Grieving grandparents (Diane Lane and Kevin Costner) attempt to rescue their grandson and former daughter-in-law from her abusive new husband’s family in Thomas Bezucha’s modern-day Western. The film boasts accurate 1960s period detail and an introspective score by Michael Giacchino. Digital photography adeptly captures western vistas with a sense of awe, while color timing matches the character-driven narrative’s progressively darkening tone. Granted, some viewers may be irked by the inconsistent ways in which gratuitous violence interrupts the laconic pacing. See it for Costner and Lane’s performances, as well as Lesley Manville’s (Phantom Thread) devilish turn as the Weboy clan’s matriarch.

Possessor embodies the definition of a mind fuck movie. It thoroughly dismantles preconceived notions about genre and eradicates the boundary between “low” and “high” art. Andrea Riseborough (Mandy) plays an agent who inhabits people’s bodies via brain-implant technology to commit assassinations. However, the longer she stays in a host increases her risk of permanent brain damage. Comparisons to his father’s work is inevitable, particularly eXistenZ, but Brandon Cronenberg’s vision is equally original and assured in execution. The film is layered with meaning and contains visually arresting in-camera practical effects. Not for the squeamish, Possessor is a transgressive work of art.

It’s a shame Dreamland most likely won’t reach a wider audience. Other critics have unfairly compared it to Bonnie and Clyde, but what Dreamland lacks in narrative cohesion and thrills—save for an intense dust storm sequence—it compensates with its interiorized character study. Lyle Vincent’s (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) cinematography, Meredith Lippincott’s production design, and Patrick Higgins’ score perfectly capture Depression-era period detail. Most of all, the film is buoyed by Margot Robbie (who also served as a producer), whose performance as bank robber Allison Wells continues to exhibit her innate ability to inhabit compelling, characters.

Road rage becomes revved to the max in this thrill ride about a man who terrorizes a mother and her son. Although plots points are fairly predictable, the story contains a few tense sequences, include a brutal murder at a diner. Caren Pistorius (Slow West) continues to exhibit range in a role that allows for vulnerability and ingenuity. But Russell Crowe is the main draw to see the film. His menacing performance and Ford truck render New Orleans claustrophobic—they always seem to be tailgating your bumper. Unhinged isn’t Duel or Speed, but it’ll keep you entertained for 90 minutes.

Robbie Robertson fondly look back at the formation of The Band. The Rock ‘n’ Roll outfit was previously the focus of Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed concert film, The Last Waltz. This new documentary serves as a wonderful introduction to those unfamiliar with the group.

Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions give a face-lift to the classic H. G. Wells tale, less science fiction and more thriller.

I already thought The Turning was the worst horror film so far this year, but this pretentious slow burn supersedes it. Although directed and acted competently, The Lodge sinfully features a terrible script.

A more apt title for The Turning would be "The Turding." It's that bad. Although visually impressive and featuring strong acting, director Floria Sigismondi's adaptation of Henry James's novella doesn't leave much to the imagination.

A prayer—stronger than injustice; louder than despair; quieter than ego; surer than circumstantial evidence; homier then a barred cell; more challenging than simple solutions; than more comforting than empty promises; more reassuring than doubt; more accepting than racism; more merciful than hate . . .

When the survivors of an underwater drilling crew must evacuate their site, they must fight unknown cephalopod-like organisms to reach the surface before time runs out. A strong ensemble cast led by Kristen Stewart and potent thrills provide oxygen to the otherwise predictable Underwater.

Mike Flanagan attempts to marry Stephen King’s and Stanley Kubrick’s versions of The Shining in this uneven sequel. The story masterfully explores family trauma and having responsibility for others as an adult Danny Torrance battles with alcoholism and protects a teen named Abra.

Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) can create visually impressive action sequences. Too bad that those in Midway lack tension and suspense.

Renée Zellweger embodies the life of Judy Garland in this biopic based on the play, “End of the Rainbow.” The narrative focuses on the time surrounding her set of sold-out London shows, while dealing with a child custody battle with her ex-husband.

Maika Monroe (It Follows) and Bill Skarsgard (IT: Chapter Two ) star as two lovers on the run who find themselves captives of a couple (Burn Notice’s Jeffrey Donovan and The Closer ’s Kyra Sedgwick) after breaking into their home.

Brad Pitt delivers a masterfully restrained performance as Roy McBride, an astronaut living in his father’s shadow. When the US government requests McBride to communicate with his father near Neptune, he learns all is not as it seems.

Based off a true story, Brittany Runs a Marathon tries to be equally inspiring and frank about self-perception. Jillian Bell carries the movie on her two feet (literally) as Brittany attempts to improve her health by jogging.

Stephen King’s epic tale comes to a mostly satisfying conclusion, despite uneven storytelling.

Sylvester Stallone goes Liam Neeson in this final(?) entry in the series. John Rambo now lives a quiet existence on his Arizona Ranch.

High Tension director Alexandre Aja’s latest film is an efficient, lean thriller.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters delivers on the action with plenty of kaiju fighting. Godzilla going thermonuclear and Mothra are worth the price of admission. However, its human element becomes lost due to a nonsensical plot and cardboard-thin characters.

Killer toys can be creepy. To name a few: the ventriloquist dummy in Dead of Night (1945), the Zuni doll in Trilogy of Terror (1975), the animated puppets in Puppet Master (1989). The horror sub-genre is no slouch when it comes to producing scares; in fact, it has seen a resurgence with such films as James Wan’s Dead Silence (2007) and the Child’s Play remake (2019). One of the most recent entries, Devil’s Junction: Handy Dandy’s Revenge, features plenty of slicing-and-dicing, but fails to get the heart racing.

It’s nice to see Italian horror returning to the film festival circuit, even in short form. London-based Italian film director Michele Olivieri’s latest film, The Game of the Clock—which was a FrightFest 2019 entry—may be low budget, but audiences may find it a riveting experience.

Celebrity Crush is about as indie as horror films come: Low budget, in your face, and not without a campy charm. Written and directed by Oliver Robins, the film takes a well-known concept and tries to give it a meta twist. However, the number of cliches on screen may make viewers want to watch one of the films from which Celebrity Crush’s script is borrowing ideas.

Horror films often provide temporary escapist entertainment from the world around us. Other times they can reflect the horror in real life. Brad Holloway’s short film, Open House 1-4, does the latter. The narrative concerns a realtor (Tanya Christiansen, I Still Believe) trying to sell a house in an upscale neighborhood. On full display are her prejudices toward potential homebuyers. Got sandals, dreads, or tattoos? Nope. Do you look Latino? Try elsewhere. Are you black? Wrong neighborhood. White and wealthy? Welcome, come on in!

Michael Ryan’s Interpreters: a C & Earth Chronicle—quantum 1 plays more like a science fiction thriller than a horror film, but the amount of gore is enough to satisfy any viewer’s bloodlust.

What do you get when you combine vampires, zombies, and a member of the Backstreet Boys as the main star? Vampire Burt’s Serenade. Ken Roht directs Kevin Richardson in this uneven, campy experience that is so bad it’s good. Richardson stars as Burt, a self-absorbed creature of the night whose playground of Los Angeles fuels his desires for two things: blood and a shit ton of drugs.

Human Zoo perhaps started off as an interesting idea. The premise at least is enough to build a film around. A group of people competes on a new 24/7 reality television show to win two million dollars. They are sequestered within 8×8 cells in solitary confinement. Whoever lasts the longest wins. Unfortunately, the film lacks the tension and narrative drive to carry it to its conclusion.

Ennio Ruschetti—who is perhaps best known as serving in the Art Department for Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth (2015)—has been directing his own short films during the past few years, one of his most recent being Hand in Hand. His own flair for interesting stories is on full display in this horror-comedy. Just as Luis Buñuel explores the implausibility of leaving a room in The Exterminating Angel (1962), Ruschetti capitalizes on the equally bizarre instance of politicians being unable to stop shaking hands.

Double Tap is an ingenious horror short in the modern-day technological horror subgenre. Initially the title made me think of Columbus’ rule in Zombieland (2009), but upon viewing the film the meaning became crystal clear. The concept is clever: a teenager named Chilli (Olive Gray) scrolls through her never-ending Instagram feed, double-tapping nearly every post to like them. But when she passes on a chain letter-like post, things go from bad to worst.

Thessa Meijer’s Heat (Hitte) is a charming little film about an ice cream vendor (Daniël Kolf) in the middle of a massive heatwave. But don’t let it fool you. Beneath its sunny disposition and bright color palette is a scoop of the uncanny. Pardon the pun.

Writer-director Santiago Menghini already has an impressive collection of short films under his belt; while his latest film, Regret, doesn’t quite reach the same heights as some of his earlier work, there are many elements to appreciate in this ambitious project.

Callum Windsor’s modern interpretation of The Erl King retains the atmospheric chills of the original Johann Wolfgang von Goethe poem.

Writer-Director Nicole Groton’s Darkness in Tenement 45 captures the fear of the current moment with the world’s population self-quarantined in their homes. Although filmed prior to the recent Covid-19 outbreak, the indie horror flick taps into the mindset of hysteria, distrust, and cabin—or should I say tenement?—fever.

Ryan McCoy’s My Hollywood Story is a candid take on an indie filmmaker’s experience with the Hollywood system. Broken into multiple acts, McCoy touches on different aspects of his filmmaking career and the trials he has faced.

Writer-Director Nicholas Michael Jacobs (Urban Fears, Night) returns with Tales From Six Feet Under. This short film is indebted to 1980s horror anthology films in its set up and execution.

Monte Light’s Space follows a crew of terraformers as they navigate the vastness of space. As the crew of the Udo spacecraft enter an extended communication blackout with Earth, they encounter problems that leave them stranded with not enough fuel to return home.

Alex and Todd Greenlee’s Home with a View of the Monster keeps audiences on their toes. A trippy exercise in the horror of the bizarre, the film’s visuals and fragmented narrative begs for multiple viewings to unpack all of the script’s layers. Broken into five chapters, a stylistic choice that is reminiscent of the structure of a Tarantino film, the narrative unfolds in a disjointed fashion and explores the psyches of its central characters.

The Dark Red tries to be two films at once, but fails in its attempt. The two-thirds of the film is a slow-burn psychological thriller, while the last third turns into a revenge narrative. The shifts in tone and pacing is as jarring as that in Tony Scott’s Man on Fire, but at least Scott’s film was better scripted and had Denzel Washington to carry it.

Alexandra Serio’s Tingle Monsters is firmly rooted in the malice women encounter on the internet. In this era of the #MeToo movement, women filmmakers have used horror as a platform to speak out against sexism and other atrocities directed toward women. Similarly, Serio covers a hefty topic with ease and inserts enough social commentary in her short film.

Ryan Oksenberg (Damage Control) returns with Together, a genre thriller that is one-part horror, one-part comedy, one-part family drama, and 100 percent fun. Who would have thought a zombie film template would so seamlessly combine with a narrative about biohazard removal? Following a prologue of a man (David Otten) attacking a couple in the woods, the attention shifts to Julia (Arielle Hader), a young woman who runs a small biohazard cleaning service and lives in a trailer park. Julia is haunted by childhood memories of her father’s alleged suicide, a trauma that is exacerbated as she takes care of her ailing mother (Karin Collison).

When crime films such as The Godfather and Goodfellas serve as the benchmark for quality crime dramas, it can be daunting for other genre efforts to follow.

There’s a story Professor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons in an Oscar-worthy role) tells freshman Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) during his first semester at a music conservatory that becomes the motif for Damien Chazelle’s film, “Whiplash.” It’s the legend of how jazz drummer Jo Jones threw a cymbal at a young Charlie Parker for making a mistake. The story goes Charlie Parker learned from the humiliation and came back a year later and became arguably the best jazz trumpeter of all time. Fletcher takes this action a step further—he throws a chair at Andrew’s head because Andrew fails to match his tempo in a rehearsal.