Cooties (2015)

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Directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion couldn’t have assembled a better troupe of character actors than the one in “Cooties.” If you’re going to cast some of the best, you’d best put them in a good movie, and “Cooties” is great. It’s part “Class of Nuke Em High,” part “28 Days Later,” and part “Night of the Living Dead.” The team of Murnion and Milott compose a sick and hilarious amalgam of horror comedy that actually manages to build a very difficult premise. How do you fight hordes of children? And even if small children were running rampant and eating people, would you be able to murder them out of self defense?

Clint is starting his first day teaching summer school at Fort Chicken elementary school and is preparing for a hard go of it with some rather bratty children populating his school. Things go from bad to worse when a young girl bites in to a tainted chicken nugget that infects her with a horrible virus that transforms her in to a flesh eating savage.

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Harbinger Down (2015)

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If John Carpenter’s “The Thing” were competently remade in 2011, “Harbinger Down” is what we’d have. I imagine Alec Gillis’ monster feature will be placed alongside Carpenter’s masterpiece as a double feature for many years, and why shouldn’t it? It’s a strong and very entertaining tribute that can also work as a companion piece. “Harbinger Down” owes a lot of its material to John Carpenter, posing much of the same scenarios from the aforementioned film. There’s a group of workers stuck in the middle of a desolate wasteland, a creature hunting everyone down and taking different forms, and an inevitable fight for survival.

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Into the Grizzly Maze (2015) (DVD)

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It’s a shame that “Into the Grizzly Maze” didn’t get a wider release, because while the cast is strong, director David Hackl delivers a very strong survival thriller. I’m not going to claim it a masterpiece, but for what it promises, it’s a damn solid action adventure that’s set against the backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness. Much like “The Edge,” it’s mainly a movie about men confronting their personal demons while battling a giant ferocious and cunning bear that has decided it’s had enough with humanity. After illegally poaching a bunch of bears, a rogue bear has decided to strike down any and all intruders, and begins slaughtering conniving hunters and officers alike.

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Big Sky (2015)

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“Big Sky” really isn’t that bad a picture until it decides to start getting surreal and existentialist. You figure a movie about survival would keep it simple, but Jorge Michael Grau tries to play the narrative with much more depth. That said, “Big Sky” is a perfectly fine thriller with a solid cast. It kept me invested, and it’s always fun to see child stars evolve in to more unique performers. This is one of the few roles Bella Thorne has taken on in her adult career where she’s not a shrew, and she plays the heroine very well.

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Don’t Go in the Woods… Alone! (1981) (Blu-ray/DVD)

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“Don’t Go in the Woods… Alone!” is one of the Video Nasties that renders the slasher genre completely inept with a film that’s nothing but splatter fodder. And bad splatter fodder to boot. Representing the worst the slasher sub-genre has to offer, “Don’t Go in the Woods… Alone!” is bereft of a storyline, common sense, and even likable characters. The only two people that manage to survive our hobo serial killer are two of the most grating heroes pictured in the genre.

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The Rover (2014)

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If there’s anything more I love than post apocalyptic films, its post apocalyptic films with substance and meaning to them. “The Rover” is a slow boil drama thriller set in Australia where the continent has now economically collapsed. Set ten years after an apparent apocalypse, Australia is the Wild West where law is so corrupt that its citizens have zero respect for those in blue. Director David Michôd thrives on ambiguity by introducing a cast of characters with their own moral codes that conflict with everyone else’s. “The Rover” garners nothing but slime balls and the amoral, but that doesn’t stifle the utterly compelling storyline.

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Into the Storm (2014) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]

If it’s at all possible, “Into the Storm” manages to out silly “Twister” by miles. It features a giant hurricane, absolutely valiant attempts to comment on global warming, and a fire tornado! A fire tornado trumps a flying cow any day of the week, sad to say. “Into the Storm” is a silly movie without a single compelling character, but when it stops trying to create drama it’s actually a lot of fun to sit through. From the great special effects, to the absolutely tense carnage inflicted by nature, “Into the Storm” is that kind of movie you could see Paul Newman and Red Buttons co-starring in 1979.

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