April 3, 2026 “Rockabye” (** out of four) was a gritty but limited street melodrama about a woman (Annie Ngosi Ilonzeh) whose father (Donald Brumfield, Jr.) dies by suicide but the more she investigates the more she begins to wonder if there was more than meets the eye especially as both her and his friends (Claudia Jordan, Garret Davis, and others) start dying one-by-one. Fast-paced enough to keep it watchable but covers all-too-familiar territory and thus never fully detonates. Similar to director Chris Stokes’ 2023 similarly titled “Rock The Boat.” Continue reading →
April 3, 2026 “The Final Party” (* out of four) was a grindingly ugly, unpleasant horror psychodrama about a group of elite scholarship students (Elia Berthoud, David Christian, and others) whose graduation party is crashed by a group of psychopath cultists (Arya Shahbazy and Adem Yilmaz) who want to re-enact their childhood torments. Or something like that. Viewers who make it to the end of this mess will feel tormented enough on their own. Brutal film full of in-your-face violence and made even worse by overwrought acting. Continue reading →
April 3, 2026 “Bitter Desire” (** out of four) was a lurid suspense melodrama about a policeman (Nathan Hill) who is injured in the line of duty and obtains a home health nurse (Shar Dee) but is unaware that she is the girlfriend of the criminal he recently arrested and put away for life. Promising storyline has good acting but is bungled by ineffectual direction and weak production values. Film’s final line is a real howl though, if you make it that far Continue reading →
April 3, 2026 “Aladdin’s Revenge” (*1/2 out of four) was a less-than-magical follow-up about the sole survivor (Devanny Pinn) from the original who finds the evil lamp and has to shield it from her friends (Troy Escoda, Dan Cade, Tiffany Macdonald, and others) to prevent it from granting an additional 3 fatal wishes. Clunky and silly time-waster will really rub you the wrong way. The 1992 Disney original has more scares and thrills than this does. Continue reading →
dlepikcom 