My Review of Keeper (2025)

Written by Nick Lepard 

Directed by Osgood Perkins

Liz (to Malcolm): "This fork is going in your head one way or another. Might as well taste good."

I got to say when it comes to actor/director combos, I'm not totally sure this combination of Osgood Perkins and Tatiana Maslany has been a total success so far. I knew this film was going to be a dud but I was hoping to be wrong on the matter.

With this film, Tatiana Maslany played a woman named Liz. Liz happens to be celebrating a year anniversary dating a doctor named Malcolm Westbridge (Rossif Sutherland). A nice time in a cabin seemed to be the order of the day. Anything but a nice time was had.

In the cabin alone, Liz had to encounter Malcolm's awful brother, Darren (Birkett Turton) and his girlfriend, Minka (Eden Weiss). There was also cake but it wasn't particularly good. Minka made a point of pointing that out. Liz also found out for herself that it was a bad cake. 

The cake wasn't the only problem for Liz. She had doubts about her relationship with Malcolm and the latter leaving her alone for a long while didn't help. Liz's friend Maggie (Tess Degenstein) wast shy in pointing out that something was off with Malcolm. Liz really should've listened to her friend.

As the movie went on, there was too much spooky stuff going on in the woods and mystery creatures. It wasn't too shock to learn that Malcolm was actually setting Liz up to be sacrificed and it wasn't shocking when she inevitably turned the tables on him as well. I mean, Malcolm absolutely deserved it but it wasn't shocking.

- Osgood Perkins previously worked with Tatiana Maslany on The Monkey (2025) and will again for the 2026 release of The Young People.

- Liz didn't like chocolate cake. She also thought that Malcolm was married until she realised the truth was far worse.

- The film was actually made during the writers strike by being filmed in Canada. 

- Chronology: Present day in the countryside. Malcolm and Darren are over two hundred years old.

Keeper might be one of the worst horror films I've seen this year and it's such a waste of Tatiana Maslany's talents. It's such a dull, plodding and lifeless movie with a final twist so poorly executed. Osgood Perkins really has proven to be a very hit and miss director.

Rating: 4 out of 10

My Review of Heated Rivalry: "Olympians"

 

Written And Directed by Jacob Tierney

Ilya: "Do you want to know it feels?
Shane: "How's what feel?"

Ilya: "Holding the cup."

It's nice to know the first episode wasn't a false alarm. Although shorter and not as strong, this episode also continued to depict both Ilya and Shane's relationship as unabashed in it's sexiness and this one, they were largely at odds with one another. 

The episode again jumped around with time as Shane and Ilya spent more time with each, both on and off the ice rink. Roles had been established I their relationship with Ilya as a top and Shane as a bottom. I got to say, I don't know who I envied more as yet again, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams are selling this relationship so well.

Things between Shane and Ilya were going so well, so of course something had yo emerge for conflict. In this case, it was Ilya's winning streak coming to an end during the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Ilya might be a charming asshole but he's also a very sore loser, which brought out his pettier side.

Losing was such a blow to Ilya's ego that he froze Shane out for six months, much to the latter's justified annoyance. It wasng Shane's fault that Ilya lost during the Winter Olympics but Ilya had to take it out on someone. Their reunion in Las Vegas also saw a further division between the pair.

Of course before Ilya got testy with Shane again, he agreed to give the latter something he wanted but only in his penthouse. I swear that entire scene in the penthouse leading up to their sex scene was one of the sexiest scenes I've seen this year. These two characters/actors have such great chemistry together.

In fact there's such great chemistry that Ilya turned down the chance to sleep with Svetlana's friend, Sasha (Kaden Connors). Even Shane doesn't seem to be getting anything outside of his stolen moments with Ilya. I do wonder how long that will last as Shane will likely be bearded with a woman soon.

- I thought Svetlana was Ilya's girlfriend but nope, she's definitely aware that he's gay. She left him alone with Sasha.
- Scott seems to be retired from the Montreal Metros but still met up with Shane for ice cream. 
- The Lily and Jane thing was cute but at one moment I did think Shane's teammate was going to figure it out.
- Chronology: Spring 2011 to Fall 2014. Again, we're taking in Montreal, Boston, Las Vegas, Sochi and Moscow.

Olympians rounded off a strong opening double bill for the show. The Ilya and Shane sex scenes have definitely made the show so far, along with the slow burning love between the pair of them. I'm really enjoying this show.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Heated Rivalry: "Rookies"

 

Written And Directed by Jacob Tierney 

Ilya: "Shane Hollander, will you disappoint them?"

Shane: "No."

It's impressive how this show quickly became on everyone's radar before actually being released but it's finally here. Like all streaming shows these days, you either get the whole show all at once or open with a double/triple bill. It's doubles for this one.

Focusing on the rivalry between hockey teams the Montreal Metros and Boston Raiders, this six part Canadian series was a bit about the sport in question. However it was more about two players from opposing teams being rather drawn to one another.

In fact the opening scene saw Russian hunk Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) interacting with Canadian good boy Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams). Ilya plays for the Raiders and Shane's part of the Metros. Both are depicted as the best members of their teams. The episode however was more interested in other things than hockey itself.

As the episode played out (along with multiple time jumps), both Ilya and Shane were fucking on the sly. Both men were closeted but Ilya seemed a bit more happier to take risks compared to Shane. Ilya even went as far as to end the episode by kissing Shane at a public event.

However while the kissing was nice to see, what was nicer was the actual sexiness itself. If this first episode was anything to go, then we're definitely getting more explicit stuff as the show will go on. With this one, there's blowjobs, jerking off, ass appreciation and talk of dildos. You can definitely tell that a queer man was behind the scenes of this show and I mean that in a good way.

As for the rest of the episode, there's some screen time devoted to Shane's parents - Yuna (Christina Chang) and David (Dylan Walsh) as well as older hockey player, Scott Hunter (Francois Arnaud). There's a look into Ilya's brother and father, Alexei (Slavic Rogozine) and Grigori (Yaroslav Poverlo) as well as a girlfriend of Ilya's named Svetlana (Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova) but their roles are small enough in this opening episode.

- The show is based on a book series from Rachel Reid called Game Changers. HBO Max quickly acquired the rights to this from Crave.

- Language wise, there's a mix of English, Russian and French throughout the episode.

- Shane got a Rolex sponsorship and there was talk of YouTube rabbit holes. 

- Chronology: So many months pass through the series with scenes in Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Russia.

Rookies opened up things rather nicely. Already there's excellent chemistry with Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams and there's a genuine sexiness to their scenes together. Looking forward to the rest of the show.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Freddy's Nightmares - Episodes 41-44 Reviews

And now the final batch of episodes. Sadly, it's mostly an underwhelming serving of affairs, experiments and prison time.

Episode 41: A Family Affair

Oh this was a truly dull episode. A family man had an affair with his mistress while also being at odds with the son. At some point in the episode, following the deaths of the wife and mistress, the family man ended up needing home care. Not that it mattered because he still didn't make it out of the episode alive. 4/10

Episode 42: Dust To Dust 

I didn't particularly care for the cannibal story a few episodes back but here we are with a sequel. The three cannibals from that episode were part of a support group to not eat people. Of course they ended up eating a runaway experiment and found themselves to have consumed some kind of alien organism. It got worse because each one of them ended up reduced to dust as did the scientists who kept pushing their luck. 5/10

Episode 43: Prisoner Of Love 

It's interesting that the final two episodes of this show were prison themed episodes. This one focused on two women - Violet and Brenda on death row and with a deep seated hatred of one another. Then there was Father Jarvis, who fell in love with Violet and was planning to help her escape, only for Brenda to botch things. Brenda didn't get the last laugh as she ended up suffering a similar fate to Violet and things didn't exactly go well for Father Jarvis either. 6/10

Episode 44: Life Sentence 

The last episode of the show and it's another prison episode. This time, the focus was on robber and killer, Andy and the fact that he had a lot of money stashed away. Add a corrupt warden and unwilling doctor and Andy was subjected to a lot of drugs until his mind broke and the warden got what he wanted. It's not an awful episode but it's a shame that the show ended on an average note when we could've had something that expanded upon Freddy's lore. 6/10

And that's a wrap on this show. Mostly a mixed bag with some good episodes, a few outright stinkers and a lot of mediocre ones to boot.

My Review of A Merry Little Ex-Mas (2025)

 

Written by Holly Hester

Directed by Steve Carr

Kate: "I love Christmas. Family time, the lights. It's awesome. This year, Christmas might look a little different."

It might be still November but of course, there's TV Christmas movies to be had. With Netflix, their Christmas movies aren't that too far off the usual Hallmark/Lifetime fodder and this one easily could've been a feature on one of those channels.

You've got leads with Alicia Silverstone and Oliver Hudson. They're a divorced couple named Kate and Everett. Oh wait, it's unconsciously coupling and they're also known as Betty and Al. I'll let you guess which was which.

Anyways, it's Christmas time and Kate wanted to make a career change after spending years looking after the kids and dealing with Everett's busy schedule. She had plans to spend one last Christmas in Winterlite before moving back to Boston for a job offer.

However, first was the Christmas in general. There was her teenage son Gabriel (Wilder Hudson), college bound daughter Sienna (Emily Hall) and the latter's boyfriend, Nigel (Timothy Innes). Throw in Everett's dads Daryl (Geoffrey Owens) and Mike (Derek McGrath) and that's the family side of this Christmas get together sorted.

As for everyyelse, there was the snarky Doris (Linda Kash), best friend April (Melissa Joan Hart) and then there was the alternative love interests for Kate and Everett. That was where Tess (Jameela Jamil) and Chet (Pierson Fode) factored into things.

At no point in this movie where either Tess or Chet going to remain with Everett and Kate respectively. If anything their roles served to get the divorced couple to work through their issues and get back together. Inevitably, that's exactly what happened here.

- There was a lot of references to Harry Potter and a rather pointed reference from Kate about George Clooney. Oh and The British Bake-Off.

- It was predictable but I did find it funny that Tess and Chet also ended up together by the end of the movie.

- Standout music: Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al.

- Chronology: Christmas 2025 in Winterlite.

A Merry Little Ex-Mas won't win points for originality but it's light and breezy and not too sickly sweet for its own good. I'm feeling generous, it was fine.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of It - Welcome To Derry: "29 Neibolt Street"

 

Written by Brad Caleb Kane

Directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr.

Pennywise: "Duck and cover, kiddos."

And that's how you do a reveal. I've been a bit impatient in wanting to see Bill Skarsgard back at it as Pennywise but my God, that was actually worth it. What a delightfully horrifying way of bringing Pennywise to the forefront.

I should've guessed that there was something about Matty suddenly reappearing to the gang that seemed off. A gang that now added Marge into the ranks given that she and Lilly got their friendship back on track.

Anyways, the gang plus "Matty" decided to take some Benzos and head down to the sewers in order to locate Pennywise in the latest attempt to free Hank. It went about as well as expected as "Matty" morphed into Pennywise and scared the bejesus out of the kids big time. 

Don't worry, the adults weren't getting off lightly either. General Shaw managed to track the location to the episodes title and the military also learned in record time that Pennywise wasn't to be fucked with. The two characters who learned that lesson the most - Leroy Hanlon and Pauly Russo. 

The episode felt that properly the deaths from the first episode wasn't enough. In this episode, Leroy came close to killing both Charlotte and Will. He snapped out of it first time but had Pauly not sacrificed himself, Leroy would have had his son's death on his hands. 

As for the rest of the episode, there was time for Hank to escape Shawshank and for it to be revealed that Ingrid's the married white woman he's having an affair with. Oh and we got a look into Hallorann's past with his grandparents and it wasn't a bit pleasant.

- I'm glad that Marge helped clear Lilly's name. Rich clearly has a crush on her as well.

- I'm not getting any good vibes off Ingrid's husband whatsoever. He seems abusive.

- Standout music: Timi Yuro's Satan Never Sleeps.

- Chronology: A few days since the events of the previous episode.

29 Neibolt Street was the jolt needed for the show. While I'll admit there's some CGI issues in general, the handling of Pennywise was practically note perfect. What a brilliant way of bringing him out.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Doctor Who Day 2025 Round Up

I'm fully aware that it was yesterday that was Doctor Who Day with the show turning 62. 

So, did we get anything to really get excited about? Not really no.

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting a lot to happen yesterday but even I was surprised with how underwhelming things felt. In terms of what we got was the following.

• A release date for the Series 10 soundtrack. After eight years, it'll be released on December 12th.
• The scripts and deleted scenes for Series 15. The interesting bit being a certain moment from The Reality War revealed.
• The cast from The War Between The Land And The Sea wishing the show a happy birthday.
• A reveal of an upcoming anthology book titled 1001 Nights In Time And Space.

And that was about it really. No hints of any involvement in Children In Need. Nothing potentially tantalising for next year's Christmas special, which definitely appears to be Russell T. Davies last one. Not even a new trailer for the spin off that's airing on BBC1 in less than a fortnight. Speaking of which.

Let's talk about The War Between The Land And The Sea, shall we? BBC1 are burning it off with two double bills and finale (December 7th-21st) and it does feel like they simply want it out of the way. From what I can tell, the focus will be on humans Vs. Sea Devils with Barclay Pierre Dupont (Russell Tovey) and Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) also forging a connection of their own. This could be a good show but it doesn't feel like the BBC have much faith in it at the moment.

Last but not least, was anyone hoping for a reunion between Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill? Well, you're getting one as the pair have teamed up for a new podcast titled The Pondcast. They'll be going over their time as Amy and Rory and one of the confirmed guests is Steven Moffat. While it feels everyone is doing a podcast at the moment, I really cannot wait to listen/watch this one. Going over one of the best eras of Doctor Who? Count me in.

The next Doctor Who blog will either be something festive related or hopefully something news related. 

My Review of Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)

 

Written by Martin Kitrosser And Brian Yuzna

Directed by Martin Kitrosser

Sarah: "You killed Joe."

Pino: "I had to... he broke me... and even though he always fixed me... I had to make sure that this time he wouldn't hurt me again."

And I'm back on this franchise. The fourth movie veered into the strangest territory with witchcraft and a new protagonist with Kim Levitt (Neith Hunter). She's back for this one but the story ain't about her. In fact, she didn't really need to be in this one at all.

Kim didn't add anything to the movie, other than to reassure the audience she was still alive. Her role in this one fell into supporting a mother and son named Sarah (Jane Higginson) and Derek Quinn (William Thorne). The movie also began with the death of Derek's father, Tom (Van Quattro) in a grisly enough manner.

Keeping with the title of the movie, there are two villains at play here. The first being the seemingly benevolent toymaker himself, Joe Petto (Mickey Rooney) and the other being his father unusual son, Pino (Brian Bremer). In case it wasn't obvious, this one's a twisted take on Pinocchio. A very twisted take.

First of all, Joe's toys have a killer effect as we all saw in the opening scene with Tom's death by toy. Derek also suspected that something was amiss with Joe and while Kim wasn't best used as a potential ally to Sarah and Derek, at least there was one in the form of Noah Adams (Tracy Fraim).

Noah felt like there was a backstory that was meant to be explored but it's not really touched upon that. Instead it's mostly Sarah/Derek dealing with their grief and trying to stay alive from the homicidal father and son duo of the piece.

Speaking of the villains, out of the two, I do think that Pino himself was a little bit more interesting, even if the actor seemed to be trying to replicate Billy from the first movie. Pino's desperation to belong however ended up being his undoing.

- I'm guessing Larry the Larvae toy was meant to be a nod to the previous movie.

- At different points in the movie we had Noah, Joe and Pino dressed as Santa Claus.

- Ricky (Clint Howard) died in the previous movie but was alive in this one.

- Chronology: Not long since the previous movie. Kim also adopted Lonnie as well.

I wouldn't be in a rush to recommend Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker to anyone but at the same time, it was mostly okay. A lot of the ideas have been better explored elsewhere but it's diverting enough I suppose.

Rating: 5 out of 10