2020s horror movies – Horror Ghouls

Re/Member (2022)

Posted on April 14, 2026April 14, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Asuka is a high school student who’s a bit of a loner. She’s very shy, apparently doesn’t have any friends, and keeps walking to school by herself while the other students keep laughing and clinging together. Then everything changes when Asuka sees the apparition of a dead girl named Haruka, who simply asks her to “find her body“. After some other strange incidents during the day, Asuka gets back home like it’s just been another normal day in Japan, preparing for the next lonely day at school. Well, she’s in for a new kind of normal from now on. After going to sleep, she wakes up in the middle of the night together with several of her classmates. They’re inside the school, and no one has any idea how they got there. What they quickly find out, however, is that they are now part of some kind of occult game called “Body Search“, and they need to find the eight pieces of Haruka’s body and place it inside a coffin. Sounds like fun, eh?

Not exactly, as their biggest problem isn’t finding the body parts, but being stalked and killed by an entity called the Red Person. When the first night is over, the Red Person has successfully killed them all before they’ve been able to find as much as a single body part. Game Over? Nope, it seems we have a fair share of continues. Asuka wakes up, and initially believes it all to be a strange nightmare…but the date remains the same as of yesterday. Her mother repeats the same lines and actions from the day before. Asuka and the other students who were with her on the Body Search last night, are all now stuck in a time loop. And they will all remain stuck, until they’ve found all of Haruka’s body parts.

Re/Member is a Japanese horror film directed by Eiichirō Hasumi, produced by Warner Bros. Japan. It is based on a Japanese manga series called Karada Sagashi, written by Welzard and illustrated by Katsutoshi Murase. Upon checking this movie out on Netflix we didn’t know much about it, and plot-wise I was actually surprised it wasn’t based off of a video game. The whole setting is quite reminiscent of Corpse Party, the RPG Maker indie game which also centers around a group of students in a school, chased by a girl in red. In the world of the supernatural, the “Lady in Red“ is often a very benevolent ghost, compared to her more friendly counterpart the Lady in White, which is mostly a western thing. I guess red means danger even in the ghost world.

The movie starts off very straightforward, presenting the characters and mystery in a somewhat generic manner but it’s still interesting enough from the get-go, and I really liked the build-up of atmosphere and mystery, together with some nice kills. The pacing can sometimes feel pretty wonky though, where it’s trying to balance gory horror with the anime-esque romantic comedy elements. But overall I never found myself bored with it. From the introduction of the characters, the old murder mystery and the Body Search itself, it was all packed with enough suspense and atmosphere to always keep me interested. It’s also such a huge plus that it doesn’t shy away from showing some gory kill scenes! And, while this is too much fun and action-packed to really be scary, it did manage to build some tight, creepy atmosphere in several of the scenes. And my heart always melts a little when I see the use of practical effects. Sure, there is some CGI here too, but a good amount of practical is used here which looks way more decent than the CGI (which is often the case). Nothing had me prepared for the scenes later in the movie involving a monster though! It’s such a fun mix of uncanny, goofy and creepy at the same time. Must’ve been a struggle for the actor inside that costume though…

Re/Member was more fun that I’d expected it to be, and despite some pacing issues here and there and some strange tonal shifts, I had a pretty good time with it. I totally loved some of the old-school practical effects, especially for the monster. While it’s not exactly anything groundbreaking or awesome, it’s a fun Japanese teen-horror movie mixing supernatural elements with time loops and monsters.

In 2025 a sequel to this movie was released, called Re/Member: The Last Night. And this takes a considerably bigger tonal shift where it’s much more of a teen comedy. Wasn’t our thing, but if you’re interested in checking it out it’s also available on Netflix, at least in some regions.

Director: Eiichirô Hasumi
Writer: Harumi Doki
Country & year: Japan, 2022
Actors: Kanna Hashimoto, Gordon Maeda, Maika Yamamoto, Fûju Kamio, Kotaro Daigo, Mayu Yokota, Yumemi Ishida
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21250176/

Primate (2025)

Posted on April 3, 2026April 3, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Bad Ben! No, not you. I’m talking to my pet chimpanzee. He’s been quite agitated lately. Must be something in the water.

We’re at a big lux cliff side house somewhere in remote Hawaii where no one can hear you scream. That also goes first and foremost for the owner, Adam, a deaf novelist who’s made himself a lucrative career by writing books like A Silent Shadow, A Silent Death and… Deaf Fury, if I’m not mistaken (har-har). Adam is played by Troy Kotsur, who’s actually born deaf, by the way. Adam also has a pet chimpanzee named Ben who wears a red T-shirt but unfortunately not a red cap. That would probably be just enough for Nintendo to eagerly slam the glowing red sue button, and I’m not even joking. Anyway: the film opens with a banger where a vet is about to enter Ben’s big cage in the backyard to get his face ripped off. Ouch. And it’s not the first time that has happened. Ooof.

But this is not just a chimp snapping and attacking by pure primal instinct, as it turns out that he has rabies. And how could that be when there’s no such thing in Hawaii? Well, maybe, just maybe there’s some space rabies going on here when we already have a cute n’ snotty, wild alien on the island called Stitch? Whatever. After this brutal opening, we jump back 36 hours earlier, where we meet the college student Lucy, who arrives in Hawaii to reunite with her dad, Adam, her younger sister and, of course, Ben. Lucy has a friend with her, and to enhance the upcoming body count, they meet some other college dudes at the airport who get invited to a house party to “fuck their brains off.“ Alrighty then. As soon as dad Adam goes on to a signing session, the kids have their whole house for themselves for the night while Ben starts rampaging to where that escalated quickly meme is a fitting way to say it.

Primate is co-written with Ernest Riera and directed by Johannes Roberts, who’s made horror films and been on the grind since 2001. He’s most known for 47 Meters Down (2017), 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019), and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021). The last mentioned, despite its flaws and messy script, is the first Resident Evil film that actually felt and looked like a Resident Evil film, as super low as the bar has already been during the past twenty years. Just saying.

On paper, Primate is as basic and formulaic as it can get. Johannes Roberts simply wanted to make a straight-forward 1980s style-slasher where Jason Voorhees was replaced with a killer chimp. Not the most unique idea as we already have Link from 1986. But that’s what you get — an easy, digestible slasher meal with a perfect runtime of 89 minutes and not to be taken too seriously, like most slashers. What makes this one stand out is, of course, the killer chimp himself, who is not CGI, but played by the movement specialist Miguel Torres Umba in the most realistic-looking monkey costume since who knows. Just very impressive stuff which also gives Ben more personality and the more feeling of real threat to our body counts as he chases them around the house. Nothing will ever beat Shakma though. Those poor doors.

Then there’s the gore, or the carnage candy, as the cool kids say, which is all practical, where we have all from ouch!-moments to more slow and ruthless jaw-ripping. Gnarly stuff. Johannes Roberts clearly shows his love for old-school filmmaking with nods to films like John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), spiced with a delicious synth-heavy score by Adrian Johnston, and it all clicks in that regard. A perfect mini banana on the cake would be to include the song Monkey by Harry Belafonte at the end credits. Oh well. The film also looks bright and vibrant, which goes hand in hand with the tropical environment — and if not a stark contrast from the gray and washed-out color palette we usually see in even way bigger budget films nowadays. All that said, the film is nothing new and can come across as super predictable. Still, its technical achievement alone showcases a director who has come a far way since his early bumpy 2000s, and has earned his spot on the radar.

Director: Johannes Roberts
Writers: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera
Country & year: USA, 2025
Actors: Johnny Sequoyah, Jess Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng, Charlie Mann, Tienne Simon, Miguel Torres Umba
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33028778/

Send Help (2026)

Posted on March 27, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Sam Raimi is back (babyyy) with his first horror film in seventeen years. Time flies, and sooner or later we’ll all die and burn in Hell along with Christine Brown. So enjoy life to the fullest while you can — just like the hobby survivalist Linda Liddle that we get the pleasure of meeting over a pouch of tuna in Send Help.

A new horror film by the legend himself, Sam Raimi, is never just any horror film. It’s a rare cultural event where just the announcement itself would make the Earth stop spinning for a moment. But I have to admit that the trailers for Send Help gave me next to nothing. Something felt off, if not missing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that this is the first horror film of Sam where he isn’t credited as screenwriter, nor his brother Ivan. So, instead we have Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, the duo who wrote Freddy vs. Jason (2003), Friday the 13th (2009) and Baywatch (2017). It’s fair to say Uh-oh…

Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) works in an open-office area as a corporate strategist where she’s never been able to fit in. Calling her awkward is an understatement. She’s a socially inept goofy freak who reeks of tuna, looks like a total mess, and talks in a certain way that would get on anyone’s nerve. But she’s at least good at her job. Still, no one hates her as much as her new boss, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), who gives all her credit to Donovan, a Patrick Bateman-ish slimeball. To add insult to injury, Preston gives Donovan the promotion that was promised by her former boss. What a wonderful work environment. There is a reason that her last name rhymes with Little, by how much they think of her.

And yes, Bruce Campbell (Linda’s former boss and Sam Raimi’s longtime friend) has a cameo here, well, kinda — in the form of a wall picture in the background, based on his IMDb profile pic. Better than nothing, I guess.

Bradley invites Linda to join him and some of his team to a business trip to Bangkok. And her involvement seems more of a set-up so Bradley and his buddies can mock and bully her. Yes, Bradley is a complete narcissistic scumbag, if that wasn’t obvious already, and people like Linda is a perfect victim for him to abuse. Then the plane crashes and everyone dies, except for Bradley and Linda who get stranded on a small exotic island somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand. While Bradley never seemed to have set up a campfire or even touched a pinecone, it’s good to know that Linda is an obsessed fan of the competition TV show Survivor, and have learned a few skills. The power dynamic gets suddenly turned upside-down in the most primitive ways possible as Bradley is badly injured and Linda is holding the knife. Who’s laughing now, huh? Cast Away meets Misery, for sure, with some interesting twists and turns where we all root for Linda while we wish the absolute worst for Bradley. Right..? Well…

Send Help was a mild disappointment. Mostly because there’s very little of the raw and unique, frantic Sam Raimi-style to be seen here. He’s way past his Evil Dead days, and someone on the interweb gave it a fitting description by calling it Raimi Lite. The goriest moment the film has to offer is when Linda fights a cartoonish CGI boar that looks more like a scrapped creature-design from The Lion King live-action remake. The CGI is made by Disney, after all. Then we have a foggy and gloomy dream sequence with a quick shoehorned-in ghoulish jumpscare to remind us that Sam Raimi is somewhere in the room. The puke scene made me chuckle though, and “that knife-scene“ was a pretty clever and unsettling one.

But the most disgusting Eeeeew–moment in the entire film, for my part, is the tuna smudge on the corner of Linda’s mouth. For fucks sake, lady, wipe that shit away! I can handle gore all up to the ceiling, as the desensitized ghoul I am, while rolling my eyes of films like Slaughtered Vomit Dolls, but this was too much. Rachel McAdams should’ve worn this food stain on every press interview for the film, just for the lols, and see how long it would take before someone dared to react.

We’re first and foremost talking about a twisted psychological drama/thriller/mindgame where the comedic tone doesn’t always find the balance when the film tries to be more serious. Drag Me to Hell, on the other hand, was a perfect mix, but that film was also written by Sam and his brother. All credits here goes to Rachel McAdams, who runs the whole show with a way more layered performance than you’d expect, while Dylan O’Brien’s character is just a self-centered asshole. The film also goes in a direction where we should feel guilty rooting for Linda, or not. No spoilers here, but trying to make her the villain, all things already considered, felt unnecessary. That said, Send Help is overall an entertaining watch with a fun concept, but not exactly the triumphant return of horror director Sam Raimi I’d hoped for.

Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift
Country & year: USA/Thailand, 2026
Actors: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8036976/

Strange Harvest (2024)

Posted on February 6, 2026March 16, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Mr. Shiny is a serial killer in California’s Inland Empire who has committed several grisly murders during a period of over three decades. What actually happened during these periods are relayed by detectives Joe Kirby and Lexi Taylor during interviews for a documentary about this case. It all started in 1993, when a young woman was found dismembered in the San Bernadino National Forest, and around the same time an elderly man in a retirement facility was bludgeoned and stabbed to death. That wasn’t all, as the third victim was a young boy that has been abducted and later found murdered in a bog, with his liver removed. At the time, these murders didn’t seem to carry any connections at all, but this was just the start of Mr. Shiny’s horrible murder sprees, with seemingly totally random victims and no clear motive at all. As people are interviewed and the detectives continue telling their stories, it becomes clear that Mr. Shiny was indeed a serial killer like no other.

Strange Harvest is a mockumentary horror film from 2024, written, directed, produced and edited by Stuart Ortiz (one of the directors of Grave Encounters from 2011). Ortiz got the idea for this horror mockumentary after seeing how the Netflix miniseries Tiger King got a lot of popularity, and he wanted to make something that had the traditional true crime story elements mixed with inspirations from for example the Zodiac Killer and H.P. Lovecraft. Ortiz went for as much realism as possible in making this look like an actual true crime documentary, and he really nailed it. Aside from small things like how certain photos and scenes of corpses would not have been shown in an actual documentary, it looks very real. The time periods, the old photos, crime scenes, the people interviewed and everything just looks so authentic, to even such small details as those “red eyes“ on 90’s photos. If someone channel-surfing on TV accidentally put this on, I wouldn’t be surprised for a second if they thought they’d put on an actual true crime documentary.

Some of the murder scenes and details are surprisingly gruesome, with such a thick layer of realism over it that it’s hard to not feel at least a little bit disturbed. Mr. Shiny himself is always perfectly mysterious and creepy, wearing a slightly silly mask that kind of looks like a malformed Shy Guy from Super Mario. His motives are for the most part very obscured, and despite getting a few hints throughout he remains a very cryptic villain whose goals can only be guessed at. Even the detectives are at a loss for understanding his whys and wherefores. Is it something Satanic? Is he collecting souls for the devil? Trying to conjure Yog-Sothoth? Does he want to open a portal so the Dark Overlords of the Universe may enter our world? Who knows. We only learn that he truly is a madman who squirms at nothing in order to achieve his goals, whatever they are or whatever he may believe they are. And that makes him even more terrifying, as nothing is more dangerous and horrible than a person who is willing to do the most atrocious acts because of things they believe in. The ending, despite being somewhat ambiguous (did that really happen or was it all just one coincidence after another, mixed in with a crazy man’s beliefs?) I think it fits really well with the rest of the film.

Strange Harvest is a really good mockumentary horror film, and one you definitely should not miss!

Writer and director: Stuart Ortiz
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Peter Zizzo, Terri Apple, Andy Lauer, Matthew Peschio, Allen Marsh, Jessee J. Clarkson
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33400719/

Iron Lung (2026)

Posted on February 3, 2026February 3, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

We’re in the distant future where an incident called the Quiet Rapture has caused all star systems and planets to vanish, leaving only some space stations with a few surviving humans left. An imprisoned man named Simon has been tasked with testing and piloting the SM-13 submarine, which has been nicknamed “Iron Lung“. He needs to explore an ocean of a moon named AT-5, and this is no ordinary ocean: it’s made of blood! With the promise of being freed once he completes this mission, he reluctantly does what he’s told. In the claustrophobic confines of the submarine, Simon can only see outside with a crude camera, and communication is done only through a radio. Once he’s down there in the ocean of blood, the submarine’s detectors indicate that there’s something moving outside. Simon uses the camera and captures what looks to be a skeleton on the ocean floor. The officials want him to capture a sample of it, but it appears that the skeleton is not the only thing at the bottom of the blood ocean. And he also discovers that he’s not the first pilot being sent down there…

Iron Lung is a sci-fi horror film written and directed, and also self-funded, by Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier in his feature directorial debut. It also stars Fischbach himself in the leading role, and it is based on a horror video game from 2022 by the same name which was made by David Szymanski. The development for the film began in the start of 2023, and it was shot at Troublemaker Studios. During the production, Fischbach stated that the film would contain the most fake blood of any horror film thus far, even surpassing 2013 Evil Dead‘s 50,000 US gallons (190,000 L). Iron Lung has 80,000 gallons (300,000 L). Yikes! Fischbach even had to go to hospital during the filming as he’d gotten too much of that fake blood in his eyes (ouch).

When Iron Lung was done and ready for release, it was only supposed to be shown in some independent US theaters. Fischbach encouraged his fans to request the movie from their theaters, and ohhhh boy, did that spread like wildfire! From an initial planned release to only 60 independent US theaters, it ended up being shown in 4,161 theaters internationally. And that’s how we Horror Ghouls also got to see it at the big screen here in Norway on January 30th, all thanks to Markiplier’s dedicated fans!

Now, I’m going to admit a little sin here: I didn’t know who Markiplier/Fischbach was prior to watching this film. I pretty much went in totally blind for this one, other than knowing it was made by a very famous YouTuber and based on a horror game from 2022. And while we are rather often at the big screen, this was probably the busiest opening we’ve experienced since we watched Oppenheimer back in 2023. Sure, it wasn’t as crazy-busy as the Barbenheimer-insanity that went on back then, but it was still the busiest day at the cinema in a long time. In fact, it was so busy that the theater had (for some inexplicable reason) managed to overbook two of the seats, causing an unfortunate couple having to leave. Goddamn… (I really hope those two were compensated for the theater’s big blunder).

Sitting there in the most cramped cinema in a long while, it didn’t take long until I got the feeling of déjà vu once the movie had started. Wait…this looks familiar? And then it clicked: I had seen a walkthrough of that game before. I often watch horror game walkthroughs on YouTube (mostly indie games) and I recognized this one immediately despite that it obviously had buried itself deep within my brain somewhere. Which speaks volumes about how detailed and true to the game the set design here is. This immediately set the mood for me as well, as I knew more or less what to expect from here on. What you get here, is a slow dive (pun intended) into a slow-burn chamber drama lovecraftian sci-fi horror. Much of the horror is of the subtle kind, with an ever-growing feeling of total helplessness and how insignificant humanity is in the scope of bigger, unknown things. Which is basically cosmic horror in a nutshell. Did Fischbach hit the nail on the head with this movie adaptation? My personal opinion of that is definitely a yes. At least it scratched my cosmic horror itch well and good.

Iron Lung is a passion project through and through, and Fischbach is indeed a very decent actor. Which was a must in a chamber drama movie like this, where everything relies mostly on the shoulders of one actor. The set design looks great and exactly like the game as I already mentioned, and the effects used in this film are overall really solid. There is only one issue, and that is the movie’s runtime. It’s just too dang long. I’m not saying that a runtime of 2 hours wouldn’t necessarily work for a movie like this, but it does unfortunately become too repetitive at times and it was hard not to feel that it could have done much better with a shorter runtime. Despite some issues with the pacing and overly long runtime, I thought it managed to keep a creepy atmosphere and dense, claustrophobic vibe throughout. And those 80,000 gallons of blood? Well, they’ve been put to good use in a totally bonkers finale which really amps up everything to a hundred and eleven!

Iron Lung is without a doubt a movie that will be perceived with mixed feelings, as it’s not exactly a mainstream movie by any means. If you liked the game, I think there’s a pretty fair chance you’ll also like this movie. Despite some mixed reception (yes, it’s not a movie for everyone) it’s still been a huge success so far with a box office of $21 million after the opening weekend, against a budget of $3 million. Fischbach/Markiplier has proven that he’s both a good filmmaker and actor, so let’s hope the success will spark some ideas for future films to be made!

Writer and director: Mark Fischbach
Country & year: USA, 2026
Actors: Mark Fischbach, Caroline Kaplan, Troy Baker, Elsie Lovelock, Elle LaMont, Dave Pettitt, Isaac McKee, Asher Wagh, Kazuki Jalal, Alanah Pearce, Seán McLoughlin, David Szymanski
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27564844/

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

Posted on January 27, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

We’re off to Emerald City, I mean the Bone Temple, to meet the Great Wizard, I mean Old Nick, the Great Satan of Oz, I mean UK. Oh, well …

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a direct continuation of the previous one, where Spike (Alfie Williams) has now been captured by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connel) and his small cute gang of Teletubbies, or chavs, for a better term. Welcom’ to Brittn, ya fockin’ cont! As we got more of the impression that Spike got saved by these bizarre individuals, in a quick scene that broke the internet six months ago, we learn that this Jimmy lad recruits young stray broken teens to join his cult-mission to torture and kill people in the name of Old Nick (Satan). Because, like Jimmy says:

— Old Nick released his demons onto the world of man.
And the world of man failed before the demons. —

Jimmy has created his own demented theology to excuse his extreme sociopathic way of life, but to put it plain and simple: his inverted cross that he got from his crazy-priest/preacher dad right before he was killed 28 years ago is not just an innocent rebellious statement. He’s evil through and through and the classic Charles Manson/dictator-type that gleefully watches his members doing the torture and killing work. The Jimmy Saville-looking wigs they wear as a form of a badge, which also matches the hairstyle of their cult-leader, only puts the rotten cherry on top. Yes, his hair is actually not a wig (!)

Against Spike’s will, he has to prove himself to Lord Jimmy in the old British way by a knife-fighting death-combat, against one of the Jimmys. And watching this scene without context, one would assume that this was just some regular youth activities somewhere in Glasgow on a Tuesday evening. Americans have their guns, but you should never, ever underestimate a chav with a sharp knife. Spike hits an artillery that causes a gory mess. Lord Jimmy laughs and grins ear-to-ear. Spike is now a part of the Jimmys and, of course, very reluctant and terrified joins their murderous coming-of-rage odyssey around rural Britain as they invade homes and skin people alive in barns. How they can just walk and dance around like they owned the world while others still walk on minefields, is a fair question to ask. Alfie bonds with one of the two girls in the gang, Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), the only one who has developed empathy and isn’t completely brainwashed.

Then we have our mysterious Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) who lives peacefully alone in his small underground bunker next to his impressive lifeswork, the Bone Temple memorial. Approx 5,500 fake skulls and 150,000 bones were made to construct it. It would be just way too easy to just CGI the whole thing, but big kudos for making it the old school way. Dr. Kelson is still picking up fresh bodies to add to his temple, and has a side-project by observing an alpha zombie which he calls Samson. He’s a giant who rips people’s heads off, Predator-style, and eats brains straight from the skull. Hardcore. Dr. Kelson spits morphine darts to drug him out so he can dig into his subconsciousness and maybe see if there still is any humanity left in him. And good luck with that. Jimmy Crystal spots Kelson at a perfect timing, where he’s all smeared in red’ish lodine as he always is, and having a close interaction with the alpha by the Bone Temple. Because he believes he’s finally found his big idol and his father, Old Nick, and, well…haha, this should be interesting.

I’m not familiar with Nia DaCosta’s directing work prior to this, and I had no idea what to expect from her passing the torch after Danny Boyle. DaCosta does some really heavy lifting here, where it was pretty much already clear by judging the awesome trailers that they didn’t just choose some random work-for-hire director. Her directing approach is more traditional than the experimental style we saw in the previous where we have more dialogue-driven scenes than action. And although I —personally— enjoyed 28 Years Later a bit more, this is a rock-solid entry in the expanding and eccentric world building of the franchise that still keeps its feet on a grounded level. But calling this torture porn is a far stretch. It’s not even close. Yes, there are some gruesome moments here, but the film doesn’t show too much. Thus, I was a little disappointed by the “I don’t have a ticket“-scene, which felt a bit rushed. The effects are all practical though, as far as I noticed, and it’s nice to see stunt actors in real flames, which is a rare sight nowadays. That said, the action is very minimal. The zombies/infected are barely on screen, where the focus primarily lies on the psychological aspects between Jimmy and Old Nick, I mean Dr. Kelson. It’s still the good vs evil where the humans are the real monsters. This is more of an intense thriller/drama with some exploitation-elements.

What makes this franchise still feel fresh in the year of 2026 is much thanks to the unpredictable writing of Alex Garland, and how he explores our primitive instincts. While the action has taken a morphine pill, the tension is stronger than ever. We have a very simple scene where Jimmy meets Old Nick, I mean Dr. Kelson, for the first time, sits and has a chat about life, death, religion and whatnot. It seems harmonic and peaceful at the surface while the sky is almost blue, yet you can feel the electricity where one never knows when all hell will blow up. And then we have the uncanny parallels to The Wizard of Oz, which turns up the smoke and mirrors all up to eleven in a scene that was certainly not on my bingo card. Pure post-apocalyptic Mad Max-level insanity. It’s pretty amazing how this particular scene just perfectly fits right in when on paper it shouldn’t. But there you have the genius writing of Garland. Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connel are the stars here, and they’re both intimidating in their own ways. While Fiennes is the veteran he is, who can just speak with body language and facial expressions, I hope O’Connel gets more great villain roles. We saw him last year as the Irish lead vampire in Sinners, and also as one of the sadistic kids in Eden Lake way back in 2008.

While the film in isolation has been a flop, the previous have earned well over its budget for both. And this being a middle-chapter of a trilogy, I surely hope we get the final piece as we still have the incomplete arc of Spike to fill. What happened to Spike’s dad is also an open question. Is he out in the wild and searching for him? What’s next for Samson? Are 28 Weeks Later (2007) completely retcon? Will Brittan ever be Great again? Who knows.

Until next time: Memento Mori.

Director: Nia DaCosta
Writer: Alex Garland
Country & year: UK/USA/Canada, 2026
Actors: Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Ralph Fiennes Connor Newall, Erin Kellyman, Maura Bird, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Robert Rhodes, Emma Laird, Sam Locke, Gareth Locke, Chi Lewis-Parry
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32141377/

Prequels:
– 28 Years Later (2025)
– 28 Weeks Later (2007)
– 28 Days Later (2002)

Shelby Oaks (2024)

Posted on January 23, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

The Paranormal Paranoids are a group of paranormal investigator YouTubers who consists of the following members: Riley Brennan, Laura Tucker, David Reynolds, and Peter Bailey. After they decide to investigate the ghost town of Shelby Oaks, they end up missing and lots of people believe it’s some kind of publicity stunt. Well…not so much. All of them are eventually found dead, with the exception of Riley, whose last moments being seen alive is from a recovered camera which shows footage of her in a terrified state. Of what or whom she’s afraid, we don’t know (yet). Fast forward to twelve years later, Mia (Riley’s older sister) still hasn’t given up hope. She is interviewed for a documentary, where she also talks about how Riley suffered from night terrors as a child, and believed something was watching her.

After the documentary crew packs up and leave, Mia suddenly gets a stranger at the door. The only thing this man says is “she finally let me go“ before using a gun to blow his own brains out. This guy carried with him a mini-DV tape simply labeled Shelby Oaks (ooohhh…a clue!) and Mia decides to watch it. Not surprisingly, the tape reveals more of Riley’s moments prior to her disappearance, with some new locations to mark on Mia’s quest map, including an abandoned prison. Mia is determined to finally solve the mystery of her sister’s disappearance, and starts searching for more clues.

Shelby Oaks is a supernatural horror film from 2025, written and directed by Chris Stuckmann in his feature directorial debut. The start of it all began in early 2021, when Stuckmann released an early guerilla marketing campaign in the from of an online alternate reality video series which was named The Paranormal Paranoids, and it was published on a YouTube channel called JesstheParanoid. The channel featured several found-footage videos by this so-called paranormal research team who, we learn, allegedly went missing when investigating a ghost town named Shelby Oaks. It gained a certain interest online, where some people even believed the videos to be real. The Kickstarter for the film began on March 1, 2022, and already on March 21 it had gotten the most-funded horror film project on Kickstarter after raising $650.000. It ended up with approx. $1.4 million from 14,720 backers, which is kind of insanely good considering the goal had only been $250.000!

While all of this sounds like nothing but peaches and sunshine, it most certainly didn’t proceed that way. Now, I have to admit I didn’t know about Chris Stuckmann prior to finding out about this movie, and that was after the Kickstarter campaign had ended…I won’t delve into all I’ve read about this, but from what I have gathered things started going a bit sour amongst the fans and backers after several delays, and many fans were disappointed with the change in Chris Stuckmann’s YouTube Channel. He’s become a rather famous YouTuber for reviewing movies, raising his popularity especially through his “Hilariocity videos“, but after going further into his film-making career he decided to stop critiquing movies…which was a big disappointment to many of his followers. In 2024 it was revealed that Mike Flanagan got onboard as executive producer, and the movie was bought by Neon which gave it some reshoots, and eventually the movie got a theatrical release in October 2025 (not here in Norway though, it wasn’t available on streaming here until 30th December).

There’s no doubt that a lot of people had high hopes for this film. Maybe that’s to be expected, when it’s coming from a movie reviewer who seemed to be well aware of many of the tired and worn-out mistakes that a lot of horror movies could have easily avoided. Well…when viewing Shelby Oaks, it becomes apparent that there are many inspirations here. I could easily spot the influence from Lake Mungo and The Blair Witch Project for example. The performance from the lead actor who’s playing Mia (Camille Sullivan, also known from Hunter Hunter) carries a lot of the movie on her shoulders and she does well with what she’s got. While her performance is pretty good, there are some issues regarding her character which is by no means her fault, but rather that of the script. Like how she, for some inexplicable reason, stays covered in blood from the man who shot himself at her doorstep. She doesn’t even bother to wash it off even hours after it happened, and proceeds to watch the video tape instead while her husband apparently doesn’t give a shit about anything. Yeah, I know the husband is supposed to be kind of distanced from her and tired of her obsession with Riley’s disappearance and all, but essentially he’s nothing but a non-supportive character with no real function…Mia could as well have imagined his presence. She is also consistently going on what are obviously dangerous missions, like exploring an abandoned prison at night without even telling her husband or anyone else about it. There’s just something about both Mia, her husband and the characters overall that takes away from the realism, and that’s ruining a bit of what is supposed to be a very serious narrative. But hey…maybe I’m just overtly nitpicking here. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t already got a fair share of insanely stupid decisions made in horror movies by all kinds of characters…

For the most part Shelby Oaks looks decent enough, and there’s obviously some competence in the cinematography department, but unfortunately it never manages to elevate some of the scenes to a very effective level. Like in the abandoned prison, which is supposed to be a very creepy and atmospheric setup but ultimately felt kind of flat. The found-footage and mockumentary scenes work well enough though, and I didn’t mind the transition from mockumentary to traditional film. I just kind of missed actually feeling the dread or unease the movie obviously tried to go for. That being said: if anything, I have to say that I loved the old, rotten mold-house we get to see later in the film. The black mold creeping up the walls and festering all over the place makes you feel like it could’ve been some kind of instant-death location, and I really loved the ominous vibe of that place. There are some glimpses here and there where it’s like there’s a much better film just hiding beneath the surface, and the mold-house with the old lady is certainly one of those moments.

Shelby Oaks is, without a doubt, a movie that carries a lot of inspirations from (arguably better) movies on its sleeve. But it is by no means an awful movie or one without any redeeming qualities, despite coming off as quite generic. There are some scenes that carries a lot of atmosphere, the performances overall are pretty good, and visually it’s pretty fine. And while it was not what a lot of people expected from Stuckmann, I think it’s okay as a feature debut.

Writer and director: Chris Stuckmann
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Sarah Durn, Camille Sullivan, Sloane Burkett, Brenna Sherman, Caisey Cole, Anthony Baldasare, Eric Francis Melaragni, Lauren Ashley Berry, Brendan Sexton III, Charlie Talbert, Robin Bartlett, Keith David
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt14999684/

The Vourdalak (2023)

Posted on December 30, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

We are in the 18th century, somewhere in Eastern Europe. Jacques Saturnin du Antoine is a French Marquis who is wandering through the woods after having lost his horse and companions after a robbery. He tries to seek shelter at the first house he sees, but the man there advises him that he should go to the house of a man named Gorcha. When arriving there, he finds that this man has left in order to fight and exact revenge upon the Turks. His family recounts that after leaving, he made it very clear that if he does not return within six days, it would be because he’d died fighting. And if he would, indeed, return after those six days has passed, they should not under any circumstances let him in, as he would then have become a “vourdalak“. Gorcha’s son, Jegor, scoffs of such superstition and is eagerly awaiting his father’s return, making Jacques having to wait until the next day before he can get him a horse. In the meantime, Jacques very soon finds himself seduced by Gorcha’s unmarried daughter Sdenka.

Then, later that evening, six days have now passed since Gorcha left. And that’s when he is suddenly spotted lying like a mummified corpse at the edge of the forest. For all means and purposes, he literally looks like the dead husk of a man…but then he starts speaking after being placed at the dinner table. He throws the severed head of the Turks’ leader on the table, telling everyone that he finally murdered him and was able to fulfill his quest. Alright, all’s good and well then, right? Let’s enjoy some food and celebrate! Except…Jacques, of course, sits by the table in both shock and horror. This thing that is Gorcha, head of this family, looks like a living corpse, and Jegor seems to be the only one who can’t see how messed up it all is. Even the dog can’t stop barking (ensuing the poor doggie’s fate, of course). As if the appearance of Gorcha wasn’t terrifying enough, the incidents of the night and following day makes it evident that they should have heeded Gorcha’s warnings before he left.

The Vourdalak (original title: Le Vourdalak) is a French drama-horror film from 2023, shot on Super 16mm, directed by Adrien Beau in his feature film debut. It was co-written with Hadrien Bouvier, and based on an 1830 novella called The Family of the Vourdalak by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy. The movie explores some less traditional vampire lore, specifically that of the creatures called “Vourdalaks“, which are very alike vampires in many ways but differs in how it chooses its victims. While the traditional vampires would target anyone they could get their fangs on, the Vourdalak only preyed upon the people it once loved and cared for. It that sense, I think it makes the Vourdalak even more terrifying than the regular vampire…

Now, let’s talk a little about the actual Vourdalak in this movie…and I seriously was not prepared for this, but it’s actually a life-sized puppet. Yes, a puppet…not an actor in make-up or CGI, but a good old-fashioned puppet. It was so incredibly odd and fascinating to watch, so clearly not alive yet so incredibly animated and lively, being almost mockingly jolly despite its gaunt hideousness. And I totally loved it! There’s such a creepy-cute ghoulishness to it, and of course no ghoul at heart can resist such a thing. We both laughed at and admired its quirkiness!

There is a certain fantasy-nightmare-vibe throughout the movie, where our noble Frenchman wanders around a misty and gloomy forest and an even more gloomy and dark house. His character is a bit of an oddball too, reminding me a little bit of Ichabod Crane. He’s really not in his right element here, where the family of Gorcha are all hard-working peasants toiling away all day, whereas he is all dolled up and looks like he’s not good for much else than powdering his face and doing a dance. Oh, and just like in any of those “people are killed left and right and the heroine is being chased by a monster, but her makeup always stays flawless“ kind of movies, Jacques is certainly fitting well into this trope! His makeup stays fine all the time like he’s got the best setting spray ever. Now, if that sounds wonderful to you, just keep in mind that the cosmetics the French aristocracy used in the 17th and 18th century in order to achieve the pale complexion was one of the most historically dangerous, where common toxic ingredients included mercury and lead…makes your skin itch just thinking about it. Poor Jacques was not only in danger from a vampiric creature, but also from his powder box.

The movie does have a lot of atmosphere, and never ceases to have some kind of beauty hidden within each frame of dark melancholy. The 16mm also helps on giving the film the slightly grainy, gauzy look, perfectly enhancing the mood. Overall, The Vourdalak is a vampire folk horror movie with a different set of fangs, but no less of a bite. The puppetry and practical effects gives the movie an odd and old-fashioned flair which suits the tone so well.

The Vourdalak is available on several streaming sites, and on Blu-Ray and DVD from Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Director: Adrien Beau
Writers: Adrien Beau, Hadrien Bouvier
Original title: Le Vourdalak
Country & year: France, 2023
Actors: Kacey Mottet Klein, Ariane Labed, Grégoire Colin, Vassili Schneider, Claire Duburcq, Gabriel Pavie, Erwan Ribard, Adrien Beau
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt28313478/

Moon Garden (2022)

Posted on December 26, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Emma is a little girl who lives with her parents, who are always arguing. Her mother tries to sneak Emma out of the house during the night, but their father stops them before leaving. Emma gets so distraught over their constant fighting, that she runs away and falls down the stairs. Luckily she doesn’t die from the fall, but she ends up in a coma and is trapped in a strange world. She can her hear mother speaking and singing to her in the hospital bed, and sometimes experience memories and the odd crossover moments, but she can’t find out how to wake up. Traveling through a surrealistic steampunk world she encounters both friends and foes, and is chased by a creature simply called Teeth, who feeds on her tears and seems to be hellbent on stopping her from leaving.

Moon Garden is a dark fantasy horror film from 2022, written and directed by Ryan Stevens Harris. It stars his young daughter Haven Lee Harris as Emma. And from the very early start of the movie, it’s easy to see that this is very much a passion project, filled with so much creativity and whimsical playfulness in what is obviously an allegorical take on childhood trauma. And holy moley, is this movie filled to the absolute brim with awesome practical effects, sometimes reminding me a bit of Phil Tippet’s Mad God and the dark fantasy vibes of Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. There’s so much creativity here, from the elaborate set designs, makeup effects, monster prosthetics and so on. There’s a mix of miniature usage, puppetry, and stop motion. CGI has been avoided to give the movie a better vintage-looking feel, and to be honest, if I hadn’t known beforehand that this is a movie from 2022, I wouldn’t have doubted even for a second if someone told me that it was a movie from the ’80’s. It was also intentionally shot on some old expired 35mm film which enhances the retro feel to the maximum. Visually, and creatively, I totally fell in love with it!

While the horror elements are somewhat subdued, as the movie relies more on the Alice in Wonderland-esque strangeness of a surreal world, they are quite effective when they first appear. It’s not just a fanciful adventure for the little girl, she does encounter some terrifying creatures and experiences. Emma (played by Haven Lee Harris, the director’s daughter) gives a surprisingly solid performance where I honestly wondered if she were genuinely terrified at times. Or at least a bit pissed about what her father was putting her through…there are a few scenes where she’s having this defiant bottom-lip pout expression, almost like she’s silently telling her father “you owe me a pony after this!“, but overall I think she looks back on the whole experience as a really fun one, though, as it also looked like she was having the time of her life.

While the movie includes many strange characters and creatures, my favorite by far is Teeth, the villain who tries to stop Emma from leaving and also feeds on her tears. Wearing a tophat and a long black coat, his face is nothing but a black hole in which he’s got a set of constantly clacking teeth (hence the name). Just like the wind-up teeth toys, just done in a horror fashion. He’s both a creative villain and also a nightmarish one, perfect in a dark fantasy film.

Moon Garden is a surreal, heartfelt and utterly strange and visual treat for those who love something a bit different. While I can’t say I have seen something very similar to this movie, I did get a little bit of the same vibe as from Mad God (2021) and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) as I earlier mentioned, but I could also feel a little bit of a Paperhouse (1988) flavor here, and of course many of the Alice in Wonderland adaptations. The movie is a beautiful surrealistic experience, one that requires a certain taste for the fever-dreamish vibe of the more fantasy-themed arthouse films.

Moon Garden is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Oscilloscope Laboratories, and is available on several streaming sites, including Tubi.

Writer and director: Ryan Stevens Harris
Country & year: USA, 2022
Actors: Augie Duke, Brionne Davis, Haven Lee Harris, Morgana Ignis, Maria Olsen, Timothy Lee DePriest, Phillip E. Walker, Angelica Ulloa, Téa Mckay, Joel Pelletier, Wolfgang Meyer
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18561446/

There’s Something in the Barn (2023)

Posted on December 23, 2025December 23, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Bill is a family man who is about to fulfill the dream of his life: moving back to his ancestral family farm in Gudbrandsdalen in Norway. The problem is: he’s pretty much the only one who is very, very excited about this. The teenage daughter Nora feels like her life has fallen apart when being dragged from sunny California and over to cold desolated Norway. Carol, the stepmother, tries to keep an optimistic tone with her life coach visions, but it becomes apparent that she really struggles with keeping the smiles up for Bill’s sake. Lucas, the youngest son, tries to be more enthusiastic though. When exploring their new home and the surrounding area, he discovers something fantastic: there’s something in the barn! It’s a good ol’ classic “fjøsnisse“ as we call them here in Norway, or what a local man tells Lucas is a “barn elf“. These humanoid creatures comes with a set of rules: they hate modern changes, loud noises, and bright lights (feeding them after midnight is okay though, they aren’t gremlins). If you ignore those rules, there will be some horrible consequences, because you really, really do not want to make the barn elf angry!

There’s Something in the Barn is a Norwegian comedy horror film from 2023, directed by Magnus Martens and written by Aleksander Kirkwood Brown.

This is a movie that’s mixed with Norwegian folklore, combined with some comedic elements regarding some of our cultural oddities. And with a good dose of that bad English, of course. That cheesy, broken sing-song English that is the common Norwegian accent! (God, whenever I travel abroad I hate hearing my own voice when I speak English). And most of the Norwegian characters in this movie plays this up a bit, especially Henriette Steenstrup who plays the sheriff, and Calle Hellevang Larsen who plays the local barn-elf expert. And speaking of these so-called “barn elves“: this creature stems from very old Norwegian folklore predating the Christian times. Most of the original lore regarding these creatures have been included in the movie, like how they will become quite mischievous if you do not treat them well, however it was originally mostly enough to give them a big bowl of porridge and they’d be satisfied. They were never known for becoming dangerous, though. If dissatisfied with you, they were believed to do things like making noises to bother you, or let the animals in the barn out during the night. Otherwise, they were generally goodhearted and watched over the farm animals, and were especially friendly with the barn cat which most farmers would have to keep away rodents. However, since the filmmakers were making a gremlins-like horror movie, they did of course have to make the barn elves quite mean, with the exception of the “main“ elf which I guess is like the Gizmo of the movie. And yes, there’s no doubt that there’s a lot of inspiration from, and a homage to, the classic 1984 movie Gremlins which is also a holidays-themed movie.

Much of the humour is aimed at the total cultural differences between Norwegians and Americans, where especially the family father is trying his best to adapt. Both “sides“ are purposefully caricatured, and while I’m certain that there are a lot of the Norwegian references that won’t be properly understood when viewed by those abroad, the humour is still straightforward enough even for those who doesn’t know the slightest about Norway or Norwegian culture. The movie explains some of the things gradually through the eyes of the Americans who just moved there, so we see everything through their experience, and often through the experiences of the boy Lucas who first sees the barn elf. Despite Lucas trying to warn his family (no one believes him, of course) they piss the creature off by breaking the rules one by one. What a shocker. First of all, it’s the “bright lights“ rule when they put up all their Christmas holiday decorations, full-on American style (which means a lot of decorations). Then, in order to get to know their Norwegian neighbours better, they also decide to redecorate the barn and throw a party in there, because who knew: they only way to get a Norwegian out of their cold, hard shell is to get them shitfaced on alcohol! And yes, that’s a little bit too true, and as someone who doesn’t drink alcohol I’ve been frowned upon more than once for this choice, it’s like committing a total blasphemy around here. Well, anyway. All rules have been broken, and the barn elf is now majorly pissed off! There’s only one way to appease him…bringing him a big bowl of porridge. So Lucas, as the goodhearted boy he is, makes some and puts it in the fridge to serve the angry nissemann later…only to discover it has gotten eaten by his father. The only thing Lucas can give the barn elf now are the leftovers from a botched “Norwegian dinner“ attempt from earlier that day: the dish Lutefisk. Which, of course, breaks the final straw for the poor little barn elf and makes all hell break loose. Believe me, you’d be pissed too.

From here on, the movie takes a turn from a rather cozy one to bringing in the horror elements, where we get some kill counts and a bunch of violent and mean barn elves running around and wreaking havoc. It’s still too charming and fun to be scary in any kind of way with the goofy antics of the creatures, including them getting drunk after smashing the living room and having the family trapped in the upstairs bedroom. In between, we do get a little bit of forced family drama just to pack it in with some kind of “rediscovering togetherness during the holidays“ message, but it’s also slightly mocking this cliché a bit. While it’s a little sugar-coatey at times with the family dynamics, it kinda works in a premise like this. Never hated any of the characters, although I did root for the barn elves of course.

Visually, the cinematography offers up the beauty of a snowy winterlandscape, and it is jam-packed with Christmas vibes! Despite being a movie that’s featuring some very typical Norwegian scenery, it’s informed in the film’s trivia that half of it was shot on stages in Lithuania. There was also a limited snowfall during the shooting (so there goes that illusion of how Norway is always fully packed with snow) so they had to bring in snow by truckloads in order to accomplish the vision they needed.

Overall, There’s Something in the Barn is a fun gateway horror movie with a good amount of holiday charm. And as can be expected from such a goofy, lighthearted horror movie, it all ends on a good note despite all the mayhem. And it becomes good to be a nissemann, after all.

Happy Holidays and God Jul! Now remember to put out that bowl of porridge (julegrøt) for the nisse with a good portion of butter in the middle and some cinnamon spread atop! Just don’t serve him any Lutefisk…or you know what will happen.

Director: Magnus Martens
Writers: Aleksander Kirkwood Brown, Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout
Country & year: Norway, 2023
Actors: Martin Starr, Amrita Acharia, Kiran Shah, Townes Bunner, Zoe Winther-Hansen, Calle Hellevang Larsen, Henriette Steenstrup, Jeppe Beck Laursen, Eldar Vågan and a horde of angry barn elfs
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23060796/