The Immaculate Room (2022)

A couple agrees to stay in a blank white space for 50 days with the promise of earning 5 million dollars at the end of it. With only the minimal essentials for survival and nothing to entertain themselves except each other, it becomes a psychological game to maintain sanity. It's a solid concept, although it runs the real risk of feeling as sterile and empty as its challenge sounds. Being trapped in a room alone with Kate Bosworth doesn't seem like such a bad deal to me.

2½ treats out of 5

Subservience (2024)

As lifelike androids replace the workforce, Alice is the latest big-titted gynoid acting as housekeeper while a man's wife recovers in the hospital. Her primary objective is to protect her master at all costs, so you can pretty much guess where it goes from here. The first half is strong, while the rest loses the plot.

2 UV lights out of 5

DreamQuil (2026)

In a futuristic society, a dissatisfied career wife signs up for a virtual wellness retreat that promises to fix her problems. Meanwhile, her presence at home is covered by an A.I. copy of herself, who is an easy replacement for her family.

Aesthetically, the film is pleasing, but it's a shallow, half-baked concept that feels more like a low-rated episode of Black Mirror rather than Total Recall.

1½ minxing sessions out of 5

Somnium (2024)

A prospective young actress moves to Los Angeles and takes a gig working nights at an experimental sleep institute where "dreams come true." Sleep deprived herself, she begins to see things in the shadows. This sci-fi/horror is weird and sometimes hard to follow, but leaves a strong impression behind.

3 Cloud Nines out of 5

Timestalker (2024)

Black comedy about a woman who is reincarnated over several time periods, always in pursuit of her one true love, only to die a horrifying death each time.

It's such a wasted premise that could have been executed so much better, but I admire it more for its vision. I hate posters that never live up to their promise.

2½ dil douls out of 5

Prevenge (2016)

Sometimes you follow the hype and it delivers on exactly what is promised. Other times, it leads you down a barren path filled with dashed expectations.

A pregnant woman hears the voice of her unborn fetus commanding her to kill. The premise reminded me a bit of Basket Case, but it's nowhere near as fun. Sadly, there's not a lot to distinguish it from your run-of-the-mill slasher.

2 cords cut out of 5

Dead Lover (2025)

Somewhat inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a lonely, deranged grave digger, who reeks of corpses, dreams of true love. After briefly finding and subsequently losing it, she uses properties of a lizard and lightning to revive a part of him. I put this on because it sounded intriguing, but it quickly lulled me to sleep with its dollar store budget and incomprehensible plot in decidedly poor taste. Even at 80 minutes, this horror "comedy" feels like an eternity.

½ a severed fingering out of 5

Deathgasm II: Goremageddon (2025)

The first Deathgasm was an earnest attempt to recapture the splatter comedy of Evil Dead II, Re-Animator and Dead Alive. 10 years later, the band reunites in this reanimated undead horror comedy. Everyone returns from the first film, and the carnage is turned up to 11. If you're a fan of the original, you'll likely be filling your shorts. For everyone else, this shit is way too scattershot and over the top. Contains the most genital mutilations I've ever seen in any film.

2 glory holes out of 5

Night of the Reaper (2025)

A young woman takes a job babysitting for the town sheriff. Meanwhile, the sheriff receives snuff tapes of local unsolved murders that suggest she may be next. The first 10 minutes got me excited that this might be a good horror movie. Those hopes were quickly dashed by the 11-minute mark, whereby it became a very run-of-the-mill slasher mystery with few plausible suspects.

1 case of the runs out of 5

Don't Move (2026)

After losing her family to a traumatic incident, a grieving woman joins her local church retreat for an escape into nature and winds up being picked off one by one by a creepy-crawly hunting them. This B-movie is monumentally stupid, but it's watchable if you're in the mood for a crappy creature feature.

1 tangled web out of 5

The Devil's Mouth (2026)

Ah yes, we've got to reach this month's quota for shitty shark movies...

A group of friends go to Thailand to explore an expansive underwater cave system and naturally encroach on the territory of one ravenous bull shark.

The film is photographed beautifully and there's plenty of eye-candy, but these kids are too vapid and there's not enough chemistry to root for them.

If you're looking for solid cave-based terrors, check out The Descent.

½ a giant turtle out of 5

Fall 2: Deadpoint (2026)

The sister to one of the characters from the first movie carries on the tradition by doing another dumb stunt. This time it's a treacherous plank walk on the side of a mountain in Thailand and obviously it wouldn't be a movie unless the stakes were raised to ridiculous heights. Once again, peer pressure leads the way and you're cursing the stupidity of decisions, but these characters aren't as strong as the original and it all falls apart quickly. There is a late-stage development that pissed me off, and you can fuck off with that sequel bait.

1½ Deth Dragons out of 5

Fall (2022)

I don't have a ton of sympathy for adrenaline seekers who willingly put themselves in danger, knowing what price they may pay. After a woman's husband dies in a mountaineering climb and she's hit rock bottom, her friend tries to revitalize her spirits by pointlessly climbing a terrifying 2000-foot television broadcast tower in the desert. As one can imagine, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. I enjoyed it mostly because of how ruthless and relentless it is, but in the back of my mind, all I'm thinking is that they did this to themselves. It reminds me of other survival thriller scenarios where people are trapped in extreme situations, like Open Water, Frozen, and All is Lost.

3 vultures out of 5

The End of Oak Street (2026)

On a quiet suburban neighborhood street in 1982, residents are plagued by strange goings-on of the prehistoric variety. The trailers will do all of the heavy lifting for you, but for best results go into it blind. There's a moment about halfway through where I realized what type of movie this was going to be. Then, about five minutes later, something else happens which completely changes the entire tone again. It's somewhere in between these two extremes that I can't quite reconcile how I truly feel about this film. It has the veneer of classic '80s Amblin comfort food movies, but it's much darker than anticipated.

2½ "insane, stupid moments" out of 5

The Dog Stars (2026)

In a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by virus and disease, a pilot surveys the land for supplies with his trusty canine companion by his side. This feels a bit like Walking Dead, except without the zombie horror element. Ridley Scott's sleepy survival thriller meanders for two hours and not a great deal happens. It's very pretty to look at, but it feels unfinished and runs out of gas quickly.

2 constellations out of 5