If there is one thing I love about Mystery Island, it’s that it does not try to be anything more than what it is. There is no ironic detachment, no wink at the camera. Mystery Island is just what it says on the tin – mysteries set on an island. Mostly murder mysteries, and what a perfect setting for them. The eponymous island is the home of whodunnit games for an affluent clientele, where, as one would expect, an actual murder ends up taking place within each movie. Luckily, criminal psychologist Emilia Priestly (Elizabeth Henstridge) and officer Jason Trent (Charlie Weber) are there to get into the minds of the killers.

All of this is very seventies and eighties coated. Viewers often remember Columbo as a procedural TV series, when it really was what Mystery Island is – a recurring series of TV movies. To put it into some perspective, there have been no fewer than three Mystery Island movies in 2025.

Minor digression: I haven’t seen an announcement for a fourth one, even though I really think there should be a Christmas-themed one. As these movies don’t even have Wikipedia entries, I’m guessing the masses aren’t clamoring for news, and we’ll have to wait for Hallmark and not Deadline to announce the next one.

That aside, Hallmark’s Movies & Mysteries exists somewhere between classic TV shows and conventional movies. Somewhere between Murder, She Wrote1 and Glass Onion. I don’t think anyone expects Hallmark movies to have huge budgets – again, three films from one single franchise in 2025 – but when you compare them to expensive Netflix offerings like The Woman in Cabin 10, they look better. Mystery Island has none of the digital blue or green tint you find in most “serious” Netflix movies, but it is bathed in warm colors that capture Panama (where Mystery Island is filmed) perfectly. The actors put in heroic efforts in what I can assume is only a couple of takes, and the principal cast portray well-rounded characters. (Incidentally, the only actor I recognize is Weber, who co-starred in ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder.)

And, while the movies set up a potential relationship between Priestly and Trent in scene three, it’s never presented in a contrived will they or won’t they trope. That they will is laid out from the start – not for one minute is there any indication that they won’t. Love it or hate it, Mystery Island is all text and no subtext.

Call the movies a twist on cozy mysteries if you want – I will call anyone who tries to fool themselves into disliking Mystery Island someone who doesn’t appreciate the finer things in life.

The four movies are, in order: Mystery Island; Mystery Island: Winner Takes All; Mystery Island: Play for Keeps; and Mystery Island: House Rules. The latter very much suggests we’ll be treated to a Mystery Mountain spin-off soon enough.

The Hallmark+ streaming service is $8 a month – half of Netflix's price – and it is well worth it. Included in the price is conservatively ten Lacey Chabert movies a year, so there’s that, too. 🤷

Weapons

I doubt that anybody expected Weapons, a mystery/horror film with a light comedic touch, to be a late-summer blockbuster, but so it was, and deservedly so. The film follows an elementary school teacher whose entire class – except for one student – disappears in the middle of the night without a trace of their whereabouts. The town blames the only common denominator in the equation, Mrs. Grady, but, frankly, when a class full of kids disappears, something malevolent is almost sure to be blamed. And, when the remaining child’s bonkers aunt shows up, things start taking a turn.

Writer/director Zach Cregger has put together a movie that certainly is eerie at times, and a small handful of jump scares is paired with genuinely snicker-worthy scenes. Weapons can easily be enjoyed by even those who aren’t a fan of the genre, something a two-hundred-and-sixty-five-million-dollar box office gross can attest to.

The film is currently available on VOD and will begin streaming on HBO Max sometime this month.

Barbarian

Speaking of Zach Cregger, this is where his mainstream run started. To describe Barbarian without giving away an early twist is difficult, but suffice it to say, this, too, is ostensibly a horror movie, albeit one with a lot more dark comedy than Weapons. I’ll leave the plot description to IMDb: “A woman staying at an Airbnb discovers that the house she has rented is not what it seems.” Going beyond that would ruin the experience.

What I can say is that Justin Long gets to let loose as the soon-to-be-canceled actor/creep who owns the Airbnb. It’s a good performance, and I enjoy the Nic Cage-type work Long has turned in lately.

Barbarian streams on Hulu1 and Netflix in other countries.

The Thursday Murder Club

For some lighter fare, the popular cozy-crime book, The Thursday Murder Club, has been adapted into a Netflix movie, with a murderers’ row of mature actors. We’re talking Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley, joined by (relatively) younger faces like David Tennant, Naomi Ackie, and Tom Ellis.

The film centers around four retirees who have formed an amateur cold-case crime-solving club. When the owner of their retirement village is murdered, the gang sets out to solve the crime, whilst trying to save their home from a developer looking to turn it into luxury condos.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say The Thursday Murder Club is an all-time classic, but it is entertaining, and I have a soft spot for old pros delivering enjoyable performances. And the movie is full of those.

Final Destination: Bloodlines

The second surprise blockbuster of 2025 is the sixth entry in the Final Destination franchise. This is a soft reboot, and you don’t need to know anything about the previous films to enjoy Bloodlines.

The high-concept plot deals with a group of teens who, at some point, cheated death and thus escaped their fates. Death is not a forgiving force, and soon starts chasing down the kids to correct the anomaly in the timeline.

Bloodlines is, to say the least, a colorful film, and with a box office gross exceeding $300 million, it has propelled the franchise squarely into the mainstream. It might not be everybody’s cup of tea – Death is a macabre killer – but it’s unhinged enough to be morbidly entertaining.

Companion

This is, for all intents and purposes, the 2025 version of The Stepford Wives, and one that is pretty successful at that. This is mainly due to some great performances by Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid, who unabashedly lean into Companion’s silly sort of satire.

Much like Barbarian, it’s better to go into Companion blindly – if you like The Stepford Wives, you will enjoy it. In the end, this, too, is a story of gender roles and toxic masculinity, just with a modern twist. Scary? Not really, but easily as camp as its inspiration.

Companion streams on HBO Max.

Drop

Finally, here’s more of a grown-up thriller. Drop follows Violet, who has just started dating after the death of her abusive husband. During a dinner at a skyview restaurant, she begins receiving threatening cellphone messages from an unknown person, who tries to push her into stealing and disposing of her date’s camera. Who sends the messages and what is on the camera are the big questions.

Most of Drop is set inside the restaurant, which gives the movie – and I hate to use this word – a Hitchcockian feel. The film is almost entirely devoid of violence, relying instead on tense back-and-forths between the messenger and Violet – frankly, the type of movie I prefer.

Drop streams on Peacock. Check it out, as the world really needs more movies that rely on clever storytelling.

Do the films mentioned feel a bit pedestrian? Somewhat too mainstream? No worries – I got you covered.

Every October, I update my (too) long-running movie website, One Star Classics. Here, I primarily write about films that don’t receive the same exposure as those in the studio system. And, during the Halloween season, I feel it’s pertinent to give some attention to those who are drowned out in a sea of big-name titles.

Today’s review is of Descendent, a cerebral sci-fi film that mixes UFO abductions with a man’s fears of fatherhood – a good movie for those who enjoy mindbenders.

Check out One Star Classics if you like, and, if you’re really a person of taste and elegance, subscribe to the reviews via email. 🙏 You’ll basically only see emails during October.

We all know the virtual Yule Logs that have been the rage over the years, but there is also a Halloween equivalent: The Ghoul Log. I’m sure you can find these Jack o’Lanterns all over the map these days, but Shudder, the horror-based streaming service, has posted new ones for years. Check out the OG if you so like – if you have a desk with room for an iPad or whatever, they are nice to stream during the workday. Classes the joint up a bit.

Riley Sager’s summer releases have become appointment-reading for me. The author has gained a reputation for writing thrillers with a twist – elevated beach reads, for lack of a better term. Stories that can be easily digested, yet have a bit more substance than most books released between May and August.

With a Vengeance, his 2025 title, is a mix between And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express – a mystery set on a train racing from Philadelphia to Chicago, where one after another, the seven passengers get taken out. Of course, the real question is who – and/or what – brought them together on the train, and are they actually alone? See, you may think you know the answer, but with Sager, everything is up in the air.

It’s a brisk read, and, more importantly, entertaining from page one. Find more information on Amazon.

I’ve always been a fan of Anthony Mackie (best known as the second Captain America) and Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), and I’m happy to see them together in the post-apocalyptic parody-level-violent comedy/action show Twisted Metal.

And, yes, that is Will Arnett dubbing Joe Seanoa’s Sweet Tooth.

There are currently twenty-two episodes to watch, so run over to Peacock to give it a shot. Spokane is strongly represented, too!

I previously recommended the music-doc-meets-fiction film, Pavements, so throwing out an actual Pavement album endorsement seems appropriate.

Wowee Zowee was, at the time of its release, panned by critics, but has since been reappraised, and is by many considered the band’s best album1. While both jangly and lackadaisical, it is also catchy:

Stream the album on Apple Music, or Amazon Music, or wherever one streams music these days. Or, better yet, buy it on vinyl. Wowee Zowee is famously a double album that only has music on three out of four sides. It’s not called slacker rock for nothing.

And, if you’re in the mood for more Pavement-related documentaries, the one on their first drummer, Gary Young, is worth watching.

Louder Than You Think streams on Fandor.

Fremont Vintage Mall dubs itself “the coolest vintage store in the center of the universe,” which, while somewhat hubristic, isn’t entirely untrue. Having traversed more vintage markets through my childhood than I care to remember – a long story that I’ll save for later – this is one that I actually enjoy perusing.

The store is mid-century-centric. Records, comics, furniture, clothes, “collectibles” (aka toys), and posters. Oh, so many posters. In all shapes and sizes. Some originals, others in the style of the era.

As for the “cool” claim – it’s one that is accurate and not in a pretentious way. Or not overly pretentious, at least. If you want to see where Seattle’s what-we-used-to-call-hipsters find their fashion, this is it. (I’m fairly sure I must’ve lost my edge, seeing I don’t know what “hipsters” are called anymore.) Fremont’s mid-century furniture, too, is appropriately on vibe, and even their website is Tumblr-hosted, which is how a 2008 hipster would have rolled. I’m just going to assume it’s retro-cool these days.

It might not be a place I shop a whole lot from – though the prices are surprisingly reasonable – but Fremont Vintage is nevertheless worth spending some time in. It’s the type of place where you can find both inspiration and aspiration.

Fremont Vintage Mall is located at 3419 Fremont Ave N and on Tumblr.

Bulldog News

Meanwhile, over in the University District, is Bulldog, a news agent that’s been around since 1983.

In general, I never buy the death proclamations of any genre or medium. Some things lose their greater commercial luster, but chances are they’ll pop up under some new guise after a while. And, even if they don’t, there’ll be enough people around to keep them alive in a niche form – like magazines. Some will claim they went the way of the dodo after the advent of the web, but in many ways, the medium is still thriving. Sure, the grocery store magazine aisles have shrunk, but Bulldog Press has an unholy amount in stock. Floor-to-ceiling across multiple walls.

For all intents and purposes, you’ll be able to find magazines you forgot existed, as well as new ones within any field of interest. And, if you’re anything like me (as you should be 🤷), there is still something more satisfying about reading a magazine than scrolling on a phone or iPad or whatever.

Additionally, Bulldog has a nice seating area with a coffee and ice cream bar. All in all, just a cool space. Or, more appropriately, retro cool.

Locations: 4208 University Way NE and the web.

For whatever reason, I have recently found myself fascinated by “The Elevator Game.” Ostensibly a modern variation of “Bloody Mary,” it centers around riding an elevator up and down ten floors until you reach an alternate dimension – provided an apparition doesn’t get you at the second-to-last stop.

Finding the game’s origins is a bit shaky, but it looks to have started in Japan around 20081, which I suppose makes it a type of Creepypasta. You can find the translation of the original rules at the bottom of this post, but as these urban legends go, the story has grown – and taken a more Western turn – since its inception.

This is the point where I should describe how I tried the game – nay, ritual – myself, but frankly, I think I’m past the point of inconveniencing people who use elevators for legitimate purposes. Plus, who wants to dispell urban legends, anyway?

How Does It Work, Anyway?

Some say only one person can play at the same time, but c’mon… Elevators are big enough for groups, as long as the ghost can squeeze in on the fifth floor.

1. Start on the first floor by pressing the “Up” button. During the sequence, you can’t leave the elevator until the final step. Also, you must restart the sequence should anyone (sans the fifth-floor ghost) enter the elevator.

2. Ride the elevator to floor “4,” then “2,” “6,” “2,” “10.” To reiterate: Don’t leave the elevator.

3. Ride to floor “5.” Here, a girl will enter the elevator. Don’t look at her, nor talk to her – she may seem familiar, and she may ask where you’re going, but pay no mind. Acknowledging her will lead to a bad ending for everyone involved.

4. Click “1” and note that the elevator instead goes up to the tenth floor.

5. When you arrive, the floor will look similar to what you’d expect, yet some things will be off. This because you’ve entered an alternate dimension, inhabited solely by you and and the ghost.

You can now choose to leave the elevator, but make sure you don’t lose sight of it. If you do, you’ll be stuck in the alternate dimension.

To return, use the same combination of buttons from step two. After you press “1” and the elevator escalates to the tenth floor, press “Cancel” or “Stop.” You’ll return to the first floor, and the game is over.

For Your Convenience: A Printable PDF Rulesheet

Elevator Game

2.18MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

In Popular Media

Shudder released a film called The Elevator Game a couple of years ago. It starts pretty decently but veers into a predictable territory toward the last third.

A better pick is Followed, a movie that also incorporates a bunch of other urban legends. It is genuinely a creepy – and surprisingly heartfelt – film. Find it on Tubi.

The Elevator Game also plays a part in Coup de Grâce, an eerie semi-surreal novel by Sofia Ajram.

Oh, and if you do want to witness somebody playing the game, here you go.

Scary Stories: Going to Another World (elevator ver.). Oct 27, 2011.

The Ghost in My Machine: On The Elevator Game: The History Of A Modern Urban Legend And Its Real-Life Connections. Apr 27, 2020.

トップページ": 時を戻す方法はないでしょうか？part 4. Nov 22, 2008.

Google translation of the aforementioned link:

What's this? It's a bit off topic, but "How to go to another world"

How to prepare: An elevator with 10 or more floors

1. First, get on the elevator. (Only one person should ride the elevator at a time)

2. Next, stay in the elevator and move to the 4th, 2nd, 6th, 2nd, and 10th floors. (If someone gets on at this point, you won't be successful)

3. When you reach the 10th floor, don't get off and press the 5th floor button.

4. When you get to the 5th floor, a young woman will get on. (Don't talk to her)

5. When she gets on, press the 1st floor button.

6. After you press the button, the elevator will not go down to the 1st floor, but will go up to the 10th floor. (If you press the wrong floor while it's going up, it will fail. However, it's your last chance if you want to quit)

7. Once you've passed the 9th floor, you can say you've pretty much succeeded.

There's only one way to check if you've succeeded.

You're the only person in that world.

I don't know what will happen from there.

But one thing is certain: the person who got on on the fifth floor was not human...

If it's the latter, the Germans are walking dangerously close to libel, and the only murder committed is that of Jessica Fletcher’s character. Granted, I suppose a certain air of suspicion could be cast over Cabot Cove’s 274 killings, but I chalk that down to coincidence and bad luck. At some point, people should have realized hanging around Fletcher would lead to an unfortunate ending.

Now, the fact that she solved 274—two hundred and seventy-four—murders should throw out the thesis that she was just dabbling, haphazardly helping the cops. I guess we could take this to a dark place and suggest Fletcher was behind the ghastly deeds merely so she would look like a good sleuth while sending innocent people to life in prison. I, for one, refuse to degrade Ms. Fletcher as being such a sociopath. Not a court in the country would convict her on circumstantial evidence like tossing out, “Oh, but this was no accident. No, this was murder,” with a titch too much confidence.

All this is to say that the German translators wronged Jessica Fletcher in one way or another. Whatever Ms. Fletcher may or may not have was anything but a trivial hobby.

Murder, She Wrote In Memoriam

I will forever consider Murder, She Wrote one of the great detective shows of the 1980s, eclipsed only by Remington Steele. The show ran for twelve seasons starting in 1984, clocking in 264 episodes plus four made-for-TV movies. Twenty-five million viewers tuned in during the height of the show, a number most streaming series can only dream about. Spin-off books are published even today.

Still, in 1988, Murder, She Wrote almost came to a grinding halt when star Angela Lansbury suffered from a burn-out. The producers found a solution where Jessica Fletcher would mostly make short appearances in episodes starring auxiliary characters, a decision that made viewership plummet. The experiment ended after two seasons when the show returned to its original format with one major change: Cabot Cove was switched out with New York City.

The show fizzled out in 1996, with episodes ranging from the world of virtual reality to a satire on Friends. Murder, She Wrote had certainly changed from its quaint beginnings.

Subsequent TV movies fared better, with the first one accumulating a solid eighteen million viewers. A healthy ten million people tuned in to the 2003 finale.

Murder, She Wrote has seemingly never completely left the zeitgeist. A 2013 reboot starring Octavia Spencer was announced but stopped in pre-production after Lansbury balked at the idea.

Angela Lansbury passed in 2022, and a film adaptation of Murder, She Wrote was quickly announced. Whether they can recreate the Cabot Cove magic in the 2020s is an open question, but let’s be honest… odds seem slim.

Web Sources

Murder, She Wrote. (2023, November 18). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder,_She_Wrote

We follow a couple (Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy) on a remote island, set to partake in a lavish dinner by celebrity chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). As the meal progresses, the edgy take on fine dining swiftly turns into an experiment in how far the clientele’s palate can be pushed. Also, how far is the staff willing to go to satisfy the mercurial chef?

The Menu is a commentary on many facets of fine dining, and particularly the Danish restaurant Noma—known for not paying its lower-level staff—is a source of much ridicule. The fictitious restaurant itself is modeled after Norway’s Cornelius Sjømatrestaurant and Washington State’s Willows Inn. For anyone with an above-average interest in food, The Menu is a highly entertaining watch.

The movie currently streams on HBO Max—I gave it a gentleman’s ❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤 on Letterboxd.

📺 Poker Face: It might sound unlikely, a modern-day Murder, She Wrote starring Natasha Lyonne. Yet, it works flawlessly.

Protagonist Charlie possesses an innate instinct to know when a person is lying—a perfect skill for someone who weekly stumbles upon murders. Each episode starts in the middle of a storyline, and after about ten minutes rewinds to when Charlie got involved with the plot. The stories are stand-alone—tied together by a rarely touched upon overarching plot—with a different gallery of characters appearing every week.

Poker Face streams on Peacock. It was created by Rian Johnson, who perhaps primarily is known for Glass Onion, Knives Out, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

📖 Never Be Alone Again: How Bloghouse United the Internet and the Dancefloor (Lina Abascal): For those of us who frequented MP3 blogs during the aughts—think Stereogum and Tiny Mix Tapes—this is a worthy tribute to the era. My only hesitation to wholeheartedly recommending it is how indie rock is made into a side note to the DJ culture.

Still, there are a lot of fun anecdotes about the era’s “wild west” nature of music blogs—a description liberally thrown around—and I enjoy seeing artists like Sébastien Tellier and Chromeo represented.

Never Be Alone Again is a good read for those who were into those blogs (and who still are—Stereogum is going strong); for anyone else, it might not be quite as interesting.

🎞️ Meet Me in the Bathroom: A documentary about the early-2000s New York indie rock scene centered around The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and LCD Soundsystem. It’s a fun—yet dark—retrospective, with an insight into the characters one would expect: The tortured Julian Casablancas and the über-cool Karen O. The obsessive James Murphy and the borderline sociopathic Ryan Adams. The usual suspects.

Meet Me in the Bathroom streams on Showtime, based on Lizzy Goodman's book. I threw down a healthy 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 on Letterboxd. Even if you’re not interested in the bands, the film is a good document of that era’s Brooklyn and Manhatten developments.

🎞️ The Twilight Saga: Don’t pretend you don’t like it. Twilight for life.

🤷 Is there anything else I should dive into? Leave a comment with any recommendations.

Yet, sometimes one has to break one’s own rules: Watcher is Hitchcockian. Maybe that is a lazy way to describe it, but it’s also apt. It’s a movie I could have seen the Master of Horror himself direct sometime during his Rear Window period. Not a substantial description, I know, but you get the idea.

Watcher is ostensibly a thriller, though it could equally be described as a study of loneliness. Julia (Maika Monroe) has moved to Bucarest, Romania, with her boyfriend Francis (Karl Glusman), who has taken a job there. Francis speaks Romanian, while Julia does not, meaning her prospects of getting a job are slim. As Francis sets into his daily routine, Julia tries to fill her days to the best of her ability in a place with no friends and a serious language barrier.

All the while, a serial killer is killing women in the vicinity of Julia and Francis’ apartment. And as Julia walks through the streets of Bucarest, she is convinced neighbor from across the street (Burn Gorman) has started stalking her. Seemingly, he watches her from his apartment window at night.

Or is it all in the mind of a lonely person in a foreign place who is slipping into paranoia?

That Julia is in some state of depression is at least clear. Her impending paranoia is exacerbated when the one person she has managed to connect with—the fun-loving next-door neighbor—disappears. Of course, it’s entirely possible that also is not the case—after all, she does have a history of taking off for extended periods.

Watcher can feel as disorienting as Julia feels in the streets of Romania. It seems plausible that her perceived stalker is just someone as lonely as her who happens to walk around the same streets she does. On the other hand, the murders are real, and the movie has little interest in giving too much exposition away at any one time. It’s an unsettling slow burn.

The whole cast turns in solid performances, with the great Burn Gorman adding a layer of gravitas. (Gorman is a Guillermo del Toro regular and also had a memorable appearance in “Flowers for Charlie,” a classic It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode.)

For some, Watcher might be a little too slow, but with some patience, you’ll find a tense thriller with a surprisingly bombastic conclusion. Downright Hitchcockian, some might say.

Hocus Pocus 2 (Disney+)

Twenty-nine years have passed since Hocus Pocus became a tween-favorite comedy and the sequel lives up to its predecessor’s notoriety. It’s not wildly different from the original, but then, why mess with the formula? You even get Bette Midler singing twice.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism (Prime)

A teen comedy with possessions and exorcism makes for an entertaining companion piece to Hocus Pocus 2.

Scream (2022) (Paramount+)

This was a bit of a letdown: The satire doesn’t kick in until the last fifteen minutes, and Courtney Cox and Neve Campbell look bored to be in the fifth installment of the Scream saga. Still worth a look for a franchise completionist.

Scream (1996) (Paramount+)

The original, though? What a perennial classic.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Disney+)

The fifth Pirates movie goes a long way to restore the original’s humorous touch. Javier Bardem makes for a good undead pirate leader, too.

Hellraiser (2022) (Hulu)

I always liked the concept of the original Hellraiser, but the execution was rather shaky. And while that movie was infamous for its eighties-style gore, David Bruckner has put together a more psychological remake that is genuinely eerie and beautiful to watch.

Watcher (Shudder)

I hate calling anything Hitchcockian, but that is what Watcher is. The film follows an actress who may or may not be stalked by a serial killer or who may or may not have devolved into paranoia from her crippling loneliness. It’s a tense thriller, one in line with classics like Rear Window.

Deadstream (Shudder)

Deadstream very much aspires to become a cult classic like Evil Dead 2, and judging by its reception, it might just have succeeded. It’s gross-out fun following a disgraced influencer trapped in a haunted house during an attempt to regain lost followers after an “incident” with one of his previous viral stunts. With this as its promotional picture…

… you know what you’ll get.

The Munsters (2022) (Netflix)

I have a feeling fans of the old show will love this. As I never watched the sixties sitcom, I didn’t really “get” the movie. Some great acting, though, particularly by Sheri Moon Zombie.

2001: A Space Odyssey (HBO Max)

Sure, you could claim it’s not a Halloween movie, but if HAL doesn’t freak you out, I don’t even know what to say. Plus, that acid trip of the last twenty minutes? 2001 isn’t just the most influential sci-fi film of the last fifty-five years; it’s a downright freaky film.

V/H/S/94 (Shudder)

I decided to revisit this before V/H/S/99 releases in a week, and it’s not a bad horror anthology. Read my review over at One Star Classics. The aforementioned David Bruckner served as a producer for this movie, but I’d much more recommend his Southbound anthology, which is genuinely unsettling.

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Drama/Thriller/Horror)

It’s hard to say what this movie actually “is” as far as a genre goes. A teenage girl takes an online challenge which… what? Starts unexplainably changing her? Or is she putting on a show for social media? At first, it feels like a slog, but We’re All Going to the World’s Fair has stuck with me. My full One Star Classics review.

Butterfly Kisses (Horror)

One of the few “found footage” films that creep me out. Very well acted and has a good meta element. My 2019 One Star Classics review.

The Toll (Horror)

It has apparently been rewatch-month for me—The Toll is not a great movie as such, but the cast—mainly two actors—does a good job, and the film has a distinct look. My One Star Classics review.

P.G.: Psycho Goreman (Retro Sci-Fi)

My favorite movie from last year—Psycho Goreman, is a throwback to the “lone alien landed on earth” sub-genre that was popular with PG-13 movies of the eighties. Granted, this version is more graphic, but all in the name of comedy. My One Star Classics review.

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (Tarantino)

Inglourious Basterds is still my favorite Tarantino film, but this one comes close.

The Batman (Superhero)

Finally, a good superhero movie—that it’s more of a mystery story than an action extravaganza benefits the character perfectly.

I Am Elizabeth Smart (Lifetime)

This one came on automatically after a season of an HGTV show had ended. There are multiple reasons not to watch the film, but ultimately Skeet Ulrich’s performance makes it worth it. (If only because he reminds me of Tobias’s portrayal of George in the made-for-TV movie inside Arrested Development.)

Torn Hearts (Thriller)

A country-music-focused thriller starring Katey Sagal as a reclusive musician with a sordid secret. Both tense and funny.

Crush (Comedy)

Crush is a genuinely funny teen comedy with some great performances. It also benefits from not having a caricature of a high-school bully as an antagonist.

Malignant (Horror)
★★★★☆
An absolutely bonkers B-movie with an A-movie budget. It starts off slow, but the last third is a flawlessly executed ride. Stream on HBO Max.

Freaky (Horror-Comedy)
★★★★☆
Christopher Landon’s follow-up to the Happy Death Day duology is a slasher version of Freaky Friday. The emphasis is largely on the humor, much more so than the horror, and both Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton deliver great performances. Stream on HBO Max, and revel in the rumors of a Freaky Death Day happening sooner rather than later. (You can read my review on One Star Classics.)

The Tinder Swindler (Documentary)
★★★☆☆
A bizarre story of the dangers of Tinder. Based largely on Norwegian newspaper VG’s investigation into—surprise, surprise—a swindler who uses Tinder to scam his victims, the story has more twists and turns than most fictional thrillers. Stream on Netflix.

Werewolves Within (Thriller-Comedy)
★★★★☆
A whodunnit mystery where the killer happens to be a werewolf. A gallery of comedic character actors delivers sharp dialogue in a story full of twists and turns. Buy or rent on iTunes.

After Midnight (Horror-Drama)
★★★★☆
This heartfelt horror romance was set to become an indie hit… and instead got hit by COVID. Great performances, great script, and stylish visuals—stream on Shudder.

In Possession (Psychological Thriller)
★★★★☆
I searched for thirty-plus years to find this movie I first watched on TV in the mid-eighties. Back then, it gave me nightmares, and watching it now, I can see why. The quasi-surreal narrative is creepy and is shot in a quasi-avant-garde style. In Possession is not available for streaming or purchase. (Be creative, and you can still find it online.)

Annette (Musical)
★★★★☆
Sparks—a fantastic band (more below)—finally got a musical released, and it’s as weird (and catchy) as most of their albums. Who knew that Adam Driver was a good singer? Streams on Prime.

Flashback (Surreal Thriller)
★★★★☆
An absolutely weird time-travel(?) thriller. It’s not an easy watch and is hard to follow until the end when it sort of adds up. Well worth the journey. Streams on Amazon.

Untitled Horror Movie (Comedy)
★★★☆☆
A group of vain actors start making a horror movie over Zoom—this is a COVID-era production—when things go horribly wrong. It might not be a great film, but it is genuinely funny. Stream on Prime or read my full review over on One Star Classics.

What The Hell Is It This Time? Sparks: Live In London (Concert Film)
★★★★★
A bonus feature on The Sparks Brothers documentary, Edgar Wright also directed a concert film with the band. The music is great and Wright shoots the concert perfectly. Buy or rent on iTunes as part of The Sparks Brothers bundle.

The French Dispatch (Comedy-Drama)
★★★★☆
I have no idea how Wes Anderson’s latest didn’t get any Oscar nominations—at the very least for cinematography—as it’s an absolutely delightful watch. Stream on HBO Max.

The Worst Person In The World (Drama-Comedy)
★★★★☆
Nominated for two Oscars, this Norwegian coming-of-age story is both amusing and heartfelt (and ultimately sad)—a fitting finale to Trier’s Oslo Trilogy. Buy or rent on iTunes.

The Evil Dead Trilogy (Horror, Comedy-Horror, Comedy)
★★★★☆
All three are great, but I will always have a particular affinity for Army of Darkness which is mostly a straight comedy. Bruce Campbell is a living legend. All three films stream on HBO Max.

Kimi (Thriller)
★★★☆☆
A fast-moving Hitchcockian thriller. Maybe not very original, but very stylish. Streams on HBO Max.

House of Gucci (Comedy)
★★★☆☆
I don’t care what people say, Jared Leto is great in this weird semi-fictionalized take on the Gucci family. Buy or rent on iTunes.

Madelines (Time-Travel-Comedy-Sci-Fi)
★★★☆☆
A COVID-era, low-budget time-travel film, Madelines make up for its shortcomings through sharp dialogue and great performances. Buy or rent on iTunes or read my review on One Star Classics.

X (Horror)
★★★★★
Ti West returns, blending humor and downright sweet drama with 1970s-style slasher tropes. The performances are fantastic, as is the cinematography. Rent on iTunes.

Being The Ricardos (Historical drama)
★★★☆☆
Aaron Sorkin’s script is all over the place, but the performances—Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball in particular—make for an entertaining watch. Stream on Prime.

Fateful Findings (Indefinable)
★☆☆☆☆
Twisted Pair (Indefinable)
★☆☆☆☆
I can’t help but admire writer/director/star/caterer1 Neil Breen. His movies are as baffling as they are earnest—they’re neither ironic nor do they wink at the camera. Look no further than his sincere performances as twin brothers in Fateful Findings, to sum up his moviemaking in one single frame:

Both Fateful Findings and Twisted Pair are available on iTunes.

Last Night in Soho (Thriller)
★★★★★
Edgar Wright’s homage to 1970s European cinema—Don’t Look Now and Suspiria in particular—has polarized many of his fans: A letdown for those expecting something closer to Shaun of the Dead, yet lauded by those interested in semi-surreal murder mysteries. Love it or hate it, it is at least the most visually captivating movie of 2022. Available on iTunes.

Lake of the Dead (Horror)
★★★☆☆
A 1958 Norwegian horror film—originally titled De Dødes Tjern—won’t meet today’s technical standards, but there are still some creative techniques at play here. The movie is eerie, with a dreamlike atmosphere covering up many of the technical blemishes. Stream on Shudder, and make sure you don’t accidentally watch the remake.

The Big Wedding (Comedy)
★☆☆☆☆
Stream on Netflix. (But don’t.)

The Dark and the Wicked (Horror)
★★★★☆
It’s not exactly a laugh-riot, but this demonic possession film is genuinely terrifying at times. Stream on Shudder.

Dementia Part II (Dark comedy)
★★★★☆
There is no Dementia Part I nor any signs of dementia, which should help explain this darkly funny—and demented—movie. Suzanne Voss’s portrayal of an aging lady with eccentric secrets has deservingly earned her a Fangoria Chainsaw Award nomination. Available on iTunes.

Followed (Horror)
★★★☆☆
This “found-footage” film is creepy, well-plotted, and features a gallery of likable characters—an oddity for the genre. I wouldn’t call it a must-watch but would recommend it for anyone who likes lighter scares. Stream on Tubi.

The Stylist (Thriller)
★★★★☆
Gruesome as its premise is—a hair-dresser who scalps her clients—The Stylist is less a horror movie than a story of loneliness and obsession. Najarra Townsend (who also co-stars in Dementia Part II) puts in a grounded, empathetic performance as the titular character, with good support from co-star Brea Grant. Stream on Arrow.

Happy Death Day (Slasher-comedy)
Happy Death Day 2U (Sci-fi-comedy)
★★★★☆
Much as they were promoted as horror movies, the Happy Death Day franchise has more in common with Groundhog Day and Back to the Future Part II. Jessica Rothe has a great comedic presence as a college student stuck in a murderous time loop. Available on iTunes.

Voyage of The Rock Aliens (Musical)
★★★★☆
When this 1984 comedy did poorly with test audiences, they decided to dump in musical numbers at random intervals. As a result, the story makes little sense, but the cavalcade of catchy new-wave vignettes more than makes up for it. Stream on Tubi.