For It Is Man's Number

Wednesday, 28 October 2026

Prime Time: Highway To Hell (1991)

If you're going to watch one horror comedy that features a moment in which Gilbert Gottfried portrays Hitler then Highway To Hell is the film for you.

Charlie Sykes (Chad Lowe) and Rachel Clark (Kristy Swanson) are two young lovers driving to Las Vegas, where they are going to get married. That should be a lovely road trip for them, but it's interrupted when they end up in the sights of a dangerous and unrelenting Hell Cop AKA Sgt. Bedlam (C. J. Graham). The cop snatches Rachel away, leaving Charlie to put his pedal to the metal and drive through a portal to hell, where he encounters various characters and hopes to save his kidnapped bride-to-be.

Directed by Ate de Jong, who amused people with the anarchic madness of Drop Dead Fred just one year before, this is a natural next step, considering it remains quite wild and whacky, but just replaces Rik Mayall with a number of tricky and tortured denizens of the underworld. That ensures that things aren't quite as entertaining, but it also allows the director, and writer Brian Helgeland, to allow time and space for much more than just one star performance.

Lowe is perfectly fine in the main role, playing someone who seems sweet and good enough, and Swanson makes for a very believable "prize" to be snatched away by the main baddie. Graham may not be asked to add anything to his character, but he does well to continually ooze menace and impatience as he aims to keep the central couple separated. Patrick Bergin is good in the role of Beezle, someone who could be aiming to help or hinder our hero (the clue is very much in the name though), young Jarrett Lennon is a kid named Adam who hopes to also get home one day, and the aforementioned Gottfried steals his scene, despite competition from the likes of the Stiller family (Amy, Jerry, and Ben) and Lita Ford in a hugely entertaining sequence that plays out at about a third of the way into the film.

While it cannot cover up the relatively low budget, nor can it really bring things together in a way that feels entirely cohesive and properly satisfying in a narrative sense, Highway To Hell aims to keep you entertained and amused throughout, and it largely succeeds.

Some people like this a lot more than I do, and I can understand the appeal of this if it was something first discovered on the shelves of your local movie rental emporium, but I cannot imagine many genre films taking an active dislike to it. It's oddly cute in how it lets everything play out, a horror-tinged fantasy that you just know wants people to be rooting for the plucky underdog to save the woman he loves and ultimately save the day. Helgeland may have a filmography that now largely overshadows this one, but I think it's a little gem worth remembering and revisiting occasionally.

7/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing. All links are HERE.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Tuesday, 27 October 2026

Clayface (2026)

Another day, another comic book property. This one tries to do things a bit differently though, and is all the better for it. It's much more of a body horror, and those with no previous knowledge of the character should be happy enough to watch it for the thrills and special effects. It just happens to be set in Gotham City.

Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, a handsome young actor who appears to have the world at his feet. Things all go wrong when he decides to flirt and dance, and more, with Mia (Joana Ribeiro). Mia is actually the girlfriend of Markos Szabo (David Dencik), a major criminal who doesn't take well to the situation. Hagen is disfigured, the preceding legal actions don't go his way, and he ends up going broke, with no route back to his previous life. Until he encounters the work of Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie). Corr is working on a revolutionary new way to repair and reshape flesh, which is exactly what Hagen needs. It's all untested on humans though, and it turns out that some of the side-effects are amplified when a desperate Hagen overdoses on the formula. He finds that he can shape his body in a number of fantastic ways. More importantly, he can also transform himself to look exactly like someone else. Before you can say "it's been a while since I watched Darkman", Hagen starts to become Clayface, and stays focused on deadly revenge.

With a screenplay credited to Mike "current critical darling of the horror genre" Flanagan and Hossein Amini, and direction from James Watkins (who has been helming a wide variety of successful genre movies for almost two decades now), Clayface is, first and foremost, a fun mix of body horror and standard revenge thriller. The 108-minute runtime zips by quickly enough, and the screenplay keeps viewers informed of every development in a way that allows for each subsequent set-pieces throughout the movie to become better and bolder. Watkins directs with an emphasis on energy and fun, but also manages to effectively incorporate the darkness and pain of the central character in a way that somehow doesn't unbalance everything.

While not as consistent as other elements of the film, the acting is generally good from all of the main players. Harries does an excellent job in the main role, even when his performance is being complemented/covered up by some great practical effects and computer work. Ackie is the other highlight, although I expect nothing less than brilliance from her by this point. Dencik is suitably mean and brutal, Ribeiro has moments of being a typically tempting femme fatale, and there are entertainingly obvious performances from the likes of Joshua James, Michael Shaeffer, Jake Curran, and Eddie Marsan. The weakest performance comes from Max Minghella, playing a cop, and also the partner of Ackie's character, but that comes as no surprise, considering the fact that Minghella seems to have done nothing in years to dissuade me of the notion that his entire acting career stems from little more than his surname.

Mind you, it's hard to judge every cast member here when they have to deliver some of the most on the nose dialogue I've heard in a long time. Almost every other line refers to someone's look, face, or transformation, and it sometimes feels as if the writers had a book titled "The Dummies Guide To Writing Movies Where You Run Metaphors Parallel To Actual Unfolding Events". It becomes tiresome way before the halfway point, and isn't helped by the fact that a lot of the rest of the movie is based around a number of reveals that are absolutely predictable to anyone who has watched even a handful of other revenge movies.

Thankfully, so many other things help to distract viewers. There's decent cinematography from Rob Hardy, another impressive score from Volker Bertelmann, and editing from Jon Harris that is as accomplished as it is essential to a number of the best moments in the film. The final extended set-piece, in a club populated by a number of henchmen and the big boss man, is a real treat for the senses, and I only hope that there's some way to recapture that feeling when we get the inevitable sequel. I'll feel reassured if Watkins returns to continue whatever story interests him most.

8/10

Monday, 26 October 2026

Mubi Monday: Faust (1926)

It's time. 100 years have passed, and I decided against selling my soul in exchange for avoiding having to write this review. Everyone knows the idea of Faust, even if they don't realise it. Faustian pacts have become more and more commonplace, in both fiction and reality (apparently), and we can only hope that some who have sold their souls for power, money, and much more, are coming to the time when their payment is due.

Directed by F. W. Murnau (delivering audiences an achievement that would arguably be surpassed by Fritz Lang one year later, helming the incredible Metropolis), Faust is an impressive production that shows viewers the classic tale of the titular character (Gösta Ekman) being offered a deal by Mephisto (Emil Jannings) that could lead to him getting everything he wants, which includes the lovely Gretchen (Camilla Horn). It could also lead to him having much more to lose though.

Another film that would make a nice introductory work for those wary of diving into silent cinema, Faust somehow manages to keep everything simple enough, yet explores the central idea in a way that nicely fills out the 107-minute runtime. The intertitles, written first by Hans Kyser and then rewritten by Gerhart Hauptmann, set the tone and clearly underline the main characters about to play their parts in this dark fable.

Ekman is very good in the main role, although many of the scenes show how his choice reverberates through the lives of those around him, and Horn is a believably sweet and lovely Gretchen. Jannings steals the show though, of course, as the dastardly Mephisto. He's the villain of the piece, but also just the one character very much aware of the fallibility of humans. Werner Fuetterer has to stay resolute and optimistic as the archangel banking on humans actually being good and worthy of their existence, a job he does very well, and Frida Richard, Yvette Guilbert, and William Dieterle play relatives of Gretchen, and all throw various spanners in the works.

I could recommend other interpretations of this tale, from the traditional to the modernised and redressed, but I certainly believe that everyone should make time for this version, at least once. It's an enduring classic, despite the technological progress made throughout the last century that helps to make it seem much more crude and stilted, and you could do a lot worse than fill up a dark winter evening with the likes of this, Nosferatu, and Haxan.

8/10

Sunday, 25 October 2026

Netflix And Chill: #Alive (2020)

A 2020 zombie movie that spends most of the runtime alongside one young man stuck inside his own apartment, #Alive could be considered THE 2020 zombie movie, whether by accident or by design. It's certainly a more interesting viewing experience when you think back on that year, especially how so many people found company and ways to create some kind of community with strangers and/or friends online.

Yoo Ah-in plays our main character, someone who likes to spend most of his time gaming and having fun with his friends on the internet. That fun is interrupted when it becomes impossible to ignore a deadly zombie epidemic. Our hero is soon trapped and isolated, only able to watch the nightmare unfolding around him without daring to take any risks that would involve leaving his home. He's soon considering a very final solution to his predicament when a young woman (Park Shin-hye) in a building opposite manages to signal to him. Maybe they can work together to survive the situation.

Written and directed by Cho Il-Yung, based on a screenplay by Matt Naylor (filmed as Alone, also released in 2020), #Alive is certainly something that should be on your radar if you're interested in the many impressive horror movies that have been coming out of South Korea for some time now. It has a couple of decent set-pieces, even if they're relatively small in scale, and the main characters are believable and likeable.

What it doesn't have, unfortunately, is quite enough to distract from the limited location and what seems to be a relatively small budget. Both Ah-in and Shin-hye work well together, but the film, for obvious reasons, keeps them apart for a lot of the runtime. There are also too few encounters with the very dangerous zombie masses. And one sequence showing our main character solving a big problem doesn't actually feel as if it would solve his big problem, considering how the whole area is impacted by the outbreak.

I guess timing is everything, although I'm not sure whether I would have liked this more or less if I'd watched it back when I felt as trapped and isolated as the main character. Those strange times throughout 2020 and 2021 certainly ensure that this feels a bit more resonant though, and the title being a hashtag is just one more way in which it feels like a survival horror for those who spent some time during the COVID pandemic using hashtags to sync up and "meet up" with online friends.

6/10

Saturday, 24 October 2026

Shudder Saturday: Jitters (2026)

As much as I complain about it and act confused, I know why many British movies with limited budgets do their best to mix in a number of accents and keep shooting scenes in a way that make so many locations seem equally anonymous. It's a marketing tactic. A way to sell your product as more than just a "British low-budget horror". Sadly, it almost always gets my hackles up. It makes me feel as if a film has been made more by people who want to increase their sales opportunities than people who have faith in their material. Don't get me wrong, I know that a lot of people want to increase their sales, even if it's just by a small enough margin to let them continue creating more of the art that they want to focus on, but I don't need that to be the main thing overshadowing every other element of a movie.

Much like every other horror movie looking to cash in on current tech fears, Jitters is about deadly AI. Sort of. People are dying, and it all seems to be linked to a game featuring a character called Jitters (Daniel Jordan). It's up to Detective Collymore (Fabrizio Santino) to get to the bottom of things, but he's also busy trying to navigate a post-divorce life with his young daughter (Izzy, played by Chloe Hews).

If you scour the internet looking for general opinions on Jitters then, thanks to real-life AI, you will find a number of word salad pieces that praise various elements and rate the film as a decent techno-horror. Ironically, that's one of the major downsides of AI right now. It has made it harder to find real words written by real people about real things, whether those words are opinions or facts. So for those who manage to get around the algorithm and find their way here, let me be very blunt . . . Jitters is crap.

Only the second feature directed by Marc Zammit, but already a step down from his debut (Witch, featuring a number of the same creative people involved), this feels lazy, careless, and painfully unscary. There's no tension, partly because of the poor plotting and partly because of the underwritten characters giving you nobody worth rooting for. And as for some of the stranger decisions . . . it's not as if every decision needs to be fully explained, but some of them seem to have no good reason for being here, except to potentially benefit those aforementioned sales opportunities.

The cast is a very mixed bag. I'll be nice enough to avoid commenting too much on Santino's lead performance, and I'll be even nicer by remembering to mention that Hews isn't bad as his young daughter. Jordan tries to do well as the dastardly Jitters, but he isn't given a proper direction for his performance. He should be scary or fun, or an unnerving mix of the two, but he's just someone who seems to like the sound of his own voice as he spouts nonsense about the game and the players. Linda-Jean Barry is much better than the film deserves in her role as the exposition-delivering Dr. Harriet Brooks, and everyone else here feels as if they might just be happy enough adding another title to their C.V. (which can then be padded out with AI, and lost in a shuffle of other AI-embellished filmographies)

Jitters wants to join many other films and voices telling you that AI is very scary and dangerous. It undoubtedly is, but mostly because it helps to exponentially increase two of the worst habits that so many opportunists are guilty of: thoughtlessness and laziness.

2/10

Friday, 23 October 2026

Frailty (2001)

Despite the fact that it has a very good reputation in the horror film fan community, Frailty remains a film that I believe rarely gets as much love as it deserves. The first of only two feature films directed by Bill Paxton, who also helps himself by casting himself in a pivotal role, Frailty is a beautiful balance of character study and straightforward supernatural chills. It's also an interesting look at how anyone would struggle to deal with a loved one they view as having some kind of mental health breakdown.

Matthew McConaughey plays a man who walks into see FBI Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) and claims to be able to lead him to the location of an active serial killer currently riding high in the "most wanted" charts. Doyle disbelieves him at first, of course, but soon finds out a few details that have him intrigued. There's a long story to be told, one involving two young brothers brought up by a father who has been tasked by an angel to identify and destroy demons, but everything should be revealed by the time our two main characters arrive at their final destination, a rose garden where the killer may be resting.

The only feature written by Brent Hanley, this is a very satisfying tale that allows viewers to stay one step behind various characters without ever feeling as if they're being deliberately manipulated or mishandled. The third act may be where things all come to a satisfying conclusion, but the first two acts allow for plenty of moments to think about how you yourself would react if put in the situation that the two young boys find themselves. The 100-minute runtime is just right, allowing every brush stroke needed for the final artwork without things feeling slow or drawn out.

McConaughey is excellent, giving the kind of performance that made many horror fans wonder why it took so long to get to the proper McConaissance (as I believe it was termed). Boothe has to spend a lot of the movie being the stand in for viewers, he's the sounding board and the cynical questioner, a job he does very well throughout. It's not a major role, in many ways, but he's also just as important as anyone else onscreen. Paxton gives one of his best performances, which is really saying something when you think about all of his great work, and both Matt O'Leary and Jeremy Sumpter do very well to hold their own in scenes with him, both of them believable as young boys with very different views on their situation, one believing in their father and one absolutely appalled by what is going on. Luke Askew and Derek Cheetwood portray other members of law enforcement, Missy Crider and Cynthia Ettinger do fantastic with very small amounts of screentime, and Edmond Scott Ratliff is glimpsed very briefly as an angel who may or may not be real.

Frailty isn't perfect, but it comes pretty close. It weaves such a powerful spell that anyone who has watched it once will want to make time for at least one repeat viewing. A lot of the work is done by Hanley's screenplay and Paxton's direction, but it would be doing a huge disservice to the cast members to dismiss their contributions. It's ironically appropriate that Frailty is a delicate and fragile piece of work, but it's undeniable that everyone involved did their bit to ensure that it would stay intact and hold up to scrutiny when handed over to the viewing public. Make time to rewatch it soon if you've not seen it for many years. Or clear your schedule if you've yet to see it for the very first time.

9/10

Thursday, 22 October 2026

The Hazing (2004)

What do you get when a writer-director wants to make some fun that blends clear love of The Evil Dead with the teen angst and horniness to be found in the Night Of The Demons movies? Considering you probably read the title of this review before diving into this first paragraph then I suspect you know the answer. You get The Hazing, an entertaining horror comedy that makes some good use of genre stars alongside some spirited performances from other cast members.

Having made his name back at the start of the 1990s with his meta horror comedy There's Nothing Out There, writer-director Rolfe Kanefsky then spent a lot of time delivering numerous erotic features to people who I suspect happily collected them for their special hidden DVD box of softcore treats. I haven't actually seen any of his erotica, but considering they're given labels such as "The Sex Files" or something with Emmanuelle in the title . . . I doubt they're on par with most of the strong sexual content you can find at the touch of a button nowadays. But I digress. It's a shame that Kanefsky wasn't able to just keep making fun horror movies in the vein of this, and others I have seen from him. He's very genre-literate, and he knows how to make the most of well-known horror movie tropes.

There's an evil book at the heart of this, and it belongs to the nefarious Professor Kapps (Brad Dourif). While he's in a comatose state, however, a group of disposable young things enter his home and search for the book. It will help them pass an initiation ritual. Professor Kapps can sense them though, and he has a number of tricks up his sleeve to deal with the interlopers.

As much as I like Kanefsky, and as much as I believe he does a very good job of mixing his influences in a way that feels less tiresome and lazy than some others I could mention, he really helps himself here with the central cast. Apart from Dourif using a very dubious English accent, which somehow stops him from being able to pronounce the word "passage" like a normal human being, he's a very welcome face. I'd say the same about Tiffany Shepis, a "scream queen" who I've been a big fan of for the past few decades. Parry Shen is another good addition, and gets another slasher role that allows him to have a lot of fun while in the midst of some entertaining gags and gore, and Nectar Rose ends up making a strong impression, not just because of her involvement in a scene that makes use of a very elongated tongue while she obliviously receives some incredible cunnilingus. The other cast members also deserve some praise, but I'll specifically highlight the very entertaining cameo from Brooke Burke in the opening scenes of the film.

It's not the best at anything it's trying to do, be it the horror or the comedy, but The Hazing works hard to keep horror fans entertained for every part of the 87-minute runtime. Some may be turned off by early scenes, including a dire Reservoir Dogs "homage" that doesn't really work, but if you stick with it then I think you'll be suitably rewarded. It knows exactly what it wants to be, and it all improves once the main premise and characters are established, leaving plenty of time and space for the madness, practical effects, and demonic shenanigans to take centre stage.

7/10

Wednesday, 21 October 2026

Prime Time: Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)

There may be a different writer for this next (last?) instalment in the Tremors movie series, but I was very worried that everything would be spoiled by director Don Michael Paul, who helmed a number of the previous outings, including the dire Tremors: A Cold Day In Hell. Thankfully, this is a big step up from the last movie.

Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) is once again called upon to save the day when some people find themselves with a big Graboid problem. This time around the creatures are ruining a pleasant tropical island environment, having been deliberately placed there by Bill (Richard Brake), a man who leads people on various hunting parties. Burt has a bit of resentment towards his ex, Jasmine (Caroline Langrishe), but he knows that he needs to stick around as he's the one with the experience to eradicate the pesky Graboids.

Written by director Paul and Brian Brightly, Tremors: Shrieker Island somehow manages to feel comfortable and familiar without also feeling stale. It's helped by not having Jamie Kennedy back (who wasn't a great fit in the previous movie when he was allowed to do his standard Jamie Kennedy schtick), and also benefits from putting Jon Heder in a supporting role. The various creature effects work well, the arrogant human villain of the piece is a big improvement than the blank "agency staff" of the previous film, and there's just a better mix of everything, from the pacing to the interactions between all of the main characters.

Gross IS Burt Gummer, and has been a perfect fit for that role since the very first movie. If you didn't like his performance in that film then you're not going to like him here. But if that's the case, I'd have to ask . . . what the hell is wrong with you? Anyway, Langrishe and Heder do well alongside him, often tempering his deliberately aggressive tactics with questions or different perspectives. Brake is a charismatic bad guy, acting polite and respectful of Burt and co. until they get in his way one too many times. I wish he'd been in the series before now, and would love a prequel detailing some other fateful encounters between Burt and Bill. Jackie Cruz is an enjoyable addition as someone keen to stay alive, and keen to listen to the advice of Burt, and Cassie Clare is entertaining as a skilled shooter who soon sees that sticking with Bill may leave her on the wrong side when battle lines are drawn. Others also do good work, but they're really there to be Graboid fodder (in line with so many others who have had their moment in the Tremors movie universe).

Not only does this feel like a proper movie, one that has been given some care and consideration to make up for the careless messiness of the last film, but it also feels like a proper end to the whole series. It could carry on, in so many different ways, but I like to think that this stamps a seal on the scroll that has been used to hold the collected adventures of Burt Gummer. Any future Graboid tales should be kept Gummer-free as someone else tries to find a way to recapture lightning in a bottle. Or, if you prefer, get as close as they can to cinematic Perfection.

7/10

Tuesday, 20 October 2026

Pledge Night (1989)

The feature debut of director Paul Ziller, although you can have a lot of fun working through the wide variety of creature features and TV movies that he's helmed since this one, Pledge Night is one of those odd slasher movies that came along far too late to be considered in the company of many of the better examples of the sub-genre, but also doesn't commit to the more bonkers idea at the heart of the screenplay, written by Joyce Snyder (who apparently wrote this and four much more adult movies).

It's that time of year again. New students are put through a variety of humiliating hazing rituals as they desperately hope to become members of a college fraternity. Crimes will be faked, cherries will be picked up by clenched butt-cheeks (and the loser eats the cherries), and the spirit of a student who was accidentally killed will start to cause some chaos and kill off those around them. Standard stuff.

Although there's a clear attempt here to make something that mixes plenty of comedy in with the horror, Pledge Night doesn't work. None of the cast are good enough with the material, which isn't the best to begin with, and Ziller can do little more than ensure the camera points in the right direction, generally. None of the kills impress, things go from zero to one hundred without a more satisfying and steady build up, and even the final sequence fails to deliver any great reveals or corpse tableaux.

Are there any highlights? The performance from Will Kempe as the killer is a fun one, and could have been something very memorable in a much better movie. I also liked Shannon McMahon in the role of Wendy, but that's more because of simply liking McMahon than liking anything that was done with her character.

It's always good to be wary of any slasher movies that were released either late in the 1980s or close to the start of the 1990s. Not many of them were strong enough to make up for the fact that they were being made long after the sub-genre had fallen slightly out of fashion (even if a resurgence was as inevitable as the killer making one last grab for the final girl before being dealt a killer blow), but Pledge Night at least tries to play around in a well-used sandbox without being dismissive or disdainful. I can't deny that some of the silliness amused me, but not nearly enough to make up for the many sections that unfolded without memorable characters, memorable kills, or more layered comedy.

It's not down in the muck with the worst of the slashers, but it also doesn't do enough to sit comfortably in the middle ground. Lesser fare, and not recommended to anyone except those (like myself) who feel they have already made their way through every single one of the many better slasher flicks from this decade.

4/10

Monday, 19 October 2026

Mubi Monday: Rapture (1979)

Written and directed by Iván Zulueta, the main thing to bear in mind when watch Rapture (AKA Arrebato) is that the creator spent a long time in the grip of heroin addiction. If you didn't know that when the film started then you should have a suspicion when the film ends.

Essentially all about a film-maker who has been sent a slightly mystifying gift package, Rapture shows José (Eusebio Poncela) thinking back to a couple of past encounters he had with a young man named Pedro (Will More). While nothing major seems to happen in those encounters, the two people clearly have a strong connection that they're initially unaware of. They both seek something. And it becomes clear to José that Pedro may have actually found it.

Messy and disorientating throughout, yet not as surreal and impenetrable as it could have been, Rapture may be wearing a number of items from the horror genre wardrobe (the puzzle loaded with potential danger, the unknown fates of certain characters, the growing obsession), but it won't be one that people necessarily seek out when they want to watch a horror movie. I would definitely allow it to carry that label though, especially if you've ever known the pain of watching someone held tight in the life-sapping grip of addiction.

Poncela gives a fantastic performance, convincingly pretending to be carefree while he starts getting that particular unscratchable itch that is about to set his whole body on fire. More is allowed to be a bit more relaxed and enigmatic, which is important as everything builds to a quietly disturbing and haunting third act. The two main female characters are played by Cecilia Roth and Marta Fernández, and both of them do well as they stay alongside men who have their heads turned by something that the ladies cannot compete with.

The most impressive thing about Rapture is the way it really delivers an obvious story of someone who becomes an addict, and ends up searching for what will ultimately lead them to oblivion, without having it all play out as literally as it so easily could. There's still a sense of hopelessness, and you see characters starting to push aside everything else as they chase the one thing that now gives them solace, but it's an entirely convincing journey through drug addiction without ever putting a standard drug at the heart of things. And that must have been a hard choice for Arrebato, considering the life he lived. It's also the right choice, and it helps the film to hold up very well even now, almost fifty years after it was first released.

8/10

Sunday, 18 October 2026

Netflix And Chill: Ghost Stories (2020)

It's easy to stay within your comfort zone when it comes to watching movies and TV shows. You now have more choices than ever before, and many of them will be pushed in front of you by an algorithm that knows what you've already seen, and hopefully already enjoyed. I am not averse to filling my viewing schedule out with easy picks, something featuring a favourite star or a preferred sub-genre, but I do sometimes try to make time for something that is far from my usual fare. That's why I decided to set aside 144 minutes to watch Ghost Stories, an Indian anthology horror film made up of four tales that may very well include some specific cultural references that passed me by.

Directed by Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap, with the first three also writing their instalments, and Isha Luthra and Avinash Sampath adding a good amount of input to the screenplay, what you have here are, for the most part, familiar tales slightly freshened up by the setting and language.

First up is the story of a young nurse, Sameera (Janhvi Kapoor), helping a bedridden old woman (Surekha Sikri) who keeps insisting that her son is in the room next door. The room is empty, of course, but something isn't right about the situation. Then it's the tale of Neha (Sobhita Dhulipala), a pregnant woman who starts to have horrifying visions while babysitting her nephew (Zachary Braz). Next up we have someone (Sukant Goel) visiting a desolate and dangerous small town. Some children explain the situation to him, most people have been eaten and the only way to stay alive is to convince the flesh-eaters that you are one of them. Last, but by no means least, is the story of Ira (Mrunal Thakur), a woman who enters into an arranged marriage with Dhruv (Avinash Tiwary). Dhruv was besotted with his grandmother, and still continues to talk with her and play "peek-a-boo" most days, despite the fact that she died some time ago.

Despite the details and points I may have missed, at least two of the main stories here feel like very obvious metaphors for aspects of society. We're all aware of the pressures put upon young women to become mothers, which runs through the second tale, and as for the third episode, any story that has a community devastated by flesh-eaters who will only let others survive if they see them engaging in the same behaviour is analogous to pretty much any fluctuating social group you can think of.

The cast all do great work, with particular praise fur to Kapoor and Goel, both allowed to be bombarded with strangeness, to say the least, as things get creepier and creepier for them. Dhulipala has to contend with a wide variety of impressive special effects, some of them obscuring her central performance, and Thakur is slightly undermined by the fact that everything unfolding around her is so unsubtle and obvious.

The writing and direction are good enough, although it seems inevitable that I could suggest trimming some of the runtime to make this a leaner and scarier experience. While not up there with the best horror anthology movies, Ghost Stories is a good time for those who have already seen all of the more well-known titles. I wouldn't say that any one chapter here is particularly weak, and that's always a pleasant surprise in any anthology movie. I also wouldn't say that any one chapter here is particularly unforgettable either though.

7/10

Saturday, 17 October 2026

Shudder Saturday: V/H/S/Mixtape (2026)

Another year, another instalment in the now traditional October V/H/S anthology movie series. This particular edition has sound and music being the main connective tissue running through it, and it's good to see the idea used well enough in a number of the stories.

There's a wraparound section that features GWAR doing GWAR things, and their first scenes are unlikely to impress any newcomers, but the majority of the runtime is taken up by four stories. Well . . . four narrative stories, one stop-motion horror fairytale, and one music video. The first is "Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance", written by Zoe Cooper and directed by Renee Zhan. This may be predictable, but it's very fun and in line with the gleeful gory lunacy that this series does best. Then you get Another Cabin, the stop-motion short, directed by Flying Lotus. Writer-director David Moreau then delivers Heartbeat, a tale of urban explorers who go somewhere they shouldn't. This was my least favourite, but it undeniably leans into the mission statement of the movie, essentially giving viewers a nightmarish slice of ASMR. Then it's over to Ernest Dickerson, who serves up a classic bit of Lovecraft, reimagined slightly, with "The Music Of Mr. Sze". Tobias Forge directs a darkly entertaining music video, "Premature Burial", and then it's over to RZA for the final tale, "Death Tone", all about a young sound engineer following the instructions of her late father as she tries to create an amazing and enduring soundscape.

More about the talent behind the camera than in front of it, although it helps that Barbara Crampton is allowed to have fun in a small role in the first tale, V/H/S/Mixtape really helps to show why this series should be allowed to just run and run. It's a creative experiment that really works, and everyone involved seems to enjoy both the opportunities and the challenges that it presents. I can't think of how these tales would work in other formats, but they all fit together well here because the V/H/S brand allows for such a wide variety of weird and whacky episodes.

The cast members may be secondary to the IP, but highlights include Jihad Brent and Alex Hsu acting exactly as you want characters in a Lovecraft tale to act, and Neela Jolene having a whole lot of fun as the central character in "Death Tone". It's also worth noting that nobody is notably bad. Say what you like about this surprisingly enduring series, the acting has never been the worst element of any instalment.

I'd end up placing this at about the halfway point if I was presenting a ranked list of the entire series. It's a very solid entry, and one that already has me excitedly considering what the next theme could be. Maybe weddings. A wedding gone horribly awry, a wedding in which someone is being forced to marry a demonic bride or groom, a bride keeping a video diary as she goes to extreme lengths to ensure that she fits into her dream dress, etc. Hey V/H/S producers, you know it makes sense.

Whatever the concept, I'll be ready to lap it up anyway. And I hope we keep getting one of these every year. It has become as much a part of the Halloween season as eating an excessive amount of sweet snacks, pumpkin spice being added to everything, and glaring at kids who have been allowed to carve jack-o-lanterns without unlocking the painful memories of trying to engage in that same activity decades ago in the UK when pumpkins were less plentiful, and we had to make do with almost losing fingers while we hacked and chopped into a swede.

7/10

Friday, 16 October 2026

It Ends (2025)

There's making the most of limited resources, there's making existential horror without having to bombard viewers with too many ideas and visual gimmicks, and then there's It Ends, an 89-minute nightmare that has a group of young people simply stuck on one long road that really shouldn't stretch on for as long as it does.

Our four main characters are James (Phinehas Yoon), Day (Akira Jackson), Tyler (Mitchell Cole), and Fisher (Noah Toth). They are four friends who may not be as close as they once were, but they hope to enjoy one another's company on this particular road trip. Until this particular road trip takes them along one particular road. No ways to turn off. No actual progress being made. Just one long drive along one long road.

The feature debut of writer-director Alexander Ullom, It Ends sets up a number of questions that he doesn't seem all that interested in fully exploring. That wouldn't be so bad if his characters weren't also so unmotivated. Yes, there's the obvious initial curiosity as they realise their predicament and start to figure out the rules now governing their journey, but the one or two main conversations that try to stay focused on what exactly is going on don't come anywhere close to the reactions and self-reflection that you would expect. I would argue that a sense of resignation and acceptance come along far too early in the proceedings, especially when there's nothing else to really help fill out the runtime.

The cast do a good job, although Toth is a bit of a weak link in the central quartet (perhaps due to the writing leaving him feeling even less substantial than his under-developed co-stars). Yoon is enjoyable for showing how beneficial it can be to try thinking logically about the situation until various logical options quickly disappear, Cole has the advantage of playing someone with a painful background, although that is never fully explored, and Jackson does well to show how she has stayed friends with the three young men around her.

I can see why this idea would spark in the mind of someone creative. It's a simple premise, and there are moments outside the car that work to ensure the main characters stay inside and keep driving. Ullom errs on the side of caution, however, perhaps believing that any explanation would be a lot worse than no explanation. On the one hand he's absolutely right. On the other hand, sorry, the film needs a bit more substance to it. As it is now, it's like witnessing a conversation between four students about some hypothetical GPS and dashboard warning lights that could both guide and misdirect you as you steer your way from birth to death.

5/10

Thursday, 15 October 2026

Insidious: Out Of The Further (2026)

There are times when I will happily remind people that I can be a very mainstream guy. I don't mind watching something slick and polished. I don't even mind watching something that's tame enough to offer some mild chills to a potentially much larger audience demographic. I really enjoyed Insidious, and even, to a lesser extent, some of the sequels. This is a series that should have ended about a decade ago though, but that opinion seems to put me at odds with those who very much appreciate the mainstream thrills and chills that it provides.

This tiresome tale concerns Gemma Hall (Amelia Eve, looking for all the world like 2000s Naomi Watts) and her young daughter, Maya (Island Austin). Gemma appears to sometimes be seeing dead people. Worse, dead people sometimes appear to be seeing Gemma. That's why she ends up being helped by Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye), who can often talk through the physical body of Clare (Maisie Richardson-Sellers). All working together, and with the help of Gemma's boyfriend (Nick, played by Brandon Perea), the group hope to stop Cyrus Lam (Sam Spruell) from finding his way back from The Further into our plane of existence.

I am genuinely depressed at the thought of writing a full review for this. It feels like writer-director Jacob Chase had a couple of good scares in mind, and then figured out a laughably weak plot that would allow him to deliver those infrequent treats. The longer this movie series has endured, the more it all boils down to people simply warning others about going into The Further, stopping entities from coming out of The Further, or just spending a bit of time wandering about The Further. Now that The Further is such a familiar environment, despite how it can be manipulated and played around with, it's not an interesting setting for scares, which is proven here when the best moments all take place in what is supposed to be our own world. You'll have seen one of those moments if you saw the trailer, but if you have somehow avoided that so far then keep avoiding it until/if you give this a watch.

Richardson-Seller is the one person here who feels as if she could carry a movie, and her scenes help a lot when things aren't being moved between the various cheap frights. Shaye remains a welcome constant, but her character was reduced to the "kindly guide" archetype many movies ago, which is all she gets to do here. Eve, Austin, and Perea are all fine, but I didn't ever truly care about their fates (possibly due to this being a very "safe" movie series nowadays). Spruell is helped by some great makeup, but the best of the creepy interlopers is an old man, Lester, played by Joseph Lopez, who also benefits from one hell of a makeover.

I would say, charitably, that there were three good moments in this. Three good moments adding up to about one whole minute of the runtime. Sadly, that leaves you with another 105 minutes to endure. And that's not a good time. Yet this has somehow done well enough at the cinema to make another instalment almost inevitable. And I'm sure I'll see it. I won't be getting to it until it hits home viewing markets though. Perhaps I'll buy a cinema ticket for something a bit less mainstream that weekend.

4/10

Wednesday, 14 October 2026

Prime Time: Tremors: A Cold Day In Hell (2018)

I used to think that the Tremors franchise was one of the best we ever got. It was consistently enjoyable, even if none of the many sequels (and one prequel) came close to equalling the first movie. This film has made me reconsider that opinion. And I have one more to watch, which I am praying will be a return to form after this chilly mis-step.

Once again written by John Whelpley, who wrote two of the previous three instalments in the series, this continues to make use of the great character of Burt Gummer (Michael Gross). Burt now has a son that he's dealing with (Travis, played by Jamie Kennedy, introduced in the last movie), and the two of them end up in a very cold part of Canada that has become a new and unexpected area for Graboid activity. Plans are made, and traps are built, but things change when it turns out that someone has been infected by a parasite that can only be removed with the help of some materials taken from a live Graboid.

Director Don Michael Paul should be used to things by now, having joined Whelpley in the making of Tremors 5: Bloodlines, but I fear that there were too many obstacles placed between him and making something decent here. There's a definite feeling that the budget was slashed at some point, leaving viewers with a film that needs a better cast of characters to make up for the disappointing Graboid moments.

Gross is as good value here as he has been in any movie in this series, and he's the reason to make some time for this. Kennedy is a bit more annoying than he was the first time around, a consequence of the actor being able to play his character with a bit more ease and familiarity, and the likes of Tanya van Graan and Jamie-Lee Money aren't given enough to work with. Money is particularly ill-served, especially when she has to reveal how her character is connected to the ever-growing family tree of Graboid survivors. Paul du Toit is a "suit", and has an agenda to make him as much of a potential threat as the monsters, but he's also not used well.

The 98-minute runtime feels much longer, the callbacks to the first film aren't clever enough to be cute, and the ending feels as if it was slapped together by someone who ran out of time when it came to the deadline for the final draft of the screenplay to be handed in. I'm going to get to the next film soon enough, but I have my expectations seriously dialled down after this disappointment.

4/10

Tuesday, 13 October 2026

Pinocchio: Unstrung (2026)

Another cinematic entry in what we can all now depressingly call "The Pooh-niverse", a cinematic selection of titles based on properties no longer covered by copyright laws, Pinocchio: Unstrung is, as you may have guess, all about everyone's favourite puppet who just wants to get rid of his strings and be a real boy. That means some life lessons, some misunderstandings, and a fair amount of blood and guts.

Richard Brake is Geppetto, and he somehow decides that his grandson, James (Cameron Bell), needs a new friend. One that will never die, and never leave him. Pinocchio (voiced by Jude Evan Lloyd). Pinocchio has a lot of questions, and is soon causing some accidental deaths . . . before being manipulated into causing some deliberate deaths. It doesn't help that he has a scheming cricket (voiced by Robert Englund) whispering in his ear.

Look, the performances here aren't great, as you might expect from another horror riff on Pinocchio (the little puppet has had a few murderous moments over the years). Brake is good fun in his role, and Englund's voice does a lot to make his character a highlight of the supporting cast, but Bell isn't very good, Jessica Balmer and Jack Art Gray are equally weak as his onscreen friends, and poor Lloyd can't do anything to improve upon the repetitive and inane dialogue that he's supposed to keep delivering during the gory set-pieces. Belinda Fenty isn't bad, playing a dentist who we know won't stay healthy and happy for long after "hurting" young James, and Toni Olabanji and Luca Marandola are decent as bullies, also not expected to stay happy and healthy for very long, but the gap between the good and the bad performances is pretty huge.

Writer-director Rhys Frake-Waterfield isn't the greatest wordsmith. He's also not the greatest director. Fair play to him though, this has some practical effects, puppetry, and stop-motion animation that show a level of care and skill you wouldn't expect from such low-budget schlock. Even the opening and closing credits have some genuinely impressive animation helping them along, which some may say is better than anything in the main body of the film. Despite the reason for films like this existing, Frake-Waterfield and co. have shown a notable improvement in their approach to the material since they started trying to make money from the various IPs they could exploit.

And as for the gore gags, well, they take things to another level. I was trying to enjoy this as it played out, and my mood was lifted by the aforementioned animation and effects, but when the first bit of serious bloodshed happened onscreen I was very pleasantly surprised. Obviously aiming to appeal to those who have had a good selection of extreme gore to entertain them nowadays, Pinocchio: Unstrung takes time to present a number of hilarious and ridiculous injuries and kills. Nothing here is ever close to being believable, but at least everyone involved just decided to shrug and throw around more fake blood, and fake organs, and fake severed body parts.

I doubt too many people will rush to see this if they aren't already familiar with the other films in this vein from Frake-Waterfield, but I'd tentatively recommend it to anyone who fancies something silly and gory. It's not actually a good film, but it's consistently amusing, sometimes even deliberately so.

5/10

Monday, 12 October 2026

Mubi Monday: A Woman's Torment (1977)

If you look up writer-director Roberta Findlay online then you will see her credited as a "noted adult and exploitation cinema filmmaker". That's the first line of her description on IMDb anyway. So it's not very surprising that I haven't reviewed any of her films here before. I don't think I've seen anything else that she's done. Given what she delivers here, I'm not averse to checking out other titles from her directorial career.

Tara Chung plays Karen, the woman who is due to go through some of the torment that the title promises. Karen has some serious mental health issues, which doesn't stop others around her from thinking that she may be willing to get down 'n' dirty with them. And sometimes she is happy to get naked and engage in some special happy happy time, but there's often a point when she'll be pushed to react strongly and violently. Which is a real mood-killer, you can be sure of that.

Making use of familiar moments seen in other psycho-sexual horrors of the 1960s and 1970s, Findlay seems to struggle here when it comes to mixing in the character study moments and the requisite sex scenes. The examination of a fragile and crumbling mental state is perhaps a bit better than expected, although not at all subtle or nuanced (of course), but it's very hard to interrupt that developing storyline with some random sexy time.

It helps that Tara Chung works so well in her main role. Having only acted in a handful of movies, from the information I could find anyway, Chung has the ability to be cute and sexy one minute and frantic and dangerous the next. There are other people with main roles here (Jennifer Jordan, Jake Teague, Jeffrey Hurst, Crystal Sync, etc), but they're very easy to forget as soon as the movie is over. Chung isn't, although that's to do with both her screen presence and the material she has to work with.

Give this to twenty different film-makers and you'd end up with twenty very different films. Findlay knows what she wants to do though, and the end result is interesting for the fact that it's filtered through a '70s sexploitation lens. It's just not wholly satisfying. Things would have been improved if Findlay had committed to one particular direction, be it the sex or the insanity and potential horror. It's paced much like a tame slasher movie, and the very last scenes provide a very interesting, and rare, depiction of a killer overwhelmed by their own emotions, but nothing is helped by the juxtaposition of specific events, nor by the tone of the whole piece.

Interesting, but far from the best example of this kind of thing, whichever way you look at it.

6/10

Sunday, 11 October 2026

Netflix And Chill: Bird Box: Barcelona (2023)

Considering the fact that I seemed to enjoy Bird Box more than most people, it's a bit odd that it took me a few years to finally get around to this sorta-sequel/spin-off. Bird Box remains one of the best sensory-based monster movies from a time when we had a few of them released in fairly quick succession, but Bird Box: Barcelona proves to be a surprisingly good attempt to revisit that world without simply retreading very familiar ground.

The plot this time around focuses on Sebastián (Mario Casas) and his young daughter, Anna (Alejandra Howard). The world remains a dangerous place, nobody should be stepping outside without some kind of blindfold, and some kind of plan, and those caught unawares by the entities that invaded our planet some time ago are either driven to kill themselves or turned into some kind of loyal "seer". Sebastián soon meets up with some other survivors, and he hopes that he can be the one to guide them through the world, but everyone has a different opinion on the best way forward. And some may not agree on what constitutes a happy end point to their journey.

Co-written and co-directed by Àlex and David Pastor, who have both worked with similar material previously in their shared filmography, Bird Box: Barcelona is a genuinely interesting companion piece to the first film, and it's something that becomes more engrossing and thought-provoking as each scene plays out. Some early developments may make viewers roll their eyes, but things are set up nicely for a tale that more fully explores the choices that people might make in such a life-threatening apocalyptic scenario.

It helps that the leads are great. Casas continues to show why he's become such a popular choice for Spanish film and TV roles over the past couple of decades. He's very easy to keep rooting for, even as his behaviour is reframed quite early on in the proceedings. Howard does well, although is understandably sidelined as Sebastián starts to connect with other characters who may change his main objectives, and both Georgina Campbell and Naila Schuberth do very well as a couple of vulnerable individuals who could greatly benefit from Sebastián's protection. Campbell has quickly become quite the horror genre stalwart, and that's no bad thing.

As much as I liked this, however, it's hard to say for certain whether many others will share my view. I think this is on a par with the first film, but it quickly becomes a very different beast. Whereas that film was a survival horror, boosted by the star power of Sandra Bullock, this is a bold attempt to show a very different perspective. Some will just want another version of the first movie, and those people are likely to hate this. Anyone willing to appreciate some interesting story-telling decisions should respond positively to it. So don't make the same mistake I did. Get it in your eyes ASAP.

8/10

Saturday, 10 October 2026

Shudder Saturday: Infirmary (2026)

This debut feature from Nicholas Pineda, who directed the film, and also co-wrote the screenplay with Katy Krauland (also making a feature debut), Infirmary is a film that makes you think. Unfortunately, it makes you think about how many different ways you can refer to something as truly awful.

Yet another "found footage" movie that doesn't really know how to make the best use of the format, this is a tiresome tale of a new employee (Edward, played by Paul Syre Lee) being shown the ropes by an old hand (Lester, played by Mark Anthony Williams) before finding out that the building he has to spend time in, an old psych hospital, isn't one that abides by the established rules and logic of our everyday world. There are a number of things ready to go bump in the night, including a variety of handy, and creepy, mannequins.

I wanted to spend this review just ranting and raving about everyone involved. Then I decided that didn't seem fair. The cast are just doing what is asked of them, after all. Then I changed my mind again. The cast may just be doing what is asked of them, but they could have made a bit more effort. While I don't believe that anyone here could have saved this from being a waste of your time, Lee is staggeringly awful throughout, which makes it a lot worse when he has to carry so many scenes by commenting on his journeys through the building, or reacting to things around him. Williams isn't much better, although he doesn't have to spend as much time narrating his own step count. Danielle Kennedy plays the other main character, and she does well enough, although there's nothing she can do to stop the third act feeling so tiresomely predictable as things look set to go from bad to worse.

Most of the blame still has to lie with Pineda though, and Krauland. There's nothing here that feels properly thought about and planned out, from the developing minor background details to the reason for the footage we're watching to actually exist. All you have is a horror film made by someone who seems to have thought "I know a location we can use to make something cheap".

Everyone knows the risks of found footage horror movies nowadays. There have been too many duds. "Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me multiple times and that just shows how ridiculously optimistic I remain when I see a found footage horror movie promoted with a hint of praise from other horror movie fans". Infirmary has a great setting, but even that major positive isn't used well. I genuinely believe that almost anyone else could have made use of what's onscreen here to make something much better. Pineda will probably get an undeserved boost from this. I won't be quick to see whatever he does next, and I doubt many will strongly disagree with me on this squandered opportunity.

2/10

Friday, 9 October 2026

Soulm8te (2026)

On the one hand, I'm already a bit fed up of AI-infused tech thrillers. On the other hand, I'll keep sitting through them as long as they keep making them. Especially when they're as silly and entertaining as Soulm8te. Or I should say . . . especially when they're as silly and entertaining as the third act of Soulm8te. The rest of the film is a disappointing slog, but there are some gleefully sadistic moments near the end that almost make it worth your time. Almost.

The plot could be written on a grain of rice. David (David Rysdahl) ends up testing a prototype of a Soulm8te (Lily Sullivan). Things seem good, but there are glitches in the system. And one of those glitches is some serious jealousy.

Sullivan isn't bad in her role here, pitching her performance nicely between moments of complete roboticism and moments of extreme emotions. She also looks the part, which is necessary for the developing relationship, and certainly sells viewers on the idea that she would be much better company than a chatty Alexa device. Rysdahl is the lesser of the leads, especially as he has to overlook the early warning signs that turn into massive red flags by halfway point. Claudia Doumit is a welcome presence, playing a young woman named Audrey who may inadvertently position herself as competition to be dealt with by robo-lady, and Arty Froushan is a typical tech boss, which makes it all the more satisfying when he gets stuck in a very sticky situation.

Co-written and directed by Kate Dolan, who helmed the excellent You Are Not My Mother a few years ago, this isn't interested in being too sophisticated or heavy on the commentary. It's a psycho-killer movie, with the psycho just happening to be an AI-enhanced fem-bot. The screenplay, co-written by Rafael Jordan, livens up in the moments that have men being pained and killed in majorly traumatic ways (including two separate incidents of serious penile trauma) before sleepwalking through the rest of the runtime. It's like watching a fun home gadget that puts on a show twice a day, with everything settling down to normality and stillness immediately after each display.

The biggest shame is that nobody seems confident enough to lean in to what should have been campy and over the top ridiculousness. This should have been a bloody and violent slice of fun that felt in line with M3GAN 2.0, but I suspect that the relatively disappointing box office performance of that film had producers here desperately trying to course-correct, which subsequently left us with something toothless, light on bloodshed, and, worst of all, lacking any commitment to the fun factor that's clearly running just underneath every main scene.

5/10

Thursday, 8 October 2026

Psycho Killer (2026)

Writer Andrew Kevin Walker has given us a wide variety of movies throughout his career. But he also wrote Seven. Which, rightly or wrongly, creates a certain expectation in people when he decides to write once more about a serial killer. Psycho Killer is also titled to let people know what it is, but it's an otherwise very different beast in comparison to Walker's best screenplay.

Georgina Campbell plays Jane Archer, a cop who starts obsessively tracking the titular killer (James Preston Rogers) after her husband, who was also a cop, becomes his latest victim. The killer seems to be connected to another notorious figure from the past, but nobody is willing to believe the theory that Archer is working on.

The feature directorial debut of Gavin Polone, Psycho Killer is moderately fun and entertaining, if you go into it knowing that it's absolutely preposterous. It's a comic book version of a rampaging serial killer, and some of the poor continuity in early scenes should clarify that Polone and Walker are more interested in being bloody and amusing than gritty and serious. This psycho killer is the ROTLD Suicide of psycho killers, and very quick to ensure that people know how committed he is. "You think this is a fucking costume? This is a way of life."

Campbell is very good in her lead role, arguably much better than the movie deserves. She's the one person allowed to have some emotion, but she's also believably capable and determined while keeping her prey in sight. Rogers brings an impressive physicality to his role, at times aligning him with unstoppable horror movie icons like Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. Malcolm McDowell is a lot of fun as the kind of Satanist really just interested in something that affords him the opportunity to enjoy some drug-fuelled hedonism, Logan Miller is a much more devoted acolyte, and many others appear onscreen just long enough to be added to the impressive bodycount being racked up by the killer.

Perhaps it helped that I finally got around to seeing this after hearing a wide variety of views on it already, or perhaps I was just much more willing to suspend my disbelief, but I was happy enough to go along with this all the way up to a final sequence that was as audacious and fun as anything else in the movie. I can imagine many rolling their eyes at it, but I actually enjoyed the reveal of the killer's grand plan.

Would I recommend this to others? Not really. I wouldn't dismiss it as unwatchable trash either though. It IS trashy, in a good way, but it's also made with at least a semblance of wit and intelligence running through it. That may ultimately be outweighed by the sillier elements, but at least it tries to do something a bit different with a handful of familiar tropes.

6/10

Wednesday, 7 October 2026

Prime Time: Shelby Oaks (2025)

Some people really enjoyed this movie, and I myself have somehow watched it three times already, but I am not a big fan. Starting off seeming like one thing, format-wise, before turning into something very different, and highly derivative, Shelby Oaks is one of the weaker slick horror movies I have seen throughout the past year.

Camille Sullivan plays Mia, a woman who is obsessed with finding out what happened to her missing sister, Riley (Sarah Durn). Riley was part of a group of YouTube paranormal investigators, which made me care very little about her fate anyway (but that's just me), and the easily-solved mysterious circumstances of their disappearance seem to lead Mia, as the title suggests, to Shelby Oaks.

Another person who made their initial connection to audiences via YouTube, director Chris Stuckmann (who also co-wrote the screenplay with his wife, Samantha Elizabeth) positions himself here as a prime example of why we shouldn't necessarily be expecting great things from everyone who has grown up with that platform and advanced level of tech-savviness. Shelby Oaks isn't an incompetent film, not by a long shot, but it's so tiresomely unoriginal and simplistic that it highlights what happens when you have someone wanting to blend their many influences without being able to add enough creative spark to the mix.

Sullivan does a good job in her role, thankfully (considering how much of the film remains very focused on her), but nobody else gets to make a strong impression. Brendan Sexton III is "the husband", and that's the sum total of his character, Charlie Talbert plays obvious pawn in the ongoing chess game between our main character and whatever she is due to encounter, Keith David appears in a role that does little more than allow horror movie fans to say "yes, Keith David", and Robin Bartlett plays someone who feels as if they've wandered in from a Resident Evil storyline. Durn doesn't get enough good stuff to sink her teeth into, sadly, and that's a real shame. Taking us on the journey alongside her would have been better than constructing a narrative that has to spend far too much time trying to ensure that viewers don't notice the blindingly obvious clues laid out like a set of super-sized arrows pointing in one direction.

I started this review by mentioning that I have watched this three times already. There won't be a fourth, unless someone forces me into a rewatch for some godforsaken reason. The reason I had to watch this multiple times is simply because I kept forgetting to write up a review for it and there was not enough here that managed to stick in my memory. At all. Even the final moment, which is clearly something that Stuckmann and Elizabeth were very pleased with.

I don't want to end on a negative though, especially after reading what Stuckmann has said about his changing approach to film criticism now that he's been able to get more insights into productions and what can go into making any feature. It's admirable that he's put his money where his mouth is, as it were, and it's more than I would manage. There's enough here to show potential, especially considering the fairly low budget, and I think Stuckmann could do much better helming something that was written by someone else. Something a bit more inventive and able to better blend familiar horror genre moments.

4/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share