Anya Stanley

Nekrasova borrows from the best, courting comparisons to more highbrow pictures like Eyes Wide Shut and The Tenant. But she clearly started with an aim to get a rise out of people, and working backwards from there resulted in some slapdash storytelling.

Though Eubank and Landon deserve some credit for mixing up the Paranormal Activity storytelling formula, it remains clear that there’s not many scares left to milk from this franchise.

The Candyman of 2021 represents more than he did three decades ago—indeed, more than a 91-minute movie can adequately explore. But there are worse crimes for a movie to commit than having too many ideas.

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 repeatedly gets bogged down by its music and the atmosphere but earns its rightful place alongside the sleepaway camps and the crystal lakes. Janiak delivers all of the vicious fun of its slice and dice predecessors, with the bonus of characters who matter as they search for their own exits—from danger and themselves.

It warms the coldest of hearts to see an adaptation that not only seizes the spirit of the source material but provides a potentially formative experience of its own for any who may dare to hit “Play.”

In The Forever Purge, we’re told a story that a battered nation has heard a lot—a sermon of immigration and class warfare that’s too heavy-handed to say anything its prospective audience hasn’t been told on countless social media feeds over the last few years.

If only the filmmakers trusted their actors to convey the messages of this story, instead of burdening them with obvious, explanatory lines and speeches.