Frightening Strikes

Having seen no small measure of praise for Personal Shopper, I went in not sure what to expect in the way of a relationship between haute couture and the afterlife. In any event, I was expecting more than I found - there's slow burn with simmering tension and then there's just slow - and this was the latter. An American in Paris We meet Maureen (Kristen Stewart), a young American living in Paris and working as a personal shopper for Kyra, a demanding supermodel, in a job she clearly hates. She’s grieving for her twin brother, Lewis and her boyfriend is away in Oman, leaving her in sorrowful isolation. Maureen is also a psychic medium who visits her childhood home in the hope of contacting Lewis and fulfilling the pledge they made to each other - that when one dies, they will try to contact the other from beyond. This mission doubles as a job: she’s tasked with determining if the house has a “presence” by the potential buyers, though the rationale for why she was asked to undert...

The Monkey sets out its stall early with a memorable opening. Petey Shelburn is desperate to offload a strange clockwork monkey in a junk shop, realising too late that this isn’t the harmless toy he thought it was. His attempt to be rid of it ends badly, establishing both the power and intent of the monkey right from the outset. A Turn of The Key Fast forward a few years and Petey is now absent from the lives of his twin sons, Hal and Bill. Trying to gain some sense of the man he was, the boys rummage through their father’s belongings and stumble upon the sinister wind-up monkey. In spite of cryptic warnings on the box, natural curiosity gets the better of them, and with a single turn of the key they soon discover that outlandish death follows after the monkey plays its drum. Having unleashed a chain of calamitous events, the twins band together and attempt to prevent further destruction but find that the monkey won't be sidelined that easily. The film is narrated by Hal, whose ...

The Woman in the Yard  is a psychological horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra ( House of Wax, Orphan ) that explores grief, guilt, and PTSD in the wake of sudden loss, reminding us that the deepest horror often lies within. Ramona is left physically and emotionally shattered after a car accident that killed her husband. The couple had recently started a new life on a farm, but now she’s alone - trying to care for her two children, 13-year-old Taylor and six-year-old Annie, while struggling to keep the household running. From the opening scenes, Ramona’s grief is palpable. She spends her mornings unable to get out of bed, while Taylor scrapes together breakfast for the family and their dog, Charlie. Bills pile up, the power fails, and Ramona’s injuries make even walking a challenge. The children do their best to pull her out of this spiral of despair, though the effort is a strain on them all. The Woman Arrives One morning, their routine is broken when Taylor spots a mysterio...

As summer fades and the nights grow longer, horror fans have plenty to look forward to. September delivers a diverse lineup of spine-chilling films, ranging from supernatural hauntings to psychological terror and slasher mayhem. With the return of fan favorites and a new outing from Brandon Christensen, there’s no shortage of thrills leading up to the Spooky Season. Whether you’re drawn to suspenseful mysteries, eerie folklore, or full-on slasher scares, this month’s releases promise to keep every horror enthusiast on the edge of their seat. The Conjuring: Last Rites   The Conjuring: Last Rites sees the return of Ed and Lorraine Warren in the final chapter of The Conjuring saga. Inspired by the infamous 1986 haunting of the Smurl family in Pennsylvania, the Warrens are called out of near-retirement to confront one of the darkest cases of their careers. Joined by their daughter Judy and her partner Tony, Ed and Lorraine must face a demon that knows their weaknesses and is determine...

The Presence is a supernatural horror film that flips the haunted house genre on its head by telling the story from the ghost’s perspective. Shot in a style that flirts with found-footage , without the unruly camera-work, the film invites viewers into the world of the Payne family - up close, uncomfortable, and increasingly eerie. Simmering Tensions The Paynes have just moved into a new house, hopeful for a fresh start. But simmering tensions soon bubble to the surface. Rebecca, the driven matriarch and a high-powered legal professional, is facing undisclosed legal trouble. She seems closest to her golden-boy son Tyler, a cocky high school athlete, while her relationship with her daughter Chloe is more strained. Chloe, still grieving the mysterious death of her best friend Nadia, is fragile and isolated - further alienated by her brother’s bullying and her mother’s emotional distance. Meanwhile, Chris, the father, tries to both support the family and contain its worst excesses, juggl...

In Oculus , writer-director Mike Flanagan takes a familiar horror trope, the haunted mirror, and reframes it into something original. A supernatural psychological horror, Oculus is less concerned with jump scares and more interested in blurring the boundaries between perception and reality. It’s a chilling, mind-bending battle of wills between siblings and a malevolent force that doesn’t intend to go down without a fight. A Shattered Childhood The film opens with Tim Russell being released from a psychiatric facility into the care of his sister, Kayley, 11 years after the violent deaths of their parents in a tragedy that shattered their childhood and changed their lives forever. While Tim spent over a decade trying to piece his sanity back together, Kayley's been chasing a different truth, rooted in the antique mirror she believes was responsible for the family’s destruction. Unbeknown to Tim, Kaylie has tracked down the Lasser Glass (as the mirror is known) and orchestrated its r...

August might be heating up, but horror fans won’t be cooling off any time soon. This month’s line-up is lean, but what it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in potential. From unnerving hauntings to alien chaos and backwoods possession, these titles bring something fresh and fearsome to the table.  As there are so few, we’ve rounded up every horror release hitting screens this August, and for once, most of them look like they could be winners.  Together When Maddie and Jamie retreat to a remote coastal house for a much-needed break, they hope to reconnect and repair their fractured relationship. But isolation isn't always the answer and when cracks in their bond re-appear and their arguments intensify, strange phenomena begin to occur hinting at something more sinister within the house itself  The couple realise they face a terrifying question: is it just them or is something else living with them? If the trailer's anything to go by, this looks wild, intense and...