C.H. Newell

C.H. Newell
Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:
C.H. Newell is a Master's student and author from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, whose short stories have been published in Canada and the U.S. He wrote a short period piece horror film called New Woman that went into post-production in 2018. He is a member of the Online Film Critics Society.
Publications: Film Inquiry, Father Son Holy Gore, Scriptophobic
Critics' Group: Online Film Critics Society

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
4/5 69% Gwen (2019) A harsh look at a woman's world in the mid-1800s, and a haunting, Marxist portrait of Wales ravaged by modernity during the Industrial Revolution. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 15, 2019
4/5 38% The Divine Fury (2019) Aside from the great bits of martial arts ass kicking and the genuinely terrifying demons, Kim's film is a portrait of faltering faith and moral dilemmas. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 8, 2019
4/5 86% The Father's Shadow (A Sombra do Pai) (2018) An emotional horror drama about how working class people are turned into walking corpses by capitalism and what effect this has on their families. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 7, 2019
4.5/5 86% Sons of Denmark (Danmarks sønner) (2019) Salim doesn't treat the story and its plots lightly, focusing on how cycles of sociopolitical violence only beget more of the same. A necessary, albeit shocking film. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 6, 2019
4/5 100% A Good Woman Is Hard to Find (2019) The plot's events aren't meant to make us judge Sarah's moral choices. We're meant to applaud that, somehow, she's able to make it out of a desperately ugly male world intact. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 3, 2019
4/5 86% Koko-di Koko-da (2019) A twisted, surreal allegory of grief, trauma, and how they both repeat themselves in an endlessly destructive cycle unless we actively work to ease their effects. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 1, 2019
5/5 No Score Yet Homewrecker (2019) Zach Gayne's film is a hilarious, dark view of modern loneliness, and how society forces women to destroy each other. Chong and Essoe give two of the year's best performances. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 31, 2019
4.5/5 95% Harpoon (2019) Drawing off everything from Aristotle and Edgar Allan Poe, Grant creates a darkly hilarious and horrific look at toxic masculinity, as well as the women it affects. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 30, 2019
4/5 83% The Prey (2019) If action with strong thematic content is your bag, you'll be more than entertained. If you just want gunfights and martial arts, Henderson will satisfy those needs, too. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 21, 2019
4.5/5 65% Darlin' (2019) McIntosh gnaws at the heartstrings while also eviscerating patriarchal notions of what it is to be a woman. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 16, 2019
5/5 94% Of Fathers and Sons (2018) Derki's not seeking to justify a political perspective. He leaves us to make up our own minds about whether terrorism everywhere is really, at its core, all the same. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 8, 2019
3.5/5 100% #LIKE (2019) In spite of its flaws, the film has timely, poignant things to say about what it is to be a girl / young woman in the digital age. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 19, 2019
88% Citizen X (1995) A film like Citizen X works to make the killing and the gruesome details of serial murder the least entertaining element of its story and plot. - Scriptophobic EDIT
Read More | Posted May 30, 2019
4/5 93% Starfish (2019) A uniquely personal vision of one person's world ending and how that can feel as big and as tangible as an actual apocalypse. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 29, 2019
3.5/5 91% The Nightshifter (Morto nâo fala) (2018) This tale of a man who can speak to the dead touches on everything from death and loneliness to the desperate, damaging need for male control in a relationship. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 24, 2019
4/5 64% Body at Brighton Rock (2019) Roxanne Benjamin's protagonist Wendy has to face the ugly world in all its brutality, fending off the elements, animals, and, maybe most importantly, man. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 22, 2019
4.5/5 88% We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2019) Gives fans of the book a faithful adaptation, and also allows the timeless story of the novel to parallel the troubled sociopolitical times in which we currently exist. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 21, 2019
3.5/5 40% Saint Bernard (2013) For those who get hooked by the unbelievable imagery and fantastical story, there's much more narrative hiding underneath the visual insanity than might initially appear. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 15, 2019
89% Zodiac (2007) If Fincher wasn't so adamant that his film was a totally factual representation of the case, Zodiac would be a far better piece of fictionalised history. - Scriptophobic EDIT
Read More | Posted May 13, 2019
4/5 55% Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) Never glorifies its subject, showing him as a bland, dishonest, and cruel human being, focusing on the wreckage he created that extended beyond his victims and their families. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 8, 2019
3.5/5 83% Let Us Prey (2014) Great performances, nasty horror, and a rumination on the divide between good and evil. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
3.5/5 100% Last Shift (2015) A solid horror film with savagely effective makeup effects, atmospheric mood, and disturbing psychological thrills set inside a claustrophobic location. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 69% Q (1982) Cohen uses a pulpy noir-ish plotline to masquerade in front of the titular dragon-like monster, creating an impressive mix of crime and horror and mystery. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4.5/5 75% Wolfen (1981) A crime-thriller-style plot with elements of a police procedural that makes a statement about the plight of Native Americans specifically in big urban centres. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4.5/5 40% Burnt Offerings (1976) Whereas other movies focus on ghosts, Curtis's film uses the house as the ghost, the monster, and the creature. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4.5/5 99% Under The Shadow (2016) Encompasses many experiences and situations of women worldwide, and what living under the constant, forceful pressure of patriarchy can do to their psyches. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
5/5 88% Near Dark (1987) If there ever were an award for best modern vampire flick, this would certainly be in the running for first place. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
1/5 22% Yoga Hosers (2016) Not only is it all a hot mess, the Canadian jokes are terrible and make the screenplay lazier than it is already. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4.5/5 69% Dahmer (2002) More powerful than most give it credit for, and if this was your first time seeing Jeremy Renner, the quiet intensity of his performance is a massive part of that power. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 57% Civic Duty (2006) Civic Duty pulls us into the post-9/11 hysteria that felt ready to pop in America. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
5/5 96% Blue Ruin (2014) Saulnier has created a very brutal, raw image of the revenge thriller. He takes it out of the ridiculousness of Hollywood and how big budget films treat the sub-genre. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 63% Arlington Road (1999) Arlington Road is a mystery-laden thriller, not without flaws. Overall, it does the job of sucking you in and never letting go, not until the last beat. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
5/5 82% The Changeling (1980) Chills and thrills, mounds of suspense, and a genuinely crafted atmosphere that makes you wonder what terror lies behind each corner inside the sprawling, ancient mansion. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4.5/5 100% The Hospital (1971) It will have you pondering the effectiveness of the American healthcare system, one that hasn't changed (too) much since '71. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
5/5 98% Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) The satire and its execution, from George C. Scott to Peter Sellers in his three roles, is first and foremost what makes things work. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
5/5 95% Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) Life of Brian is undoubtedly the greatest religious satire of all-time. Comedic gold. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 85% The Shining (1980) Kubrick most definitely made an impressive horror film that not only contributed to the genre as a whole, it also left an indelible mark on many moviegoers. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 79% 1408 (2007) Using the talents of John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, Håfström makes a creepshow out of King's short story, doing justice to it completely. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
3/5 12% Cell (2016) Creepy at the best of times. Plenty of flaws to boot and there are definitely lacklustre performances out of Cusack and Jackson, which is unfortunate. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
5/5 70% Unbreakable (2000) Small and subdued, yet at the same time epic in scale. Shyamalan tells the story of superheroes, but in a contained and human fashion. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 66% The Visit (2015) Shyamalan recaptures some of his earlier essence with lots of mystery, subtle creeps and moments where you'll question what exactly it is you're seeing. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 No Score Yet 419 (2012) A pretty cracking little thriller that has elements of crime and horror, using the Nigerian Prince e-mail scam as an interesting jump-off point. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
1/5 No Score Yet Megan Is Missing (2011) A forgettable, rotten movie with an important message that I'll likely never ever watch again. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
3.5/5 45% A Serbian Film (2011) A Serbian Film seems to have more in mind than it conveys on the outer surface. But it remains effective, one gruesome way or another. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4.5/5 81% Southbound (2016) It has an amazing sense of homage without ever really trying to reference The Twilight Zone, and, at the same time, it's an entity all of its own. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
2/5 25% The Pact II (2014) What might have been, in another universe, a decent flick ends up as a whole lot of junk, and The Pact II is relegated to the land of abysmal horror sequels. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 66% The Pact (2012) McCarthy's film weaves aspects of the haunted house sub-genre with very raw, serial killer-esque horror. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 No Score Yet Asylum Blackout (2012) Asylum Blackout is an especially effective little horror-thriller that has plenty of psychological terror in store for its viewers. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
4/5 37% Knock Knock (2015) Roth modernises 1977's Death Game, giving the latest generation a home invasion film with plenty of sharp teeth and even one sassy, satirical tongue. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019
3/5 71% The Canal (2014) It'd be closer to greatness if only the entire final reel hadn't squandered all that horrifying potential by going with a conclusion that's far too typical. - Father Son Holy Gore EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2019