Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes
Critics list

Josh Goller

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

My film reviews have appeared online for over 5 years at Spectrum Culture, where I also review music and books and work as an editor. I've been reviewing film in various publications for about 10 years (local weekly print publications prior to Spectrum Culture). I also review music for Slant Magazine, and I am the founder and editor-in-chief of The Molotov Cocktail lit zine, which publishes flash fiction online and in an annual print anthology. I earned my MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from Pacific University in 2011, and I currently reside in Portland, Oregon.

Publications:

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
OBEX (2025) 96% 3.75/5 EDIT “Balancing a clear appreciation for nostalgia and fantasy with an imaginative critique of escapism takes a nimble hand, and Birney is more than up to the task.” – Spectrum Culture Jan 15, 2026 Full Review Dust Bunny (2025) 85% 2.75/5 EDIT “Its tonal inconsistency occasionally works as an exercise in contrasts, but can also grate, particularly when this dark fairytale spills over into cacophonous gunfights, or when its gorgeous set design is undercut by occasionally janky CGI.” – Spectrum Culture Dec 13, 2025 Full Review Scream and Scream Again (1970) 65% EDIT “While Scream and Scream Again may not be the high point of any of these three cinematic titans’ careers, it’s still a schlocky good time. ” – Spectrum Culture Dec 5, 2025 Full Review Left-Handed Girl (2025) 98% 3.75/5 EDIT “Left-Handed Girl crafts an intimate, iPhone-shot portrait of a family caught between desire, responsibility, and the weight of their secrets.” – Spectrum Culture Dec 5, 2025 Full Review Possession (1981) 86% EDIT “What begins as desperate, frenzied and often violent domestic conflict within a marriage in its last throes then unfurls into an intensely uncanny depiction of the psychological dissolution wrought by such interpersonal trauma.” – Spectrum Culture Oct 15, 2025 Full Review Rabbit Trap (2025) 43% 3/5 EDIT “An immersive sensory experience with just enough atmosphere to gloss over the significant gaps in its storytelling.” – Spectrum Culture Sep 16, 2025 Full Review Eden (2024) 58% 2.5/5 EDIT “Eden’s greatest sin is in painting its characters with broad strokes, resulting in conniving caricatures that engage in stilted arguments more than presenting lived-in personalities of survivalists believably stretched to their limits.” – Spectrum Culture Sep 15, 2025 Full Review Strange Harvest (2024) 92% 3/5 EDIT “By hewing so closely to the true crime format that has brought countless hours of lurid content to TV and streaming platforms for years, Strange Harvest’s well-worn horror tropes and familiar gory images occasionally find new ways to make the skin crawl.” – Spectrum Culture Aug 11, 2025 Full Review Daniela Forever (2024) 65% 2.25/5 EDIT “Vigalondo never taps into the full potential for whimsy or surrealism that his film’s lucid dream scenario offers, while keeping the film’s principal characters frustratingly one-dimensional.” – Spectrum Culture Jul 18, 2025 Full Review I Don't Understand You (2024) 52% 2.25/5 EDIT “There’s comedy to be mined from a fish-out-of-water story leading to bloody deaths through cultural and linguistic misunderstandings, but unfortunately, through a flawed script and mean-spirited tone, such nimble dark comedy isn’t quite grasped here.” – Spectrum Culture Jun 9, 2025 Full Review The Severed Sun (2024) 78% 2.5/5 EDIT “While the film is beautifully shot...with fog rolling over the river and sunlight streaking through a canopy of branches, the narrative is heavy on witch-hunt tropes and offers little originality, its characters never developed much beyond archetypes.” – Spectrum Culture May 19, 2025 Full Review Vulcanizadora (2024) 98% 4.25/5 EDIT “Potrykus’ first film since becoming a father presents a corresponding shift in the anxieties and compulsions that drive his work’s perpetually juvenile characters.” – Spectrum Culture May 7, 2025 Full Review The Ugly Stepsister (2025) 96% 3.25/5 EDIT “The contrast between fairy tale aesthetic and grim body horror is compelling, but the film seems to revel in the grotesquerie and gore more often than it presents incisive commentary.” – Spectrum Culture Apr 18, 2025 Full Review Curtains (1983) 60% EDIT “It’s never a good sign when a director takes their name off a project. ” – Spectrum Culture Apr 10, 2025 Full Review Freaky Tales (2024) 75% 3/5 EDIT “Heavy on pastiche, Freaky Tales is a wild ride that’s fun in spurts but is also often overwhelming and unfocused.” – Spectrum Culture Apr 7, 2025 Full Review Hood Witch (2023) 62% 2.75/5 EDIT “Despite potent sociocultural elements to work with, Hood Witch is unable to conjure a spellbinding story.” – Spectrum Culture Mar 26, 2025 Full Review Bloat (2025) 29% 2.25/5 EDIT “Some compelling buildup fails to lead to an effective climax and Bloat ultimately fizzles.” – Spectrum Culture Mar 11, 2025 Full Review Green and Gold (2025) 67% 2.25/5 EDIT “Despite some compelling performances, Green and Gold’s most costly fumble is forced by its cliche-ridden script.” – Spectrum Culture Feb 4, 2025 Full Review Sami Blood (2016) 97% EDIT “This Swedish film looks at racism facing a particular native group, but its themes of self-identity, societal pressure and sacrifice speak to the world at large. ” – Spectrum Culture Jan 7, 2025 Full Review Basket Case 2 (1990) 86% EDIT “This sequel clearly fits into the mold of exaggerated prosthetics-laden contemporaries like Beetlejuice and Dick Tracy...and brings plenty to the table as the kind of offbeat horror comedy that they just don’t make anymore.” – Spectrum Culture Dec 12, 2024 Full Review The Invisible Raptor (2024) 70% 2.5/5 EDIT “There was potential to chisel out a sub-90-minute absurd gem from The Invisible Raptor, making the crude slog that we get instead all the more frustrating.” – Spectrum Culture Dec 10, 2024 Full Review Never Look Away (2024) 93% 3.25/5 EDIT “Lawless gives us a fascinating portrait of a trailblazing woman whom many viewers may not know much about, even though the director is occasionally too content to simply frame Moth as inexplicably enigmatic and leave it at that.” – Spectrum Culture Nov 26, 2024 Full Review Little Bites (2024) 80% 3/5 EDIT “By the third act, the film may falter under the weight of its metaphors, but despite flaws in the script, its compelling performances and effective creature design are enough for a tasty little horror trifle.” – Spectrum Culture Oct 9, 2024 Full Review Frogman (2023) 82% EDIT “It’s riddled with flaws, especially early on, but as a cryptid-based found footage flick that's based on a real-life legend, Frogman is still worth a midnight movie watch.” – Spectrum Culture Sep 12, 2024 Full Review Hoard  (2023) 94% 3/5 EDIT “Despite its considerable flaws, Hoard succeeds in showing the strange and surreal avenues grief and tragedy can take a young person down, and the gleeful volatility inherent to finding someone who is on the same wavelength as one’s particular weirdness.” – Spectrum Culture Sep 10, 2024 Full Review
No Reviews Yet
Load More