Posts by Brent Lorentson

It would seem that ever since Hereditary came out in 2018, it kind of paved the way for the new sub-genre of horror, “grief-horror”, basically horror films that delve into the emotional horror of losing loved ones and the reckless attempts people may make to reach out to them in the afterlife. This isn’t subject matter most horror fans enjoy; for me I find an odd sense of comfort with these films. When Talk to Me came out, that film especially struck a nerve with me, and I absolutely loved that film from the first-time Australian filmmakers and brothers Danny and Michael Philippou.  Talk To Me managed to bring something new to the supernatural genre, and the grief the main character was going through was very relatable for me, so of course I was going to be a little excited about what this duo would do next (at least before they tackled their sequel to Talk To Me). As it would turn out, I wouldn’t have to wait long for their next film, and Bring Her Back tackles the horror of grief in a manner that has stuck with me since exiting the theater.

This Memorial Day weekend, Netflix dropped the new horror film Fear Street: Prom Queen. For those who may not be familiar with the Fear Street brand, it was a series of horror stories penned by RL Stine for his readers who were aging out of his Goosebumps series but were not quite ready for the heavy hitters of horror like Clive Barker and Stephen King. These stories were fantastic as a gateway to horror, typically filled with gruesome deaths, but still not crossing the line with too many adult themes. In 2021 Netflix first released a trilogy of Fear Street films. Personally, I only liked the first two, and the third was relatively forgettable. Now Netflix has released Prom Queen, and while my expectations weren’t exactly high, I still was hoping for something better than what we got.

From the moment I saw the first trailer for Sinners, I was totally sold on this film, it looked like it was going to be From Dusk Till Dawn, only set in the Jim Crow era, and I was absolutely excited for it. As an added cherry on top, the film was shot on film and with large-format cameras. This was a film that easily was one of the films I was most looking forward to seeing this year, and it broke my heart having to miss out on seeing it opening weekend because I was sick. Now that I’ve finally seen it, did it live up to my expectations? The hype surrounding this film is insane, especially when you see the box office numbers this film is bringing in and people already wanting to call this the best horror film of the year, and despite it only being May, people are talking about this getting some awards nominations. It’s not surprising when you consider the writer and director is Ryan Coogler, who managed to get Black Panther an Oscar nomination.

With the end of the year upon us, I felt this was the best time to talk about what I feel was the best film of 2024. First I want to start by saying that this hasn’t been my favorite year for cinema, especially when you look at the kind of films you see at award shows, mostly all those films were forgettable and not anything I feel will become cinematic classics. That being said, when it comes to the horror genre, this has been a pretty great year. For a while I would have said Late Night with the Devil was going to be my favorite horror film of the year, but then The Substance came out, and that just floored me, and I’ve kind of become a bit obsessed with the film. It’s the only film this year that has stuck with me for days and just had me wanting to watch it again so I could savor its visuals, whether they be beautiful or grotesque.

For just about the past decade I feel Samara Weaving has earned the title of scream queen in the horror genre. She may not be a box office name like Jenna Ortega, but I feel Samara Weaving has a more impressive resume of cool and fun horror films, and she just consistently delivers. Ready or Not in a lot of ways is the film that best showcases her talents, and I thought for sure she’d level up to A-list status, but it seems the movie gods have other plans for her. Thankfully she is still cranking out some fun films for genre fans. Azrael is Weaving’s newest dip into the horror genre, a film that was written by Simon Barrett, who previously wrote the horror gems You’re Next and The Guest, and to sweeten this ghoulish cinematic pot, it is directed by E.L. Katz, who directed the 2013 dark comedy Cheap Thrills. Does this all add up to another genre hit, or is this a dud?

There is something about how the French make their horror films that I find a bit hard to resist. Films like High Tension, Inside, and Martyrs are films I go back to time and time again and just have a blast with, and with the release of MadS I was a bit optimistic that this could also be a film to add to my rotation when I’m on a French horror film kick. What really gave me hope for this film is seeing that it was directed by David Moreau, who gave us the criminally underappreciated home invasion horror film Them (2006). If you are a fan of home invasion horror and you’ve missed on Them, I highly recommend checking it out. As for MadS, it seems Moreau was going for something a bit different, this time doing a one-shot horror film about a virus outbreak that causes those infected to go “mad” and violently attack people. Sure, we’ve seen it before, but is the one-shot approach a fresh enough take to make this an experience worth sitting through?

It seems it would be easy to do a film about the urban legend where a driver picks up a woman in white who turns out to be a ghost. We are all familiar with this story, though the details of the urban tale can vary from one storyteller to the next, and it really seems like something so straightforward that it would be hard to make a mess of it. I at least thought so until I watched Black Cab. The film at first glance just seemed like something in my wheelhouse that couldn’t go wrong; it was a ghost story starring Nick Frost, whom I’ve been a fan of since first seeing him in Shaun of the Dead and Spaced, but despite how likeable he is, there is just nothing much that could have saved this movie, which was mostly dead on arrival. Anne (Synnove Karlsen) and Patrick (Luke Norris) are a recently engaged couple. After a night of celebration turns sour, they attempt to take a cab ride home, but instead their night is about to go from bad to worse as they discover their driver is a bit unhinged. As for their cab driver, Ian (Nick Frost), his plans for the couple remain ambiguous for a good portion of the film,

When I first heard Anna Kendrick was stepping behind the camera to direct her first film, I kind of expected it to be another Pitch Perfect film … but to find her instead doing a thriller about a real life serial killer and rapist who appeared on a game show in the 1970s was a curve ball I wasn’t expecting. But this isn’t simply a true crime story but instead is about how women were marginalized and heavily objectified. But the biggest takeaway I had while watching this was simply how dangerous things were back then and just how easily a serial killer could be prolific and walk the streets while no one suspected a thing. To get it out of the way, my major gripe with this film is that we meet Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) in the very beginning, and we see that he’s a vicious serial killer who lures his victims with charm while posing as a photographer.

I always found it a bit funny when Hollywood churns out movies that have similar plots to compete against each other. Back in the 90s Armageddon dueled the same year with Deep Impact, when disaster films were all the rage. 2024 had the same situation, though not in the form of big blockbusters, but this time in the form of two horror films about nuns and strange pregnancies taking place within the confines of the convent. The prequel to The Omen was better than I had anticipated, and when Immaculate was released, I just never got around to seeing it … at least until now. While The First Omen is a slow burn that actually pairs well with the first film, Immaculate I feel is the more bloody and popcorn-friendly romp that I feel fits into the sub-genre of nunsploitation (something I wouldn’t object to seeing more of).  So is this film worth congregating in front of the television for 90 minutes, or is this a hard pass in a year that seems to flourish with quality horror films, but not much of anything else?