Stylish Horror Revived in House of the Devil

Selected by a man who knows what's scary

(NEWSER) - Need some suggestions for a scary movie to watch this weekend? None other than the horror master himself, Wes Craven, offers up his 10 favorites in the Daily Beast :

1. Don't Look Now (1973): A "pretty moving work of art as well" as a horror film, this movie is a great example "of being able to scare without showing blood."
2. Psycho (1960): In the most frightening scene, "Hitchcock did a very surreal thing where he put his actor on a lift so he could be flying backwards in midair in slow-motion in a very surreal, dreamlike way. It was utterly terrifying."

Alien-abduction mock-doc delivers lame premise with laughable framing device

(NEWSER) - The Fourth Kind attempts to combine dramatization of true events and fake-documentary alien abductions in Alaska, and falls horribly flat. Here's what critics are saying:

• The ludicrousness of the grainy archival footage, presented as "real," and a lousy performance by Milla Jovovich, whose "notion of serious acting seems to be speaking very slowly in a halting monotone," make it hard to suspend your disbelief, writes Stephen Holden for the New York Times.

Critics agree: Whatever you think of the first film, it was better

(NEWSER) - Most critics find themselves in the tough spot of praising the original Saw to put down the sixth installment. They don't make 'em like they used to. Some opinions:

• "The film goes all trendy in its selection of victims," opting for the likes of insurance adjusters and bypassing the "classicism" of those who squander the gift of life, Mike Hale writes for the New York Times. And "one test involves dodging hot steam. That’s quite a comedown from the good old days of being drowned in liquefied hog carcasses."

Edgar Allen Poe fanfic is a dreary exercise in serial killer tropes

(NEWSER) - As far as critics are concerned, The Raven ought to be tossed in a cellar, sealed in with brick, and left to be forgotten. The thriller, which imagines Poe hunting down a serial killer inspired by his work, currently has a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes . Here's what critics are saying:

• James McTeigue directs with "dark style and at galloping speed, neither of which disguise the fact that the movie often doesn’t make a lick of sense," writes Ty Burr of the Boston Globe . "If it were content to lighten up and admit it was trash, there might be some fun to be had."
• The Raven "should not be mistaken for a movie about Edgar Allan Poe," warns Roger Ebert , at least not if you "find Poe a complex and fascinating man." This movie's more interested in "cobbling together spare parts from thrillers about serial killers," and its "melodramatic" Poe would have been better cast as Nick Cage.

Joss Whedon-produced horror-comedy defies convention

(NEWSER) - Critics are applauding Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods for its delectable mixture of horror and humor. From a familiar premise—five college students alone in the forest—come all kinds of surprises.

• "A fiendishly clever brand of meta-level genius propels The Cabin in the Woods," writes Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post . It's "a pulpy, deceivingly insightful send-up of horror movies that elicits just as many knowing chuckles as horrified gasps."