Tag: Thriller

Clayface (2026) | REVIEW

Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen in CLAYFACE -- PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures (Still image from trailers).
Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen in CLAYFACE — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by James Watkins — Screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini.

Clayface isn’t the first film based on, and about, a comic book villain, and I very much doubt it is the last. These villain-centric origin story narratives have arguably been more common with Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off universe of films, like Venom or Morbius, inspired by the aforementioned Marvel Comics hero’s rogues’ gallery. But it is a spin-off or standalone film about a DC Comics villain that has made the biggest cultural footprint, in the form of Todd Phillips’ Joker. Unlike Joker — which exists entirely in its very own version of Gotham City removed from the interconnected stories that modern superhero films are often all about — Clayface, another origin story for a DC Comics villain, very much is set up to be a part of the James Gunn-shepherded DC cinematic universe, even though it looks and feels more like a story spun off from Matt Reeves’ The Batman (both it and Clayface were filmed in Liverpool, England), which, notably, is not a part of the shared universe. While its place in the interconnected universes of DC Comics cinematic storytelling is perhaps still somewhat unclear, the film itself isn’t a headscratcher. Clayface is a thoroughly entertaining body-horror thriller that I liked quite a bit, even though certain characters are particularly thinly drawn.

Continue reading “Clayface (2026) | REVIEW” →

Animals (2026) | REVIEW

Gillian Anderson as 'Dayle' in Ben Affleck's ANIMALS -- PHOTO: NETFLIX (Still image from trailers).
Gillian Anderson as ‘Dayle’ in Ben Affleck’s ANIMALS — PHOTO: NETFLIX (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Ben Affleck — Screenplay by Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray, and Ben Affleck.

Earlier this year, I reviewed Joe Carnahan’s The Rip, an occasionally quite exciting action-thriller with Ben Affleck in a prominent role. Although I liked that film, I was even more excited about his next Netflix project: Ben Affleck’s sixth directorial feature, Animals. Affleck has long proven himself a genuinely terrific director of unforgettable films such as Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo. I also had a good time with his previous directorial feature, Air, in 2023. Another kidnapping thriller from the director of Gone Baby Gone sounded like such a good project. Unfortunately, although there are good elements found in Animals, it is a considerably inferior kidnapping flick. Honestly, I was surprised by how this just felt like another remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High & Low.

Continue reading “Animals (2026) | REVIEW” →

The Whisper Man (2026) | REVIEW

A distraught Adam Scott looks up at Robert De Niro in THE WHISPER MAN — PHOTO: Netflix (Still image from the trailer).

Directed by James Ashcroft — Screenplay by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer.

Every once in a while, something goes straight-to-streaming that looks the part, so to speak, of something that, once upon a time, would not only go to theaters but also draw a crowd. As The Whisper Man is evidence of, a serial killer movie with an A-list star and an otherwise recognizable cast is now likely to land on a streamer and face the potential sad fate of being buried in a vast and ever-growing content library while the world moves on. Although The Whisper Man is certainly nowhere near as good as the stone-cold classics of the genre that it is clearly inspired by, it is, however, too watchable to deserve being fully ignored or be treated as background noise for your nightly doomscrolling. It definitely won’t wow you, but I suspect that thriller die-hard fans will feel that this is the kind of film that definitely scratches the right itch, even if it isn’t particularly memorable.

Continue reading “The Whisper Man (2026) | REVIEW” →

The Last House (2026) | REVIEW

Greta Lee in THE LAST HOUSE — PHOTO: NETFLIX (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk; Grimsby; Fast X) — Screenplay by Matthew Robinson.

Louis Leterrier’s The Last House is a sci-fi survival thriller-adjacent film about a family of four — parents Ann (played by Greta Lee) and Jason (played by Wagner Moura) and children Ruth (played by Riley Chung, Emma Ho, and Arden Cho) and Graham (played by Noah Alexander Sosnowski and Gabriel Barbosa) — as they experience a seemingly worldwide supernatural occurrence in which barriers of water form around houses thus blocking anyone from getting out of their homes and making it impossible for any person stuck outside to get in. You can drill holes in the door and try to smash your windows, but then the characters in the world would see water form up and block the holes and prevent the windows from shattering and falling apart. Although the electricity works (for now) and they have air coming in and access to running water, they only have a limited amount of food and medicine, and they have no way of contacting the outer world other than to hold up signs for neighbors to see. Meanwhile, rain often falls outside their windows, and soon they start getting the idea that some creature, or creatures, may be outside and that they may be a serious threat to their lives.

Continue reading “The Last House (2026) | REVIEW” →

Apex (2026) | REVIEW

Trailer title card — PHOTO: Netflix (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur (Everest; Beast) — Screenplay by Jeremy Robbins.

Baltasar Kormákur’s Apex is a straight-to-streaming Netflix survival thriller that follows Sasha (played by Charlize Theron), a rock climber who lost her partner, Tommy (played by Eric Bana), in a rock-climbing accident. Some time later, Sasha finds herself in the wilderness of Australia, where she encounters Ben (played by Taron Egerton), a stranger who knows the surroundings like the back of his hand. After he intervenes and helps Sasha from a possible confrontation with two strange hunters, Ben gives Sasha two routes to her desired location, and she chooses the harder one. After kayaking, she sleeps in the wilderness and awakes to see that some of her things have been stolen. She makes her way to Ben’s camp, eventually, and he gives her the supplies she needs. But here she learns that his intentions aren’t good. He takes out a crossbow and gives her a chance to run for her escape, as he now intends to hunt her.

Continue reading “Apex (2026) | REVIEW” →

Serenity (2019) | REVIEW

Matthew McConaughey in Steven Knight’s Serenity — PHOTO: Aviron Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Steven Knight — Screenplay by Steven Knight.

Steven Knight’s Serenity follows Baker Dill (played by Matthew McConaughey), a fishing boat captain living on the relatively secluded Plymouth Island. Dill is obsessed with catching a tuna that he nicknames ‘Justice,’ and when he isn’t smoking, fishing, or drinking, he spends time with Diane Lane’s character, ‘Constance.’ One day, Dill’s ex-wife Karen (played by Anne Hathaway) shows up and begs him to take her new husband, Frank (played by Jason Clarke), out on the water and have him killed for abusing her and Dill and Karen’s son. As Dill contemplates whether or not he should do it, he starts to question the nature of his own reality. Since this isn’t a new release, and since I’d like to address the craziness of this film directly, this is going to be more of a spoiler review, best read after you’ve seen the film.

Continue reading “Serenity (2019) | REVIEW” →

No Other Choice (2025) | REVIEW

Lee Byung-hun, as Man-su, considering dropping a potted plant of red peppers onto a competitor on the job market in NO OTHER CHOICE — PHOTO: NEON / CJ Entertainment (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Park Chan-wook — Screenplay by Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Lee Ja-hye.

Whenever a new film from South Korean master filmmaker Park Chan-wook comes out, it flies right to the top of my watchlist. Every film of his that I have seen thus far, like his iconic, violent, and shocking Vengeance Trilogy or his phenomenal erotic historical thriller The Handmaiden, has wowed me. Just a few years ago, he released yet another masterpiece with the incredibly rewatchable crime-romance thriller Decision to Leave, whose style showcased Park at his very best and cemented him as one of the world’s best visual storytellers. His latest film, No Other Choice, an adaptation of Donald Westlake’s novel The Ax (which was previously adapted in the mid-2000s by Costa-Gavras, to whom Park’s film is dedicated), is yet another fantastic example of Park’s strengths.

Continue reading “No Other Choice (2025) | REVIEW” →

The Rip (2026) | REVIEW

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in THE RIP — PHOTO: NETFLIX (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Joe Carnahan — Screenplay by Joe Carnahan.

We’re only a few weeks into the new year, and we already have a freshly made and relatively high-profile action thriller to feast on. That high-profile feature is Netflix’s The Rip, which brings together famous friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in a film built around drug money, dirty cops, and snitches. The Rip, from The Grey-filmmaker Joe Carnahan (who, in recent years, has been making plenty of B-movie action films), is the first 2026 film that I am reviewing, and it also happens to be the first 2026 film that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s not high art, but it is exactly the kind of straight-to-streaming action thriller star-vehicle that you would want to chew on in January. 

Continue reading “The Rip (2026) | REVIEW” →

Bugonia (2025) | REVIEW

Emma Stone in Yorgos Lanthimos’ BUGONIA — PHOTO: Focus Features (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things; Kinds of Kindness) — Screenplay by Will Tracy (The Menu).

Bugonia marks the 4th collaboration between multiple Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone and the most famous filmmaker of the so-called ‘Greek Weird Wave’ (and in a row, no less). Their latest film together is an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s black comedy titled Save the Green Planet!, a South Korean film released in 2003. Though initially conceived as an opportunity for Jang, the original filmmaker, to direct the English-language remake of his own film for an international audience (not unlike what Ole Bornedal did with his English-language Nightwatch remake in the 1990s), it is now, instead, a fascinating instance in which a European auteur is adapting an Asian original story though in a North American setting. In a way, that almost intercontinental approach is fitting for a film about people who may or may not come from different worlds in more ways than one. It’s also, frankly, a really effective film.

Continue reading “Bugonia (2025) | REVIEW” →

Eenie Meanie (2025) | REVIEW

Karl Glusman and Samara Weaving in EENIE MEANIE — PHOTO: 20th Century Studios.

Directed by Shawn Simmons — Screenplay by Shawn Simmons.

Shawn Simmons’ Eenie Meanie is a crime comedy-thriller that follows Edie (played by Samara Weaving), who has a past as a getaway driver. Edie has just found out that she is pregnant, and so she decides to seek out the child’s ne’er-do-well father, John (played by Karl Glusman), whom she hasn’t been with in months. When she shows up at his apartment, however, she becomes entangled in a web of crime to which her former lover is stuck. To save the father of her child, Edie will have to put some of her old skills to good use to do a job.

Continue reading “Eenie Meanie (2025) | REVIEW” →