horror movie review – Horror Ghouls

28 Days Later (2002)

Posted on June 17, 2025June 17, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

This British and relatively low-budget zombie film was a hUUUUUUge success when it came back in 2002 and is today, 23 Years Later, regarded as one of the big, fat zombie classics that more or less reinvented the whole zombie sub-genre after a decade of almost overdosing on Zoloft. Strong British tea seemed to do the trick. Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland were actually surprised over the giant success of the film, especially how it blew up in the US. They were just making a small zombie film, after all, with (at the time) no-name actors. A classic case of lightning in a bottle, I guess. It gave the genre the same resurgence as Scream did for slashers in the 90’s and opened the doors for George Romero to finally make his first zombie film under a Hollywood studio with Land of the Dead. And, of course, we have another British classic, that is Shaun of the Dead, and tons of other shitty zombie films that got sharted out at full speed in step with the shark films during the early 2000s (and still going strong). We Norwegians finally got our first zombie fest with Dead Snow plus an even better sequel, and I’m still hoping for a third one.

Then came the mega-hit TV show The Walking Dead and the whole planet was in full-blown zombie mania. It was a fun ride as long as it lasted, until the show fell completely on its arse, and we were forced to forgive Negan. B o l l o c k s. I digress.

A group of activists break into a lab to save some monkeys used in experiments. And these monkeys are not to be messed with as they’ve been injected with this so-called rage virus. As soon as they release the monkeys, they get attacked, bitten and turned into zombies within seconds. Sorry, I meant “infested“, as this virus turns them into red-eyed flesh-eaters with a non-stop rage psychosis that also gives them the skill-upgrade to run like Tom Cruise. What a great combination. And no, this rage virus wasn’t coughed out from some shady lab in China, but at Cambridge University. Yes, in Cambridge, England, of all places. God save the Queen. Then we skip to some days later, 28, to be precise, where sheriff Mick Graves wakes up in a hospital… uhm, sorry, wrong universe. The first issue of the comic book series The Walking Dead was released one year after the release of this film, by the way. A young lad named Jim (played by an unknown Cillian Murphy) wakes up in a hospital bed after being in a coma, to quickly discover that he’s the only one in the building. It’s eerie, quiet and a bit spooky. What the hell happened. Is he the Last Man on Earth? Huh…

From here on, we follow the footsteps of a confused, hazy and disoriented Jim as he walks into a deserted London, like an open-world game where all the NPCs have been glitched away. Then we have the classic scene which the film is most known for where he walks through an empty and trash-filled London Bridge with Big Ben in the background with not a single soul to spot. This scene was shot very early in the morning, a hangover Sunday morning I’d guess, where they had to shoot in a big hurry before a car would enter the frame. Jim enters a church filled with bodies where he has his first encounter with “the infected“, among them a creepy priest. Athletes were used as the running zombies. Makes sense, but I find it a bit funny at the same time, since Britain has its fair share of obesity. Although jabbas have their physical limitations, they sure can be angry too. Anyway – he manages to get away, and pays his mum and dad a visit, which he finds in their bed, rotting away after committing suicide during the outbreak. A horrific sight where you actually can smell it. This scene made me think of the poor guy in Dying Light who shot himself in front of a photo of his cat. Jim eventually meets some other survivors, the young chick Selena (Naomie Harris), Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and her younger daughter Hannah (Megan Burns). With Frank’s car, they join forces, looting a grocery store before escaping London and driving to Manchester. And instead of a nice sunrise on the horizon, they only see a city in flames. More shit and bumps in the road (to say it mildly) happens, but then they meet the military. Thank goodness! Finally safe. Oh, well…

So the big question is: does the film still hold up? Has it survived (no pun intended) the test of time and all that? I recently rewatched this, and the sequel, 28 Weeks Later, for the first time in two decades, and I’d say yeah. That is much thanks to the grounded story and the rock-solid acting by everyone involved. 28 Days Later focuses way more on the fight-or-flight mode and getting the hell out of the big city and hoping for the best, rather than action and gore and collecting skill points. There are gory moments here, but that aspect is not the main focus. The first two acts of the film is more of an escape journey where we get more of a sense of the apocalyptic surroundings and the overall grimy atmosphere of sheer hopelessness as they stumble from A to B… and eventually to C. They have a terrifying moment in a tunnel where they have to change a tire while we hear the infected screaming in the distance as they come closer and closer. Then we see their running shadows, and it’s time to change that damn tire! A simple but very effective scene. It all builds up to a more intense and action-packed third act where we see some clear parallels to George Romero’s films, and, of course, to mention The Walking Dead for the third time, where humans are as much a threat as the zombies/infected, and how we flush all forms of basic moral sense in the toilet as the society collapses.

Without spoiling, Cillian Murphy gradually reaches the breaking point and goes in full shirtless Rambo mode, Ramboheimer, if you will. The deeper meaning behind his mental development is obvious where the last thirty minutes or so could as well be something from a war film. Makes more sense now in the wake of Alex Garland’s last two films, Civil War (2024) and this year’s Warfare. The subject of war is clearly his thing. Garland and Boyle were clearly on the same page here as they took a lot of ideas from real events to put in the script to not just make it as another zombie film. The Rwanda and Sierra Leone war were some of the inspirations for the piling bodies in the church. The rage virus was inspired by the scares of anthrax (not the band), bio-terrorism and the spread of mad cow disease in the 1980’s. So yeah, 28 Days Later has aged pretty well – because humans will always be humans, for the better, but mostly for the much, much worse. The soundtrack is also outstanding, where the tunes of In the House, in a Heartbeat by John Murphy capture the eerie emptiness, the sadness and the overall bleak atmosphere perfectly.

The one and only gripe I have here, is that damn low-resolution image quality. And I’m not the only one. The answer is short and simple: 28 Days Later is one of the very first films that was shot digitally, with a Canon XL1, which doesn’t allow it to be remastered to 4K. That’s why the film has the overall image quality like an old YouTube video from 2007, and also why the Blu-ray looks the same as the DVD. Director Danny Boyle wanted to give the film a more gritty and authentic look, aside from being shot like a documentary. Sometimes it works, but for the most part it just looks outdated. Bummer, but it is what it is, so… Still a solid film though.

The film is reviewed from the Norwegian streaming site Viaplay, after our 20 plus years old DVD crashed.

Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Alex Garland
Country & year: UK, 2002
Actors: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Luke Mably, Stuart McQuarrie, Ricci Harnett, Leo Bill, Junior Laniyan, Ray Panthaki, Christopher Eccleston, Toby Sedgwick
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289043/

Arcadian (2024)

Posted on June 13, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

A man named Paul (Nicolas Cage) is scavenging a storehouse for supplies while fleeing from something. We then see what appears to be an apocalyptic event with explosions and sirens and full pandemonium. Paul seeks refuge, and we see he’s cradling two infants, telling them that “everything will be okay“. Yeah, sure it will…

Fifteen years later, most of the population has been wiped out and civilization is just a faraway memory. For Paul’s twin sons, Joseph and Thomas, the world from before is nothing but a story from a time they have no memory of whatsoever. Maybe that’s for the best, though. They now live in a derelict farmhouse, but trying to get by in this apocalyptic world would’ve been a lot easier if it wasn’t for the monsters roaming the night. As soon as the sun sets, they must take shelter inside their home to avoid them. Thomas is often late as he’s spending a lot of time in the nearby farm of the Rose family, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as it’s the only place where there’s a girl around his age. One day, Joseph reveals that he’s been working on restoring an off-road utility buggy, and Paul teaches him how to drive it. Paul then sends both sons out to salvage some stuff, but on their way Thomas leaves his brother to head over to the Rose farm. As expected, things then don’t go well and both Paul and his sons end up getting a too close encounter to the creatures that come at night.

Arcadian is a post apocalyptic horror film from 2024, directed by Benjamin Brewer and written by Michael Nilon. Is stars Nicolas Cage as Paul, the father, but just a heads up: this is not one of those “cage-rage“ movies, and he’s not the lead either despite that most movie posters make it seem like he’s got a far more significant role than the actually has. This is a movie where the two sons have the major roles, as we follow their struggles in a world where there’s hardly any survivors, and the nights have been seized by monsters who seem hell-bent on destroying the few remaining pieces of humanity. Good thing those monsters fear the light, and can only walk around in the dark.

The highlight in the movie is actually the monsters. While this is by no means any scary movie, the first introduction to these creatures includes a scene that is actually creepy as hell. I’ve never seen a scene with an arm offer such a solid dose of nightmare fuel! The rest of their designs are almost disorienting at first, making you wonder what the fuck you’re actually looking at. They also have some pretty weird mannerism, like excessive teeth chattering. They’re chaotic, nonsensical, and slightly goofy, and all of that combined gives the movie the necessary personal flair. This is exactly what this movie needed, because otherwise there isn’t really much to offer. The story is very minimal, and there’s not much character depth either. The monsters are by far the most entertaining thing here, and their freakish depiction is what makes it work.

Overall, Arcadian is a nice little post apocalyptic movie with some really cool monsters. Nothing spectacular, but fine popcorn-entertainment.

Director: Benjamin Brewer
Writer: Mike Nilon
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins, Maxwell Jenkins, Sadie Soverall, Samantha Coughlan, Joe Dixon, Joel Gillman
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22939186/

Jug Face (2013)

Posted on June 10, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Ada is a young woman who lives in an isolated backwoods community. Aside from selling their homemade moonshine in the nearest town, this community worships a pit that is said to have healing powers. The catch? The pit demands a sacrifice every now and then, because all good things requires a certain price to pay. One of the community members, a man named Dwight, gets visions of the next sacrifice and creates “jug faces“ from clay. The face on the latest jug must then be sacrificed to the entity that lives in the pit. Ada, visiting Dwight one day, notices his latest creation. Guess whose face is portrayed on it? Yup, it’s hers, of course. Terrified, she decides to hide the jug away. What then happens is a chain reaction of horrible events: she is arranged to marry a boy named Bodey, but Ada is already pregnant with her beloved brother’s child (yes, really). This is something she must try to keep a secret, but the worries don’t stop there. Ada is having a vision where she witnesses the death of Bodey’s sister, killed by the angered entity who didn’t get the sacrifice it wanted. Ada tries everything she can to escape both the community and the entity’s wrath, only to cause even more death.

Jug Face is a supernatural folk horror film from 2013, written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle. The jug faces in the movie was made by potter and sculptor Jason Mahlke, who designed them specifically for the film. And they certainly work in the movie’s favor, as they look like something that could be sold at an estate sale and later winding up in The Warren Occult Museum.

Many folk horror movies often deal with protagonists coming to visit certain isolated villages or communities, while this one tells a story solely from inside the community itself. They have lived for a long time with certain traditions, with the pit giving them protection from disease and also offering healing properties. What’s an occasional human sacrifice every now and then, right? And in order to make everything feel more justified, they let the entity pick the chosen one. And of course, like in the majority of all communities: you can’t really escape it.

Jug Face is definitely not a movie for the more casual horror audience. This backwoods folk horror movie delves into themes like incest, graphic depictions of having the period, and a miscarriage just to put the nasty cherry on top. There’s some gore during the killings, but not anything over the top, and most of it looks like leftovers from the local butchery (perhaps it even was, who knows). There’s still an unsettling atmosphere throughout, mixed with Ada’s isolation and lack of any easy escape route.

Jug Face is a pretty solid entry into the more bizarre hillbilly folk horror genre. A small-scale hicksploitation film that offers an interesting premise, and plays it along surprisingly straight-forward. Well worth a watch if you want something a little folkish, strange, and a little bit disgusting.

Writer and director: Chad Crawford Kinkle
Country & year: USA, 2013
Actors: Sean Bridgers, Lauren Ashley Carter, Kaitlin Cullum, Larry Fessenden, Katie Groshong, Scott Hodges, Daniel Manche, Alex Maizus, Chip Ramsey, Jennifer Spriggs
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2620736/

Hatching (2022)

Posted on June 3, 2025June 4, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Tinja is a 12 year old girl who lives in what appears to be the “perfect“ family. Her mother is an influencer, making videos so she can display their wonderful family to the world. Look, how happy we are! We’re the picture perfect family where every day is a delight! Pfft, yeah, right. Underneath the glossy facade hides a family dynamic that’s more toxic than a snake’s venom. The influencer-mom is obsessed with the image of her family, putting a ton of pressure on Tinja because she wants her to succeed in her gymnastics practices. The stepford-husband dad acts like he’s lost his pair, and in between it all is also Tinja’s younger brother who appears to be desperate for his mother’s love and attention, often failing to reach her since all she focuses her energy on is making cringeworthy instagram videos and making Tinja succeed. Oh, and the handyman Tero whom she’s having an affair with. Perfect family indeed.

One day, a crow flies into the family house and causes quite a stir and breaking things. Tinja wants to take it outside, but her mother snaps the bird’s neck after capturing it and instructs Tinja to expose of it in the trash. Later, Tinja walks in the woods and finds that the dying crow has somehow gotten away from the trash can and towards its nest in the woods. There’s no way to save it, so she euthanises it with a stone and takes the orphaned egg back home with her. From it, something hatches which will change Tinja and her family’s lives forever.

Hatching (original title: Pahanhautoja, which translates to “Evil Graves“ or “Graves of Evil“) is a bizarre psychological Finnish horror film directed by Hanna Bergholm, and written by Ilja Rautsi. The movie is pretty much a metaphor film, and this isn’t a spoiler as it becomes obvious early on. The egg, which keeps growing in Tinja’s room, represents her growing repressed emotions which later hatches into a bird-like creature she calls “Alli“. The creature in the film was portrayed by an animatronic puppet created by Gustav Hoegen and his team. There are several stages of the creature’s form, so later on it is played by different performers, with special effects make-up by Conor O’Sullivan. And the creature actually looks pretty good! It’s having a certain uncanny yet cute form from the start, but it gradually transforms into something more gross.

What drives the movie up some notches is also the performances by the actors, especially the child actor who plays Tinja, Siiri Solalinna (who hasn’t played in any other film than this one). The underlying tension between the characters, especially between Tinja and her mother, makes everything a lot more convincing. The family dynamics, despite being obviously toxic, isn’t one of those “screaming, slamming doors, breaking things, punching and kicking each other“ type of violent home which many seem to believe is the only harmful environment children can grow up in. This is a family who appears to be perfect on so many levels, but is too broken to provide their children the necessary care and healthy upbringing. Tinja is at the brink of total collapse due to her mother’s obsessions, her father is a spineless enabler, and her younger brother is caught in the crossfire and well on the way to develop his own behavioral issues. The believable characters makes the metaphors kick harder, and the monster, of course, ends up as the most sympathetic character.

Overall, Hatching is a strange little Finnish gem which tackles the theme of toxic families and being under too much pressure in order to live up to the expectations of your own parents. The creature feature and body horror elements work both as metaphors but also by adding a certain fairytale-like element to the story. Like one of those dark, twisted fables. Definitely worth a watch if you like something a little bizarre! But, just a heads up: Tinja feeds Alli the same way that mother birds do, and yeah…ew, it gets gross sometimes.

Director: Hanna Bergholm
Writers: Hanna Bergholm, Ilja Rautsi
Original title: Pahanhautoja
Country & year: Finland/Sweden/Norway/Belgium, 2022
Actors: Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, Jani Volanen, Reino Nordin, Oiva Ollila, Ida Määttänen, Saija Lentonen, Stella Leppikorpi, Hertta Nieminen, Aada Punakivi, Hertta Karén, Jonna Aaltonen
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12519030/

Companion (2025)

Posted on May 30, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Iris is a young woman who is going to an isolated lakehouse together with the love of her life: her boyfriend Josh. She fondly recalls how they met for the first time at a grocery store, where eyes met and hearts locked in an instant connection. Sounds a little overly romantically idealized? Well…it is. Despite Iris being head over heels for Josh, we quickly notice that something in their relationship is kinda off. When they meet up with Josh’s friends Kat, the couple Eli and Patrick, and Kat’s boyfriend Sergey who owns the lakehouse, things quickly go wrong, with Iris being the center of it all. And it’s at this point we find out that Iris is, in fact, not a human: she’s a companion robot, made exclusively to fulfill the needs of lonely people (and, probably most often, scumbags who wants to treat someone badly while easily getting away with it). And the best part? These robots aren’t even aware that they are robots, programmed to be fully loyal and committed to the person they “love“ without question, no matter how badly they are treated. Every narcissist’s dream, for sure. Josh had plans for Iris, of course, but those plans are botched once she becomes aware of her situation.

Companion is a science fiction thriller written and directed by Drew Hancock. It grossed $36.7 million against a budget of $10 million, and has received fairly positive reviews. The core themes of the movie is control, autonomy, and of course the dangers of technology if it gets in the wrong hands. Underneath is also a very obvious metaphor for a toxic relationship consisting of manipulation and control. Iris, being a robot, is quite physically controlled by an app in Josh’s possession, but once she becomes aware of this she manages to gain a certain control over her own self.

It’s no secret that technology can be both good and bad, depending on how people use it. Unfortunately, when new technology is created, we often see how many people are at the forefront to use it mainly by the means of exploiting others (just look at generative AI as a prime example of this). The concept of “companion robots“ in this film opens up for so many ways for bad people to use them for various purposes. All of this comes in stark contrast to how Iris is, ironically, the most “human“ character in the movie. The majority of the other people are complete assholes with little or no qualms regarding other people’s lives and well-being as long as they can gain something from it. Once Iris finds out that she is, in fact, not a human, she is also thrown into a full existential horror where free will at first seems to be completely out of her grasp, but she still tries to fight for it. Metaphorically, one could easily consider this scenario as someone realizing how toxic their relationship is, and tries to break out from it.

Companion is a fun movie about how human aggression and violence can easily become an ethical issue when given control over something that emulates human emotions, yet have no control over their lives and have no rights like that of real humans. While this is far from the first time similar concepts have been explored in movies or other media, it still felt like a fresh take, especially in these days when a situation like this seems considerably less far-fetched than it was just a few years ago.

Writer and director: Drew Hancock
Country & year: USA, 2025
Actors: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend, Jaboukie Young-White, Matt McCarthy, Marc Menchaca, Woody Fu, Ashley Lambert
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26584495/

Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare (2025)

Posted on May 27, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

In this demented/twisted/fucked-up serial killer flick that your mum and dad don’t want you to see, we meet, yeah you guessed it – Peter Pan. And he’s a, yeah, you guessed it – a serial killer. And yep, you guessed it again – he murders children, sometimes in broad daylight. And not one by one, but in drones. The few lives he spares gets trapped in his dungeon basement. Oh my… calling the whambulance is no use here. So there’s no big shocker to say that this isn’t the Peter Pan that we know from our classic childhood fairy tales, but rather a homicidal maniac who lives out his sick fetish role-playing fantasies.

Pan is also a hardcore junkie who lives comfy enough in an abandoned manor somewhere in the idyllic British countryside of Ashdown with his one and only Tinker Bell, an unpleasant sight by itself who looks more like the sister of Longlegs. Instead of heroin, we have pixie dust. It’s the same shit though, so don’t get fooled, kids. Stay outta drugs and have some Kava instead.

But at the end of the day, Peter Pan actually means all well. Because he doesn’t kill children just for the hell of it, but in order to send their souls to Neverland to save them from the evil world that we live in. Your typical road to hell that is paved with good intentions, to put it that way. Neverland is, after all, a place where you can be a little boy for the rest of your existence. And since dead people don’t age…well, you get the idea. Sweet dreams.

The film starts with a quick, flashback story of Pan (Martin Portlock) where he works as a mime artist at a circus. After performing in front of a group of kids, he stalks one of the kids home, which by a wild coincidence is named James Hook. After sneaking into his bedroom through a trapdoor, where we also have a quick Pennywise reference (because why not), the kid’s mother spots him and hell breaks loose. After a brutal fight in the kitchen that goes from bruises to chopped-off toes by a meat cleaver, a disfigured face and a scalped head, Pan takes Hook with him before we jump fifteen years later.

Then we meet the upper-class family, the Darlings, just another wild name coincidence, where the older sister Wendy (Megan Placito) is driving her youngest brother Michael (Peter DeSouza, the possessed kid from Pope’s Exorcist) to school. Michael is depressed, and since it’s his birthday and all, Wendy tries her best to make his day a little easier by also intending to pick him up after school. Aaw, how thoughtful. Too bad that she gets distracted on the phone by her boyfriend when Michael leaves the school on a bike, which leads to him being captured by our psycho killer Peter Pan The Grabber. While Michael is trapped in his manor where he’s forced to play games like hide-and-seek, a guilt-stricken Wendy sets out to find her brother.

Terrifier meets The Black Phone says hello to Castle Freak, written and directed by Scott Chambers, a living non-stop Duracell Bunny who made only eleven movies in 2021 alone, according to his IMDb. Geez, I’m having a stroke just thinking about it. Can’t say I’ve seen any of them though, except from Exorcist Vengeance (2022) only because of Robert Bronzi, the famous Charles Bronson clone. While his previous films have an average rating between 2.8 and 3.6, it’s fair to assume that he has had a major skill upgrade at some point. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare is a more polished and overall professional-made movie than you’d expect, all from the camerawork, production design, sound, pacing, acting, and, of course, the effects, which are all practical, as far as I could see. To be completely honest, this looks more like it could be in the same universe as Damien Leone’s Terrifier than the Poohniverse. And that’s probably the best compliment I can give.

The most remarkable here is Martin Portlock as Peter Pan – a brilliant and charismatic actor who just came as a lightning strike from the blue sky when he went viral in the UK after his appearance as a witch on Britain’s Got Talent. Here, he’s a mix of Heath Ledger’s Joker, Freddy Krueger and Radu the vampire with a dark and a seductive British voice that would even make Hugh Grant blush. He’s as ruthless and mean-spirited as he’s intimidating. I also liked the angle with the Tinker Bell character, played by Kit Green. Her and Peter’s relationship is a pure psychological warzone, if the circumstances weren’t hell already. Her story of how she ended up in this pit of misery would be an interesting spinoff by itself. And if you want the blood and gore, you’ll get it. The third act goes especially full throttle in the splatter & gore department, with a cute final girl and all, which you can guess who.

So yeah, all in all, a gritty, gory, tension-filled and morbidly entertaining ride you’ll never experience at Disneyland, even after dark. Solid stuff. I hope we see Martin Portlock in more horror films, while it’ll be interesting to see what Scott Chambers does next. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare is available on streaming on Amazon Prime, or (for us Norwegians) on Viaplay.

Writer and director: Scott Chambers
Country & year: UK/USA, 2025
Actors: Megan Placito, Martin Portlock, Kit Green, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, Teresa Banham, Olumide Olorunfemi, Campbell Wallace, Nicholas Woodeson, Hardy Yusuf, Harry Whitfield
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21955520/

Caveat (2020)

Posted on May 23, 2025May 23, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Isaac is a drifter who is suffering from amnesia. He is suddenly hired by a man named Moe Barrett who claims to be an acquaintance (whom Isaac doesn’t remember, of course, due to his amnesia). Moe wants Isaac to look after his niece Olga, who will occasionally go into a catatonic state, and he offers Isaac a good sum of money for this. Isaac says yes, and when they get close to the property it’s revealed that Olga lives on a remote island. First, Isaac wants to refuse the job, but after a little guilt-tripping he reluctantly says yes. That’s not the worst, though. Once inside the house, Moe shows Isaac a harness that he needs to put on which will restrict him from entering certain portions of the house, and he needs to put this on because that will make Olga feel safe. Oh, and on top of that he is also told that Olga’s mother went missing and that her father recently died in the basement after being locked inside there, as he suffered from extreme claustrophobia and killed himself when he couldn’t get out. There appears to be no limits to how stupid a character in a horror movie can be, because even after learning all this, Isaac still says yes to stay and puts on the harness after just a little more guilt-tripping. Yikes forever! In reality, even the most dim-witted person would have bailed ass long ago. As can be imagined, weird shit starts happening inside the house when Isaac and Olga is alone. When she is in her catatonic state he can’t even talk to her, but once lucid, she behaves oddly antagonistic towards him and carries either a crossbow around, or a creepy toy rabbit with a drum. Meanwhile, Isaac tries to piece together what really happened in that house.

Caveat is an Irish horror film from 2020, written and directed by Damian Mc Carthy in his feature directorial debut. It was filmed in West Cork, and the Bantry House that was used was owned by a friend’s family. The movie had a budget of around £250,000. The toy rabbit featured in the movie is one Mc Carthy bought on eBay, which was stripped of its original fur and sent to costume and prop builder Lisa Zagone to make its creepy design.

We have also already reviewed Mc Carthy’s second film, Oddity, which was released last year, and now we finally got around to watch his debut movie. And while it’s definitely very slow-burn and somewhat illogical, it really picks up the scares later on. The setting and atmosphere are solid, although some of it does get a bit ruined by the main character’s total lack of being able to spot the one red flag after the other. There are horror movies where a character is willing to do the most idiotic things due to obvious desperation, which can make the most insane setting more believable, but Isaac’s backstory is (intentionally) left obscured from the start. Most of the movie is set around him walking around the house, having weird interactions with Olga, and gradually finding out more about what really happened. Once things progresses a bit more, however, that is when Mc Carthy proves that he’s really got a knack for scary supernatural scenes!

Caveat is a movie that certainly takes its time to get things going, and you’re likely to feel a little annoyed if dumb characters is one of your pet peeves. But it sure does deliver some scares towards the latter part of the film, some which are reminiscent of the scares and atmosphere that could be found in the first Conjuring movies. There’s no doubt that Mc Carthy knows how to build up atmosphere that leads to proper scares, which is by no means any easy feat. His second film, Oddity, didn’t have quite the same amount of scare factor as Caveat, but that one had more of a solid ominous atmosphere throughout. There is already another movie in development called Hokum, and it will be interesting to see what Mc Carthy’s next movie will bring in terms on chills and (hopefully) scares. Because he’s certainly got talent in that department.

Writer and director: Damian Mc Carthy
Country & year: Ireland, 2020
Actors: Ben Caplan, Johnny French, Leila Sykes, Inma Pavon, Conor Dwane, Siobhan Burton, Sam White
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7917178/

Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

Posted on May 20, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

The year is 1968, where Iris Campbell is going to attend the opening ceremony of a high-rise restaurant tower called Skyview. The one to bring her there is her fiancé Paul, who wants this event to be as perfect as possible. Oh, if he only knew. Well, since this is a Final Destination movie, we know the drill: Iris has her premonition, and oh boy, is this one a total disaster! The grand opening of the Skyview ends just as well as Titanic’s first voyage. The entire tower collapses, causing a huge death toll. After Iris watches her final moments before dying, however, this is where the movie takes a turn from the previous films: instead of seeing Iris “waking up“, we see college student Stefani Reyes waking up in bed with a scream. Apparently, she’s been having recurring nightmares about this event for months, driving her equally sleep-deprived roommate to the brink of murder. Stefani travels back to her family for some answers, and finds that her nightmares are linked to her maternal grandmother, Iris.

The grandmother is no longer in contact with anyone in the family, and she lives waaaay out in bumfuck nowhere. Stefani decides to pay her grandmother a visit to get some answers, and ends up at Iris’s fortified cabin. There, Iris tells Stefani all about how she was able to disrupt Death’s plans when she prevented the tower’s collapse, literally saving the lives of everyone there. She gives Iris a book where she has documented Death’s omens and giving instructions on how to spot them. Stefani, of course, thinks her grandmother’s just totally kooky and regrets going there in the first place…until Death makes his move. Soon, Stefani realizes that Iris was right, and Death is now trying to kill off the survivors in the order they would have died at the Skyview…and of course, all their descendants who were never meant to exist if they had died as intended. This, of course, includes Stefani and her younger brother, plus several of their other family members.

Final Destination: Bloodlines (aka Final Destination 6) is the latest film in the Final Destination franchise. It was directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, and written by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor. It’s based on a story that was developed by them and Jon Watts. After the commercial success of Final Destination 5, the next film was described as some kind of “re-imagining“ of the franchise. That’s…not really the case, though. They’ve changed the basic setup a little bit, but it’s still a classic Final Destination film, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It premiered on May 16, and has so far received generally favorable reviews. It has currently grossed $105 million worldwide. The highest grossing film in the franchise, The Final Destination (the 4th film) made $187 million worldwide. It’s still early, so it remains to be seen if their sixth installment breaks that record.

So, how does this movie hold up to the rest of the franchise? Well, we watched it at the big screen and had a total blast with it! Six films in and it’s still feeling as playful and fun as ever, perfectly balancing humour with grisly deaths. Already from the opening scene with the Skyview you know it’s going to be good, keeping you eagerly anticipating how all hell will break loose. And it sure does! During this premonition scene there is a 71 year old stuntwoman, Yvette Ferguson, who came out of retirement in order to play a fire stunt. Now, how cool is that! Aside from the bonkers opening scene, there are many other kills that turns both bloody and gory, so the fun lasts throughout.

Final Destination: Bloodlines proves that the franchise is still going strong, and still feeling surprisingly fresh. That being said, it’s been approximately 14 years since the previous film, so it’s not like we’ve gotten these movies thrown at us every single year or so. We’ve had some time to build up an appetite for a new one, and it certainly was a great time! Now, we all know that a 7th film will be inevitable. Just how long that will take, however, remains to be seen. They still have so many ideas to take from, bad things can happen to a lot of people everywhere: on a cruise ship, in a tunnel, at a concert, on tourist attractions around the world (like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome, etc.), at Las Vegas, at a circus, etc. etc. The possibilities are endless! Will be fun to see what idea they go for next.

Also, R.I.P. Tony Todd (Bludworth). It was nice to see his story arc ending here, with a reveal of his character and backstory.

Directors: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
Writers: Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor, Jon Watts
Country & year: USA/Canada, 2025
Actors: Nicholas D’Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Ellen Wroe, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, P.J. Byrne, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner, Courtney B. Vance, Tony Todd
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9619824/

Prequels:
– Final Destination (2000)
– Final Destination 2 (2003)
– Final Destination 3 (2006)
– The Final Destination (2009)
– Final Destination 5 (2011)

Final Destination 5 (2011)

Posted on May 16, 2025May 20, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Sam Lawton is an office worker who is going together with his colleagues to a company retreat. On the bus, he has a premonition where the North Bay Bridge starts collapsing due to high winds, and he witnesses a lot of people getting killed. This also includes himself, after getting his ex-girlfriend Molly Harper in safety. When the premonition is over, and he starts realizing that this is really going to happen as all the small details prior to the incident becomes familiar, he panics and urges everyone to get out of the bus. Several people follow him outside, and they manage to leave before the bridge collapses. Naturally, Sam is questioned by the FBI afterwards, but everything was ruled to have happened due to natural causes. Shit happens, sometimes. After the survivors attend a memorial for all their deceased colleagues, they start dying one by one. A woman named Candice dies in a freak accident at the gym, and a man named Isaac has a not-so-pleasant experience at a Thai massage. No happy ending there. Bludworth, the coroner who has appeared in some of the movies since the start and has always seemed to know about Death’s mischievous plans, tells the remaining survivors that they are now dying in the order they were supposed to die in if they had not survived the bridge collapse. So now Sam and the remaining survivors must try to figure out a way to beat Death.

Final Destination 5 is the fifth movie in the franchise. It was released in 2011, and is directed by Steven Quale and written by Eric Heisserer. Just like the previous film, called The Final Destination (which was actually yet another movie that was supposed to be “the final film“ but which changed due to the financial success) it was shot in 3D. And just like the previous film.. the 3D effects haven’t really aged that well. Still, that doesn’t ruin the experience at all, it just adds an additional goofy flavour to it. It grossed $157 million worldwide, making it the second-highest grossing film in the franchise. The sixth film has its premiere (at least in most places) today on May 16th, so let’s see if the new one breaks any of the old records!

This film follows the same formula as previously: the protagonist has a premonition, saves some people, and then Death is coming for them. Many franchises have lost all their steam long before coming to their fifth installment, but the Final Destination movies keeps it going surprisingly strong. This might have a bit to do with how these movies are always being very simple popcorn-horror entertainment that were never meant to be groundbreaking masterpieces. Plus, the concept behind the movies opens up for so many possibilities, it’s nearly impossible to not keep it at least entertaining with its main forte: the death scenes! Or most importantly: how everything leads up to the death scenes. As always, there’s several scenes here that gives that “ick“ feeling, and the kills are just as fun as ever.

Final Destination 5 is yet another fun entry into the franchise and proves that it’s still going strong. This movie is also providing some twists and turns and even ties everything back to the first movie.

Director: Steven Quale
Writer: Eric Heisserer
Country & year: USA, 2009
Actors: Nicholas D’Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Ellen Wroe, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, P.J. Byrne, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner, Courtney B. Vance, Tony Todd
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1622979/

Prequels:
– Final Destination (2000)
– Final Destination 2 (2003)
– Final Destination 3 (2006)
– The Final Destination (2009)

Sequel:
– Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

The Final Destination (2009)

Posted on May 13, 2025May 20, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

Nick O’Bannon and his girlfriend is watching an auto race, together with some of their friends. Then (of course) Nick is having a premonition: a terrible accident that happens on the racetrack. After the premonition is over, and he starts noticing certain details that proves to him that this will actually happen, he starts to panic and brings along several other people with him outside of the stadium: his girlfriend Lori plus their friends Hunt and Janet, and also a racist truck driver named Carter, a woman named Samantha, a security guard named George, and mechanic Andy and his girlfriend Nadia. Once they’re outside, the accident happens and while you could’ve thought they were all safely out of reach, a stray wheel comes out of the stadium which decapitates Nadia. Carter also wants to run back inside the stadium because his wife is still there, but George manages to stop him from running into his certain death. Later, Carter has decided to give George a proper thanks for saving his life by driving to his house at night with plans of burning a cross on his lawn. In his distorted, racist mind it was George’s fault that his wife died (or the jackass probably just needed someone to blame, even if it was the man who saved his life). Death has other plans, though. The wind knocks off a horse hoof that was hanging from a rope on to the radio of Carter’s tow truck, where the song “Why Can’t We Be Friends“ starts playing (obviously, Death’s got a sense of humour). The truck starts driving by itself, letting loose a towing chain onto the road. It all ends with Carter getting wound up on the chain, dragging him down the street while sparks cause the chain to catch fire. That’s one of the survivors down. It doesn’t stop there, of course, as more of the survivors keeps dying in strange ways. Nick eventually becomes convinced that Death is coming for them all.

The Final Destination (aka Final Destination 4) is the 4th movie in the Final Destination franchise. It was released in 2009, as one of those 3D movies. The previous film, Final Destination 3, was originally supposed to be the final film, making the series a trilogy. But as already mentioned in that review, there would be no premonition needed in order to foresee that there would be a 4th film sooner or later. James Wong was originally on board to direct this one, but he had to drop it due to scheduling conflicts. Then, David R. Ellis returned (director of Final Destination 2). This movie ended up being the highest grossing of all the Final Destination films so far with $28 million on its first weekend (thus beating Rob Zombie’s Halloween II the same year) and with $187 million worldwide. There’s a sixth movie coming soon, so let’s see if that record gets broken then.

As mentioned, this movie was made with 3D effects. And, uhm… like in most 3D films… the effects haven’t really aged that well. They are not outright horrible per se, but they’re more likely to bring out a few chuckles here and there. As always, though, it’s the lead-up to the kills that brings the entertainment value. There’s some pretty decent gore, and Death is as playful as ever, having as much fun as possible while killing the characters off in all kinds of ways.

The Final Destination brings more of what you’ve already seen in the previous movies. It’s like that ordinary yet fulfilling meal you decide to eat on a lazy day: it’s nothing great, but keeps you content and does what it’s supposed to do. With a Final Destination movie you know pretty much what to expect.

Director: David R. Ellis
Writers: Eric Bress, Jeffrey Reddick
Country & year: USA, 2009
Actors: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson, Krista Allen, Andrew Fiscella, Justin Welborn, Stephanie Honoré, Lara Grice, Jackson Walker, Phil Austin
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1144884/

Prequels:
– Final Destination (2000)
– Final Destination 2 (2003)
– Final Destination 3 (2006)

Sequels:
– Final Destination 5 (2009)
– Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)