288 | Shelby Oaks

• Rated R

• Runtime: 1hr 31min

• Written & Directed by Chris Stuckmann

• Stars: Sarah Durn, Mason Heidger and Brendan Sexton III

• Premiered at Fantasia International Film Festival July 20, 2024

• Released in US October 24, 2025

• RT: 59% critics / 60% audience 

• Currently in theaters

  Synopsis

  Riley Brennan and her friends are paranormal investigators who disappear while exploring the abandoned town of Shelby Oaks, Ohio. The bodies of the other investigators are later found, along with one of the video tapes containing their footage. Riley and the other tape remain missing. 12 years later, a film crew is making a documentary about the murders and disappearance focusing on Riley's sister, Mia, and her efforts to locate Riley, when a strange man appears at her door with the missing tape. This plunges Mia further into her search for Riley.

Horror Homework

This episode:

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers  - 1956 - Don Siegel - rental

• Village of the Damned - 1960 - Wolf Rilla - rental

Next time:

• The Innocents  - 1961 - Jack Clayton - rental

• Wait Until Dark - 1967 - Terence Young - rental

Join us again in two weeks when we will be reviewing Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s newest, Cloud, currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and available to rent elsewhere.

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

278 | Bring Her Back

• Rated PG-13 

• Runtime: 1hr 43min

• Written & Directed by Logan George & Celine Held

• Stars: Dylan O'Brien, Eliza Scanlen and Lauren Ambrose

• Released on streaming October 10, 2024

• RT: 76% critics / 79%  audience

  Synopsis

  Siblings Andy and Piper, who have just lost their father, are placed in foster care with a mysterious and seemingly unstable woman named Laura who is also grieving a loss. They also meet their new foster brother, Oliver, a mute and extremely creepy little boy.

Join us again in two weeks when we will be reviewing The Ugly Stepsister, currently streaming on Shudder and AMC+.

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

270 | Oddity

• Rated R

• Runtime: 1hr 38min

• Director & Writer: Damian Mc Carthy

• Stars: Carolyn Bracken, Johnny French, Steve Wall

• Premiered at Overlook Film Festival April 5, 2024

• Released in theaters July 19, 2024

• RT: 96% critics / 77% audience

  Synopsis

  A psychic medium attempts to uncover the truth behind her sister's murder at the site of the crime.

Join us in two weeks when we review The Monkey, in theaters on February 21, 2025.

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

269 | Presence

• Rated: R

• Runtime: 1hr 25min

• Directed by Steven Soderbergh

• Written by David Koepp

• Stars: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan and Callina Liang

• Premiered at Sundance January 19, 2024

• Released in theaters January 24, 2025

• RT: 87% critics / 54% audience

Synopsis

A dysfunctional family moves into a new house and begins to suspect that it might be haunted.

Join us in three weeks when we review Oddity, currently streaming on AMC+.

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

268 | Smile & Smile 2

Smile

• Rated R

• Runtime: 1hr 55min

• Written & Directed by Parker Finn

• Stars: Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner and Kal Penn

• Premiered at Fantastic Fest September 22, 2022

• Released in theaters September 30, 2022

• RT: 79% critics / 77% audience

Synopsis 

Psychiatrist Rose witnesses a disturbing event at work which leads her to believe that a demonic entity has malicious designs on her.

Smile 2

• Rated R

• Runtime: 2hr 7min

• Written & Directed by Parker Finn

• Stars: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt and Lukas Gage

• Released in theaters October 18, 2024

• RT: 86% critics / 81% audience

Synopsis 

A global pop star is next in line to be terrorized by the insidious Smile entity. However, her increasingly erratic behavior is seen as a drug relapse and career meltdown instead of the desperate cry for help that it is.

Join us in two weeks when we review Presence, which will be released in theaters on January 24th.

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

257 | The Night House

• Rated R

• Runtime: 1hr 47min

• Directed by David Bruckner

• Written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski

• Stars: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg and Vondie Curtis-Hall

• Premiered at Sundance January 24, 2020

• Released in theaters August 20, 2021

• RT: 88% critics / 69% audience

Synopsis 

A woman grieving the recent suicide of her husband experiences strange disturbances in her home and begins to believe that his ghost is attempting to contact her.

Join us in two weeks when we review Alien: Romulus, opening in theaters August 16.

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

256 | Longlegs

• Rated R

• Runtime: 1hr 41min

• Written & Directed by Oz Perkins

• Stars: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage and Blair Underwood

• Premiered at Beyond Fest May 31, 2024

• Released in theaters July 12, 2024

• RT: 86% critics / 63% audience

Synopsis 

Rookie FBI agent Lee Harker uses her psychic abilities and apparent personal connection to help her catch elusive serial killer Longlegs, who has been implicated in several “family annihilator” murders over the past 30 years, and whose coded letters are the only physical connection to the crime scenes.

Join us in two weeks when we review The Night House, available on demand.

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

253 | I Saw the TV Glow

• Rated PG-13

• Runtime: 1hr 40min

• Written & Directed by Jane Schoenbrun

• Stars: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine and Ian Foreman

• Premiered at Sundance Film Festival January 18, 2024

• Released in theaters May 17, 2024

• RT: 84% critics / 68% audience

Synopsis 

Shy teenager Owen is intrigued by a supernatural teen TV show and an older classmate named Maddy who is obsessed with the show. When they begin watching the show together, the lines between reality and television begin to blur.

Join us next time when we'll review In a Violent Nature, now playing in theaters.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

247 | Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor

• Not Rated 

• Runtime: 1hr 38min

• Written & Directed by Stephen Cognetti

• Stars: Bridget Rose Perrotta, Destiny Leilani Brown and James Liddell

• Limited theatrical release October 24, 2023, premiered on Shudder October 30, 2023

• RT: 87% critics / 82% audience

Synopsis 

Faux documentary about an internet sleuth who, along with her partner and her brother, spends five nights in the notoriously haunted Carmichael Manor, the site of a brutal multiple murder in the late 1980s. Once there they find connections to the equally infamous Abaddon Hotel.

Join us next time when we'll review Stopmotion, available to rent starting March 15, 2024.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/