Popular reviews

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  Review by Tony the Terror ★★★½ 10

  I really didn’t know anything about this movie other than it started Joe Pilato and really I think that’s the best way to go into it. So I won’t go into any plot details, but I will say that I loved the almost surreal atmosphere and overall quality of the film. It’s a slow burn, but I legit love a slow burn that pulls everything off in the end.

  Full disclosure: maybe don’t watch this under the influence of anything because at that time it just made no sense to me and left me a little weirded out. I mean if that’s what you’re going for then have at it, but I had to go back and rewatch it the next day because I actually wanted to understand it. I’m just saying.

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  Review by Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti" ★★★★

  "Effects" is a 1979 exploitation horror film directed by Dusty Nelson. From a label standpoint, as AGFA is structurally set up to represent the exploitation blend of both those that are just structurally weird but also positionally advantageous in their unique identity, "Effects" easily fits this represented mold of things. It is on this level that "Effects" excels, as the film takes some genuine leaps to not stick to only formal narrative. It has an energy of somewhat breaking the fourth wall of things, but while it doesn't really do that (nor should it need to) it is really a testament to how advantageously different the narrative both is and dually executed. To make a long story short, the film…

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★

  "it's trash... killing somebody on film? it's sick."

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  Review by Justin LaLiberty ★★★½

  Ultra regional (from Pittsburgh if the Steelers shirts and accents don't do it for ya) genre cinema made for a meager 55 grand by some Romero regulars and their friends. Frames itself as a no frills early 80s slasher but winds up at the intersection of Hardcore/8mm and cocaine and umbrella hats. It's surprisingly singular.

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  Review by RanchoTuVu ★★★½ 2

  Wasn't sure what I was watching but it had a regional woodsy Pennsylvania feel tinted with gloom plus the narrative gradually picked up steam, tho it felt unsettling from the beginning. It's a film in which the characters are making a low budget horror film, the project of the film's wealthy director, as he tries to get the cast and crew behind his vision. It's got cool scenes throughout as the cast and crew work inside a house in rural Pennsylvania, with cocaine, booze, and an increasing feeling that something bad will happen. Plus it's a close relative to George A. Romero.

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  Review by Liz ★★★½

  I've never been the biggest fan of movies about making movies, so I was happy that this felt like a mix of two of my favorites -- it's Snuff by way of Beware of a Holy Whore, and with its wires crossed with any of a number of paranoid 70s thrillers. This is also surprisingly even more hyper-regional than any of Romero's films, feeling like it could realistically be taking place at the very same time that Don Dohler was putting on one of his backwoods alien invasion opuses just a couple of hours away. Not what was expecting, but what I secretly wanted it to be.

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  Review by Dave Jackson ★★★★

  With Savini in the cast, its low-budget, title and concept, I expected Effects to be schlocky nonsense. But this is something quite different. An extremely strange little gem that feels ahead of its time in many ways. I love the languid pacing. There's a realism to the dialogue. Character speak like they've spent the day watching Cassavetes films. Scenes are there to paint a vibe rather than advance a narrative. John Harrison's cold stares, subtle glimpses at what's to come in the insane final act, the first time we're shown a black-and-white snuff film—there's a legitimate sense of dread that sneaks into its unassuming presentation. I really like Joseph Pilato, and it's awesome to see him here, young and playing…

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  Review by Justin Decloux ★★★★

  "Did you get it?"

  Arty, cold and hypnotic. If Steven Soderbergh directed a Brian De Palma script in the late 70's, the result would be EFFECTS.

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  Review by HorrorSage ★★

  Good evening and welcome fellow Children of Chaos.

  Watched for the Crap Movie Collective.

  I've never been big on the meta "Horror, but what if real?" thing. So this is a bit lost on me anyway.

  And honestly, it takes like 50 minutes for the movie to actually start. It's mostly film bros huffing their own farts.

  When the plot does get going it's pretty decent. It does a lot of play with the idea, nothing new to the modern audience, but this probably played better in 1979.

  Now I get to watch Unhinged 2017. Pray for me Children of Chaos. Or don't my soul is already lost to the dark gods of B-movies, forsaken by b-movie Jesus.

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  Review by Bob McCully ★★★ 2

  Unique li'l horror flick right here that I actually dug quite a bit and think I need a couple more viewings for it to really set in just right.

  Bit of a meta-trip here as we follow the behind the scenes crew of a horror flick, mostly focusing on the cameraman and gaffer who seem to be falling in love.
  Soon enough Tom Savini shows up as the most coked out dill-weed role of his lifetime and then at some point the director reveals a "fake" snuff film. Eventually it happens as it always does... yes you guessed it...
  C A L A M I T Y E N S U E S ! ! !

  Unique is really the…

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  Review by The Horror of Marna Larsen ★★★

  I was just comparing some terrible special effects in the last movie I watched to a Simon Sez game and there totally was one of those in this movie omg I'm freaking out!

  Also some fun atmosphere here and a killer premise.

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  Review by Dakota Noot ★★½ 3

  Did I just surprise y’all by digging myself out of the Nikkatsu Roman Porno gutter to watch some regional horror? From one hell to another 🔥 

  I’m not fully sure what to make of this film. Visually, it’s so stunning with its red and maroon colors in 4K. There’s so much detail to divine in such a cheaply shot film. It’s some of the best landscapes caught on film. 

  But the plot wanders. It’s like a hangout movie with no interesting characters. I neither like nor hate them enough to care. I realize that this isn’t going for the horror-comedy approach of “Return to Horror High” or the stylistic overload of “Lux Æterna,” but this film felt directionless. Occasional moments…