Cinephile’s Digest Podcast Episode 21: The Florida Project and The Meyerowitz Stories

‘Tis the season to be spooky. We all love Halloween here at Cinephile’s Digest, so to celebrate we created a bracket of what we feel are the 16 best, most important horror films released since the year 2000. We pitted them against each other in order to crown the greatest horror film of the new millennium. We also have full reviews of new releases “The Florida Project” and the Netflix original “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)”. Crack open a pumpkin beer, cuddle up with your black cat, and enjoy.

Crimson Peak Review (2015)

With Crimson Peak, Guillermo Del Toro has proven (to me, anyway) that when it comes to making horror movies, his wheelhouse is small. Don’t get me wrong; he makes very, very pretty movies. But they’re ultimately shallow affairs once you figure out what makes him tick as a filmmaker. His movies have become predictable. Ghosts, dark places, insects, sparse (but brutal) violence. Crimson Peak? Check, check, check, and check. There’s a lot to like, but some major issues drag down the experience as a whole.

Goodnight Mommy Review (2015)

Goodnight Mommy (German title Ich seh Ich seh, which translates to “I See I See”) feels like if Michael Haneke set out to emulate early Roman Polanski films. There’s something cold and calculated about the way the movie plays out, both on a visual and narrative level, but it’s an entirely human story. And that’s part of what makes it so freaking disturbing. Realistic, violent and detached, it plays out like a home invasion movie, but where any character could be the intruder in their own home.

It Follows Review (2015)

There may not be a sensation on the spectrum of human emotion creepier than the feeling that you’re being followed. While walking home after seeing It Follows, I had a minor panic attack on the street as I kept looking over my shoulder to find the same man walking directly behind me. The rational thought would have been, “Right, because that’s how sidewalks work.” Instead, my mind was saying, “I hope he doesn’t do weird stuff to my body after he murders me.”  So if you enjoy the excitability that comes with imminent death, then this movie is for you.

The Best Movies on Netflix Instant: 2014 Edition

Countless new titles come and go every month in Netflix’s massive on-demand library of movies and television shows. Due to the in-depth recommendation algorithm, it can be hard to find movies that don’t automatically populate in your queues. Because of this, there are hundreds of fantastic titles that fly under the radar. That’s where I come in. Here are some of the best films you can find on Netflix Instant right now that you may not already be familiar with.

Evil Dead (2013)

Evil Dead, a modern re-imagining of Sam Raimi’s classic horror franchise, lacks the tongue-in-cheek humor and tone of the earlier films.  But what it lacks in laughs, it makes up for tenfold with gut-churning gore sequences and unrelenting tension.  It’s sick.  It’s repulsive.  It’s a bloody good time for horror fans.