Movie Reviews » Bad but I liked it

Jeepers Creepers 2

A surprisingly more-watchable-than-you'd-think teen scream. A busload of jocks stuck in the desert are attacked by the creature from the first Jeepers Creepers. But, by teen scream standards, it's not bad. The confinement to the bus for most of the movie works as a conceit and ads a certain paranoia. Unfortunately, towards the end, it devolves into an action movie—there are lots of guns in this—but for most of it it's better than I expected, and overall, I kind of enjoyed it... for a teen scream.

Should be said, his cameo is so short I actually missed it entirely, but has a brief appearance by Ray Wise, which somehow makes sense. The guy's never been in anything that wasn't in some minor way interesting, except for "The Blue Rose".

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Jeepers Creepers

Not really a teen scream, more like a preteen scream, and yet, not so bad for that. A brother and sister find a rural town being terrorized by some kind of creature. No more, no less. Definitely slightly better than the awful name would have you think.

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The Banana Splits Movie

Beloved late '60 kids TV show characters licensed and made into a horror movie, with the conceit that their show is still in production and they're played by robots, which of course go haywire and start killing people, because, movie.

Surprisingly, it's not completely, completely terrible. Before people started realizing some people would watch these just for the irony alone—see "Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey" (which I've seen but apparently didn't review, I should have, to warn people away)—so they didn't have to aim any higher, I guess this, being the first of these, they must've thought they might have to put a little effort into it. So, actually, while it's basically trash, it's not as bad as you might imagine, it's faintly entertaining. In a couple of scenes it seemed almost like they might actually be trying to make a good movie.

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Poor Things

Maybe the most interesting complete disappointment I've ever seen. A cinematically outstanding fantasy set in Victorian England, where a mad professor has implanted the body of a suicide with the brain of her still-living fetus and raised her as his child in what seems at first like a very creative spin on "Frankenstein" but by the second act becomes preoccupied with her growing sexual desires and her manipulation by the men in her life, to the exclusion of all else.

For maybe the first half hour I thought it was an undiscovered gem—the cinematography, set design, and even costuming are like everything Terry Gilliam ever dreamed of, truly exceptional and surreal, and for the first half hour it had a plot to match. And then, she discovers masturbation, and suddenly, everything interesting about the plot was immediately dispensed with, and never returned to. The entire rest of the movie…

Movie Reviews » Canadian

Hive (2026)

This entry in the "something's wrong with the children" horror subgenre is demented. It seems in terms of story and production like a scary movie aimed solidly at children, and yet, it's far too scary for any child. And it's strange enough, and likable enough just for so thoroughly being what it is, that I'm reluctant to give away any spoilers.

It gets undeniable points for originality—if nothing else, what's wrong with the children in this one being different from what's wrong with them in any other film like this. I don't know who looked at a children's playground and saw, in their mind, the idea for this movie, but to them I say, bravo for being so weird... weird enough that I don't even want to give away any more details of the conceit than I have.

Truly, the whole endeavor is just a little bizarre, and it's…

Movie Reviews » Just, Don't

Do Not Open

One of the worst-written movies I've ever seen. A couple rents a cabin where there is a locked door they've been told not to open. From there, they spend half the movie arguing amidst a completely unexplained growing obsession with what's behind the door, then completely unexplained "scary" tropes occur, then they are found dead by they handyman, end of movie. Some of the worst attempts at dialogue and plotting I've ever seen... it's like these people didn't just have no idea what they were doing, you can't even say they failed, because unlike most bad movies, it seemed like they didn't even any idea how to try. I have no idea what they were shooting for other than "creepy unexplained stuff happens".

Movie Reviews » Bad but I like that it exists

The Little Mermaid (2024)

Billed as a "horror" take on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, but it's just not. It's more like an episode of Fantasy Island without da plane or Mr Roarke or Tattoo. In fact, that's pretty much exactly what it's like.

But, I dunno, I sorta like that it exists? I mean, who makes a movie like this?

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WarHunt

Tough-as-nails US soldiers led by Mickey Rourke encounter witches and supernatural doings in the European woods during WWII. Oscillates between a war flick and a special-effects laden supernatural action extravaganza. Looks like a fun movie from a distance, owing to the big-budget special effects, but it's kind of meh.

Movie Reviews » watchable

Blood Creek (2009)

More of an action movie than a horror film. Supernatural thrills as two tough-as-nails brothers shoot off a whole lot of guns while trapped at a remote ranch with some sort of tough-as-nails Nazi demon who has trapped a German family and prevented them from aging since WWII. It's a supernatural horror film like "Predator" is a sci-fi film... not really, but, close enough for some people.

It was fun, though. Good special effects at points. It's overwrought in a positive manner reminiscent of some of Clive Barker's more fun films, and production quality was alright, they obviously spent some money on this and hired some talented people to get it done.

Not a great movie, I wouldn't say go out of your way to see it, but I enjoyed it well enough for 90 minutes of escapism. I wouldn't call it watchable for people who aren't up…

Movie Reviews » Just, Don't

The North Witch

Well-shot but otherwise pointless hodgepodge of horror tropes strung together with little explanation, as two women hikers stranded at a legendary "lost" cabin slowly lose their minds and see "scary" things, one after another, for an hour and a half, swing what is obviously a plastic axe at each other, and build up to plot twists that Stevie Wonder could spot from a mile away. Lousy editing, lousy writing, and the acting isn't good enough to pull off a convincing descent into madness.

Almost bad enough to be good, as it got so silly at one point in the middle that I nearly laughed aloud at something that was supposed to be "scary", but it couldn't even maintain that.

It's too bad. I wanted to like it. The cinematography isn't great, but it's slightly above average, which usually is a sign of something better than this.

Blog Posts » featured movie reviews

Paradise (TV series, 2025)

Somewhat derivative but reasonably watcable sci-fi thriller. In a world that is "The Walking Dead" with an ecological apocalypse instead of a zombie one, the remains of the government live in an artificial underground town somewhere between "Wayward Pines" and "The Truman Show", where everybody just loves crappy '80s Top 40 music.

The first season is a straight government/secret agent whodunnit thriller with a slight spritz of sci-fi, the second is a little more expansive, showing more of the world and the lead-up to the ecological disaster (refreshingly, a fairly well-done global tsunami and weather crisis caused by a volcanic eruption in Antarctica, not the result of human foolishness.) I enjoyed the second season a little bit more, although they're both decent at worst...

...except...

...for the '80s music. It's intrusive, and initially, very annoying, particularly that many episodes end with gratuitous, grating "slowcore", alt-folk, or dreary…

Movie Reviews » Bad but I liked it

Black Goat

Oddly charming zero-budget amateur folk horror. English film in which locals encounter supernatural occurrences and a horned apparition in the woods. New film but feels like it was filmed on 16mm in 1978. Not sure why I liked it, by all rights I shouldn't have, but sometimes these little zero-budget efforts are, as I said, oddly charming, even if they're really bad.

Movie Reviews » watchable

Predestination

Well-done time-travel sci-fi based closely on the Heinlein story "All You Zombies". Ethan Hawke as a "Temporal Agent" sent back to the 1970s to foil a bomber. Good enough that I'm not going to reveal my one minor disappointment with it because that involves spoilers. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's one of the greats, but it's well-made and well-acted.

Movie Reviews » Bad but I liked it

A44

Just terrible, home-made zombie movie, which I found weirdly kind of fun because the people (probably friends of the director) try so damn hard to pull it off, even though they clearly have no hope at all of this being a good movie. They really do try though.

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Portal In The Pines

Weirdly ok bad movie about a small town besieged by supernatural occurrences after a particle collider opens up a portal to hell or some such. Pretty terribly written and meandering, the story is a mess, but kind of weirdly ok in terms of production or something. It had that sort of "this is terrible, but it's kinda good" thing in a way that made me think maybe it was a H.P. Lovecraft story, as a lot of those seem to somehow turn out strangely a little bit kinda good in a weird way. Has a cameo by Jamie Kennedy, the patron saint of bad movies that are strangely a little bit kinda good in a weird way. Not that I'd recommend you watch it or anything. But, uh, I kinda didn't mind it?

Movie Reviews » watchable

Goodbye World

Reasonably decent postapocalyptic drama focusing on relationships among a group of people living in a remote cabin after martial law is declared in the US. Gaby Hoffman & friends. Nothing special, never would say go out of your way to see it, but not terrible, somewhat watchable if you have to kill 90 minutes.

Movie Reviews » Turned it off

Miami Vice (TV Series)

Surprisingly enough, the first few episodes of this show are pretty good, definitely a better cop show than I remembered.

Unfortunately, though, I suffer from OCD, and I know from experience that if I watch this long enough, one of these 80s songs is going to get stuck in my head for 4 months. It's not worth that.

So I turned it off.

Too bad though, if not for that I would have stuck it out.

Movie Reviews » Just, Don't

The Evil Inside Her

Absolutely pointless horror thriller in which Eric Roberts poisons a tourist's coffee to drive her insane so she stalks and kills her friends on a trip to a remote cabin, because, movie.

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Junkyard Dog

Unremarkable, fairly color-by-numbers captivity flick as redneck junkyard owner holds women captive in an underground cell. Ends with everything blowing up. Yawn. Weirdly, has some familiar faces like Brad Dourif, Vivica A. Fox, and John Kapelos (yes, you do know him, he was the janitor in "The Breakfast Club") Not like this is terrible, but in a world where we have "Silence of The Lambs" this doesn't even qualify as sub-mediocre. I wonder how they got name actors to appear in something so unremarkable.

Movie Reviews » Just, Don't

The Maddening

Made-for-TV-movie-quality '90s direct-to-video. Burt Reynolds and Angie Dickinson ham it up as a deranged older couple who kidnap and imprison a young woman and hr daughter in their rural house because, movie.

Movie Reviews » Je nais se quois

Porno (2019)

Some horror movies are scary, some are just fun. Both are equally hard to pull off. This one is totally fun.

It plays like a comedy-horror but really is just straight horror. A group of christian teens in a small-town movie theater discover a porno flick in a walled-off lair in the basement that sets loose a succubus. And as silly as that sounds, it's hard to the good end of what such a silly conceit could have turned out to be.

No, it's good! Really! It doesn't aim any higher than it needs to—nobody will ever accuse this of being a great movie—but it aims to be a good, if slightly silly one, and succeeds far better than it has a right to. Good production values and acting, as well as a few deft touches and moments of well-done tension, save it from being a relentlessly silly endeavor. It…

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Being Erica (TV series)

Reasonably watchable Canadian fantasy/drama series, probably aimed at teens or young adults. A young woman encounters a mysterious "therapist" who sends her back in time every episode to reconcile regrets from her life. It's fun enough, nothing great, but a little different and the cast is likeable, even when the later series tend towards the "we've run out of ideas" phase of making every story about relationships, who loves who, who's marrying who, who's having a baby, etc.

One nice thing, the series ended after 4 seasons, not because it was cancelled, but because they were at a good stopping point and felt the story had been told. That's the kind of slightly-above-average judgment that made it a slightly-above-average series.

Movie Reviews » "Found Footage" crap

The Conspiracy

"Eyes Wide Shut" filmed as "The Blair Witch Project", except less.

Not the worst first-person shooter I've ever seen, not absolutely execrable like many, but without much more justification for existing than most of those movies.