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Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

The first WICKED movie stole my heart. I reviewed the second for @starburst.bsky.social Sad to say, I wasn’t feeling the magic so much this time around

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/wick...

WICKED: FOR GOOD

Wicked: For Good struggles to recapture the magic of either the first half or the stage show it's based on.

www.starburstmagazine.com

November 21, 2025 at 6:44 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Happy new PREDATOR day! I had a blast reviewing BADLANDS for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/pred...

November 7, 2025 at 9:45 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

I adored BUGONIA, which I munched up like a weird, delicious spaghetti dinner and then reviewed for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/bugo...

BUGONIA

Two conspiracy nuts abduct a high-powered CEO in this black comedy thriller from Poor Things and The Lobster director Yorgos Lanthimos. Convinced that pharmaceutical boss Michelle (Emma Stone) is an a...

www.starburstmagazine.com

November 2, 2025 at 5:23 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Last but not least from @frightfest.bsky.social is my favourite film of this year’s Halloween - the delightfully madcap J-horror film MAG MAG. You guessed it, for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/mag-...

MAG MAG [FrightFest Halloween 2025] - STARBURST Magazine

J-horror tropes are turned on their head in Mag Mag, a gleefully subversive comedy-horror from director and comedian Yuriyan Retriever.

www.starburstmagazine.com

November 2, 2025 at 1:30 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Thoroughly dug the @frightfest.bsky.social film DOLLY, a good old-fashioned dose of extreme slasher horror - again, for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/dolly/

DOLLY [FrightFest Halloween 2025]

Pulverising The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and '00s French extremity into bloody mincemeat, Dolly makes no attempt to hide its influences.

www.starburstmagazine.com

November 2, 2025 at 1:28 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Up next for @frightfest.bsky.social is a remake of a film I swore I would never watch again - THE TURKISH COFFEE TABLE, for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

THE TURKISH COFFEE TABLE [FrightFest Halloween 2025] - STARBURST Magazine

A horror film I swore I would never watch again finds its way back under the skin in this all-too faithful remake by Baskin director Can Evrenol. Anyone unlucky enough to have seen Caye Casas’s feel-b...

www.starburstmagazine.com

November 1, 2025 at 10:59 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Next for @frightfest.bsky.social is the deeply odd serial killer thriller EVERY HEAVY THING, also for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/ever...

EVERY HEAVY THING [FrightFest Halloween 2025]

A milquetoast advert seller for an online periodical finds himself embroiled in a serial killer’s sinister game when he stumbles across his latest bloody murder. Terrified into silence and complicity,...

www.starburstmagazine.com

November 1, 2025 at 6:51 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

My coverage of @frightfest.bsky.social Halloween begins here - first up, my review of DEATHGASM II for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/deat...

DEATHGASM II: GOREMAGEDDON [FrightFest Halloween 2025] - STARBURST Magazine

With his 2015 comedy-horror film Deathgasm, director Jason Lei Howden perfectly captured the listlessness of the teenage misfit. Yes, it was primarily a coming-of-age story about a young metalhead, bu...

www.starburstmagazine.com

November 1, 2025 at 6:49 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Out now in a very special 4K edition set, I revisited MARTYRS for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/mart...

Martyrs (2008)

Considered a pivotal work of the French Extreme Cinema movement, Martyrs is a film once seen, never forgotten. While once may be one time too many for some, the film has reared its ugly little head ag...

www.starburstmagazine.com

October 27, 2025 at 9:44 PM

Reposted by Joel Harley

Rue Morgue Magazine

@ruemorguemag.bsky.social

TIE-IN ME UP, TIE-IN ME DOWN – “THE DESCENT: THE OFFICIAL MOVIE NOVELIZATION” seeks to find new depths in a modern horror classic. https://ow.ly/7wKE50XggA5 Joel Harley

TIE-IN ME UP, TIE-IN ME DOWN – “THE DESCENT: THE OFFICIAL MOVIE NOVELIZATION” SEEKS TO FIND NEW DEPTHS IN A MODERN HORROR CLASSIC - Rue Morgue

Author Christian Francis delivers a brisk and faithful (if flawed) literary reworking of Neil Marshall's beloved 2005 horror film.

ow.ly

October 22, 2025 at 8:01 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

To coincide with its release on Netflix this week, I wrote about my favorite @frightfest.bsky.social hit of 2022 for Metro UK

metro.co.uk/2025/06/14/u...

The most 'unpredictable' horror movie of the decade is now streaming on Netflix

You need to see this one for yourself.

metro.co.uk

June 14, 2025 at 4:02 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Watched CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD

June 11, 2025 at 12:10 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

A serial killer thriller with a great villain and an even better final girl, I dug DANGEROUS ANIMALS, although I would have liked to have dug it a little bit more. My review for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/dang...

DANGEROUS ANIMALS - STARBURST Magazine

Man proves to be the world’s most dangerous animal in the latest thriller from The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy director Sean Byrne. One man specifically: Bruce Tucker, played by former Captain Bo...

www.starburstmagazine.com

June 5, 2025 at 5:55 AM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

‘Less of a ritual, more of a chore’ - my review of THE RITUAL, for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

THE RITUAL - STARBURST Magazine

Every exorcism cliché one can imagine is summoned up in The Ritual, a religious horror film by David Midell.

www.starburstmagazine.com

June 4, 2025 at 7:15 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Watching FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN as a person over a certain age is like going to prom as a certain age - headache inducing, mildly annoying and not for you in the first place.

My review, for @starburst.bsky.social:

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/fear...

Fear Street: Prom Queen

Four years after Netflix's ambitious three-part Fear Street trilogy, the franchise resurfaces with a new standalone entry.

www.starburstmagazine.com

May 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Via @starburst.bsky.social - folk horror tale THE SEVERED SUN keeps its black tendrils wrapped around the brain long after the end credits roll.

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

THE SEVERED SUN

A young woman finds herself at odds with her neighbours in a remote community of religious fanatics, led by her father, the town Pastor (Toby Stephens). With her abusive husband having been killed und...

www.starburstmagazine.com

May 21, 2025 at 2:54 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

The latest edition of my column for Rue Morgue Magazine tackles Bridgett Nelson’s DEADGIRL novelisation - a film I hated resurrected with a bold new take on the source material

rue-morgue.com/tie-in-me-up...

TIE-IN ME UP, TIE-IN ME DOWN: “DEADGIRL” RESURRECTS A CONTROVERSIAL CULT CLASSIC - Rue Morgue

Author Bridgett Nelson's novelization is a wryly subversive take on its source material that finally gives its titular character a voice, brain and sense of agency.

rue-morgue.com

May 19, 2025 at 8:05 AM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

There’s never been a bad Final Destination film (fight me) so BLOODLINES can’t be a return to form, but this belated sequel finds the franchise in fine fettle.

My review is up now with @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/fina...

Final Destination: Bloodlines

Fourteen years after last traumatising a generation with everything from logging trucks to tanning beds, horror’s most disaster-prone franchise returns, fully loaded with a fresh vat of nightmare fuel...

www.starburstmagazine.com

May 11, 2025 at 9:55 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE is streaming now on BBC iPlayer, and I wrote about it for @metrouk.bsky.social

metro.co.uk/2025/05/03/s...

Shocking horror movie that caused walkouts streaming now on iPlayer

'Surgery is the new sex.'

metro.co.uk

May 3, 2025 at 3:51 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Nicolas Cage does Ozploitation in THE SURFER, which I reviewed for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

May 1, 2025 at 5:50 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Grisly Cinderella story THE UGLY STEPSISTER had me retching. I reviewed it for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-...

THE UGLY STEPSISTER - STARBURST Magazine

A tale as old as time (no, not that one) is re-told from another perspective in this grim fairytale by writer and director Emilie Blichfeldt. All Elvira (Lea Myren) wants is to marry the handsome Prin...

www.starburstmagazine.com

April 20, 2025 at 7:26 PM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

Quoted here for @starburst.bsky.social talking here about AN TAIBHSE (The Ghost), one of my favourite films of last year’s @frightfest.bsky.social

youtu.be/Hr530umjFpk?...

AN TAIBHSE (The Ghost) - Irish Language Horror Film Official Trailer

YouTube video by Cathal Fitzpatrick

youtu.be

April 19, 2025 at 8:04 AM

Joel Harley

@joelharley.bsky.social

From this year’s Panic Fest, I reviewed the gruelling horror romance STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING for @starburst.bsky.social

www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/stra...