“The Voices Of Our Mother” which is an acquisition by Shudder is an interesting play in that it is a character drama piece wrapped in a one-way path of exorcism by where a caretaker is the necessary bout of evil but not as a victim but as the purveyor. At the center of this parable is the mother in question who is being cared for her own mother, who then passes away. The origin of her daughter needs to be kept in check as the circumstances surrounding her and her husband and by extension her children create the crux of the story.

The idea of trauma versus the notion of being calmed is an interesting irony in the tendency of the thriller/comedy/horror film “Touch Me” from Shudder. The film itself is all over the place but wants to establish that uncomfortable edge on its approach to identity, jealousy, the aspect of co-dependency, trauma and the effects of circumstance.

"Chum" in many ways wants to be a play on "Jaws" with nods to "The Meg" on an independent budget. The background location set up is beautiful with Malta (increasingly pushing its film locations) built as the backdrop of a destination wedding between a lawyer and her soon-to-be activist husband. Things are not all right in paradise. But the night after the wedding, their friends rent a catamaran to lounge on the water, and hijinks ensue.

The concept of "Crazy Old Lady" takes the very real aspect of dementia and takes it to a horror structure degree. It never takes itself beyond its means and is anchored by a vivid performance of actress Carmen Maura as Alicia, the mother/grandmother in question. There is a slightly abstract nature to the proceedings which take place mostly inside a dreary and yet almost gothic house that Alicia lives in.

"The Draft!" [Shudder] which in many ways once its concept comes into play is quite inventive, if not a little on the nose. The film follows five college kids who comes out to what seems more like an abandoned villa in a jungle looking for haunted elements. The key here is that there becomes an awareness, which is maybe not quite given its due possibility with anticipation until the very last minute but it does speak to how the language, even in lower budget filmmaking, has evolved...with the right writing, even in a global setting.

The aspect of witchcraft in a modern setting is balanced in ideas of perspective and fun but many times not in the actual practical intent of witchcraft in the sense. "The Last Sacrifice" [Shudder] speaks to a murder of Charles Walton in 1945 under mysterious circumstances under consideration or rumors of witchcraft. He was a simple farmer apparently in a quite space of England but he was found pitchforked and the case per se was never solved. The documentary explores different parts of the story including the town's supposed cover up and an investigator's progression of the case some years later.

The tenets of South Korean horror are usually good in using a setting or object to create a mythology. "Ghost Train" uses that in a similar way. What does work well is the build of this one to almost tell a Twilight Zone nature of a couple different people who have been affected by the train. It is not so much about the train itself but the station it inhabits which has its own past.

"Night Patrol" is an interesting play upon the cop/gang genre by placing it within a deeper genre context but not avoiding what the film is really about. Directed by Jordan Prows, an AFI alum, the film delves into the gangland structure of Los Angeles with a similar vengeance of something like "Training Day" but a different track.

"Primate", helmed by "Welcome To Raccoon City" director Johannes Roberts is an interesting play because of its build but also the ethical and empathetic considerations it brings into play. Its focus works on college age girls returning to Hawaii where one of their fathers is doing research on primates. The initial texture because of its setting has a "Jurassic Park" dread to it but on a much smaller scale.