Deathgasm II: Goremageddon (2025)

The first Deathgasm was an earnest attempt to capture 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

Hope (2026)

AKA: 호프 (Hopeu)

Is it possible for a movie to be both quick-paced and slow at the same time?

In the sleepy town of Hope Harbor, South Korea, big things are going down and two cops face off against a deadly threat. This movie is a thrill ride that both amused me and annoyed me in equal measure, which makes it hard to recommend, especially with the shameless sequel bait. It could have easily trimmed an hour from the runtime, but there are epic chase scenes in this film that are so exhilarating that I lost myself completely, which redeemed itself.

3½ inopportune times for a shit out of 5

Colony (2026)

AKA: 군체 (Gunche)

Victims of a bioterrorist attack exhibit zombie-like symptoms, except they all move as one hive mind entity. Contained to a single skyscraper, this swarm intelligence continues to evolve while the vaccine lies with the one person who leaked it. This ultra-violent action horror film is an even more beefed up version of Yeon's Train to Busan, and the less kindly counterpart to Pluribus.

3½ ant mills out of 5

Peninsula (2020)

AKA: 반도 (Bando)

A sequel to Train to Busan, taking place four years later when refugees are tasked with returning to the ruins of South Korea to retrieve a truck full of riches, where the quarantined survivors and hordes of undead remain. Like most modern zombie media, it focuses more on humans fighting each other rather than the actual apocalypse. It's not a bad film, but it's sprawling and unfocused, and contains one too many fast and furious vehicle sequences.

2½ underground prisons out of 5

Seoul Station (2016)

AKA: 서울역

An animated prequel to Train to Busan, these events take place early in the outbreak unfolding in a different part of the country, telling an original story with new characters that can be enjoyed separately from that film. While not as kinetic or exciting as its live-action counterpart, it manages to deliver a solid and satisfying story almost as brutal and devastating as its predecessor.

3 homeless shelters out of 5

Train to Busan (2016)

AKA: 부산행 (Busanhaeng)

En route a high-speed rail heading to Busan, passengers begin experiencing extreme distress and bodily changes after an infectious person gets onboard.

This modern classic Korean zombie flick is in an unrelenting, intense, brutal and at times heart-wrenching journey in line with Dawn of the Dead (2004) and World War Z, that plays out a bit like 28 Days Later meets Snowpiercer.

4 baggage compartments out of 5

Incantation (2022)

AKA: 咒 (Zhòu)

A woman implores the viewer to help her lift her daughter's curse in this folk horror tale from Taiwan. Good found footage is hard to find. Even more so the kind that gets under your skin and stays there long after the movie has ended.

Unfortunately, this wasn't it. It's truly a collection of things that go bump in the night, told in a confusing nonlinear manner that does a great disservice to its story. After reading a chronological description of the plot, I now appreciate what it was trying to do, but I shouldn't have to work this hard to enjoy a film.

2½ mixed blessings out of 5

The Turkish Coffee Table (2025)

AKA: Cam Sehpa

The appropriately named Turkish remake of The Coffee Table. Like that film, it's hard to say anything about it without spoiling it, so all I can do is see how it compares. This one is a lot more gaudy, showy and ostentatious. For whatever reason, it doesn't hit the same. Maybe because I'd already seen it done better the first time. This is simply an inferior reproduction of the original design.

1 shatterproof glass out of 5