Sean Patrick
Bio
Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.
Stories (291/1976)
Filter by community
Movie Review: 'Things Heard & Seen'
I have a reputation, via the Everyone’s A Critic Movie Review Podcast, for being hard on haunted house movies. Indeed, I’ve trashed most of them. Whether it’s The Conjuring franchise and its associated films or just the random September/October studio detritus, made to capitalize on the ravenous horror fandom, I’ve not been impressed with Hollywood’s ghost stories. It’s not a particular bias ghosts ghosts. Rather, it’s an issue with overused tropes, vague motivations, and screenwriting shortcuts that have put me off of Hollywood’s over-familiar ghost formula.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'In the Earth'
To say I didn’t care for director Ben Wheatley’s take on Alfred Hitchcock’s incredible masterpiece, Rebecca, would be an understatement. Not only did I write a lengthy negative review, I then wrote a second scathing take on the movie in the form of a numbered list of everything wrong with the movie. So yeah, me and Ben Wheatley are not on the same page. I felt the same wearying feeling about his breakthrough feature Free Fire starring Brie Larson, though I wasn’t inspired to chronicle my disdain as I did with Rebecca.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'The Unholy'
The Unholy is a wildly frustrating movie. The film is quite good in so many ways and quite silly and impossible in others, thus why it is so frustrating. Star Jeffrey Dean Morgan is so interesting, effortlessly charismatic and has that kind of shambling, messy, handsomeness where going unshaven could be lazy or a legit fashion choice. Because of Morgan’s appeal, I wanted The Unholy to succeed. Sadly, the silly is too silly for the movie to survive.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'The Vigil'
The Vigil uses the specificity of Jewish tradition to put a fresh spin on the supernatural horror genre. Dave Davis stars in The Vigil as Yakov, a former member of an orthodox Jewish community. A tragedy in his recent past led Yakov to reassess his faith and leave the orthodox tradition. He’s found support in a support group of fellow former orthodox Jews. The group includes Sarah who is the first non-orthodox woman Yakov has had an opportunity to spend time with.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'Impetigore' is Indonesia's Oscar Hopeful
Impetigore is a creeptastic horror movie from Indonesia that is competing to be Best Foreign Film at this year’s Academy Awards. The film is Indonesia’s official entry into the awards season and it is not your typical Oscar movie. This is a blood and guts shocker about curses, babies born without skin, and two innocent women whose desire for wealth overwhelms their good judgment.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'Curse of Aurore' Beats the Found Footage Curse
Found footage horror is the sub-genre that will not die. Despite the repeated and tiresome tropes and the sameness of the look of found footage, filmmakers continue to return to this well worn subset of the horror genre. The reason for this is obvious, it’s a way to make a movie cheap and fast. This doesn’t mean a found footage movie can’t be good, but the challenge grows to make a found footage movie that isn’t like every other found footage horror film.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'I Blame Society'
I Blame Society is an absolute, start to finish, blast. This insanely dark comedy about a documentary filmmaker plumbing the depths of her psychosis is a thrill ride of rising stakes and rising insanity. Written and directed by Gillian Horvat, I Blame Society is bold, unique and shockingly original. Imagine the movie May but made by a female Christopher Guest character and you have a sense of what I Blame Society is like.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'The Invisible Man' is a Weighty Thriller
Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man is one of the most exciting movies of 2020. Released in February of 2020, the movie has not left my Top 5 movies of the year since it was released. Whannell has come into his own as a director since first debuting as the writer and star of the Saw franchise all the way back in 2004. Since then, he co-created the terrific Insidious horror franchise and went on to direct three terrific movies, Insidious Chapter 3, Upgrade and now, The Invisible Man.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'The Giant' is a Confounding Murder Mystery
The Giant is a baffling mess of arty pretension, horror imagery, and strong intentions ultimately amounting to nothing. This divisive teen horror movie has strong elements including a compelling visual style and a crime story at the heart that should help give shape to the flights of artistic fancy. Unfortunately, The Giant is so muddy, laconic and confounding that it’s difficult to surmise what the actual story of the movie is.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Celebrity Interview: Colman Domingo Fear the Walking Dead
Colman Domingo has more than solidified his place in the world of Fear the Walking Dead. After joining the show in season 2, Domingo has become one of the stalwart characters of the show. Even as friends such as Kim Dickens and Garret Dillahunt have left the series, Colman Domingo has remained and welcomed new characters and expanded his character, Victor Strand in directions that he had never imagined. Now, with season 6 of Fear the Walking Dead underway, Colman is still bringing life to Victor in front of the camera while finding new life for himself behind the camera as a director.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Classic Movie Review: 'Scanners
It is incredibly reductive that when many people think of David Cronenberg they think of Scanners. Scanners isn’t a bad movie, per se, but it should not be the first movie or even the second movie that people think of when they think of a master such as Cronenberg. With movies like The Brood, Eastern Promises, A History of Violence and Videodrome, it says something sad about our culture that people just want to remember an exploding head.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'Possessor' is Visually Dynamic, Creepy and Violent
Possessor has me vexed. This sci-fi horror movie from the son of legendary director David Cronenberg, Brandon Cronenberg, is visually dynamic and compelling in a disturbing fashion. But, what is the movie about? I am not sure I know what Brandon Cronenberg is intending to say with this movie that carries themes about identity, gender, violence and psychopathy. It’s a film packed with ideas but none of those ideas resonates as much as I believe they should.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Horror
