Movie Review: A Classic Horror Story (2021)

A Classic Horror Story (dir. Roberto De Feo & Paolo Strippoli, 2021) – Travelling in southern Italy, five strangers become stranded in the woods and fall victim to a deathly ritual.

A band of strangers travels on a camper van to Calabria. When swerving to avoid a goat carcass, they veer off their intended path in the dark and wake to find themselves nowhere near the road. Lost in a forest, they search for help. All they find is an eerie cabin in the woods that homes the remnants of a terrifying murder cult.

A Classic Horror Story lives up to its name, following a familiar narrative that stitches together the horror genre’s notorious tropes. It isn’t just the paint-by-numbers opener too. The forsaken settings scream Evil Dead and the sinister town, The Wicker Man, before the disquieting ambience starts to mirror Midsommar.

Movie Review: Blood Red Sky (2021)

Blood Red Sky (dir. Peter Thorwarth, 2021) – Terrorists attempt to hijack a transatlantic flight, but find themselves going up against an unexpected threat.

In search of treatment for her unknown malady, Nadja (Peri Baumeister) travels on a night flight to New York with her son Elias (Carl Anton Koch), only to be taken hostage by a group of ruthless hijackers. All she knew then was that she had to protect her child. And that she would do anything, even if it means revealing her secret that may well put herself in danger.

It isn’t long before her dark secret comes to light. Taking cues from classic genre-blender From Dusk Till Dawn, Blood Red Sky turns predator into prey, trading the ostensible hostage situation for an unexpected night of vampiric terror. That’s right, it’s stakes on a plane as the clever Internet has now branded the film.

Movie Review: Fear Street Part 3: 1666 (2021)

Fear Street Part 3: 1666 (dir. Leigh Janiak, 2021) – After returning the missing hand to the burial ground, Deena watches the true history of Shadyside unfold through Sarah Fier’s eyes.

The tale of Sarah Fier is finally coming to an end. Through the eyes of Deena, Fier herself (also played by Kiana Madeira) is ready to reveal the terrible truth behind her dark history that intertwines with that of Shadyside. Travelling further back in time, Fear Street: 1666 takes us back to where the curse had first taken hold of their hometown.

Set in the 17th century, the stage is perfect for a pagan ritual to brew amid a superstitious folk. Quick to accuse Fier and Hannah (Olivia Scott Welch) of witchcraft because of their forbidden intimacy, the town soon finds their excuse to hang the women when a preacher goes mad and commits an unforgivable crime.

Movie Review: Fear Street Part 2: 1978 (2021)

Fear Street Part 2: 1978 (dir. Leigh Janiak, 2021) – The story of Sarah Fier’s curse on Shadyside continues back in a summer camp in 1978.

Movie monsters tend not to stay dead. Slashers notoriously churn out sequel after sequel, allowing them to return unharmed and continue their slaughter fest in endless cyclical fashion. Unlike its genre predecessors, the Fear Street series has its narrative planned out right at the start. Rather than merely aiming for bloodier, the franchise has bigger plans, moving backwards in time in calculated steps towards its monster’s origins.

Part 2 follows the events of 1994 directly. With the help of her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), Deena (Kiana Madeira) has found the sole survivor — or the final girl, if you will — of the witch’s curse 16 years ago. She asks for the truth that could save her partner’s life. Reluctantly, C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs) accedes and revisits her traumatic memories at Camp Nightwing back in 1978.

Movie Review: Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (2021)

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (dir. Leigh Janiak, 2021) – A group of teenagers uncovers the secrets to the brutal murders that have been plaguing their hometown.

Halloween has arrived early on Netflix that has unleashed a full line-up of brand new horror films, from The 8th Night to A Classic Horror Story. Among which, it is the Fear Street trilogy that has most horror fans talking – and for good reason too.

Set in a trendy mall of 1994, the first instalment lets loose a costumed killer, who takes an obvious leaf from the Scream playbook in his familiarly choreographed murder. The killer is eventually shot to death and unmasked. But his lack of motive points to a bigger mystery at hand.

Movie Review: 76 Horror Bookstore – Tin Can of Fear (2019)

76 Horror Bookstore – Tin Can of Fear (dir. David Chuang & Hung Tze Peng, 2019) – An anthology of four horror short films.

There is no telling what you will get with movie anthologies. Taiwanese production 76 Horror Bookstore is no different. While adapted from web novels by the same author, the four segments share few similarities, mismatched in tone, style, and even subgenres within horror.

That said, this one starts off strong. Set in an old apartment building, Rent (4/5) conjures the disquiet that comes naturally with its unsettlingly mysterious history. All this spells bad news for its latest tenant, lone and unable to afford a different place. More disconcerting than her new home is her landlord, who seems to hoard secrets of his own. Not every revelation makes sense, yet this detracts little from the excellent build-up.