“Totally Killer” (*** out of four) was an amusingly done horror thriller about a notorious murderer who strikes again after being dormant for 35 years and a young teenager (Kiernan Shipka) accidentally travels back-in-time to 1987 to uncover his identity and stop his killing spree before it starts. Cheekily done and filled with plenty of retro jokes that horror fans and ’80’s fans in particular will love. No classic but has enough ironic and humorous touches and scares to make it worthwhile.

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“The Torturer” (* out of four) was a gruesome and disgusting horror thriller about a man (Paul T. Taylor) being interrogated for a murder he can’t recall by a detective (Lawrence Varnado) and as it progresses, the torture and techniques get escalatingly worse for him (and the audience). Pointless movie made only for those who thought “Saw” was too intellectually complex and challenging; this effort makes any of those movies look like “Psycho” by comparison. Based on a series of short stories “Nailbiters” by Paul Kane who wrote this and adapted his own material but something didn’t quite transpire from the page to the screen.

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“Desperation Road” (** out of four) was a muted adaptation of Michael Farris Smith’s novel about a recently released convict (Garrett Hedlund) who is attempting to put his life back together with his hard-luck father (Mel Gibson) and a woman (Willa Fitzgerald) he meets but all become swept back up in the town’s underbelly of retribution and organized crime. Beautifully shot by Sy Turnbull and featuring a haunting Muzak score by Haim Mazar but story lacks momentum and never develops much in the way of dramatic fire. Gibson is wasted in a minor role as his dad, despite top billing.

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“The Caine Mutiny Court Martial” (*1/2 out of four) was a crushingly monotonous adaptation of Herman Wouk’s novel and play about a navy first officer (Jake Lacy) who stands accused of mutiny for relieving the command of the mentally unstable captain (Kiefer Sutherland) and is defended in a court martial by his skeptical defense attorney (Jason Clarke). Sutherland gives a mannered and annoying performance as Captain Queeg and film becomes unbearably repetitive and dull after a while. Lance Reddick fares best as the head judge but sadly this was his final film and the final film of director William Friedkin.

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“House Of Dolls” (** out of four) was a gory, one-note horror thriller about three sisters (Stephanie Troyak, Alicia Underwood, Violeta Ortega) who reunite for a family inheritance and have to confront their long-standing and unresolved issues but have to put all of those aside when they find a berserk serial killer is on the prowl and wants to stalk all of them one-by-one. Not bad by the standards of these things with some inventive kills and macabre touches that help keep it watchable but never rises above the routine. Horror-siren Dee Wallace shows up in a key supporting role.

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“Pet Sematary: Bloodlines” (** out of four) was a tired prequel to the Stephen King horror series set in 1969 about a young Jud Crandall (Jackson White) who aspires to leave his dead-end hometown of Ludlow, Maine but soon uncovers dark family secrets that lead to (yawn) animals rising from the dead and all Hell breaking loose. Again. Stylish direction from Lindsey Anderson Beer and some scares can’t pump much life into such stale material. The moody and seriously underrated “Pet Sematary II” remains the only worthiness of the lot. As they said in the original- sometimes dead really is better.

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“The Jester” (** out of four) was an unremarkable horror story set on Halloween Eve in which the title maniac (Michael Sheffield) terrorizes a small town and how two sisters (Lelia Symington and Delaney White) who try to put aside their differences and stop his reign of terror once and for all. Title character looks like a cross between the Joker and Art The Clown from “Terrifier” but film doesn’t have the mesmeric power or gore (or entertainment value) of either. Pretty well-made and acted but otherwise pretty routine and forgettable.

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“On Fire” (** out of four) was a serviceable melodrama about a family (Peter Facinelli, Fiona Dourif, Lance Henriksen, and others) whose wilderness home is displaced by a gigantic wildfire that threatens to engulf the area and they have to put aside their differences to stay together and stay alive. Sincere performances are hindered by cheesy visual effects and flimsy script. Facinelli also co-directed after original director Nick Lyon fell ill with COVID; despite his best efforts, this is unlikely to light much of a “fire” to his career.

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“Muzzle” (** out of four) was a muddled police procedural thriller about a street cop (Aaron Eckhart) and former veteran with PTSD whose canine police partner dies and he is paired with a new canine-partner but can’t let go of the other dog’s death and plunges into the seedy darkness of L.A. to find and apprehend those responsible. What starts out as an interesting and intriguing psychodrama loses its way, as film becomes meandering and pretentious and doesn’t lead to a satisfying conclusion. Eckhart is strong as always.

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“Saw X” (**1/2 out of four) was one of the better entries in this never-ending series about the dying John Cramer/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) who is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and travels to Mexico to meet with a doctor (Synnove Macody Lund) for a risky medical treatment but soon finds that this is a fraudulent program to scam the elderly and vulnerable and re-starts his torture chamber techniques to enact bloodthirsty revenge. More character development and subtlety than earlier entries and Bell is strong as always but film (as expected) eventually loses its way in bloody gore and ugliness in its final third although that’s probably what you’re paying for. Film actually takes place between the original “Saw” and “Saw II” for anyone keeping chronology.

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