January 25, 2025 “You Shall Not Sleep Tonight” (*1/2 out of four) was a morbid psychological thriller likely to put viewers to sleep about a young boy (Milo Burgess-Webb) haunted by nightmares of a frightening monster inside his closet and his dedicated father (Agustin Olcese) helps him to fight his fears and also fight the monster. Clunky horror storry feels like reheated Guillermo del Toro (“Pans Labyrinth” in particular) and maybe a little of early Spielberg (“E.T.”). Good performance from young Webb is film’s only real merit. Continue reading →
January 25, 2025 “Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces” (* out of four) was an abysmal collection of outtakes and deleted scenes from inarguably David Lynch’s worst film “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me”; once again, film shows the mysterious disappearance of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) and several law enforcement officers (Chris Isaak, Kiefer Sutherland, Kyle Maclachlan) try to sort everything out. Self-indulgent and weird to the extreme and also extremely boring. Lee’s strong performance remains film’s only asset. Film is ONLY recommended for hard-core “Twin Peaks” lovers and fans of the original (whomever you are). Continue reading →
January 25, 2025 “Man With No Past” (*1/2 out of four) was a colorless action thriller about an amnesiac (Adam Woodward) who awakens in an unknown city and seeks truth about his past and engages in a time-travelling battle with various villains and corrupt figures (Jon Voight, Martin Csokas, Phillip Winchester, and others) to sort out his real identity. Potentially intriguing storyline is flattened out by talky script and feeble direction. Another movie inspired by the “Bourne” series (and also “Memento”) that misses the mark. Continue reading →
January 25, 2025 “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare” (*1/2 out of four) was a ludicrous horror thriller about Wendy Darling (Megan Placito) who attempts to rescue her brother Michael (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) from the clutches of an evil Peter Pan (Martin Portlock). Oh- did I forget to mention that she enlists the help of Tinkerbell (Kit Green) who spends her days snorting heroin? Latest attempt to turn a childhood fairy tale into an exploitative horror movie is low-rent at every turn. Re-watch the original “Peter Pan” for more scares and laughs. Continue reading →
January 25, 2025 “Forever Home” (* out of four) was a forever dumb horror comedy about 2 dimbulb newlyweds (Sammie Lideen and Drew Leatham) who dump all their savings into a house with a haunted past and have to enlist a psychic (Shelly Boucher) to purge the house of its horrific demons leading to all Hell breaking loose. Grating film shifts done jarringly but isn’t the least funny or scary (or even entertaining). In keeping with the title, film feels like it goes on “forever” at nearly two hours. Continue reading →
January 19, 2025 “Crispy” (* out of four) was a practically worthless horror melodrama about a young man (Colsom Branum) who leads a group of friends (Saiorse Tiernan, Jessica Frew, and others) into the woods to locate a lost treasure but they all soon find themselves under siege from a cannabilastic killer who stalks them all one-by-one. Yet another movie inspired by “The Blair Witch Project” but when will these filmmakers learn that at least that film was made with supreme skill and tension? Even at less than an hour-and-20-minutes, this runs out of gas very quickly. Continue reading →
January 19, 2025 “Alarum” (** out of four) was a mechanical action melodrama about various spies and intel groups (Scott Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Joel Cohen, and others) who engage in warring factions and duplicity to obtain a stolen hard drive. Competently made and moves briskly but you’ve seen it all done before and better in far too many other movies. Eastwood is solid as usual; Stallone is wasted again in another expendable minor role. Continue reading →
January 17, 2025 “Sentinel” (**1/2 out of four) was a better-than-average sci/fi melodrama set years after an alien invasion in which a group of heroes (Jason R. Moore, Ellie Patrikios, and Neil Cole) embark on a time travel to save the survivors but are unaware that the title evil function is waiting for them resulting in a battle for survival. Full of imaginative and striking visuals from director Stefano Milla and eye-candy cinematography from Alessandro Caldana and Juan Rolando which easily overpower the pedestrian screenplay and story. Still worthwhile especially for sci/fi fans and features some homages to “Event Horizon.” Continue reading →
January 12, 2025 “The Scout” (** out of four) was a minimalist horror comedy about a group of low-budget filmmakers (Anastasia Elfman, Kenneth Guertin, Eric Marq, and others) who go off on a horror shoot when a masked killer shows up and crashes the shoot and kills them off one by one and they have to use their survival smarts from their own horror films to outsmart him and stay alive. Never surpasses mediocrity but marginally better than others of its ilk thanks to some sharp and ironic dialogue about past horror films. Shot and made in all of 4 months! Needless to say, this is not a remake of the 1994 Albert Brooks-Brendan Fraser “cult classic” of the same name. Continue reading →
January 12, 2025 “Beautiful Friend” (** out of four) was an off-putting character melodrama about a mentally unstable and socially isolated young man (Adam Jones) who veers out into the world and tries to find a compatible partner who will accept him in spite of his limitations and emotional problems and baggage. Film is aloof and weird, much like its central character. Not completely without merit and has a few scenes of intensity and insight but pretty tough-to-take as a whole. Continue reading →
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