There is a touching human dimension to The Vigil that brought tears to my eyes, the ghosts of past regrets and a refusal to allow grief-stricken wounds the time they need to heal the real villain hungering to feast on damaged souls crying out in continuous pain.

Shadow in the Cloud was a surprisingly enjoyable flight of monstrous fancy that helped me start the year off with a happy smile.

Come Play ends up being a fun, frequently tense little genre shocker that’s also a sublime calling card for Chase that has me excited to see what he’ll get up to next.

Like most horror anthologies, the first season of Creepshow is unsurprisingly hit-and-miss. But the hits, most notably “House of the Head,” “The Finger” and “The Man in the Suitcase,” are pretty terrific, while the misses are still just amusing enough to not get all that upset that they’re not nearly as strong as some of their counterparts are.

The Wretched is a fun flick, and even if it didn’t leave a lasting impression that doesn’t mean I was any less entertained.

There is nothing subtle about Mon Mon Mon Monsters!.

Underwater gets the job done. I liked it a lot. Heck, I’m likely to head to the theatre and see it again before January ends.

Crawl is an unpretentious creature-feature from The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension filmmaker Alexandre Aja that’s every bit of gnarly fun as its ludicrous premise makes one hope it is going to be.

I love Jack Arnold’s Tarantula. It makes me smile. While not exactly up to the high standards set by THEM! or Godzilla, the movie is a smart, well-crafted giant monster yarn that features a handful of engaging performances and one killer titular creature.