Comrade Courant Culture Critic

Kids vs. Aliens (2022): A Gory, R-Rated Love Letter to ’90s Kids’ Horror “Goosebumps meets Evil Dead—but leave the kids at home.” — 3/5 Stars On the eve of Halloween, there’s a special kind of joy in a movie that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is: loud, bloody, and wildly entertaining. Kids vs. Aliens (2022) is exactly that—a gory, R-rated romp that wears its influences like badges of honor. Think of it as what happens when the kids who grew up on Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? hit their 30s, watched Evil Dead , and decided to make something that honors both. Unlike R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead —a perfect gateway horror for younger viewers—this one is decidedly not for kids . It’s chaotic, profane, and drenched in practical-effects gore. The film follows Sam, a sharp-witted teen played with fierce commitment by Phoebe Rex, as she tries to survive a Halloween house party th...

Late Night with the Devil (2023): A Fun, if Flawed Séance in the Studio “Do not adjust your set.” — And don’t expect perfection, but do expect a wildly entertaining Halloween night. — 3.5/5 Stars I’ve been hearing about Late Night with the Devil since it dropped—a buzzed-about “instant cult classic” that fused analog horror, found footage, and 1970s late-night TV into something supposedly groundbreaking. As someone who followed ARGs like The Mikaeli ARG (yes, the “hitting metal 17 times” guy— In my opinion a defining voice of modern analog horror, whose project concluded just last year), I went in hoping for a feature-length version of that same immersive, broadcast-based dread. What I got was something far more modest—but still very fun. This isn’t a masterpiece. It’s not even terrifying. But it is a wildly entertaining, impeccably styled Halloween movie that absolutely earns a spot in your annual rotation....

Immaculate (2024): A Missed Opportunity in Religious Horror “Not every intervention is divine.” — And not every horror film with a great premise deserves your time. — 2/5 Stars Immaculate (2024) arrives with a premise ripe for horror: a devout American nun, Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney), joins a remote Italian convent only to discover she’s been chosen for a terrifying divine purpose. The film flirts with powerful themes—bodily autonomy, reproductive control, institutional gaslighting, and the weaponization of faith against women. In the hands of a bold filmmaker, this could have been a Rosemary’s Baby for the post-Roe era. Instead, director Michael Mohan and writer Andrew Lobel deliver a film that feels like it was focus-grouped into mediocrity, or never intended to be great in the first place. There are so many interesting ideas here—Cecilia as a modern-day vessel, the convent as a gilded prison, the Chu...

The Substance (2024): Body Horror as Capitalist Self-Cannibalism “Audaciously gross, wickedly clever, and possibly Demi Moore’s finest hour.” — 4/5 Stars In a world that demands women consume themselves to stay relevant, The Substance literalizes the metaphor with grotesque, operatic precision. Coralie Fargeat’s audacious body-horror epic isn’t about aging—it’s about the capitalist machinery that turns self-optimization into self-annihilation. Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading aerobics icon fired on her 50th birthday for being “too old.” Desperate, she injects a black-market serum that splits her body in two: out of her back emerges Sue (Margaret Qualley), a younger, hotter, more marketable version of herself. For seven days, they alternate consciousness. But the system demands sacrifice—and the original body pays the price. The Horror of Self-Commodifi...

The Wailing (2016): A Shattering Masterpiece of Spiritual Horror and Existential Doubt "Not just a horror film—it’s a theological nightmare that leaves you questioning everything, including your own eyes." — 5/5 Stars Let’s be clear from the outset: The Wailing (Gokseong) (2016) is not merely a horror film. It is a descent into spiritual chaos—a 156-minute fever dream that weaponizes faith, folklore, and paranoia to dismantle the very notion of certainty. Directed by Na Hong-jin ( The Chaser , The Yellow Sea ), this South Korean epic doesn’t just scare you; it unmoors you , leaving you adrift in a world where every belief system fails, every authority lies, and evil wears a thousand faces. Set in the remote mountain village of Goksung, the film follows Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won), a bumbling, everyman police officer whose quiet life unravels when a mysterious illness begins turni...

Possession (1981): A Shattering Descent into Marital Horror and Existential Chaos "Not a film about possession—but about the horror of loving someone who’s become a stranger." — 4/5 Stars Let’s be clear from the outset: Possession (1981) is not a conventional horror film. It is a psychological exorcism disguised as a marital drama—a raw, unhinged, and deeply personal vision of love’s disintegration, filtered through the lens of Cold War paranoia, religious guilt, and body horror so visceral it borders on the sacred. Directed by Andrzej Żuławski during his exile from communist Poland, the film channels his own divorce, political disillusionment, and existential dread into a work that feels less like cinema and more like a scream carved into celluloid. The story begins simply: Mark (Sam Neill), a spy returning to West Berlin, finds his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani) distant, erra...

The Dark Half (1993): King's Doppelgänger Nightmare Gets a Gothic Makeover "A slow-burn psychological horror that prioritizes atmosphere over scares, anchored by Romero's eye for the grotesque." — 3/5 Stars The Dark Half (1993) review: In an era when studios are finally mining Stephen King’s deeper cuts for fresh horror, it’s worth revisiting George A. Romero’s The Dark Half —a film that was ahead of its time in its psychological ambition, if not always in its pacing. Based on King’s 1989 novel (itself a thinly veiled reflection of his “Richard Bachman” pseudonym), the film explores the terrifying notion that the darkest parts of our creativity might not stay on the page. It’s a gothic, atmospheric, and deeply strange work—flawed, yes, but genuinely haunting in its best moments. Timothy Hutton stars as Thad Beaumont, a literary novelist whose violent crime thriller...

Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023): A Lovecraftian Missed Opportunity Wrapped in Decent Animation "A cursed prophecy, a bat-shaped god, and a film that should’ve been far more terrifying." — 3/5 Stars Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023) arrives with a tantalizing premise: a 1920s Batman, cosmic horror, and a Gotham City built on occult bloodlines. Based on the cult-favorite Elseworlds comic of the same name, the film leans hard into H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos—specifically echoing The Doom That Came to Sarnath —and reimagines Bruce Wayne not as a detective, but as a reluctant avatar of primordial dread. It’s certainly better than most straight-to-video animated superhero fare —more ambitious in scope, more atmospheric in tone. But let’s be clear: it doesn’t hold a candle to DC’s animated high-water marks like Batman: Under the Red Hood , The Killing Joke , or Gotham by Gaslight...

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988): Not “So Bad It’s Good”—Just Brilliantly Good "A masterclass in practical effects, satirical worldbuilding, and committed absurdity—disguised as a B-movie." — 4/5 Stars Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) review: Let’s be clear—this is not “so bad it’s good.” It’s simply good . Brilliantly, joyfully, inventively good. Directed by Stephen Chiodo and brought to life by the Chiodo Brothers’ legendary practical effects team, this cult classic isn’t a joke. It’s a fully realized, satirical sci-fi horror that treats its absurd premise with total sincerity—and in doing so, achieves something rare: a film that’s both hilarious and genuinely unsettling. The premise is deceptively simple: evil extraterrestrials who look like circus clowns descend upon a sleepy American town, using cotton candy cocoons, balloon animals, and popcorn guns to harvest humans for foo...

The Last Circus (2010): A Masterpiece of Grotesque National Grief "Most horror clowns want to kill you. The clowns in The Last Circus are already dead—killed by fascism, machismo, and a country that never buried its past." — 5/5 Stars The Last Circus (2010) reveiw: In the oldest sense of the word, this Spanish tragicomedy is incredible : awe-inspiring, grotesque, stunning, and heartfelt. Directed by the visionary Álex de la Iglesia, this Spanish tragicomedy uses the clown as a vessel for national trauma, transforming the circus ring into a bloodstained arena where Spain’s unburied past—Franco, fascism, machismo—rages like a ghost that refuses to rest. Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and its long, suffocating aftermath, the film follows Javier (Carlos Areces), a gentle soul born into a family of circus clowns, who is drafted into a militia and forced to trade laughter for ...