“Tell Me A Creepy Story” (* out of four) was a static anthology horror movie in a seemingly unrelated collection of stories about serial killers, home invasions, cannibals, and other swell folks. If you’re dying to see a movie that wanders aimlessly and has almost no dialogue (and no scares), then this is the movie for you; other should steer far clear. Next to this clunker, the original “Creepshow” and “Tales From The Darkside” look like Hitchcock in his prime.

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“Ruined” (*1/2 out of four) was a pre-fabricated “Fatal Attraction” clone about a woman (Annie Ilonzeh) who goes to a relationship therapist (Keri Hilson) about her relationship with her husband (Chris Warren), never realizing that the therapist and her husband have a past together and she is out for psychological and physical revenge. Hilson once again shows she’s a solid actress and does what she can with a ridiculous role but film itself is “ruined” by its predictable plot points and silly writing.

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“Talk To Me” (** out of four) was an overly arch horror thriller about a group of friends (Ari McCarthy, Hamish Phillips, Kit Erhart Bruce, and others) who discover how to conjure the dead using an embalmed hand but soon realize that they may have to make a terrifying choice between trusting the world of the living or the world of the dead before all Hell breaks loose. Unpleasant story covers all-too-familiar material although remains watchable for undemanding viewers. Somehow, this was screened at the Cannes Film Festival as an entry last year.

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“Megalodon: The Frenzy” (** out of four) was yet another entry in the endless killer-shark genre about a group of massive 5 megalodons that are out on the prowl in the ocean and various marine biologists and military personnel (Eric Roberts, Caroline Williams, Jessica Chancellor, and others) who try to contain and control the situation. Neither the best nor worst of its genre and does feature a few vivid jolts with the shark attack sequences…………but by this point you’ve seen it all before many times. At least it’s an improvement over “Jaws: The Revenge” which filmmaker Brendan Petrizzo said this was influenced by.

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“Birth/Rebirth” (** out of four) was a superficial horror psychodrama about a morgue technician (Marin Ireland) who successfully re-animates the body of a little girl (A.J. Lister) and is able to keep her alive using the biological contaminants from pregnant women; when the girl’s mother (Judy Reyes) finds out about this, they enter into a dark pact of trust and truth that endangers all three of them. Interesting story elements of retribution and re-animation but end result is too patchy and dour to be satisfying. Even still, this was an official selection for Best Picture entry at The Sundance Film Festival.

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“Dark Windows” (**1/2 out of four) was a sporadically effective horror psychodrama about four teenagers (Anna Bullard, Rory Alexander, Annie Hamilton, and Grace Binford Sheene) who are all involved in a devastating car crash; when one dies, the surviving members all go on a weekend getaway where they are besieged and stalked by someone who may or may not be one of the deceased girl’s family members who blames them for the accident. Good performances and some chilling and dark irony regarding PSTD and survivor’s guilt elevates this a cut above most of its genre but is eventually dwarfed by film’s routine framework and story. Not all that different actually from “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”

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“Haunting Of The Queen Mary” (** out of four) a jumbled horror thriller set on Halloween night in 1938 in which two families (Alice Eve, Tim Downie, Joel Fry, and others) are aboard a doomed ocean liner and soon realize that their fates have become intertwined and they have to struggle to make it off the ship alive when a sinister force is out to kill all of them. Too long and features too many loose plot threads and characters that make film difficult to follow; some creepy images and scenes to be sure but most are derived from “Event Horizon” which in turn was obviously derived from “The Shining.”

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“Blue Beetle” (**1/2 out of four) was a likeably done adaptation of the DC comic-book series about an alien organism that chooses a young man (Xolo Mariduena) to be its symbiotic host and bestows him with a suit of armor that enables him with extraordinary sensibility and superpowers and turns him into the title hero the Blue Beetle who battles with various villainous forces (Susan Sarandon and Raoul Max Trujillo) who want to use his powers for their own good. Fast-paced and engaging and gives fans their money’s worth with action scenes and visual effects but it becomes somewhat mechanical after a while and starts to seem interchangeable with various other DC/Marvel adaptations. Film marks the 14th in the DC adaptation universe.

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“Mommy’s Stolen Memories” (** out of four) was a glossy but empty thriller melodrama about a successful businesswoman (Tammin Sursok) whose life goes sideways when her young son (Easten Dacosta) is drawn to a mysterious young woman (Maia Mae Fields) who causes him to unravel. Slickly done but overly familiar and derivative story is too predictable to carry much in the way of surprise or shock value. Title is somewhat ironic since film itself seems “stolen” from a half-dozen other better films of its genre.

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“Trapped In The Cabin” (*1/2 out of four) was a numbingly monotonous and predictable thriller about a successful romance novelist (Tiffany Smith) who goes to a remote cabin in the wilderness to start writing her new novel where she is suddenly terrorized and held by a deranged lunatic (David James Lewis) and has to utilize her survival skills to escape. Passable beginning soon fizzles out once she is held hostage and it turns static and stupid. Smith is sincere in the lead role but viewers will likely feel “trapped” themselves by the end of this clunker.

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