs positively and interestingly from all the other home invasion thrillers and horror films of recent years? Correct, in nothing. A few years ago, this would’ve probably been enough for an average, but today I have to be more strict.

An adventure film, rather than sci-fi; a crowd pleaser, rather than survival; feel-good, rather than smart. But even with all these dichotomies, I would’ve rated with it with five stars as Ridley Scott garners all the strengths of his old age to put together a technically flawless film that treads from beginning to end, it’s not even for a moment boring and the most tense scenes are reliably gripping. But for me it’s just too safe and user-friendly. 85 %

Unfortunately, I don’t share the surrounding enthusiasm. You can’t deny Inside Out’s brilliant core premise, which could be the basis of something truly exceptional and ambitious. The playfulness and creativity can’t be denied, either; the film is full of interesting visual ideas, gags, whatever (the switch to other heads). But everything around that, though effective, is just ordinary and predictable.

Too bland for the strong competition in the sub-genre. 4/10

(BE2CAN, Evald) In the end I gave up and fell asleep, incredibly empty.