My Review of Him (2025)

 

Written by Skip Bronkie And Zack Akers And Justin Tipping

Directed by Justin Tipping

Isaiah: "This ain't a fucking game, man. This is everything! Do you want this? What are you willing to sacrifice?"

Cameron: "Everything."

I mostly stay away from football first one because I generally don't care about the sport or respective subgenre. Obviously I made an exception here because it's a horror film and I have mixed feelings on this one.

Despite the marketing playing up the fact that Jordan Peele was a producer on this movie, it's definitely Justin Tipping who has to bear the responsibility of it's failing. This movie's a great case of a good idea mired by outright horrible execution.

Out leading man here, Tyriq Withers I will admit might be one of the few saving graces altogether. Cast in the role as rising football star Cameron Wade, this might not have been the best use of his talents but he certainly knew how to hold attention. He picks betters projects and he'll be one to talk about.

Anyways Cam's gotten attention from nearly retired quarterback Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) and Cam ended up in a secluded compound where he's put through an almighty ringer. This included some extremely trippy dreams sequences, overzealous fangirls (Naomi Grossman) and of course, Isaiah's wife, Elsie (Julia Fox).

Yeah, it's a movie that could be seen the football version of Black Swan but the craziness doesn't entertain as much as it should do. The horror side of things did ramp by the time it was made clear that there was a contest between Cam and Isaiah to be the G.O.A.T.

It's manufactured and involved ritual sacrifices with Cam both emerging as the victor between him and Isaiah. Then Cam took control of his destiny and murdered the Saviors and honestly it was a good way of ending this overall messy movie.

- Originally, this movie was meant to be called GOAT before we got the title we did.

- The way Marlon Wayans handled criticism for this movie was one of the classiest responses I've read this year.

- Standout music: Denzel Curry's Him, Gucci Mane's Lemonade and Tierra Whack's Tip Toe.

- Chronology: Cameron played for the San Antonio Saviors. It was the current year, movie wise.

I really wanted to like Him as a movie. It had a good idea, a charismatic leading man in Tyriq Withers and a good antagonist role for Marlon Wayans. Sadly the whole thing just failed to come together at all.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Frankenstein (1931)

 

Written by Garrett Fort And Francis Edward Faragoh

Directed by James Whale

Henry Frankenstein: "Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!"

Victor Moritz: "Henry - In the name of God!"

Henry Frankenstein: "Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!"

I did things out of order. I watched and reviewed Bride Of Frankenstein last year but of course, I should've watched and reviewed this one first. The most important adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic.

First of all, the movie started with Edward Van Sloan (who also played Dr Waldman) introducing the movie to the audience, which was a nice but unusual bit. Then there was the movie itself. Creator versus creation. Who was worse or more tragic?

The actual Frankenstein himself was Dr Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive). The film really began with him and assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye) are digging up the graveyard for body parts. It seems that Victor had a much bigger priority than his upcoming nuptials.

Yup, Victor had a beautiful would be bride in Elizabeth Lavenza (Mae Clarke) but his true desire was the need to play God. Collecting the body parts, he put them together and created The Monster (Boris Karloff). What should've been a scientific advancement immediately became an absolute disaster.

The Monster couldn't be controlled and had no problem even drowning a child named Maria (Marilyn Harris). Needless to say, that certainly put a target on The Monster's back and the last few minutes are dedicated to his downfall. Boris Karloff does a great in giving The Monster some sympathy.

Less sympathetic however would be Dr Frankenstein himself. He's a selfish, vain, arrogant man whose God complex nearly destroyed his village and even almost resulted in his own death. In some ways, he's a lot worse than The Monster he brought to life and doesn't really suffer any consequences for his actions.

- This movie would result in two sequels while James Whale would also direct The Invisible Man (1933).

- The Monster's look in this movie became iconic but it's not the same as the description in Shelley's book itself.

- In the book, Frankenstein is called Victor but was renamed Henry to sound friendly to American audiences.

- Chronology: Set in a village in the Bavarian Alps in the 1800s.

Frankenstein undeniably should be considered a classic in the horror genre and it's still a sight to behold nearly a century later. An excellent adaptation of the source with a brilliant performance from Boris Karloff as The Creature.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Monster: The Ed Gein Story (Netflix Series, 2025)

 

Written by Ian Brennan

Directed by Max Winkler And Ian Brennan 

Ed Gein (to Anthony Perkins): "You're the one who can't look away."

It's that time of year again for Ryan Murphy to stoke the ire of social media with another true crime horror fest that takes too many creative liberties so to speak. After what we saw with Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez Brothers, what could he do with Ed Gein (Charlie Hunnam) to piss off the internet?

Well, quite a lot of actually. This was never going to be a sensitive portrayal of the real life killer/grave robber and once again, there's that danger of this anthology series drawing too much sympathy for the subject matter as well as sexualising them.

There's no getting away from the fact that leading man Charlie Hunnam doesn't look a thing like Ed Gein and there's only so much that hair, makeup and prosthetics can do and here, they do struggle to mostly hide their lead man's attractiveness under a sinister figure of terror.

Throughout these eight episodes, we're given insight into Ed's relationships with women and some with his victims. His most prominent relationships naturally involved women. His abusive mother, Augusta (Laurie Metcalf) did a number on Ed's views towards other women and his own sexuality and gender issues. Yes, there's an attempt to examine if Ed might have been trans but it's handled in a very messy way.

Then we've got a romance of sorts with local girl, Adeline Watkins (Suzanna Son). She's written as a toxic enabler with her own dark impulses who had no problem exploiting Gein's eventual downfall for her own gain. While this portrayal doesn't mirror the person's it's based, Suzanna Son did emerge as a break out talent here.

Now, what about Gein's actual victims? There's some focus on babysitter, Evelyn Hartley (Addison Rae) and hardware shop owner, Bernice Worden (Lesley Manville). The emphasis being more on the latter and how her death being the very thing to bring about Ed's exposure as a grotesque killer before he spent his remaining years institutionalised before his own demise.

Unlike the seasons that focused on Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez Brothers, this season might have less episodes but it often felt like it tried to do too much as well. For example, Ed's fixation on transwoman Christine Jorgensen (Alanna Darby) and Nazi war criminal, Ilse Koch (Vicky Krieps) took more screen time than it needed to, if I'm being honest.

On top of that, there's also some focus put into the three prominent movies it influenced - Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence Of The Lambs. The first movie made the subplots of two episodes with director Alfred Hitchcock (Tom Hollander) drawing wholly inappropriate similarities between Gein and his closeted leading man, Anthony Perkins (Joey Pollari). The likes of Tobe Hopper (Will Brill) and Buffalo Bill actor, Trent Levine (Golden Garnick) are less emphasised. Again, these are things that probably could've been mentioned in passing.

Circling back to Gein, the series doesn't skim on the gore or depravity of his hobbies and there's moments where it's in danger of humanising Gein too much before pulling it back. Gein's ending however was unwisely given a bit of a rockstar type of send off. I get what it's trying but it's definitely a misplaced choice here.

- Episode titles for the series were Mother!, Sick As Your Secrets, The Babysitter, Green, Ice, Buxom Bird, Ham Radio and The Godfather.

- Anthony's relationship with Tab Hunter (Jackie Kay) was explored briefly as well as his conversion therapy. Joey Pollari feels like a future American Horror Story regular to me.

- Both Charlie Hunnam and Vicky Krieps will appear in the next season, which will focus on Lizzie Borden and has now gone into production.

- Other serial killers that appeared included Ted Bundy, Richard Speck, Charles Manson, Jerry Brudos. It gets a bit Mindhunter in the last episode. Real life crime scene photographer Weegee (Elliot Gould) also factored into a subplot for Adeline.

- Standout music: The marketing had fun with the remastered version of the Pet Shop Boys It's A Sin.

- Chronology: 1944-1984, Wisconsin mainly. Also taking in post Nazi Germany, Washington, Los Angeles and so on. 

Arguably the weakest in this anthology series, I did struggle a bit with Monster: The Ed Gein Story. Saying that, I do think there's some very strong performances, notably with it's leading man. Charlie Hunnam might have given the most interesting performance in his whole acting career to date.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Invisible Man (1933)

 

Written by R.C. Sheriff

Directed by James Whale 

The Invisible Man: "An invisible man can rule the world. Nobody will see him come, nobody will see him go. He can hear every secret. He can rob, rape and kill!"

Late last year I watched and reviewed the 2020 version of this classic but I had to go and find the original. Oh my God, what a delight of a movie.

Our villainous protagonist, Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) started the film being invisible and holding up in a tavern to work on a cure for his condition. However his antics managed to piss off the proprietors - Herbert (Forrester Harvey) and Jenny Hall (Una O'Connor). Griffin didn't take being thrown out very well.

In fact he took the utmost delight in terrorising the couples as well as the villagers in the town. His antics spread but the police didn't believe in the idea of The Invisible Man until Griffin killed one out of spite. The movie made a point of telling that Griffin's invisibility has driven him to madness.

The very people who could help Griffin were also people that he had very different relationships with. He particularly loathed fellow doctor, Arthur Kemp (William Harrigan) and vowed to kill him. Despite the police's best efforts to protect Kemp, the latter still died brutally at the hands of a vengeful Griffin.

Griffin's relationships with father and daughter duo, Dr Cranley (Henry Travers) and Flora (Gloria Stuart) also was a contrast. He saw the former as intellectually inferior to him but the romance he had with the latter were the few moments in the movie where Griffin showed any humanity.

When he wasn't playing pranks and murdering people, Griffin's luck eventually ran out when he was smoked out of a burning barn and shot to death. The deathbed scene at the hospital had Griffin reflect on the folly of his actions, ending the movie on a suitably tragic note.

- The 2020 reboot aside, there were sequel and spin-off movies that came out in 1940.

- It took Jack over a thousand experiments during five years to become invisible. Food is visible when he eats until it's digested. 

- Standout music: Claude Rains's versions of Here We Go Gathering Nuts In May and Pop Goes The Weasel are used to creepy effect.

- Chronology: It's set in Iping, Sussex during Winter.

The Invisible Man really is a sublime piece of science fiction and horror. A chilling but hammy performance from Claude Rains really cemented this for me, along with that rather tragic ending.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of It Chapter Two (2019)

 

Written by Gary Dauberman 

Directed by Andy Muschietti 

Pennywise: "For 27 years, I dreamt of you. I craved you... I've missed you!"

The other day I reviewed the first chapter of this duology adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. Now it's time for the less loved sequel.

It's been a good twenty seven years and the Losers Club mostly left Derry and pursued different lives and careers. There's Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy). He's become a mystery writer incapable of sticking the landing with his endings but he's still widely successful.

We've also got Beverley Marsh (Jessica Chastain), now a successful fashion designer with an abusive husband while Eddie Kaspbrak (James Ransome) became a risk analyst with a wife not too dissimilar to his own mother. Oh and everyone's foul mouth favourite Richie Tozier (Bill Harder) chose a career in comedy.

As for the remaining Loser Club members, Ben Hanscom (Jay Ryan) became an architect and Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) a historian who actually remained in Derry. Last but not least, there was Stan Uris (Andy Bean) whose suicide would be the very thing to reunite the remaining members back to Derry.

Yup, Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) returned and with it, many deaths soon followed. Despite being adults, Pennywise wanted revenge on the Losers Club and took an overeager delight in tormenting each and every single member. Once again, he went for the jugular.

As adults, the remaining Losers Club members weren't as prepared for Pennywise, in spite of their previous encounter with him. There's another death among the gang, unrequited love both never spoken for one but affirmed for others before Pennywise was defeated for a second time in twenty seven years.

- The opening scene saw Adrian Mellon (Xavier Dolan) and Don Hagerty (Taylor Fray) killed for being gay. The movie also revealed that Richie was in love with Eddie.

- There's several other reappearances included the Leper, the Witch, Henry Bowers, Patrick Hockstetter and Georgie Denbrough. The younger version of the Losers Club also appeared.

- Standout music: Cameo's Word Up and Juice Newton's Angel In The Morning.

- Chronology: 2016 in Derry, Maine but also scenes in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

It Chapter Two was mostly a good sequel but it's a good example as to why not every movie actually works with an extended run time. At nearly three hours, it really did lag in a lot of parts. I do wonder if this whole adaptation should've either been a trilogy or trimmed more of the material to have made for a pacier duology.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Hunger (1983)

 

Written by Ivan Davis And Michael Thomas

Directed by Tony Scott

Miriam Blaylock: "Humankind dies one way, we another. Their end is final. Ours is not. In the earth, in rotting wood, in the eternal darkness, we will see and hear and feel."

Bisexual erotic vampire movie, anyone? Well, for spooky season it was on my list of movies to watch. Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon and David Bowie? How could I resist?

Taking place in New York, you've got vampire couple Miriam (Deneuve) and John Blaylock (Bowie) living their best lives and dining on anyone who had the misfortune of getting in their way. However there's a snag to their relationship.

The snag being that John's body has started to age and he's on the verge of a living death. It's also made clear that John's in a long line of lovers suffering the same fate. It turns out that being a lover of Miriam's does have a horrible price to pay.

Then there's Doctor Sarah Roberts (Sarandon). She's working on a way to reverse rapid ageing among primates with her boyfriend Tom Haver (Cliff DeYoung) and colleague, Charlie Humphries (Rufus Collins). Sarah's research attracted the attention of John, who desperately wanted her help for his condition.

At first Sarah didn't believe John but when she did, it was practically too late. John killed a protege of Miriam's named Alice Cavender (Beth Ehlers) and his body began to break down. Then there was Sarah and Miriam. Honestly, their relationship is the most memorable part of this movie.

Particularly that erotically charge sex scene between the pair where Miriam also made Sarah into a vampire. For a woman who seemed selective with her lovers, Miriam's biggest mistake was choosing Sarah as her next one. It ended badly for her with Miriam suffering the same fate as her former lovers and Sarah becoming the new Miriam.

- Miriam, John and Sarah used an ankh knife in order to draw blood from their victims. It was harder for vampires to feed in this movie.

- Based on a book of the same name by Whitley Strieber, albeit a loose adaptation.

- Standout music: Maurice Ravel's Le Gibet and Iggy Pop's Funtime.

- Chronology: New York for the majority of the movie before Sarah moved to London and acquired new lovers. John was a vampire for 200 years and Miriam was alive in Ancient Egypt.

The Hunger certainly hit the right spots for 1980s horror. You've got three great lead performances, even if the relationships themselves needed a little more time to explore. I also liked seeing the more severe side of vamprism in this one.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Peacemaker: "Like A Keith In The Night"

 

Written by James Gunn 

Directed by Alethea Jones 

Peacemaker (to everyone, re Keith): "Stop!!!"

In terms of dramatic performances in a television show in 2025, I didn't have John Cena on my bingo card but here we are. That gutteral and pained screamed was the most I've ever felt sorry for Peacemaker.

This penultimate episode pretty much was the coldest reality check for Christopher Smith. His idyllic world turned out to be one where the Nazis won World War II and the evidence was more overt as Emilia pointed things out. How the hell do you miss a Hitler mural in ARGUS for crying out loud?

Anyways, both Peacemaker and Emilia managed to escape ARGUS and then witnessed several police officers taken out by Blue Dragon and Captain Triumph. Oh and you want to hear the most shocking thing about this episode? Guess who's not a freaking Nazi?

Yup, Auggie Smith, I'm sorry I judged you. He's not a Nazi but while he might not be able to work against the system on Earth 2, he has been trying to work around it with his sons. He even handled the death of his own son a lot better than Keith did. Then both Vigilantes gate crashed and Auggie ended up dead.

This went back to a police raid led by Fitzgibbons (Lochlyn Munro), a lot of chaotic violence and the near death of Keith. Harcourt almost came close to killing him to protect Christopher but failed at the last minute. That's definitely coming back to get her in next week's finale.

As for the rest of the episode, there was a lot of stuff I liked. Both Vigilantes were entertaining to watch. I loved the team up between Leota and Judomaster after the latter rescued her while Eagly got to fuck up Keith and Peacemaker surrendered himself and the Quantum Unfolding Chamber to Rick Flag Sr.

- Sydney Happerson (Stephen Blackeheart) helped ARGUS to locate the 11th Street Kids. He also popped up in the post credit scenes.

- Economos should be thanking his lucky stars that Eagly didn't fuck him up after insulting him.

- Seriously, how did Chris not spot the Mein Kampf books everywhere? He might be pretty but he's not bright at times.

- Judomaster revealed he was both a Buddhist and gay to Leota after rescuing her. He gave her some good advice about Keeya as well.

- Standout music: First Signal's Still Pretending and Shining's Goretex Weather Report.

Like A Keith In The Night was short but what an episode. Done genuinely shocking moments. Some truly brilliant character moments and the usual amount of humour and ultra violence. I really hope next week's finale sticks the landing.

Rating: 8 out of 10