There is something immediately disarming about Shelby Oaks. It opens with that grainy, mockumentary chill that found footage sickos like me mainline without shame. The kind of setup that feels less like a movie and more like a late-night YouTube rabbit hole you regret clicking on but cannot stop watching.
Read MoreFrom Fine to Frenzied Perfection: Re-Animator Lives Again
There was a time when Re-Animator didn’t fully click for me. I thought it was good, fun even, but it didn’t immediately register as the genre-defining classic so many swore by. That changed with repeat viewings.
Read MoreMy First Year Off Campus: A Micro-Budget Thriller That Knows Exactly What It Is
There is a certain kind of indie horror that knows better than to oversell itself. My First Year Off Campus falls squarely into that camp. It is a micro-budget film, even if it does everything it can to keep you from noticing, and that quiet confidence ends up being one of its biggest strengths.
Read MoreTrail Cam Sasquatch (2025)
Trail Cam Sasquatch, directed by Mark Polonia, sets out to deliver a tense survival horror experience in the deep woods of Pennsylvania, where strange sightings of hairy creatures and UFOs have the region on edge. The premise is intriguing: a stranded woman joins a hunting party, and what begins as a routine trip quickly turns into a fight for survival against savage Sasquatch creatures. The film’s atmosphere is one of isolation and creeping dread.
Read MoreChoke (2020)
Choke, directed and written by Gregory Hatanaka, is a puzzling experiment in indie filmmaking that struggles to find its footing. The film attempts to blur the lines between reality and fantasy, following a nihilistic detective and a serial killer whose lives intersect through a mysterious young woman. At just 73 minutes, it’s brief, yet crams in an overwhelming number of montages, monologues, and seemingly symbolic scenes—many of which fail to resonate or clarify the story.
Read MoreAmityville Emanuelle (2023)
Amityville Emanuelle starts with a premise that could have held promise: a young man, Gordon DeFeo, experiences terrifying visions related to his father, the infamous mass murderer, and a woman, Laura Lutz, receives his ashes and begins experiencing similar supernatural disturbances. The setup ties into the notorious Amityville legacy and hints at psychological horror intertwined with supernatural elements. For a brief moment, it seems the film could explore haunting family legacies and the effects of past atrocities on the present.
Read MoreAmityville Cop (2021)
Amityville Cop attempts to blend supernatural horror with crime thriller elements, but it ultimately struggles to deliver on either front. Directed by Gregory Hatanaka and written by Geno McGahee, the film follows Detectives Miller and Val as they investigate a series of grisly murders in a city haunted by a dark past. The twist: the perpetrator may be a demonic force wearing a police uniform.
Read MoreBambi: The Reckoning (2025)
I had high hopes going into Bambi: The Reckoning, especially after Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. Like Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, it opens with promise—a charming storybook-style intro that suggests a dark fairy tale twist is coming. The setup is simple and strong: Bambi’s mother is killed by hunters, so he seeks revenge.
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