Slashers & Psychos

A decade after the sheriff of Dead River, Maine killed a murderous clan of cannibalistic savages, the nightmare returns to the sleepy small town in this brutal screen adaptation of Jack Ketchum's terrifying novel (originally penned as a follow-up to his 1980 fiction debut Off-Season). Ketchum adapts his novel for the screen in a film directed by Andrew Van Den Houten (who previously produced the feature adaptation of Ketchum's The Girl Next Door). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

As directed by Brit Tom Shankland, this outing constitutes a chilling installment in the subgenre of horror films about evil children running amok. The tale unfolds in contemporary England during a late and snowy December, with a young married couple, Jonah (Stephen Campbell Moore) and Elaine (Eva Birthistle), journeying into the country to spend New Year's with immediate family - Elaine's sister Chloe (Rachel Shelley) and brother-in-law Robbie (Jeremy Sheffield). Accompanying the adults are three children: Casey (Hannah Tointon), Elaine's adolescent daughter from a first marriage (who resents being dragged along), and youngsters Paulie (William Howes) and Miranda (Eva Sayer), her children with Jonah (who can't wait to see their cousins Nicky and Leah). Upon arrival at Robbie and Chloe's home, ominous and increasingly bizarre events begin to transpire: Paulie grows visibly ill, Leah and Nicky begin slipping into menacing and threatening behavior toward everyone, capped off by an ugly accident that they engineer involving Robbie - an incident that pushes him to the brink of death and ends with a gruesome act of carnage committed by the children. Soon, Elaine realizes that Paulie is infected with a bizarre, zombie-like virus that he is systematically spreading to other children, and promptly decides to ameliorate the situation by taking violence into her own hands and ending the boy's young life. Little does she realize, however, just how pervasive the virus has grown. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Dark Castle Home Entertainment and Warner Premiere collaborate for this shocker about a film fanatic whose quest to procure a print of a notorious slasher movie leads him and two friends on a trek into the backwoods where the film was originally shot. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A group of friends fight for their lives while stranded on a deserted island. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A horror film shoot in an abandoned mental hospital with a dark history turns terrifying after the cast and crew make a morbid discovery in bowels of the dilapidated building. Back in the early-1970s, at a mental institution near the Russian border, a crazed doctor violated the Hippocratic Oath in the most repulsive manner imaginable. Consumed by murderous bloodlust, Dr. Andersson assumed the persona of "The Auteur," and began murdering his patients while filming the atrocities with his 8mm camera. Thirty years later, an American film crew has arrived at the hospital to shoot a horror film based on those awful events. The director, Steven, is determined to make the film as realistic as possible, a goal that doesn't seem too far fetched when his Finnish sound men discover a hidden room in the hospital basement. There, perfectly preserved, are the original snuff films shot by "The Auteur" three decades prior. It's the perfect fodder for the must brutal horror film ever made, and Steven quickly sets about rewriting his script to make it as raw as possible. As Steven's obsession grows, his cast and crew begin to fear for his sanity. But this is only the beginning, because when Steven discovers actual 8mm camera used by "The Auteur" to capture his reprehensible crimes, he assumes the role of the murderous doctor and the real slaughter begins. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A man in search of his missing sister stumbles across a deadly secret in the woods surrounding Crystal Lake as Texas Chainsaw Massacre redux duo Michael Bay and Marcus Nispel resurrect one of the silver screen's most feared slashers -- machete-wielding, hockey mask-wearing madman Jason Voorhees. The last time Clay heard from his sister, she was headed toward Crystal Lake. There, amidst the creaky old cabins and moss-coated trees, an unstoppable force of evil lies quietly dormant, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Though the police and locals all warn Clay to stay as far away from Crystal Lake as possible, it's the only lead he has, and he isn't willing to give up until he finds his sister. Clay isn't the only one inhabiting these woods either, because a group of thrill-seeking college students have just arrived at Crystal Lake hoping for a wild weekend of fun in the sun. Later, as Clay and one of the recently arrived revelers search for clues, the infamous Jason Voorhees emerges to show them just why the locals have avoided these woods for years. Could it be that Clay's sister has already met a grim demise at the end of Jason's razor-sharp machete, or is she still out there somewhere in the woods, waiting for her brother to come to her rescue? Freddy vs. Jason scribes Damian Shannon and Mark Swift pen the screenplay for a remake executive produced by Sean S. Cunningham (producer/director of the original Friday the 13th). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A group of college students on an environmental studies trip discover something truly terrible buried deep in the woods in this shocker starring Daryl Hannah. Amy Singer and her friends were excavating what they believed to be an ancient Indian burial site when they discovered a human arm bone with a Rolex still attached to the wrist. Realizing that they've discovered a different kind of burial ground than anyone anticipated, the students try frantically to escape as they are stalked through the woods. Meanwhile, Carrie Mitchell (Hannah) is driving to her new house in Salem, Maine when a terrified Amy staggers out of the woods. Amy has been badly injured, and as Carrie tends to her wounds the frightened girl begins to reveal the horrors that befell her friends back in the woods. As Amy's story winds to a close, Carrie realizes that the end is yet to come, and that her mysterious passenger still harbors one last, horrible secret. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The debut feature from Dark Sky Films, David Gregory's Plague Town tells the nightmarish tale of a family traveling through Ireland, and the horrors that await them upon stumbling into a remote village populated by deformed, homicidal youngsters and the parents who will do whatever it takes to protect them. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Snowbound thrills and cannibalistic chills highlight co-writer/directors John Geddes and Jesse Cook's frostbitten shocker about three snowboarders fighting for their lives in an isolated mountain cabin. They were returning from a weekend of snowboarding when a sudden winter storm left them stranded in the wilderness. But while the cozy cabin in the woods seemed to offer salvation, these three friends had no idea of the horrors that lurk therein. The cabin's owners are famished, and it's going to take more than venison to satisfy their ravenous appetites. Now, as the bloodied snowboarders realize they're about to become the special of the day, the vicious flesh-eaters find that their next meal isn't going to come easy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A psychopathic killer administers a series of death sentences to various pornographic models. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

The noble search for a dying breed leads an ambitious zoologist to the discovery of a far more sinister species in this brutal Australian shocker featuring Leigh Whannell (Saw) and Nathan Phillips (Wolf Creek). Eight years ago, Zoology student Nina (Mirrah Foulkes)'s sister was searching for evidence of the elusive Tasmanian Tiger when she suddenly vanished without a trace. Before disappearing, however, she did manage to send her sister a mysterious paw print that seemed to suggest that the species was still flourishing somewhere in the vast Australian wilderness. Much like the Sasquatch, the Tasmanian Tiger is a creature that modern scientists have dismissed as legend - but now that Nina has evidence, she's fully prepared to breach Tasmania's dense and dangerous forests in order to prove that the reclusive creature really exists. As Nina, her partner Matt (Whannell), his old friend Jack (Phillips), and his girlfriend Rebecca (Melanie Vallejo) make their way deep into the heart of Tasmania, it quickly becomes obvious that Nina is completely ignorant to one of the isolated island's darkest legends. Back in the 19th Century, when Australia was a barren penal colony, a dangerous convict named Alexander Pierce (aka "The Pieman"), staged a daring escape from the island's most heavily guarded prison. Later, in order to survive, Pierce resorted to eating his fellow escapees. Though Pierce would be hung for cannibalism in 1824, by the time he was captured it was already too late. Pierce had bred, passing on his insatiable appetite for human flesh the next generation. Nearly two centuries later the Tasmanian Tiger seems to have finally become extinct, though the Pieman's lineage is still going strong. Now, in a land where human meat is scarce, Nina's expedition will fall prey to species with a savage appetite, and a murderous motivation to keep their bloodline strong. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Dark Ride director Craig Singer returns to the helm with this shocking horror film about a delusional psychopath who creates a unified team of fourteen maniacal killers. Produced entirely over the internet, where writers uploaded story details and actors submitted audition tapes, Perkins' 14 was released into theaters as part of the third After Dark Horror Fest. Robert Perkins was just six years old when his parents were brutally slaughtered right before his very eyes. Unable to overcome the incredible trauma of witnessing such a diabolical event, Perkins becomes convinced that the killers who murdered his parents will eventually return to finish the job they started years ago - and he plans to be fully prepared to fight back when they do. Years later, when Perkins turns thirty-four, he kidnaps fourteen people from his hometown of Stone Cove, and sets about reprogramming them to become relentless killing machines. Now, if the killers ever do return, they'll have to get through Perkins' 14 in order to reach their intended target. Trouble is, now that Perkins' 14 are ready for battle, they've become increasingly difficult to contain. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide