December 25, 2025 “Rock, Paper, Death” (* out of four) was a deadly dull horror melodrama about a man (Derrick Dover) who learns of his fiancee’s death and enters the title game as a chance to avenge her and also redeem himself but finds the stakes and survival rate are much more alarming than he thought. Supposedly based on “The Squid Game” but seems ripped off from “The Hunger Games” and also “The Running Man” and is worthless no matter what because it offers absolutely zero in the way of sick thrills or scares. Film’s ending is a spit in the face, for anyone who bothers to make it that far. Continue reading →
December 25, 2025 “I Know What You Did Last Christmas“ (* out of four) was an inept timewaster about a group of friends (Lauren Staerck, ShaylI Reagan, Connor Horrigan, and others) who reunite at a Christmas party and find they are all targeted due to a prank from a year earlier in which someone was killed. Completely bereft of any scares or thrills and doesn’t even have any good gory kills to recommend it. Obviously inspired by “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (if you couldn’t guess) but this makes that look like Oscar material by comparison. Continue reading →
December 25, 2025 “Oblivium” (*1/2 out of four) was a muddled psychodrama about a young woman (Dani Dean) whose grandmother has Altzheimer’s and she soon realizes that strange incidents are occurring around her that force her to question her own sanity and state of mind. Film’s central theme of Altzheimer’s is somewhat appropriate because you’ll be wanting to forget this almost instantly. This one will likely wind up in DVD oblivion very soon. Continue reading →
December 25, 2025 “The Mother, The Menacer, And Me” (*1/2 out of four) was a dismal comedy about an aspiring dimbulb filmmaker (James Austin Kerr) who is forced to move back in with his critical mother-in-law (Lorraine Bracco) when he is broke and decides to gamble everything and try to shoot a movie for the first time with no money or talent. Irritatingly stupid and strains to be in-your-face and hip but only comes off as smarmy and crude. Bracco is wasted in a minor supporting role and would have been better off staying home and collecting her “Sopranos” royalties. Continue reading →
December 25, 2025 “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” (** out of four) was an uninspired sequel about the return of The Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and Isla Fisher) who team up with a younger and new generation of magicians (Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, and others) to thwart the head (Rosamund Pike) of an international diamond company involved in money laundering. Likely to satisfy fans of the first 2 entries but lacks the freshness and vigor of the original and dissipates a lot of its comic momentum by going on too long. Good chemistry and camaraderie between the key players helps but perhaps they should take a cue from their own magic tricks and finally disappear for good. Continue reading →
December 25, 2025 “Five Nights At Freddy’s 2” (** out of four) was a relatively empty sequel to the 2023 smash set a year later in which Abby (Piper Rubio) runs away and attempts to re-connect with her animatronic friends but instead uncovers dark secrets about the origins of Freddy’s and unleashes a further supernatural horror that threatens her and everyone else in town. Fast paced and not entirely without entertainment value but pretty meager in terms of scares or laughs and doesn’t have enough story to sustain a feature-length film. Strictly for hard-core fans of the original. Film is actually the most expensive Blumhouse Production ever. Continue reading →
December 20, 2025 “Stone Creek Killer” (** out of four) was a mild suspense psychodrama about a small-town police chief (Clayne Crawford) in pursuit of a sadistic serial killer and is forced to turn to a psychic (Lyndon Smith)for help while attempting to prove his own innocence. Director Robert Enriquez shows some flair for flavor and mood which holds you in its grip but film never really cuts loose and shifts into high-gear and it stalls after a while. Well produced and well lensed by Chris Lange on a low budget. Continue reading →
December 20, 2025 “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” (*** out of four) was a good-natured sequel to the 1984 classic about the legendary heavy metal band (Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer) reuniting after decades for one final concert which is once again chronicled and coordinated by film director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner). Director Reiner ably duplicates the amusing and tongue-in-cheek tone of the original and the boys immediately replicate both their musical and comic chemistry together with cameos from musicians Elton John, Lars Ulrich, and others. Sadly, this was Reiner’s final film before his recent tragic death. Continue reading →
December 15, 2025 “Bad Bunny” (*1/2 out of four) was a bad movie about a woman (Karolina Morrongiello) who moves into a log cabin in the middle of the woods and is soon terrorized by a man-eating rabbit (Kris Fried) and has to fight back against him in a bloody duel to the death. Ho-hum series of horror movie cliches and shock effects with a few gory kills here-and-there. Ridiculous and laughable bunny costume is good for a couple of unintentional chuckles. Continue reading →
December 15, 2025 “The Amityville Lost Tape” (0 stars out of four) was an embarrassingly awful thriller that deserves to be lost and stay there; a trick-or-treater on Halloween night stumbles upon a lost VHS tape that shows what happened when three curious college students (Courtney Griswold, Katie Terry, Rob Seitelman) investigated the legendary Amityville house and wound up missing. Film is (incredibly) the 69th movie under the “Amityville” ouevre but to call this a film is a bit of a stretch since it looks like bad footage captured on someone’s cell-phone camera. You’ll probably get more scares watching a real-estate portfolio on the actual Amityville house. Unwatchable, even for die-hard “Amityville” completists. Continue reading →
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