If you like first-rate kills, watch The Monkey.
From the get-go, the movie had excellent, unexpected gory moments. Throughout, bodies exploded and heads were crushed. The story itself was satisfying enough to carry through the scenes of gore, classic Stephen King. The movie did a great job of telling a Stephen King story.
Perkins, Osgood. The Monkey, Neon, 2025.
DESDEMONA
O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
OTHELLO
Down, strumpet!
DESDEMONA
Kill me to-morrow: let me live to-night!
OTHELLO
Nay, if you strive–
DESDEMONA
But half an hour!
OTHELLO
Being done, there is no pause.
DESDEMONA
But while I say one prayer!
OTHELLO
It is too late.
Shakespeare, Othello, Act V, Scene ii, 1622.
The latest addition to the Final Destination series was everything I could want from the series and more. The gore scenes were remarkable right from the start of the movie and, as the narrative unfolded about the bloodlines, the gore was worse because the characters getting chopped up and crushed were the protagonist’s family members.
This movie was made for its fans, but it was also an excellent gory horror movie that stood up as a modern horror movie.
Lipovsky, Zach, and Adam Stein. Final Destination Bloodlines, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2025.
If you like a slow burn, then this Danish horror film, Speak No Evil (Danish title: Gæsterne), is for you!
The creepy premise of seemingly nice people acting suspiciously sinister is held for a long time in the narrative, and, as a viewer, I myself waffled back and forth with the protagonist family on whether or not the people they had trusted were truly threatening or simply weird.
When the narrative unfolds into its ultimate climax and conclusion, the reveal and the final leg of the family’s journey is intense, interesting and quickly paced, which was a relief to me. I was glad that the movie wasn’t just an hour and a half of a family being tortured in the country.
The character development and narrative were complex and very well done, especially the subtle unnerving interactions of the antagonists with the protagonist family that gave clues that something wasn’t right. For example, early on, the protagonists give a souvenir to the antagonist family, and the antagonist wife’s reaction to the souvenir of disapproval and dislike of the gift is unexpected and awkward, and suggests so much about her as a person. The acting was subtle but clear.
Definitely watch this movie!
Tafdrup, Christian. Speak No Evil, Nordisk Film / September Film, 2022.
Going into Flight 666, I was anxious that I was being introduced to characters simply to watch them get their heads ripped off later on. I am happy to report that this movie didn’t turn into a gory disaster movie. Instead, the story, although cheesy, was an interesting plot for the premise of a haunted flight.
Not recommended, necessarily, but worth it for a movie night 🍿.
Pallatina, Rob. Flight 666, Slightly Distorted Productions / The Asylum, 2018.
The Visit was a solid horror and thriller movie: a good narrative, unhinged moments, and a satisfying conclusion … a list of accomplishments difficult to find in one movie.
If I were introducing the horror genre to an adolescent or teenager, I would suggest this one to see how much the young viewer could handle. The movie was scary enough to qualify as nightmare fuel without being too grotesque or gory.
Shyamalan, M. Night. The Visit, Universal Pictures, 2015.
Happy times and good sunshine!
After many recommendations to watch the recently released Nosferatu, I finally did, but I could not get through it. Midway through, I was seriously disappointed that the movie was just Dracula, and it was poorly acted (god, that main actress was terrible and Nosferatu’s Eastern European accent was embarrassing), pretentious and devoid of the drama that Dracula demands. When I gave up on Nosferatu, I cleansed my palate with the truest, most goth-girl drama version of Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This is the second time I have watched it this year. It is so damn good.
Terrifier 3 is not only a new horror classic, but also a new Christmas classic. I cannot recommend this movie enough. To me, it reaches a whole new level of horror, something fresh, unexpected and truly horrible.
Whereas Terrifier 2 had some disconnected scenes of gore that were fun but not necessary at all and awkwardly excessive, Terrifier 3 used every second of screen time to tell a story that followed the antics of the psychotic villain, a villain like Jason Voorhees or Victor Crowley who is more folklore than human and cannot be killed.
Christmases just got better with this classic added to the annual watchlist! 🎅🎄🔪🩸
Leone, Damien. Terrifier 3, Cineverse and Iconic Events Releasing, 2024.
I went into Appendage with an open mind, and I think that is the only way you can approach this movie. The strength of the movie was the main character, and her personal journey was enough to keep me watching from the get-go.
I am a fan of magical realism, notably writers Jeanette Winterson and Gabriel García Márquez, and Appendage was a creative contribution to the film genre, something we rarely see. The only other film classic I know of is Like Water for Chocolate, which is based on an equally amazing magical realism novel.
Appendage did a great job of manifesting the main character’s insecurities into the villain. As the narrative unfolded, the story attempted to make sense of the magical realism, which weakened the overall movie, to me, but did not ruin it. The movie ended on a very strong note that the villain was the protagonist’s subconscious, which confused me, and I think the movie would have been stronger without the epilogue. Either commit to the narrative reason for the magical metaphor or fully lean into the magical metaphor as an allegory.
Aside from that narrative contradiction, Appendage was really good, and I would recommend it for a movie night 🍿.
Zlokovic, Anna. Appendage, Hulu, 2023.
The Devil's Muse 