The Cinema Arts Center is Imploding - it's probably best to stay away

Dylan Skolnick has been removed from the Cinema Arts Center (CAC) in Huntington New York and the cinematic world of Long Island and New York and America has been rocked to its core.

Skolnick's parents founded the CAC and when they stepped down and passed away, he stepped in and kept the theater going and growing, most importantly he kept it alive during covid.  

The board announced Skolnick's removal and talked in hush tones in several brief and very undetailed emails.  They said something about fiduciary responsibility but no one knows what that means since Dylan has always been above board and transparent. As this posts I have not heard exactly what happened though there were several reports that Skolnick was trying to make sense as to why he was removed since the reasons weren't clear.  

Most people I have seen on the internet can't fathom why he was removed. From what I can gather from reading on in various forums and in discussion with people who are member of the center is that the people looking in was nothing that Dylan did that was wrong, the board simply wanted Dylan out and they needed an excuse - which they refuse to state. The thinking on the various message boards is that the whole affair is that it's a coup or hostile take over.

Personally, I think that unless the CAC board actually says what their problem are, (especially after saying nice thing about Skolnick early in the summer) they are going to lose the audience and destroy the theater. (There are a lot of indications that is already happening)

 Skolnick was/is a fixture. He has busted his ass for five decades making sure that all sorts of cinema had a place to screen on Long Island. Dylan was and is a force who cast a wider net than his parents (I and my friend Lou used to get into battles with Dylan's parents who told us they would never run films that Dylan later championed.) And more importantly Dylan doesn't just work on film at Cinema Arts but he is so respected that he works for theaters across America.

People like Dylan and according to published reports, they are already lining up to support him with many patrons,  members, scheduled presenters and friends of the cinema stepping away from CAC until facts are given. And lest you think this is just a Long Island thing friends who don't live in the area, but make frequent trips to the cinema because of how good their programming is, are not going to make the schlep from Lower Manhattan or Westchester. Friends who do repertory round ups for the New York metro are are now removing their coverage of the cinema.

Most interestingly since the firing this week it appears the cinema has either pulled films they were supposed to run or had the films pulled from them since for the first time in decades they are running current mainstream movies (COYOTE VS ACME) and films they had listed as running in their program (I believe they were supposed to be running Kent Jones' Late Fame) are now missing.  

If the distributors are behind the change of programing it's a death knell to the theater as am art house since it means that they are not buying the seeming bullshit and siding with the guy they have known for five decades and not the recently installed board. 

Its also the death knell since, as I said, why go to the theater when it is now just another multiplex. No one I know is going to go to Cinema Arts to see mainstream movies on a smaller repertory screen when there is an AMC 8 plex running the same movies on bigger screens with bigger sound a short distance away. 

Taking it further no one is going to keep their memberships since no one will  pay to be a member when you are no longer getting special films with special presentations. People are members to get special films not the same old stuff. Why have a membership to see a multiplex film?

To complicate CAC's problems further there are reports that several patrons have pulled their funding. This it shows a lack of trust for the board now in control and people don't trust how their money will be spent. If the patrons pull the funding will CAC have the finances to keep running if they don't have donors or an audience giving them money?

I honestly don't know what happened or why, but I have not seen anyone not supporting Dylan. Everyone seems to love him and are standing by him. According to what I was reading in the message boards anyone who has sided with the board is connected to the board. The lack of details has everyone siding against the board because their repeated emails refusing to say anything simply seem like ill thought out double speak and ass covering.

While I haven't spoken with Dylan in any sort of way but to say "hi" in passing in decades, I wanted to show my support. Based on having him orbiting in and out of my life for five decades and never ever hearing a bad word about him, and based upon what I have read and heard from friends closer to Cinema Arts, I'm going to side with him. 

I think most patrons, members and film goers who know him will side with him and step away...

...which kind of breaks my heart.

Please, everyone who may be thinking of going to the Cinema Arts Center stay far far away until Dylan is returned to his position and the board is removed.  Vote with your wallets, don't give them money and cancel any plans you had and do something that will actually do some good.

If you can please sign the petition to get him back. Even if you aren't from the area do so simple because Dylan doesn't just work for the Cinema Arts Center but he programs theaters across the country.

The Petition can be found here.

On the Passing of Dolly and Tim

Over the last twenty-four hours we lost two people who changed the world for the better, Dolly Parton and Tim Curry.

I hopefully will do longer pieces for each down the road, when the pain is less and I can think more clearly. However, for right now I need to take a moment and say they will both be missed. 

Dolly's music made us feel good and her humanity made us understand that there was some light in this dark world. Her passing was in the words of a guy on the radio, the first time he has ever seen not only no one saying a bad word about the person that passed, but everyone trying to top each other with tales of her kindness. As Randi said, she was a true angel. She was everything that we all aspire to be. She never tried to do goo, she always just did good, which made it all the more remarkable since so many choose to not do the right thing or worse they choose not to do anything. 

Tim Curry may not have written Rocky Horror, but he was the personification of it. That he was so charismatic in the role may have typecast him on some level, but he gave hope to all the kids and adults who needed to be told "don't dream it, be it". Lives were saved and will be continued to be saved because of his mere existence in lingerie let people know they could be whomever they wanted and need to be. But he did much more and he went on to other classic roles on screen (CLUE, MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND and others) and stage (he was Mozart to Ian McKellan's Salieri in Amadeus on Broadway, Alan Swan in the musical of My Favorite Year and King Arthur in Spanalot).  What we connected to was, like Dolly, his inner humanity and light that kept us being.

I am crushed and beyond words.

The world has gone considerably darker with their light turned into a faint afterglow or their memory.

God speed them both.

A funny thing happened with NYAFF

I don't live and die by hits. I am amused by what gets read and what doesn't. To that end I am amused that for the last bunch of years my readership during NYAFF drops. When I do festivals and series readership goes up, but during NYAFF it drops - which is funny since my coverage of the festival was what helped put me on the map.  Seriously once the NYAFF coverage hits my readership goes down as if the regular readers seem not to think there is anything there for them. If I was covering the festival for hits I would have to stop doing so because I know I would not have a readership. 

This is not a knock, but more a statement that NYAFF maybe a big  festival with great PR  that gets them stars and coverage around the world, but in NYC and  in the local film community its  now insular and it's own world. I kind of saw it happening over the last few year but this year it really hit me. Most of the film fans that I know no longer talk about it, with many of my fellow writers not covering it any more. It seems  none of the regulars who went to every screening go any more.

Yes, the screenings sell out and there are butts in seats, but at the same time it feels like it is playing to a very defined audience and not so much outside of that. It's playing to its membership and I do mean its own membership and not so much the Film at Lincoln Center Membership since I did not see a lot of Lincoln Center faces at my screenings, and none at SVA. (though to be fair I could have missed them)

My personal problem that has bothered me the last few years, and one kind of made worse this year is the casual vibe the festival has towards screenings and pretty much everything. Things will happen eventually, and you just have to go with it because its summer and all you should care about is the festival and nothing else. Who cares when things start end end. (The end part is why I don't go to night screenings unlessits very important to me because I have been told numerous times  by the head of the festival the festival is made for city people who don't have to commute and for people only going to the fest). The regular people in the seats seem to be okay with that as was revealed in the fact  that people were just sort of going with the fact that screenings were starting late. The two of the comments I heard at screenings  were " I don't know why I expected them to start close to time, they never do" and the other was  from people blowing into HOPE 25 minutes after the advertised start time, before anything had started "See, I told you we didn't have to rush, they never start on time".  

Basically I no longer like the in person vibe. I no longer like that it feels like you have to be one of their people.  I dislike the casualness and the sense its being made up on the fly.

To be honest while I have enjoyed the hell out of all the films I saw for NYAFF this year, it’s honestly the best programmed since Subway Cinema left, but outside of their getting me the films to cover remotely, dealing with the festival in person was too much of an adventure.  

Every time I tried to do something in person, I felt like I’d walked into someone else’s dinner party. Ultimately the experience of covering  the fest is no longer fun. 

At this point I really am done with NYAFF as something I'm going to cover. I'm not even sure that after this year that I'll even bother with the odd film.

Random thought-Tribeca and the AI problem

The only camera people covering the allAI feature at Tribeca

Tribeca has an AI (artificial intelligence) problem.

The last few years they had films pondering the place of AI in the world.  There was always one token doc. The first ones pondered what it was, the next few pondered if it was good and the latest bunch have largely been films that leaned into AI being okay. The only doc that they have run that was totally useless was the one last year which was one of the fathers of AI in which he said it was perfectly fine and anyone who didn't buy in was deluded because nothing bad will happen. It was such a pro AI film that it essentially said there was no down side and that it was better than puppies, Santa and peace on earth. 

This year the festival, in addition to playing a film whose title suggested that AI was probably okay, made a huge deal about showing the first epic feature film made entirely with AI.

The film writers lost their minds. Almost everyone stated they would not have anything to do with the film. A lfew of them said they would not cover the festival as a result.

I'm not a fan of AI. I hate that it learns on other people's work and then spits out a variation of what it learned. There is no creativity because to use it you have to give it parameters of what you want and it spits back something similar to what has gone before because it had to look at data and scrape it and copy it. 

What the festival doesn't realize is that Tribeca's embrace of AI fell flat because for a fest that pushes creativity and original storytelling in its programming as a big deal, an all AI film (based on what the technology can do right now) runs counter to its alleged principles. They want Tribeca to push creativity but AI just copies. You can't champion the new if you're using something that is just recreating the old.

The move to love AI despite the laundry list of issues was something that dominated a large number of my discussions with writers who wanted to express their feelings about what a bone head move it was (while trying to find out  how the film was - because they were certain I would see it and cover it).

I don't know how the film was but I went by the red carpet by accident and there were only two photographers from outlets that covered everything regardless.

I also should say that AI maybe more wide spread than we think. I quietly asked about some details about a couple of films and I was shut down and said that I shouldn't write about that or that if I was going to credit anything I should credit a certain person.  The original question was not  an AI question, however the answer made me think that the films had used AI since the people they wanted credited seemingly had no background in that area (say music). I think perhaps people are using it but will never admit to it.

I have no idea what Tribeca is going to do next year but they probably should get a position and stick to it.

ADDENDUM- With the release of YOUNG WASHINGTON a Tribeca film ended up in trouble with writers and creatives when it was announced that AI was apparently used a great greal in the making of the film. I note this because during the Tribeca screening I was at the director said almost everything was done in camera and the only computer assist was during the ice flow sequence because it couldn't be shot in camera without there being danger to cast and crew.  More recent conversations had him saying there was more and that AI was heavily used which cause some people to walk away from a film they liked- in part because of the AI and in part because of the dishonesty.

Before I sit down and write a review I have a thought about Supergirl (2026)

I am seriously considering making SUPERGIRL number one on the Best of 2026 list- not because its a great movie- it's not-it's flawed (a review is coming). I want to put it at the top of the list becuase the little girls at the screening I attended- and one little girl in full Supergirl costume- came out of the screening happy, engaged and running around as if they were the hero on the screen. Rarely have I ever seen such engagement from an audience not such absolute joy.

To all the basement dwelling misogynists and movie fan boys and bros who wanted to piss on the film - you're absolutely screwed. The film is not going anywhere. 

SUPERGIRL is going to be a cult hit long term and Milly Alcock is going to be someone generations of girls look up to. Trust me this film is going to find it's audience and blossm. It's audience is going to be all the marginalized little girls who don't feel they fit in and who feel broken and like they don't belong.  This is a film for all the girls who have to take the abuse from the dick heads and nimrods like the one throwing brickbats at the film and delighting in the "failure" of a female headed film.  This is a film that is going to show them that they can stand up, they can fight back and that they can be good even if they aren't polite or nice.

SUPERGIRL will, in the long term, change lives and live deeply in the hearts of a hell of a lot of people once they discover it. 

I know  DC may not like that short term, but long term they have a cash cow if they want it.

Time Machine Maidan (2026) Sheffield Doc Fest (2026)

This is a docufiction essay portrait of the battle of Maidan in the Ukraine. It’s a mix of reality and fiction based on reality. For example the main character is based upon a number of young people who went to the front line.

This is a trippy film. Told from a first-person point of view the film drifts through time where it uses footage of actual events to create a real sense of being there in the moment.

This is one of the best films I’ve seen on Ukraine. It’s not that the film gives us tons and tons of fact but instead it creates a head space. This is not us witnessing things, rather this us our living the events. Yes, we are seeing it through another person’s eyes but it presented in such a way that we are living it.

This is magnificent achievement.

If you are growing weary with all the Ukraine films and need to see something that will restore your faith in subject and humanity, see TIME MACHINE MAIDAN.

Underland (2025) opens today

 This is a look at the world beneath our feet, a mine turned into a research facility, a cave complex and some man-made constructions.

The people doing PR for this film did everything they could to make sure the press saw this on the big screen. They insisted that the images needed to be seen big. And they were right. There are some truly spectacular images in this film.

The problem is that the film is more essay and mediation than a straight documentary, so the film is put together so as to be somewhat hypnotic. We drift off on the images and the music and the result is that despite the film being beautiful to look at we begin to drift off. It's all so low key as to put us to sleep. I fought keeping my else open.  Yes, I was enjoying what I was seeing, but at the same time it's not exciting... even if the discovery of human handprints deep deep into a cave complex blows out mind (How did they get that deep with just torches?)

This is great to look at, but it may put you to sleep.

Radu Jude's DRACULA (2025)

Radu Jude's all over the place take on Dracula has some amazing things in it but  wraps the good things with bad  and is wildly too long and rambling to hold together.

The film feels like Jude had all these ideas about Dracula and Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for Stoker's character but he didn't know what to do with them so he through them all together. At the same time he had all these ideas on other things like AI so he put them them in there too. Thoughts appear and then disappear. We remember the things that punch through and shine and forget the rest. My over riding feeling coming out on the far end is that the film has moments but nothing hangs together.

Full disclosure, I am not a Jude fan. I find his film's tough slogs, his BAD LUCK BANGING and DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD were in desperate need of an editor, much like his DRACULA. He seems to think more is more even when it's garbage. Quite honestly I am convinced that he is scamming the cineastes who adore him by bullshitting them into thinking his works mean something. This is the result of dealing with way too many artists who scammed their patrons for big bucks.

That said, for all the messiness and crap it contains DRACULA is probably Jude's most interesting film, though I never need to see it agin.

Brief thoughts on BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions (2025) which opens Friday

Based on Kahil Joseph's art installation BLKNWS is a one of a kind film that mixes real footage with created footage and edited in a hypnotic way that picks you up and pulls you along. Less a traditional narrative and more a collection of ideas, the filmmakers refer to it as a kind of cinematic record album, the film works on a subconcious level to create something that may seem like some avant garde films I've seen while remaining wholly unique.

Wow, just wow.

You will forgive me for the brevirty of this piece, but I don't know how to explain it. It's been ten days since I saw the film and I don't know how to write this up. That's a rave, because it means that this is a film that you have to enage with. You can't be an inactive particpant, you have to be fully there and fully fighting with it in order to get everything tha Kahil Joseph want's you to.

Additionally this isn't a film, so much as an experience. The act of seeing the film is a physical, mental and psychic trip to somewhere else. Even though you do not leave your seat during the viewing you are physically, mentally and psychically somewhere else when you get to the end.

For anyone who does not want conventional filmmaking this film is a must.

Highly recommended.

My Dear Theo (2025) Camden 2025

In MY DEAR THEO filmmaker and soldier Alisa Kovalenko composes audio and video messages to her young son who was moved to France after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Low key, it was intentionally filmed in quiet moments and references the fighting only after the fact, the film is a look at the silences and waiting in warfare. As such it is a powerful look at the emotional times when we search our souls and ponder if we are going to be alive in the next few minutes.

This is a slow building film. It is one that you really should not watch it at home or on your phone. This is a film that truly flowers and hits hardest on a big screen, in a darkened theater where there are no distractions. You need to feel the pace of the times between battles. We need to feel the silences and the quiet. By being in the quiet we get to travel the parallel path of a soldier. Not the one of blood and guts and steel and iron, but heart and home and human and humanity. It’s a film that really explains why they are fighting, to protect the ones, like Theo that they hold dear to their hearts.

It took me a few minutes, but once I connected, I found I was deeply moved.  This is a film that reminds us that things are not always as they seem on TV or in the news.

Recommended.

Flana (2025) Toronto 2025

Flana, the term, refers to the thousands of young girls who have disappeared in Iraq. They have either been disappeared by various forces, killed or run off. Where the girls go is not always known. Not everyone cares because in Iraqi society women are not important. How unimportant? Young woman can be killed by a family member, and it will barely be a blip.

FLANA, the film is the story of the director trying to come to terms with the disappearance of a childhood friend.  She is not sure what happened or why. Being a young girl who was raised by an aunt, who was a midwife, made her subject to some of misogynistic attitudes. It is also a film that is going to kick your ass.

This is a film that messes with your head. The film opens with someone speaking some words that sound incredibly creepy, as if they are directed at a young girl in a sexual way. They are then flipped, and we realize the words refer to the birth of baby. It's kind of funny, but at the same time it's not since it places us into a very different place than we are used to. That uneasy feeling is further compounded by how the story is told. There are moments that seem to be meditative or belong in an essay film, and others that are long single take interviews that won't let us look away.

I was rocked. I was uncomfortable. I didn't know what to think. When the film ended, I just stared at the screen trying to figure out what I thought. The world that presents is not quite what I expected. Its a form of Misogyny that seems to be more insidious and eviler because it isn't as cut and dry as other forms. This is somehow different...and worse, it is directed at children.

Almost three weeks on I find I am haunted by this film.

This is a must-see film. Yes, it is going to punch you in the gut, but you need to see this.

Brief thoughts on Pavilhão (2025) Tribeca 2025

A young girl walks through Rio de Janeiro and talks about the  Samba and the Afro-Brazilian community.

This is a good little film about the sense of community that music brings. Its a brief little film that feels like a walking tour through the neighborhoods of Rio.  I was bopping along to the music. While the film is very good on it's own terms , there are several moments where the image and music come together to make something transcendant.

Worth a look.

Zodiac Killer Project (2024) First Look 2024

When Charlie Shakleton's plans for a documentary about the Zodiac killings centered around a certain book on the crime are squashed when the rights are withheld, he instead regroups and gives us an explanation of what the film would have been.

This is kind of like an illustrated lecture or illustrated podcast as Shackleton's voice over explains the things we are seeing (I would have used ia shot like this to begin the film). The film is weirdly hypnotic as we fall into his tale trying to make the film and his view of the Zodiac killings.  The result is a film that echoes the work of Patrick Kiellor's Robinson films or the early work of Peter Greenaway, except that this is more or less a straight on documentary.

I was locked into the film during it's run time. Being a  true crime nerd with an interest in the Zodiac case I was intrigued by how Shackleton put it all together. Additionally somewhere in the middle of the film that had this been a conventional film it would have said a great deal less with a great deal more effort.

Definitely worth your time, more so if you are a true crime nut, the ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT is one of the must sees of the First Look Fest.

Twin Fences (2024) Slamdance 2025

Nominally this is director Yana Osman's exploration of a certain fence made in the former Soviet Union. The truth is this is a cinematic journey that is essentially a 90 minute digression during which she explores the places she lived and life over the last few decades.

If that doesn't make sense don't feel bad. There is probably nothing I could ell you about this film that will prepare you for what it is. That's not a bad thing. It is in fact a very good thing  because it means no matter what I say you will be surprised.

This film at first confused me because I had no idea what it was doing and then I just was so intrigued that by the time I got to the end I wanted it to keep going because I was having so much fun just riding around.

What an absolute joy

All films should result in the audience sitting there in wide eyed wonder traveling where ever the director goes,

In all honestly I can't say anything about this film other than just see it because that is the only way to do it justice. 

One of the great discoveries of 2025. See it where you can.

The Night Is Dark and Colder Than the Day (2025) Rotterdam 2025

This is a mediation/essay on childhood that involves kids talking about their hopes and fears and sequences of them being kids and others doing things representative of their feelings.

This is very much an art house film. It is a heady film that forces the audience to engage with it. The film has much it wants to say and requires that you come along for the ride it has chartered.

How you react to the film is going to depend upon how you react to the very deliberate construction of the film. How you react is going to entirely depend upon how you like art films.

For me I was up and down with the film. Because of the varying styles of the film, one part documentary one part mediation, one part artistic exploration,  my interest varied. There are some great sequences in this film. There are also some sequences where I intellectually know what the filmmakers were reaching for but I don’t think they achieved it

Is it a bad film? No far from it. The truth is that I can see this playing several of the more serious festivals in the US (New Directors New Films, the New York Film Festival on one of the side bars). If there is any question about anything it would be I am uncertain about how wide an audience the film is going to get.

Worth a look for anyone who loves art house fare.

AFTER WAR (2024) DOC NYC

Hybrid film mixes narrative, documentary interview transcriptions performed by actors, essay and other things to create a one of a kind film looking at the effect of war on the survivors. It’s truly unlike any other film you've seen that is impossible to either classify or describe. To be completely honest I’m not certain it really works since the lines spoken by the actors don’t always connect to the images. Additionally the actors staring hard into the camera works for a little bit but the intensity is a bit much.

Give the film a lot of points for trying to do something unique, but at the same time a little goes along way.

25 more horror films to watch for Halloween

Haunted House Hamburgers in Farmingdale New York

On Sunday I posted a piece from 2018 that listed 25 horror films you probably haven’t seen before, With Halloween two weeks away I’ve thrown together a quick list of 25 more recent horror films that I haven’t seen talked about much since the release and haven’t been on any list I’ve seen. (I was going to include The Coffee Table but that keeps popping into my time line

There is no order or preference for this list – just films worth your time

RED ROOMS recent film about a woman following a murder trial 

HOUSE OF SCREAMING GLASS throw back to a 1970’s drive in movie about a woman who inherits a school from her grandmother  

STING is about spiders from space in a brownstone in Brooklyn during a blizzard 

WHAT YOU WISH FOR a chef subs for a friend and well things go side ways 

IT LIVES INSIDE scary horror film about a demon that is released 

YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME on a dark and stormy night a woman knocks on a man’s door 

THE BLACKENING is the typical old friends get together for a reunion and one of them is a killer. Genre breaking horror comedy is a delight 

SILENT MADNESS 1984 3D film a bout a killer on the loose. One of the best films spawned by Halloween and Friday the 13th 

MINORE a giant monster in the sea off Greece  

GODLESS THE EASTFIELD EXORCISM what happens when a couple tries to deal with mental health issues and discovers it’s way more than that. On of the best exorcist films I’ve run across. It’s genuinely scary. 

CRAWLSPACE (2022) A workman is trapped under the floor of a deserted cabin when  some bad people show up to do some bad things. 

NIGHTSIREN one of the best films of 2022 is what happens when a woman returns home to her mother’s house in the woods. 

THE LAKE (2022) a giant monster lives in a lake. 

DEADLAND is the story of a sheriff who picks up a man on the side of the road… and sets in motion supernatural revenge  

THE BUNKER (2023)  during World War 1 some soldiers cross the battle field and find something in the trench across the way that should have remained locked up 

LEGIONS demons and exorcists and really scary shit 

LORE recent horror anthology that actually has all good stories. 

DARK INTRUDER Leslie Nielsen stars in a film that was almost a pilot for a TV show. Think of Kolchak set in turn of the 20th century San Francisco 

EXHUMA recent Korean horror film about a ghost that is dug up that will mess you up- and make you want a sequel  

ABIGAIL probably the biggest film here and is too much fun not to include- it’s the story of a group of people who are hired to kidnap a little girl but aren’t told she’s a vampire 

BLOOD VESSEL if you can go with the rhythms of the film, this tale of people fleeing on a ship to a better life only to find it a deadly place will keep you on the edge of your seat l

WHERE EVIL LURKS f-ed up take of two brothers who don’t fo the right thing when they find out a demon is a bout to be born and thus doom their community. Wrong on so many levels you won’t sleep afterward. 

EVERYONE WILL BURN a woman about to kill herself meets a young girl and the reality is things go  really bad from there 

WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS the Adams family nightmare about a group of performers who do disturbing things 

SHAKY SHIVERS horror comedy about two girls, one of which is werewolf 

As you can see there are dozens of great horror films to see beyond the typical Freddy, Jason, Michael and chainsaw one.

I will leave you to track them down.

From 2018: A fast and loose list of 25 horror films to try for Halloween - I doubt you've seen most of these

This is a repost of a piece from 2018 listing some horror films that people are not talking about but should.

With Halloween approaching and everyone making their lists of horror films you simply MUST SEE. The problem is everyone is hitting the same old titles- you know what I’m talking about- NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, HALLOWEEN, ALIEN, HEREDITARY, IT and on and on. If you went by the majority of these must see lists you’d see everything there is to see in one night and never know about the vast trove of horror films out there.

But there are literally thousands of films out there that you probably never heard of and which are way better than the lack of discussion about them would indicate. You have to keep in mind that the reason everyone keeps going back to the same old films is combination of laziness mixed with the big well know films are getting pushed. For whatever reason they had a PR machine behind them that could push them in everyone’s face. As a result you know Jason and Freddie ad nauseum and not a legion of other titles.

We have to correct that.

What follows is a list of 25 films that are largely off the beaten path, that we’ve reviewed in the last two years. While we have reviewed dozens more, these are the ones that are either the best of the bunch that aren’t the big well known titles or are interesting enough so as to be worth a look. I’m not going to pretend that they are all best of the best, that isn’t the case, but they are all worth a look. I've given each film a one line description and linked to the longer review. While you may not like everyone of these I think you'll find a few you'll really like.

Ultimately if you want a good horror film and you are on Netflix or Prime or one of the other streaming services look at the listing for horror and just start watching films - the best stuff is often hidden in under titles that you normally wouldn't try.

(And If you want even more recommendations for off the beaten horror films simply click on the horror tag )


THE BOOK OF BIRDIE - just hitting VOD is a creepy film about a young girl who is put into a convent by her grandmother. Part horror film, part fairy tale it is a film that is not like anything else you’ve probably seen.

WEREWOLF - on the festival circuit this Polish film is about a bunch of children just released from a concentration camp and the horrors of war. It will disturb you deeply.

ENDZEIT: EVER AFTER  another festival film about zombies that is not like anything you’ve seen before. Two women try to get to safety and find that the plague is the result of the earth in revolt.

SHOCKWAVES 1977 classic about undead Nazi soldiers coming back to kill people on an island paradise. A lot of fun and Peter Cushing too.

MANDY Nick Cage in a wild and weird throwback horror film that is on VOD and in theaters.

END TRIP  a ride share driver is a serial killer in this small scale thriller

CARGO Martin Feeman is bitten by a zombie and has to get his daughter to safety. A great film on Netflix

THE ENDLESS  it may not completely work, but this tale of two brothers visiting the “death” cult they left years before has some creepy moments

THE DEMON  creepy realistic film about demonic possession. Great performances and stark black and white photography help build the chills

HOUSE OF DEMONS  Think a Vertigo comic book melded into a drive-in film in a film about time travel and cults.

TRENCH 11 military horror film about an abandoned secret base and the monsters that live there- its one of the best of the sub-genre

THE OLD DARK HOUSE  Classic horror film about a dark and stormy night and a weird family who opens their doors to travelers

THE VAULT  A bank robbery goes wrong...and James Franco has a solid role

RED CHRISTMAS   Psycho Killer on the loose with a twist- who the killer is not who anyone suspected

DEVIL’S GATE   The FBI goes to investigate the disappearance of a woman and her son and finds something much worse than they could have imagined

THE VOID   a cult opens up a gate to another dimension and things cross over

DON’T KILL IT  Dolph Lundgren is a demon hunter troubled by a demon that jumps from person to person if you kill its host. This film needs a sequel

BE AFRAID   what is the dark figure that appears in a small town driving people mad and dragging people away?

DELUSION   three years on a man gets a letter from his wife saying she will always be around.

DAY OF RECKONING  Demons rise up from the center of the earth in one of the few good found footage films

PARASITES  college kids go to skid row and end up being hunted

LADIES OF THE HOUSE friends go home with a stripper only to find she and her housemates are cannibals.

WITHOUT NAME  A surveyor goes to an isolated house to map a forest and finds something weird in the woods.

INERASEABLE is one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen. The story of a haunted house that becomes truly terrifying

THE WAILING Mostly one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen about a town where everyone is going nuts and the efforts to stop it which leads to a demon.

(And a big thank you to the great Ted Geoghagen for saying on Twitter how all the list cover the same five titles- Ted -your anger got me to do this list. I hope you approve.

And while we are talking Ted don't forget to see his BROOKLYN 45, WE ARE STILL HERE and MOHAWK for three very different types of horror films)

Jimmy (2024) NYFF 2024

A meditation on James Baldwin's 1948 trip to Paris, where he found a home and began to write.

This is a black and white film told with a driving jazz score that is more about feelings than facts. Yes Baldwin wanders through the film, and there is some attempt at narrative sequences, however the truth is those are the weakest parts of the film. This is a film that work bests on mood. 

Running just over an hour the film is an interesting footnote.

VIKTOR (2024) Toronto 2024

Deaf man who loves samurai films  wants to fight for his home land Ukraine after the Russian invasion, but his lack of hearing keeps him out of the army.

Moody expressionistic black and white cinematography mix with a soundtrack put together to mimic Viktor’s hearing to make a film that plays more as a cinematic essay than documentary. It’s a hypnotic and compelling viewing experience that is even more so in a darkened theater with no distractions.

The problem is that as a documentary the subject gets overwhelmed by the presentation and there comes a point where you want the cinematic tricks to stop and just focus on Viktor. I’m not certain if the film tells us enough or not because there are some facets to this story about which I want to know more and others aspects we get to know too much. The film doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be.

While I think the film is worth a look for the presentation It’s not a must see.