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  • Row, Osiris, Raw, Hellraiser: Judgment, and Terror of Mechagodzilla

    Row, Osiris, Raw, Hellraiser: Judgment, and Terror of Mechagodzilla
    Aug 24 2025
    We’ve got some good stuff for you this time around! A mix of new and old this time, starting with “Row” and “Osiris” from 2025. Back in 2016, we met some cannibals in “Raw.” Lastly, we’ll watch “Hellraiser: Judgment” from 2016 and “Terror of Mechagodzilla” from way back in 1975.* The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #47, is on sale now! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.comMainstream Films:2025 Row* Directed by: Matthew Lasasso* Written by: Matthew Lasasso, Nick Skaugen* Stars: Sophia Skelton, Bella Dayne, Akshay Khanna* Run Time: 1 Hour, 58 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneAn expedition on a pretty small four person rowboat is meant to set a world record going across the Atlantic Ocean. We get to cheat a little and see the ending of the expedition first, then we go back and gradually see what led up to that ending. In the claustrophobic setting, things get worse and worse as things go wrong and the quartet starts turning on each other. It’s very well crafted, tense, and fascinating. We both really liked it.Spoilery SynopsisWe open on a deserted-looking boat with bloodstains and wreckage everywhere. One woman is alive, clearly in shock, and there are two dead people on the deck. Credits roll.Megan wakes up in bed, delirious, with an older man and woman there. Apparently she and the boat washed up with her the only survivor.We cut to Newfoundland, Canada, as Daniel records his warnings and expectations about their upcoming expedition. Their four-person team plans to cross the Atlantic in a small boat, but they’re going to row all the way. Megan is going along, leaving her mother, who has terminal cancer.Megan arrives at The Valiant and meets Mike, a new guy. Daniel and Lexi are there as well, and the four start rowing. We cut back and forth between Megan in her recovery bed and the early stages of the row. The hospital man says he’s a policeman DCI MacKelly and she’s been there for two weeks; she’s suffering from malnutrition.On the boat, they’ve been preparing for this 28-day journey for the past two years. They’re off course, so Mike has to dive under the boat to see if something’s wrong. There’s a rubber hair band jammed in the rudder, and it’s burned out their steering motor. Daniel thinks it wasn’t an accident. The only one who was alone with the boat was Mike, but why would he do it? Mike was a replacement for Adam, who broke his leg at the last minute. Daniel insists they should push through and keep going.On board the boat, Mike gets sick, throws up, and then gets the shivering, hallucinating kind of fever. The boat barely survives a storm and a huge wave. Megan gets an incoming satellite call from Adam, who also recently broke up with Lexi; she’s the other woman on board. Mike deliriously threatens Daniel with a knife for hiding Rachel on the boat, which is obviously not true. Daniel whacks him over the head, knocking him out.DCI MacKelly, in the hospital, says there’s no record of anyone named Mike having anything to do with the expedition. In fact, a search by his first and last name doesn’t turn up anyone with that name existing at all.On the boat, in the morning, Mike recovers and feels fine, but everyone else is surprisingly quiet. We get a flashback and see that Megan was the other woman in the Adam-Lexi romance. We see that Daniel is trying to call his father to dig up more information about Mike.A wave hits and capsizes the boat; everyone goes in the water. Megan gets knocked out and nearly drowns, but everyone ends up OK except the boat’s battery, which is dead. Daniel thinks its because Mike didn’t latch the waterproof cover properly.Somehow, they’re also short on food, which shouldn’t be possible. They only have nine days of rations left, and Lexi blames Daniel for throwing it all out. He ends up admitting it, but that may be just out of rage and not something he actually did. Mike jokes that they could throw Daniel overboard and no one would ever know. Lexi seriously considers it, but Megan is appalled at the idea.The next day, all the water pouches are empty. That’s even worse than losing the food. Daniel again gets the blame, but he swears it had to be Mike. Mike and Lexi attack Daniel, tie him up, but Lexi bangs her head badly. She’s not dead but knocked out. Daniel says Mike killed his own girlfriend, Rachel, and is on the run from the police.Megan has Daniel and Mike row toward a shipping lane– at knifepoint. Day 28 arrives, and they lose out on the World Record. Daniel tells mostly-unconscious Lexi all his personal problems.Next thing we see, Lexi is dead. There’s another big wave, and Megan goes overboard again. When she gets back on, she considers cutting Daniel’s safety line loose and then just disconnects it. The current soon carries him away. She then helps Mike back on board.Out of water and food, Megan and Mike ...
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    36 Min.
  • I Don’t Understand You, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, The Colossus of New York, Found, and Day of the Dead

    I Don’t Understand You, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, The Colossus of New York, Found, and Day of the Dead
    Aug 17 2025
    Nothing brand new this time around. We’ll watch a couple from last year, “I Don’t Understand You” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (2024). We’ll go way back for a thoughtful man-monster in “The Colossus of New York” (1958) and then do a serial killer film with “Found” (2012). Finally, we’ll wrap-up the original zombie trilogy with “Day of the Dead” (1985), which for some reason, we haven’t done before.And, as always, we’ll have five short films.* The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #47, is on sale now! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.comMainstream Films:2024 I Don’t Understand You* Directed by: David Joseph Craig, Brian Crano* Written by: David Joseph Craig, Brian Crano* Stars: Nick Kroll, Andrew Rannells, Amanda Seyfried* Run Time: 1 Hour 37 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneThis is heavy on the comedy and light on the horror elements, with language barriers and misunderstandings leading to unfortunate outcomes. It’s not very scary, but it’s a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it.Spoilery SynopsisDom and Cole are a gay couple recording a video about adoption. It’s essentially a video application for the mother to choose them. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. After, they pack up and go on a vacation to Rome as credits roll.In Rome, the two go sightseeing. Dom is clearly obsessive, and Cole is well aware of it. They stop in to visit one of Dom’s father’s friends. They are given engraved knives as gifts - Cole’s is misspelled “Cool.” Cole doesn’t eat meat, which is weird in Rome. They talk about being scammed at one adoption attempt. The family friend, Daniele, has arranged a special dinner for them tomorrow night– and tells them to “Be careful.”The two arrive at their hotel in the country. The man at the hotel gets flustered when two men come in together and spreads their beds apart not realizing they are a couple. He soon realizes the error of his ways. Candace, the potential baby-donor, calls them on Facetime. She likes their video and has chosen them to be the fathers of her child. They’re overjoyed.They go to a farmhouse out in the countryside, an exclusive restaurant, where an old woman has promised to make them a special dinner. When the car gets stuck, it’s clear that this isn’t where they’re supposed to be. The truck who stops to help is the owner of the property, and he’s not happy. They ride along with the man, who stops to shoot a deer. He drops them off at… a place.They knock on the door, and a strange old woman answers. She invites them in. Turns out, this is where they were supposed to go in the first place. They have pizza and wine. When they kiss, she throws a fit about the wine being bad, and they misunderstand why she’s angry because she only speaks Italian. Cole’s a vegetarian, but it’s only polite that he try the horsemeat sausage pizza.The old woman goes into a long story about her son dying and her closing her restaurant. It’s been wonderful cooking for these two men, and she appreciates it. It’s all very nice, but they don’t have a clue what she’s saying. Dom reminds her of the dead son. Cole gets ill and has to puke, leaving Dom alone with the creepy woman. She offers him a clean, dry shirt.Cole finds an old man in an iron lung machine and gets freaked out. Suddenly, the lights go out, and the old woman runs to the breathing machine. In the dark, Cole accidentally pushes the old woman down the stairs, killing her. Dom tries CPR and hears bones snap.Someone drives up in a car. The man comes in and wants Dom’s car keys. He might be trying to tow the car. The power comes back on; should they call for help? The man comes back; he’s Massimo, and he’s rescued their car. He’s the old woman’s son, and he wonders where his mama is. He thanks them for cheering up his mother, who has been very depressed.They boys run outside to the car and run into Francesca. They have to go back inside, and Massimo wonders why Dom is wearing his dead brother’s shirt and he insists they stay for a drink. Massimo sees messages from Candace on Dom’s phone and smiles “You’re going to be dead!” although he’s just mispronouncing “Dad.” Cole runs inside and stabs Massimo in the neck, thinking it’s self defense. As he falls to the floor, he sees his dead mother under the table.Dom’s phone rings. It’s Candace, but they’re both covered in blood. They clean up fast. She’s going into labor, right now. Francesca stumbles in and sees Cole holding a knife over Massimo. She runs outside, and he chases her. Dom gets in the car and accidentally runs her over. “This has to be the last one,” Cole points out. At some point, Cole drops his bloody “Cool” engraved knife outside.Cole notices the big pizza oven in the kitchen. Could they use that to dispose of the bodies? Suddenly, the old woman sits up and ...
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    42 Min.
  • 28 Years Later, Flesh of the Unforgiven, Dangerous Animals, Spooks Run Wild, and War for the Planet of the Apes

    28 Years Later, Flesh of the Unforgiven, Dangerous Animals, Spooks Run Wild, and War for the Planet of the Apes
    Aug 10 2025
    This time around, we’ve got three new films, an ancient classic, and a not-so-old franchise film. We’ll start with the new “28 Years Later,” which just came to streaming. Next, we’ll watch the shark-slasher, “Dangerous Animals” and the weird “Flesh of the Unforgiven,” also from this year. We’ll then go back to 1941 and view the comedy-horror film, “Spooks Run Wild.” Lastly, we’ll cover the final film in the Caesar trilogy with “War for the Planet of the Apes” from 2017.And, as always, we’ll have five short films.* The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #47, is on sale now! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.comMainstream Films:2025 28 Years Later* Directed by: Danny Boyle* Written by: Alex Garland* Stars: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes* Run Time: 1 Hour, 55 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneThis has quite a different tone than the first two movies, and neither of us thought it was improved for the better. After 28 years, assuming the rest of the world is just fine, it seems like they would be handling things differently by this point. Brian thought it was on the dull side. Kevin wasn’t bored, but neither of us liked it that much.Spoilery SynopsisA group of children watch the Teletubbies as the air raid sirens go off and the parents all get really upset. As Jimmy and the others continue to watch, we hear the adults in the next room being eaten. The rage zombies soon get everyone in the house other than Jimmy. We’re told that the rage virus was beaten back from Europe, but it destroyed the entire UK, which was left as a kind of quarantine zone. That was 28 years ago… Credits roll.We open on young Spike and the other villagers getting ready for work on their farms and such on the island. His father is Jamie, who makes an amazing-looking breakfast. His mother, Isla, is sick, and she didn’t realize they were leaving the island this morning for Spike’s first time. She doesn’t want Spike to go, as he’s way too young. She’s confused or delirious, but she calms down easily.Spike and Jamie are going for Spike’s first hunt, and everyone in town cheers them on; it’s a big event. Spike’s only 12, and kids usually don’t go until 14, so he’s an exception. Jenny, the village leader, explains that if anything goes wrong, they’re on their own. They leave the island over the causeway that can only be used during low tide.The two hunters soon see a rotten-looking man crawling on all fours and eating worms. Spike makes his shot and kills the infected man; Jamie kills two more that sneak up on them. They find a house, and inside is a man tied up and hanging by his feet. Someone tied him up and left him for the infected. The man’s got “Jimmy” carved on his chest. Spike kills it.The two find a stag’s head stuck way up on a tree, and Jamie gets spooked. It’s time to go back home. Too late, they run into a whole horde of crazies– the fast variety. The chase is on! They soon run out of arrows and hide in the attic of an old house.We cut back to the village, where people hang up “Welcome home Spike” banners. We hear from Jamie about “Alphas” which are bigger, stronger, and smarter than the usual zombies. Night falls, and they can’t go home. They make a run for it and make it to the causeway, which is just slightly underwater. The Alpha chases them across the water, but the sentries at the village shoot it. They go inside to the celebrations where Jamie’s got a girlfriend on the side, Rosie.Spike talks to an old man, Sam, about the fire they saw in the woods; he says it’s Dr. Kelson, who’s been living out there for years. He’s… odd, but Sam doesn’t want to talk about him. Spike wants to get the doctor to help his mother. Spike eventually gets Jamie to tell the story about Dr. Kelson burning the bodies of the infected.Spike and his mentally-ill mother sneak out of the village; he wants to take her to the doctor– across the wilderness of the mainland. They spend the night in an old church. Someone prevents a zombie from killing them during the night– could it have been Isla, Spike’s mother?We cut to a group of Swedish soldiers who are being chased by a pack of infected. They run into an Alpha, who rips one soldier’s head clean off.Spike and Isla get chased by zombies, and they hide in an old gas station. They’re rescued by the sole surviving soldier, Erik. He’s stuck here now; once anyone sets foot on the mainland, they are quarantined– permanently.Isla comes upon an infected woman who is pregnant, and it looks very painful. The baby seems normal enough, and Isla wants to take it. Meanwhile, an Alpha tears Erik’s head off. The Alpha chases Spike and Isla right into the hands of Dr. Kelson. Kelson sedates the big Alpha, whom he’s named Samson. Spike explains why they’ve come, and Kelson invites them to his ...
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    44 Min.
  • The Sound, Anarchy Parlor, Wolf Girl, Bats, and Shadow of Chinatown

    The Sound, Anarchy Parlor, Wolf Girl, Bats, and Shadow of Chinatown
    Aug 3 2025
    It’s an odd week, and an even odder mix of films this time. We’ll start off with “Bats” a nature-gone-wild story from 1999, then travel back in time to watch Bela Lugosi ruin Chinatown in 1936. We’ll then take a freaky gander at a very unusual “Wolf Girl” (2001). “The Sound” is up next, a 2025 film about mountain climbers, followed by 2015’s “Anarchy Parlor,” a terrible tattoo tale.And, as always, we’ll have five short films.* The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #47, goes on sale in just a few days! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.comMainstream Films:1999 Bats* Directed by: Louis Morneau* Written by: John Logan* Stars: Lou Diamond Phillips, Dina Meyer, Bob Gunton* Run Time: 1 Hour, 31 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneThe poster is cool. The science is bad. The movie is pretty good. It’s a genetically-engineered-creature-gone-wrong kind of movie with a big body count. There’s not a lot new here, but it’s got some entertainment value.Spoilery SynopsisWe open in Gallup, Texas as Quint and Emma, a young couple, drive out to an isolated make-out spot. Quint notices something strange outside the car and investigates. As a train passes by behind them, a giant bat breaks in through the windshield and kills them both. Credits roll.We cut to Skull Valley, Arizona. Jimmy talks to Dr. Sheila Casper, who’s crawling around in a tight bat-filled cave herself. They’re rudely interrupted by a helicopter containing Dr. Tobe Hodge and Dr. Alexander McCabe. They are needed for a bat-related “biological emergency.”The group soon arrives in Texas, where they are met by Sheriff Emmett Kimsey. The three scientists do an autopsy on the young couples’ bodies. They were, in fact, killed by bats, but that’s not normal. There have been some animal deaths, but bats don’t do that. McCabe mentions that these bats are special– two bats escaped from a lab. They need to kill the two bats before they can contaminate others with their unique viruses.Another body is found, and it was done by way more than two bats. The mayor wants to avoid a panic and insists they all keep it quiet. McCabe explains that the bats are more intelligent and aggressive, and now they’re omnivorous. If these bats infect the general population during a migration, that would be… bad. Dr. Casper says they need to kill all the contaminated bats before this gets any worse.Casper and Sheriff Kimsey talk about her love for bats. Suddenly, a swarm of CGI bats chases them, and they barely manage to hide in the car. They crawl all over the car, trying to get in; it’s very tense. When Jimmy and the deputy arrive, they get swarmed as well, but then the bats all fly away. All but one, which they put in a cage. They spot McCabe’s original two bats, but they escape as well. They inject the captured bat with a tracker and release it– but then the two leader bats tear it apart.Dr. Hodge gets the CDC to evacuate the town, and the swarm is slowly migrating in that direction. We cut to the town, where we see people doing normal things. The bats start killing the townspeople, and everyone else comes outside to watch. Among many others, the deputy gets eaten and there are many explosions. Dr. Hodge gets eaten as Casper watches, and then the bats all just fly away.In the morning, the army arrives as the surviving townspeople are evacuated. The army wants to blow up all the mountains and the town itself, but the Sheriff, Casper, Jimmy, and McCabe want to keep looking for the leader bats and save the town. The sheriff plays opera music as the others move into the town’s school.Casper wants to crawl into the bat cave and set up equipment that’ll freeze all the bats to death. McCabe overhears the plan and starts getting a sketchy look; he’s gonna do something dumb.The army locates the bats, who are hiding inside a huge mine. The bats attack and kill most of the army men. McCabe admits that he designed the bats to be “perfect killing machines” and he’s called them to where the characters are set up. “You let them out of the lab, didn’t you?” Casper accuses. Yep– he’s a mad scientist.Everyone runs around doing things as the bats attack the school. McCabe runs outside, and his two “babies” tear him apart and then leave. “I guess they got what they came for.”The sheriff, Casper, and Jimmy show up at the mine in the morning, and everyone’s dead. The soldiers got the whole mine wired with explosives and the refrigeration equipment, and the main characters just have to get it all working before the military bombs the whole place.Casper and the sheriff go down into the mines wearing armored breathing suits. They soon fall into a waist-high pool of bat crap. Then they find millions of bats in their lair. They figure out how to turn on the cooling system, but then the leader bats wake up and get all menacing. After a ...
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    45 Min.
  • M3GAN 2.0, Tigers Are Not Afraid, The Love Witch, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer

    M3GAN 2.0, Tigers Are Not Afraid, The Love Witch, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer
    Jul 27 2025
    We’ve got a fun mix this week. We’ll start off with the more-sci-fi-than-horror “Megan 2.0” which just hit streaming. Then we’ll watch the depressing “Tigers Are Not Afraid” from 2017 and the less-depressing “The Love Witch” from 2016. We’ll continue aping around with “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (2014) and finally get caught up with the series with “I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer” (2006).And, as always, we’ll have five short films.* The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #46 is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.comMainstream Films:2025 M3GAN 2.0* Directed by: Gerard Johnstone* Written by: Gerard Johnstone, Akela Cooper, James Wan* Stars: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald* Run Time: 2 Hours* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneIMDB still calls this horror. Maybe just barely, but not like the first one was. This one is more science fiction action with quite a bit of satire and humor. It’s fun entertainment, but beware it has quite a different tone than the first movie.Spoilery SynopsisSomewhere near the Turkish-Iranian border, the bad guys grab a tourist and kill her. We cut to a security briefing about a new weapon. They have a new asset. We cut to Amelia, that dead tourist, who isn’t dead. She breaks her chains, and we see she’s a robot. She sneaks through the bad guys’ camp and quietly kills… everyone. Then she shoots the man she was sent there to capture alive. She steals some weapons and reports that she isn’t following orders any more.We cut to young Cady, from the first film, who is still in therapy. She tells us about Gemma, the inventor of Megan, who is now a vehement anti-tech speaker. Cady’s taken the time from being away from her phone to learn martial arts.Tess and Cole, Gemma’s employees, put on a disastrous demo of a new not-robotic exoskeleton. Turns out, the system has been hacked. Alton Appleton, a rich jerk, comes into the workshop to gloat. He’s designed a neural chip and wants them to use his brain implants to go into Gemma’s exoskeleton. He’s wearing one of those implants himself. “If you put AI inside a human brain, it’s not gonna ride shotgun,” she warns.That night, Gemma gets a very strange warning from her TV, telling her she’s in danger. It’s Megan, somehow, warning her about a home invasion that’s in progress. The smart-home appliances work together to defeat the intruders. Turns out, they’re the FBI (They could have knocked).Agent Sattler tells her about the failed experiment, Amelia. Amelia is a robot very similar to Megan. Agent Sattler points out how lucky Gemma has been with her book sales, business, and choice of home. He explains that Amelia has been killing everyone who had any kind of involvement with her creation, and that probably includes Gemma.Megan shows up on TV and explains to Gemma that she’s not Amelia, someone hacked Gemma’s computer and built another one. She’s just a program, and she wants a new body– in return, she’ll kill Amelia.Gemma puts Megan in a toy robot’s body. Megan points out that Amelia’s battery has a kill switch, but only greedy Alton knows how that works. Gemma goes to Alton’s party to get the information out of him. We see that Amelia’s there as well. Alton, in a wheelchair earlier, gets on stage and dances– his neural chip really works. He spots Amelia in the crowd and starts flirting.Gemma finds Cole at the party, and he now works for Alton. She steals his ID card and they go into the computer room. They plug in Megan, who hacks Amelia and steals a file from her mind. Then Megan finds that Amelia is here in the same building. Amelia steals Alton’s retinal print and hacks his system. Then she pulls out his implant. Amelia now has access to half the cloud servers in the country.Amelia knows Gemma is there, and Gemma has no choice but to let Megan into the system. They escape and assume that Amelia will be going to get Cady next. Turns out, the house they’re living in is just full of surprises. It’s Megan’s lair… somehow. Megan is there physically as well, but she’s a burned up mess. Megan and Cady talk about morality, life, and evolution. Cady wants to give her robot a “second chance.”Tess and Cady want to help Megan to beat Amelia, but Genna’s not so sure, at least until they see Megan’s factory in the next room. The group gets to work on making Megan a new body. She wants to be taller now, but insists on having the same face.Fully rebuilt, Megan explains that she’s not the first killer robot. The first killer robot has been kept for decades against its will, getting smarter and smarter. Amelia wants to find it and release it, a kind of AI god. They think Amelia will be going after Christian, another outspoken AI genius, who’s going to be at a big AI conference. Megan sneaks in to infiltrate the place as a cosplayer ...
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    26 Min.
  • Sweatshop, Black Sheep, Nobody Gets Out Alive, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

    Sweatshop, Black Sheep, Nobody Gets Out Alive, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
    Jul 20 2025
    We’re gonna forego the new movies this week and focus on some older titles. Kevin picked up three more dollar-store DVDs that we’ll let you know about: “Sweatshop” (2009), “Nobody Gets Out Alive” (2012), and “Black Sheep” (2006). We’ll also take another step ahead in two franchises, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer” (1998) and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (2011), the first in the newer reboot series.* The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #46 is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.comMainstream Films:2009 Sweatshop* Directed by: Stacy Davidson* Written by: Stacy Davidson, Ted Geoghegan* Stars: Ashley Kay, Melanie Donihoo, Peyton Wetzel* Run Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneThis movie is like a showcase for the work of the gore effects people involved - the deaths are especially wet and effective in this one. The rest of the movie isn’t so noteworthy. We didn’t get attached to any of the characters, the script is draggy, and the acting is hit and miss. If you’re looking for top notch gore you’ll find it here but not a lot else.Spoilery SynopsisA woman wakes up naked and shivering in a dungeon. She runs around looking for escape. Outside, a cop opens the door to the big factory and comes inside, looking for intruders. It’s obviously the same building. We see that he’s not alone; someone is in there with him has a bloody mouth and isn’t quite human. The woman runs up to him, and he shoots her by mistake about a thousand times. Credits roll.Six hours later, a group of young people enter the same building. They’ve brought a disco ball and sound system to have a party here. They find a video camera left behind by Ghost, one of their group who was here before them, and they all watch a girl do a striptease on the camera.We get to know Scotty, Charlie, and some of the other characters as they wander around the place and argue. As they get set up for their party, we see someone else moving around in the dark shadows of the warehouse. Wade, Scotty’s brother, shows up, and he’s got the lighting equipment and beer. Kim sees a scary face in the darkness and causes a scene. They’re expecting a lot of kids in about an hour.Wade likes Lolli but is told she’s a lesbian. He soon finds out she is more flexible than that. Miko laughs at Jade, who kinda likes Wade as well. Then they talk about the rules for b******s. When Jade sees Wade and Lolli going at it, she runs off and cries. Almost immediately after, some ghouls come out of nowhere and tear Lolli’s guts out.Kim goes looking for Lolli and gets captured by the baddies. A big man in a welding mask cuts off her fingers with garden shears. He then breaks her in half with his huge anvil-hammer.Jade spikes Wade’s drink with something nasty, but Kenny punches him before he gets a chance to drink it. We get a dance break with Miko Scotty and Jade and Kenny get close. When Kenny loses his head, Jade gets a shock from the ghouls. She runs away, straight into the arms of the welding-masked man with the anvil-hammer. Gallagher would be pleased with the results.Charlie and Enix talk about how badly she’s run this whole operation. She might be doing something shady with the admissions fee. They suddenly notice how few of their friends are still working. Scotty and Miko have a drinking contest, and Miko gets the “bad bottle.” She vomits up blood everywhere, but then the Hammer-Man shows up to finish her off.Wade finds what’s left of Kim, but he’s too drunk to see how broken she is. Hammer Man gets him before he goes too far with her.Charlie and Enix find Ghost’s car, along with some of his body parts. They figure out that he was killed before they even arrived, but then they find Kim and the ghouls. Enix soon gets the point as Hammer Man comes after Charlie.Charlie ends up in a room with Scotty and Wade, who aren’t quite dead yet after all. The two brothers confess their sins to each other hilariously before they die. Charlie gets loose, runs back to her car, takes a gun, and shoots Hammer Man several times.Charlie runs into the main room, which is now somehow full of dancers. Hammer Man follows her and starts killing the dancers, creating a stampede for the exits.Only Charlie makes it out alive.Brian’s CommentaryThe characters are all distinctive, but not particularly interesting or well acted. None, not one, of the characters are even remotely likeable, so when they die, we’re like… “OK?” The kills are well done, and the practical gore effects are really good.Why are there ghoul-women and the hammer-man in the warehouse in the first place? We get no explanation or reason for this. That Anvil-on-a-stick is a great-looking weapon, although it wouldn’t be very practical in reality. Where did all those dancers come from at the end when the ticket-takers were all killed? Who was ...
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    37 Min.
  • Bring Her Back, Hotspring Shark Attack, Border, Cure, and The Ape Man

    Bring Her Back, Hotspring Shark Attack, Border, Cure, and The Ape Man
    Jul 13 2025
    We’ve got another week of five-and-five, with five features and five shorts, and they’re all good this time around. We’ll open up with the acclaimed “Bring Her Back” which just hit streaming, and the brand-new “Hotspring Shark Attack” which just released as well. We’ll watch a couple of older films, “Border” (2018) and “Cure” (2017), and then go way back to watch Bela Lugosi monkey around in “The Ape Man” from 1943.* The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #46 is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.comMainstream Films:2025 Bring Her Back* Directed by: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou* Written by: Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman* Stars: Billy Barratt, Sally Hawkins, Mischa Heywood* Run Time: 1 Hour, 44 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneAfter a disturbing opening, this takes a while to get to the horror, building nicely as things get stranger and more unsettling. It takes some time to figure out what’s really going on. The casting is spot on, the direction and effects are excellent. It’s a strange one, and we liked it.Spoilery SynopsisWe watch some people doing strange things for the camera, which sees things that we do not. Credits roll.We cut to Piper and Andy, step siblings, and she’s got weird eyes. She tries to make friends with some girls at the bus stop, but they make fun of her face. She’s mostly blind. The two go home to find their father dead in the shower. He’d just finished chemo, and something went wrong.The two get split up for foster care. Piper is going with Laura, but Laura’s had problems with troubled kids in the past, so she doesn’t want Andy. They beg to stay together, so they’ll allow it on a trial basis. He’s very protective of his younger sister.They arrive at Laura’s house, and she’s very friendly and nice, although it’s clear that she’s more interested in Piper than Andy. Laura had a blind daughter, but she’s dead now. They go outside and meet a very strange little boy, Ollie, who’s mute and has a birthmark on his face. He’s another of the foster children. Andy and Laura get off on the wrong footing right away.Later that night, Laura watches videos of the cult that we saw in the pre credit sequence.We also see that Andy has been traumatized by finding his dead father. The next day, they go to their father’s funeral. Laura cuts off a bit of the dead man’s hair and puts it in her pocket. After the funeral, they all play a drinking game. They all, even young Piper, get incredibly drunk.Meanwhile, at home, Ollie breaks out of the house and walks around the yard all bloody, trying to get into a locked shed. He watches the others partying from outside the house. Andy talks about the way his father used to abuse him when he was little, but he never touched Piper. Late that night, Laura pours her own pee all over Andy while he sleeps to make him think he did it himself.Ollie sits in his room and eats bugs. Andy washes himself outside because he’s afraid of the shower. At breakfast, Ollie tries to eat a huge knife, cutting his mouth up, and Andy tries to take him to the hospital. Once they get outside, they cross the white circle on the ground, and Ollie goes into convulsions. “Help me!” he says, speaking for the first time.Laura returns and is surprised that Ollie can talk now. She drags him back inside the circle and indoors, and there’s no more talking from him. We watch one of the old cultists videos. This has happened before, and it’s not pretty. Laura feeds the hair from Andy’s father to Ollie. We see from above that the house and much of the yard is surrounded by a big white circle.Andy has a terrifying vision of his father, who tells him, “She’ll die in the rain.” Andy slips and knocks himself out, waking up at the hospital, in the rain. He tells Laura about this, and she says she killed their father. Then again, he’s got a concussion, so maybe he imagined that.Laura dresses Piper up in dead-Cathy’s clothes and does her hair to look like her dead daughter. Laura wants Piper to stay when Andy turns 18, but Piper plans to go away with Andy when he leaves. We see that Laura still has Cathy’s dead body in her freezer.Andy gets released from the hospital, and Laura’s not happy about it; could he be dangerous? On the old videotape, we see that there’s cannibalism and soul-transference going on. Laura hits Piper in her sleep and frames it so it looks like Andy did it. Laura’s got a whole story made up to turn Piper against Andy. It all gets very confrontational, and Piper ends up taking Laura’s side.Andy goes to see Wendy, the social worker who placed them with Laura. He sees a “Missing Child” poster with Ollie’s face on it. When he sees Wendy, he’s very intense, and she won’t put up with him. Eventually, Andy talks Wendy into going to the house for a visit.At home, Ollie destroys the ...
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    36 Min.
  • Final Destination Bloodlines, Green Room, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

    Final Destination Bloodlines, Green Room, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
    Jul 6 2025
    It’s the week of “Movies with Long Names.” OK, maybe that’s just a coincidence. Only one new film this week, the latest in the Final Destination franchise. After that, we’ll look at the brutal “Green Room” from 2015 and “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night” from 2014. For our oldies, we’ll start with the first installment of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” from 1997 and the even-older “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla” from 1974.* “The Horror Guys Guide to the Horror Films of Christopher Lee” is available NOW! https://www.horrormonthly.com/horror-guys-guides/christopher-lee-films* Check out our selection of short horror biographies, including Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and many more: https://www.hourlongpress.com/* The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #46 is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com* One of my favorite writing and organizing tools is Workflowy, the endless outliner. Check it out at https://workflowy.com/invite/4958355e.lnxMainstream Films:2025 Final Destination: Bloodlines* Directed by: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein* Written by: Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, Jon Watts* Stars: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Rya Kihlstedt* Run Time: 1 Hour, 50 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneThis one starts out with an amazing disaster scene, which of course is prevented because it was actually just a vision by the main participant - a familiar formula. But then we get to find out how that connects to all the movies so far and the events of this one. It’s more of the same as death takes people in strange ways, and Tony Todd has a nice wrap up in this one in his final film role. It’s decent all around, and if you’ve seen and enjoyed the other movies in the series you ought to enjoy this one too.Spoilery SynopsisA man and a woman in a blindfold drive to her “surprise,” and it’s the 1960s. They stop at “The Skyview,” a Space Needle-like building that’s just opening. As they walk in, the camera focuses on random stuff, as they always do in these films. They board an overcrowded elevator that doesn’t close properly. There are red flags everywhere as the door cracks open hundreds of feet above the ground.They arrive at the top safely, and it’s very nice. And scary. She doesn’t like heights, and it’s not so much fun after all. She can’t stop looking at the dance floor’s glass bottom. A stranger talks to her about being pregnant. Iris’s boyfriend takes her up to the observation deck and proposes to her. A kid throws a penny off the tower, which gets sucked into an air vent and jams a fan.In the dance room, they do “Shout,” and the place gets hopping and rocking. It’s almost too obvious what’s going to happen. The floor shatters, and everyone falls to their deaths. But that’s not all, there’s a gas leak that explodes and kills the ones who didn’t fall. It’s full-on panic, the elevator goes back, and even the stairway is a deathtrap. The whole tower starts to fall over, turning the room sideways. Everyone dies–Stefani Reyes wakes up from her nightmare in the middle of math class, in modern times. She’s had this dream over and over. Stefani’s grandmother was named Iris, but she’s never even met her. Stefani goes home to her father’s house to find out more about her mysterious grandma. Her father would just as soon Iris’s name never come up again.Stefani and her brother Charlie go to visit their cousins and Aunt Brenda and Uncle Howard. She wants to talk to Howard about his mother, Iris. When Stefani mentions The Skyview, they all clam up. “Iris Campbell is a deeply disturbed woman.” The old woman got so Death-obsessed that they took her children away. Aunt Brenda is more sympathetic and gives her an address.Stefani drives way out to the country to find old Iris, who lives in a gated fortress. The compound is very post-apocalyptic-looking, and the inside of the house is weird as well.Stefani tells Iris about the dream. Iris says that was her premonition years ago. We flash back to what really happened. Iris ran through the restaurant and told everyone what was going to happen. Everyone lived! Eventually, they tore down the building; she stopped the disaster.Death, on the other hand, doesn’t like to be cheated. He came back and killed everyone who escaped him that day, in the order they would have died. Iris is the only one alive; she’s also clearly crazy, and Stefani picks up on that easily enough. “Death is coming for our family!” The family shouldn’t even exist since she was meant to die at the tower. Stefani leaves in a hurry, but Iris gives her a book of notes and crazy stuff. To prove it, Iris dies gruesomely right in front of Stefani.Fast-forwarding to the funeral, the whole family, including Stefani’s estranged mother, Darlene, shows up. Afterward, there’s a family barbecue. We see a ...
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    36 Min.