Popular reviews

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  Review by Ian West ★★★★★ 19

  Dario Argento’s The Shining. 

  My favorite kind of horror films are Moody with a mounting atmosphere that pops its top like a ten ton tension tumbling explosion... and Next of Kin is just that... featuring stylish direction, impeccable camera work that weaves through an ominous gloomy house of death, tethered with nightmare logic, and a plot that fooled me... all perfectly soundwaved with a pulsating banger of a score. The definition of a slow burning, slow motion nightmare... the end result? Haunting.

  Early on in Next of Kin we’re treated to beautiful shots of a spiral staircase—a view we’ve all seen in movies before—and as our mystery ends its second act, we return to this staircase again. The perfect bookending imagery for…

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ 5

  dreamy, slow-burn australian gothic horror about cauterizing yourself from the past. spooky victorian house paranoia, argento-ish hyper-stylized surrealism, killer electronic score from one of the members of tangerine dream, terrific cat, and maybe one of my new favourite final shots. (which i just read only occurred because they accidentally cued the explosion too early??? unreal.) a total banger.

  full discussion on episode 92 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.

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  Review by Tony the Terror 🎃 ★★★★½ 8

  Another one of those 80’s films that has memorable cover art although I never got around to seeing until now and boyo was I missing out because this is really great!

  It’s kind of a haunted house/slasher hybrid so obviously I loved it. It’s a slooooow burn which I love when they are done right and this one is. It certainly helps when that purposeful speed builds up to a bonkers finale like this! The atmosphere is terrific and there are quite a few terrifying images and scenes throughout. I’m pretty sure the main lesson of this movie is: don’t ever step into a full bath without looking.

  Also who knew John Jarratt was such a slice back in 1982?!

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  Review by nathaxnne [hiatus <3] ★★★★★ 13

  when it is hot and extremely humid and the air is gelid and parts like curtains when you walk through it and it ripples slowly and resentfully out of the way and the sun is everywhere and then broken by leaves and branches and far above darker clouds mass and charge and gather and extend and in that moment that the sun starts to be gone and is not coming back it is darker than night all at once your eyes don't quite adjust a slick chill grasps and holds involuntary through your spine, a convulsion rather, your eyes back in your head, your tongue shaking and it passes but the chill does not and you grasp yourself with your arms but it does not help

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★½ 8

  After seeing the poster for this film repeatedly on Letterboxd, I wanted to check what all the fuss was about. As the film progressed, I wondered how and why it got a perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes (I later saw that it was based on six reviews only).

  To be honest, the film is enjoyable. Especially the third act, which is pure stupid. The sudden slow mo, the close-ups of Jacki Kerin's hysterical facial reactions. Many people have drawn parallels between this film and Kubrick's The Shining, particularly in the third act when our protagonist is locked in the bathroom and the lighting, painting, and everything else seems practically similar to Kubrick's film. There's also a moment when an elderly…

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★

  54

  As much as I appreciated the banger climax of Next of Kin, it feels disjointed from the methodical approach of the first two thirds, not to mention a translation from a ghost/gothic vibe to a more literal focus. It's quite good overall, with a suffocating atmosphere and a wild score, but it fails to impress all the way through.

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  Review by Tony the Terror 🎃 ★★★★★ 4

  I gave this 4.5 stars on my first watch but after seeing the glorious blu-Ray, I have to say this is a solid 5 star horror classic! The atmosphere is, dare I say, perfect. The slow burn story is completely engrossing and there are moments of sheer genius throughout the entire film. The last 20 minutes are basically one brilliant moment after another.

  It’s so funny how things worked back in the VHS days. The cover of a movie could be completely awesome but then the movie itself could be awful an dyou never knew what you were going to get. Back then we didn’t have the access to films that we do now so the only way to know…

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  Review by lauren t 🥀🌿 ★★★★½ 9

  fucking dripping with atmosphere and mystery. familiar and beloved elements blend together to create something I’ve never seen before, something in its own class. couldn’t get enough of that spooky mansion holding secrets, the heavy rains outside, paranoia in the air, dreams and strange sightings/happenings. visuals and score so on point here. what a delight.

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  Review by Joshua Dysart ★★★½ 6

  Sweet airy 80’s synth stirred Australian Gothic horror with some giallo spit and polish. Audio-visually this is amazing. At times it hits peak early 80’s perfection.

  The first half is sorta marred by a reliance on BS jumps and there’s a misdirect scare right at the halfway mark that’s telegraphed by miles, but the look and feel and tone throughout are excellent.

  Then the second half is almost all experiential No Wave Vid Art that effortlessly skips across the surface of a story and it’s awfully delicious.

  Disappointed to find director Tony Williams’ filmography so sparse after discovering him here, and a little shocked that this isn’t a much bigger part of the 80’s VHS horror discussion.

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  Review by c h r i s 🕯️🍂 ★★★★★ 7

  “Don’t go digging into the past, Linda. It’s gone, forget it.”

  Thank you Shudder! Checking this off my watchlist & adding to my wishlist for the next Severin sale. I loved it!

  Linda inherits a nursing home after the passing of her mother, upon reading her mothers journals, strange occurrences start to happen around her and the families secrets begin to unravel. It’s creepy, just creepy goodness & probably the most surreal and haunting films I’ve seen in quite some time. 
  There’s also a young John Jarratt...I could hea’ that Aussie accent from a mile away mate. 
  “Yee-haa”
  The hour and 29 minute runtime does not do this film justice!! Could have easily enjoyed another 30 minutes. 
  THE CAMERA WORK IS UNDENIABLY…

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  Review by belial_carboni ★★★½ 12

  Awesome Australian horror. I wanted to see this for awhile and it definitely delivered. Creepy old house, killer score, thick atmosphere, great performances and some mesmerizing visuals.

  A woman working at a nursing home is caught up in some terrifying occurrences after she begins to read her mother's diary. Supernatural horror lurks at every dark corner of the old house. As she begins to have more and more nightmarish visions her grasp on reality slips away. What kind of dark secrets await her?

  Even though this film is a slow burner at times the hauntingly suspenseful synth score from Klaus Shulze elevates the experience and draws you into the madness. A lot of the camera work is highly focused giving us some beautiful shots that rival the 70s Italian horror style. Everything leads up to an intense ending that is a perfect accumulation of the slow building terror.

  Would love to see a blu ray release for this one.

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  Review by 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗧 𝗥𝗢𝗪 ℝ𝔼𝕍𝕀𝔼𝕎 ★★★★ 1

  HoopTober 8
  Part IX: Next of Kin (4/6 Countries: Australia)

  A quietly effective Australian horror. Unlike a lot of Oz Horror-Thrillers that step outside and make use of the vast landscapes of Australia (Roadgames/Wolf Creek), or the outback (Wake In Fright) or the nature (Long Weekend), Next of Kin is much closer to a haunted house chiller.

  The story centres around Linda, whose mother has recently passed, leaving a large estate called Montclare to her in the will. Not just a beautiful mansion for Linda to live happily ever after in (what fun would that be?), the place is actually a residence for the elderly.

  Linda arrives at the estate, assuming the position left by her mother, when suddenly, strange…