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Movie Review: Helter Skelter (2012) – 88 Films Blu-ray

Lilico (Erika Sawajiri, a real-life model with her own troubled history who plays the role to perfection) has the modeling world by the short n’ curlies. Every woman wants to be her, every man wants to fuck her (good luck on that one unless you are a vacuous status-seeking pretty boy star or producer that can advance her career)… and while she rules the glamour world, her success may be fleeting… Controlled by an alcoholic “stage mom”, Lilico’s enduring flawless beauty is the result of experimental medical techniques that must be maintained regularly or else things begin to go shockingly south… and those rapidly spreading bruises are going to take a toll on her already fractured mental state! Brought to the screen by former fashion photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa (working from a screenplay by Arisa Kaneko adapting the manga from Kyôko Okazaki), Helter Skelter does the whole beauty and fame are fleeting bag and takes things to dynamic extremes.

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 7, 2026

Movie Review: Picture of a Nymph (1987) – 88 Films Blu-ray

Seemingly mute Taoist ghost-buster in training Sap Yee (frequent Jackie Chan flick regular Biao Yuen, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain) takes in a kindly scholar, Chui Hung-Chien (Lawrence Ng, Sex and Zen) after he inadvertently burns his pad to the ground fighting a ghost that takes the form of an old man with sentient hair! Eventually, Sappy’s curmudgeonly master Wu Men-Chu (Wu Ma, A Chinese Ghost Story… he also directed and co-wrote this film) returns home after a ghostly encounter with the bewitching King Ghost (Elizabeth Lee in her debut) and it’s umbrella wielding minions. Speaking of ol’ King G, a young princess named Mok Sau (Joey Wang, again with the A Chinese Ghost Story) has recently offed herself to avoid it’s clutches and has in turn become a ghost… a ghost that Chui falls in love with! Will our heroes be able to defeat King Ghost and friends and bring peace to Mok Sau… or will they soon

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 7, 2026

Movie Review: Coven of the Black Cube – Blood Sick Blu-ray

Coven of the Black Cube is about a coven of witches helping unsatisfied wives to murder their husbands… but that doesn’t stop the narrative to stream of consciousness itself into tales of falling in love with a serial killer and the creation of a video rental joint. It’s that kind of scatter-shot unconventional storytelling that makes ol’ Coven of the Black Cube such a uniquely psychotronic viewing experience. Created in our beloved shot on video (S.O.V.) format, the proceedings possess a gritty, almost documentary feel… which makes the entire affair delightfully surreal as we dive head first into a lived-in world that plays host to a large number of occult rites, sex, and bloodshed… but there’s more here than just exploitation thrills n’ spills… Standing front and center here is a queer romance that neither seems forced into the narrative nor is it fodder for titillation (though those elements are present)… it’s handled with heart and is a refreshing change

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Movie Review: Watch Me Sleep (2023) – Wild Eye DVD

Our pal Sean (Darren McAree) has a lot on his plate… he’s a recovering alcoholic who’s abusive mother has just kicked the bucket… though on that last one our hero isn’t quite sure. To that end he signs up for a service that sticks a camera in a loved one’s coffin so family members can grieve longer… usually for a period of four weeks… but Sean is desperate for a longer look-see (by like eleven more months) so he throws money at the problem which ensures that will go down without a hitch. While initially quite gung-fucking-ho over spying on Mommy Deadest, Sean can’t bring himself to log in for the longest, but eventually a confrontational AA meeting gives him the courage to smash that button… and before long mum’s postmortem movement is becoming ever more obvious! Writer/Director John Williams (Creatures of the Night, Crispy’s Curse) delivers a rather skin-crawling premise with Watch Me Sleep… watching a family member decay

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Movie Review: Busted Babies – Blood Sick Blu-ray

Kasper Meltedhair’s Busted Babies is going to be a real bitch and a half to try and explain to you cats n’ creeps, but here fuckin’ goes… “______” (Kasper Meltedhair), is a strange lady possessing horns, polka dot skin, and strap-on bat wings. Our heroine can also turn babies to glass… which is of interest to a dancing gaggle of suited dudes that gain immortality when showered in the broken glass babies… Things get stranger as our non-linear, fever-dream narrative takes us through a world of bizarre folks (creatures?) that inhabit a world of odd punk rock shows, bizarre parties, and absolute brazen insanity. They way this psychotronic whirlwind is presented is as imaginative as it is mind-shatteringly weird. Kasper Meltedhair goes all in on creating a world unto it’s own, filtered through a low-fi, S.O.V. style that at times come across like our favorite drive-in flicks of yore (complete with bands providing padding) mixed with animation, unique yet simple

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Movie Review: Monster Mayhem Collection – Film Masters Blu-ray

Film Masters have gone and bundled up a monstrous mess of Drive-In sci-fi flicks from years past and put them on Blu-ray for all of us lovers of the cinematic bizarre to slap our putrid peepers upon! So let’s begin our joltin’ journey into the Monster Mayhem Collection with the first feature (of which there are four present over two discs), 1958’s Frankenstein’s Daughter… Sleazy suburban mad scientist Oliver Frank (Donald Murphy) is only all too ready to continue the work of his grandfather, Dr. Frankenstein… well, in his spare time anyway… most of the time he works with his colleague, Prof. Carter Morton (Felix Locher) who is working on a formula that could end all disease. Of course ol’ Ollie has other plans for it, and begins slipping doses of it to Morton’s teenage daughter, Trudy (Sandra Knight) which turns her into a monster in a swimsuit that runs amok in the P.M. while continuing to work on his

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: The Remedy (SXSW London)

Official Synopsis Jason is a devoted son caring for his ill mother, Maria. Exhausted, isolated, and sleep-deprived, he begins to suffer from vivid nightmares of a monstrous entity devouring his mother. As his grip on reality loosens, the horrors of his dreams begin to seep into his waking life. At the same time, his estranged sister Rachel, recently released from psychiatric care, becomes convinced that an unseen evil has taken root in their home. Turning to forbidden spiritual practices for protection, she finds herself at odds with Jason, who dismisses her warnings as delusion. When Jason resorts to an obscure, ancient remedy in a desperate attempt to heal Maria, the results are both miraculous and deeply unsettling. As her health begins to improve, disturbing occurrences escalate around them, hinting that something unnatural may have been unleashed. As paranoia, family tensions, and supernatural forces converge, Jason is drawn into a terrifying descent. With no one left to trust, he must face

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 5, 2026

Movie Review: Why Damian McCarthy’s ‘Hokum’ is The Perfect Weekend Watch

From the visionary mind behind Caveat and Oddity, writer-director Damian McCarthy has returned with Hokum, an atmospheric Irish folklore nightmare released by Neon. For anyone who loved the terrifying wooden mannequin or the front-desk bell of McCarthy’s previous films, this newest addition to his expanding universe of cursed objects is essential viewing. A Pitch-Black Family Reunion The film stars Adam Scott (Severance) as Ohm Bauman, a reclusive, blockbuster novelist suffering from severe writer’s block and a massive deficit in social skills. Ohm retreats to a remote, extraordinarily dreary Irish inn to lay his late parents’ ashes to rest at the last place they were ever truly happy. Naturally, things go south immediately. Between encounters with dead goats and local eccentrics, Ohm learns that the hotel’s locked honeymoon suite is allegedly haunted by the Cailleach—an ancient witch known for dragging souls down to the underworld. When a friendly bartender named Fiona (Florence Ordesh) mysteriously vanishes after a Halloween party, the film

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 4, 2026

Wrinkles, Wrath, and Weapons: A Spoiler-Free Review of Netflix’s “The Boroughs”

The Duffer Brothers have officially traded in the teenage angst and D&D campaigns for a New Mexico retirement community in “The Boroughs“. And I have some thoughts. If you loved the high-stakes chaos, rich character development, and retro charm of the Duffer brothers’ “Stranger Things,” you’ll love this. Rest assured: “The Boroughs“ may feature a lot more gray hair and a soundtrack that leans heavily toward soft-rock anthems. But these seniors are alive, kicking, and infinitely more relatable than a bunch of middle-schoolers. Netflix is officially locking in Season 2. So, it is time to face the facts: the golden years are about to get bloody. Prepare to watch a bunch of retirees fight for their lives against entities far more terrifying than inflation and bad knees. What’s the Story? Season one kicks off with Sam Coope, a cynical fresh arrival who views this sun-drenched senior haven less as a relaxing retreat and more as a beautifully landscaped, minimum-security prison.

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 2, 2026

Movie Review: Blood River/River of Blood: Prime Video Flat Out Lied to Me

This past weekend, I was scrolling through Prime Video, looking for a good scare. I saw a shiny little badge declaring Blood River (aka River of Blood) as the current #1 horror movie on the service, and I made the catastrophic mistake of hitting play. Now? I am fully convinced that Prime Video’s ranking algorithm is a pathological liar fueled by chaos. We need to talk about this movie, directed by Howard J. Ford and written by Tom Boyle, because I wasted an hour of my life that I can never get back, and my level of annoyance is currently breaking the scale. It’s not even one of those delightfully campy, “so bad it’s good” neighborhood masterpieces. No, friends. It’s just flat-out, aggressively bad. The Plot: An Infidelity Soap Opera… With Cannibals The setup is a beautifully unhinged trainwreck. A group of “friends” embarks on a jungle expedition with a local guide. To maximize the drama, two members of the

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 1, 2026

More from Reviews

Movie Review: Helter Skelter (2012) – 88 Films Blu-ray

Lilico (Erika Sawajiri, a real-life model with her own troubled history who plays the role to perfection) has the modeling world by the short n’ curlies. Every woman wants to be her, every man wants to fuck her (good luck on that one unless you are a vacuous status-seeking pretty boy star or producer that can advance her career)… and while she rules the glamour world, her success may be fleeting… Controlled by an alcoholic “stage mom”, Lilico’s enduring flawless beauty is the result of experimental medical techniques that must be maintained regularly or else things begin to go shockingly south… and those rapidly spreading bruises are going to take a toll on her already fractured mental state! Brought to the screen by former fashion photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa (working from a screenplay by Arisa Kaneko adapting the manga from Kyôko Okazaki), Helter Skelter does the whole beauty and fame are fleeting bag and takes things to dynamic extremes.

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 7, 2026

Movie Review: Picture of a Nymph (1987) – 88 Films Blu-ray

Seemingly mute Taoist ghost-buster in training Sap Yee (frequent Jackie Chan flick regular Biao Yuen, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain) takes in a kindly scholar, Chui Hung-Chien (Lawrence Ng, Sex and Zen) after he inadvertently burns his pad to the ground fighting a ghost that takes the form of an old man with sentient hair! Eventually, Sappy’s curmudgeonly master Wu Men-Chu (Wu Ma, A Chinese Ghost Story… he also directed and co-wrote this film) returns home after a ghostly encounter with the bewitching King Ghost (Elizabeth Lee in her debut) and it’s umbrella wielding minions. Speaking of ol’ King G, a young princess named Mok Sau (Joey Wang, again with the A Chinese Ghost Story) has recently offed herself to avoid it’s clutches and has in turn become a ghost… a ghost that Chui falls in love with! Will our heroes be able to defeat King Ghost and friends and bring peace to Mok Sau… or will they soon

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 7, 2026

Movie Review: Coven of the Black Cube – Blood Sick Blu-ray

Coven of the Black Cube is about a coven of witches helping unsatisfied wives to murder their husbands… but that doesn’t stop the narrative to stream of consciousness itself into tales of falling in love with a serial killer and the creation of a video rental joint. It’s that kind of scatter-shot unconventional storytelling that makes ol’ Coven of the Black Cube such a uniquely psychotronic viewing experience. Created in our beloved shot on video (S.O.V.) format, the proceedings possess a gritty, almost documentary feel… which makes the entire affair delightfully surreal as we dive head first into a lived-in world that plays host to a large number of occult rites, sex, and bloodshed… but there’s more here than just exploitation thrills n’ spills… Standing front and center here is a queer romance that neither seems forced into the narrative nor is it fodder for titillation (though those elements are present)… it’s handled with heart and is a refreshing change

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Movie Review: Watch Me Sleep (2023) – Wild Eye DVD

Our pal Sean (Darren McAree) has a lot on his plate… he’s a recovering alcoholic who’s abusive mother has just kicked the bucket… though on that last one our hero isn’t quite sure. To that end he signs up for a service that sticks a camera in a loved one’s coffin so family members can grieve longer… usually for a period of four weeks… but Sean is desperate for a longer look-see (by like eleven more months) so he throws money at the problem which ensures that will go down without a hitch. While initially quite gung-fucking-ho over spying on Mommy Deadest, Sean can’t bring himself to log in for the longest, but eventually a confrontational AA meeting gives him the courage to smash that button… and before long mum’s postmortem movement is becoming ever more obvious! Writer/Director John Williams (Creatures of the Night, Crispy’s Curse) delivers a rather skin-crawling premise with Watch Me Sleep… watching a family member decay

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Movie Review: Busted Babies – Blood Sick Blu-ray

Kasper Meltedhair’s Busted Babies is going to be a real bitch and a half to try and explain to you cats n’ creeps, but here fuckin’ goes… “______” (Kasper Meltedhair), is a strange lady possessing horns, polka dot skin, and strap-on bat wings. Our heroine can also turn babies to glass… which is of interest to a dancing gaggle of suited dudes that gain immortality when showered in the broken glass babies… Things get stranger as our non-linear, fever-dream narrative takes us through a world of bizarre folks (creatures?) that inhabit a world of odd punk rock shows, bizarre parties, and absolute brazen insanity. They way this psychotronic whirlwind is presented is as imaginative as it is mind-shatteringly weird. Kasper Meltedhair goes all in on creating a world unto it’s own, filtered through a low-fi, S.O.V. style that at times come across like our favorite drive-in flicks of yore (complete with bands providing padding) mixed with animation, unique yet simple

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Movie Review: Monster Mayhem Collection – Film Masters Blu-ray

Film Masters have gone and bundled up a monstrous mess of Drive-In sci-fi flicks from years past and put them on Blu-ray for all of us lovers of the cinematic bizarre to slap our putrid peepers upon! So let’s begin our joltin’ journey into the Monster Mayhem Collection with the first feature (of which there are four present over two discs), 1958’s Frankenstein’s Daughter… Sleazy suburban mad scientist Oliver Frank (Donald Murphy) is only all too ready to continue the work of his grandfather, Dr. Frankenstein… well, in his spare time anyway… most of the time he works with his colleague, Prof. Carter Morton (Felix Locher) who is working on a formula that could end all disease. Of course ol’ Ollie has other plans for it, and begins slipping doses of it to Morton’s teenage daughter, Trudy (Sandra Knight) which turns her into a monster in a swimsuit that runs amok in the P.M. while continuing to work on his

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: The Remedy (SXSW London)

Official Synopsis Jason is a devoted son caring for his ill mother, Maria. Exhausted, isolated, and sleep-deprived, he begins to suffer from vivid nightmares of a monstrous entity devouring his mother. As his grip on reality loosens, the horrors of his dreams begin to seep into his waking life. At the same time, his estranged sister Rachel, recently released from psychiatric care, becomes convinced that an unseen evil has taken root in their home. Turning to forbidden spiritual practices for protection, she finds herself at odds with Jason, who dismisses her warnings as delusion. When Jason resorts to an obscure, ancient remedy in a desperate attempt to heal Maria, the results are both miraculous and deeply unsettling. As her health begins to improve, disturbing occurrences escalate around them, hinting that something unnatural may have been unleashed. As paranoia, family tensions, and supernatural forces converge, Jason is drawn into a terrifying descent. With no one left to trust, he must face

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 5, 2026

Movie Review: Why Damian McCarthy’s ‘Hokum’ is The Perfect Weekend Watch

From the visionary mind behind Caveat and Oddity, writer-director Damian McCarthy has returned with Hokum, an atmospheric Irish folklore nightmare released by Neon. For anyone who loved the terrifying wooden mannequin or the front-desk bell of McCarthy’s previous films, this newest addition to his expanding universe of cursed objects is essential viewing. A Pitch-Black Family Reunion The film stars Adam Scott (Severance) as Ohm Bauman, a reclusive, blockbuster novelist suffering from severe writer’s block and a massive deficit in social skills. Ohm retreats to a remote, extraordinarily dreary Irish inn to lay his late parents’ ashes to rest at the last place they were ever truly happy. Naturally, things go south immediately. Between encounters with dead goats and local eccentrics, Ohm learns that the hotel’s locked honeymoon suite is allegedly haunted by the Cailleach—an ancient witch known for dragging souls down to the underworld. When a friendly bartender named Fiona (Florence Ordesh) mysteriously vanishes after a Halloween party, the film

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 4, 2026

Wrinkles, Wrath, and Weapons: A Spoiler-Free Review of Netflix’s “The Boroughs”

The Duffer Brothers have officially traded in the teenage angst and D&D campaigns for a New Mexico retirement community in “The Boroughs“. And I have some thoughts. If you loved the high-stakes chaos, rich character development, and retro charm of the Duffer brothers’ “Stranger Things,” you’ll love this. Rest assured: “The Boroughs“ may feature a lot more gray hair and a soundtrack that leans heavily toward soft-rock anthems. But these seniors are alive, kicking, and infinitely more relatable than a bunch of middle-schoolers. Netflix is officially locking in Season 2. So, it is time to face the facts: the golden years are about to get bloody. Prepare to watch a bunch of retirees fight for their lives against entities far more terrifying than inflation and bad knees. What’s the Story? Season one kicks off with Sam Coope, a cynical fresh arrival who views this sun-drenched senior haven less as a relaxing retreat and more as a beautifully landscaped, minimum-security prison.

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 2, 2026

Movie Review: Blood River/River of Blood: Prime Video Flat Out Lied to Me

This past weekend, I was scrolling through Prime Video, looking for a good scare. I saw a shiny little badge declaring Blood River (aka River of Blood) as the current #1 horror movie on the service, and I made the catastrophic mistake of hitting play. Now? I am fully convinced that Prime Video’s ranking algorithm is a pathological liar fueled by chaos. We need to talk about this movie, directed by Howard J. Ford and written by Tom Boyle, because I wasted an hour of my life that I can never get back, and my level of annoyance is currently breaking the scale. It’s not even one of those delightfully campy, “so bad it’s good” neighborhood masterpieces. No, friends. It’s just flat-out, aggressively bad. The Plot: An Infidelity Soap Opera… With Cannibals The setup is a beautifully unhinged trainwreck. A group of “friends” embarks on a jungle expedition with a local guide. To maximize the drama, two members of the

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 1, 2026
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