Frankenstein Legacy (2024)
One of the spate of Frankenstein films to emerge in the 2023-4 period, this conducts an ambitious period-set follow-up to the original Mary Shelley story on a low budget
The Moon (2023)
Solid South Korean attempt to copy Gravity and The Martian with the attempts to rescue an astronaut who becomes stranded on The Moon
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (2021)
This is the most charming animated (in this case stop-motion animated) film in years, a mockumentary about the life of a tiny talking shell that inhabits a human home. My best film of 2021
Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever (2023)
Nightwatch about the paranoia of a morgue attendant on the night shift was a festival hit. After 29 years, the principals reunite for a sequel
The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell (2006)
A gonzo post holocaust film that was put out under the National Lampoon label. Beyond having a great title, this represents as close to near-total ineptitude in filmmaking as it is possible to get
Steampunk Samurai Biker Chick (2012)
I must admit to being drawn in by the title, but this proves to be a massive cheat. What we get is a painfully cheap future action film
Countess Dracula’s Orgy of Blood (2004)
Donald F. Glut is famous as a genre historian and novelist. Here he directs an erotic vampire film. Despite the title, Count Dracula doesn’t feature much but we get Paul Naschy in one of his few English language films
Blood on Melies’ Moon (2016)
Luigi Cozzi’s return to screens after 26 years, a head-scratchingly bizarre effort overloaded with ideas about parallel worlds, cosmic journeys and homage to the early cinema of Georges Melies and others
Grimcutty (2022)
A film about Grimcutty, a boogeyman that lurks inside an internet meme and thrives on causing parental fears. This sits on the edge of being almost interesting
Acid (2023)
A harsh and urgent French-made catastrophe film about a family trying to survive and get to safety with the appearance of a sudden cloud of deadly acid rain
The Woman in the Yard (2025)
Blumhouse film with Danielle Deadwyler and family having to deal with the ominous threat of a mystery woman in black veil who simply sits in their yard
The Devil and the Daylong Brothers (2025)
An indescribable, completely insane Southern road movie about soul collectors. Somewhere between The Dukes of Hazzard as redone by Guy Ritchie or Quentin Tarantino and the Southern blues film Crossroads
Killer Book Club (2023)
A Spanish slasher film reminiscent of I Know What You Did Last Summer, albeit rewritten for the Cancel Culture era, where a clown-masked killer eliminates their way through members of a book club
The Elderly (2022)
Quite creepy Spanish film where the elderly everywhere without any explanation begin to act disturbed and turn on the young
Corbin Nash (2018)
Film about a tough guy detective settling into the destined role of a monster hunter. With lots of dark streetwise urgency and Corey Feldman proving unexpectedly entertaining in drag as the lead vampire
Escape Room (2017)
This was debatably the first of three films that came out around the same time with the same title. Here a group find themselves in an escape room facing nasty deaths in each room
Monster Mash (2024)
The Asylum conduct a monster bash – a crossover between the Famous Monsters – and actually do a modest and quite enjoyable job that pays affectionate homage to the characters
Stopmotion (2023)
A film about a stop-motion animation filmmaker who descends into a dark and obsessive state of mind
Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
The fourth Captain America film, where Anthony Mackie now takes over the shield and costume. And you really need to have been following MCU continuity to make sense of much of what is going on
In the Lost Lands (2025)
Paul W.S. Anderson adapts a George R.R. Martin fantasy story but somehow still manages to make it into another Resident Evil copy still starring Milla Jovovich
I ♥ Robots (2024)
An amateur-looking film set after the robot apocalypse concerning a girl and her friendly robot who must make a journey across the wasteland. This at least boasts some well-integrated robot effects
Rogue Warrior, Robot Fighter (2016)
A pneumatically inflated heroine fights the machines amid a standard array of space opera and post-apocalyptic future tropes
The Invisible Man (1984)
A version of the H.G. Wells novel conducted as a mini-series of six half-hour episodes from the BBC. This is the most faithful adaptation of the book so far
The Silent Sea (2021)
South Korean tv mini-series about the investigation of a moonbase with illicit experiments and something possibly alien unleashed
Easter Bloody Easter (2024)
An Easter horror film about a small town overrun by a killer jackalope, this plants tongue in cheek and hits a highly amusing horror comedy stride. Leading lady/director Diane Foster should be a future horror heroine
Elevation (2024)
Quite a good variant on A Quiet Place where humanity is in hiding from monsters that exist below eight thousand feet altitude. This develops some fine seat-edge tension
Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare (2025)
From the people behind Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, this is the horror version of Peter Pan. And good grief, does this go dark with Peter as a child abductor and Tinkerbell who shoots up ‘fairy dust’ through a needle
The Devil’s Tomb (2009)
Jason Connery directs a film that draws upon the basics of The Keep about soldiers venturing into a tomb in Iraq where they awaken a great evil housed there
The Gauntlet (2013)
Film with people trapped in a mysterious labyrinth, which may be Hell, where they are required to eliminate one another in order to survive. Aka Game of Assassins
Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927)
One of several silent movie versions of Tarzan, featuring the actor who was Edgar Rice Burroughs’ personal choice for the role
Mirror Mirror (1990)
A 1990s video release, a variant on Carrie where a bullied teen girl enacts vengeance against tormentors with the aid of a cursed mirror
Breach (2020)
Another of the last films made by Bruce Willis, before his retirement. Here Bruce is on form and gives a decent performance. The film is an Alien copy with the crew of a space mission under attack by a parasitic lifeform
Batman Ninja vs Yakuza League (2025)
A sequel to Batman Ninja, which offered an anime treatment of Batman. This gives us a bizarre alternate Yakuza-ruled Japan with versions of the Justice League working for them
Mickey 17 (2025)
Parasite director Bong Joon Ho makes an ambitious SF film where Robert Pattinson as a clone(s) on a planetary colonisation expedition who becomes embroiled in trying to save an alien species
Woman of the Hour (2023)
Actress Anna Kendrick directs a film based on a true-life serial killer Rodney Alcala who appeared on tv’s The Dating Game
Cocaine Werewolf (2024)
Cocaine Bear seems to have given birth to a mini-genre of films about drug-addicted animals amok. Here regular Z-budget Mark Polonia gives us a cocaine-snorting werewolf
Cocaine Crabs from Outer Space (2022)
Another of the films inspired by Cocaine Bear, this features an invasion by alien crabs that become wired on cocaine. It is hard to tell if this is being deliberately ridiculous or not
Psycho Girls (1986)
The debut of Canadian director Gerard Ciccoritti who should have become more well known, this goes for broke and becomes splendidly deranged
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021)
Kurt Vonnegut was one of the greatest SF writers, whose work crossed over into rare mainstream appeal. This is documentary where the director befriended Vonnegut in the 1980s and filmed him over a 35 year period
2025 Armageddon (2022)
A crossover between all the menaces in The Asylum’s films, which are brought to life as part of an alien invasion plan
The Monkey (2025)
Osgood Perkins adapts a Stephen King story about a toy monkey that causes deaths whenever it is wound, which becomes the opportunity for Perkins to go into full-on Final Destination territory with bizarre deaths
Rich Flu (2024)
This comes with a wonderfully satiric idea of a plague that kills the world’s wealthiest people
Coffin Homes (2021)
From director Fruit Chan, director of the great Dumplings, a film that takes a satiric jab at Hong Kong’s rental shortage crisis and concerns haunted apartments
Darker Than Night (1975)
A Mexican entry in the haunted house genre, featuring a group of girls who inherit a place haunted by an aunt and her black cat. Strikingly rich in terms of set design
Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948)
A classic work of Film Noir adapted from a Cornell Woolrich novel featuring Edward G. Robinson as a stage mentalist who suddenly finds he can predict the future for real
Grand Piano (2013)
Essentially a classical music version of Phone Booth with Elijah Wood trapped at a grand piano in front of a concert audience by a sniper. The results prove quite gripping
My Best Friend’s Exorcism (2022)
Possession film that is quite a bit more than the light fluffy Young Adult film the title makes it seem, boosted by a great performance from Amiah Miller
Shin Kamen Rider (2023)
A reboot of the classic Japanese tv series about a superhero who goes into action on a motorcycle using a suit to transform into a grasshopper being
Y2K (2024)
Film that imagines what might have happened if the Y2K Bug had occurred and resulted in a machine revolution
Space Sharks (2024)
Another in the gonzo killer shark film fad viz Sharknado, a bottom of the barrel effort that concerns lab sharks returned from a space mission mutated
Ouija Shark 2 (2022)
A sequel to the Gonzo Killer Shark film Ouija Shark, this goes even crazier
Stree (2018)
An Indian horror film about a folk tale of a witch spirit the Stree, this was a popular success that was then built out into an Indian version of The Conjuring Universe
Candy Land (2022)
This conducts a seedily grim depiction of the world of the prostitutes working at a highway truck stop. In the midst of this, they try to deal with a killer eliminating their numbers
Meet Cute (2022)
An extremely clever romantic comedy where Kaley Cuoco repeatedly returns back through time to replay her one perfect day, a date with Pete Davidson
The Lonely Man with the Ghost Machine (2024)
Graham Skipper directs/writes/stars in a film about the last man on Earth trying to bring his wife’s ghost back from the dead while beset by an entity that has devoured the rest of humanity and just wants to be his friend
The Electric State (2025)
This is a film that had the capacity within its hands to be a classic work about A.I. and robotics. Adapted from the art of Simon Stålenhag and directed by the Russo Brothers who were behind the last two Avengers films
Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)
The fourth entry in DreamWorks popular animated series, which by now is just another entry in the series that is coasting by on recognition factor, while offering minimal difference
Who Invited Them (2022)
A very different type of home invasion film where two mysterious and charming party guests succeed in turning the hosts against each other
The Executioners (2018)
A film where four girls on a weekend getaway undergo a home invasion. It soon becomes apparent that this is a film homaging I Spit on Your Grave
Odysseus and the Isle of the Mists (2008)
Supposedly an adventure based on an untold story from The Odyssey, an entry among the fantasy adventure films made for cable filler in the 2000s
The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954)
The Bowery Boys were a poor man’s Abbott and Costello; here in one of their most entertaining outings they try to compete with Abbott and Costello’s monster bashes
Bug (2006)
One of the last films from William Friedkin, an astonishingly deranged descent into paranoia and madness, featuring an alarming performance from a young, unknown Michael Shannon
Azrael (2024)
A film that takes place with no dialogue set in a post-apocalyptic world where people have forsaken speech as Samara Weaving is pursued by a cult
Year 10 (2024)
Film set in the aftermath of civilisation where people have lost the capacity for speech
My Old Ass (2024)
At first glance, this film about a teenager meeting her future self seems too cute and lightweight, but emerges as something extraordinary
Strange Darling (2023)
An incredibly refreshing and original psycho film, made with a furious energy. Every bit of the way it is constantly messing with us and turning everything we think is going on on its head
Antisocial 2 (2015)
Antisocial, a horror film about zombies created by social media, proved a reasonable hit. This is a sequel that skips on a few years after the collapse of civilisation
Two of Us (2020)
Thai-made film that gives off some initial vibes of The Quiet Earth as two girls enjoy a private paradise in a holiday resort following the collapse of civilisation, before becoming a zombie film
Six: The Mark Unleashed (2004)
Christian work about the Biblical End Times set in a dystopia where everyone is forced to accept the Mark of the Beast. Starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, no less!
Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994)
The most exhaustive of the various documentaries about Hammer Films. This covers the history of the studio and crucially was made when most of the principals from Hammer’s heyday were still alive and able to be interviewed
Discontinued (2022)
We’ve all heard the theory that we might be living in The Matrix. This asks the question of what happens when it is announced that the simulation is being shut down
How It Ends (2021)
A shot during the Covid lockdown film. An amiable comedy set on the last day of the world where Zoe Lister-Jones and her imaginary younger self Cailee Spaeny walk across L.A. to find closure with the people in her life
You Can Call Me Bill (2023)
Alexandre O. Philippe has made a host of documentaries about film and fandom. Here he sits down with a 91-year-old William Shatner who talks candidly as he reflects on his life
Better Man (2024)
This comes with a head-scratching premise – a biopic of pop star Robbie Williams but where Robbie is portrayed as a CGI ape. Essentially, the rock star biopic by way of one of the Planet of the Apes reboot films
Presence (2024)
Steven Soderbergh is one of the foremost independent directors in the US. He has dipped into numerous different genres and here takes on the ghost story in a film shot from the ghost’s point-of-view
Blood Frenzy (1987)
An 80s psycho film where several people go camping in the Mojave Desert on an encounter group but one of their number proves to be a killer
Camp Blood 2 (2000)
The second entry in a surprisingly prolific series of low-budget films – currently running to fifteen films – that homage the 1980s slasher film
She Devil (1957)
1950s mad scientist film where a scientist develops a regeneration serum only to turn Mari Blanchard into a man-eating femme fatale
Penda’s Fen (1974)
Absolutely extraordinary British tv play that was one of the formative works in the development of Folk Horror on screen
Bad CGI Gator (2023)
A deliberately ridiculous Charles Band production where students throwing their laptops into a lake causes an alligator to float through the air and become giant-sized
The Flood (2023)
This is essentially Assault on Precinct 13, which had police and criminals at siege inside a jail, but where the attacking street gangs are replaced by alligators. Far better than the B movie you assume
The Inheritance (2024)
A horror film in which billionaire Bob Gunton traps his children in his mansion with him in the belief that something is trying to kill him as it slowly eliminates their numbers
Companion (2025)
A smart and extremely clever variant on Androids/A.I. themes with Sophie Thatcher as a sex android who gains self-awareness and independence. A great script filled with hilarious whiplash twists.
Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)
The Lion King was one of the worst of the live-action Disney remakes. Now comes this prequel
Kids vs Aliens (2022)
The director of Hobo with a Shotgun returns with a film about a group of kids caught up in the midst as aliens invade a party put on while their parents are away
Alien Invasion (2023)
From prolific producer Scott Jeffrey, best known for Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, a low-budget Alien copy, essentially an Alien that takes place in an English country mansion
What Have You Done to Solange? (1972)
One of the standout entries in the giallo film and certainly one of the best plotted of the genre, concerning a series of murders at a Catholic girls school
Trauma (2004)
Colin Firth is released from hospital following the death of his wife but experiences a series of reality-blurring hallucinations
Influencer (2022)
A standout thriller full of sharp whiplash twists that features Cassandra Naud as a murderous psycho who targets social media influencers and then steals their identities
Crimson (2020)
A film based around real-life YouTube influencer Brian ‘Faze Rug’ Awadis as he buys a new mansion only to move in and find his neighbours are an alley of sinister clowns
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)
A documentary about the career of Superman star Christopher Reeve and his dealing with life following the accident that left him a quadriplegic
The Gorge (2025)
Scott Derrickson film with a captivatingly original premise – a sniper is assigned to a guardhouse overlooking a gorge filled with mysterious monsters and ends up in a forbidden relationship with his counterpart across the divide
Paddington in Peru (2024)
Third of the Paddington series, this has more of an adventure film feel as it takes Paddington and the Browns to Peru in search of a lost city
Last Journey of Paul W.R. (2020)
French film about Earth endangered by an oncoming moon and how only one man can save the world. This seemed it might be something culty – before the mind-bogglingly bizarre science becomes apparent
Homebodies (1974)
A wonderful little largely unknown film where the seniors in an apartment building due to be demolished group together to take revenge on the real estate developers
Don’t Deliver Us From Evil (1971)
A film that was the cause of much censorship controversy when it came out where two teenage girls decide to become devil worshippers and engage on a spree of cruel and malicious acts
Robots (2023)
A comedy variant on android/A.I. themes where two people use robot doubles for romantic subterfuge only for the two androids to elope together
T.I.M. (2023)
We have had a spate of films in the last few years about androids and A.I. This has to count as the first film about an android stalker
Mads (2024)
A French horror film shot all in a single unbroken take as a deadly infection spreads all around town and we follow various people as they try to survive in the midst
Wolf Man (2025)
After reviving The Invisible Man, James Wan associate Leigh Whannell takes on a reworking of The Wolf Man