“The House of the Devil” kicks it back to 1978 … old school horror! There’s none of that cheeky oh-look-at-how-clever we are satire that is the mainstay of “throwback” horror. This movie literally could have come out when the likes of “Halloween” ruled the screen. Everything in the movie works to make you think you are really watching an old-style horror movie (even the movie poster harkens back to the good old days). The story relies more on creepy atmosphere than in your face gore (don’t expect a fast moving story). The soundtrack (composed by Jeff Grace) is pitch perfect homage to the great horror scores of the late 70’s/early 80’s. My major complaint about the movie would be that the resolution feels kinda rushed … but all that comes it before is my kinda scary! I am thinking that Ti West might be my new hero.

And speaking of new heroes … here’s A.J. Bowen who is in “The House of the Devil.” He’s 12 shades of handsome!

Ha, ha … it’s a movie about thinning the herd!

I will say that I find the “torture porn” sub-genre of horror to be quite low class and without much merit … but if more of said films were made some intelligence and flair then I could easily change my mind.

“Martyrs” (France, 2008) knocked my socks of. I didn’t know much about the premise of the film other than a wee bit of the blurb on Netflix.

“Years after she escaped from an icy torture chamber in an abandoned slaughterhouse, Lucie enlists the help of her closest friend, Anna, to track down the family who tormented her and exact her revenge.”

Sounds like a pretty simple revenge film, doesn’t it? But, what you get is a tale that mixes several horror genre elements into one very brutal and very bloody cocktail. “Martyrs” does take an unexpected detour about 3/4 of the way through. Honestly, the less you know going in, the better. I was totally unprepared for the final act of the movie.

“Martyrs” follows on the heels of other envelope pushing French films such as “Haute Tension,” “À l’intérieur” and “Frontière(s).”  If this tend continues, I could become a total convert!

Because, it certainly appears that France is the current king of splatter.