News & Movie Review

  Vicious Fun (2021) The premise of “Vicious Fun” could doubly function as a horror critic’s biggest dream and worst nightmare. Writer James Villeneuve and director Cody Callahan (2021’s “The Oak Room”) clearly have a reverence for ‘80s horror, their premise—a horror journalist practically enters his own horror movie—so niche that it couldn’t possibly be imagined by anyone less than a true-blue fan. Though it's vicious when it needs to be, "fun" is the name of the game for "Vicious Fun," which is as amiable as a horror-comedy can get with serial-killing 12-steppers and intestine strangulation. A half-grating, half-endearing Evan Marsh, sporting a Marty McFly vest, plays Joel, a deputy assistant editor for horror magazine “Vicious Fanatics” in 1983. He has arrived home from a cut-short interview with a director about his latest slasher when he expects to hang out with his housemate and crush Sarah (Alexa Rose Steele). She’s just gotten home from a date with Bob ...

Werewolves Within (2021) One would like to imagine that the premise behind horror-comedy “Werewolves Within” came as an extension of director Josh Ruben’s debut “Scare Me.” That 2020 campfire-style horror indie involved a hapless writer (played by Ruben himself) trying to finish his werewolf revenge novel. Instead, for the less well-versed like yours truly, Ruben’s sophomore effort is actually based on a Ubisoft video game. It’s not your typical video game adaptation but more of a genre-bending chamber piece, branded with a larkish personality.   Written by Mishna Wolff (hehe!), “Werewolves Within” is a murder mystery whodunit with an irresistible lycanthropic twist: instead of “Knives Out,” think “Claws Out.” It’s also a small-town farce where the political/environmental division of the town gets torn apart even more by a wolf person. Based on the opening quote, the film owes a great debt to the good-heartedness of Mr. Rogers, who was always a good neighbor and could have taught ...