Tag Archives: Horror

2026

Savage Good Time! Raimi’s “Send Help” His Best Work in Years

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Let these lyrics wash over you as the latest examination of office toxicity plays out in a modern milieu: “They just use your mind and they never give you credit / It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it.” Sam Raimi’s buoyant horror/comedy Send Help (A-) functions as both a delirious deserted island escapade and also a twisted battle of the sexes, with pulp friction aplenty to scratch the itch, feed the beast and satisfy the gods of carnage attuned to his particular directorial sensibilities. Rachel McAdams brilliantly creates a singular character: an undervalued cubicle denizen with mad coping skills who finds herself on shipwrecked shores with a boss most boorish, played with a dashing grimace by the ever-more-fascinating Dylan O’Brien. This deeply entertaining two-hander traces the peculiar power dynamics of two incredibly committed actors, all the while steeped in the tropes of a survival story. This adventurous allegory offers continuous fresh takes and mixed genres, with plentiful splashes of giddiness and gore. Bill Pope’s crystalline cinematography and Danny Elfman’s understated score add zest to the demented dynamics. It’s watercolor meets watercooler as corporate culture get an epic seaside skewering. 

2026

“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” Brings Character to Dystopian Times

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What happens when a battle-tested boy, an isolated physician, a naked and sedated alpha zombie and a gang of miscreants encounter one another for the second part of an inventive film trilogy in a long-running series? It’s bloody interesting, when that film installment is Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (B). Ralph Fiennes’ kindly physician character takes center stage, and his “bone temple” memorial to lost lives in an uncertain future becomes a veritable amphitheater for this movie’s showdown with some unlikely villains. This film amps up the gore, brutality and existential dread about true evil in the world, and Fiennes anchors the film with grace notes of humanity mixed with a hint of the unhinged. As the teen who came of age in the previous installment, Alfie Williams is again wonderfully emotive but a little sidelined in a majority of the story. Jack O’Connell is dynamite as a menacing leader of a band of renegades including an effective Erin Kellyman. Even Chi Lewis-Parry brings humanity to his hulking infected character. This latest trilogy upends many of the tropes of the undead genre, with conversation and contemplation featured more often than straightforward action. It’s still very engrossing, even if the myth-making in Danny Boyle’s previous movie was more revelatory than the religious angles of DaCosta’s. This is a delightful and delicate mash-up of genres and one of the most offbeat Hollywood tentpole films to be released in some time. Again, it’s exciting and insightful.

2025

“Shelby Oaks” Squanders Promising Found Footage Horror Premise

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Film review YouTube personality turned writer/director/producer Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks (C) gets points for chutzpah; it’s one thing to critique others’ movies and another thing altogether to conceive of and mobilize for one’s own full debut motion picture production. The film does a good job setting up the premise of a missing paranormal/occult documentary crew last seen alive in a rural region known mainly for an abandoned amusement park and jail. Seemingly the scene is set and the mixed media atmosphere established for a deep dive into what happened. Camille Sullivan plays the protagonist, older sister of the missing blond at the center of the mystery; neither she nor other incidental characters (the venerable Keith David among them) have the script or the presence to pull off anything too out of the ordinary from the proceedings. Both the derivative procedural and supernatural elements don’t break any new ground, and the ending is rushed. It shows promise more than mastery in terms of sustained suspense, What could have been radical or revolutionary is mostly merely routine. 

2025, Rent It Tonight

Hey Ya, Frankonia/Outcast: “Frankenstein” Format Presents Identity Issues

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Frankenstein Film Netflix

One of culture’s most enduring pop duos occupies an often fascinating double bill in Guillermo del Toro’s idiosyncratic retelling of classic gothic horror fantasy, marked by exploration of self-loathing and shared identity. The august director’s expansive Netflix adaptation of Frankenstein (B), is divided in half, focused at first on narcissistic Dr. Victor Frankenstein, played by Oscar Isaac, displaying epic rage, and then following the sapient creature’s perspective, embodied by Jacob Elordi, often more pensive and philosophical as he grapples with the dysphoria and isolation imbued in his cobbled together reanimated body. The presentation in two chapters, each from a different man’s POV, is almost too on the nose about the identity of the real monster. Call it ego then emo. The first half about ambition and scientific ethics is very much alive, with a very committed Isaac energized by experimentation, with grand production design and some grisly effects, plus some spry scene work opposite Christoph Waltz, a hoot as a curious benefactor. Horror staple Mia Goth is intriguing in her arrival but underused in this section, sidelined as the father figure tale takes full center stage. Chapter two largely tackles societal rejection through Elordi at the center and not fitting in very well; but this part of the tale is a letdown, downplaying action for more interior case study that just doesn’t pulse the same way as the preceding passages. The creature is a sympathetic character, born this way and yearning for answers, but the aesthetics and plot don’t do him any favors in emoting and connecting through the pancaked prosthetics to the audience. The towering Elordi looks the part, for sure, but his character just doesn’t land with intended gravitas. The directorial choice of how all this is framed drains life out of the film rather than amplify the intrigue. The film’s crafts are roundly impressive, ranging from Kate Hawley’s distinctive costumes to Alexandre Desplat’s lyrical score. There’s lots of good creative work here; it’s just put together in ways that don’t always elevate the familiar into the fantastic. For the two-chapter Netflix mentality, it’s one part binge, one part cringe and most parts a thing of beauty.

2025, Rent It Tonight

Zach Cregger Explores Another House of Whacks in Masterful “Weapons”

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As horror movie writer/director, Zach Cregger is best known for depicting the underbelly of a double-booked vacation rental home, but his widening scope to the milieu of eerie suburbia makes for a next fascinating filmmaking frontier. There goes the neighborhood in the suspense thriller Weapons (A) as the multi-hyphenate auteur (he’s also a very good composer here) unveils the intriguing premise that all but one elementary school classmates exit their homes via the front door in the middle of the night, never to be seen again, and a grieving community tries to piece together what the hell happened. This mystery/horror hybrid tells its vanishing act through violent vignettes tracing the travails of intersecting characters including Julia Garner as the kids’ feisty teacher, Josh Brolin as a hostile father of the disappeared and Alden Ehrenreich as a hapless policeman. Each episode folds gracefully into the next, giving viewers more clues and insights with each omniscient perspective. It’s like a secret being passed around. Along with the dynamite performances by the aforementioned trio, child actor Cary Christopher and Amy Madigan as “Aunt Gladys” also get to shine in intriguing and pivotal roles. There are genuine scares, for sure, interlaced with a few grisly acts; but for the most part, suspense and invention loom large, captured in the twisty dreamscapes of Larkin Seiple’s stunning cinematography. This is one of those stories evoking heartbreak one moment and hilarity the next, a veritable progressive block party to be discovered and savored together in movie theatres. That sublime sound of satisfaction is Cregger making house calls.

2025

Real-Life Couple Fuse “Together” with Eyes Wide Stuck in Comedic Body Horror Film

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Talk about a two-hander! And every other limb, for that matter! Together (B), the body horror comedy movie directed by Michael Shanks and subsequently buzzed about at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, centers on real-life couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a fictional pair finding themselves scientifically and supernaturally fusing into one being. She’s a plucky teacher, and he’s a hapless guitarist, and moving from city life to countryside seclusion proves a prescient change of scenery for taking their relationship to the next level. In a form of magnetic attraction even Plato couldn’t have contemplated, the film depicts the sometimes scary and often funny misadventures when two become one. The movie’s production values are consistently high, even when the makeup effects and particular plot devices become the most far-fetched. The central actors are effective and endearing, and they represent a variety of dimensions about the stages of co-dependency in relationships. A few final act missteps can’t take away from the effectiveness of the generally wise and witty thesis, with an especially awkward post-coital sequence and refreshing takes on how couples drift from intimacy and intensity to sometimes blatant disregard. It’s not graphic or terrifying enough to scare off casual viewers but has enough twisty content to simultaneously appeal to hardcore horror fans. Strangely, it’s an appealing date movie with lots of personality for those willing to examine just how close they’re getting. 

2025, Rent It Tonight

“28 Years Later” Brilliantly Bites Back

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Danny Boyle reclaims the director’s chair for the third entry of the dystopian future saga he originated with writer Alex Garland in which brave British citizens fend off hoards of “rage virus” infected humans (don’t call ‘em zombies!). Although still made with urgent, kinetic energy and exciting chases with graphic kills, 28 Years Later (B+) pulls a page out of A Quiet Place: Day One territory to culminate in a more internal and emotionally contemplative conclusion than possibly expected. This sequel centers on a very good child actor, Alfie Williams as Spike, whose stalwart loyalty to his parents played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jodie Comer puts him in some precarious crosshairs. Boyle sets the action up on a British island with folksy townspeople who have successfully protected themselves from the encroaching undead. Several missions to a mainland connected by a narrow isthmus uncovered by the tide in brief spells reveal mysteries and open up Spike’s eyes to the ways of the world as he and his family face various forms of mortality. The movie is an enjoyably character-driven coming of age story with a dad intent on showing his son the power of the hunt and a mom grappling with a different set of demons. Both actors command attention and interact brilliantly with the young protagonist. Boyle blazes a sensational landscape for this journey and finds balm in the heart of darkness courtesy of a peculiar and too brief performance by Ralph Fiennes.   Boyle certainly elevates the tropes of the genre in this outing, even as tone and energy mutate from time to time. His return to form in this series is welcome.

My FilmThirst video review is on TikTok.

2025

“Final Destination Bloodlines” Cleverly Traces Body Count Brackets

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Wonders never cease when one outruns becoming deceased: Grim gamification, the stuff of snuff and the brackets of kicking the bucket collide in Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein’s supernatural horror film Final Destination Bloodlines (B-). The jaw-dropping extended introductory sequence, set atop a high-rise restaurant tower in the ‘60s where uneasy group revelry on a glass dance floor sets the stage for suspense, is so stunningly spectacular that the rest of the movie suffers in comparison. The Rube Goldberg style machinations of this opening salvo present the ultimate premonition in a film series known for fractious fortune telling. The movie soon settles into something more routine; but even in its episodic format, it’s a hoot of a horror. The movie’s modern-day Final Girl, winningly portrayed by Kaitlyn Santa Juana, is a student suffering violent recurring nightmares, tracking down the one person capable of breaking the cycle of death and saving her family from the grisly demise that inevitably awaits them all. Most of the ensemble is not especially memorable as they face the existential watch list predicting their own expirations; the high concept eclipses the distinction or power of any individual performances. The creepy sound effects, on-the-nose needle drops and cartoonishly gruesome kills arrive like crafty and sometimes darkly comedic clockwork. The film slyly showcases a sordid and sometimes surprising scorecard. It isn’t particularly scary but is tense when it counts. 

2025, Rent It Tonight

Supernatural “Sinners” Showcases Commanding Coogler 

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The auteur director behind Fruitvale Station deliriously detours from his Wakanda and Creed franchise universes for an original passion project: Sinners (A) is Ryan Coogler unleashed, a polished and imaginative production of a writer/director at the peak of his powers. There’s an extended sequence – and you’ll know what it is when you encounter it – of such accelerating atmosphere and transcendent beauty and surprise, you might feel like your mind just played tricks on you. Think “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Coogler’s slow-burn place making of the American South in the 1930s lends both specificity and spellbinding other-worldliness to his mystery box of a genre-hopper. The filmmaker’s man-muse Michael B. Jordan is terrific in the dual role as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, former soldiers and Chicago gangland fixtures with something to prove as they return to their rural hometown origins to ostensibly stand up a juke joint and mentor their musically gifted cousin, a sharecropper and preacher’s son played by R&B prodigy Miles Caton, one of the film’s exquisite sonic discoveries. Incidentally Jordan’s two characters are two sides of an unlucky penny and splendidly rendered, high on the actor’s double star wattage. Some other ensemble members are blissfully reborn in their roles, namely Hailee Steinfeld and Wunmi Mosaku as feisty connectors between cultural worlds. Delroy Lindo is a welcome veteran portraying the town drunk trope with Shakespearean panache, and Jack O’Connor gives lulling lift to a character conjuring cinematic spirits in what feels like nothing short of a battle of the bands in its undercurrent. Coogler applies his eye for epic storytelling in a film marked by characters with preternatural abilities colliding with supernatural scope. Ludwig Göransson’s blues and bluegrass fusion music is intoxicating, as is the sound design underscoring each dramatic line of sinister and sometimes sexy dialogue. The film’s characters are wily magnets for fascinations of the flesh, with world building in pursuit of pulpy ambitions. Autumn Durand Arkapaw’s superb cinematography, shot on 65mm film using a combination of IMAX 15-perf 70mm and Ultra Panavision 70mm cameras, with alternating aspect ratios, provides the perfectly shape-shifting proscenium for a night out like no other. Suffice it to say this film is a no holds barred powder-keg of cinematic excellence with layers of sly subtext fit for decoding and an entertaining surface to simply be relished. Experience this communal discovery in as colossal a theatre as you can access. 

TikTok review: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjj7NTpS/

2025, Rent It Tonight

A “Companion” for the Curious

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A genre defying film that’s part romance, part satire, part horror, part fantasy, part whodunit and parts unknown, Drew Hancock’s Companion (B+) confronts the dynamics of modern relationships in fierce and twisty ways. Set in a lavish weekend getaway mountain home, the gathered ensemble is game for the occasion: Sophie Thatcher as a troubled companion to everyman Jack Quaid; Lukas Gage and Harvey Guillen as blissful gay partners; and Megan Suri as unconventional gangster moll to a mysterious and married Rupert Friend. Some secrets and blood are spilled in a story that will keep people guessing. The narrative gleefully continues to reframe itself as more layers are revealed. Viewers also discover a technology component capable of shifting the characters’ destinies. Hancock has a good deal of creativity up his sleeve as gender and power dynamics unfurl in his wily wilderness. Thatcher is a natural as a character getting a strange feeling about her vacation mates, and Quaid gives off an effortless affable quality. The film is not so terribly bloody or scary as to keep away the casually curious. It does, however, lose a little steam toward the end. Overall this unassuming and brisk movie will reward those seeking a mainstream film with some thematic travels down some surprising paths.

Here’s some spoiler-free fan art I made with the Leonardo.AI app after contemplating the movie a while:

2024

2024’s “Nosferatu” is Pretty as a Connect-the-Dots Dracula Picture

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Oh, another bite at the Dracula story! Nosferatu (B-), the remake of the 1922 German classic directed in 2024 by Robert Eggers, chronicles the obsessive 1838 story between the Transylvanian thirst trap (Bill Skarsgard) and a haunted damsel (Lily-Rose Depp) in a picturesque pageant of dread and horror across Europe. There’s lots of slow-burn mood setting and stunning Jarin Blaschke cinematography in this crafts cavalcade. Baroque production design, exquisite costuming and creative makeup effects aside, though, there’s very little added to this tale as old as time. Eggers, so incredibly innovative in most of his works, has a sixth sense for this sort of story but doesn’t fully bring his fully unhinged and twisted sensibility to this affair. What he delivers is a perfectly preserved revival and rendition but not a new definitive one. The camera loves Depp, and there are a few fun scares. It’s just a little low stakes.

2024

“Heretic” a Clever Cat and Mouse Game

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Hugh Grant plays against type as a creepy arbiter of a horrific escape room where he mansplains to two female Mormon missionaries the limits of faith in Bryan Woods and Scott Beck’s Heretic (B-). It’s a strange little movie, ostensibly in the horror genre but often so talky and obtuse that it might as well be a three-hander play. Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher are superb and highly believable as their characters negotiate with the man who may be their captor. They make realistic moves and are whip smart against a crafty antagonist. As “Mr. Reed,” Grant leverages his romcom charm to diabolical effect; his character may be a bit more cultured than boogeymen in Halloween or hockey masks, but he’s just as intense. The film is an exploration of the lore and belief systems of religion, powered by a smart premise and solid acting, and makes for an intriguing watch. But those expecting wall-to-wall thrills will likely find themselves underwhelmed.