Halloween 2022 Film Reviews

[Alex J]

Freeze

Sadly not as fun as the short preceding it, Gnomes, this suffered from some poor acting and plotlines that seemed to go nowhere. The creature designs were good and effective though and it was interesting to learn afterwards that only two costumes were used in reality but it was made to look like far more creatures were on screen.

5.5 / 10

[Alex J]

Mad Heidi

My pick of the festival, this was a fun ride. There's plenty of humour in the first half of the film, which does dry up a little in the second half as the story progresses and the movie leans more into its exploitation action roots.

Heidi is a great character and the makers have demonstrated they can create plenty of fun, quirky and memorable supporting characters too.

8.5 / 10

[Alex J]

Outpost

A solid, if at times a little slow, psychological thriller that redeems itself with a gory and wild final act. I could see where much of where the story was going in advance and there were seemingly one or two minor continuity inconsistencies, but the

Spoiler:

deliciously feral performance by the lead actress

at the finale helps the viewer to overlook the negatives.

8 / 10

[Alex J]

On The Edge

A husband's hoped for kinky hotel stay takes a darker turn in the Soskas' latest. Being unable to watch the extended strobe lighting sequence and also the loud score that often drowned out the dialogue meant that I struggled to understand what was really going on, but I may have missed some of the reveals.

Spoiler:

I didn't really like the nicey, nicey ending either.

Still, some interesting ideas and visuals!

7 / 10

[Alex J]

The Offering

Set in the Jewish community in America, which is interesting in itself, the story is really well told, smart and with a great ending. The

Spoiler:

demon

is satisfyingly horrific in both appearance and intent.

8 / 10