Again, Creepshow isn't a nightmare-inducer, but does give you... well... the creeps. The monsters visuals are eerie and the balance between realism and fantasy gives it a continual scary feeling. There's a good sense of era setting, the characters are well-rounded and the ending is both surprising and satisfying. 

This feels more like a dark fantasy, especially due to it's moral ending, but is still an enjoyable little short. The main character is more believable than the easily-evil friend and girlfriend, or the too-nice man in the suitcase. A little over the top, for sure, but it doesn't ruin it. The mysterious man is so apologetic and kind, which makes you wonder why. Who is after him? How did he get in the case? It all comes together in a very neat ending, even if the moral learned seems like something you wouldn't have to teach people.

Despite being like mobsters shaking down people for protection, the main characters have a strong sense of sadness and anger; they aren't two dimensional baddies and you have to wonder... why? At the end, when the whole story is finally revealed, the true horror can set in. Now we know who they are and what happened, and what is it that the people were afraid of them doing... now the fantastical elements can fade out and we can be afraid of what human beings are really capable of.

The direct fear of being in that position and the adult fear of losing a child in any way makes this a damn good horror story. It's not the surprises or things like zombies and ghosts that really keep us up at night, its the stories that make us think, what if that happened to me? This hits that place, at least for me. Fair warning, its a bit of a gory event.

Another thing this short has which is unusual in horror is that the fear for the viewer is not that we find ourselves in the protagonists position, but in an unseen one. While he has the horror of witnessing the creature and getting the consequences, the real danger is being someone else. If he's right, the monster's out there, and his rant lists all kinds of people who might find themselves in it's sights. Though the mental health aspect implies he's hallucinating it all, there is the classic cliffhanger idea that it might just be true.

The interesting concepts of an immortal wolf-woman trying to finally die, soldiers stuck between the real horrors of war and the fantastical horror of a werewolf, and even werewolves vs Nazis are all wasted. Thrown together in a low-budget effects mess, it'd be better to just skip to the next short. Plus, the woman speaks French while the Germans only speak English.

Just as her dolls and the haunted head doll break the fourth wall, looking at her and reacting to her from the very beginning, this short implies a fourth wall break too. The head appears in her dollhouse for seemingly no reason. As the threat escalates, it threatens the girl too. The girl seeing the horror play out in her dollhouse is a mirror for the viewer watching the horror play out in films. When the head becomes a danger to her, breaking the fourth wall, it becomes a danger to us in that mirror metaphor.

And, it seems to say, who knows what could suddenly appear or happen in your dolls house? Or your real house? The House of the Head is a good little spook.

Atmospheric and creepy, the set design and camera work are brilliant. The cuts between two concurrent situations and the boy's confession story playing out really help to build suspense. Missing proper jump scares or, at least for me, a sense of fear for the viewer, this falls into the thriller/slasher school of horror. Disgust, foreboding and disturbed are the emotions this short evokes. If you hate mould, slime and either of those on people, this will creep you out too.

This is not a funny film, though it does feature comedians and some zingy one liners. The only time I laughed was his mother sincerely asking him "Don't you have to be funny to be a comedian?". Joaquin Phoenix is more Heath Ledger in grit, actual insanity and violence than he is Jared Leto's method acting mess. His emaciated frame and odd movements gave a good creepy vibe to his joker and the neurological aspect of his uncontrolled laughter was fitting.

However, this is a story about a disabled man pushed to breaking, set in a fictional city with a notoriously bad mental health facility. It's hard to watch the scenes set in the asylum and heartbreaking when characters are openly abusive about his brain damage, unusual behaviour and other character's disabilities. The way that characters treat each other in general is unpleasant to see; random muggings, hateful coworkers, etc.

There is also plenty of gore, though no wound close ups. Some of the murders are overly bloody and there are quite a few of them. The Joker and other characters are violent; hitting and kicking, then stabbing and rioting. The plot exposition is a little heavy handed, with multiple reveals of the same fact, and does include mention of an abusive relationship and child abuse. They aren't shown, but are in the context of the bad mental health treatment.

Regardless of the timing of it's violence and social commentary, and whether or not people might wilfully misinterpret the Joker, it's a fantastic film with beautiful cinematography. Slow push-ins, uncomfortably close close-ups held for an uncomfortably long time, dutch angles and hand held shots, the camera is a huge part of the tension. A muted colour palette contrasts with the Joker's surprisingly bright clown clothes and the blood.

The Joker as a character has a history of mistreating women, both in the comics and films; his abusive relationship with Harley Quinn, for one. Luckily, she does not turn up in this story, and while he does kill at least two women, gender does not seem to be a huge factor and the female love interest's fate is left unshown after a big plot reveal. As every other death is shown either in act or in the amount of blood, her bloodless departure bodes well for her. In an era of 'ironic' or 'poignant' mistreatment of female characters, this is a nice change.

The mental illness aspects may be quite unsettling, as the Joker loses, regains and loses his sense of real and imagined again. It can be misleading, but the climactic scenes bring everything together. This is far from a film for everyone, but if you like drama that makes you think and characters that make you uncomfortable, it's worth a watch.

And that really is a shame. The build up to the multiple reveals are delicious, bringing to mind Get Out, Black Swan and Whiplash. The body horror is outstanding, teetering the line between awful and hilarious. Imagine the scarab scene from family-friendly The Mummy, but with an 18 rating's horror and an infection genre twist. It was enough to give me nightmares and I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen!

The plot twists would put Shyamalan to shame, and they just keep coming, keeping you guessing and surprised. The musical backdrop is beyond my expertise, but seems accurate. The shocking moment showcased in the other poster, the landscape Netflix image, is more and more shocking with each twist.

With the poor taste shock factor aspect, the ultimate reveal would be brilliant. The religious aspects and the way we put such pressure on talented children could have been such a brilliant theme. The repeated phrases where you can almost hear the capital letters give such a sense of foreboding. The Perfection. The Chapel. The Punishment. It's what's Expected of us. But then, instead of an enjoyable experience, with a creative punishment, we get thrown down the lazy route of sexual abuse and a rape survivor revenge spree. That cliche "thriller" ending comes complete with a "disgust is the same as fear, right?" overly gory fight scene.

Thoroughly annoyed by the time I wasted and the excitement that was dashed, the end kept up the trend of making me think of much better films by having a very Freaks-esque final tableau. The person I was watching with said it was just missing something, and that might be true. A better plot theme, for one. Perhaps Ridley Scott, as the original Alien film has a sexual tension to the monster and strong themes of sexual violence without just falling back on literally raping the female main character. With five better films to watch instead, this one isn't worth it for the good parts.

Unsuprisingly from the name Howl and the full moon setting, the monster of this story is a werewolf. Even with brilliant prosthetics, the film takes the slow burn route. Building the suspense with glimpses and only seeing the effects the monster is having, the eventual reveal is much more exciting. The realistic lack of knowledge the characters have do hint that the monster is something else; skinwalker, mutated animal or yeti. The contagious element of the werewolf myth eventually prevails, and adds the muddiness of the character issue, with characters dying in the middle of their endearing moments and a character's compounding unpleasantness and misogyny seemingly rewarded. In this, the audience lose the gift of lovely characters and are punished with unwanted ones.

The train setting is integral to the story, setting up the scenario and providing the flimsy safe area. There's always a nice familiarity to a UK film made by British people. The fictional train company is similar enough to any UK rail company to feel realistic, but isn't so specific as to be controversal or too niche for international audiences. From the out-of-order toilet, locked doors and potentially surprising fire and maintenance equipment, Howl gives a realistic look at both an uneventful train journey and a siege on a train carriage. 

Some interesting inter-character development is in here, too, with protaganist Joe's promotion application, crush on his coworker and unpleasant boss, but unfortunately this doesn't get much further than the opening. Likewise, the seeds of connection between the passengers are planted, but too quickly thrown out with badly timed deaths. It's such a shame, as the rest of the film is so good and there is real potential for a brilliant and impactful film.