To answer the most obvious question right away: No, sadly, Richard Kelly’s THE BOX is not a return to the absorbingly strange glories of his knockout debut feature DONNIE DARKO. But nor is it as frustratingly out of control as his follow-up film SOUTHLAND TALES either. In fact, it’s kind of a combination of both: opening and closing reels of compelling and dark personal drama surrounding more expansive, elaborate plotting that loses its grip.
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The trick to making a successful vérité horror film, especially in this post-BLAIR WITCH age of audience skepticism, is not forcing the issue that the events on screen are real. The makers of THE FOURTH KIND have geared their campaign toward encouraging viewers to make up their own minds, but the more the movie itself insists—frequently and blatantly—that it’s authentic, the harder it is to buy any of it, undercutting a number of genuinely creepy sequences.
NOTE: This review does contain minor SPOILERS
THE FOURTH KIND is an incredibly unsatisfying alien abduction movie. Unsatisfying because it has neither an alien or an abduction!
The Australian-made SLAUGHTERED is the sort of movie that shouldn’t get overlooked in the current resurgence of slasher films, which includes all the franchise remakes/reimaginings like HALLOWEEN/FRIDAY THE 13TH, new attempts to establish unstoppable killers such as HATCHET and LAID TO REST or its low-budget, comical Aussie contemporary I KNOW HOW MANY RUNS YOU SCORED LAST SUMMER. To put it simply, SLAUGHTERED has been made by someone with more than a clue, and who has been as relentless as any disfigured maniac to get her movie across the finish line without sacrificing the entertainment experience. 
TRIANGLE starts out with a premise that would fit any Sy-Fy original: when passengers out on a yacht hit sudden stormy weather, they seek refuge on a mysteriously abandoned ocean liner. You've seen it in VIRUS, GHOST SHIP, GHOST VOYAGE and a dozen other bad movies. What you don't expect is where writer/director Christopher Smith is going with it and the compelling lead performance by Melissa George.
There's dark, there's bleak and then there's Javier Gutierrez' BEFORE THE FALL (Tres Dias), which is so utterly nihilistic, it makes the ending of Frank Darabont's THE MIST look like CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS! This amazing film was chosen to close L.A. Screamfest.
According to its own press kit, FAMILY DEMONS is "a psychological horror film about an abused teenage girl who murders her alcoholic mother and is horrified to discover that the mother's vengeful spirit returns to haunt her. Even in death, the mother is hell bent on denying her daughter's freedom." 
Since SAW has become the 21st century’s FRIDAY THE 13TH—an unstoppable once-a-year franchise with a signature villain—it only makes sense that in both cases, the sixth entry has proven to be surprisingly better than expected. Not that SAW VI takes the series into any surprising new directions, nor does it make much that’s fresh out of the saga’s stock ingredients. Yet it stacks up as a scarier and more satisfying viewing experience than the last few sequels.
It’s a harsh thing to say, but some people just aren’t funny. Bo Zenga is one of those people. He was an executive producer of the dreadful SCARY MOVIE, and an executive producer and co-writer on the atrocious Snoop Dogg-starring SOUL PLANE. This time around, Zenga is a triple threat, serving as the writer/director and one of the producers of the flagrantly unfunny STAN HELSING, a SCARY MOVIE ripoff/parody (opening today in New York and LA) that is a crime against comedy and sets a new standard for adolescent, idiotic, witless humor. SOPHIE’S CHOICE has more laughs than this woebegone chaff. So do yourself a favor and skip this incompetent horror satire. No need to thank me, folks. I’m just doing my job.
