Editor's Reviews
In-depth reviews by our experts 🔮
The Fog
"Carpenter at his best made a horror movie that had a close resemblance with something David Lynch would have made. One of the greatest most deftly scripted and directed horror movies I have ever watched. It's perfectly paced. Keeps its ghouls in the shadows. Maintains the intrigue. And Nail biting at that. Intense ominous music. No reversal of fortune, no remedy, no tricks up sleeves. The only solution is to run towards the opposite direction. Pure fun, not at all complex. Pretty straightforward. Strange to watch so many similarities between this and Widow's Bay. Clear cut inspirations taken in 2026 from something that's more than 45 years old. Let's see. There was first Antonio Bay. A Mayor. A Sheriff. An anniversary celebration. Then the The fog. The sirens. The weird events. Undead men out for slashing. Boats and ships. Sins of the town from the past. A curse. Multiple angles of investigations. Except for the Flying Dutchman and its crew and the radio station over at the lighthouse, there are quite a bit of familiar territories that once got covered here. The only suspension of disbelief required was accepting the miracle of Jamie Lee Curtis despite being a tourist who arrived the same day the spooky events transpiring somehow able to know all the locations, the landmarks, the routes and the directions in the bay area. Two things that miffed me were- First, very strategically and conveniently all the expendable characters got omitted and the important ones got left. Second, the last minute introduction of an overlooked prop find as though the rules of the game got changed just in the nick of time to put plot armor around all the remaining characters. Well, almost all."
As Above, So Below
"So, Backrooms was already done 12 years ago!! Rec meets The Blair Witch and The Descent in this Creepypasta-adjacent pseudo-documentary in which academics and explorers team up with a bunch of Catacombs raiders in search of the great white whale of alchemy and treasure. Of course, what could go wrong? Even though much of the terrifying stuff in As Above, So Below are bizarre and outrageously overcooked at some places while undercooked at others, something about the whole spelunking and hidden clues always have a way to keep you hooked. If somehow they had managed to show some kind of Cerberus like creature guarding the gates of the Egyptian hell, it would have been the final link in this absurd chain of chambers after chambers. To be honest, though, putting aside whatever eerie sinister things went down in the movie per se, I was more creeped out by the call back attempt through the name Papillon."
She Rides Shotgun
"I can totally see this as a new plan for newcomers now. In the early stage of career, play silly loosey goosy preferably roles in fun, entertaining, feel good movies, the more action or sports-oriented the better. Then, the next stage is the sequels/TV show phase or the biopic phase. Building up the upper body is part of this phase. Then, the final stage is the creep phase. Shave the head and up until the hair grows back, play two to three movies possibly weirdos, felons, psychopaths, serial killers etc. That is the entire career of Taron Egerton. She Rides Shotgun has the same feel to it as a couple of, I wouldn't say exactly Breaking Bad episodes but it kinda reminded me of Banshee. To be fair, it's not a bad movie. It's just that there are like a hundred movies like this one available already."
Wasteman
"Tom Blyth's career-defining performance in a drama about prison cell turf battles where David Jonnson mostly keeps his head down trying to survive. The raw 4:3 aspect ratio emphasizes the anxious experience one notch above."
Red Rose
"13 Reasons AI. Sorry! It's right there. Had to grab that. But, in all seriousness, If The Capture wasn't scary enough for you, Red Rose will surely cover the remainder of the ground. It's in essence the episodes- Hated In the Nation, Bette Noir and Playthings from Black Mirror wrapped inside the humor, settings and character dynamics of Lisa McGee's both works, Derry Girls and How To Get To Heaven from Belfast. At first, I thought that's it, a horror out of teenage angst, friendships and romantic drama? It's most probably gonna be one of those shows. Gee, I was wrong. A genuinely scary approach of technological horror-thriller where a series of codes aren't just terrifying due to their abilities of manifestation, rather like bits of termites they can exploit individual vulnerable points, turn everybody against each other and any shred of trustworthiness gets hollowed out from underneath. The success for it, then in the truest sense, in the end of it all, would look like an advanced stage of malignancy to what's going on now, every single human being achieves one hundred percent solitary existence, nobody available to lean on to. Now, I don't even know if that scenario would be a dystopia or post-apocalypse.Terror induced in an unconventional way. It's still in the teenage category. But, that's intended and created deliberately by design, given all the other hazardous products in the market that could physically and mentally damage us are age-restricted. Yet, phones, gadgets, apps, social media and messaging services are not. And who else would be more susceptible to this drug than the creatures in their teen high on hormones that are swirling inside their not-yet-fully-developed-brains. With all the materials available on computers bringing forth the doomsday, this one particularly scared me to my bones. Millions of teenagers worldwide with their hands on potential apocalypse machines. If not for the last couple of hamfisted hands-on episode formula, it might have been a really great show. The last two episodes specifically seemed really exaggerated to a point of fault. The calculating strategies turned more and more to brute muscles and outrageous tangents. There were also a couple of non-answers and loose endings but I guess like many other shows, the showrunners had no idea this would get also cancelled."
Citizen Vigilante
"A dinky little B-movie directed by Uwe Boll starring a once up and comer, now disgraced actor as the patron saint of euroscepticism, corporal punishment and the great replacement theory. This guy needs to chill the fu** down and blink more. Even John Wick maintains a certain believable disposition. For a moment I felt this chill thinking I might catch a glimpse of Ted Bundy in those striking blue eyes. Also, so much wastage of perfectly good supply of blood and meat. I am sure it must've been difficult for Hammer to fight the urge while shooting. It's not at all Europe's Dhurandhar, this reflects more of a Temu Riddler of the alt-right vibe. Considering one's name is derived from arm and hammer who has come from the long lineage with an extensively colorful and chequered past, to say the least, it's ironic that Citizen Vigilante has to scream desperate showboating to this extent by using automatic weapons, tasers and knives. Why use an arm or a hammer or even display a workout montage wearing all black when you have got shiny vampire-like teeth and a killer cannibalistic instinct. It also has one of the weirdest customary sex scenes I have ever seen. Not to mention from a director who once literally fought online movie reviewers, one of them a teenager, in a boxing ring because he was and still is under the delusion that there is a cabal of critics in some basement hellbent on maligning his works, not that his proficient works need any sort of listing. Shia LaBeouf, Armie Hammer, Mel Gibson, Brett Ratner, Alejandro Monteverde all for the absolution. It would not be such a surprise if Jared Leto, Ezra Miller and Michael Rapaport are already in the pipeline for their second coming because Spacey's gotten too old for a resurrection. Jim Caviezel is up for a Jair Bolsonaro biopic not about his sketchy military past or his prior knowledge about an assassination attempt on Lula or the attempted coup rather about the 2018 knife attack on him by a Socialism and Liberty Party member. Jonathan Major has since found solace, apparently as a penitent man over at The Daily Wire. Who else is next!!! I bet Tommy Robinson, Katie Hopkins and Konstantin Kisin must've had quite a w**k watching this. Who we are and what we do has ramifications in our lives, and in the lives of everyone around us."- wise words doled out by none other than Armie Hammer, I thought I would never see the day to hear that. But, one minor thing I would admit. In that bus scene, he does give a great lesson on why the progressive taxation system is broken because of how one percent of the population has not been paying their dues by rigging the system."
The Coffee Table
"How little it takes to turn a thriller into horror. This shows why contrary to popular belief suicide is not a coward's choice. What a brutally horrifying and weird film. Thank you Spain for all the nightmares. However, this didn't need to be a whole ninety minute movie about how it's Sweden's fault. This would easily have become a snuff film, had it not for the extremely stretched out part carrying the dread and the devastating toll which is 90% of The Coffee Table."
Devil's Knot
"For a 2013 movie based on a notorious case 20 years ago, Devil's Knot plays awfully fast and loose with the facts. It looks so fake, almost a parody version of the gruesome event. The performances were all over the place and the whole approach was very heavy handed, like something out of a B movie. Except for the locations, those closely resembled the crime scenes and the surrounding areas straight out of the 1995 documentary."
Tony
"Apparently we are still not yet tired of these acts of brooding self-destructive troubled men mostly with mother complex shaping up to become world class chefs by channeling trauma through focus and gifted abilities as well as repetitive skills up until they shed their old self, find their true calling, achieve perfection and while some are meant to shoot for the stars, others left behind. Now, that whole formula means that many of the scenes are bound to click for the viewers."
The Rivals of Amziah King
"With one strumming string of a mandolin, a beekeeper prompts a quake to jolt the rich profiteer prick in his boots. I mean it's no Honeyland but will do. McConaughey takes over the whole screen with his glorious comeback which has been overdue as long as I can remember in this salt of the earth kind of story which makes it even more since he stays true to himself and on his own terms. In this age of melancholy, despair and sense of loss, angst and a lack of belonging due to all this deluge of information, technology, 24x7 news cycle, doomscrolling, and tussle between the government, corporations and the public everywhere one looks there bound to be subterfuge, agendas, nerve wracking anxiety in this nonstop overstimulating environment where restlessness has become second nature while endless commentary about something or the other is the lifeline and even the entertainment industry isn't out of it, and as we have started to lose sight of what's important and what really matters; nature, community, church, patience, joy, compassion, food, music and what have you, The Rivals of Amziah King felt like a breath of fresh air bringing in with it whispers of remnants that once belonged to a lost world that deep within all of our longings, we wish we could revert to. What's even more amazing is to witness a man from the deep south, Texas of all places to expound upon the values of the collective goods for a thriving colony over a profit-driven self-centred every man for himself culture. Think Captain Fantastic. Think Crazy Heart. Think Sheep Detective. Add folk rock. When that camera slowly pans for a close-up of a Jesus lookalike figure wearing denim rocking up a mandolin, I swear your heart will swell up to five times its normal size. Either that or because of their trans fat soaked sodium heavy food preferences. But, then it takes a huge turn and hops into an entirely different genre radiating an entirely different message and commentary. That's where it lost a bit of flow. Could have been told better if it was a documentary. I am sure there is some rich prick trying to take over small apiculture businesses somewhere as we speak."
Out of Sight
"Early Soderbergh. Gentleman robbers. Detroit and Miami. Prison. Prize fight. Freeze frames. Pretty boy charmer Clooney. Don Cheadle. Femme fatale. Plays like a rehearsal for Danny Ocean's crew. Peppy music. But, the real interesting part was how much a caper wanted to shed its skin and rather become a romcom. Very Thomas Crown Affair but more subtle, less showy and bombastic."
Deliverance
"Humanity and nature both lose in this wonderfully shot and directed film about a hapless group of men's adventure gone wrong."
I Don't Understand You
"Wow, that was a trip. Didn't see any of that coming. See, Eli Roth! That's how it's done. A surprisingly well-made dark comedy. At first glance, I thought what an oddly fun, wacky and weirdly enjoyable vacation slasher it's gonna be and then, it cranked the whole thing up two notches. It felt more like a 90-minute Inside No. 9 episode. Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannell's chemistry is out of this world. Particularly Andrew is unbelievably great. Almost every trick I Don't Understand You has up its sleeve since shit hits the fan can be sensed miles ahead yet the way they handled it with editing, acting, the dialogues, lights and score, it felt like everything was in perfect synergy. More and more people should be hyping up this one."
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
"A taut documentary about a horrendously gruesome case that doesn't beat around the bush, doesn't embellish and remains steadfastly objective without any prejudice for either side. The raw and MA status of a no-holds-barred approach along with the direct-to-home video style of minute by minute details of the trial can be presented in such a matter of fact way. The 90s documentaries were so real and hard-hitting before the cottage industry of true crime flooded the entertainment market. Paradise Lost keeps its focus on the records and evidence attached to the brutal case yet doesn't overwhelm the whole thing fixating on the gnarly details too much thus avoids being exploitative. Yet, it never shies away from the absurd ways the whole thing transpired, from the satanic panic and paranoia associated with the occult, death metal and the color black (in one word- emo) to the other possibly bizarre suspects and fascinating turns the notorious West Memphis case took for a while."
The Island
"Will go in the list of the most mindnumbing science fiction movies of all time. No wonder I completely forgot about this. Such flight of fancies and opulent display of ungodly technology for what? An outdated idea as the foundation. So outdated that even a drama like My Sister's Keeper has used the premise. Science fiction can't get anymore basic than this. Minimum to nill concept, high-speed chases, hovering choppers, vehicle collisions, guns and explosions. Typical Michael Bay. I guess this was a test run for all the upcoming Transformers movies yet to come."
Antlers
"Highly underrated and obscured. Weapons meets Cobweb in this folk horror out of a indigenous creature myth that gives a brutal lesson on child abuse and how it perpetuates a culture of generational bullies and potential abusers down the line. Like a cursed disease waiting to flare up. This one also has Amy Madigan. Remarkably shot by Scott Cooper with the help of a moody atmosphere in a town which looks like it's on its deathbed, Antlers makes some bewildering choices during the final stage that can only be explained as misfire after misfire and many of those choices don't even make any sense. The climax was a bit too rosy and fairytale-like sort of too Pollyanna about the whole good's triumph over evil, or so I thought. Overall it was a really disturbing, really sinister take of a town where the elders have been too hung up on their own issues and the authorities have given up on the whole village because nature has refused to cater to the endless needy pit of human species letting darkness and despair to take nature's place, gloom under its grasp. Even if not for the plot, Antlers should be watched just for its photography, lights, color and background score. This is a definitive watch for the fans of The Ritual, Weapons, The Outsider, No One Gets Out Alive etc, Enthusiasts of cosmic horror, folk horror, creature feature, the occult and grimoire and Admirers of Algernon Blackwood, Lovecraft, Arthur Manchen, Adam Nevill and even Stephen King"
Leviathan
"Political coercion and weaponization of bureaucracy in the lands of comrade visualized through the drab, muted aesthetics chip away precarious family foundations in this bleak Russian film about a quint little town where there is no need for any crime boss or slimy billionaire to be reigning at the top. Leviathan is pretty straightforward in terms of its family dysfunction but when the net is widespread, it takes its political culture, a barely functioning judiciary and a joke of a law enforcement authority in the veneer of a democracy including the historical trauma of Russia into account and its relationship with the people who contributed for the motherland, all left to fend for themselves, the overall view from the top is anything but all glory, honor and pride. What I am most surprised at is how this one slipped past the totalitarian censorship of the commissary. Staying true to its name, Leviathan pokes holes by showing how much religious interpretations can be bent to serve the rich and powerful and at its worst, how it can be instrumentalized in legitimizing the tyranny of the state. Elena Lyadova's outstanding performance elevates this crime drama."
Nick of Time
"Race against time towards virtually nothing with considerable stakes of course. This conspiracy thriller starring a young Johnny Depp and the usual Christopher Walken has that 90s vibe when these types of plots involving the deep state were very easy to come by. Too bad I already watched the Bollywood remake when I was a kid. Thanks to Abbas-Mustan and Shah Rukh Khan and what used to be the habit of taking premises left and right from foreign movies without sharing any credits whatsoever. Not so much as a "based on" or "inspired from". And as it turned out Baadshah wasn't even inspired from this. Post-intermission, most of it was just a scene for scene copy and paste. It feels a bit different now watching these 20-year-old movies to find out how real the casual conversations were. Unusually racist though which was on point considering it was all coming from the cops."