Scream 7 (2026) | It’s slashy, it’s nostalgic, and the killer reveal hits with all the impact of a lukewarm microwave burrito. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.4/10. Scream 7 kicks off exactly the way every Scream movie since the Clinton administration has begun. Someone picks up a phone and soon regrets picking up the phone. At this point, the franchise could open with a cooking montage, and we’d all still be waiting for the knife to enter frame like it’s a contractual obligation. But hey, the good news? Once that familiar Scream 7 title card slashes across the screen, Neve Campbell shows up. Yes, returns. As in, she’s finally back, playing Sidney Prescott again, and immediately giving the movie a boost it desperately clings to. She’s living her best suburban life with Mark, played by Joel McHale, which is either perfect casting or a cosmic prank, and their daughter Tatum (Isabel May) completes the Evans household. Cute family, shame one of them instantly becomes Ghostface’s new hobby.

Kevin Williamson returning to direct was one of those decisions that made fans whisper, “Okay, we might actually be cooking again.” In a way, he does bring Scream 7 closer to the vibe of the early entries, though he also looks like someone who rewatched the classic trilogy and said, “Ah yes, nostalgia. Let’s dump the entire bucket in.” Strangely, despite the franchise’s rep for meta humor, this one plays like a straight-up slasher. It sprints out of the gate, throws the killer on-screen almost immediately, and dares us to question whether we should trust our own eyes. Or did we just get pranked by someone who spent too long on Reddit conspiracy boards? Hard to say.

The opening sequence? Easily one of the best in years. Big, bold, bloody, and genuinely gripping. But once the movie starts racking up bodies like it’s trying to beat its own high score, the pacing gets wobbly. There’s a difference between suspense and “Wait, who died? Was that the barista from earlier?” And then we reach the Ghostface reveal, which lands somewhere between a shrug and an accidental spoiler in a YouTube comment. It’s less “OMG!” and more “Wait…who?”

Still, Neve Campbell remains the beating heart. Time has treated her so well that she could headline Scream 14 and still be the definitive final girl without breaking a sweat. She carries Scream 7 through its weaker spots, proving the series really does work best when she’s the one on the hitlist. It may not be at the level of the original Scream, but Campbell immediately makes this sequel better.

There’s nothing groundbreaking here. No reinvention, no surprising twists, no fresh angle. But fans of the original run will find enough nostalgia, familiar faces, and callbacks (Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Laurie Metcalf, to name a few) to keep the ride fun. And yes, AI finally gets dragged into the plot, though in the most predictable, “Yep, that tracks” way possible. If you expected Skynet, you’ll be disappointed. If you expected something you’ve seen in five Black Mirror episodes already, congratulations.

Scream 7 (2026)

Scream 7 may not carve a new path, but it slices through 2 hours with enough style, legacy, and Neve-power to make it worth the watch. Especially for those of us who keep showing up for Ghostface like we never learn. And since this was clearly a long sequel setup for the future of Isabel May, I'll be in line.

https://jackmeat.com/scream-7-2026/

Wanted Man (2024) | A serviceable action thriller that benefits from its star power but ultimately falls short of its potential. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.6/10. I’m apparently forever a sucker for a Dolph Lundgren vehicle, because Wanted Man had me pressing play with the same optimism I reserve for late-night tacos and B-tier action flicks. Add Kelsey Grammer into the mix, and suddenly my weekly Frasier watches are bleeding into cartel shootouts. Honestly, a crossover I didn’t know I needed.

The setup in Wanted Man is as familiar as Dolph’s signature stoic glare. Lundgren plays Nick, a police officer with the personality range of granite but the charm of, well…Dolph Lundgren. When he's tasked with retrieving Rosa (Christina Villa), the sole eyewitness to a DEA massacre, things go sideways fast. The cartel’s involved, bodies drop, and somewhere along the road trip of doom, Nick discovers that the real villains might not be wearing the expected uniforms. Shocking, I know. Corrupt American forces? In a 2024 action thriller? Groundbreaking.

Dolph is exactly what I ordered. Tough, square-jawed, and carrying the depth of a man contemplating whether to add more protein powder to his diet. And it works. The man understands his lane and speeds through it with hazard lights off. Grammer, meanwhile, pops in to remind us he can class up literally anything. Crime scenes, interrogation rooms, possibly even a gas station microwave burrito. His screen time is limited, but always nice to see Frasier Crane wander into an action film and decide to stay.

The supporting cast in Wanted Man is…present. Christina Villa does what she can with a character written somewhere between “traumatized witness” and “generic plot courier.” There’s potential there, but the script gives her about as much depth as a puddle in the desert. The antagonists, meanwhile, are so one-dimensional that they may as well have worn shirts reading “Bad Guy #3.”

Because yes, Lundgren not only stars. He also directs and co-writes. And while the man can snap limbs on screen like breadsticks, Wanted Man doesn’t exactly reinvent the genre. The action is competent, sometimes even crisp, but rarely thrilling. Kind of like watching someone who knows all the choreography but doesn't do anything with the punches. And the pacing also stumbles. I felt it grab my attention just long enough for the script to wander back to a cliché, like it’s revisiting an old friend.

The central twist? Let’s just say if you don’t pick up on it early, you might be watching this movie with your eyes closed. It lands fine, it just doesn’t surprise.

Wanted Man (2024)

All that said, Wanted Man is polished enough to keep your attention. Especially if you’re a Lundgren loyalist or a Grammer nostalgist. The cinematography looks sharp, the standoffs are decent, and it runs smoothly as a background watch. However, do not go in with high expectations. You have seen this film before, and you have seen it done much better.

https://jackmeat.com/wanted-man-2024/

Refuge (2026) | Refuge asks, “How far would you go for your kid?” Apparently, it's kidnap your friends and interrogate them like it’s a Temu "Saw". #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.5/10. Here is what would happen if four grown men went on a “bonding” fishing trip and immediately remembered they don’t actually like one another. Refuge demonstrates it with 87 minutes of yelling, pleading, and one increasingly desperate dad holding a gun like it’s the only thing keeping his sanity taped together. The film kicks off with a frantic 70s–80s thriller energy. A father calling the police about his missing daughter, voice shaking, tension already thick enough to filet. It’s a good start, and for a moment, I thought we might actually get a calm buildup before the blowup. Spoiler: absolutely not.

We meet Sam, played by Adam Sinclair, arriving first at the cabin to prep for what he claims is a fishing trip, but is very obviously an interrogation/emotional demolition derby. He’s got a gun, an attitude, and zero interest in discussing bait. When Jay (Christopher Dietrick), Mike (Adam Dorsey), and Barry (Donald Paul) show up, it becomes instantly clear why these four fell out of touch. They don’t act like old friends reconnecting. They act like coworkers forced into a weekend retreat after an HR complaint. Refuge doesn’t even pretend they enjoy each other. They walk in mid-argument and somehow never stop.

Once Sam flips the script and accuses one of them of being involved in his daughter’s disappearance, the cabin transforms into a pressure cooker of constant shouting and desperate self-defense. I’ll be honest - after about twenty minutes of these guys whining, screaming, and contradicting each other, I started to understand why Sam brought the gun. If I were stuck in a cabin with this group, someone would’ve been tossed into the lake long before accusations started flying.

The acting, thankfully, saves Refuge from collapsing into pure noise. Every performance feels fairly believable, which helps maintain the mystery even when the pacing stretches scenes like taffy to hit that feature-length runtime. And with the entire film taking place inside the same cabin, there isn’t much visual flair to lean on, so the cast really does most of the heavy lifting. It also taps into that dad-brain fear. “How far would you go for your kid?” Apparently, the answer here is “invite your annoying friends to the woods and scream at them for hours.”

Refuge (2026)

What baffled me was the ending, specifically the crew walking away from the cabin as if both trucks didn’t mysteriously vanish during all the chaos. Did the bickering disable the engines? Did the cabin eat them? Someone forgot the keys and just decided hiking was easier? Refuge won’t win awards for plot density, but as a low-budget, well-intentioned thriller, it works. It’s simple, tense, and at times, ridiculous. Still enjoyable enough for what it is, even if I was constantly thinking, “Yeah…I’d have killed these three guys just for my own sanity.”

https://jackmeat.com/refuge-2026/

Operation Taco Gary's (2026) | This flick tries so hard to be funny, it probably pulled something, but mostly I laughed at myself for watching it sober. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.5/10. Operation Taco Gary’s is a movie that proudly walks into a room wearing a tinfoil hat, then acts offended when you ask why. It follows Danny, played by Simon Rex, doing his usual sun-fried conspiracy-theorist energy, and Luke (Dustin Milligan), the brother who clearly regrets every shared chromosome. Their cross-country road trip somehow involves Taco Gary’s, a fast-food chain so unassuming it might as well have “definitely not alien HQ” printed on the sign. Naturally, this is the one place on Earth hosting an extraterrestrial takeover plot, because nothing says “universal domination” like discount tacos and fluorescent lighting.

The early stretch of Operation Taco Gary’s actually works in a goofy, shrug-and-go-with-it kind of way. Rex and Milligan bounce off each other nicely, especially once Luke realizes Danny was right about everything. Every conspiracy, every theory, every late-night rant. You can practically feel Luke’s spirit trying to escape his body. And yet, the movie doesn’t know when to quit a joke. The ankle-twisting gag goes on so long it starts to feel like the film itself slipped on a sidewalk and couldn’t get back up. The “I wasn’t completely honest with you” line is dragged behind the truck, over gravel, through hedges, then revisited just in case we didn’t groan hard enough the first three times.

Then we meet Klyle. Yes, spelled like a license plate glitch. Played by Tony Cavalero, doing what appears to be an impression of his DMV character from…well, everything I have seen him in. It’s the same energy, the same voice, the same vibe, just relocated to a plot about aliens hiding in a taco joint. And you know what? It somehow fits. Brenda Song pops in as a Canadian badger girl named Allison (because of course she is), and she’s genuinely cute and charming, though half the script seems unsure what to actually do with her. She looks familiar because I just recently finished the video game The Quarry, where she played Kaitlyn. But the movie never gives her more than “quirky wilderness girl who knows things” to work with. Then again, she kind of played the same person in the game. Hmmm.

By the time Jason Biggs shows up, Operation Taco Gary’s loses whatever comedic momentum it had managed to build. Nothing against Biggs, but calling him a billionaire elite surviving the apocalypse is a joke meant for someone who was probably standing just off camera laughing at their own inside reference. The humor becomes increasingly niche, increasingly self-indulgent, and increasingly unfunny. Mikey K - writer, director, and possibly Biggs’ best friend at summer camp - never quite pulls the film out of its YouTube-sketch-with-a-budget vibe.

Operation Taco Gary's (2026)

Operation Taco Gary’s has a couple of amusing alien gags and a handful of moments that almost work, but most of it feels like a parody that overshoots every target. You might chuckle here and there, but you’ll probably walk away as I did. Mostly disappointed and wishing the jokes had been as sharp as Danny’s conspiracy theories.

https://jackmeat.com/operation-taco-garys-2026/

The Mortuary Assistant (2026) | If you like your horror dimly lit, claustrophobic, and slightly confused, The Mortuary Assistant has your embalming table ready. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.5/10. If you ever wanted to spend 91 minutes trapped inside a humid little mortuary where the lighting is 90% “flickering fluorescent hellscape” and the other 10% “someone forgot to pay the bill,” then The Mortuary Assistant is happy to embalm that dream for you. I played the game back in the day. Well, tried to finish it before a bug halted my progress into the abyss, and walking into the movie felt like stepping right back into River Fields Mortuary. The office? Perfect. The embalming room? Spot on. Those narrow hallways that make you feel like something is breathing on your neck even when you're alone? Chef’s kiss. Set decorator Grace Taylor Haun deserves a raise, or maybe just a stern “never do this to us again,” because it works a little too well.

Rebecca Owens, played by Willa Holland, shows up for her first night shift like she's taking on a normal job instead of starring in The Mortuary Assistant, where demons treat OSHA guidelines like suggestions. She’s greeted by Raymond Delver, portrayed with intentional dryness by Paul Sparks. Seriously, the man delivers lines like he's legally required to use only half his vocal range. Early on, Rebecca heads to the basement for supplies, only to get told, “There is NO reason to be down there.” All I heard was "There are seventeen reasons not to go down there, and all of them will kill you." And since I already spotted something lurking at the bottom of the stairs, you know we’ll be punching that ticket eventually.

Atmosphere is the MVP here, and The Mortuary Assistant heavily relies on what made the game unsettling. Bodies look just wrong enough to make you question whether they’re dead, alive, or simply on break. The demons look great, too. Practical makeup, eerie silhouettes, and none of that “AI-generated CGI ghoul #47” nonsense we’ve been force-fed lately. While the film does a good job building tension…until the constant use of flashbacks kicks the door in and releases it like a demon from a Tupperware container, never to be seen again, chopping the pacing to bits and occasionally making it hard to follow.

Holland does a solid job carrying the film with believable reactions. Equal parts “professional mortuary worker” and “why did I agree to this shift again?” Sparks, while dry, hits the secretive weirdo boss energy perfectly. The cinematography and lighting keep things atmospheric, eerie, and appropriately suffocating. But despite strong pieces scattered throughout, The Mortuary Assistant never fully assembles them into something unforgettable. As a game adaptation, it’s faithful enough to avoid embarrassment. As a standalone horror movie? It’s average, entertaining enough for one night, and likely to fade from memory faster than the sun rises after Rebecca’s shift.

The Mortuary Assistant (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/the-mortuary-assistant-2026/

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) | With a trip to the Mario Galaxy coming April 1st, I thought a revisit with this fun family-friendly flick was due. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.7/10. I figured that The Super Mario Bros. Movie would be one of those adaptations that is either completely full of nostalgia magic or a complete flaming blue shell disaster. It is surprising to me, however, that it did not induce me to throw my remote control (or, for the gamers in the room, the controller) at the wall, yet it is a fun ride through the Mushroom Kingdom. It starts off with the usual Brooklyn fare, with Mario and Luigi being two plumbers trying to pay the bills and maybe unclog a pipe or two without being roasted on social media. Of course, they get sucked into the magical realm because, let’s be honest, plumbing is a pretty dangerous job.

Once the brothers fall down the pipe (you know the one), The Super Mario Bros. Movie shifts into an energetic, colorful sprint as Mario and Luigi get separated. A classic move, but it works because Chris Pratt and Charlie Day bring an unexpected bond to their brotherly chaos. Their chemistry sells the entire backbone of the film. Even the early backlash over Pratt’s casting fades fast as he settles into Mario’s overalls surprisingly well. Charlie Day’s Luigi, meanwhile, is so perfectly anxious he could probably power a whole Luigi’s Mansion game just with his nerves.

The supporting cast is a riot, especially Anya Taylor-Joy’s Princess Peach, who is way more capable than any 80s cartridge ever allowed, and Keegan-Michael Key’s Toad, who steals scenes like he’s competing in a speedrun. And yes, Bowser is here. And yes, Jack Black sings. But hot take? Bowser didn’t fully steal the show for me. Maybe that’s blasphemy, but for a character whose boss battles can ruin childhood friendships, he felt a little too soft around the edges this time.

Visually, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a power-up in itself. The vibrant animation brings every corner of the Mushroom Kingdom to life, from the soaring platforms to the familiar enemies to the “I definitely died here as a kid” landscapes. The directing trio - Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc - pack in easter eggs with the precision of someone who’s memorized every warp zone. It’s delightful for us gamers, though if you’re sitting next to a hardcore Nintendo fan, prepare for an elbow in the ribs every 30 seconds as they whisper, “THAT’S FROM MARIO 3.”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Sure, there are some pacing issues here and there, and some of the jokes fall flatter than a failed triple jump attempt, but nothing here keeps The Super Mario Bros. Movie from being a fun time. It’s a film that has a little something for all, whether you’ve been a Mario fan since the days of NES or you just want a fun, lighthearted film for movie night. All in all, it’s a charming, colorful film that’s fun for families and proves that video game movies don't need to be dropped in a random cartridge landfill.

https://jackmeat.com/the-super-mario-bros-movie-2023/

Pretty Lethal (2026) | Pretty Lethal convinced me ballerinas are the deadliest athletes alive. Forget MMA, try surviving a pissed-off dance troupe. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.2/10. Pretty Lethal walks in wearing pointe shoes and immediately kicks you in the face. Gracefully, of course. The movie opens with a sincere little monologue about the brutal, soul-melting reality of being a ballerina, which might trick you into thinking this is some A24 trauma ballet. Then the opening practice scene hits, and the dancers are throwing hands like they're auditioning for Black Swan: Fight Club Edition. It’s the kind of tonal whiplash I live for on my movie reviews page, because Pretty Lethal clearly knows exactly what it is. A dark comedy–action–horror hybrid that refuses to apologize for any of its choices.

Our five drenched dancers - Bones (Maddie Ziegler), Princess (Lana Condor), Grace (Avantika), Chloe (Millicent Simmonds), and Zoe (Iris Apatow) - wander into a mysterious inn after their bus breaks down, because nothing says “good life decisions” like instantly agreeing to change into tutus in a stranger’s house. But hey, there’s a stage! You’re already in dancewear! Why not loosen up those hamstrings while a guy upstairs is being branded on the tongue? The film doesn’t bother with believability. It leaps straight into chaos like a grand jete performed off a balcony.

At the 18-minute mark, after someone’s brains hit the floor with the elegance of glitter scattering on marley, we finally get the title card for Pretty Lethal, and it feels earned. These girls don’t actually know how to fight, which makes the violence feel hilariously scrappy and weirdly satisfying. Ballet training becomes a weapon. Bruised toes and taped joints turn into improvised survival tools. It’s like watching Van Damme with better extension and more eyeliner.

The choreography really is the secret sauce here. Pretty Lethal blends classical movements with combat in a way that feels fresh instead of gimmicky. A hiding sequence built entirely on dancer flexibility? An entire ensemble routine used to beat the hell out of a small army? Yes, thank you, more of that. And Bones delivers the line of the movie with absolute deadpan perfection after one girl gets drugged: “What kind of a ballerina doesn’t know how to throw up?” It should be on a T-shirt.

Uma Thurman glides through her limited screentime like a sinister casting director who wandered in from a different, classier film but decided to stay because the carnage looked fun. Pretty Lethal never tries to be deep. It prefers being violent, silly, self-aware, and stylish. It flirts with horror, winks at its own absurdity, and pirouettes straight through logic into the land of guilty-pleasure gold.

Is it high art? No. Did I enjoy watching ballerinas stage-combat a mob of henchmen like they’re auditioning for Swan Lake: The Apocalypse? Absolutely. This is the kind of ridiculous genre mashup I’ll happily add to the watchlist for anyone who loves action served with bruises, blood, and a perfectly pointed toe.

Pretty Lethal (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/pretty-lethal-2026/