There’s something charming about a horror film that knows exactly what it is — and Slaughterhouse on the Hill falls squarely into that category. Tom Devlin’s low-budget slasher leans hard into nostalgia, evoking the grime and goofiness of 1980s exploitation flicks like Slaughterhouse and Motel Hell. It’s rough around the edges, yes, but it delivers exactly what many slasher fans came for: creative kills, thick atmosphere, and buckets of blood.
Read MoreHeartbeat (2020)
Gregory Hatanaka’s Heartbeat wants to be a sleek, seductive throwback to the neon-soaked thrillers of the late ’80s and early ’90s — the kind where lust, greed, and danger pulse just beneath the surface. What it ends up being, however, is something stranger and harder to pin down: a glossy, low-budget experiment in style and tone that occasionally flirts with the Giallo aesthetic but never quite commits to its own madness. Nicole D’Angelo stars as Jennifer Bailey, a once-promising investigative journalist who’s been pushed onto the business beat — a creative demotion that eats at her sense of purpose.
Read MoreKilling American Style (1988) #RetroReview
There’s a certain electricity that comes with pressing play on an Amir Shervan film. You know you’re in for something that doesn’t quite play by cinematic rules, a fever dream stitched together from half-remembered ’80s action movies and wild ambition. Killing American Style is no exception.
Read MoreYoung Rebels (1989) #RetroReview
There’s something comforting about an Amir Shervan film. The Iranian-born director’s brand of chaotic, sun-drenched Los Angeles action cinema—brimming with mullets, machine guns, and misplaced machismo—has become a cult subgenre of its own. Young Rebels, often overshadowed by Samurai Cop and Killing American Style, may not be Shervan’s crown jewel, but it’s a fascinating entry in his filmography that perfectly captures both his strengths and his many, many weaknesses.
Read MoreA Knife in the Dark (2024)
Joe Sherlock’s A Knife in the Dark aims to be a classy gothic murder mystery wrapped in a low-budget slasher, but what we end up with feels more like two mismatched movies fighting for dominance. Set in a supposedly “luxurious mansion”, the film opens with promise — eerie lighting, a killer in a skeleton mask, and a family hiding a dark secret — before devolving into a jumble of confusing subplots and stilted performances. A wealthy family mourns their recently deceased patriarch as a mysterious killer picks them off one by one.
Read MoreAmerican Scream (2025)
Evan Jacobs’ American Scream is a strange little film — part psychological drama, part sci-fi experiment, and all unmistakably Anhedenia. Set almost entirely inside a warehouse, it tells the story of two would-be killers whose plans unravel when they stumble across dead bodies that shouldn’t be there. As the day drags on, paranoia sets in, reality blurs, and both men begin to suspect that something — or someone — is manipulating them.
Read MorePoison Tree (2025)
Aaron Crocker’s Poison Tree is a small, quietly unsettling psychological thriller about guilt, secrets, and the impossibility of truly starting over. Adam and Nichole Benson move to a sleepy suburban neighborhood hoping to leave behind their troubled pasts—but a disturbing discovery in their new basement suggests that some things refuse to stay buried. At first glance, Poison Tree seems like a familiar domestic horror setup.
Read MoreAmerican Psychopath (2025)
In American Psychopath, writer-director Frank Palangi sets out to craft a grim and mysterious suburban nightmare — the story of a young woman who becomes the target of a serial killer, awakening in a hospital with no memory of who she is or what happened. On paper, this premise sounds like a serviceable setup for a micro-budget psychological thriller, something in the vein of Memento meets Halloween. Unfortunately, despite a few flashes of ambition and sincerity, the execution rarely lives up to the concept.
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