Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

It's never quite as effective as it promises, chiefly because the threat to Lilja is so ambiguous that there's very little opportunity to build suspense. Review

Hagiography it might be, but Dario Argento Panico doesn't try to pretend that Argento's best work didn't end in the 1980s. Review

Haigh's film asks us to stop wagging our fingers at the past and ask if we're really living in the best version of the present. Review

Its ending may cause you to shake your head as you leave the cinema, but the ideas raised by Baghead's central concept just might haunt you on your train ride home. Review

That the movie provoked such a reaction is testament to its power, and decades later it's the stuffy reviewers of the era who are left with egg on their faces as Peeping Tom is now considered a classic that has lost none of its power. Review

It may have been wise to set Trunk in the 2000s, as it never quite reckons with how modern technology would be incorporated into this scenario. Review

There are blackly comic moments in the relationship that develops between Rose and Celie, a decidedly odd couple who bicker over trifling matters like whose turn it is to wash the dishes, all while in the process of history's greatest scientific breakthrough. Review

Those seeking a classic American character drama need not worry about Payne pulling the football away at the last moment. Review

For all its melancholy insight, The Civil Dead is never as blackly comic as it believes itself to be. There are several setups that have great potential for Larry David-esque comedy but they fall flat. Review

Once The Marsh King's Daughter transitions from character study to survival thriller it gets lost in the woods. Review

If you're allergic to bohemians you'll need a strong antihistamine to get through Showing Up, writer/director Kelly Reichardt's fourth collaboration with actress Michelle Williams. Review

Just as her character is left alone in an unreliable world, Comer is left to cradle a film that would be largely unremarkable without her presence. Review

Despite its lurid title and plenty of shocking red Kensington gore on display, Horrors of the Black Museum is a rather pedestrian thriller with little of the distinctive charm of British horrors of the era. Review

If you're expecting the action equivalent of Tony Todd's Candyman, with Statham unleashing bees against his foes, you'll be stung by the movie's failure to deliver on this potential. More b-action than bee action then. Review

The movie is conversely also quite ahead of its time in some aspects, none more so than the kinkiness of Nyah's outfit, which looks like the version of Darth Vader you might find in a porn parody. Review

Some Other Woman is a gaslighting thriller of sorts, but it's one in which the protagonist has gaslit herself into believing all is well in her marriage. Review

For all the lavish excess of its cinematography, score, production and costume design, Poor Things is anchored by a remarkable lead turn from Stone. Review

There are a few clever comic touches that suggest Englert has a devillish sense of humour. It's a shame then that she didn't go for all-out comedy with her debut, as whenever Bad Behaviour decides to take itself seriously it's thoroughly unconvincing. Review

He Went That Way occasionally hints at a more interesting film, one that uses the relationship between its protagonists to examine the cultural shifts occurring in America in the mid-60s. Review

The attempts at creating suspenseful sequences become monotonous as McGuire continually riffs on the same theme, that old Cat People shtick of a swimmer seeing sinister shapes above the water line. Review

The production was unable to acquire the rights to use any of Elvis's music, and it works in the movie's favour. Review

For long stretches of American Star it's easy to forget it's a thriller. It has the laid back, avuncular appeal of recent Clint Eastwood movies. Review

Very much a 1969 time capsule in both its ideas and aesthetics, The Frightened Woman can be viewed as an early attempt to wrestle with changing gender norms. Or as an excuse to watch Dagmar Lassander prance around in bandages. Review

If you're new to folk-horror, Lord of Misrule might provoke some further exploration of the sub-genre. But for those of us familiar with folk-horror's unique delights, Bell's film is a dull attempt to ride its coattails without understanding the cloth it's cut from. Review