September 28, 2025 “The Man In My Basement” (** out of four) was a pretentious melodrama thriller about a down-on-his-luck man (Corey Hawkins) who is about to lose his ancestral home and is approached by a bizarre businessman (Willem Dafoe) to rent out his basement; out of desperation, he agrees but soon finds out there is much more to this than he realized. Starts out creepy and effective but loses its way in a field of mumbo-jumbo twists and dialogue midway through and turns hokey and banal. By film’s end you’ll likely be calling out “huh?” Two strong performances from Hawkins and Dafoe help keep this on track as long as possible but even they eventually go down in the haze. Continue reading →
September 28, 2025 “Burner” (** out of four) was a muddled underworld melodrama about a single mom (Kacy Owens) who returns home from prison and is trying to rebuild her life and her relationship with her daughter (Akina Wylie). However, when her violent ex (James Oliver Wheatley) re-appears in her life and threatens both of them- she realizes she has no other choice but to have him eliminated without parole, the law, and the mob finding out. Lumpy mixture of mother-daughter story and underworld action intrigue and as a result doesn’t connect as either one. Owens’ sincere performance is film’s strongest merit. Similar story elements were told much more powerfully and effectively in 2006’s “Sherrybaby.” Continue reading →
September 28, 2025 “Terror Comes Knocking” (*1/2 out of four) was a botched adaptation of the true story of Marcela Borges (Dascha Polanco) who was pregnant and had to defend her family when armed intruders (Mitchell Jaramillo, Ivan Lopez, and others) showed up at her Florida home and demanded $200,000 or they would all be executed and she had to outwit and outmaneuver them. Thoroughly stale execution of a true story that (one would think) would have taut tension and suspense and instead winds up a yawning retread of “Desperate Hours.” This is one “knock” not worth answering. Continue reading →
September 28, 2025 “Happy Birthday” (*1/2 out of four) was an unhappy slog through horror-movie cliches about a young woman (Kim Sandwich) who is taken on her birthday by friends (Maddie Henderson, Tim Michael Schmidt, and others) to (yawn) a haunted house in which there is a demented killer running around. Or is this a figment of her imagination? Or one of her friends attempting to get back at her? Desperate collection of generic plot points and horror homages to much better movies (“Halloween”, “Friday The 13th”, just to name a few). Film doesn’t so much end as stop, if you make it that far. Continue reading →
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