A young stepmother-to-be is isolated one Christmas with her partner’s children. Well-sustained psychological horror, strong on atmosphere. Kinda goes where you’d expect, and there’s some clunky exposition initially, but gets credit for pushing its core idea to an agreeably nasty limit.
Here’s Xussia’s perspective.
Here’s the trailer.
A teenager is involved in the death of a peer: his life begins to unravel. Lo-fi 90-set indie psychological horror. Stronger on teenage loneliness and on lower-middle class lives than on storytelling: its inexorable pace works, but artier elements come across as pretentious rather than intriguing. Worth your attention, nevertheless.
Here’s the trailer
A wealthy family stay in a remote Welsh vacation rental; the house has secrets. Slight, austere, though generally effective psychological thriller, adapted from the Daniel Kehlmann novel. No real surprises, but the movie’s well-played and directed, and succeeds within the strictures of the Twilight Zone-ish story.
Here’s the trailer.
A remote homestead may be plagued by a demon. Good-looking and well-played psychological horror, making effective use of location shooting and its Western genre context. Tricksiness with time and character motivations limit its impact, but there’s more than enough here to want more from writer and director.
A bullied teen starts to think she has a doppelganger. Low-key and wintry chiller that cribs bits from the genre – Carrie, Damien: Omen II – though offers some pleasures of its own, not least in its Cronenbergian look and some good, if muted, performances.
Almost shot-for-shot remake of the 1960 Hitchcock classic of the same name. An odd thing to attempt, and one which flags up the uniqueness of the original, despite (and maybe because of) a solid cast and respectful treatment of the first movie.
A young executive is lured to a remote clinic to find his superior. Gorgeously-designed and formally beautiful psychological horror, which mixes elements of Dracula and Frankenstein. However, it’s almost an hour too long. Get on with it!
Don’t take my word for it, though. Here’s Lemonsquirtle’s review.
A young couple with a baby move into a sublet apartment; things soon go awry. Well-sustained minimalist psychological thriller of the haunting-or-mental-breakdown variety. Effective until the loose plot threads come home to roost.
When a sex game goes wrong, a woman has to fight her demons. Solid adaptation of the Stephen King novel which, though it fumbles its last revelation, is well-acted and which cinematically sustains its potentially unfilmable premise.
A housesitter is driven mad by her new job. Light on plot, but heavy on black and white style and with moments of jumpy weirdness, Darling is a tidy and minimalist psychological horror that makes the most of its limited resources.
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