Subterranean Sound & Vision Presents
Critical Screening.
Film criticism, close readings, and a weekly viewing log by filmmakers Devin Smock and Samuel David.
22 articles
Latest Reviews
Critical Screening Archive
Critical Screening Special Edition: Marge Review
Julia Kern and Michael Prieto’s horror short explores what passes from mother to daughter, with strong performances and an idea bigger than its fifteen minutes.
Carrie Gives the Story Room to Breathe, Then Starts Planning What Comes Next: Spoilers Ahead
Mike Flanagan gives Carrie White room to breathe, before a larger psychic mythology starts pulling attention away from the tragedy in front of her.
Critical Screening Special Edition: DORIS, Super 8 and Making a Movie You Cannot Fix Later
Katy Joy’s three-minute Super 8 horror short and its making-of explore what happens when one roll of film forces every decision to count.
This Week: Carrie, The Quiet Earth and Back to Twin Peaks (Spoilers Ahead)
A catch-up scorecard covering September 26–October 14: The Quiet Earth, Carrie Episodes 5–8, and both original seasons of Twin Peaks.
Digger Pulls Off Its Twist and Frustrates Me Anyway: Spoilers Ahead
Tom Cruise is outstanding and Emmanuel Lubezki gives Digger a distinct visual life, but its ambitious turn left me admiring the idea and missing the movie it began as.
This Week: Blood, Deadites and Dick Long — Spoilers Ahead
Seven movies for September 18–25: There Will Be Blood leads a week of Deadites, Stephen King, crime dramas and a return to Barbarian.
Resident Evil Is Funny as Hell and Still a Horror Movie: Spoilers Ahead
After two viewings, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil earns its laughs, scares and brutal momentum without losing sight of the horror.
This Week: Ten Movies and a Questionable Horror Four-Pack - Spoilers Ahead
Ten movies, a questionable horror four-pack, and a first watch of The Wailing: the September 11–18 scorecard.
Nightfall: A Paranormal Investigation Review: Case 13 Should Have Stayed in the File
A few effective images and some textured Super 8 footage cannot save a paranormal investigation that spends too much time announcing its own weirdness.
Wrath of Silence Is Too Good to Be Hiding Free on YouTube
Xin Yukun turns a father's search for his missing son into a brutal, visually astonishing portrait of violence, corruption, and imposed silence.
American Fork Knows Everybody Wants to Be Somebody
A warm, modest 2007 indie gives Tracy Orbison the rounded character and quiet dignity that a lesser movie might have denied him.
This Week: E.T., Antichrist and Jason with a Bow — Spoilers Ahead
Six movies, five rewatches, one first-time watch, and a week led by E.T. and Antichrist.
Mr. Reset and the Society of Turnbuckle & Bone Turns Wrestling-Promo Energy Into an Hour-Long Endurance Test
A genuinely original collision of wrestling and horror becomes an exhausting visual and sonic assault that rarely knows when to stop.
Backrooms Is Better the Second Time Through the Maze
A second trip through Kane Parsons’ maze reveals fantastic production design, strong performances, and great horror inside an uneven screenplay.
The House at the End of the Lane Has a Great Title. Unfortunately, That’s About It.
A promising psychological-thriller premise collapses into endless phone calls, lifeless scenes, and painfully uncinematic storytelling.
Loving the Slasher, Cutting It Open
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma understands everything wonderful and rotten about the slasher genre.
The Oldest Person in the World Finds Something Bigger Than a World Record
Sam Green follows the world’s oldest people and finds a warm, deeply human documentary about whatever amount of time we get.
My Movie Starring Paul Dano Understands the Delusion of Indie Filmmaking, Maybe Too Well
A handmade mockumentary understands the delusion that gets microbudget movies made, then pushes it until the joke starts collapsing.
This Week: Perfect Days Is a Perfect Watch
Eight movies, one return to Camp Arawak, and a quiet Wim Wenders film rising above the week.
The Odyssey Is a Monument, Not Quite a Masterpiece
Christopher Nolan builds a tactile monument to theatrical filmmaking, even when the middle stops tightening the rope.
This Week: Fargo Still Rules
Physical-media rewatches, a new Spielberg, microbudget ingenuity, and another reminder that Fargo still sits near the top.
The End of Oak Street Is Full of Dinosaurs and Strangely Lifeless
A great B-movie image gets buried under abandoned threads, mechanical payoffs, and dialogue that explains more than it reveals.