DCU Blog - May 2024 Edition: Superman First Look, The Sandman S2 Casting and Batman: Caped Crusader Release Date Confirmed

Yup, this past month was extremely plentiful in terms of DC related news. I mean we got a lot to mull over here.

James Gunn released a first look for David Corenswet as Superman (2025) is halfway filming and will make it's July 11th 2025 release.

Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow will release from June 26th 2026 with production to start later this year. Milly Alcock will play the title character and Craig Gillespie has been officially confirmed as the director.

Joker: Folie A Deux will premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story will hit select US theatres from September 21st.

The events of Waller will take place after the events of the second season of Peacemaker.

James Gunn that the writing/producing for the upcoming Lanterns series will consist of Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King.

Deathstroke will appear in the DCU but it's likely with a new actor. The project he'll appear had yet to be disclosed.

Frank Grillo will reprise his role of Rick Flag Sr in the second season of Peacemaker, which is currently filming.

The Flash (2023) will hit Netflix from June 25th. 

An actor has been cast for the upcoming Booster Gold series with a showrunner also being sought. Both will be confirmed in due course.

A recent promo from Netflix have confirmed Adrian Lester as Destiny, Esme Creed-Miles as Delirium and Barry Sloane as the Prodigal/Destruction for the second season of The Sandman.

Dead Boy Detectives left Netflix's Top 10 after three weeks. Unfortunately, I'm not anticipating a second season for the show.

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths - Part Three will be released from July 16th.

A sequel to Batman: Ninja titled Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League has been announced.

The Watchmen animated movie will release its first part from August 13th.

Batman: Caped Crusader will be released on Prime Video from August 1st. The show already has a second season in development.

My Adventures With Superman has both a third and fourth season mapped out but has yet to be greenlit.

UK/Irish audiences will get to see The Penguin on SkyAtlantic in the autumn along with Max viewers. Mark Strong has been cast in an undisclosed role.

The final season of Superman And Lois will air on Thursdays in the autumn on the CW.

Jeph Loeb is returning to DC Comics for Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween. The ten part series will be released from September 25th.

What a busy month. Can't wait to see what's going to be revealed next month.

My Review of Back To Black (2024)

 

Written by Matt Greenhalgh

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson

Amy (to herself): "I want people to hear my voice and just forget their troubles for five minutes. I want to be remembered for being a singer for sell-out concerts and sell-out West End and Broadway shows. For just being me."

Like many people in the 2000s, I was a massive fan of Amy Winehouse (still am, btw) and like a lot of people in general, I can be wary of biopics. They're not always done with the best intentions or outcome and sometimes, personal bias can overly influence things.

This biopic does somewhat fall into those categories as we're given a very on the nose narration from Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) about wanting her music to have true meaning. There's no doubt that Winehouse herself was being absolutely sincere upon saying that, but still, it's not exactly subtle.

Anyways the movie opened with a family gathering where Amy's closeness towards her nana Cynthia (Leslie Manville) was on display along with a strained relationship with her father, Mitch (Eddie Marsden). There's also a nice scene with her mother, Janis (Juliet Cowen) before the real meat and bone of the movie kicked into gear.

Yes, I'm talking about her music career and being signed on to Island Records. Amy didn't want to be a Spice Girl and made it clear that she had to live her songs. Between hit albums like Frank and Back To Black she definitely did, especially when she got romantically involved with Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O'Connell).

In the press, we saw how volatile and destructive Amy's romance and eventual marriage to Blake truly was. We saw her spiral into alcohol and hardcore drugs but this movie does take an oddly more sympathetic look at Blake than expected at times. Even to the point where he demanded a divorce in order to break the destructive cycle between himself and Amy.

As for Amy's tragic death, it's never depicted on screen and I'm actually fine with that. While the movie did examine a lot of her lows, it also depicted her attempts of sobriety and admitting that she was an addict as well as her accomplishments as a musician. Not to mention the positive impact she had on a young girl in one particular.

In terms of casting, Marisa Abela certainly had a task on her. For the most part, she's very good as Amy but there were times when I was aware I was watching an actor and the singing isn't totally there. Saying that, I do think the performance was overall better than expected and done respectfully too.

- Both Blake and Cynthia were the ones to influence Amy's iconic beehive look, moreso Cynthia though.

- I definitely laughed when one of Amy's exes realised he inspired a certain song of hers and he didn't take it very well.

- Standout music: Recreations of Stronger Than Me, Fuck Me Pumps, Valerie, Rehab, Back To Black and Tears Dry On Their Own.

- Chronology: Early 2000s in Camden Town leading to Amy's death on July 2011.

I came in with very wary expectations of Back To Black and while I definitely think a better biopic could've been made, it was a decent enough attempt. Marisa Abela did well with the performance and it gets points for trying to be balanced instead of salacious. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Toast (2010)

 

Written by Lee Hall

Directed by S.J. Clarkson

Nigel: "It's impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you."

As someone with a moderate interest for cooking shows, I was intrigued to learn that Nigel Slater had an autobiography that was the subject of a BBC TV movie over a decade ago. Naturally I had to check it out.

The movie opened during Nigel's (Oscar Kennedy) childhood. He had an interesting one, bonding with mother (Victoria Hamilton) over food and clashing with his father (Ken Stott) over food and just about everything else. Those two definitely didn't get along with one another.

As the movie got to it's halfway point, Nigel's mother died of debilitating asthma and things between Nigel and his father only worsened with the arrival of common cleaner Joan Potter (Helena Bonham Carter). Needless to say, if Nigel had issues with his father, he absolutely hated the ground that Joan walked on.

The rivalry between Nigel and Joan was definitely spurred on by food. It hadn't taken Joan that long to go from family cleaner to Nigel's stepmother and two of them weaponised food in order to get the father on their side. On this particular note, I ended up having sympathy for the father.

With a teenage Nigel (Freddie Highmore) coming into his own as a would be chef and dessert maker, Joan knew exactly what he was trying to do and kept countering him at every turn. Who would've though a lemon meringue pie could be used in a very petty battle of upmanship but it wasas both Nigel and Joan refused to give in to each other.

Of course when Nigel wasn't trying to oust his stepmother, he did manage to get a job in a local pub and a kiss from the owner's son, Stuart (Ben Aldridge). Throughout the movie, there was hints of Nigel's sexuality with his very brief infatuation with Stuart being more of an aside to this story. There was also a childhood crush on a gardener named Josh (Matthew McNulty).

By the end of the movie, Nigel's father had died and he had lost his last shred of patience with Joan. I have to admit to feeling a bit bad for Joan but at the same time, it did make sense for Nigel to get away from her and make his own way as a chef. 

- The title came from his 2003 autobiography and the fact that often his family had toast as a backup when dinners would be burned.

- Nigel Slater himself made a cameo towards the end of the movie as a chef.

- Standout music: Dusty Springfield's He's Got Something, Little By Little and I'll Try Anything To Get You.

- Chronology: 1960s and 1970s Wolverhampton and Herefordshire as well as London for the last few scenes.

Toast was a simple title for a simply delightful movie. There were times when it did seem like Nigel was too harsh with his father and stepmother but the exploration into his love of good and developing his culinary skills was very well done.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Superman: Brainiac Attacks (2006)

 

Written by Christopher Simmons And Duane Capizzi

Directed by Curt Geda

Clark: "What is it, Lois?"

Lois: "For a moment, you... reminded me of someone I know, that's all."

Being on something of a Superman role, I ended up watching this movie from Superman: The Animated Series. It's also the second animated one in the last week I've watched featuring a certain villain.

The villain in question being Brainiac (Lance Henriksen) posing yet another threat for Superman (Tim Daly) and of course being paired with Lex Luthor (Powers Boothe) and it's a fun story of sorts.

For instance, Lex Luthor has something of a character change here. Instead of the cold and calculated version we had in the animated show, this version's more playful and seems to be using right hand woman, Mercy Graves (Tara Strong) as a sounding board throughout the movie. 

As for Lex and Brainiac, their scheme involved getting rid of Superman and then Lex making himself looking the hero for the citizens of Metropolis. Needless to say, the pair end up betraying one another and Lex needed Superman to save the day, while trying to sidestep his own involvement in Brainiac's scheming.

Along with that, we also had Superman venturing into the Phantom Zone for answers while the romantic tension between Clark and Lois Lane (Dana Delany) also came to a head. Lois did spend a lot of the movie as a victim of poisoning but when she wasn't hospital bound, there was plenty of solid scenes with her and Clark/Superman.

As for Clark, he considered quitting the Daily Planet before ultimately changing his mind while Jimmy Olsen (David Kaufman) had his own subplot with Mercy that showed he had a thing for bad girls. As for Perry, he was largely exasperated by most of his staff while also deducing that Clark has feelings for Lois. Other than that, he didn't do much here.

- Lex Luthor, Mercy Graves and Brainiac were all voiced by different actors compared to the animated series.

- The last scene of the movie teased Mister Mxyzptlk with Lois racing off to get the scoop.

- Though we see no other heroes in this one, at least we got a mention of Green Lantern.

- Chronology: An undisclosed time since the end of the animated series.

Superman: Brainiac Attacks does a good job of staying within the DCAU continuity but in most regards, it's not treading anything too new with either Lex or Brainiac. It's fun though not the strongest animated movie. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman 2x02: "Adventures With My Girlfriend"

 

Written by Angela Entzminger 

Directed by Kiki Manrique 

Amanda: "Oh, Sam, that's easy. Today's the day you talk."

Amanda Waller, never change. No, seriously, you're just too enjoyable as a baddie and this episode displayed Waller at her worst so far this show. She opened the episode preparing breakfast.

The breakfast she explored was for Sam Lane under the assurance that she would break him and when it appeared she was failing, she made it clear to Sam that she'd have no problem using Lois to get what she wanted.

In all fairness, she didn't need to bother because Lois and Superman came to her in order to rescue Sam. In that, it was revealed that Waller was using Kryptonian tech in order to experiment on the prisoners, including Billy's father. 

Yup, it showed Waller at her worst to the point where even Sam was openly disgusted with her actions. Of course from Waller's perspective she just willing to make the kind of sacrifices that Sam refused to make. However her actions nearly caught up with her when Parasite was on the loose. 

Fortunately for Amanda though, her rescuer was none other than Alexander 'Lex' Luthor. Yes, they finally revealed his identity after barely attempting to cover it up to begin with and Lex's quick thinking not only saved Waller's life but bagged him a scientific position to boot.

As for Superman and Lois, I did like that Clatk expressed his misgivings about Sam and how the latter mistreated him and Lois. I'm also not sure what Lois was thinking by suggesting that Sam stayed with Clark and Jimmy. That wasn't her brightest idea.

- Jimmy got assigned a Flamebird group (which included Steve Lombard) by Perry. Steve had access to a boat.

- I'm wondering was Agent Martin meant to be Dr Phosphorus? It seemed like it.

- Livewire got a mention in the episode by Waller when the latter was talking about her latest experiments.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Adventures With My Girlfriend certainly had plenty of action with the searches for both Sam and Supergirl dominating the episode, along with Amanda's ruthlessness on full display. The Jimmy subplot was amusing enough too.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of My Adventures With Superman 2x01: "More Things In Heaven And Earth"

 

Written by M. Willis

Directed by Diana Huh 

Jor-El: "Kal-El. Clark. My boy. You have turned your power into a shield for the helpless. You have filled your life with love. You are more than I could have ever hoped for and maybe one day you will forgive me for leaving you again."

I have to admit that Season 2 had gone under the radar for me but after catching up with the first two episodes of this anime inspired version of Superman (Jack Quaid), it's nice to see the show hasn't lost any of its charm. It's still as sweet natured as before.

Time has passed and when Clark wasn't having anxiety about his nearest and dearest not accepting him not being human, he was in Valentine's Day mode. However his idea for romance was largely shot down by virtually everyone at the Daily Planet.

Meanwhile Perry decided that Valentine's Day was perfect to cancel as Vicki Vale was stealing too many scoops from from the Daily Planet. Lois was in full investigation mode with Jimmy during a trip to STAR Labs and Clark decided to investigate the mystery man stalking his dreams.

Anyways mystery man turned out to be Jor-El and when Superman wasn't getting to know his AI father, he also learned that he had a cousin named Kara and a beacon would be needed to find her. Yes, we're getting Supergirl this season. Sooner than later presumably.

As for the rest of the episode, we had Amanda Waller and Not Deathstroke raiding the Kryptonian ship for their own purposes while Lois also realised that Sam Lane was being held prisoner by Waller. That led to the awkwardness of Lois having to ask a certain favour. Yup, and Superman agreed to it as well.

- Jimmy sort of made friends with a certain Alexander, who nearly revealed his surname. As if we don't know who he is already.

- Going by Jor-El's discussion about finding Kara, we also found out that Clark is 22.

- Waller and Deathstroke had a hulking brute assisting them and Deathstroke even had a Kryptonite sword.

- Chronology: It was Valentine's Day throughout the episode.

More Things In Heaven And Earth did kick off the first half of this two part premiere off to a pretty good start. Some nice moments between the new couple, the set up for Supergirl and Waller's schemes. Now on to the second half.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Second Bites, Polin, Dollish Hell And More

Another monthly round up of some of the shows I've watched in the last few weeks.

Bridgerton: Netflix really won't go down the weekly releases, so they'll compromise for these split seasons instead. Also this show decided to switch book orders and instead of Benedict/Sophie, we've got Penelope and Colin instead. These first four episodes certainly ended on the cliffhanger of a marriage proposal but between then, Penelope has an alternative with Debling and Colin was enjoying threesomes. Other than the Polin romance, there was wedded Anthony/Kate bliss, an interesting friendship with Eloise/Cressida, the arrival of Lady Danbury's brother and the Queen taking an interest in Francesca. I'd say this was a strong first half to the season, which will conclude on June 13th.

Chucky: With a fourth season not yet confirmed, this season chose to end on a massive and rather mad cliffhanger. Even if we don't get a fourth season, Don Mancini will likely get a movie to tie up loose ends. As for the cliffhanger. Well, Chucky escaped death yet again, Tiffany went back into a Belle Doll body, Caroline's definitely beyond saving and Nica walked in on Jake, Lexy and Devon as marionettes. In between all of that, Chucky nearly nuked another country, we had trips into the afterlife with multiple Chuckys and the White House got burned to the ground. I enjoyed this mad season a lot.

Fallout: Video game adaptations continue to be a massive seller and Amazon have struck gold with this one. I've never played the game and I don't intend to but I enjoyed watching the arcs of Lucy, Maximus and Howard the Ghoul throughout the eight episodes that made up the first season. There's a career defining performance from Ella Purnell and she's an excellent protagonist as Lucy. The pacing's a bit slow in parts but it's certainly worth the watch.

Interview With The Vampire: The first season of this Southern Gothic series certainly got a lot of buzz when it was released in October 2022 but I'm thinking the meagre marketing and early summer release might not have helped this second season. A shame because while the first episode was sluggish, I really liked the second episode. Lestat might be relegated to brief scenes for now but it's given Louis and Claudia time to shine in Paris with Armand, Santiago and the rest of the gang. The present day interview with Daniel now aware of Armand's existence certainly upped the tension.

Shogun: FX's lavish reboot of this popular miniseries certainly has become the biggest show of the year so far. The popularity skyrocketed that this went from a one off miniseries to getting a two season renewal with most of the cast slated to return. I have to admit there were times I did struggle with it as the show alternated between Japanese and English but the cast were brilliant, the show looked gorgeous and it's nice to see these type of shows connect with a wider audience.

• Jonathan Bailey will guest as Jack Maddox in the third season of Heartstopper, which Netflix will release in October.
• The fourth and finale season of The Umbrella Academy will be released from August 8th on Netflix.
• Walker has been cancelled after four seasons on the CW.
• Sean Teale has joined the cast of upcoming medical nautical drama Dr Odyssey. The show will air on ABC in the Fall and be paired with 911.
• Travis Kelce recently filmed a guest spot for FX's upcoming detective horror show Grotesquerie.
• And Just Like That's third season has began filming. Rosie O'Donnell will be guesting in the new season.
• The second half of American Horror Stories third season will air in October on FX on Hulu.
• Agatha All Along will premiere in September on Disney+. A series focusing on Vision is also in the works.
• The second season of The Rings Of Power will be released on Amazon from August 29th.
• The Boys has been renewed for a fifth season by Amazon. Gen V will write out Chance Perdomo's character instead of a recast.
• Max have cancelled The Girls On The Bus after one season.
• The Conners has been renewed for a seventh and final season.
• Industry Season 3 will premiere from August 11th on HBO. 

My Review of Doctor Who: "73 Yards"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies 

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams

Ruby: "It's taken me all this time to realise what I'm here to do."

Boyfriend: "Which is what?"

Ruby: "I'm gonna save the world."

It has been nearly a decade since we've had a proper Doctor light episode. Often, they're bottle savers and nearly always they strongly stoke discussion, both good and bad. They can universally praised like Blink and Turn Left, liked like Flatline or generally divisive such as Love & Monsters.

73 Yards from what I've seen already before even watching the episode seems to have garnered all three reactions. It's certainly the most experimental episode in Ncuti Gatwa's era so far and more so because he's barely in it. Seriously, he took a backseat this week, giving Millie Gibson the opportunity to come into her own as Ruby Sunday.

The episode started modestly with the Doctod and Ruby landing on a Welsh clifftop. Within moment, both of them had disrupted a fairy circle and as a result, the Doctor was taken out of the episode. This left Ruby very much to fend for herself as a mystery woman (Hilary Hobson) kept following her throughout the episode. 

Ruby took shelter in a pub and became a fugure of mockery and mistrust with the landlady being particularly bitchy towards her before Ruby was told to leave. It quickly turned out every time someone talked to Ruby's mystery woman, the person would then flee in terror and turn on Ruby. What the hell did she say?

Some locals turning on Ruby was one thing but having both Carla and Kate Stewart/UNIT do it only served to isolate Ruby further from everyone. Minus her mystery stalker of course. Then the episode kept jumping in time, Ruby passed milestones and lost boyfriends and then, the source of her troubles came to light.

The fairy circle contained Mad Jack. The Doctor and Ruby inadvertently released him. Mad Jack was also an ambitious politician named Roger ap Gwilliam (Aneurin Barnard), who as the episode was speeding towards its conclusion was venturing into Harold Saxon domain. Fortunately Ruby was able to use her stalker to bring about Roger's downfall far quicker than the 10th Doctor had done Harriet Jones back in the day.

Then there was more trips into the future with a very older version of Ruby still being stalked by that mystery woman. Yes, it became clear halfway through the episode that it was an older Ruby (Amanda Walker) stalking her younger self. It was also obvious that she was trying to prevent Ruby and the Doctor from breaking the fairy circle. In the end she succeeded and those 65 years never really happened. Am I right? Oh, ask her then.

- There's a few times in the episode where the phrase The War Between The Land And The Sea was mentioned. There's been rumours of a spin-off series with that title.

- I loved how Mrs Flood appeared long enough to tell Ruby the current story had nothing to do with her. 

- Susan Twist appeared as a hiker who interacted with Ruby before being frightened off by her older self. Ruby almost recognised her from another time. Ruby also mentioned her snow ability to her nurse.

- Carla was confirmed to be a lesbian in this episode and Kate talked about the supernatural as well as UNIT'S methods of dealing with them. 

- Nice guest performance from Sian Philips as Enid. She stood out the most in the pub crowd who didn't take to Ruby.

- Chronology: Ruby's still from 2024, but the Roger stuff was in 2046 and the last few scenes with Ruby were 40 years after that.

I can somewhat see why 73 Yards didn't hit for everyone but as a showcase for Millie Gibson, I mostly enjoyed it. The third act was a tiny bit rushed and I do feel they could've pushed the horror aspect a bit harder than they did. I changed my mind, I loved this one on further watching.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Dolores Claiborne (1995)

 

Written by Tony Gilroy

Directed by Taylor Hackford

Selena/Dolores/Vera (at different points): "Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hang on to."

If we're going to go for underrated adaptations of Stephen King works, then look no further than this. It's been a long while since I watched this movie but last night, I had the urge to revisit this one and I'm glad that I did. 

If you need proof that popular male writers can and do write women well, this story about a put upon domestic servant named Dolores Claiborne (Kathy Bates) would be evident of that. The character might one of the most underrated in King's impressive repertoire.

Dolores's a woman with a rather difficult life. In the present day she had taken care of her ill employer Vera Donovan (Judy Parfitt), only for the woman to commit suicide and Delores to be accused of murder by an overzealous Detective John Mackey (Christopher Plummer). As it's soon revealed, it's not the first time that Dolores has been accused of murder.

Told in non linear flashbacks, Dolores's life of hardships included having to deal with her abusive alcoholic husband Joe St. George (David Strathairn), who not only stole her life savings but was also abusing their daughter Selena (Ellen Muth). For that, Dolores only went and killed him at the encouragement of Vera at the time under the guise of a local eclipse. 

In the present day while Dolores maintained her innocence over Vera's death, she still incurred the wrath of not only Mackey (who was convinced she murdered Joe) but also a much older and embittered Selena (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Selena had a lot of anger, most of which she directed at her mother until a repressed memory forced to her to reconcile what her father had done to her as a child.

For a film that's largely focused on it's female characters, it's not shocking the best performances are from the female cast. Kathy Bates gave an incredible performance as Dolores struggled to deal with her life collapsing around her as well as the threat of her freedom being taken away and a community convinced of her guilt.

In terms of Selena, both Ellen Muth and Jennifer Jason Leigh are incredible in their respective scenes with Kathy Bates. They're just compelling to watch with a broken Selena slowly reconnecting with her mother as the movie progressed towards it's conclusion. By the end, it seemed like Dolores and Selena were able to reconnect and move past some of their demons.

Then there was Judy Parfitt. I loved Vera. She had a certain campy quality as Dolores's boss, being somewhat intimidating and a stickler for detail while also giving Dolores the incentive to rid herself of Joe. Their closeness even as Vera herself declined in health was endearing to watch.

I will admit that the male characters don't fare as well. Joe was a violent monster who deserved the death he got, Mackey was too consumed in getting back at Dolores and even Selena's boss/ex lover Peter (Eric Bogosian) was a bit of a jerk. Saying that though, there's also great performances from those actors too as well as John C. Reilly as Constable Frank Stamshaw. 

- Kathy Bates has cited this role as her favourite and it's not hard to see why she holds it in such high regard.

- The New York aerial footage was lifted from The Godfather III. The movie itself was filmed in Nova Scotia.

- The movie slipped in a reference to The Shawshank Redemption and Bob Gunton appeared in this movie, albeit as a different character.

- Chronology: The present day scenes in Maine are in 1995 while the majority of the flashbacks are in 1975. Selena was living in New York as a reporter.

Without a doubt, Dolores Claiborne definitely would be one of the most underrated movies adaptations of a Stephen King book. Brilliant performances from the women who anchor the story, a balanced viewpoint on gender and overall just a sublime movie through and through.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Beach Rats (2017)

 

Written And Directed by Eliza Hittman

Michael: "In gay men, the pointer finger is almost always longer than the ring finger. In straight men, the ring finger is almost always longer than the pointer finger."

I picked another LGBT themed movie with a certain actor and this one was released a year before the one I reviewed yesterday. Also, a bit different and a bit similar too.

Taking place in current day Brooklyn, New York, we had aimless young man named Frankie (Harris Dickinson). Frankie's got some dodgy friends, a hectic family life with a dying father and a girlfriend named Simone (Madeleine Weinstein).  A girlfriend who would later call him a fixer upper before dumping him.

Of course the main plot of the movie was Frankie interacting with men on camera. He claimed he was using men in order to score weed but at the same time, he also admitted to one of his male lovers that he didn't want to label his sexuality either.

Throughout the movie, there's a double life with Feankie and one that he seemed to initially had a handle in keeping separate. He picked older men as they were less likely to know his immature friends. Then he blurred the lines himself.

Introducing his friends to his camming antic seemed pretty reckless and his attempts to downplay his actions were unconvincing. It felt like his friends were aware he was gay and only badly reacted to one of Frankie's guys, Jeremy (Harrison Sheehan) when the latter wouldn't hand over any weed. 

Saying that, Frankie's friends were horrible. Frankie's exasperated mother, Donna (Kate Hodge) saw through them and by the end of this movie, Frankie was more isolated than he was at the start. No friends, no girlfriend and seemingly no more online hookups for weed. 

- Director Eliza Hittman cited her inspirations from friends conversations about Grindr hookups that resulted in attacks as well as a Facebook selfie from a guy in a group called Beach Rats.

- Both Simone and Michael (Erik Potempa) made some fair points about Frankie's sexuality that he didn't want to deal with. 

- Standout music: Vika's Letters, Dume-A-Duzin's That Chicken and Nick Leone's Beach Rats Theme.

- Chronology: Present Day Brooklyn, New York. Feankie was located in Coney Island.

I'm not sure how I feel about Beach Rats. It's a very well made movie, nicely shot and a great lead performance from Harris Dickinson.  It's also a straight woman's commentary on male gay relationships and the dangers of hookup culture amid drug taking. Its watchable though frustrating in parts.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Postcards From London (2018)

 

Written And Directed by Steve McLean

Jim: "If it's beautiful. If it's a proper masterpiece, I faint."

With Pride Month looming, I decided to get in a little earlier and my first choice was this arty number from 2018. Picture it, a gorgeous young man named Jim (Harris Dickinson) trading Essex for Soho. The result, a rather interesting discovery for Jim.

Yes, he landed in London, determined to male a life for himself and between getting mugged and no sympathy from a barmaid, it didn't take Jim long to actually make friends. Friends of the raconteurs kind. Expect a lot of talking here.

The raconteurs had a leader in affable David (Jonah Hauer-King) but the rest of them included Jesus (Alessandro Cimadmore), Marcello (Leonardo Salerni) and Victor (Raphael Desprez). They took Jim into their group and brushed him up on the works of Caravaggio. Seriously, this movie's somewhat of a love in for this specific artist than none others really get a look into proceedings that much.

While Jim seemed to have a handle on the sex part of his new profession and certainly attracted older clients such as Gabriel (Silas Carson) and Tony (Trevor Cooper), there was one thing that somewhat deterred things for Jim. Aside from unwisely giving his services away for free, Jim had a tendency of passing out when confronted with beautiful art.

Jim did that a lot and to the point where it either worried or annoyed his fellow raconteurs and clients. The condition in question was revealed to be Stendhal Syndrome with some interesting visuals as Jim imagined himself being in some of the pieces that overwhelmed. Those scenes came with a running commentary from the hunky muse.

As the movie concluded, Jim outgrew the raconteurs,  the artist Max (Richard Durden). Even a brief partnership with former raconteur turned city businessman Paul (Leemore Marrett Jr.) saw Jim wanting to make art instead being the art itself.  The boy chose a different path for himself.

- Ben Cura pops up during Jim's blackouts as Caravaggio and the latter certainly had no problem in referring to Caravaggio killing someone. 

- Director Steve McLean had a similarly themed movie named Postcards From America (1994).

- Standout music: Jonah Hauer-King provided two tracks with Lover (Muse) and My Funny Valentine.

- Chronology: Present Day Soho, though Jim's clients do like to talk about their youth.

Postcards From London certainly was a very wordy film and in spite of the protagonist's main profession, its not huge on actual sex scenes itself. Its still sexy in a more cerebral sort of way and Harris Dickinson certainly exuded the right level of naivete and sex appeal as Jim.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Superman: Unbound (2013)

 

Written by Bob Goodman

Directed by James Tucker

Brainiac: "To think that two Kryptonians chose to call this planet home sickens me. What could Earth have possible offered you?"

Superman: "Something you wouldn't know anything about. It's my home. My heart. It gives me strength."

As I wait for the last of the Tomorrowverse movies to come out and in preparation for Superman (2025) to come out next year, I'll be catching up with more animated movies about the Man Of Steel. 

This one for instance had Superman (Matt Bomer) dealing with the two most important women in his life. First of all, there was his cousin Supergirl (Molly Quinn) and if there was an animated movie that nicely explored their contrasting dynamic, it's probably this one.

Both cousins care for one another but also have different approaches for dealing with threats. Supergirl doesn't have the same attachment to humanity as her cousin does and when he's stuck in an office world mission, she went out of her way to almost avoid Metropolis until the chips were down.

The chips being the arrival of Brainiac (John Noble). As per usual, Brainiac was all about shrinking cities and an altercation with Superman had his focus turned to Metropolis. Brainiac's return also not only saw Superman and Supergirl band together to form a force against Brainiac but for the latter, it was a chance for the latter get back a family she thougut had been taken away from her.

As a villain, I do think this movie gave a solid depiction of Brainiac, showing once again just how powerful and antagonist he can be for the heroic Kryptonian. It's also helped by the fact that he's the only villain that's in the movie with a certain billionaire nowhere to be seen for a change. 

As for Superman and Lois Lane (Stana Katic), we did have the two fight over the latter taking risks along with the latter also mobilising the Daily Planet against Brainiac's minions. However things ended up on a more joyful note as Clark Kent proposed to Lois. Of course she said yes.

- A credit scene implied that Brainiac still had some power left while being imprisoned at the Fortress of Solitude.

- Steve Lombard when he wasn't hitting on Lois implied that he thought Clark was gay, Jimmy certainly admired Supergirl and Perry became a grandfather. 

- Supergirl's scenes with Martha and Superman's scenes with Alura and Zor-El were sweet.

- Chronology: Present day Metropolis. 

Superman: Unbound was a nice team up movie between two cousins and a villain who needs to make his way to the big screen, live action wise. Nice character bits, good action sequences and a bit of romance. What's not to like?

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Suspiria (1977)

 

Written by Dario Argento And Daria Nicolodi

Directed by Dario Argento

Sara: "Suzy, do you know anything about witches?"

Time for some 1970s horror and last night, I found myself watching this classic. An American girl in Germany. Mystery deaths. Ballet being utter hell and a cabal of witches. Why didn't I watch this one sooner? 

The American girl in question would be ballet student Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) who traded New York for Frieburg, Baden-Württemberg and not very long, mayhem ensued. I mean it happened so fast as poor fellow student Patricia Hingle (Eva Axen) made for a very quick death before Suzy even had time to settle in.

Like I said earlier, Suzy was a ballet student and she had enrolled into the Tanz Akademie dance school where a rather strict instructor named Miss Tanner (Alida Valli) had no qualms with pushing her students when she was firing a blind pianist named Daniel (Flavio Bucci). Suzy certainly felt the brunt of being under pressure by Miss Tanner.

Of course, a domineering dance instructor was the least of Suzy's problems. Other students such as Olga (Barbara Magnolfi) and Sara (Stefani Casini) provided some friendships for Suzy before one kicked her out of the student apartment and the latter ended up being dead. Oh and there was some creepy scenes involving maggots that I'd advise you not to watch this movie while eating.

Anyways, as the movie progressed and more characters ended up getting killed in gruesome ways (poor Daniel), Suzy ended up learning about witches thanks to psychiatrist Frank Mandel (Udo Kier) and the real history of the school. Suzy, you in danger girl.

When I say danger, I mean human sacrifice type of danger as it was revealed that the school and specifically headmistress Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett) intended to sacrifice Suzy. Of course by the end of the movie, there are many deaths but Suzy wasn't one of them as she managed to outsmart the very coven that had terrorised her.

- The movie is based on Thomas Quincey's 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis. Dario Argento viewed this movie as part of a trilogy including Inferno (1980) and The Mother Of Tears (2007).

- Argento used a lot of red and even blue during certain scenes to convey terror and even the reveal of the coven by the end of the movie.

- Standout music: Markos by Goblin.

- Chronology: 1970s Germany. It was revealed that the academy's founder Helena Markos was revealed to be a witch in 1895.

Suspiria was a gripping, tense affair. While I do think the witchcraft aspect of the movie does show up a bit late into the movie, the build up towards it was nonetheless captivating to watch. There's a strong central performance from Jessica Harper and the horror was deftly handled. It's easy to see why it's held in such high regard.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Who: "Boom"

 

Written by Steven Moffat

Directed by Julie Anne Robinson 

The Doctor (to Ruby): "We're all dead eventually.  There's hardly any time when we're not dead."

Can you believe it's been a whopping seven years since we last had a script from Steven Moffat? Okay, nearly six and a half years but even still, I've missed seeing a story from the man and this is the first of two we can expect from him this series.

So far we've done space stations with snot monsters and talking babies and 1963 London with Maestro. Now it was time for a planet and some Marine Anglicans. Yup, definitely a mix of Steven Moffat's greatest hits on display here.

Taking place on Kastarion 3, the episode opened with two soldiers - Carson (Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy) and the blinded Father John Francis Vater (Joe Anderson). Within seconds, Carson was immolated after stepping on a smart mine and the Villengard sponsored Ambulance (Susan Twist) murdered the latter. If you think that was shocking, wait for it.

Appearing a lot freaking earlier than expected of course was Varada Sethu. Nope, not as forthcoming companion Belinda but as the only female Anglican Marine, Mundy Flynn who was flirting with Canterbury James Olliphant (Bhav Joshi) when she wasn't looking after Vater's daughter, Splice (Caoilinn Springall). Expect the word "Daddy" to be heard a lot in this episode, courtesy of Splice.

What of the Doctor and Ruby? Well, they landed on the planet and the Doctor landed on a smart mine, which also forced both him and Ruby to improvise in order to prevent the planet from blowing up. Fortunately there was some help from an AI John Francis Vater who said "Kiss Kiss" so often, he might as well have been flirting with the Doctor. I might be exaggerating a smidge there.

Anyways, the tension of this episode really built up with the Doctor being openly scornful towards Mundy's faith while a plan between Ruby and Mundy went horribly wrong and the former was killed by Canto. Ruby's death of course didn't stick but it definitely upped the tension between  everyone as the homicidal Ambulance came very close to immolating the Doctor and the planet.

If you've seen many an episode in the revived series, then the power of love saved the day. Yes, its an overused trope in the series but it doesn't mean its not effective or touching when needs be. John Francis Vater certainly saved the day, Ruby got revived and both her and the Doctor took in a gorgeous view before leaving Splice and Mundy to move on.

- Lesbians were mentioned in a story the Doctor had about a previous smart mine encounter underwater, John Francis's parents and the cheeky comment of Ruby and Mundy getting married.

- Other Moffat tropes included the mention of fish fingers and custard as well as the President and his wife. Four incarnations later and the former's still his favourite meal.

- Not only does Ruby not have a next of kin but her death triggered the snow again and a single snowfall remained after her and the Doctor left. This was also her first planet adventure.

- At least this time both the Doctor and Ruby were directly looking at Susan Twist's guest character. Hopefully that means moving that element forward now.

- Standout music: The Doctor sang The Skye Boat Song to calm his nerves. The Master previously played that song on a recorder in The Power Of The Doctor.

- Chronology: It's been six months for the Anglican Marines on Kastarion 3. In general, it's October 5087. Ruby "died" at the age of 3082.

Boom certainly was a hell of a return for Steven Moffat. Small scale with a great guest cast, serious tension and maybe Ncuti Gatwa's best performance yet. There were times where this could've easily been a story with the 11th Doctor/Amy or the 12th Doctor/Clara but for a 15th Doctor/Ruby adventure, it's going to be a fan favourite.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of DC League Of Super-Pets (2022)

 

Written by Jared Stern And John Whittington

Directed by Jared Stern

Krypto: "Super-Pets, activate!"

Yeah, I put this one off for a bit. I intended to get to it at some point and then yesterday evening, actually sat down and watched it. On paper, it's actually a perfect story to get a very young audience into DC. I mean, who wouldn't want a pet with super powers?

The pet in question being Krypto the Super Dog (Dwayne Johnson). He's best friends with Superman (John Krasinski) but not entirely happy with his best mate getting closer to Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde). This does cause some friction between the pair and they had just stopped Lex Luthor (Mark Maron) from using orange Kryptonite along with the Justice League.

However while Lex's schemes with orange Kryptonite didn't work, someone who managed to succeed with it was a guinea pig named Lulu (Kate McKinnon). I kid you not. It turned out that orange Kryptonite actually gives pets super powers. Unfortunately for Krypto, not only did he lose his powers but Lulu took all the Justice League prisoner and had maniacal schemes that would even upstage Lex himself.

On the the other hand, Lulu wasn't the only super powered pet on the scene. A blind turtle named Merton (Natasha Lyonne) gained superspeed while a paranoid squirrel named Chip (Diego Luna) gained electricity, a potbellied pig named PB (Vanessa Bayer) could manipulate their size and a scrappy Boxer mix named Ace (Kevin Hart) also got super strength and invulnerability. Would they be enough to stand up against the scheming Lulu?

Well, they were certainly going to try to be the best team they could be with both Krypto and Ace developing a fun rivalry that turned into a nice friendship as the movie progressed. In fact the whole Super-Pets uniting in wanting to save the day served as a nice contrast for Lulu having nearly everything going wrong for her.

Her own team, which included fellow guinea pigs Keith (Thomas Middleditch) and Mark (Ben Schwartz) werent quite as solid, she got betrayed by Lex himself and defeated by Krypto's act of self sacrifice. As a villain, Lulu was perfect for this sort of movie and of course, while she might have been defeated, she wasn't entirely out of the equation.

As for the Justice League themselves, well, they did need rescuing by the Super-Pets but they also became owners. Batman (Keanu Reeves) took on Ace, Wonder Woman (Jameela Jamil) took PB, The Flash (John Early) got Merton, Jessica Cruz (Dascha Polanco) got Chip while the fire and water Mark and Keith went to Cyborg (Daveed Diggs) and Aquaman (Jermaine Clement). Basically, everyone got their perfect pet and owner.

- Mid credit scene saw a defeated Lulu being adopted by Mercy Graves (Maya Erskine). Mercy was mostly done with Lex in the movie.

- Post credit scene had Superman and Krypto meet up with Black Adam and Anubis, both of whom were voiced by Dwayne Johnson.

- There are a lot of references to both Superman: The Movie (1978) and Batman (1989).

- Villains really do love putting The Flash into a hamster wheel, don't they?

- Standout music: Taylor Swift's Bad Blood and Message In A Bottle (Taylor's Version) as well as Queen's You're My Best Friend and Burt Bacharach's What The World Needs Now Is Love.

- Chronology: Present Day Metropolis. Oh and Krypton flashbacks at the start.

I should've watched DC League Of Super-Pets earlier because this was such an enjoyable movie. The pets were cute (even Lulu at her worst) and the jokes were genuinely funny in parts. A nice batch of Easter Eggs for DC fans and this one's definitely a strong crowd pleaser.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Ma (2019)

 

Written by Scotty Landes

Directed by Tate Taylor

Ma: "Don't make me drink alone."

For Mother's Day (the US one, lol), I thought I'd finally get around to watching this underrated horror movie. A kindly older woman helping out some teenagers. I'm sure nothing bad will happen here.

The older woman in question would be Sue Ann Ellington (Octavia Spencer), otherwise known as Ma. A vetinary technician, Ma quickly proved herself to be useful to bunch of teenagers who needed an older person to buy them alcohol. If only they had asked just about anyone else instead.

Not only did Ma buy these teenagers booze but she even offered her home for said teenagers to get wasted and soon, a one off encounter became a very strange arrangement between all involved. I mean, Ma's attachment towards the terms gets so exhausting, even they get a bit creeped out by her overenthusiasm for underage drinking in her home.

However, the movie soon revealed that Ma's interest in the teenagers had more to do with getting revenge on being previously wronged herself. In high school, she got humiliated into performing oral sex on the wrong guy and reduced to a laughing stock. The object of her affection and ire also happened to be the father of one of the teenagers themselves.

Ma's revenge on Ben Hawkins (Luke Evans) was fairly swift as was the way she also handled Mercedes (Missi Pyle) but the treatment of her own daughter, Genie (Tanyell Waivers) showed that she wasn't any better than her own teenage tormentors. Also the wa she targeted these teenagers showed her to a pretty dangerous individual.

The teens in question included Maggie (Diana Silvers), Andy (Corey Fogelmanis), Chaz (Gianni Paolo), Haley (McKaley Miller) and Darrell (Dante Brown). One by one, Ma got to them with various methods and had it not been for Genie turning on her mother and Maggie's own mother, Erica (Juliette Lewis), Ma's actions definitely would've been so much worse. Her downfall came to somewhat of a fiery end.

- The director, Tate Taylor has previously worked with Octavia Spencer on The Help and Get On Up. He played a cop here that ended up being shot by Ma.

- Originally a white actress was intended for the role before Tate Taylor brought Octavia Spencer in for the movie.

- Standout music: Zach Rogue's Horizons and Carl Douglas Kung Fu Fighting.

- Chronology: Takes place over the course of a few days but over twenty years since Sue Ann being humiliated by Ben. Movie is set in Ohio.

Ma was something of an unexpected delight. I really like Octavia Spencer as an actor and she's very chilling in parts as the title villain. The teens themselves aren't the most interesting to watch but in this movie, I actually got the feeling they weren't meant to be.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Who: "The Devil's Chord"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Ben Chessell 

Maestro (to the Doctor/Ruby): "The one who waits is almost here."

If an adventure with Space Babies didn't exactly get you intrigued for the new season of Doctor Who, perhaps a world without music might. I should warn you, a world devoid of music will be a rather gloomy experience as the Doctor and Ruby learned all too well.

Enter Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon), a pantheon of the Gods who can take the music right out of a person. Aided by their son, Henry Arbinger (Kit Rakusen), we open the episode with the rather unappreciated Timothy Drake (Jeremy Limb) striking the very chord to bring Maestro into the universe. Alas for poor Timothy, he never will get the acclaim he so desperately wanted.

As for the Doctor and Ruby, the latter decided she wanted to see the Beatles record their first album and it was a request that the Doctor was more than happy to grant her. Ruby being a music buff shouldn't be that surprising but I did love the Doctor's reaction to her request.

However meeting the Beatles - John Lennon (Chris Mason), Paul McCartney (George Caple), George Harrison (Philip Davies) and Ringo Starr (James Hoyle) turnef out to be a horrible eye-opener. Gone were the great songs and instead were soulless jingles and an overall disdain for music. A world that didn't care for music and all because of Maestro.

It would take the Doctor using Ruby's keyboard skills on a piano to summon Maestro and then you had a Time Lord who was somewhat afraid. Ruby too when taken to a very different present day as she saw the impact of Maestro stripping the world of music.

As a villain, I think Maestro could be a definitive one for the 15th Doctor and there's no denying that between costume changes, sheer campiness and musical sequences that Jinkx Monsoon was having the time of their lives in this role. Oh and having Maestro as an offspring of the Toymaker was certainly a twist to behold.

The temporary defeat of Maestro made some thematic sense, given the two people responsible for their downfall. Before that though, there was more hints of The One Who Waits and even someone else being around when Ruby was dropped off at the church as a baby. The show's really upping the mystery factor with Ruby.

As for the last sequence - of course there's always a twist at the end. The Doctor and Ruby's musical and dancing montage, which also included Cilla Black (Josie Sedgwick-Davies). It's a scene that certainly lasted quite a bit but what a way to end a truly bonkers episode.

- Maestro played us into the opening titles quite well this week and even flirted with the Doctor a bit. The sonic screwdriver came in red this episode.

- The Susan Twist cameo was as a Tea Lady who the Doctor and Ruby didn't even look at. However I'm happy the Doctor told Ruby about his granddaughter Susan. 

- Not only was Strictly Come Dancing referenced but there was cameos from Shirley Ballas and Johannes Radebe to boot. Oh and Murray Gold and June Hudson to boot.

- Ruby made it snow again with her memory trigger, talked of Trudy going through a break up and played her own theme music on piano

- Standout music: Obviously There's Always A Twist At The End, along with a rendition of Carol Of The Bells and some Beethoven at the start.

- Chronology: 1925 at the start, February 11th 1963 for the majority of the episode and London in June/July 2024 during a nuclear winter. The Doctor and Ruby have been travelling together for over six months between episodes.

Now I didn't hate the opening episode but there's no denying that The Devil's Chord was so much better in every way. A campy but menacing villain with Maestro, so many past references and hints to future stuff and gorgeous sequences. Not to mention that three episodes in, the dynamic between the Doctor and Ruby is just on point. I loved this one.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Who: "Space Babies"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies 

Directed by Julie Anne Robinson

The Doctor: "I have the whole universe at my fingertips and I'm all on my own, so I'd love it if you came with me."

Ruby: "To what, just travel?"

The Doctor: "No job. No boss. Just fun."

Ruby: "We did almost just die."

Ah yes, you did. Kicking off with a double bill premiere, things for the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) certainly got interesting. Ooh, there was a snot of mayhem in this opening episode.

Stepping inside the TARDIS, Ruby quickly learned that not only was it bigger on the inside but as well as travelling in time (hello, Dinosaurs and the Butterfly Effect) but also space. Did Ruby get a planet on her first go? Nope, like Rose and Amy before her, she got a space station of sorts. Just wait until you meet the crew.

More than living up to the title, the Pacifico Del Rio was piloted by a bunch of very intelligent babies, who could talk but were very much babies and initially mistook the Doctor and Ruby for their parents. They were sweet but perhaps too sweet for the show itself. Baby wise, the focus was mostly on Poppy and Eric.

Of course, a spaceship full of babies wouldn't be the only thing on board. For instance, there was Nan-E aka Jocelyn Sancerre (Golda Rosheuvel), one of the few adults who didn't abandon the babies and also tried to protect them from a distance. What of the monster itself though?

That would be where the Bogeyman came into play, scaring the children and when the Doctor and Ruby investigated it properly, let's just say, it literally was a monster made out of snot. Yup, this episode certainly played on childish themes and predictably, the monster wasn't actually evil. The Doctor had to go to extremes to prevent Jocelyn from making a massive mistake.

The overall premise to one side, the episode wasn't as frivolous as it could've been. We saw the Doctor and Ruby bond through with the former unloading a lot of personal information onto Ruby while also telling her they couldn't return to Ruby Road to find her birth mother. I think Ruby took it well.

However, Ruby's something of an enigma and she's more Clara than Rose and clearly her mystery will drive this season forward. I did like that the episode ended by picking up from the Christmas special as Ruby returned to see Carla (Michelle Greenidge) and Cherry (Angela Wynter) as the Doctor scanned her. 

- The title sequence got a tiny update as we dove straight into things. No cold open here.

- Rubathon Blue was the consequences of the Butterfly Effect for less than a minute. The Rani also got a flipping name drop but not The Master or Meddling Monk.

- They had a lot of fun using the nanny filter to bleep out the swears. Reminded me of New Earth in a way.

- Snow seems to be a massive motif for Ruby as well. She literally evoked the memory of it during one scene with the Doctor. She was also given a TARDIS key.

- Susan Twist popped up uncredited as abandoned crew member,  Gina Scalzi. We will be seeing her a lot this season.

- Chronology: 150 million years in the past, the far future where the Space Babies would head to Mondo Caroon and December 24th 2023.

Space Babies on paper could've been a right disaster area but it managed to work well enough. Okay, there were times when they pushed the humour a bit but the babies were cute, we got see how well the Doctor and Ruby work together and the latter's mystery has my attention. We're off to an interesting start.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Abigail (2024)

 

Written by Stephen Shields And Guy Busick

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin And Tyler Gillett 

Abigail: "Joey?"

Joey: "Yeah?"

Abigail: "I'm sorry about what's gonna happen to you."

There was a time when a movie featuring vampires would be something of a hit but it seems like this particular subset of horror films have dwindled in popularity. A shame because while this movie hasn't been impervious to that unfortunate trend, it's a bloody good one to watch.

At first, this movie gave the impression of being a heist/kidnapping fare with young ballerina Abigail (Alisha Weir) being snatched by a group led by thr mysterious Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito). Then the trailers revealed too much too soon about the actual premise of the movie. Almost to the spoiling the good stuff so to speak.

The group of kidnappers are a disparate bunch with characters such as Rickles (Will Catlett) and Dean (Angus Cloud) being the least developed of the lot. They're also unsurprisingly the first two to be killed off when it dawned on the group that their hostage was more than an ordinary girl.

For starters, there was the belief of Abigail being the daughter of noted gangster Kristof Lazaar (Matthew Goode) but the truth was a lot worse than that. Instead, Abigail turned out to be a vampire and a rather old, clever and dangerous one at that. 

As for the main focus of the group, there was ex-marine medic/addict Joey (Abigail), disgraced NY Detective Frank (Dan Stevens), hired goon Peter (Kevin Durand) and rich girl hacker, Sammy (Kathryn Newton). All of them had to work together in order to survive Abigail's onslaught in the trap of a manor they were in while also combating each other.

Notably the antagonism between Joey and Frank certainly anchored the movie, especially over their stances on Abigail. Joey had a maternal sense to protect the girl prior to the vampire reveal while Frank was determined to escape, be rich and kill Abigail and Joey in one go. He had no problem reneging on deals and betraying whoever he had to get what he wanted.

In fact as the we got into the final act of the movie, Frank emerged more as a villain than Abigail herself. As for Joey, let's just say that Melissa Barrera played the part fairly similar to Sam Carpenter and that wasn't entirely a bad thing. By the end of the movie, only one of the kidnappers survived the night and there was definitely room for more to be explored. 

- Sunlight and stakes work against vampires and sires can control the vampires they've made as Abigail did with Sammy and Frank thought he was doing with Joey.

- This was Angus Cloud's (Dean) final role before his death and there's a dedication to him at the end of the movie.

- Abigail's father was implied to be Dracula but it's never outright stated if he was. The movie itself is a loose remake of Dracula's Daughter.

- The kidnappers are all named after Rat Pack members. That was a nice touch to the movie.

- Standout music: Tchaikovsky: I. Scene – Swan Theme (Swan Lake Suite) OP.20a, Anyhow I Love You by Guy Clark and Blood And Tears by Danzig.

- Chronology: The movie takes place during the course of a night.

I do really feel bad for Abigail because as a movie, while it's not a horror classic, there's so much to enjoy here. A great lead performance by Alisha Weir as the titular character, decent bouts of horror and goes and an engaging bunch of other characters. This is a movie that likely will get a cult following over time. It's just a shame it's being slept on right now.

Rating: 8 out of 10