EvilPhoEniX

After Sinister 2 and Citadel, Ciarán Foy serves up his most interesting work. After Brightburn and Prodigy, we have another children's horror film that works thanks to a novel idea. The protagonist is allergic to the world and undergoes experimental treatment in a remote house that is not as safe as it first appears. The director builds the atmosphere nicely and serves up a fair amount of scares and imaginative jump-scares that work better than in this year's Annabelle 3 or La Llorona. However, what lifts the film to above average is the solid finale, which comes with a surprising twist. For fans of ghost stories, a clear recommendation. 70%

An unexpected gem aspiring to be the most bizarre film of the year. The story focuses on Jesse Eisenberg, who plays an accounting nerd with poor social skills. One night he gets so badly beaten up by a biker gang that he ends up in the hospital and decides to sign up for Karate for self-defense. The Karate class is led by an eccentric Sensei who, in addition to teaching Karate, also teaches a way of life, and the protagonist literally transforms into a different person. From that point on the film becomes incredibly bizarre. The film is half black tragic-comedy and half bizarre psycho thriller and together it works great. The film excels especially in the performances, the dialogues, which are not only smart but also informative (lots of interesting stuff regarding martial arts), and the last half hour kept my mind wondering how weird the film would eventually turn into. Unpredictable, informative, entertaining, funny, disturbing and gritty! 85%

After the great trailer, the end result is a better average. Matt and Kate buy an isolated house where they discover a room that can materialize any wish. This concept is delivered very entertainingly until Olga Kurylenko wishes for something she could never have. I found the second half not as entertaining or interesting. There's quite a lot of WTF stuff going on and the finale is oddly overwrought. Thanks to the idea and the beautiful Olga, it might be worth watching, but I expected it to be more intense maybe even more suspenseful. 60%.

The talented Ric Roman Waugh has done some decent prison stuff and now he serves up the best installment of the trilogy, which frankly shocked me because the trailers didn’t have me expecting much. It's very much in the vein of The Fugitive with Gerard Butler going against everybody. The film is an intense ride from start to finish with perfect music, pumping action, a decent bad guy, unexpected twists and turns and a pretty pissed off Butler (the drone scene a awesome), and Nick Nolte is great with his forest traps. A very nice surprise, I unexpectedly enjoyed this one and will award the film the B-movie of the year award at the end of the year. 85%.

Oscar-winning Ang Lee delivers a 90's style actioner, and even though the critics are grumbling, I think it's great. Will Smith is the ultimate assassin and he's just about to retire, but before he does he has to face his own younger clone who wants to take him out without hesitation. The story is interesting, but doesn't dazzle that much, which in this case I don't mind because the action scenes are almost revolutionary and technically precise. The intense music, the amazing cinematography, the utmost professionalism and precision of the two Wills captivated me with every moment and the scene with the motorbikes is one of the best I've seen in the cinema this year, but the fight in the catacombs or the rotating machine gun with lasers is also great. The acting, the action and the technical aspects of the film are impeccable and if that's enough for you, you'll be royally entertained like me. 80%

This unnecessarily long delayed affair is in the end a very entertaining film with a perfect idea. A police unit rents a chicken restaurant to eavesdrop on drug dealers, but trouble arises when the restaurant becomes an unexpected hit and one of the most visited places. The cops are likable and the main villain and his female bodyguard, who reigns supreme in the action scenes, are perfect. The humour works, it has pace, great actors and a typically Korean action finale. Very good. 80%.

An enjoyable monster-survival one-shot set on a tropical island. The neautiful Kiersey Clemons finds herself on the shores of a small island where she is all alone and not only must fight for her life with nature, but every night a sea monster rises from the bottom of the ocean to eat her. It's minimalistic but nicely paced thanks to the pretty scenery, the attractive actress, and the interestingly conceived monster. 60%

Unpretentious fun from Thailand. The main character finds himself in an unenviable situation. He gets stuck in a 6-meter deep pool and with all the bad luck, a crocodile also falls in. So this is an animal-survival film that is very suspenseful, entertaining and decently done. At times the things that happen to the main character felt almost parodic, because you really don't see that much bad luck and mishaps. 65%.

A fun zombie comedy with kids, starring the perfect Lupita Nyong'o (Us), who is definitely becoming the new horror Scream Queen! A teacher goes on a field trip with her kids and is helped out by David, who has his nephew in kindergarten, but instead of a nice trip, they find themselves in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and are forced to fight for their lives. The film is quite original in that it features a group of children, which gives it a fairly decent emotional base and makes it unexpectedly cute in places, but there are a few severed heads, a bit of blood and the humour works well. So an enjoyable flick that brought something new to the zombie genre, but I was expecting it to be a bit wilder, still a cautious thumbs up. 65%.

After The Call, Brad Anderson serves up another suspenseful thriller that won't leave you breathless! Sam Worthington goes to the hospital with his wife and daughter who was injured in a fall is sent for a CT scan. Hours pass and the daughter and wife are nowhere to be found. From this point on, solid paranoia sets in, where you won't know until the last few minutes whether the main character is a deranged lunatic or the hospital is hiding dark secrets. Very suspenseful, well acted and directed with an engaging plot and a decent denouement that, while not all that surprising, is satisfying enough. Recommended. There hasn't been a better suspense film in a long time. 80%.