Welcome to my dispatch from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. As usual, I won’t be writing full reviews of everything I see at the festival, but there are plenty of notable films in this year’s slate that deserve attention. Here are the capsule reviews for 2022’s TIFF: Devotion, The Whale, My Policeman, and Sick. Minor spoilers ahead…

Welcome to my dispatch from this year’s SXSW Film Festival. As usual, I won’t be writing full reviews of everything I see at the festival, but there are plenty of great films in this year’s slate that deserve attention. Here are the capsule reviews for SXSW: The Lost City, Deadstream, Jethica, and The Cellar. Minor spoilers ahead…

I may be missing the big headliners of TIFF, but that only gives me more time to cover Midnight Madness and the festival’s less splashy titles. My first review roundup from this year’s TIFF includes an alien invasion road trip with Riz Ahmed, Jake Gyllenaal in a remake of a Danish hidden gem, and Naomi Watts in a misguided school shooting thriller. Here are the capsule reviews for Encounter, The Guilty, and Lakewood…

Whether it’s the gala premieres or its NEXT and Midnight titles, there’s plenty of genre fare to go around at Sundance. I watched a ton of films at the festival this year, and even though I would like to, it’s impossible for me to write full-length reviews for everything. So, here’s a special edition of Strange Harbors Capsule Reviews, covering the wide range of this year’s genre films at Sundance. Minor spoilers ahead…

With a lovingly curated grimoire of genre films that range from under-appreciated gems to blockbuster hits, Shudder is quickly becoming my favorite streaming service. Recently reaching a milestone of one million subscribers, the AMC Networks platform has cultivated a deep library of horror and thrillers, doled out by a calendar of fun and clever programming. Its latest slate? The jam-packed 61 Days of Halloween: a two-month long celebration of horror with a stacked roster of new releases. From a new Lovecraftian Nicolas Cage joint to a haunted house mega-hit from Spain, Shudder’s 61 Days of Halloween is a lot of horror to digest, so here’s the Strange Harbors guide to navigating these new releases. Minor spoilers ahead…

Jason Blum’s renowned horror production company branches out with Welcome to the Blumhouse, a series of four films on Amazon Prime that straddle the line between genres. Gathering a diverse smattering of talent and storytelling, the collection runs the gamut of terror with domestic drama, tech parables, and traditional frights, but in the end, Welcome to the Blumhouse - with a single exception - tastes more like stale leftovers than a fresh meal. Minor spoilers ahead…

I watch a lot of TV and movies, but my obsession with writing in-depth reviews and articles often gets in the way of wider and more frequent coverage. This new column will be a way to remedy that, allowing me to write shorter and more digestible reviews, reserved primarily for when I don’t have a full review’s worth of thoughts to share about a particular film. On this week’s Capsule Reviews, we’re taking a look at Extraction, Deerskin, The Wretched, and Blood Quantum…

Introducing a new Strange Harbors column: Capsule Reviews. I watch a lot of TV and movies, but my obsession with writing in-depth reviews and articles often gets in the way of wider and more frequent coverage. This new column will be a way to remedy that, allowing me to write shorter and more digestible reviews, reserved primarily for when I don’t have a full review’s worth of thoughts to share about a particular film. Here’s what I’ve been watching lately…