When all is said and done, “The Exorcists” could have been so much worse. And that’s about as good as it gets with Jose Prendes’ horror thriller. As is typical of “The Asylum” studios, “The Exorcists” arrives right around the time of the big reboot of the classic William Friedkin film (I’ll see your two priests and raise you five!). This new film isn’t bashful in hiding its intentions, even styling the title fonts to look similar to “The Exorcist.” Even with all the reservations, “The Exorcists” has a decent concept, but what hinders it is that the script feels painfully under developed.
Tag Archives: Horror
The Jester (2023)
The Jester originally began life like a lot of contemporary horror icons: debuting mainly through short horror films. The Jester was a character that appeared in a series of short horror films until finally garnering his own feature film. Like many modern horror characters, the Jester is a monster that’s all dressed up with nowhere to go. That’s not to say that Colin Krawchuk’s horror film is a bad movie, it just wastes what could be an interesting supernatural monster (if the cards are played right).
The Pumpkin Man: Demon of Fall (2021)
There’s nothing really more Halloween than a villain with a pumpkin for a head, and “The Pumpkin Man” introduces what should and could be a fun horror villain. “Demon of Fall” watches a lot like a mix of “The Ring” if penned by RL Stine for “Goosebumps,” and I mean that as a compliment. It’s a short film with a small budget, but it has a neat concept I’d love to see translated in to a feature someday.
Binge and Purgatory (2022)
I can’t say that I responded too much to director Becca Kozak’s short dark comedy, too much. While I dug the inherent creativity behind the premise, the movie really doesn’t offer much of a narrative. There’s a lot of gore and grue, and two characters that spend their time one upping each other in grotesque ways.
Le espera (The Wait) (2023) [Fantastic Fest 2023]
Return to Horror High (1987)
I have to say that I quite love “Return to Horror High.” Yes it’s convoluted and mostly a nonsensical meta horror comedy about the horror genre, but a lot of the ideas it lays out during the duration of its story are so ahead of their time. “Return to Horror High” (not a sequel, by the way) has the distinction of being cited as one of the precursors to “Scream,” but it really only holds that distinction in how it takes a step back and analyzes horror. Beyond that Bill Froehlich’s film is only really connected in that it’s a slasher with a whodunit twist. The rest of the movie is a pretty nonsensical meshing of storytelling styles, and twists that make no sense. Nonsensical is the key word to “Return to Horror High,” but that’s also what makes it so good.
Pumpkin Man (2021)
There’s nothing like a really good feature film about Halloween, but sometimes there’s also nothing wrong with short but sweet Halloween tales. “Pumpkin Man” from Director and Writer Alex Magaňa is a simple and short horror tale that works wonderfully as a treat for the holiday.