My Review of Four Itchy Boys (2026)

 

Written And Directed by Andrew Hebert

Caption: "Tonight, the boys will break their silence."

This was something that I had heard about a few months ago and it's finally become publicly available to watch. A simple horror short movie centring on four unfortunate boys and a not so pleasant outcome for any of them.

Keeping with the title, they're itchy. All of them and it's bad enough that they have to wear mittens to stop themselves from tearing their skin off. They're not exactly successful in that regard, given the bloody marks on their backs and the outcome of this story.

The boys in question are August (Nico Greetham), Diego (Gilberto Ortiz), Yote (Booboo Stewart) and Ollie (Ben Weinswig). They're the topic of a press conference hosted by the awfully confrontational E.V.A. (Jess Gabor). She's merciless in her determination to make the boys look like an actual threat to society with their condition.

There's not a lot revealed in how the four boys got their condition but you had Ollie trying to calm the conference down, only for Diego to lose it upon being baited about his dead mother. Then there was the gruesome bit involving August ripping his own scalp off before dying on camera.

The end was bleak but expected. Diego, Ollie and Yote were bound in straitjackets and it was implied that Katy (Kim Bonifay) was likely infected with the itch as well. That death glare Diego gave her certainly spelled doom, did it not?

- I think there was a hint of some kind of relationship between August and Diego. Katy spied on them in the alley.

- Luke Barnett also popped up with his character not bring sympathetic to the lads plight.

- You can watch this for free on the ALTER YouTube channel.

- Chronology: The boys have been infected for six weeks.

Four Itchy Boys made for a decent and rather gruesome special. Good acting from the four unfortunate leads and a nice bit of gore. I'd definitely watch another film from this director.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Bad Apples (2026)

 

Written by Jonatan Etzler And Jess O'Kane

Directed by Jonatan Etzler

Pauline: "Did you always to be a teacher?"

Maria: "For as long as I can remember."

I watched this film about a week ago and I kept putting off this review. I'm not sure why as I generally liked it and Saoirse Ronan is an actor who can do no wrong in my opinion. Even in a film where her character just kept making the wrong decisions over and over again.

In this film, she played a Year 5 teacher named Maria Spencer. Maria's mostly good at her job and the kids that she taught seemed to generally like her but there was also that one child who didn't and that child was the type of kid that no teacher wanted to be saddled with. The child being a lad named Danny (Eddie Waller).

Danny's the typical nightmare kid with a well meaning but hopeless father, Josh (Roberts Emms) and seemed to delight in antagonising Maria to her wits end. However an incident outside the classroom pushed Maria to her limits and she ended up keeping Danny prisoner in her basement.

Yup, that's exactly what she did. She kept him in her basement, tried to teach him and keep him quiet with a gaming device and let the locals and police assume the worst in Josh to boot. That wasn't the best way that Naria could've handled things  up as it seemed like she was getting through to Danny, there was the further complication with fellow pupil, Pauline (Nia Brown).

While Danny was disruptive and violent, Pauline was more manipulative and entitled. She knew that Danny was being kept prisoner but used that to taunt Danny and blackmail Maria. On top of that, she ended up telling everyone what Maria had done and the reaction was more shocking.

Having the parents, staff and police encourage Maria to keep Danny was the most baffling thing to happen in this film. It almost took me out of the whole thing. I'm not sure I believed it. Also, it did end on a rather odd note to boot.

- Jacob Anderson had a decent support role as Maria's ex-boyfriend, Sam. Rakie Ayola, Sean Gilder and Kerry Howard also have some good moments.

- Based on the book, De Oönskade by Rasmus Lindgren.

- Standout music: The Five Stairsteps Ooh Child.

- Chronology: Present day Somerset.

Bad Apples tells a complicated morality tale between a teacher out of her depth and an unruly child. There's good performances from both Saoirse Ronan and Eddie Waller but the third act slightly muddled proceedings.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of It Gets Worse - Series 1 (2026, Channel 4 Series)

 

Written by Leo Reich

Directed by Mounia Akl

Ethan (to Brian): "All I want is to live in a shit flat with my two best friends and get drunk every night and make memories that would last a lifetime and just have, I don't know, ten years of my life where I wouldn't have to worry about anything. Is that too much to ask?"

I'm going to be blunt here - Gen Z programming isn't something that I particularly want to watch but I do want to support more out gay talent who are making shows and movies that are written with gay men in mind. You can tell that's the case here with this particular lead character.

Let's meet Ethan (Leo Reich), shall we? If you're expecting an automatically endearing gay lead character, you're shit out of luck. Ethan's rude, selfish, entitled and generally only concerned about his own needs. He's also a shit friend, displaying very little concern for the two friends he actually had in this six episode show.

I'd argue that his friends - Abi (Emily Fairn) and Sam (Olive Gray) are no better but still, they're a little bit less awful than Ethan himself. Abi's the only one out of the three with a steady job and a cute but dull boyfriend, Tom (Sean Delaney) that she didn't love. While Abi's career was mostly in order, her relationship with Tom deteriorated over the course of the show.

Sam on the other hand, alternated between writing articles on her Substack to tutoring a young lad she kept dismissing as an incel. It turned out that he wasn't by the way. Sam also had a weird throuple dynamic with ex-girlfriend, Zara (India Mullen) and Tess (Safia Oakley-Green).

If there's one positive from the show, it's that it's an incredibly sex positive show. Ethan himself had two love interests with Aaron (Dane Williams) and his on/off ex boyfriend, Jesse (Arian Nik). I'll give the show points for being pretty sex positive if messy at times with it's main and supporting characters.

There's a slew of interesting guest stars but the three that stood out were Ethan's therapist Brian, played by Andrew Scott as well as Lena Dunham as Abi's boss Greta and Amelia Dimoldenberg as an old rival of Abi's named Emily.  All three do a great job with the screen time they're given.

- Episode titles were Ethan, Abi, Sam, Everyone Else Is Taken, Stop All The Clocks and People Team. Zadie Smith narrated the show.

- The sexiest scene was seeing Andrew Scott going all dom on Leo Reich in the first episode and it's the least explicit scene too. 

- Blake Harrison had an amusing turn as the lodger of Ethan's mother, Sarah (Vicki Pepperdine). It's funnier when Ethan realised that Roger fancied his mother.

- Chronology: I'm presuming it's 2026 London.

It Gets Worse certainly exemplified a Gen Z group of characters. Parts of the show can be a tad frustrating but I think I liked it the more it went on. There's a good chemistry between the three leads, which definitely helped smooth out some of the rougher edges.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Heated Rivalry: Seasons 2 & 3 Filming + Scott/Kip Christmas Movie

Okay, one of these things I expected and the other has taken me by surprise. Things have gotten interesting with the filming for Crave/HBO Max series, Heated Rivalry.

First of all, filming for the second season of the popular Canadian ice hockey/gay romance show, starring Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams as couple Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander has been filming since August. On top of the six episode second season, its being reported that filming for the third season has also started. The third season will also have six episodes but there's more.

Oh and did anyone say a movie? Well, if you're a fan of Scott Hunter (Francois Arnaud) and Kip Grady (Robbie G.K.), you'll be able to enjoy one next December as the pair will take centre in their own movie, based on Rachel Reid's short story, Merry Christmas: Scott & Kip. The couple had their breakout moments in the first season of the show, so it makes perfect sense to award them their own movie. The movie itself will also get a theatrical release.

Meanwhile a reminder of the new cast members to expect with the show's return in 2027.

• Justice Smith as Harris Drover: Social media manager for the Ottawa Centaurs
• Charlie Gillespie as Troy Barrett: Forward for the Ottawa Centaurs
• Shaheen Jafargholi as Fabian Salah: Aspiring musician
• Daniel Diemer as Ryan Price: Defence for the Toronto Guardians
• Edvin Ryding as Luca Haas: Ottawa Centaurs player
• Robert Naylor as Wyatt Hayes: Goalie for the Ottawa Centaurs
• Paul Gross as Roger Crowell: Commissioner of the professional hockey league
• Kevin Zegers as Coach Brandon Wiebe: Head coach of the Ottawa Centaurs
• Milla Jovovich as Dr. Galina Molchalin: Ilya's therapist
• Emily Hampshire as Vanessa: Supporting character
• Priyanka as Tarek: Assistant at an immigration services organization
• Sabrina Jalees as Farah Jalali: Tarek's roommate
• Brendan Morgan as Zane Boodram: Supporting character
• David Tomlinson as Cody Kent: This show's version of Dallas Kent
• Gerry Dee as Coach Cooper: Hockey coach
• Michelle Mylett as Lisa: Supporting character
• Lauren Chan as Gen: Supporting character
• Nick Stahl as Curtis Barrett: Supporting character

Heated Rivalry will return to Crave and HBO Max from April 2027.

My Review of The Grudge (2019)

 

Written by Nicolas Pesce And Jeff Buhler

Directed by Nicolas Pesce

Burke: "Bye Mom!"

I genuinely thought with this title that we were in the remake era once again and we were about to have a new take on the first story. Instead this film took place between and within the three movies that preceeded it.

It's an unusual approach if I'm being honest and I'm not sure it's one that entirely worked. There's a slew of characters and once again, Kayako Saeki (Junko Bailey) was at the heart of causing have among these characters.

The closest to a protagonist was weary Detective Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough). She's recently lost her husband and she's trying to be a good mother to her son, Burke (John Hansen). She's as immersed in the central story and in spite of her efforts, things didn't end particularly well for her.

There's also two couples also at the heart of the film. The younger couple - Peter (John Cho) and Nina Spencer (Betty Gilpin) were expecting a baby and their story took a rather dark turn when Peter encountered the ghosts of mother/daughter Fiona (Tara Westwood) and Melinda Landers (Zoe Fish). It's a very dark ending for that couple.

The older couple - Faith (Lin Shaye) and William Matheson (Frankie Faison) was the most interesting of the bunch. It was an assisted suicide storyline with Lorna Moody (Jacki Weaver) completely out of her depth. It's the best of the three main storylines and the one that I wished had more focus.

The common strand in the stories was 44 Reyburn Drive. It was cursed of course and the location of many of the deaths. Muldoon was investigating the place with her partner, Goodman (Demián Bichir) and it was also the final place she'd ever step foot into, giving this a rather pointed ending.

- The original plan was actually a reboot that would've abandoned the Saeki family but we got this one instead.

- The address was a reference to Ju-on short film 4444444444 (1998). 

- Standout music: Laura St. Jude's Devil's Daughter.

- Chronology: 2004, 2005 and 2006 in Pennsylvania respectively. 

Arguably the weakest of the bunch, but at the same time, I did think this version of The Grudge (2019) had some interesting ideas. They could've been executed a tad better than they were tbh but it could've been a lot worse.

Rating: 6 out of 10

My Review of The Grudge 3 (2009)

 

Written by Brad Keene

Directed by Toby Wilkins

Naoko: "If the curse is not stopped, more people will die, you must understand!"

On to the third installment into the American take of this movie franchise and it's a whole new writing and directing team for this one. I mean there's remnants of the previous movies that are still there.

For example, there's Jake (Matthew Wright) from the second movie. He's been hospitalised but he's quickly killed off by Kayako (Aiko Horiuchi) much to the horror of Dr. Sullivan (Shawnee Smith). There was no point getting attached to Sillas she also met a rather brutal demise at the hands of Kayako too.

The focus was again in Chicago at that particular apartment building. This time around, the focus pivoted on a trio of siblings - older brothers Max (Gil McKinney), New York bound middle sister Lisa (Johanna Brady) and youngest sister, Rose (Jadie Rose Hobson). Rose was ill and kept seeing Toshio (Shimba Tsuchiya) while Max was resentful of Lisa wanting to move to New York with her boyfriend, Andy (Beau Mirchoff).

There was a neighbour named Gretchen (Martina Sirtis) and Max's boss, Mr. Praski (Max McCoy) but they're mostly there to be killed off at different points in the film. There's also new neighbour, Naoko Kawamata (Emi Ikehata), who was revealed to be the sister of Kayako.

Naoko wantes to protect Lisa and her siblings and quickly revealed the horrifying childhood that both her and Kayako had to endure. It took long enough for Lisa to even entertain the idea of Naoko's help and when Naoko did help, all kind of disaster came out. Namely the presence of Kayako's abusive ghost husband, Max being possessed, Andy dead and Naoko also killed and becoming a vengeful spirit. 

The film certainly heavier into the family dynamics with Max, Lisa and Rose falling apart and Naoko doing her best to redeem her own. There's failures on both sides and the ending with Rose was effective enough.

- The next film to come out of this series would go in a completely different direction, so no resolution to that ending.

- There's archive footage and photos from the first two movies.

- Standout music: Marwood's No Trouble.

- Chronology: 2006 Chicago and Tokyo. We briefly met Naoko's husband, Daisuke (Takatsuna Mukai) near the start or the film. 

I got to admit that I found The Grudge 3 a bit better than the second one. It's by no means perfect but it was better focused and I liked the family dynamics a bit more. However, it had Shawnee Smith and could've done a lot more with her.

Rating: 6 out of 10

My Review of The Grudge 2 (2006)

 

Written by Stephen Susco 

Directed by Takashi Shimizu 

Jake: "It's all your fault! What did you do? What did you bring here?"

Allison: "It followed me here. THEY followed me here!"

Following the success of the 2004 remake, a sequel of course had to emerge and it's one that came out within two years. Was it as good as the first movie? Not really but it did try to build on the events of said movie.

The last we saw of Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar), she was hospitalised in Tokyo and being terrorised by Kayako Saeki (Takako Fuji). This of course distressed Karen's I'll mother (Joanna Cassidy) who sent Karen's younger sister, Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn) to bring Karen home.

What I found interesting very early in this movie was the dynamic with the Davis women. The mother clearly favoured Karen over Aubrey and there's a sibling rivalry between the estranged sisters. Saying that, Aubrey went to Tokyo to get Karen back but the latter ended up dying early into the movie, which made Aubrey the main protagonist for this sequel.

Just like her dead sister, Aubrey found herself out of place and trying her hardest to figure out the significance behind the Grudge and how it took her sister's life. This meant talking to journalist Eason (Edison Chen) who had saved Karen's life and been investigating the Saeki murders. There was also some revelations from Kayako's mother (Kim Miyori) but Aubrey was as doomed as her sister.

Something that might not have helped this sequel was splitting the narrative. Half of this film wanted to close the Karen side of things while having Aubrey making similar mistakes. Then there was the focus on another family and a bunch of school girls, all of whom get drawn into that house with similar consequences.

The family comprised of the Kimbles in Chicago - Bill (Christopher Cousins) and Trish (Jennifer Beals) and son Jake (Matthew Knight) and older daughter Lacey (Sarah Roemer) Their apartment was acting up and it didn't end well for the family. The school girls - Allison (Arielle Kebbel), Vanessa (Teresa Palmer) and Miyuki (Misako Uno) all fell victim to the curse and both stories intersected, though it could've been  handled far better.

- There's appearances of several characters from the first film to try and connect the new stories of this one.

- Amber Tamblyn previously guest starred in an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, where Sarah Michelle Gellar was the lead.

- Standout music: Hansi Kürsch's When Sorrow Sang.

- Chronology: 2004 and 2006 Pasadena, Chicago and Tokyo.

The Grudge 2 tackled too many ideas and tries to make them flow seamlessly together but doesn't quite pull it off. There's basically two movies crammed into one and in reality, both should've been done separately. 

Rating: 6 out of 10

My Review of The Grudge (2004)

Written by Stephen Susco 

Directed by Takashi Shimizu

Karen: "The whole time I was in that house I felt something was wrong. What happened there?"

The 2000s were the times for horror remakes and sometimes, remakes even involved the people behind them. This American version to 2002's Ju-On: The Grudge was proof of that. I still have to see the original version but I remember liking this one back in the day. I still do tbh.

Sarah Michelle Gellar didn't quite have the big career, post Buffy The Vampire Slayer that she deserved but this was undeniably the most successful film she's been attached and as the lead of. She's also unquestionably fantastic as exchange student/hospice care worker, Karen Davis.

Karen's moved to Tokyo with her boyfriend, Doug (Jason Behr) where she ended up having to look after the dementia stricken Emma Williams (Grace Zabriskie). Emma's got a son named Matthew (William Mopather), daughter named Susan (KaDee Strickland) and daughter in law named Jennifer (Clea DuVall). It's however up to Karen to take care of Emma in a haunted house.

Let's talk about the house. The opening of this film had Kayako Saeki (Takako Fuji) and her son Toshio (Yuya Oseki) murdered by Kayako's jealous husband, Takeo (Takashi Matsuyama) as the latter found out that Kayako had developed feelings for her co-worker, Peter Kirk (Bill Pullman). Peter also died after encountering the ghosts in this film.

The main ghosts were both Toshio and Kayako, with the latter appearing as an onryō. Throughout the film, both restless spirits terrorised everyone they interacted with and there's some genuinely unsettling scenes to watch. It's up to Karen to try and figure things out but if you were hoping for a traditional final girl outcome, you're in for a shock.

It's not a happy outcome for Karen. Not only did she lose her boyfriend, Doug but she also lost her mind. It's a tragic ending for the character while the detective Nakagawa (Ryo Ishibashi) was the one who ended up setting that house on fire to try and end the cycle. Not that it really succeeded, considering Karen's outcome.

- Sam Raimi was a producer while his brother, Ted was cast as Alex, the director of the care centre that stationed Karen and Yoko (Yōko Maki).

- Two sequels and a sidequel were spawned from this movie and came out in 2006, 2009 and 2019 respectively.

- Standout music: Christopher Young's score is rather effective.

- Chronology: Set in Yokyo during 2001 and 2004 respectively.

While I do need to seek out the original, I'm still resolved in saying that I liked this version of The Grudge and I won't change my mind on that. It's genuinely chilling in parts and Sarah Michelle Gellar can do no wrong.

Rating: 7 out of 10