Tag: Horror

Frankenstein (2025) | REVIEW

Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo Del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN — PHOTO: NETFLIX (Still image from the trailers).

Directed by Guillermo Del Toro — Screenplay by Guillermo Del Toro.

There are literally hundreds of films either directly based on or partially inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, so the story of Victor Frankenstein (and his creature, or monster, that is often wrongly referred to as just ‘Frankenstein’) is one that audiences of most ages know quite well either through having seen films based on the story or through references in pop culture that, with stories as familiar as this one, tend to fasten in your audiovisual language through a process of cultural osmosis. One auteur, however, hopes that his passion project can add something new to the storied legacy of the character, and now Netflix has given that opportunity to that auteur. I am, of course, referring to Guillermo Del Toro, the Oscar-winning filmmaker with a known love for classic monsters, creature effects, and both horror, fairy tale, and gothic storytelling. It should be a match made in heaven, and, frankly, I do think the wait for Del Toro’s take on Frankenstein, his 13th feature film as a director, was worth the wait. 

Continue reading “Frankenstein (2025) | REVIEW” →

Bring Her Back (2025) | REVIEW

Sally Hawkins in BRING HER BACK — PHOTO: A24 (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou — Screenplay by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman.

In Bring Her Back, we follow Australian step-siblings Andy (played by Billy Barratt), a 17-year-old young man still struggling with previously undisclosed trauma, and Piper (played by Sora Wong), his visually-impaired younger sister, after they find their father dead in the shower. Now, with Andy not being quite old enough yet to be Piper’s legal guardian, they risk being split up by the system, but the siblings put their foot down and eventually get a foster parent to agree to house them. But while this foster parent, Laura (played by Sally Hawkins) hopes to adopt Piper, the siblings still have hope that they can eventually go out on their own. However, Laura, a grief-stricken former counselor who has recently lost her own visually-impaired daughter, has ulterior motives and, it appears, she may have already experimented with occult rituals on another child in her care.

Continue reading “Bring Her Back (2025) | REVIEW” →

Black Phone 2 (2025) | REVIEW

Finney Blake (Mason Thames) and the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) in BLACK PHONE 2 — PHOTO: Universal Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Scott Derrickson — Screenplay by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill.

Earlier this year, director Scott Derrickson gave us Apple TV+’s The Gorge, which I found to be a gripping genre-blender with two fun leads. Now, Derrickson, the Doctor Strange and Sinister director, is back with a direct continuation of one of the cinematic horror worlds he helped bring to life with a sequel to 2021’s The Black Phone. When I first saw the 2021 effort, I described it as another gripping horror home run from Derrickson, who has previously shone as a horror filmmaker with Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose being, arguably, his best horror efforts. Although I have had some doubts about how they could continue the story of The Black Phone, given its ending, I’ve been excited to see it for some time. Now that I’ve seen the sequel, I can report that, admittedly, it doesn’t feel like as much of a neatly balanced horror outing as some of his best films, but it does represent a jump up in violence from the previous film, as Derrickson and his frequent collaborator and co-writer C. Robert Cargill have infused the sequel with a giddiness when it comes to implanting genre references and upping the intensity a notch. It mostly works, even if there are some issues along the way. 

Continue reading “Black Phone 2 (2025) | REVIEW” →

The Long Walk (2025) | REVIEW

David Jonsson in THE LONG WALK — PHOTO: Lionsgate (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Francis Lawrence — Screenplay by J.T. Mollner.

Based on the 1979 Stephen King novel of the same name (published under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman), Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk is set in a dystopian America under a totalitarian military regime, which holds an annual event referred to as, you guessed it, ‘the Long Walk.’ During this event, fifty young men, one from each state, must take part in a coordinated walk of potentially hundreds of miles, while they’re escorted by the military, which also broadcasts the event live. Those who stop walking, or fall below a dictated pace, will receive three warnings (that eventually replenish) and, should they fail to get back to the right pace in time, be executed. The event will only end once a sole victor remains left standing and alive, and the winner will receive not only an overwhelming cash prize, but also a single wish that the regime must grant. Lawrence’s film follows Maine-born participant Ray Garraty (played by Cooper Hoffman), who quickly befriends a group of young men led by the charismatic Peter McVries (played by David Jonsson). However, we soon learn that there is a secret reason why Ray is taking part in the event.

Continue reading “The Long Walk (2025) | REVIEW” →

The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) | REVIEW

Mia Tomlinson and Patrick Wilson in THE CONJURING: LAST RITES — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures / New Line Cinema (still image from trailers).

Directed by Michael Chaves — Screenplay by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick.

We’ve come a long way since the first film about the demonologist duo and married couple Ed and Lorraine Warren, The Conjuring, from director James Wan. Depending on whether you count The Curse of La Llorona, there are now nine or ten films in the film series, with its reported conclusion, 2025’s The Conjuring: Last Rites, serving as the dot at the end of the sentence. Like with The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and The Nun 2, this latest film is directed by Michael Chaves, who, despite receiving mixed reviews for his films, has long been positioned as the heir apparent to James Wan (The Conjuring; Insidious; Saw). Chaves has failed in his attempts to reach the height of his mentor’s films, and, in the process of trying to continue Wan’s work in this connected universe of films, has turned in, at best, merely lukewarm films. Does the purported conclusion to the story of the Warrens improve things for Chaves? Well, his latest film still cannot hold a candle to Wan’s Conjuring films, but, to Chaves’ credit, I think this is his most entertaining film yet. 

Continue reading “The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) | REVIEW” →

Weapons (2025) | REVIEW

One of the vanishing kids running down the street in Zach Cregger’s Weapons — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Zach Cregger — Screenplay by Zach Cregger.

Whenever an up-and-coming new filmmaker, whose previous film had the makings of a bona fide genre classic, is about to turn in his latest film, you pay attention. You especially pay attention when the filmmaker’s script for his new picture was so highly regarded in the American film industry that it not only launched a bidding war but also, reportedly, got a modern horror master to fire his manager over their failed attempt at securing the distribution rights to it. Such is the case with Barbarian writer-director Zach Cregger and his latest film, Weapons, a multi-perspective horror-thriller with drama and comedy elements that had a memorable and fantastic marketing campaign built around it, and which also, thankfully, turns out to be exactly the kind of must-see thriller epic that I’ve been craving.

Continue reading “Weapons (2025) | REVIEW” →

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) | REVIEW

Jennifer Love Hewitt in I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2025) — PHOTO: Sony Pictures Releasing (still image from trailers).

Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson — Screenplay by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and Sam Lansky.

I often mention that my parents let my sister and me watch horror films when we were very young. We grew up watching and enjoying many of these, including especially the Kevin Williamson-written slasher flicks Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Luckily, subsequent sequels and later legacy sequels of Scream have been very satisfying experiences for me to watch. Now, they’re trying to resurrect I Know What You Did Last Summer with its own legacy sequel from director (and Thor: Love and Thunder co-writer) Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. However, it pains me to report that, unlike the Scream legacy sequels, I found the reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer to be a disappointing and often dreadful experience. It’s the movie this year that made me check my watch the most times, and also the worst film I’ve seen in a theater so far in 2025.

Continue reading “I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) | REVIEW” →

28 Years Later (2025) | REVIEW

A mysterious bone temple in Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later — PHOTO: Sony Pictures Releasing (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Danny Boyle (Yesterday) — Screenplay by Alex Garland (Annihilation).

Nowadays, we’re inundated with zombie, or zombie-adjacent, entertainment, which, once upon a time, was popularized by George A. Romero. But before The Last of Us and before The Walking Dead, there was an early 2000s zombie movie revival — e.g., the Resident Evil film adaptation, Shaun of the Dead, and 28 Days Later — the effects, influence, and iconography of which are still being felt to this day. Two of the primary voices in this revival — though I doubt they thought of themselves as such — were Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, the director and writer, respectively, of 28 Days Later. Here was a film, which was filmed in the UK at the time of the 9/11 attacks in the US, about civilization breaking down, about how quickly we can be turned into people blinded by rage, and about how important it is to hold on to our humanity. Now, 23 years later, following both Brexit and the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown, Garland and Boyle have re-teamed to continue the story of the rage-virus that shook their world and humanity’s varied response to it with 28 Years Later. It’s one of the most anticipated genre films of the year, but does it live up to all the buildup? Well, I really like this film, but, due to certain elements that are sure-to-be divisive, I think it’s only fair to say that the answer must be a tentative ‘yes and no.’ Let’s dive in.

Continue reading “28 Years Later (2025) | REVIEW” →

Dangerous Animals (2025) | REVIEW

Jai Courtney in Sean Byrne’s DANGEROUS ANIMALS — PHOTO: IFC FILMS (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Sean Byrne — Screenplay by Nick Lepard.

Dangerous Animals is a survival horror shark film from Aussie director Sean Byrne that follows a female American drifter surfer named Zephyr (played by Hassie Harrison), who, after a romantic encounter with a young Aussie real estate agent (Moses, played by Josh Heuston), has cold feet and skedaddles away to to a beach to surf, without saying goodbye. However, before she can catch the waves late at night, she runs into Tucker (played by Jai Courtney), an eccentric Aussie boat captain who makes money taking tourists out to swim with sharks in cage dives. However, Tucker is not a friendly stranger, as he actually abducts Zephyr and traps her on his boat. It turns out that Tucker is a sadistic murderer who gets off on videotaping people getting eaten alive by sharks. While Zephyr tries to escape the boat, Moses partakes in an official search for the woman whom he was smitten by.

Continue reading “Dangerous Animals (2025) | REVIEW” →

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) | REVIEW

A hulking Predator in PREDATOR: KILLER OF KILLERS — PHOTO: DISNEY.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg — Screenplay by Micho Robert Rutare.

With 2022’s Prey, 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg proved himself capable of shepherding the Predator franchise and steering it in a new and exciting direction. Now, in 2025, Trachtenberg’s next moves with the iconic sci-fi horror action film series are coming our way. This November, his second live-action Predator-film, Predator: Badlands, is set to premiere theatrically, but if you’re jonesing for more Trachtenberg-Predator goodness right now, then you’ll be happy to know that Disney+/Hulu just released a brand new Predator from Trachtenberg that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen from this franchise, given the fact that it is actually a fully animated film. That may not sound like the ideal way to tell these stories, but, in actuality, Trachtenberg has, with Predator: Killer of Killers, used the medium to pull off some genuine wish-fulfillment Predator movie moments that are exactly as out there and as gory as you could possibly like.

Continue reading “Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) | REVIEW” →