Tag Archives: horror

Sovereign (2025)

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June 20

Movie 20

I’m not sure how to feel about this one.

Sovereign was a film starring Nick Offerman and Jacob Tremblay that I found after an exhaustive search for a film this morning for the June Swoon 5. Nothing was tripping my trigger until I came across this movie on Hulu. I like both of the actors of this film (which also included Dennis Quaid) and it had a high Rotten Tomatoes score so I decided to put it on.

It was a film that I had a problem with becoming engaged with as the character played by Offerman, Jerry Kane, was such a brusque, unwavering individual with thoughts and opinions that were revolutionary or conspiratorial. It was clear that Jerry had been indoctrinating his son Joe (Tremblay) into his way of thinking, even though Joe did not always seem to be okay with the ideas.

Watching these two interact with the world and the eventual results of the choices was heartbreaking and very difficult to watch. The film certainly did not leave me with a positive feeling.

Both Nick Offerman and Jacob Tremblay played their roles brilliantly. There was a raw, visceral feel around the characters. Jerry stuck in his ways and lost in himself and Joe who could see a way out, but was tied to his father.

This film is based on a true crime drama and, as I said, I am split on it. I did not find the experience of watching Sovereign an enjoyable one, but the two main performances were so excellent that I am glad that I watched it. It did not leave me in a positive mindset, but there are a lot of strengths to the creation of the film including some wonder cinematography and direction that make the film special.

It is one of those movies that I am glad to have seen but never want to watch again.

Widow’s Bay S1 E10

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Spoilers

“We Hope You Enjoyed Your Time”

Widow’s Bay has been one of the best shows on TV recently. The Apple TV show was a real surprise with how wonderful it was. A wonderful blend of comedy and horror, Widow’s Bay ended their first season with a big twist.

All season long, I was making references to LOST with this show, and this episode drove those references wildly. We get a shot of what looked exactly like the moment when the hatch was opened and they were looking down the shaft. This was with Evan and his friends looked down the shaft. I recognized that shot right away.. it was just missing Jack and John looking down.

Another LOST allusion was the discovery of the film cannister explaining how to sacrifice people to the island. I said out loud after that scene ended that “We need to watch that again” which was a famous line said by both John Locke and Mr. Eko in LOST. This film in this episode was right out of the Dharma Initiative training.

There is also major issues about births on the two shows. On LOST, women could not successfully give birth on the Island and on Widow’s Bay, children born on the island can not leave or they would die. Just the idea that both shows refer to the Island as if it were a real person is a connection that is here.

There are times when I see things that remind me of LOST that are probably not there, or are just my own over-analysis. These are not the case. I refuse to believe that this is anything but an homage to LOST.

The whole Ruth is the final descendent of Richard Warren storyline brought us the big twist. The whole time Tom was in her house, preparing to do her in, I was holding my breath, hoping beyond all hope that he would not kill her. When Bechir left the bunker, I knew what he was going to do. The show tried to make you think that he was going to try and prevent Tom from killing Ruth, but I could see his motivation coming. I was shocked though when he shot her in the back of the head (apparently only glancing, though).

Making Ruth the “secret-mother” of Tom’s wife Lauren was a stroke of genius, which means, of course, that Evan is the last surviving descent of Warren, which immediately switches Tom’s motivation. It is probably a major storyline moving into season 2.

Ruth seemed to be able to survive all of these murder attempts, not falling victim to Tom’s tea poison and not dying after the sheriff shot her in the head. I sure hope she did survive the night, because she was awesome and who else is going to help Deidre up and down her steps?

Does that bell ringing at the end of the episode mean that the island wants 8 more sacrifices? That is sure what I took from it. I assume that Kenny was the first sacrifice, which is why the storm subdued in such a rapid fire moment.

Matthew Rhys was astonishing in this role all season, but his performance here was Emmy worthy.

I hope we do not have to wait too long for season two. The show has been renewed for a second season and no show on TV deserves one more than Widow’s Bay.

Hallow Road (2025)

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June 17

Day 17

This morning, I watched a psychological thriller/horror film called Hallow Road, and it disturbed me. It was tense and taught, but I am not sure how I feel about the ending.

According to IMDB, “Two parents enter a race against time when they receive a distressing late-night phone call from their daughter after she caused a tragic car accident.”

The film featured two outstanding performances at the center of the story from Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys. When I saw Matthew Rhys attached to this film, I was excited as I am truly enjoying his work on Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay. I did not realize that Rosamund Pike was involved until the movie was underway.

Both Rhys and Pike were amazing as panicked parents responding to their daughter’s desperate phone call in the middle of the night. They each showed the entire gamut of emotions as the situation grew worse. Most of the movie took place with the parents inside their car, speaking to their daughter on the phone. The helplessness they felt came through with every new revelation and every unexpected twist.

When it became clear that this movie was taking a shift from compelling family drama into something more mysterious, I was not sure how to feel. While, the unnatural story beats worked as a surprise, I am not sure that it was the route I wanted to see the movie take. It was a sudden shift that, while teased, felt like it came out of nowhere.

However, the film was full of suspense the entire time and the result at the end was powerful. I wonder how powerful it could been if it did not have the twist of story.

The fantastic acting of Pike and Rhys carries this movie and they alone are reasons to see it. I found this on Hulu after a friend’s review from earlier this year.

Deep Water (2026)

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I do love me some shark movies. Even the bad ones, which there are a lot, have their share of fun and wild moments. Deep Water, which is a return to form for Finnish film director Renny Harlin, has its share of moments and scares.

According to IMDB, “A group of international passengers en route from Los Angeles to Shanghai are forced to make an emergency landing in shark-infested waters. Now they must work together in hopes to overcome the frenzy of sharks drawn to the wreckage.”

There were a group of superficial characters that meant little to me, but there were some intriguing characters that I liked very much. Finally, there was at least one jerk who I wanted to become a shark-burger. Most of the characters were kind of dull, but I still found myself rooting for most of them.

I was shocked to see both Aaron Eckhart and Sir Ben Kingsley in this cast, as I felt as if this film was a B-level film at best. I still think that is the case, but it is always great to see Kingsley in anything.

There were enough interpersonal relationships between the characters to keep them from being more than juts chum for the sharks. Yes, the characters are not Martin Brody, Matt Hooper or Quint, but you can’t expect that type of writing in every shark movie.

I did think many of the shark attacks were silly at times, especially the one involving the helicopter, but their presence did create a sufficient amount of tension to keep the thin story afloat.

Harlin was unafraid to kill off characters in many different ways, and it did feel as if any of them were ripe for being eaten (or drowned). The stakes are absolutely off the charts.

Sure, there are basic story beats that you see over and again in shark movies, but they do work overall here and the plane crash that led before the sharks, was excellent.

I enjoyed this movie and the film hit me in the feels at the end, which is really should have. I think this is a solid shark movie and I am happy to have rented it on Fandango at Home.

3.75 stars

Ash (2025)

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June 16

Day 16

Today kicks off the second half of this year’s June Swoon 5 with a sci-fi/horror film on Hulu called Ash. Directed and scored by Flying Lotus, a DJ, rapper, filmmaker and record producer, Ash feels like a mixed bag.

According to IMDB, “A woman wakes up on a distant planet and finds the crew of her space station viciously killed. Her investigation into what happened sets in motion a terrifying chain of events.“

The good parts of Ash included the lead performance from Eiza González as Riya, the woman who wakes up and is confused by the gore and death around her. González did a very strong job of expressing her confusion and fear of the situation that she found herself in.

Another positive is the look and the sound of the film. The score made the film standout from some of the other entries in the subgenre of space monster/horror. The score kept the audience on their toes and uneasy as the mysteries unfurled around Riya. The film’s special effects and imagery was also top notch as everything, especially the body horror aspects of the film, looked specifically frightening or horrendous.

The biggest problem is that this movie, story wise, does not even try to attempt something different than what we have seen before. There are scenes that feel as if they were taken directly out of Alien or The Thing or Event Horizon or Cloverfield: Paradox or many other space monster films.

The film leaned hard on cliches throughout the entire movie. Riya had amnesia at the beginning after awakening to find everyone dead. I mean… was there ever any question about what had happened here? Aaron Paul’s character Brion was very cliche as well. The only thing not cliche about him was that he spelled his name with an “o” instead of an “a.”

The film was only 1 hour and 35 minutes long, but it felt much longer than that. It dragged through the first two thirds of the movie before a fairly spry final act helped pick up the action. I am not opposed to slow burns, but there needed to be something more entertaining during that slow burn to engage my mind. This did not have it.

The film looked great, sounded great and had a decent lead performance, but there is just not enough of anything else to make this anything but a forgettable flick.

Bambi: The Reckoning (2025)

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June 11

Day 11

I have had a pretty good run with the 2026 June Swoon 5. Ten really good, enjoyable movies so far. It is sad that had to come to an end, but I kind of expected it.

I have three movies I am going to today at Cinemark and so I needed a shorter movie. I just did a short yesterday and I wanted to avoid another right now. I found a film on Peacock that was only 1 hour and 20 minutes, that would work for the schedule. Unfortunately, it was Bambi: The Reckoning.

I have seen several of these movies. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, and Screamboat. Of those, I did not hate Screamboat as much as I hated the Winnie the Pooh movies, but it was not good by any stretch.

I gave it my best shot to come into this movie with an open mind, but that was wiped away early on.

According to IMDB, “A car wreck strands a mother and son in the deep woods where a mutated, vengeful deer stalks them. As local hunters and an obsessive grandmother converge, the forest becomes a bloody arena for a grieving creature’s primal rage.”

The writing on this is atrocious. I’m not sure that there is one redeeming character in the film. I was openly rooting for Bambi to kill these miserable excuses for human beings. Funnily enough, Bambi did not directly kill several of them.

The dialogue was basically yelling other characters’ names.

When most of these kills are funnier than scarier, you know you’ve got a problem. My favorite was the guy who got dragged behind a van as they were trying to escape from Bambi. What a completely random death.

There are some unintendedly funny moments and so little made sense. I could not bring myself to give this the “So Bad, It’s Good” ranking because there was just nothing good about it. Maybe if the RiffTrax crew would riff this, there might be something worth the time.

This may not sink to the depths of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey or its sequel, but it was nowhere near Screamboat. That is saying something.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #205

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May 31

Summer is here! Yay!

Another big week of books. I have multiple copies of some of the variant books out this week, particularly Mark Spears Monsters.

Comic of the Week

Exquisite Corpses #13

I found the finale of this 13-issue limited series to be spectacular. It has been one of the best series of the past year + and the finale hits the perfect step. James Tynion IV created such a top notch book and the announcement at the end of an Exquisite Corpses Season Two coming at some point was a thrill. This was one of the books that consistently had some awesome variants available, including this week as I picked up both the A cover and the B cover.

Books This Week:

Marc Spears Monsters #10. “Chapter 10: The Dungeon of the Damned” Written by Marc and Lucas Spears and illustrated and cover art by Marc Spears (Cover E- Bronze Medalist). The book featuring the group of monsters continues to be one of the more fun books each month. The art from Marc Spears is always amazing and each issue has exciting fights between monsters, this one highlighted by Dracula vs. Vlad the Impaler. What else could you want?

Flash #33. “The Speed was Power, and the Speed was Joy-Part III” Written by Ryan North and illustrated by Gavin Guidry. Cover art was by Gavin Guidry (Silver Medalist). Flash has to team up with Captain Cold to prevent a nuclear bomb from going off in Central City. Wally spends a chunk of the issue just looking for the bomb. Ryan North has brought his style of comic storytelling to this book and it has been excellent so far.

The Hab #2. Written by Joshua Dysart and art by David Lapham & Bill Sienkiewicz. Cover art was done by Charlie Adlard (Gold Medalist). The bunker where these survivors have escaped to has a major problem… there is something in the water supply that is causing horrifying hallucinations. Bad Idea has been releasing quality comics over the last year or so and The Hab feels as if it is right in with those other great books.

Escape #7. “Chapter 7: Hope and Delusion” Written by Rick Remender with art and cover art by Daniel Acuna. Escape returned from hiatus this week with a powerful issue as Milton’s plan to sabotage the Titan cannon continued. Milton has to face off with a whole bunch of the Fascists to accomplish his escape. Good to have this book back.

Corpse Knight #2. Written by Michael Chaves and art by Matthew Roberts. Cover art was done by Matthew Roberts and Rico Renzi. Foy and her undead father come across an evil unlike any other. This issue takes the world of fantasy and included more supernatural horror in its story.

Hornsby & Halo #0. Creators were Peter J. Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg. Cover art was done by Peter Snejbjerg & John Kalisz. This was another prelude to the upcoming Unbelievables crossover. We had another book #0 last week with The Rocketfellers and now we get some more on the background of Rose and Zach.

Doomquest #1. Written by Ryan North with art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. I also picked up the B cover variant with art by Mr. Garcin. Doctor Doom is heading into the past with a special time machine that he invented after hearing Reed Richards speculating about it. Doom faced some issues and wound up on the Titanic. I wonder if he’ll find Rose.

A Quiet Place: Storm Warning #3. Written by Phil Hester and penciled by Ryan Kelly. Cover art was done by Ryan Kelly. The split between the townspeople remained a problem, but things get even worse when the rain stopped falling. This has been a solid book, based on the horror movie franchise.

The Ultimates #24. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. I also grabbed the B cover by Marcos Martin. This focuses on the battle with Bruce Banner and She-Hulk. I do think this book has suffered recently as the end of the Ultimates universe has been slow going. I wish this would just get done with since the ending is coming. It seemed as if the Maker is finally free, so we can wrap this up. It is kind of sad that if feels like this Ultimate Universe, which was such a huge hit, is going out in a petering manner.

Hyde Street #12. Creators are Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis. Cover art was done by Ivan Reis. This is the second part of the Butcher of Hyde Street, giving us more details on this character and, apparently, killing off Pranky.

Feral #23. “Chapter 23: The Test” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner. Horror cover homage done by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner. This wonderful book continues to be exceptional. Once again, we get two stories, with one focusing on the cats from Feral and the dogs from Stray Dogs. Both working around the people who were trying to solve this disease. Feral has been one of the best books every month.

Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity #2. Written by Jordan Morris & Joe Kelly and art by Pere Perez with Rafael Perez Granados. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Marte Gracia. The Spiders continue their training with Norman Osborn, who introduces a robot that can ape any of Spider-Man’s main villains. Unfortunately, a villain is able to hack into the robots and set them all after the Spiders at once.

Red Roots #2. Written, art and cover art by Lorenzo De Felici. Red Roots has been a slow burn so far, but the horror part of this book has been solid so far. It has some interesting storytelling and I am looking forward to seeing where this will go to.

Wonder Man #3. “The Three Hours of Traffic” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by Farid Karami & Rachelle Rosenberg. The Spot makes an appearance in Wonder Man too this week. We get a battle with Spot, Wonder Man and the Grim Reaper. I also love that Hellcat is in this book too.

Is Ted Ok? #4. Written, art and cover art by Dave Chisholm. There is a major reveal in this month’s issue of Is Ted Ok? and it boggled the mind. The last half of this issue was as stressful as any issue up until this point. There are two more issues to go for this story. Can’t wait to see how it plays out.

Did You Hear About Mimi Green? #1. Written by Connor Goldsmith with art and cover art by Josh Cornillon. This new book from Dark Horse featured an influencer whose perfect social media presence is rocked by the reveal of a post she made years ago, putting down a woman because of her weight. It leads to a big time horror story… and one we should all take note of.

Detective Comics #1109. “Flight” Written by Tom Taylor with art by Mikel Janin. Variant cover Gerald Parel. Oliver Queen was pushed out the window by Arabella at the end of last issue, and Batman was there in case Oliver needed him to save him. Spoiler: he didn’t. Arabella seems to be quite the rough little girl.

Infernal Hulk #7. “The Hated and the Feared” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Adam Gorham and cover art by Nic Klein. The X-Men are taking on the Infernal Hulk because the Infernal Hulk believes he is the king of monsters, and he is putting the X-Men in that category. Or is there a specific member he is after?

X-Men #30. “Danger Room, Pt. 5” Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Netho Diaz. Cover art was done by Netho Diaz, Sean Parsons, & Arthur Hesli. The group known as the Danger Room is celebrating their major successes against the X-Men, but they should know that they should not celebrate until the game is over. And the X-Men are ready to strike back.

Planet of the Apes Versus Fantastic Four #4. Written by Josh Trujillo and art by Andrea Di Vito. Cover art was done by Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg. The FF get their powers back and take care of Dr. Doom, who turns out to be a Doombot. They head back to their own time with a lot of questions about the Planet of the Apes.

Justice League Unlimited #19. Written by Mark Waid and art by Dan Mora. Variant Cover D was done by Mario “Fox” Foccillo. The Justice League is taking some criticism for their new amnesty program for super villains. Who knew that Lex Luthor might be the one to straighten things out?

Wiccan and Hulkling: Raid of Ultron #1. Written by Wyatt Kennedy, Zoe Tunnell, Tegan Quin, and Josh Trujillo with art by Stephen Byrne, Rachel Stott, Luciano Vecchio and Bradley Clayton. Cover art was done by Russell Dauterman. What happens when Billy and Teddy throw a family get-together? You risk the chance that Ultron will show up. This was a fun one shot book with Wiccan and Hulkling.

The Peril of the Brutal Dark #4. “Chapter Four: The Brooklyn Bridge Incident” Written by Chris Condon and art and cover art by Jacob Phillips. Ezra sets up a meeting at the Brooklyn Bridge… but he winds up having to deal with robots. I have been enjoying the noir style of this Vertigo book.

The Life and Death of Lucas Dreamwalker #1. Written by R.L. Stein and illustrated and cover art by Francesco Francavilla. Another one shot book, this one written by the iconic R.L. Stein. This was a strange book as it felt as if I should have known more about Lucas Dreamwalker than I did. Then, I noticed that I had not looked too close at the title when Luke died and it surprised me. I guess I should have paid more attention to the title.

Absolute Wonder Woman #20. “Season of the Witch Part 5 of 5” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover art was done by Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire. Wonder Woman and Zatanna join forces in order to survive, but Diana makes a sacrifice that ends up in a surprising situation for her.

Other Books this Week: Final Boss #6, Superman: Father of Tomorrow #1, The Seasons #10, Honor and Curse: Eternal #3, Fireborn #2, Lost Fantasy #10, Planet Atmos: Exordium #2, and Gotham Academy: First Year #4.

Quick Hits: Quick Hits starts off this week with Sentry #3. It’s a sad story featuring Bob’s dog. In Generation X-23 #4 things are going poorly for Laura. I was able to get The Last Starship #7 from last week. Thanks Todd. The finale of Florida Hippopotamus Cocaine Massacre #4 came out and it was a bloody fun time. Pretty Hate Machine #2 has a cool dynamic with our lead character and the monster he sees. Elric: The Sleeping Sorceress #2 continues the story of the albino hero. In Your Skin #2 is another horror comic that tells us about an aging actress. Void Rivals #30 sees the end of the Quintesson War story arc. More weird alien stuff happening in 51 #3 from Mad Cave. Spirit of the Shadow #5 brings the story to a close. Exploit #3 continues the story of the murder of Cole Saxon.

Widow’s Bay S1 E6, E7

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Spoilers

“Our History”

“Seasickness”

Widow’s Bay dropped episodes 6 & 7 together on Wednesday this week, probably because of the format of episode six, which took us back in time to see the origins of the curse of the island with Richard Warren and Sarah Westcott.

Richard was a horrific monster back in the day, which led to them to burying him alive, as his wife Sarah took his children off the island. At the time, they did not know that this would mean they would all be doomed. I have a suspicion that some of the bloodline of Richard Warren survived that encounter.

The present day, Wyck and Patricia dug up the coffin of Richard Warren to retrieve the object he wore around his neck. However, they found a surprise in the grave… Richard Warren was still alive.

This was a hoot of a twist. I actually thought of the idea as Wyck was digging up the grave, but I never seriously considered it as an option. Hamish Linklater played the town founder and man who entered into a pact with the demon of the island. He was great, both as the demonic killer from episode 6 and the ancient man surviving in the coffin for hundreds of years.

Evan discovered a lie that Tom had been telling him. He found pictures of his mother, who he thought died in childbirth, alive while Evan was alive too. These moments are very powerful and Kingston Rumi Southwick, who played Tom’s son Evan, does a solid job conveying his heartbreak.

Stephen Root had some powerful scenes too as he recounted a time as a youth where he lost his best friend because of his own poor choices and the island’s curse.

Patricia’s job was to distract the sheriff so Tom and Wyck would get Richard onto the boat to take him past the “Dead Zone” because Richard believed that if he went past that spot, he would turn into dust because of age. Patricia’s scene with Sheriff Bechir Clemmons as she started to tell him about what they were doing was hilarious. Sherriff Clemmons tapped out and said he did not need to know any more. That was one of the funniest parts of this episode.

While it seemed this were good when it came to the curse on the island, I would guess that there is a surviving bloodline of Richard, keeping the conflict on the island.

There are three more episodes in season one of Widow’s Bay. This has been one of my favorite shows of the year as it really combines styles with LOST, Twin Peaks, and Northern Exposure.

Exit 8

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Exit 8 was another film that I could have seen in the theater, but could not make it fit the schedule. So I rented it today on Fandango at Home. The Japanese sci-fi/thriller is one of the best movies that I have seen in 2026.

According to IMDB, “A man trapped in a endless sterile subway passageway sets out to find Exit 8. The rules of his quest are simple: do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately. If you don’t, carry on. Then leave from Exit 8. But even a single oversight will send him back to the beginning. Will he ever reach his goal and escape this infinite corridor?“

This movie engaged me so much, I was literally yelling at my computer screen, wanting the characters to follow my instructions. It was a simple set up with a complex morality tale. I absolutely loved this film and the experience of watching it.

The film was in Japanese, but the dialogue was limited, which made it a breeze to follow along with the subtitles.

Kazunari Ninomiya was our main protagonist whose point of view we start with in the very beginning of the movie. His eyes were literally the camera to the scenes we were watching. However, that does not last long as the POV switched once he was inside the subway corridor.

There was also the “Walking Man,” played by Yamato Kochi and the Boy, played by Naru Asanuma. The young actor does a sensational job with nearly zero dialogue. To be honest, I am not sure I understood the Walking Man’s role in this narrative, but that did not stop me from being invested in the characer.

Based on a video game, Exit 8 had me looking for every little detail and found me frustrated when the characters did not see the same.

The ending of the film had me screaming out loud, first in desperation and then in joyousness. It was beautifully shot and made me extremely happy.

I loved this movie. I did not expect that this was going to be one of the best movies I would see in 2026, but I am so pleased that I took the chance with a Japanese film.

5 stars

They Will Kill You

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Happy Memorial Day. With the day off school, I am using today to catch up on a bunch of films, now on streaming, that I have not yet seen in 2026. The first film up today is a horror/action/comedy movie called They Will Kill You starring Zazie Beetz.

I had seen the trailer for this film in the theaters, but it only lasted like a week or so in the theaters and I did not get to see it. Honestly, I did not think I would miss it much. It did not seem to be my cup of tea. However, after watching the film this morning, I have to say that I was wrong. This was a heck of a good time.

According to IMDB, “A woman takes a job as a housekeeper in a NYC high-rise, unaware of the building’s history of disappearances. She soon realizes the community is shrouded in mystery.”

That synopsis does not do justice to this story, which, admittedly, is rather thin and coincidental. Still, this is not one of those films where you go in expecting a deep and fully developed story. There was just enough background in the film to make the action and brutality to come understandable.

Zazie Beetz is sensational in her violent, bad ass way. After her first scene in her room inside the building, the shocking reveal of what was going on was out of nowhere and I was here for it.

The rest of the cast was fun, featuring some reasonably big names including Patricia Arquette, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Myha’la, James Remar, and Paterson Joseph.

I found much of the film very funny. Again, this movie does an admirable job of blending tones through the film. It has comedic beats that feel like they work well with the gory horror moments and the action/adventure moments. It is not easy to blend tones and more movies that try to do it fail than succeed. They Will Kill You is one that makes it look easy.

I wish I had seen this on the big screen. I think the violence would have popped all the more. Still, I enjoyed renting this on Fandango at Home and it kicked off today’s binge in a exciting and dramatic manner.

3.8 stars

The Boys S5 E8

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Spoilers

“Blood and Bone”

Extremely satisfying conclusion for this series.

The characters of The Boys were all served very well in this conclusion. They all feel like they have taken this full circle, back to the beginning. As I said, this was so satisfying of an ending. It is hard to make a finale that really hits all the right notes, and I believe this one was special.

Hughie stepped it up big time in this episode as he really came through. Apparently, much of the ending matched up with what happened in the comics (which I have not read). The end of the episode with Hughie and Butcher facing off over the virus, with Butcher wanting to kill all the supes and Hughie killing him. It was wonderful that Hughie got be be a leader again.

I have had a difficult relationship with Butcher over the five seasons

Homelander’s fall in the White House’s Oval Office was fabulous. The battle between Butcher and Homelander was brutal and the use of Kimiko and Ryan in the battle was great. The final death of Homelander with the crowbar was perfect and gross at the same time. The use of Frenchie’s memory for Kimiko was beautiful, reminding her that rage was not what she did best, that herpower came from her heart .

Annie getting to be the one who finally brings down The Deep is a full circle moment, and the way they paid off the sea creatures getting their revenge on “Kevin” is great. There has not been a character in this show more despicable (except for Homelander) than Deep.

I did not expect that Soldier Boy had been killed last week. I thought Homelander only choked him out, but, apparently, he did kill him. Homelander made a comment about dropping him in the Thames, so I guess that was the end of Soldier Boy.

Sister Sage had her powers taken away with the Kimiko blast and she is happy about it. She does not have to lobotomize herself to enough Taco Bell and reality TV. Sage heading off to Harry Potter land in Orlando is a great end for that character.

MM is reunited with Monique and they get remarried. It also seemed as if MM is taking Ryan in too. It was one of the happier ends of the characters.

Of course, Annie pregnant at the end and involved with Hughie’s “start-up business” was cool too. It felt like another pay off for this relationship that had endured for so long through so much tragedy and turmoil. With Annie being pregnant after aborting the child in a previous season, I think that throwback is another strong character beat.

Terror RIP.

The performances of this show were all outstanding. From Karl Urban and Jack Quaid to Antony Starr and Chace Crawford, from  Karen Fukuhara and Tomer Capone to Daveed Diggs and Colby Minifie, from Erin Moriarty and Cameron Crovetti to Laz Alonso and Jensen Ackles, the cast brought it every episode and made these characters pop (sometimes even literally as head were exploding in moments).

The Boys finished off a strong season and a top-notch super hero satire.

Is God Is

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I saw a horror movie this morning that felt like it was not a typical horror movie. After that, I went to see Is God Is, which is a revenge flick that did not feel like a typical revenge flick. It was a good day for creative filmmaking.

The title made no sense to me at all. Is God Is? What was that? Honestly, I almost did not go to the film, because the title had me confused. However, once I noticed which film this actually was (I have seen trailers for this), I was excited to see it.

According to IMDB, “Two sisters embark on an epic quest for revenge; confronting a charged family history that will push them to extraordinary lengths.”

This was a story not just about two sisters, but specifically about twins. Kara Young played Racine and Mallori Johnson played Anaia, twins who had lifelong scars when their father had attempted to murder their mother by setting her on fire. I don’t know if the actor playing their father is known, so I am going to not mention him by name, but this actor created an amazingly horrific individual.

However, there was more than just the pursuit of their father going on and it made me question whether I should be pulling for Racine during this film. I loved the level of shades of grey in the script, which I feel gets overlooked in a lot of revenge movies.

I loved the way the film showed the “twin mind link” by putting what the twins were thinking, as if they had a telepathic connection between them. They just knew what the other was thinking, but it still ended up with a conflict between the sisters in the movie.

There is a great ensemble of black actors in this movie including Vivica A. Fox, Janelle Monáe, Mykelti Williamson, Erika Alexander, Xavier Mills, Josiah Cross, and Justen Ross.

The flashbacks to the horrible events of the past really worked to keep the motivation of the twins going as it seemed to start off as a road film before changing into a brutal revenge flick.

Kara Young and Mallori Johnson are outstanding together. You buy them as twins who are so tight that they know what the other is thinking, and, because of that, the third act hits even harder. I found the ending very satisfying.

4.2 stars

Obsession

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I looked for the classification for this movie on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, and the new movie called Obsession was listed as a horror movie. Certainly, this is a horror movie, but I thought this would be labeled as Horror/comedy and there was no mention of comedy. I found much of this film funny, and so I am surprised that it was not labeled as a Dark or Black Comedy.

Fact is I have never had a movie that I can recall that made me laugh so much only to make me ridiculously uncomfortable and uneasy.

According to IMDB, “After breaking the mysterious ‘One Wish Willow’ to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.“

Michael Johnston played Bear and Inde Navarrette played Nikki, our two main lead protagonists. Navarrette, in particular, really reached the zenith of performances as she seemingly embraced the absolute insanity of this character. She clearly did not hold back anything on this film. She was so unsettling which was remarkable.

Part of the film’s most unsettling elements is the sound design. Nikki’s screams were so unnerving and the music was done so amazingly that I could feel my suspense and anxiety hyping up throughout the movie. It was absolutely noticeable and purposeful, and it worked extremely well.

I was surprised how funny this movie was and how much I felt bad when I was laughing. The situation is a horrible one and it has so many tragic undertones, yet there are scenes played for laughs that underscore the pain and tragedy. I think this is a very difficult balance to maintain, and I think Obsession does it expertly well.

I do think there are some scenes that could be cut down to make the film a little shorter. However, I would not touch the third act of the film, which was just wonderfully put together.

There are some deep characters here doing things that make you see them in different manners. Our protagonist, Bear, does not seem to be a very good person, or at least, his choices seem to outline him as a selfish person.

I thought this was one of the best horror movies of 2026 so far and I look forward to seeing where the career of Inde Navarrette goes from here as this feels like a breakout performance for her.

4.4 stars

Something Very Bad is Going to Happen E7, E8

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Spoilers

“Something Living, Something Dead, Something Stolen, Something Red”

“I Do”

I love the synopsis on Netflix for episode eight. It simply says “Something very bad happens.”

These last two episodes of this Netflix limited series were simply batshit crazy.

Holy cow. This went in a manner that I never thought it would. I mean, I never saw Nicky backing out of the wedding at the altar, basically dooming his entire bloodline.

Nicky never believed in the curse that Rachel was so desperately trying to avoid. She went to the extreme by having Jules cut off Rachel’s pinky toe. She had to put all this stuff into a drink. Part of it was the bone of the bride. She needed the seed of the groom.

Honestly, the creation of this cocktail mixture was making me want to puke. It was so gross.

Rachel does not end up drinking it, as she has convinced herself that Nicky is, in fact, her soulmate.

So when Nicky stops the wedding, the sun goes down and the whole group of their bloodline started bleeding from their eyes and mouth.

The Witness arrived at the wedding too. I had forgotten about him. I also forgot that if Rachel called off the wedding, she would replace him as witness. All this because she accepted a proposal that she did not really want to in the first place.

It is difficult to go over these two episodes because of all the craziness that went down. I thought after episode six that Victoria had died. Seems that I overexaggerated that as she was only suffering a certain attack. Victoria was played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and she was amazing. Ted Levine, from Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer from Monk, was the father of Nicky, which I had not realized until episode six. These two are great actors and really solidified the cast.

I hadn’t considered why Jules did not die when the curse switched to the family, but it was because he was married to his true soulmate in Nell. That makes total sense. It was also why Nicky and his father did not die. Of course, when Victoria died, that said that she did not truly believe that Boris was her soulmate, which would be a tragic thing to live with.

This was a great eight episodes with tons of tension and exciting family shenanigans. The supernatural was used heavily, but it the perfect amount and the ending was so shocking that I never would ghave thought it would have been filmed. A lot of bloody fun.

Daily Countdown: Weird Al Songs #53

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#53

Tacky

Title: “Tacky”

Album: Mandatory Fun

Release: 2014

Written: Pharrell L. Williams/Al Yankovic

Parody: “Happy” by Pharrell Williams

Genre: Pop

Video featured: Aisha Tyler, Margaret Cho, Eric Stonestreet, Jack Black, and Kristen Schaal

Lyrics

It might seem crazy, wearing stripes and plaid
I Instagram every meal I’ve had
All my used liquor bottles are on display
We can go to see a show but I’ll make you pay

Wear my belt with suspenders and sandals with my socks
(Because I’m tacky)
Got some new glitter Uggs and lovely pink sequined Crocs
(Because I’m tacky)
Never let you forget some favor I did for you
(Because I’m tacky)
If you’re okay with that, then, you might just be tacky, too

I meet some chick, ask her this and that
Like ‘Are you pregnant girl, or just really fat?’ (what?)
Well, now I’m dropping names almost constantly
That’s what Kanye West keeps telling me, here’s why

Wear my Ed Hardy shirt with fluorescent orange pants
(Because I’m tacky)
Got my new resume it’s printed in Comic Sans
(Because I’m tacky)
Think it’s fun threatening waiters with a bad Yelp review
(Because I’m tacky)
If you think that’s just fine, then, you’re probably tacky, too

Bring me shame, can’t nothing
Bring me shame, I never know why
Bring me shame, can’t nothing
Bring me shame, I said
Bring me shame, can’t nothing
Bring me shame, it’s pointless to try
Bring me shame, can’t nothing
Bring me shame, I said

43 Bumper Stickers and a YOLO license plate
(Because I’m tacky)
Bring along my coupon book whenever I’m on a date
(Because I’m tacky)
Practice my twerking moves in line at the DMV
(Because I’m tacky)
Took the whole bowl of restaurant mints. Hey, it said they’re free
(Because I’m tacky)
I get drunk at the bank
And take off my shirt, at least
(Because I’m tacky)
I would live-tweet a funeral, take selfies with the deceased
(Because I’m tacky)
If I’m bit by a zombie, I’m probably not telling you
(Because I’m tacky)
If you don’t think that’s bad, guess what, then you’re tacky, too

Source: LyricFind