Your Halloween binge sorted: From found footage to nightmare children’s TV and slow-burn creature features

OCTOBER 31 — It is that time of the year again when horror hounds, casual moviegoers, and genre purists alike flock to screens big and small looking for their annual spooky season fix.

As someone who lives for genre cinema, navigating the relentless wave of Halloween horror releases has always been a double-edged sword, which is to say that for every genuine, game changing surprise that leaves you buzzing, there’s also usually an uninspired chore of a film waiting to drag you down.

After wading through the countless horror flicks on offer during the past couple of weeks or so, let’s look at three distinctly different Halloween offerings hitting our home screens and streaming platforms, from a music themed entry in a long running found-footage franchise to an unhinged indie horror triumph, and a quiet, atmospheric creature feature that sneaks up on you when you least expect it.

I have always looked forward to every new installment in the ongoing V/H/S anthology franchise. There is an inherent, pulp cinema joy in watching a fresh batch of genre directors unleash dirty, low budget found-footage short films, year after year.

But nine films into the series, we finally hit a genuine dud in the bunch with V/H/S/Mixtape.

On paper, handing the reins over to a music-themed concept sounded like an inspired move. The talent pool attached here is undeniably impressive, featuring musical visionaries like Flying Lotus, shock-rock icons GWAR, Tobias Forge (frontman of Swedish doom/stoner icons Ghost), and Hip-Hop royalty RZA (of the Wu-Tang Clan).

Even the non-musician filmmakers involved, like David Moreau (of MadS fame ), are tasked with crafting music-centric nightmares.

Unfortunately, the final result is a monumental chore to sit through. What should have been a raucous, rollicking splatter fest instead devolves into a sluggish, repetitive collection of half-baked ideas that lack excitement, genuine scares, or visual bite.

The sole saving grace of the entire package is RZA’s segment, Death Tone , which brings a welcome splash of stylized energy.

Yet, that doesn’t say much about its actual quality. If you placed Death Tone into literally any of the previous eight V/H/S entries, it would easily rank as one of the weaker tracks on the tape.

If V/H/S/Mixtape represents the fatigue of a franchise running out of steam, Buddy is the exact opposite. It is a film that is absolutely outstanding, fiercely energetic, and refreshingly original in both form and content.

The film cleverly presents itself as a bright, cheesy 90s children’s TV show a la Barney & Friends, complete with colourful set designs, cheerful kids, and annoyingly persistent earworm songs.

But beneath the saccharine, nostalgic surface, director Casper Kelly slowly pulls the rug out from under you.

As the young kids who are part of the show (and, of course, we as the viewers) gradually realise there is a menacing, deeply unhinged, and murderous side to the titular unicorn mascot, the sugar rush turns into absolute terror.

Where Buddy truly shines is how delightfully fresh its narrative trajectories become. Rather than settling for a simple “killer mascot” slasher trope, the film throws in surreal elements inspired by creepypasta Backrooms lore and blends them with a slight dash of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome .

The result is a psychotic, media-bending nightmare that keeps you constantly on your toes.

A complete blast to watch from start to finish, the film tops off its inventive narrative with a generous serving of gnarly, stomach churning practical gore effects that will leave genre fans grinning from ear to ear.

If you walk into The Cycle completely cold, without watching a single trailer or reading a synopsis, as I was fortunate enough to do, this Shudder original will sneak up and thoroughly impress you with its storytelling finesse, technical confidence, and patient execution.

Directed by Jordan Downey, the film kicks off like a gritty, grounded police procedural following an investigation into what looked like a series of murders in a desolate rural township.

From there, the narrative ventures into territory that might feel somewhat familiar at first glance to seasoned horror fans.

You can probably guess the slow-burn twist well before the third act arrives, but that predictability never detracts from the experience.

Instead, the film expands and invents fascinating new lore surrounding the ancient creature at the heart of the story, elevating simple monster movie tropes into an atmospheric, mythic nightmare.

If you caught Downey’s brilliantly crafted, low budget medieval creature feature The Head Hunter back in 2018, you will know exactly what to expect stylistically.

He excels at framing sparse, atmospheric landscapes with incredible visual discipline and letting silence do the heavy lifting.

Paired with stellar creature design and tight sound engineering, The Cycle easily stands out as one of the finest genre entries of the year, and a perfect, slow-burn caper for your Halloween watchlist.

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10 月 31 日——又到了每年这个时候，恐怖片爱好者、普通影迷和类型片纯粹主义者都涌向大小银幕，寻找他们一年一度的恐怖节日体验。

对于一个热爱类型电影的人来说，应对万圣节恐怖电影铺天盖地的上映浪潮始终是一把双刃剑，也就是说，每出现一部真正令人兴奋、足以改变游戏规则的惊喜之作，通常也会有一部平庸乏味的电影等着把你拖入深渊。

在过去两周左右的时间里，我们浏览了无数恐怖电影，现在让我们来看看三部截然不同的万圣节影片，它们即将登陆我们的家庭屏幕和流媒体平台：一部以音乐为主题的伪纪录片系列新作，一部疯狂的独立恐怖佳作，以及一部安静、氛围浓厚的怪兽电影，它会在你最意想不到的时候悄悄靠近你。

我一直都很期待《V/H/S》系列电影的每一部新作。看着一批又一批的导演年复一年地推出低成本、粗粝的伪纪录片短片，那种感觉本身就充满了通俗电影的乐趣。

但到了系列电影的第九部，我们终于遇到了一部真正的烂片——《V/H/S/Mixtape》。

从纸面上看，将项目交给一个以音乐为主题的概念团队似乎是个绝妙的主意。这个团队的阵容无疑令人印象深刻，其中包括像 Flying Lotus、惊悚摇滚偶像 GWAR、Tobias Forge（瑞典厄运/迷幻摇滚乐队 Ghost 的主唱）以及嘻哈界的传奇人物 RZA（武当派成员）这样的音乐先锋。

即使是像大卫·莫罗（因《疯狂的麦克斯》而闻名）这样非音乐出身的电影制作人，也肩负着打造以音乐为中心的噩梦的重任。

可惜的是，最终呈现的效果却令人难以忍受。原本应该是一场喧闹刺激的血腥盛宴，结果却变成了一部节奏缓慢、重复乏味的半成品，缺乏刺激、真正的惊悚和视觉冲击力。

整张专辑唯一的亮点是 RZA 的《Death Tone》部分，它带来了一股令人欣喜的风格化能量。

然而，这并不能说明它的实际质量如何。如果把《Death Tone》放到之前八首V/H/S曲目中的任何一首里，它都很容易被列为这张磁带上较弱的曲目之一。

如果说《V/H/S/混音带》代表着一个系列电影后劲不足的疲态，那么《巴迪》则恰恰相反。这部电影绝对精彩绝伦，充满活力，无论在形式还是内容上都令人耳目一新。

这部电影巧妙地把自己包装成一部明亮、俗气的 90 年代儿童电视节目，类似于《巴尼和朋友们》，配有色彩缤纷的布景设计、快乐的孩子和令人厌烦的洗脑歌曲。

但在甜腻怀旧的表象之下，导演卡斯帕·凯利却慢慢地让你大跌眼镜。

随着节目中的小朋友们（当然也包括我们这些观众）逐渐意识到，这个以独角兽为主角的吉祥物有着危险、精神错乱和杀人不眨眼的一面，甜蜜的兴奋变成了绝对的恐惧。

《巴迪》真正出彩之处在于其叙事走向的新颖之处。影片并没有落入“杀人吉祥物”这种老套的恐怖片窠臼，而是融入了受都市传说“后室”（Backrooms）启发而来的超现实元素，并略带一丝大卫·柯南伯格《录像带谋杀案》（Videodrome）的影子。

其结果是一场令人精神错乱、扭曲媒体的噩梦，让你时刻保持警惕。

从头到尾都让人看得津津有味，这部电影不仅叙事新颖，还加入了大量令人作呕、反胃的逼真血腥特效，一定会让恐怖片爱好者乐不可支。

如果你像我一样有幸完全不看任何预告片或剧情简介就直接观看《循环》，这部 Shudder 原创剧集将会悄悄地以其精湛的叙事技巧、技术上的自信和耐心细致的执行力彻底打动你。

该片由乔丹·唐尼执导，开篇是一部写实、写实的警匪片，讲述了在一个荒凉的乡村小镇发生的一系列谋杀案的调查过程。

从那里开始，故事进入了一个对于经验丰富的恐怖片爱好者来说，乍一看可能会感到有些熟悉的领域。

你或许能在第三幕到来之前就猜到剧情的缓慢转折，但这种可预测性丝毫不会影响观影体验。

相反，这部电影扩展并创造了围绕故事核心的古代生物的迷人新传说，将简单的怪兽电影套路提升为充满氛围的神话噩梦。

如果你在 2018 年看过小罗伯特·唐尼执导的制作精良、低成本的中世纪怪兽电影《猎头者》，你就会知道这部电影的风格会是什么样的。

他擅长以惊人的视觉纪律构图，展现稀疏而富有氛围的风景，并让寂静来发挥其强大的作用。

凭借出色的生物设计和精湛的音效，《循环》轻松跻身年度最佳同类型影片之列，是万圣节观影清单上完美的慢节奏犯罪片。

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马克龙将于11月16日至17日访问马来西亚，进一步深化法马关系。