The Sign of Four

Image credit: IMDb

Having had such a lovely time with Partner watching The Hound of the Baskervilles, I was interested to see if there were any other Richardson Sherlock Holmes movies and was elated to discover that a version of The Sign of Four had also been made.

Famous detective and his partner Doctor Watson are hired by a young woman named Mary Morstan to investigate the recent death of her father’s friend from the army as well as the mysterious letter she received along with the Great Mogul, the second largest diamond in the world. What starts as an innocent mystery of a strange letter sent, soon turns immeasurably sinister with the renowned duo becoming immersed in a plot of murder and revenge.

The Sign of Four takes on a little more of a macabre edge than The Hound of the Baskervilles but nevertheless proves to be another enjoyable adaptation of a classic literary thriller. A timeless race against the clock to find a killer on the loose, the excitement of TSOF comes from the known human aspect of the plot rather than the supernatural course that HOFB travels.

Ian Richardson continues to be charming with a little more of an added heroic streak and a fiercer determination that colours some of the more memorable and action-packed scenes within the climactic third act. David Healy plays a lovestruck Watson adorably: slightly flustered, but mostly, sweet, sincere, and sometimes even cool (well, as cool as Watson can get).

The ominous settings of elaborate mansions, dust-filled attics, and carnival fairgrounds are shot in ways that nicely heighten the tension and the sinister and macabre elements of the plot, and the climactic final confrontation, while shot in brilliant daylight in an unlikely and constrictive location, is very memorable. The drama of the plot is also beefed up with the use of montage that conveys the passing of time and teasingly hints that there is a chance that the trail to the killer might even go cold.

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A different story and thus, a different vibe of film, The Sign of Four is still an exciting and enjoyable thriller filled with mystery, action, romance, and gore. It felt a little more serious than Hound of the Baskervilles, but still served us perfectly for a cosy Friday night in.

Director: Desmond Davis, 1983

Cast: Ian Richardson, David Healy, Cherie Lunghi, Thorley Walters, Terence Rigby, Clive Merrison, Richard Heffer, John Melia, John Pedrick, & John Benfield

The Hound of the Baskervilles

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I cannot speak for anyone but myself, but when I consider great literature and its adaptation into the visual mediums of the play, movie, or TV series, I think of England. The homeland of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the most memorable sitcom casts and comedy groups, the BBC, and the delightful telemovie. The British telemovie is a wondrous thing: a feature-length adaptation of history’s most captivating novels, made for a specific audience and not marred by the pressures of the mainstream box office and theatrical release. Some of the best adaptations that I have come across have been telemovies, discovered purely by chance and treasured for years afterward. I’m not sure what it is that tickles me about them, maybe it’s the sparing budget, maybe it’s the love for the story that they are retelling, or maybe it’s the idea that a large portion of the population may not even know it exists. Whatever the reason, I do enjoy a modest British telemovie and recently came across a classic on Amazon Prime: an adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles starring Ian Richardson.

Renowned detective Sherlock Holmes and his partner Doctor Watson accept an intriguing escort assignment when Sir Henry Baskerville arrives from Canada to take up residence in his ancestral home after the death of Sir Charles Baskerville. Upon his arrival, he receives a mysterious letter urging him to stay away from the house and the surrounding moors, which prompts him to hire Holmes to find the sender and their motive. The case takes turn when the superstitious story about a spectral hound that has been terrorising the Baskervilles for generations comes to light and Sir Henry’s own life might be at risk.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most celebrated Sherlock Holmes mystery and has been adaptated for the screen time and time again. In true, polite, British fashion, this telemovie is made captivating by the brilliance of the story, the wonderful depictions of these beloved characters by the cast, and the natural allure of the landscape. There is no glossy coating of an extravagant budget, but a modest, misty, and grainy texture to the film: an all-natural vibe that keeps you focused on the narrative as well as feeling the love and respect that the cast and filmmakers have for the story.

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Ian Richardson is a very charming Sherlock Holmes: dapper and gentlemanly, but still with a level of snarkiness and pride in his own brilliance, which comes across most delightfully in the cute and teasing way he leads Watson down the paths of his deductive reasoning. Donald Churchill plays a Watson that is consistently awestruck by his friend and partner’s brilliance while also harbouring a strong desire to prove his worth to him. The chemistry between the two leads is endearing and amusing; a very good pairing.

Filled with mystery, murder, romance, and action, the 1983 telemovie adaption of The Hound of the Baskervilles is an exciting little romp that’s perfect for a Friday night in.

Director: Douglas Hickox, 1983

Cast: Ian Richardson, Donald Churchill, Denholm Elliot, Glynis Barber, Nicholas Clay, Ronald Lacey, Connie Booth, & Bryan Blessed

The End of Oak Street

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It’s not always the case, but more often than not it totally is the case that going to see a movie based on nothing other than a mild understanding of the plot and its featuring actors that you like, can end up being the best cinematic experience you’ve had in a while. We sometimes forget that getting pre-emptively excited about a film can curdle the experience of watching it because (often) it’s not as good as what you excitedly imagined it would be.

A couple of weeks ago, Partner and I decided to have a spur-of-the-moment date night and go see a movie. Being based in the country, our ‘local’ cinema doesn’t hold as many options as the main chains that we’ve been used to having in the city so our options were limited. But as luck would have it, the cinema was showing The End of Oak Street: a thriller-y sounding flick that turned out to be an absolute prehistoric romp!

In the quaint, suburban community of Oak Street lives a picture-perfect family. But there is trouble in paradise. Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway) is unsatisfied with her marriage and writes basement novels about leaving her family and starting a new life. Greg Platt (Ewan McGregor) has been laid off and is trying to make ends meet and keep the family together. Their daughter Audry is thinking about life after high school, and their son Brian is both the perpetrator and victim of bullying. But when a wholly unbelievable cosmic event transports their entire neighbourhood back to a prehistoric age, their troubles start to look pretty small in comparison.

I walked into The End of Oak Street thinking that this will be a silly and fun dino-survival movie. And I was delightfully surprised to find that it’s so much more. For a start, it’s a film that travels a different road to the main, generic highway that most monster movies do. Regardless of species, zombies in Night of the Living Dead, the shark in Jaws, or the alien in, well, Alien, most monsters work as a narrative catalyst to spark dissension in the ranks, the breakdown of society, and horrific truths that humans are the really just the worst. But in The End of Oak Street the breakdown of the civility and the strain of human relationships is already happening from the first reel. Producer J. J Abrams’ love of Stephen Speilberg bulldozes its way to the front with the overly nostalgic 1980s suburban setting: an idealistic Golden Age that houses a crumbling nuclear family and frayed relations within the community. The ‘work’ of the monsters is already underway so when the dinos actually turn up, they become a catalyst for people banding together rather than breaking apart. And as the protagonists start to piece together some theories as to why their manicured backyard is suddenly overrun with prehistoric flora, completely unexpected plot twists bubble up to alter the audience’s ideas about where the story is headed.

Image credit: Village Cinema

While the characters are a dime-a-dozen dissatisfied suburban types, the central cast delivers performances that are relatable and down-to-earth that make you feel interested in them and their welfare instead of immediately loving or hating them. This is another way in which the film differs from other monster survival movies, as it gently convinces you to ride along with these people rather than sit back and eagerly anticipate the good ones getting saved and the bad ones getting eaten. And before you know it, you’re caring about them on some level, so when something happens to them the shock is real.

Filled with drama, action, and even a few humorous scenes, The End of Oak Street is a delight. It’s an unexpected romp that gently rearranges the building blocks of genre to make something recognisable, but subtly different to what we’ve seen before in other monster movies.

Director: David Robert Mitchell, 2026

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davies, P. J Byrne, Anne Gee Byrd, & Emily Kuroda

The Devil's Mouth

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While it’s not always the case, we know that there is an allegorical element to monster movies. In many horror films, the monster is a metaphor for something, be it war, global warming, generational trauma, whatever. While curling up with Partner for another bad shark movie on Friday night, it occurred to me that sharks have become a bit of a metaphor for that exciting but uncertain time between adolescence and adulthood. Think about it, so many of these film centre around a group of high-school or university graduates celebrating a bout of absolute freedom before entering the future grind of civilised maturity: the future is both exciting and scary and the severity of dumb actions and dumb decisions hasn’t sunk in yet. I had this realisation recently, while watching The Devil’s Mouth. 

For Sara and her friends, a holiday in Thailand before embarking on the next chapter of their lives seems like the perfect way to unwind after college. Beautiful beaches, scenic boat tours, and magnificent marine wildlife, what could possibly go wrong? The group finds out during a scuba exploration of the labyrinthine network of caves known as the Devil’s Mouth, where they discover that a massive shark has been brought in with the floods. As a series of incidents leave them stranded, lost, injured, hunted, and panicky, old grievances start coming to the surface and the fight for survival becomes even more fraught with danger. 

 At this stage there is not a lot to say about these types of small, under-the-radar shark movies that has not already been said before. The Devil’s Mouth ticks all the boxes of the coming-of-age eco horror subgenre, but I guess where it pulls ahead from other films such as Maneater is in its exploration of the resilience or fragility of relationships when put under pressure. That, and one of the characters’ deaths is not by being chomped. 

While there’s about as much narrative as you can squeeze from a group-of-people-being-hunted-by-shark movie, the film does manage to succeed in creating an ebb and flow of suspense, despair, and hope. Of course, there are a lot of instances where you’re openly telling the TV, ‘well that’s a dumb idea’, but more often than not there are pivotal story moments that you don’t see coming and I think this is what brings the film ahead of others like it, as it subtly forces you to become (ever so slightly) emotionally invested in these otherwise predictable and generic characters. 

Image credit: Pedestrian TV

There are ample amounts of gloomy, underwater shots with something large drifting in the shadows, as well as jump scares, and believable but not realistic shark behaviour that bring a good level of suspense, and the performances are solid enough to make them memorable for at least a couple of weeks after watching the film. If you’re looking for a mindless shark movie to watch, you could do worse that The Devil’s Mouth. 

Director: Jeff Wadlow, 2026 

Cast: Kathryn Newton, Lana Condor, Nico Hiraga, Gavin Casalegno, Tommi Rose, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Tayme Thapthimthong, & Harrison Luna

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Image credit: IMDb

It’s a shame when work, geography, social commitments, and life in general works to dampen your love of something and thus diminish the amount of time you spend doing/enjoying said passion. It’s also a funny and ironic quirk of life that if you have a job tied to a passion of yours, you inevitably end up not putting in any recreational time to enjoy it. Case in point, I love movies: talking about them, watching them, and going to the cinema. I have worked in a segment of the film industry for the last 3 years and the amount of new movies that I have watched has decreased DRAMATICALLY. I was consuming more movies when I worked at a Blockbuster! A sad, sad truth.

Having said that, my lack of interest in going to the cinema at the moment (aside from geography) could really stem from my current opinion that mainstream cinema, which is mostly what I have access to, just isn’t putting forward any tempting fruit. I can’t remember the last time I got excited about a new release.

Regardless, as Marvel-goers, Partner and I did make our way into the cinema on opening weekend to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Forgotten but not gone, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) lives life alone as a full-time Spider-Man. Putting all his energy into fighting crime and being the friendly, neighbourhood superhero, his devotion to the job starts to take an unexpected turn when alarming changes to his senses and powers start to occur. And since drama loves company, a new and incredibly dangerous mind-hopping threat has emerged with plans to teach humanity some hard truths about what (or who) makes monsters.

Considering that the Spider-Man story arc is all about growing up, changing, evolving, and whatnot, Spider-Man: BND is a film that leaves behind that teen-spirited, coming-of-age, fun atmosphere of its predecessors and opts for a more dramatic and self-reflective dive into Peter’s identity as an adult. We all go through that stage in our twenties where we really start to think about, and take note of, our identities and how we’re going to function as an adult. BND is a superhero exploration of that: exploring new freedoms, new barriers, new coping mechanisms, and identifying the things in our lives that are the biggest identity shapers.

Image credit: IMDb

While growing from adolescence into adulthood is a prevalent and very meaningful theme in the film, like with any story where the hero decides to ‘go it alone’, it does feel like some of the filling has been taken away. I think of BND as a jam doughnut that’s only been filled halfway: while the fluffy, airy, sugary pastry is still perfectly lovely to eat, I was hoping for more jam. While Tom Holland delivers another great performance and does efficiently carry the film, still injecting little pops of humour for flavour and texture, at the end of it BND is the angsty filler movie in a coming-of-age series. There’s always one and it’s not particularly bad, but it’s a phase that we won’t mind seeing the end of.

Filled with action, self-reflection, drama, and comedy, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is another perfectly entertaining movie in the MCU.

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton, 2026

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Jacob Batalon, Sadie Sink, Florence Pugh, Liza Colon-Zayas, & Mark Ruffalo

The Sheep Detectives

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We don’t say it enough, but animals really are wondrous. Think about it, they bring sooo much to human society. They help to feed us, clothe us, guide us, soothe us, they provide jobs in rearing, researching, destroying, and preserving, and they are so often used as such marvelous narrative devices. Whether they are outsmarting villainous fashionist divas a la Disney or satirising the rise of Soviet totalitarianism for Orwell, animals are everywhere and exerting more influence in our daily lives than they and we realise.

In Kyle Balda’s The Sheep Detectives animals, primarily sheep, explore and dissect the generic formula of the whodunnit while remaining a very sweet and moving family movie.

George Hardy is a smalltown shepherd who spends his time tending his flock: feeding them, shearing them, giving them their medicine, and reading crime novels aloud to them. When he is found dead one morning, his flock immediately recognise the telltale signs of a murder, and they put their love of crime novels to the test to solve the mystery.

Based on the novel Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, The Sheep Detectives is an adorable family whodunnit that is both whimsical and darkly intriguing: like a cross between Babe and Knives Out. Running parallel to the PG murder mystery is a deep and moving story about belonging as well as a shallow exploration into the social complexities of communities and the intricacies of their relationships.

A delightful and whimsical cast of memorable characters zealously dissect and follow the recognisable formula of the whodunnit genre, while simultaneously making fun of the genre by exaggerating key tropes like the inept authorities and hammering home the idea that the formula is so straightforward that even a sheep can solve it. Add to this a darling array of voice talents and it’s a few adorable ideas about the cultural beliefs of sheep and you’ve got a movie that is the perfect way to spend a cozy Sunday afternoon.

Image credit: Australian Catholics

Director: Kyle Balda, 2026

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Regina Hall, Brett Goldstein, Bella Ramsay, Chris O’Dowd, Rhys Darby, Patrick Stewart, Bryan Cranston, Nicholas Braun, Conleth Hill, Tosin Cole, Hong Chau, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, & Emma Thompson

I Know What You Did Last Summer

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While it’s fun to go back to the good movies from a bygone era, there is a joy to be had in watching the bad movies from a bygone era – especially the ‘90s slasher flick. Considering that the Scream franchise is up to its seventh movie, Chucky slashed up screens for over two decades, and I Know What You Did Last Summer got a reboot last year, there’s clearly something appealing about this eerie little subgenre. So, eager for some smooth-brained suspense this evening, Partner and I curled up and went back to 1997 with the original I Know What You Did Last Summer.

In a small fishing town, after a 4^th of July parade, a group of teenaged friends have a bit too much fun on the beach and accidentally hit a man on the drive home. Terrified that going to the cops will ruin their futures, they agree to dump the body in the harbour and take the secret to their grave. One year later, they are reunited and their guilt comes back to haunt them, as they begin getting mysterious letters and a strange figure with an angler’s hook starts stalking them. They soon realise that someone knows what they did last year… and they’re not going to let them forget it!

While it lacks the charisma of Ghostface or the suspense of Michael Myers, this classic ‘90s slasher is not without its charm. Arguably a modern take on The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, the real horror of I Know What You Did Last Summer is actually manufactured by the protagonists/victims themselves, each one trying to process their guilt and post-traumatic stress…unsuccessfully.

The arrival of the first mysterious note sends them down a rabbit hole of trying to find out about the person they killed, thus hoping to find leads as to who the stalker might be. As they find more clues, discover new truths, and get closer to achieving closure, that’s when the tantalising torment turns violent and fear, paranoia, and grief start to overwhelm them: strengthening the allegorical slasher.

The performances are a little shaky, unless someone is yelling in anger or screaming in fear, and the mystery portion of the story itself is pretty flimsy. The enjoyment of this film definitely comes from its stoic adherence to horror rules despite providing some tongue-in-cheek meta about the genre at the beginning. It’s always fun to just groan when the helpless girl runs in the opposite direction of where she should be going or calling which character will be killed next and how. And simple tricks like narrative misdirection and jump scares still serve to make us flinch and exclaim in mild surprise when the ‘twist’ happens.

Image credit: Medium

I Know What You Did Last Summer is by no means amazing, but it’s a film that does have some intriguing layers to it, making it a perfectly enjoyable Friday night popcorn movie.

Director: Jim Gillespie, 1997

Cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryan Phillippe, Anne Heche, Johnny Galecki, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, & Muse Watson

Howl

Image credit: IMDb

Moving a step away from the natural monsters that can disembowel us, but still opting for a horror in which everyone makes bad choices and thus create a fun film to yell at, the most recent Friday night couch movie Partner and I did was Howl.

Train guard Joe (Ed Speleers) has been having a rough day: the promotion he wanted went to a jerk who then dumps the graveyard shift onto him, the coworker he fancies declines his invitation to a drink, and the passengers on the last train are rude, belittling, and judgmental. But his day gets a lot worse when the train hits something on the track and the driver goes missing when out investigating. After hearing chilling howls, one of the passengers is attacked, and it falls to Joe to try and keep the peace as they run through their options on how to survive. And all the while there is a terrifying creature trying to get in.

What we’ve got here is a British werewolf movie set on a train. At the very least, this movie has a number of characters who you immediately hate and can’t wait to see dismembered. Having worked in customer service, there is a satisfying edge in watching movies with unreasonable, arrogant, and distasteful customer-characters who you know are going to meet a gruesome end. For Howl, it would have been even better if the lead character didn’t have the personality of a wet blanket. Strike one of this movie is that there are no characters that audiences are inspired to root for.

Strike two is the panicked and desperate script. The visual part of the screenplay is fine with a good number of disturbing monsters attack scenes that turn the stomach and jolt the heart. But the central narrative is weak from the beginning, the chosen environment limits creative solutions for escape, and there is an exposition dump in the middle that raises more questions than it answers. Not to mention the haphazard backstories of a couple of characters that comes to light under the pressure of the outside threat.

And strike three, the monster is revealed way too early. I think this is what caused the already wobbly plot to be completely derailed, as it didn’t work to increase the suspense or spark any sort of narrative development. If anything, it removed a good chunk of the suspense and put the writers into panic when they realised they needed some sort of explanation as to why there’s a pack of werewolves in this England woodland.

Image credit: The EOFFTV Review - Wordpress.com

I would only recommend this movie if you are looking for something to get mad at. It’s a film that begins with only the vaguest plot destination in mind and then gets completely derailed through its own lack of creativity. And sin of sins, there’s not even a good ending that brings any sort of closure.

Director: Paul Hyett, 2015

Cast: Elliott Cowan, Rosie Day, Calvin Dean, Sam Griffiths, Shauna Macdonald, Duncan Preston, Ania Marson, Amit Shah, Ed Speleers, & Holly Weston

Into the Grizzly Maze

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In our recent exploration into the realm of eco-horror we have tended to favour the aquatic terrors of sharks and crocodiles. I think the reason for this is because the underwater world is a frontier that is particularly scary because it’s harder to traverse and investigate and the predators that roam it are absolutely terrifying to behold. But Partner and I decided to give a different environment a go with Into the Grizzly Maze.

The film follows Rowan (James Marsden) who comes back to his hometown to track down a friend who has gone missing. Inevitably, his path crosses with that of his estranged brother Beckett (Thomas Jane), who is trying to trying to preserve the grizzly bear population, but has been tasked with hunting down a grizzly that has been attacking people. The two brothers find themselves, as well as Beckett’s girlfriend, and Rowan’s ex trapped in the labyrinthine Alaskan woodlands being stalked by the same formidable grizzly they are hunting.

Much more of a dramatic eco-horror rather than a rollicking rip-and-tear-until-the-last-man-standing, Into the Grizzly Maze takes the catalyst of a predator threat and uses it to drive the development of the characters and their stories. This is something that we constantly see in horror films: the civility and structure of society breaking down when surrounded by zombies, the calculating judgement of who can be saved and who should be sacrificed where the air’s running out of the submarine being circled by sharks, etc... But admittedly, it only really works if the characters and their backstories are interesting. The social structure under the microscope in this film is the institution of family and what circumstances can make that institution crumble. Rowan is an ex-con and his brother is the town’s local sheriff. Over the coarse of the film we learn the severity of Rowan’s crime as well as the circumstance that brought him there. But it’s very flimsily written, predictable, and doesn’t really inspire any hope for redemption.

The bear itself, like Jaws, is just a particularly large and aggressive bear and the real horror and suspense of the movie actually comes from the trials of the environment, in particular a number of gruesome injuries that (annoyingly but predictably) befall the two female characters.

The performances are all fine: admittedly I imagine it’s very hard to create an engaging character when the script is so lackluster.

Image credit: Disney Plus

Into the Grizzly Maze is a dramatic eco-horror that takes itself seriously and while there are a few intertwining plots that justify it being a tonally sombre movie ultimately, it’s a mediocre predator movie that fails to really get going.

Director: David Hackl, 2015

Cast: James Marsden, Thomas Jane, Piper Perabo, Michaela McManus, Scott Glenn, & Billy Bob Thornton

Dark Age

Image credit: Wikipedia

When we think about B-grade movies, in particular B-grade horror movies, we often think about those hokey black and white films of the 1930s made on a shoestring budget with party-plate UFOs on fishing rods. I adore these types of movies because while there is a sincerity and a love behind them, the budget often didn’t support it and it’s really adorable to watch a film where everyone gives it a red-hot go with whatever gear they’ve got.

In the 1980’s Australian cinema added a solid number of horror flicks into the B-grade galaxy thanks to the 10BA Era. For those who don’t know, the 10BA Era refers to movies made during a boom in Australia’s film industry that was fueled by Section 10BA of the Income Tax Assessment Act, which basically offered insane tax deductions for investors of Australian cinema. Basically, Australia was making ridiculous films because we bloody could and while a lot of them became global hits like Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max, most were relegated to the realm of B-movie cult classics. Films such as Dark Age: Australia’s answer to Jaws with a giant croc.

The film follows protagonist Steve Harris (John Jarratt) a park ranger working to protect and maintain the crocodile population. When an unfeasibly huge croc appears and kills a number of people, the pressure is put on Steve by his boss to rid the waters of the beast once and for all. However, the local Aboriginal tribe have a spiritual connection with the croc and with Steve’s help they try to persuade the authorities to let them capture it and bring it back to its original home. But as Steve and his higher ups butt heads, a group of irate poachers are out for the croc’s blood, as a few of their number were among those it killed.

In a nutshell the film is more or less Jaws but set in the outback with a giant saltwater croc. The same frustrating authority figures are more concerned with overseas investors and tourism rather than the at-home cultural degradation that their actions cause, and the same amount of testosterone-fueled idiots (albeit more violent and drunk) are set on decimating an entire species in the hopes of bagging the right beast for the bounty. Running alongside the central narrative of man vs beast, we have the spiritual and far more interesting glimpse into Aboriginal culture and their relationship to the native fauna. While this depiction of indigenous culture is a little dated and culturally appropriated/stereotyped, it nevertheless brings a breath of fresh air to the bloody and beer-stained boat ride that is this film.

Image credit: Morbidly Beautiful

While the last two eco-horror movies I watched had characters that lacked any personality, it’s very easy to immediately hate a bunch of the characters in this film and thus get a sick enjoyment from the crunching sound their bones make when they get snapped in half. The performances are all solid, inspiring you to root for the good guys and really look forward to the villains getting chomped.

Filled with drama, romance, suspense, and action, Dark Age is a sturdy b-grade horror film from Australia’s cinematic repertoire.

Director: Arch Nicholson, 1987

Cast: John Jarratt, Nikki Coghill, Max Phipps, Burnham Burnham, Ray Meagher, Jeff Ashby, Paul Bertram, Ron Blanchard, Gerry Duggan & David Gulpilil

Prey

Image credit: Wikipedia

In my last post I talked about the rise of the dumb eco-horror movie that we watch if we want something to joyfully yell at. Having watched a movie last night, anticipating that it would be a similar type of romp, I now have to add a disclaimer to my previous mention of this subgenre. The happy-anger we feel at watching these sorts of movies comes, in part, from the feeling that the filmmakers (hopefully) did not set out to make a serious horror flick thus, through bad writing, predictability, and mediocre characters it feels like the level of joy-ranting is justified, even encouraged.

Then there are films like Prey which were clearly made to be taken seriously, explore serious themes about society and its inevitable breakdown in stressful situations, but are just so bad you even get mad that you streamed it and lost over an hour of your life.

Prey follows a group of Americans in Africa who become stranded in the Ngala Reserve after a plane crash. Tension is already rife amongst the group which is made up a pilot who’s a smuggler, a married couple from a Christian missionary who have been threatened by an extremist military gang, a spoilt rich boy on holiday, and his hired guide whom he treats as a servant. With painful death threatening them from every corner, can they work together to survive or will the true, chaotic nature of man break down civility?

Nothing but bad things to say about this movie I’m afraid. It tried to take itself seriously as an eco-thriller, following the tropes of the classic zombie movie except in this case it’s lions. Unfortunately, the script is terribly written, there is no real chance for audiences to become attached to any of the characters, plus an acute lack of backstory which makes them even more unfathomable, oh and it completely flumps the Bechdel Test as both female characters get killed off before they even have the chance to have a conversation.

Like all films Prey had a budget, which clearly went towards securing a couple of celebrity names in the cast. The leftover change went to the predator effects, which is seriously footage of various nature documentaries spliced together (albeit sort of smoothly). The film could definitely have benefited from some form of consultant on the hunting behaviour of lions or the right way to try keep a man conscious after being bitten by a venomous snake. The seismic lack of any authentic predator interaction with the characters pretty much eradicates any suspense or horror that comes from being stalked and threatened with a violent death. To make matters worse, at one point it is clear that the writers lost the thread of the film and just added in more stuff in the hope that it would get everything back on track. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

Image credit: Filmaffinity

Even if you’re after a dumb predator film to yell at, I would not recommend Prey.

Director: Mukunda Michael Dewil, 2024

Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Mena Survari, Jeremy Tardy, Dylan Flashner, Tristan Thompson, Michaela Sasner, Godwin Asamoah Obeng, Alpha Miknas, Theo Bongani Ndyalvane & Emile Hirsch

47 Metres Down: Uncaged

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More and more in modern cinema, piggybacking has become the ‘it’ trend. Reboots and remakes and spin-offs dominate an increasing number of screens, most often resulting in a clutch of movies that audiences derive pleasure from in yelling at the stupidity of them. One genre in which this has been done so much it’s practically become a subgenre, is horror: particularly the dumb eco horror or ‘natural’ monster movie. Films like 47 Metres Down: Uncaged.

The film follows a pair of teenaged stepsisters who join their friends in exploring the labyrinthine network of caves in a sunken Mayan city. When a pillar collapses, the group becomes separated in the silt cloud and the noise attracts a great white shark that has taken up residence in the deep dark city. Their situation goes from bad to worse when they reunite and discover that they are now hopelessly lost, running low on oxygen, and being stalked by this terrifying predator.

With absolutely no ties whatsoever to 47 Metres Down, another suspenseful shark film in which a cage dive goes wrong, this film is more about the terrifying action rather than the suspense of a predator movie. Loaded with jump-scares and really doubling down on making a hopeless situation even worse, this movie is ridiculous but also kind of scary when you consider the real dangers that do come with things like adventure-diving, underwater excavation, cave exploration, and such like.

This fear-by-imagining-if-you-were-there is really the only thing this movie has going for it. The performances are fine, given that we get no insight into who the characters are and thus, they are all boring, flat characters that don’t inspire any emotional attachment at all. It’s definitely a movie where all the emphasis is on the suspense of the situation and how many jump-scares can be crammed in; the characters take the back seat, lucky to be in the car at all. Some attempt to inspire sympathy for the lead heroine is made at the very beginning during a schoolyard bullying scene, but it’s haphazard and then no further explanation is done on it so it becomes kind of pointless as an opener.

Image credit: GenreVision

If you’re after an obvious, predictable, and frustrating shark movie to yell at, then I would recommend 47 Metres Down: Uncaged. Partner and I enjoyed groaning and exclaiming in frustrated disbelief from reel one; and while I don’t believe that is ever the intention of the filmmakers, sometimes you just want a movie that is so bad you can get angry at it. Afterall, yelling and venting is often very cathartic.

Director: Johannes Roberts, 2019

Cast: Sophie Nelisse, Corinne Fox, Brianne Tju, Sistine Rose Stallone, Nia Long, Davi Santos, Brec Bassinger, Khylin Rhambo, & John Corbett

Anaconda

Image credit: Fandango

When you want to get out of the house on Boxing Day but can’t stand the idea of being crushed in a Lion King reenactment during the Boxing Day sales, where do you go? The movies. What could be better than going to see a dumb popcorn movie in the wake of the Christmas aftermath? Honestly, a lot of things but regardless, a dumb comedy-horror hit cinemas on Boxing Day so Partner and I braved the stampedes of the shopping mall and went to see Anaconda.

Griff (Paul Rudd) is a struggling actor pining for the old days when he and his childhood friends would make movies together. Thankfully, his friends are also going through similar mid-life crises so when he proposes remaking their favourite horror film, Anaconda, they are immediately on board. With Doug (Jack Black) directing and Griff and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) starring as the leads, the group heads into the jungle full of hope and excitement. But their dream quickly turns into a nightmare when they find themselves being stalked by an enormous anaconda.

While the poster gives off Jumanji vibes, the film is definitely more like Tropic Thunder: a bloody, rough, and brutal comedy flavoured with not-so-subtle social commentary about the state of cinema and the genre’s penchant for metafiction. The twist of the plot is also very similar in that it’s a group of filmmakers who inadvertently land in the middle of the story they are trying to tell.

The film is very much about the funny, filmmakers-living-the-film plot but there are some thinner narratives about friendship, growing-up, and never giving up on your dreams peppered throughout. A reasonably funny script combined with eco-horror and the gross-out humour that can accompany it does not put Anaconda in the realm of comedy genius, but certainly delivers laughs and cringes.

The performances are all solid, there is definitely a fun and friendly vibe or chemistry that flows through the central cast. It really does feel like a bunch of friends and cinephiles making a movie.

Image credit: Decider

While it’s nothing to write home about, Anaconda is a fun and mindless popcorn movie that delivers respite from the year that has been. Filled with action, suspense, a couple of predictable plot twists, and plenty of comedy, it’s a perfectly adequate way to kill some time.

Director: Tom Gormican, 2025

Cast: Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn, Selton Mello, Ione Skye, Sebastian Sero, Daniela Melchior, Rui Ricardo Diaz, & Ice Cube

The Roses

Image credit: Wikipedia.org

The cinematic climate in which we currently live is rife with remakes. While I am primarily of the opinion that there is a wealth of unexplored stories out there that could benefit from a screen adaptation, I am also inclined to believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a remake, as long as it’s done well. Doing a remake could arguably be as much of a gamble as adapting a heretofore unadapted novel, the pressure lies with the director, writer and everyone on the film’s credit list… and hinges on what is chosen to be updated.

Comedy, as a genre, is a tricky playing field, as what is considered funny today could well be downright offensive tomorrow. It’s the fastest-changing genre of cinema as well as the truest supportive evidence that art imitates life, so making the choice to remake a comedy is ballsy and tactical. We’ve seen a number of reasonably successful comedies remade: Fun With Dick and Jane (2005), Ghostbusters (2016), The Naked Gun (2025) etc; all chosen because the stories lend themselves to a brand of comedy that has managed to remain popular. Recently sprouted to add to this lush forest of comedy remakes is The Roses, an updated version of the dark comedy War of the Roses (1989) which starred Micheal Douglas and Kathleen Turner.

When architect Theo Rose (Benedict Cumberbatch) met chef Ivy (Olivia Coleman), it was love at first sight. A raucous trip to the restaurant cool room quickly escalated into a ten-year marriage in which Ivy takes care of the kids and cooks part-time in her restaurant while Theo designs a historic museum building. When a hurricane destroys the museum, Theo’s career is ruined, while Ivy’s takes off as her struggling restaurant serves as a storm-escape for a popular food critic. Suddenly, the roles are reversed with Ivy working full-time and Theo looking after the kids. But as Ivy’s career as a popular chef and restaurateur takes off, jealousy and resentment between her and Theo starts to bubble to the surface and soon the two are locked in a vicious divorce, trying to drive the other out of their dream house.

I did not realise that this was a remake when I settled down for an afternoon with Disney+. I am inclined to now check out the original because while I did enjoy this movie, I can’t really identify how I feel about it and would like to see if the original differs or fills I any little craters that The Roses was pitted with.

For the majority, the film is a delightfully modern, dark, and witty verbal jousting match between the two romantic leads. Cumberbatch begins the film as an ethical and idealistic gentleman whose inflated ego then takes a battering and inspires him to push other people to achieve their potential. Coleman is a charming and eloquently crass British take on the manic pixie dream girl who then becomes the classic displaced, sardonic mother figure. The two are delightful together, matching each other’s energy and delivering a very eloquent and darkly funny script with mesmerising, scathing finesse. It’s like watching a boxing match or fencing tourney in slow-motion; a compilation of when all the best and brutal blows are landed that is disturbing, yet you can’t tear your eyes away from it.

Image credit: Mubi

I think the film falls down during the third act where the all-out war breaks. The theatrical trailer shows all the best bits of the insane battle that ensues. Audiences hoping for even more vicious and absurd shenanigans are surprised during the height of the third act where the drama of the entire film explosively rushes to the surface. We are aggressively shoved into an anxious spiral of lost hope for a happy ending or any sort of closure. And then the film ends on a shock-gasp shot that provides the perfect mental space for the underlying depressing aspects of the movie – and indeed life and nature of relationships - to cover our brains like a weighted blanket. The credits roll on a mellow cover of ‘Happy Together’ that suddenly seems really dark, while we stare unblinkingly at the screen, having mentally blue-screened.

While The Roses leaves a lasting impression, I feel that the ending counteracts the hopeful threat of a happy ending throughout the film and perhaps it would have had more of a profound impact if the film had been marketed more as a drama with some comedic elements. Funnily, it reminded me of Remember Me.

But, aside from the bombshell ending that tears everything asunder, The Roses is a fun and entertaining look at the transformative intricacies of modern relationships, the dangers of career-addiction, and the romance of finding that someone who will have an EpiPen handy when you go into anaphylactic shock.

Director: Jay Roach, 2025

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colmen, Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, Ncuti Gatwa, Sunita Mani, Zoe Chao, Jamie Demetriou & Allison Janney

Wolf Man

Image credit: Wikipedia

Horror is a genre that is not to everyone’s taste – honestly, mine included. The funny thing about that though, is that it is the genre that I have the most fun talking about. For all their predictability, cliches, and often rigid cinematic and narrative progression, it’s what horror movies do and what they explore is that turns me into a gleeful mad scientist dissecting a freshly dug-up corpse.

As you can probably tell, the most recent film I sat down and watched was a horror. Partner and I curled up for a Friday night, choosing to spend it with Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man.

Upon receiving the news of the death of his father, Blake (Chrisopher Abbott) brings his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) to his family’s remote cabin in the Oregan woodlands. Upon arriving they get into a car accident and are then attacked by a strange monster. Blake receives a nasty scratch on his arm and while the monster stalks the permitter of the cabin, inside the family is suffering unknown horror as Blake slowly transforms into something bloodthirsty and unrecognisable.

Beginning with a flashback of little boy Blake hunting with his father and then jumping forward thirty years to adult Blake being the film’s protagonist, Whannell’s rendition of Wolf Man is an allegory and exploration into the many faces toxic masculinity and abusive parent-offspring relationships. Terrified of his own father as a boy, Blake tries to be the opposite for Ginger, but we are quickly shown that while the two have a very loving and close relationship, there is still fear that manifests itself in overprotectiveness and a quick temper. The closeness of Blake and Ginger also isolates Charlotte who, at the film’s beginning, is very career-oriented and disassociates when she’s at home. Tragically, during the second act when the horror and suspense is leading the charge, the forgotten love between husband and wife is remembered, which makes the climactic third act very moving despite its predictability. We’re not talking David Kronenberg’s The Fly moving, but still very sad and dispiriting.

Wolf-Man transformations have been spectacles of cinema for years from the original Wolf Man to the famous transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London. In this film the transformation is painfully slow and gruesome with bits of Blake slowly falling away: teeth, hair, hearing, and even mental comprehension. It’s a sad and horrifying balance of physical and mental metamorphosis that builds up a lot of the film’s suspense and terror.

Image credit: Fernby Films

With solid performances, well-timed suspense and jump scares, and interesting audio and visual techniques to convey the internal transformation of the protagonist, Wolf Man is a compelling film that makes the most of a minimal cast and predictable narrative.

Director: Leigh Whannell, 2025

Cast: Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Matilda Firth, Sam Jaeger, Zac Chandler & Benedict Hardie

Thunderbolts

Image credit: IMDb

Reluctant, unexpected, and antiheroes are characters that always add a bit of fun and spice to a genre that can be stifled and restricted by its narrative binaries of good vs. evil. While the superhero genre works similarly to fantasy, with magic being replaced by science-fiction explanation, it ventures further into the unexplored frontier of the human condition than the former, examining the swings between anticipated and contradictory behaviours in people in tandem with their personalities and their social, mental, economical, and geographical environments. The narrative aspect of the antihero or unexpected hero is a popular one in the superhero genre, as it explores the dichotomy of good and evil by truncating and localising it to within the personal parameters of the individual. It then grows from there, case in point: Batman.

What station did this train of thought come from? I recently sat down and watched Marvel’s Thunderbolts.

A group of mercenaries are sent on an assignment by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fonataine to eradicate some loose ends that tie the director to the O.X.E Group’s ‘Sentry’ project to create a new ultimate superhuman. But upon arrival they realise that the assignment is a trap and they are the ‘loose ends’. Working together to fight their way out, the group then make it their mission to ensure that Valentina is impeached for her crimes, but things take a turn when one of their number is revealed to be a successful patient of the ‘Sentry’ procedure. Unfortunately, the procedure also empowered the dark alter-ego of Bob, the amnesiac patient, and suddenly a quest of revenge turns into one of saving the world from The Void.

Thunderbolts has been loosely labelled as Marvel’s Suicide Squad, but the similarities between the two films really do stop at the fact that the superhero group is made up of not-superheroes. While Suicide Squad was about villains being put into a position where they have to save the day, Thunderbolts is made up of a rag-tag team of impressive people who are remorseful about their past actions. The line-up includes former Black Widow Yelena Bolova, Red Guardian Alexei Shostakov, Captain America understudy John Walker, Ghost Ava Starr, and the Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes.

Image credit: IMDb

The film is an exploration into the mental minefield of anxiety and depression and the ways we can get through it. Imposter syndrome rans rampant throughout the team, but it’s through external support as well as internal fortitude that they can overcome their mental humps and help other people. While subtlety is not necessarily at the forefront of the film, with the Big Bad being a literal bipolar opposite to the Sentry, the nods to and explorations of various mental illnesses as well as everyday anxiety and depression bring the heroes down to earth and delivers a very encouraging message about exceptional people going through the same shit we do.

Like its predecessors, the film is a good balance of action, narrative exposition, character development, and comedy, with a refreshing take on the Avengers origin story of a group of exceptional people brought together to become something more.

Director: Jake Schreier, 2025

Cast: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Geraldine Viswanathan, & Wendell Pierce

Addams Family Values

Image credit: IMDb

Continuing on with our little trip down the creepy and kooky rabbit hole that has been sparked with the new season of Wednesday on Netflix, Partner and I curled up last weekend to indulge in the family fun and madness of Addams Family Values.

While there is certainly a lot of love going on in the Addams family mansion with the arrival of baby Pubert, there is also discontent. While Wednesday and Puglsey concoct deadlier games to play with their brother, Uncle Fester begins to despair that he'll never find the special love that Gomez and Morticia have. But this changes when Debbie, the new babysitter, enters the mansion and Fester falls head over heels in love with her. But Debbie’s not really a babysitter, she’s a gold-digging serial killer known as the Black Widow and Fester is her next victim.

Where the first movie was all about the kooky novelty of the Addams family, the second one provides a bit more of a narrative backbone, giving the film semi-solid plot reasons for a few of the circumstance in which the characters find themselves. Alongside the central murder plot, which goes delightfully awry as Fester proves harder to kill than a cockroach, is the escape from summer camp plot starring Wednesday and Pugsley. For context, Debbie convinces Gomez and Morticia to send the kids to summer camp, as they suspect she’s not what she seems. Stuck at a cringeworthy camp for the rich and privileged, the two attempt a number of escapes before having to succumb to a full-out mutiny. During these scenes, we get to enjoy more of Wednesday and Puglsey as characters as well as a load of face-scrunching racism, ableism, and other political incorrectness because, it’s the ‘90s.

Still playing on the ironically sweet naivety and trustingness of the Addams Family and the idea that ‘normal’ people are actually the ones to be scared of, the film goes through a series of fun and chuckle-inducing sequences exploring themes of familial bonds, sex, and companionship.

Image credit: Fangoria

A lot more well-rounded that its predecessor, Addams Family Values is another fun, quirky, and engaging family comedy, definitely a bit dated in terms of some social commentary as well as janky special effects, but I think that all adds to the cinematic experience. There’s still never a dull moment.

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld, 1993

Cast: Angelica Houston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, Christina Ricci, Carol Kane, Jimmy Workman, Carel Struycken, Christopher Hart, David Krumholtz, Dana Ivey, Peter MacNicol & Christine Baranski

The Addams Family

Image credit: Wikipedia

One pro of the reboots and revamp debate in visually consumable media is that it does create/prove the longevity of certain stories or characters by exposing them to a different audience and seeing if it bites. As an example, Partner and I have been recently binging Wednesday on Netflix and enjoying the characters so much that we recently curled up on the weekend and watched the Addam’s Family movie from the early ‘90s.

The creepy, cooky, and eccentric Addams family have been lamenting the loss of their dear Uncle Fester for years, holding seances to try to find him either on this side of existence or the other. Their grief and vulnerability make them the prey of a group of con artists who send a Fester lookalike to infiltrate the manor and steal the fortune in their vault. But the plan starts to falter when Gordon, the undercover infiltrator, starts to develop rapports with the Addamses.

A classic ‘90s spoopy romp that is all about the sight gags and playing on the absurdity of its characters, The Addams Family is a delightfully funny movie that is 100% about its characters and aesthetic rather than its story. The weak narrative with an ending that you can already see coming a mile away is more of an afterthought, a necessary framing structure to support the delightful set design, costume design, performances, and visual comedy.

The fun of the Addams Family has always been the characters. In the role of Gomez Addams we have Raul Julia who is amorous, charismatic, and hilariously zealous in every dance or sword-fighting scene he’s in. We then have Angelica Houston as Morticia Addams: sultry, sincere, a beautifully morbid matriarch. Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams delivers every line with a wonderfully unfathomable deadpan expression and inflection, and then Christopher Lloyd as ‘Uncle Fester’ provides the film with a significant portion of its comic relief, being the bodily trigger for many of the manor’s wonderful traps while also playing the role of heart-fluttering black sheep in an already unusual flock.

Image credit: vrogue.co

The Addams Family is a movie that delivers a cinematic experience based on how well the audience is across its characters and their history. I am certain that there were many jokes that we missed due to our having never seen the original series or followed the characters’ origins but nevertheless, we still found ourselves laughing out loud at the silliness and sharp-witted humour of the film as well as being touched by its heartwarming message about the staying power of family.

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld, 1991

Cast: Raul Julia, Angelica Houston, Christopher Lloyd, Dan Hedaya, Elizabeth Wilson, Christina Ricci, Judith Malina, Carel Stuycken, Dana Ivey, Jimmy Workman & Paul Benedict

Greed

Image credit: Wikipedia

Greed and the pursuit of capital has been a villainous theme in storytelling for centuries, with the hubris of those afflicted delivering satisfying emotional payoff for audiences of all races, ages, and genders. Even though one can absolutely guess where characters are heading in a film entitled Greed, the craftmanship and artistic direction of Erich von Stroheim’s 1924 silent classic still holds shock and cringe value for the modern audience.

The film follows quack dentist, Mac McTeague (Gibson Gowland) who falls in love with an extraction patient, Trina (Zasu Pitts) despite his best friend Marcus (Jean Hersholt) already being sweet on her. As a sign of friendship, Marcus gives Mac his blessing to court Trina, but changes his attitude when, shortly after their marriage, she wins five thousand dollars in a lottery. The sudden fortune starts to put a strain on Mac and Trina’s relationship as Trina hoards her winnings, even when Marcus forces Mac out of business and the couple begins to starve.

An adaptation of the novel McTeague by Frank Norris, Greed is credited as the first film to be shot entirely on location. Showcasing 1920s San Francisco, the film is an epic psychological drama that depicts the poisonous and corrosive nature of addiction. Rather than showing a terrifying descent into madness due to alcohol or narcotics a la Blow or Days of Wine and Roses, Greed explores how the fundamental need for capital can become a cyst that can fester and grow to the point where it destroys even the strongest relationships. Alongside the terrible ends that meet our heroes-turned-villains, we lament the death of the wholesome and sweet tone that the film begins with before Stroheim begins to torment us with disturbing and borderline erotic scenes that include starved and elongated limbs caressing mounds of gold.

The performances are all incredible with Gowland and Pitts both starting the film as likeable and upstanding people and then plummeting into a free-fall of manipulation, gaslighting, drunkenness, and violence.

Image credit: Wikipeda

Considering that the original runtime was over nine hours, then cut down to four and, finally, to two, Stroheim manages to tell a very rich and disturbing story, mainly through his use of mise en scene and reflective metaphors. The shots of Mac’s pet birds that he presents as a wedding gift are particularly powerful in depicting the marital turmoil, beginning the second act as docile and loving creatures before shrieking and fighting some scenes later. We then have the increasing grubbiness of the costumes, set, and even the camera lens as the final scenes in the third act, set in Death Valley, take on a grainier and dustier look – aside from the shots of the bag of gold of course.

A film that claimed notoriety for its behind the scenes story as well as the one it enthrallingly tells on screen, Greed is captivatingly dramatic and disturbing.

Director: Erich von Stroheim, 1924

Cast: Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller, Tempe Pigott, Sylvia Ashton, Chester Conklin, Franke Hayes & Joan Standing