Wolf Man (2025) – Review
Grade – C (or three full moons out of five)
Back in 2020, Leigh Whannell turned down the Wolf Man directorial gig because after the success of The Invisible Man, tackling another beloved Universal Monster project seemed daunting and he didn’t have any idea how to transport the iconic werewolf into the 21st century. The folks at Blumhouse wouldn’t take no for an answer and they talked Whannell into helming the remake after giving him some time to figure out the themes that would motivate him to commit years of his life to writing sessions, sleepless nights and long days on set. The end result is a clunky horror remake that tells the story from the dual perspectives of the husband and wife who are dealing with lycanthropy shenanigans.
In an interview with Syfy, Whannell explained that he co-wrote the film with his wife Corbett Tuck during the pandemic and they packed it full of the endless amount of feelings that came from the isolation and anxiety that the pandemic created. They also were inspired by one of their close friends’ battle with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which saw her lose her mobility and ability to communicate. On top of all of these elements, they tossed in an unstable marriage, generational trauma, and parenting fears that add too many ingredients into the Wolf Man soup.
While watching Wolf Man, I missed the simplicity of Upgrade and The Invisible Man, which focused on dangerous technology ruining people’s lives. Their straightforward and wildly violent narratives focused their stories and gave them a narrative cohesion that never felt clunky. At their core, the Wolfman films tackle familial issues such as bad dads, dead brothers, and ancestral homes, so the decisions Whannell makes are sound. However, all of the themes never gel and there isn’t enough time for actors Christopher Abbot, Julia Garner and Matilda Firth to find their characters.
Because it’s a low-budget Blumhouse film, there’s a prologue that explains Whannell’s version of lycanthropy. Basically, it’s a sickness that Native Americans refer to as “The Face of the Wolf.” The early heaving lifting of the prologue works to get rid of superstitious locals who would only add expenses and shooting days to the film. After an opening featuring a young boy and his father coming across the titular monster, the film jumps a couple decades ahead to focus on Jake (Christopher Abbot), the young kid from the beginning who is all grown up with a wife (Julia Garner) and daughter (Matilda Firth). After dealing with a terrible dad, Jake has embraced the father role and has a close relationship with his daughter Ginger. He doesn’t want to make the same mistakes that his father made, so he comes across as overly protective (even though the overly protective example provided in the movie is justified) when his daughter tries to exert her freedom. His journalist wife Charlotte is the main breadwinner for the family and her long hours at work make her feel alienated from her daughter and husband (themes that are never fully explored), who spend a lot of time together in her absence.
Similarly to the original films in which the death of a family member brings everyone back home, Jake gets a letter informing him that his father has finally been declared deceased after he disappeared into the woods several years prior. Together, they rent a moving truck and drive to Oregon to pack up the belongings inside the remote home. Before they get to the house, they are attacked by a creature who injures Jake and kills his childhood friend Derek (Benedict Hardie – who never fairs well in Whannell films). While the creature is busy ripping Derek apart, the family barricade themselves in Jake’s home where they have a humdinger of a bad night. Instead of timing the film’s events through lunar cycles, the 2025 iteration compacts everything into one night that sees Jake transforming into a brundlewolf.
There are some elements to like such as the “werewolf vision” and Christopher Abbot’s dedication to being covered with a progression of excellent werewolf makeup/prosthetics. However, something got lost during the production process which make it feel like not enough coverage was shot or it was edited into oblivion to get it under two hours. There is a lot of “telling” in Wolf Man, which makes everything seem too on the nose and spelled out. In an interview with ScreenRant, Whannell admitted that the film’s long gestation was a bit worrying because he was scared that it would kill his creative spirit because he was used to the insane schedules for movies like Saw, Upgrade, and Insidious. The long creative process helped him with the technical issues that come with shooting a $25 million budgeted horror film in the forests of New Zealand, but there’s definitely a missing creative spark. In the end, Wolf Man feels like Whannell had too much time to think and the end result is a bit of a cluttered mess.
Share this post:
September 5 (2025) – Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – B+ – At a breezy 95-minutes, September 5 is a lean-and-mean film that features capable people being capable.
Directed by Tim Fehlbaum, and focusing on the American sports broadcasting team who provided live coverage of the terrorist attacks at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, September 5 is an unshowy and professionally crafted thriller. What’s interesting is that instead of diving into worldwide politics or going big (think dramatic speeches), the no-frills film remains laser focused on the broadcasting team who filmed the events which were viewed by an estimated 900 million people worldwide. The German/U.S. co-production was filmed in cramped sound stages in Bavaria (which adds to the tension) and went through many rewrites after director Fehlbaum and co-writers Moritz Binder and Alex David got the rights to the original footage and learned that there would be no organic way to recreate the spontaneity of the situation. Instead of centering around Jim McKay’s live broadcast, the majority of the film puts a spotlight on rookie director Geoffrey Mason (John Magarro) who alongside veteran director Roone Aldredge (Peter Sarsgaard) have to figure out how to cover a real-time hostage situation that is being watched by the world. The movie can be best described as a “What do we do?” experience in which smart people navigate a world changing situation that is way above their pay grade. .
I love films that feature capable people being capable, and September 5 is full of smart people figuring things out. Playing the smart people are Peter Sarsgaard, John Magarro, Benjamin Walker, Leonie Benesch (watch The Teacher’s Lounge), and Ben Chaplin, who deliver unshowy performances and are believable as professionals who are dealing with an unparalleled situation. The sports broadcasters were expecting a boring night of minor athletic events and instead found themselves broadcasting a terrorist event to the entire world. Over the course of the 17-hour event the ABC crew isn’t perfect as they prematurely claim that all the Israeli hostages survived the ordeal, and their coverage alerts the members of the Palestinian militant group Black September to the German police officers attempting to infiltrate their rooms in the Olympic village. It’s fun watching the crew learn and adapt as they sneak film into the Olympic village by having one of their staff pretend to be an athlete, and fabricate logos to make sure everyone knows that ABC news is responsible for the coverage. Mistakes were made, but the situation was so new that there were always going to be mistakes.
Fehlbaum’s adherence to avoiding “big” moments will definitely hurt its chances this awards season. However, it’s refreshing that there are no sanctimonious speeches by pontificating news anchors or fictionalized drama that amp up the drama (there’s enough of it already). This does prevent it from tackling the history behind the conflict between Israel and Palestine, however, with a limited budget and a 95-minute running time, it would be impossible to add a full explanation of why the Black September members were holding the Israeli athletes hostage. I like the decision to play the film as a docudrama because by focusing on the control room the filmmakers could showcase the decisions and arguments that helped the ABC sports crew capture footage that would change the way people absorbed news.
The mostly handheld cinematography by Markus Förderer’s does a fine job of capturing the important conversions and the production design by Julian R. Wagner feels lived in and authentic. The prop department must’ve had their work cut out for them as there’s loads of period appropriate editing equipment and cameras that add to the authenticity of the film. By limiting the locations and action, Fehlbaum and his crew were able to focus on getting the small details right and the decision paid off with the handsome sets, costumes and production design.
Share this post:
The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 600: Elvis, Kurt Russell and John Carpenter
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and John talk about the 1979 television film Elvis. Directed by John Carpenter, and starring Kurt Russell, Season Hubley, Shelley Winters and a lot of hip thrusts, the biopic tells the story of how Elvis Presley became one of the biggest musical superstars ever. In this episode, they also talk about Kurt Russell’s dancing, lip-syncing, and the biopic genre. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
The Prosecutor (2025) – Review
Quick thoughts – Grade – B+ – Directed by and starring Donnie Yen, The Prosecutor is guilty of being a fun action film. If you’re looking for a film that combines courtroom drama and Donnie Yen using a hockey stick to beat up drug dealers, it doesn’t get any better than this.
When I saw the poster for The Prosecutor I knew I was going to love his latest Well-Go USA film. It features a bloody-fisted and legal wig wearing Yen who holds the scales of justice in his hands. It tells you everything you need to know about the film.
- Yen’s fists will crunch against skulls
- He’s a lawyer who takes justice seriously
- He might hit a person with the scales of justice – which would be awesome.
- He needs to team up with Daredevil so they can fight villains at night and work legal cases during the day.
The Prosecutor opens up with a raid on a gangster compound that is led by police detective Fok Zi Hou (Donnie Yen) and his team of police officers. The raid goes sideways and it forces the detective to unleash justice on an unlucky group of well-armed henchmen who never anticipated that they’d come across Donnie Yen. After the raid, several of the criminals are able to walk away without being charged because of a lack of evidence. This forces Fok Zi Hou to quit the police force and dedicate his efforts to becoming a public prosecutor for the Department of Justice. His rationale is that he led his team when he was a detective, and now he wants to be the last line of defense against criminals as they navigate a legal system that is overrun with cases and shady defense lawyers. Fok’s first case is to prosecute an alleged drug smuggler named Ma Ka-kit (Mason Fung) who after giving his address to a friend, received a parcel stuffed with a kilogram of cocaine. After receiving some terrible advice from his pro-bono defense attorney (Shirley Chan) and her shady husband Au Pak-man (Julian Cheung), the innocent Ma receives 27 years in jail, which means he’ll be separated from his elderly grandfather, Uncle Ma (Lau Kong). This forces Fok into action as he dedicates himself to absolving Ma of his crimes by punching many people until he gets to the guilty drug dealers
The best thing about the court case is watching prosecutor Fok defend the person he is trying to prosecute – which leads to some comical moments from the presiding judge and his bosses who don’t know what to do with their new prosecutor. After watching the first big courtroom scene my wife looked at me and said “I’ve never seen that before,” and she’s right. It’s a unique angle to take, and Yen’s cheeky charisma and do-gooder attitude make all the trial scenes feel alive and fun. Fok knows that Ma is innocent, but all the evidence points towards a guilty verdict. Also, since the Department of Justice is so slammed with cases, it’s impossible to dedicate manpower to proving that the poor kid gets a fair verdict. This forces Fok to do his own investigation with the aid of his detective friend Lee King-wai (MC Cheung Tin-fu), who can hold his own in a fight (the box truck brawl with some drug dealers is awesome) and be trusted to do what’s right.
Fok’s investigation puts him in the crosshairs of a group of deadly drug dealers who justifiably don’t want their smuggling operation to be discovered. To combat Fok, Au Pak-man and his bosses send dozens of henchmen after Fok and he battles them in alleys, streets, skyscraper balconies, car parks, trains, and apartments. The fight choreography by Takahito Ôuchi, Kang Yu, Hua Yan, and Kenji Tanigaki (all Yen regulars) is constantly inventive and helped by the cinematography of Man Nok Wong, who uses aerial drones, cranes, and video game-esque cinematography to give the fight scenes various looks and styles. The production design is legit as well, and after doing some research I learned that the MTR train interior built for the climactic fight was constructed with steel to make sure the sets didn’t distract during the epic final fight (nobody likes cheap sets that are built out of balsa wood). For the review, I watched the final fight again and the sturdiness of the train interior definitely gives the brawl a bruising feel as Fok battles a deadly assassin named Kam Hung (Yu Kang) throughout several train cars.
Overall, The Prosecutor is a solid package that allows Donnie Yen to beat people up and charm people with his acting skills. I’d love to see more Prosecutor movies and based on its success in China and the worldwide critical praise we might get more of them.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Dracula’s Widow (1988), a campy, cheesy, gory bloodbath of 80s schlock.
MY CALL: Another vampire movie from the late 80s rich with tongue-in-cheek jest and grimy special effects. MORE MOVIES LIKE Dracula’s Widow: For more campy vampy flicks of the era that keep the tone light and the effects heavy, consider Vamp (1986), The Lost Boys (1987), or Fright Night 1-2 (1985, 1988).
When the owner of a Hollywood wax museum Raymond (Lenny von Dohlen; Twin Peaks, Teeth) receives an unexpected extra crate of Romanian antiques, he doesn’t think to audit his delivery contents. But the very night of its delivery, the vampire Vanessa (Sylvia Kristel) emerges from the extra crate to feed on some lecherous man in the streets.
Vanessa has the looks of a noir-ish pin-up model and the countenance of a clunky, 8-bit Fembot. Despite being the long-undead widow of Count Dracula, she has little more than a robotic personality. Still, she knows how to have a good time. Vanessa makes a boyfriend-familiar out of Raymond, they attend a Satanic ritual sacrifice, and she murders a dozen Devil worshippers in monstrous form.
The occasional narration of Detective Lannon (Josef Sommer; The Invasion) confers the movie’s momentary intention to feel like (or jest toward) a pulp noir-ish thriller. Lennon follows the case of Vanessa’s first victim, which leads him to Van Helsing’s grandson and several turned vampires that all need a good staking.
The gore is surprisingly decent! Vanessa’s first victim looks like his head was put through a meat grinder. The demonic vampire make-up swings very closely to looking like a monstrous demon, with strongly protruding brow, chin and cheek bones. She even has almost webbed, gnarly, gangly claws (perhaps hinting at bat wings) that she drives into throats. There’s plenty of blood, extra cheese galore, and several amusing gore gags. I was especially fond of the bat attack and transformation scene. In fact, it was gifs of that bat scene that lured me to watch this movie.
Not bad at all, if you’re in the market for a fun, campy, bad movie.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Underground (2011), a flesh-eating troglodyte movie with a lot of action.
MY CALL: This… was just okay. Some great gore gags and well-paced action, but a lot of redundancy and everything in-between kept me from enjoying this as much as I’d like. But oh, how I’ll remember the good gore gags. MORE MOVIES LIKE Underground: For more troglodytes behaving badly, go for Creep (2004), The Descent (2005) and Indigenous (2014).
After a brawl at a rave gets way out of hand, a group of friends find themselves trapped in the long-abandoned military bunker that now serves as the site of their improvised night club. Now trapped and locked in, they must find a way out. Just one problem… this is another subterranean gore factory filled with flesh-eating Morlocks a la The Descent (2005). In fact, they’re also a lot like the mutant from Creep (2004).
Our trapped ravers include Jenna (Christine Evangelista; Fear the Walking Dead, All Hallows’ Eve), Evie (Hayley Goldstein; Escape Room), Matt (Ross Thomas; The Haunting of Molly Hartley), Storm (Adrian R’Mante), Eric (Jeff D’Agostino), Mira (Sofia Pernas; Indigenous), Billy (Adam Meirick) and Dora (Megan Hensley; The Crazies, Chupacabra Territory, The Haunting of Alice D).
Our slack-jawed, jagged-mawed, subterranean troglodytes break through walls, rip off ears, growl, snarl and scamper about in the darkness. Every now and then they grab or drag a victim through the pipes and tear off a head or flay the flesh off a face. The monstrous creepers look pretty decent in focused shots, but the action gets a little clunky… even to the point of silly degrees of gravity-defiant stunts. Whatever, it’s a horror movie, right? It gets a pass.
Our victims hypothesize military cross-breeding experiments are the probable origin of these apparently amphibious alligator people. These troglodytes may look almost like beastly zombies, but they are organized and tactful. And as if we hadn’t seen it time and time again in Wrong Turn (2003) and the like, these creatures collect and sort the sundries of their victims into menageries of dog tags and piles of shoes. But we shouldn’t poke holes in the writing—otherwise, why even watch this? The writing is just capable enough to move us through the running time as each victim is plucked from the group and ripped apart. After all, who cares that in the first act these were skulking crawling monsters of the shadows and by the third act they were running and brawling like drunks in a barfight?
I’m hesitant to call this good, and wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it. But it’s really not so bad, and it’s certainly entertaining (most of the time). The action is well-paced, although I did start to find the redundant style of horror action a bit tired in the third act of the movie. Still, there were some highlights (like the screen grabs that lured me to watch this in the first place). Credit where it’s due—some of the greatest gore gags are in the last ten minutes, including someone humorously missing their lower body, a brutal jaw slash, and an outstanding eye gouge gag you’d expect from an 80s Fulci zombie film. Director Rafael Eisenman (Red Shoe Diaries) did okay, I guess.
Share this post:
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Nick talk about their favorite musical moments from The Substance, Megalopolis, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, Kneecap, Smile 2, Argylle, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Emilia Pérez. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
After spending the last month catching on 2024 action films for an upcoming MFF podcast episode, I wanted to write a quick list of cool action movies that are worth checking out. Enjoy!
One-Percent Warrior (Tubi)
One-Percent Warrior is one of my favorite 2024 films and I can’t think of a movie watching experience that made me happier. The meta-action film features a movie star named Takuma Toshiro (Tak Sakaguchi) going up against a gang of Yakuza members when they arrive at a remote island that he was scouting for a movie. On top of featuring some outstanding action set pieces, One-Percent Warrior (or One Percenter) is wickedly funny as it takes on action choreography that resembles dancing and the idea of action cinema itself. There are several wild twists and turns I didn’t see coming and it all added to a delightful viewing. I’ve recommended it to several people (after a cool person recommended it to me) and they’ve all enjoyed the experience, so I feel confident telling you to check it out.
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Amazon Prime)
Between One-Percent Warrior, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, Striking Rescue, 100 Yards, The Last Stop in Yuma County, and Baby Assassins 2, Well-go USA gave the world an excellent slate of action films and thrillers in 2024. One of their highlights is Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In which features beautiful production design, a load of action legends and a final fight for the ages. The final fight between four warriors and a magical maniac named King (Philip Ng) is an over-the-top action explosion that you need to see to believe. Director Soi Cheang used his 20+ years of action directing to full use here and he’s created a big and bold experience.
Life After Fighting (Amazon Prime, Hoopla)
Director, writer and star Bren Foster first popped up on my radar when he appeared in 2021’s Deep Blue Sea 3 (a very good movie). Foster brought in a fun athletic element to the creature feature and I’m very happy that he gave himself a showcase with Life After Fighting. The highlight of the film is a 30ish minute final battle that features his character Alex Faulkner battling a plethora of child traffickers who are looking to re-kidnap the kids that he frees from being kidnapped (that should make sense). The final battle is a thrilling example of how to maximize a budget while delivering some inventive and brutal action choreography.
The Shadow Strays (Netflix)
Timo Tjahanto (The Night Comes for Us) is one of my favorite directors working today and The Shadow Strays features all the things that make Tjahanto great. There’s absurd violence, kids in danger, badass henchmen, epic brawls, and a final fight for the ages. On top of featuring gruesome decapitations and gross people who wear leather masks, The Shadow Strays features an awesome female action legend (seriously, watch The Night Comes for Us if you haven’t yet – The Operator is awesome). The lead character Nomi (Aurora Ribero) is an unstoppable tank who plows through an endless amount of villains and takes an inhuman amount of punishment in her quest to rescue a kid. She’s probably my favorite action character of 2024 and the world needs more like her.
Kill (Available for rental on all the steaming websites)
Whenever I think about Kill I smile because it’s an audacious and wildly violent action film from director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat. I don’t want to spoil any of the fun, just know that at the 45th minute the movie transitions from a standard action film into an ultra-violent bloodfest of cheeky proportions. The lead actor Lakshya is a formidable onscreen fighter and he kills dozens of overmatched villains in ways that shock the other villains who legitimately look frightened and sad that one of their friends (or family members) just got stabbed 43 times and then had their face bashed into a metal sink. Finally, my favorite thing about Kill is that it features the best title card drop of 2024.
One More Shot (Netflix)
After the success of One Shot, director James Nunn and Scott Adkins decided they wanted another shot at making a movie that looks like it was filmed in one shot (does that make sense?). The final result is an ambitious action that focuses on Scott Adkins battling villains inside an empty airport. What’s great about One More Shot is that it gives Adkins a showcase for his ass-kicking abilities as they kicks, punches, knees, shoots, stabs, elbows, and headbutts to henchmen and Michael Jai White. This alone is worth the price of admission and if you are into inventive action films that allow Adkins to murder villains – you need to watch it.
Badland Hunters (Netflix)
The highlight of Badland Hunters is watching Ma Dong-seok knock people out in a post-apocalyptic setting filled with mad scientists, blood-thirsty gangs, and mutated creatures. On top of featuring some fun wasteland shenanigans, Badland Hunters feature the best punch of 2024. There’s a moment when Nam-san (Ma Dong-seok) is up against an old foe and during their fight Nam-san lands the mother of all body blows and his opponent yells out “Wait. Damn, that really hurts.” For anyone who has ever absorbed a body blow like that you know exactly how it feels and it really hurts. It’s a beautiful moment in a fun action film.
Share this post:
The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episodes 598 and 599 : The 2024 Random Awards and the 2024 Horror Awards.
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
The 2024 Random Awards and the 2024 Horror Awards are here! Listen in as we hand out awards to our favorite moments, movies, performances and swimming pools. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Creep (2004), a British “train horror” about a murderous troglodyte.
MY CALL: A well-made, sufficiently entertaining, and somewhat forgettable “monster stalks scared woman” type flick. The gore is decent, so is the acting and general production value. But still, you’re not missing anything if you skip this entirely. MORE MOVIES LIKE Creep: For more subway/train horror, consider Death Line (1972; aka Raw Meat), Terror Train (1980), Beyond the Door III (1989; aka Dark Train, Death Train), Hellraiser VII: Deader (2005; some cool train scenes), Midnight Meat Train (2008), Stag Night (2008), Howl (2015), and the trainiest of all “train horror” Train to Busan (2016).
On her way to a chic party to meet George Clooney, Kate (Franka Potente; The Conjuring 2, Anatomy 1-2) falls asleep at the subway and misses the last train. Now trapped in the London train station for the night, Kate finds that she is not alone in the train system corridors. There seems to be some kind of killer stalking her in the darkness, and brutally killing any hapless homeless person or night security guard she may hazard upon.
The cat and mouse game played by this “Creep” (Sean Harris; Possum, Prometheus, Isolation, Deliver Us from Evil) and Kate plays out like a top-tier B-movie. Victims trying to help Kate are dragged to their doom into the darkness, pulled up through ceiling openings by their head, or meet some other demise.
At first, it’s like one of the Morlock troglodytes from The Descent (2005) relocated to the subways. But deeper into the film, it feels a lot more like a Wrong Turn (2003) inbred hillbilly took to the sewers instead. The Creep has a lair, keeps captives in his sewer prison, harvests chunks of meat from victims to feed his swarm of rats as if it was a house chore, and plays doctor mutilating victims.
The blood and gore are worthy of mention. Some serious gashes, wound work, throat slashing and ripping, and a lovely head impalement transpires. But this movie is more about a weird, deformed, homicidal sewer dweller than it is a creature feature. We eventually learn the odd medical origin of the Creep; an underground facility sealed in within the sewer and train system.
Writer and director Christopher Smith (Severance, Triangle, Black Death) has made a well-produced, capable horror film that sufficiently entertains. This movie is nothing special at all—it brings nothing new to the table, no jaw-dropping reveals, and no death scenes or gore gags that you simply “must” see. But it’s really decently made and perfectly entertaining. I also really enjoyed the use of the dog (my favorite character).
Movies, Films & Flix 