Intensity 🩸🩸.5 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
We return to Southport in the reboot/sequel I Know What You Did Last Summer. A new crew of pretty teens is put through very similar paces to the 1997 cast. Bad decisions lead to murderous revenge from an assailant in a fisherman's slicker, wielding a meat hook. It's a better-looking movie than its predecessor, but it lacks the star power and charisma of the original. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. return to lend credibility to the film, and the writing struggles to effectively use the legacy cast. Unfortunately, like its source material, The Fisherman is an uninspired generic villain.
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Judge Stefan Mortensen suffers a stroke during a trial and is sent to a nursing home to recover. As the wheelchair-bound judge struggles with his physical ailments, he encounters Dave Crealy, a psychopathic resident who bullies all of the other residents with a puppet-clad fist. Stefan clings to reason and rules but is overwhelmed by Dave's chaotic presence and has become the focus of the madman's rage. Two great actors, Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow, bring their A-games to this elder-care thriller.
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In Keeper, a dating couple takes the next step by going to the boyfriend's lodge in the woods, which, given the opening credit montage of screaming women, might not be the best idea. Osgood Perkins delivers a stylish modern thriller delivered on the bones of a folk horror skeleton. Tatiana Maslany is in top form as a horror actress, delivering quirk, pathos, and proper survivor smarts. The plot hides its secrets well. Perhaps too well, as you might leave the theater still trying to fill in the mental puzzle pieces.
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The revisioning of the Predator franchise is in full swing and continues to impress. Dan Trachtenberg is revitalizing what was a brand that was stuck in neutral, and now bristles with excitement and fresh turns. In Predator: Badlands, we flip to the Yautja (the name now given to the Predators) point of view. Dek is a young Yautja looking to redeem his honor by claiming a trophy prize from an unkillable creature of legend. On his hunt, he partners with an unlikely android on a planet where every living thing is out to kill them. The movie is much more action-hero than horror, and it uses the Marvel M.O. of destroying lots of non-humans to stay in the PG-13 category. It's still plenty violent, despite the lack of human bloodshed. Predator: Badlands makes up for the lack of gore with a superior story and wonderful character interactions.
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The Dangerous Animals of the title are sharks, but they are the weapons, not the killers. Jai Courtney is Tucker, a serial killer who uses his shark dive boat as an excuse to take victims on a one-way trip out to sea. Zephyr is a target who proves to be a greater challenge than most of his prey, and Tucker likes a victim with some spunk. Oz horror is notoriously brutal, where happy endings are rare. The man who brought you The Loved Ones and The Devil's Candy has returned with a highly entertaining and original variant of the serial killer film.
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The Long Walk delivers exactly what it promises: a death march competition across the backroads of Americana, where fifty young men look to be the last one standing, where death awaits the rest of the competition. Themes of brotherhood and complacency within an autocratic society are explored. Primarily, however, it's a pretty thin plot bolstered by a pair of terrific leading young actors.
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Edgar Allan Poe's The Oval Portrait is an adaptation of one of Poe's shortest works. It visits the intersection where life, art, and death collide. The story is brought to modern times, where a thief, an artist, and an art dealer are all drawn into the influence of a spirit bound to a remarkable portrait. As is the tradition for translations of Poe's stories, the film is suitably melancholy, but it injects some welcome humor into the proceedings, while maintaining the core theme of the original story.
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Betrayal. At its core, A Blind Bargain is a movie about the worst kind of betrayal you can imagine. Desperation and greed convince a young and troubled Vietnam veteran to submit his own mother to the schemes of a mad scientist. This groovy '70s retro thriller takes a cosmic turn through life-extending experimentation. This was the centerpiece movie of the 2025 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.
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Curiosity is a dangerous thing. In cosmic horror, the exploration of truths can lead to fates worse than death, and yet, people will still seek to know things they really should leave alone. In Tribe, a man lost in the remote badlands in the southern Sierras is going through a horrible physical transformation. His hope is that some media drives he found in his Airstream trailer will tell him why he is in the predicament he is in. His salvation may come in the form of his own found footage material, but it also may foretell his own doom.
Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
The Conjuring: Last Rites is another solid entry into the Warren Saga. Once again, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are on point as Lorraine and Ed Warren, providing grounded and passionate performances. The film is once again loaded with first-rate jump scares and fantastic period piece production design. The ghost story this time out is a muddled mess, though, and some of the secondary characters feel forced, preventing it from achieving the greatness of the first entry in the franchise.
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Crossword (2024) is a psychological thriller that pays close attention to the smallest details and is rich in symbolism. James is struggling to come to terms with the drowning of his young daughter, Lily. His grief is expressed through the daily crossword puzzle, which he believes is an omen communicating with him.
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Being an independent horror movie maker isn't easy. Eddie Mathews sacrifices everything in his power to keep his directing dreams alive. If that means living in his disapproving mother-in-law's house and pitching presidential bobbleheads as a side hustle, then that's what he has to do. The horror must be made!
Intensity: 🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
What the Tide Dragged In (Lo Que Trajo La Marea) is an emotionally charged, Chilean tale of sisterhood and loss. Two sisters go to the coast to comply with their mother's wish to have her ashes cast to the sea. Their mom warned them of the mysteries of the sea, and it has a vast power that will come to claim what it wants.
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Teacher's Pet goes back to school and follows Clara, an overachieving foster care teenager who has become the target of a serial killer masquerading as a substitute teacher. The characters are compelling, even if the plot has some blind spots regarding distinctive red flags that should have exposed the villain's deception.
Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Weapons has arrived in theaters, and it is one of the most original horror mysteries in memory. Give Zach Cregger the keys to the horror castle. He has elevated himself to the top of the ranks of horror storytellers. With Weapons, he has delivered an engrossing and wicked puzzle that comes together with shocking revelations, dark humor, and brutal viscera. The movie is a masterclass in character building, non-linear editing, and bravura acting from the entire cast.
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Have you ever desired to be a haunted house? Deck of Haunts will feed that desire, as well as many hapless investigators who want to discover the horrible truth about what you are. There is a dark heart beating at the center of this old mansion on a blasted hill, and it needs to feed on the souls and sanity of those who dare enter it. This is a digital card deck-building game that combines with a construction simulator. This game presents a significant strategic challenge. Good luck! It starts easy and becomes deviously hard.
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Place famously eccentric actor, John Malkovich into a story about a messianic pop star leading a death cult commune, under the A24 umbrella and you have the makings of an art house classic, right? Almost. It's a combination of The Menu, Midsommar, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This A24 production falls a bit shy of its incredible promise.
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Are you a fan of obscure and cheesy cult films? Odds are, you would appreciate the efforts of Sinister Cinema, the Medford, Oregon-based distribution company that lovingly restored and distributed thousands of almost-forgotten films. This documentary from Jack Perez goes in-depth on the company that wouldn't let these films die.
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How is it that babysitting, traditionally the lowest common denominator flexible starter job, is so dangerous? Dooba Dooba is a lo-fi found footage film exploring the perils of a woman babysitting an odd girl full of tricks and dark secrets. If you think you know babysitter horror, think again; this movie has some wild twists. The film creates a moat of anxiety which will have you twitching from the dramatic irony of knowing too much, while the characters head blindly into awful decisions.
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In a slightly dystopian future, Mia Sheldon finds herself imprisoned at home for the crime of having a miscarriage. She has been acquitted of her husband's death, which was ruled a suicide. What opens as a promising premise slides into the overly familiar. Unfortunately, the film dodges what could have been a fascinating sociological critique. House of Ashes contains some humorous and chilling moments, but overall, the film fell a little flat.
Intensity: 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
It Needs Eyes examines the link between the dangers of obsessive and addictive behavior when coping with grief. "It", in this case, is the dark web. Brutal social media requires people to watch the dreadful material to have any power. It has found an addict, corrupting the otherwise innocent Rowan, who is struggling through grief by watching things she should not see. This is a beautiful, slow-burning movie featuring terrific performances from young actresses Raquel Lebish and Isadora Leiva. The film never terrifies, but the story will get under your skin and unnerve you.