Matt Donato

Los Angeles

Writer and Critic at Freelance

Articles

Review: IT FEEDS Brings the Scares In This Indie Thriller

6 days ago | dailydead.com | Matt Donato

Filmmaker and producer Chad Archibald has quietly been cornering Canada's independent horror scene with his company, Black Fawn Films. Titles like The Drownsman and Bite might range in quality, but if there's one thing Black Fawn's output gets right, it's a textbook treatment of the term "scary." Archibald's latest tale of terror, It Feeds, strengthens that comment because it might be his best presentation of frightful entertainment (so far).
Review: Ryan Coogler's SINNERS is a 1930s Vampire Flick with Serious Bite

1 week ago | dailydead.com | Matt Donato

If there was ever a follow-up to 2019's documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, Sinners would be a centerpiece. Ryan Coogler's Jim Crow-era vampire chiller has the potential to break into mainstream culture like Jordan Peele's Get Out. Its "juke joint" setting earns comparisons to boozy genre films From Dusk Till Dawn and Demon Knight, but there's also a Tarantino-esque historical anger à la Django Unchained or Inglourious Basterds.
Overlook 2025 Review: BEST WISHES TO ALL is a Frightening Generational Chiller

1 week ago | dailydead.com | Matt Donato

Yûta Shimotsu’s Best Wishes To All (also translated Best Regards to All) covertly starts like many Japanese horror films. A cheerful woman walks towards an ominous home, the camera pans onto a window. You’d expect Kayako to gaze back; it’s so familiar. But The Grudge’s antagonist does not appear, and Best Wishes To All removes its mask. Behind the guise of genre normality is a generational nightmare with bleak societal implications about the sacrifices civilization makes for lifelong happiness.
Overlook 2025 Interview: Director Christopher Landon Talks Biting Into DROP's Tension, Humor, and Delicious Steaks

2 weeks ago | dailydead.com | Matt Donato

Do you enjoy your date night movies with a side of thrills and drenched in fun-loving ambitions? That's Christopher Landon's romantic thriller Drop, about a dangerously awry first meetup. Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar star in the impromptu assassination plot over dinner, which feels 90s coded in its entertaining abandon. Writers Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach channel Wes Craven's Red Eye, Eugenio Mira's Grand Piano, and Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth.
Review: GAZER is a Visually Impressive, Yet Lethargic Thriller

2 weeks ago | dailydead.com | Matt Donato

Ryan J. Sloan's feature debut Gazer is a pensive puzzler that keeps the audience at arm's length. Its traits are grainy visuals, an untrustworthy narrator, and chilly noir vibes on a low frequency. Sloan and co-writer Ariella Mastroianni (who plays the film's time-blind lead) explore a New Jersey mystery that keeps methods low and slow. Gazer's an intimate thriller with a hyper-focused scope, but it's also a lethargic experience by choice.
Review: ABRAHAM'S BOYS is a Slow and Unsteady Vampire Thriller

2 weeks ago | dailydead.com | Matt Donato

There are two sides to every story. Take Abraham Van Helsing’s legacy. Bram Stoker’s Dracula positions Van Helsing as a vampire-hunting savior who vanquishes the bloodsucking count—but what if that’s propaganda? Natasha Kermani’s adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story “Abraham’s Boys” portrays a different side of Van Helsing. The line between hero and monster is wafer-thin, which Kermani explores in a 1900s period piece that takes an iconic horror figure to task.
‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ – Dan Trachtenberg’s Animated Anthology Film Arrives This Summer!

2 weeks ago | bloody-disgusting.com | Matt Donato

Overnight, Dan Trachtenberg became the Predator whisperer. His Comanche action-horror prequel Prey breathed life into the uneven franchise, and its success opened the door to pitch future entries. One idea became Predator: Badlands, which is slotted for a November 7th, 2025 release date (with new details coming out of CinemaCon this past weekend). But what if I told you Trachtenberg completed another Predator film in secret that’ll be available before we enter the Badlands?
The 14 Most Exciting Horror Movies Coming Out in 2025

2 weeks ago | inverse.com | Matt Donato

The horror genre is off to a hot start in 2025 thanks to buzzy standouts like Companion, The Monkey, and Heart Eyes. An AI lovebot thriller, a murder-happy plaything, and a Valentine’s Day slasher are stealing (and stabbing) hearts — you love to see it. But it’s only April, and we still have plenty more horror releases to come. Will the rest of 2025 be as strong as its heights already through March? One can only hope. This year’s slate of yet-to-release horror films is as promising as ever.
825 Forest Road Review - IGN

2 weeks ago | ign.com | Matt Donato

825 Forest Road is now streaming on Shudder. Writer and director Stephen Cognetti is ready to be known as more than the “Hell House LLC Guy.” Unfortunately, his latest movie won’t help him accomplish that goal. 825 Forest Road ditches the found-footage Halloween scares of Cognetti’s directorial debut and its sequels for a more traditional approach to horror. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near as engaging or inventive as those four (and counting) trips to the cursed Abaddon Hotel.
825 Forest Road Review

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Matt Donato

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways825 Forest Road is now streaming on Shudder. Writer and director Stephen Cognetti is ready to be known as more than the “Hell House LLC Guy.” Unfortunately, his latest movie won’t help him accomplish that goal.