Cronin is gifted at setting the table, so to speak, giving us enough unsettling visual detail to infuse a spooky scene with enough macabre energy to keep the viewer jumping. He’s also not afraid to take his films well past the usual, easily forgettable, levels of basic gore of the standard horror film. His kills tend to stick in the psyche: In the course of the film’s more than two-hour runtime, we witness a character get impaled through the throat, not once but twice, a young person forcibly pulling out all the teeth out of their jaw, plenty of bloody sputum, a scorpion lasciviously chewed up and devoured, and a character falling out of a window and getting graphically eaten alive by a pack of coyotes. 

The conceit of the series is that the films are based on the real-life case files of the Warrens, who documented their encounters via various tape and video recordings (clips of which were often shown during the closing credits to suitably chilling effect). In theory, this has always added a bit of heft to the otherwise pretty flimsy goings-on, though by now, so much of the Warrens’ “accounts” have been thoroughly debunked — including supposed paranormal doozies like the Amityville haunting — it’s pretty much impossible not to take all of these films without a boulder of salt. 

If the beauty of the classic Western at least partially lies in its dependably simplistic morality  —  a villain doing wrong; and a hero stopping them cold  — the modern “neo-western” as Ari Aster’s satirically topical film has often been classified, becomes almost the literal opposite: A film where morality shifts and scuttles about, before getting bludgeoned, shot, blown up, and, eventually paved over and turned into a high-tech office building. 

Ryan Coogler’s horror/comedy/musical/race drama treatise presents more ideas to chew on in its 137 minute run time than some entire summers worth of Hollywood ‘tentpoles.’ 

The title refers to a singular fluid, but there are actually a great many other substances at play.

M3GAN escalates into sentient robot girl gone wild.

The world hasn’t seen this kind of dedication to organization since the Nazis stormed into Poland.

Halloween Ends disappoints on many levels with its boring pace and questionable approach as the equivalent of that house on October 31 that gives out healthy snacks instead of full-size candy bars.

The Black Phone perfectly mixes ghosts, survival, revenge and a memorable maniac for a horror flick that builds to a thrilling climax.

Crimes of the Future didn’t captivate me with its story despite the fascinating, gruesome effects and made me wish for a better experience in the present.

Men tries too hard to mix a message and symbolism with a creative concept and ends up neutering itself.

The style of Men is undeniable and will either immediately appeal to or put off its audience.