“Blair” (** out of four) was a not-bad serial-killer melodrama about a series of gruesome murders at an elite university and how one freshman (Karlea Rich) and her friends (Alexandria Nicole, Ashley Ferrer, Ashely Alexander, and others) find themselves in the center of a web of suspicion from a pair of detectives (Emmanuel Cockrell and Nora Graham) and begin to wonder who’s next. Better than most of its kind, thanks to good performances and production values which keep you watching, but never transcends or escapes its derivative origins and cliches. Not in any way related to the “Blair Witch” series.

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“A Very Flattened Christmas” (* out of four) was a very painful horror comedy about a group of workers (Key Tawn Toothman, Mark Mannette, Jesse Bailey, and others) at a roadkill collection company (!) who are getting killed off one by one by (get this) a killer reindeer who is on the loose and his name isn’t Rudolph. Lame writing and directing combined with annoying characters and in-your-face acting make this a chore to watch. Christmas schlock like this is enough to make anyone convert into being a scrooge.

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“Blood And Breakfast” (* out of four) was a stupefyingly awful horror thriller about a group of strangers (Nancy Anne Ridder, Beatrice Boepple, Lisa Neeld, and others) who each survived an attack from a serial killer and are now trapped with one in a historic hotel inn and have to unite together to fight back and stay alive. Packed with terrible acting and dumb dialogue that will likely give you indigestion by the end. Yet another clunker that gives the term low-budget horror a bad name.

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“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.

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“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.

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“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.

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“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.

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“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.

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“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.

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