This is an expanded rewrite of the review originally published as part of our coverage of TIFF 2024 A has-been actress uses an experimental drug to become a better version of herself in The Substance. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is a once-popular actress who has now been reduced to hosting the aerobics program Sparkle Your …
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A recently deceased teen has to learn how to commit hauntings or else disappear from reality in Dead Talents Society. The Rookie (Gingle Wang) is a teenage ghost who moves unseen through the afterlife with her friend Camilla (Pai Ching-I). However, the rookie soon discovers that she is in danger of being forgotten and disappearing …
A has-been actress uses an experimental drug to become a better version of herself in The Substance. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is a once-popular actress now reduced to hosting the aerobics program Sparkle Your Life. However, Elisabeth ends up being fired, on her birthday, by her chauvinistic boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid), who begins looking for …
A group of friends trying to escape a mining colony encounter a derelict space station containing a terrifying threat in Alien: Romulus. Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) is an orphaned young woman living on the mining colony Jackson’s Star, who is disappointed to discover that the Weyland Yutani corporation increased her service quota, preventing her departure …
An American woman finds herself trapped in supernatural woods in the Irish countryside in The Watchers. Mina (Dakota Fanning) is an American woman living in Ireland, plagued by guilt over the accidental death of her mother she was responsible for as a child. Mina is tasked by her boss at the pet shop she works …
A renowned shaman and revered geomancer encounters an ancient evil while cleansing a supernatural affliction for a wealthy family in Exhuma. Shaman Lee Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) and her protege Bong Gil (Lee Do-hyun) are hired by the wealthy US-based businessman Park Ji Yong (Kim Jae-cheol) to cure a mysterious affliction on his newborn son. Hwa-rim …
The popular series of survival horror video games hit the big screen with Five Nights at Freddy’s. Mike (Josh Hutcherson) is a troubled man who desperately needs a job, or else he will lose the guardianship of his ten-year-old sister Abby (Piper Rubio) to his cruel aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson). Career counsellor Steve Raglan …
A 12-year-old Malaysian girl undergoes immense changes after hitting puberty in Tiger Stripes. Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) is a student at a Muslim all-girls school in Malaysia, who often ends up breaking the rules when hanging out with her friends Farah (Deena Ezral) and Mariam (Piqa). When Zaffan has her period one night, the resulting changes …
The Lambert Family returns to travel into The Further once more in Insidious: The Red Door. It has been a decade since Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) and his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) was hypnotized to forget their ability to astral project into the supernatural realm known as The Further. Josh is now divorced from his …
The man responsible for ensuring there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq is interviewed two decades after the Iraq War in Blix Not Bombs. Hans Blix is a Swedish Diplomat assigned by the United Nations Security Council to perform weapons inspections in Iraq to ensure that the country was not harbouring Weapons of …
Terror returns for the Suwono family in Satan’s Slaves: Communion. Four years after the incident that forced them to flee their home, Rini Suwono (Tara Basro) is living in an isolated apartment block in Jakarta with her father Bahri (Bront Palarae) and younger brothers Toni (Endy Arfian) and Bondi (Nasar Anuz). Shortly before the start …
A family is tormented by a supernatural threat at a rural orphanage in The Queen of Black Magic. Hanif (Ario Bayu) travels with his wife Nadya (Hannah Al Rashid) and children Dina (Adhisty Zara), Haqi (Muzakki Ramdhan), and Sandi (Ari Irham) to the orphanage where Hanif was raised as a kid by Mr. Bandi (Yayu A.W. …
A young woman and her friend travel to a remote village to find out the sinister secrets of her family in Impetigore. Maya (Tara Basro) is a young woman, who is left shaken after being attacked by a machete-wielding madman while working in a tollbooth. Soon afterward, Maya discovers old photos that suggest that she …
If there is a word I could use to describe The Watch it would be “uneven.” If you take Old School, 21 Jump Street, The I.T. Crowd, and Attack the Block and mash them all together, you might come up with something that looks like this film. The film is advertised as a sci-fi comedy, though this …