Mutilator 2 (2023) | Watching Mutilator 2 is like attending a horror convention after-party that accidentally turned into a slasher movie. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.1/10. I was genuinely surprised to discover Mutilator 2 existed. Not only am I a fan of the original The Mutilator from 1984, but seeing writing credits from Jen and Sylvia Soska immediately grabbed my attention. Back in the day, the Soska sisters would've probably been shouting this one from the rooftops to horror fans like me. These days, they're a little busier than when they were making the convention rounds.

The setup is actually pretty clever. More than 35 years after the original film, a crew is shooting a remake at the same Atlantic Beach, North Carolina location. Cast members from the original movie show up for a wrap party while the remake is finishing production. Naturally, because this is a slasher movie, someone starts murdering people one by one. It's a concept that feels like it was tailor-made for us fans of the original.

The movie doesn't try to hide where it came from. It starts off with a scene that becomes obvious fairly quickly and features actors reenacting scenes from the 1984 movie. It's a nice touch, even if the acting had me raising my eyebrows. Actually, "raises eyebrows" might be generous. The acting got so awkward that I found myself wondering if it was deliberate. Honestly, I hope so because the alternative is concerning.

Among the main attractions here is seeing the veteran actor Terry Kiser playing the part of the original actor who played the killer, Jack Chatham, who has since passed away. It is obvious that horror enthusiasts will be delighted by the use of cast members from the original film. Despite the fact that Mutilator 2 is doing something totally ridiculous, it definitely pays tribute to its heritage.

Ridiculous doesn't even begin to describe the hilarious blowjob scene with the prop of the severed head and some form of glue. The gag keeps returning throughout the film, and I found myself laughing more than I probably should have. The cast party scenes have been dubbed an amateur comedy stand-up routine that just happened to be filmed in the middle of a slasher film. It has its hits and misses and bombs.

The first kill is oddly edited and feels a little clunky, but once the body count starts rising, the movie settles into a decent groove. The practical effects deserve credit. They always do. They aren't exactly on the level of Tom Savini's legendary work, but at least they're real effects instead of a bunch of weightless CGI blood splatters. The film also follows the sacred slasher commandments. If characters decide to wander off alone, remove clothing, or head to the beach for romantic activities, their life expectancy drops dramatically.

The kills themselves are pretty interesting and entertaining, which is precisely what we come to see. Unfortunately, after building momentum, Mutilator 2 delivers an ending so anticlimactic, I'm pretty sure everybody decided it was quitting time. It's not terrible, but it definitely lands with a thud rather than a scream.

The end credits could possibly be the most brilliant idea of the entire movie, highlighting the special effects used to create the killings. It's a fun little reward for sticking around.

Mutilator 2 (2023)

Ultimately, Mutilator 2 comes across as less of a sequel and more of a reunion party that every once in a while reminds us that it is still meant to be a slash horror flick. The fans of The Mutilator will definitely get their money's worth with all of the fun that they will have reminiscing about the first film. But after 40 years, I was hoping for a bit more.

https://jackmeat.com/mutilator-2-2023/

Big Foot Burgers (2026) | Big Foot Burgers feels like someone lost a bet and decided to make a movie around a joke that wasn't funny. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 2.1/10. I will admit it right up front. The main reason I picked Big Foot Burgers was that it only runs 64 minutes. After watching the trailer while setting up this review, I knew exactly what I was getting into. The poster alone practically waves a giant warning flag that says, "So you watch everything, huh? Enjoy this one."

The plot itself is even more outrageous than the name suggests. Bigfoot emerges from his cave to rescue a little girl trapped in a forest fire. Instantly, he becomes a celebrity, learns what hamburgers are, and opens a very successful hamburger joint in Los Angeles. But when the recession threat hangs over their heads, the waitresses devise plans that get more and more pointless. That's the movie. Somehow.

Things kick off with what appears to be public-domain footage of a massive wildfire. A reporter interviews the distressed mother of the missing child before Bigfoot nonchalantly emerges from the blaze and carries her out to safety, conveniently dumping her right next to where the reporter is interviewing the mother. Forget fame, though. Bigfoot has more important priorities. Specifically, stealing a burger from a "Food for Firefighters ONLY" station. One bite later, and his entire future career path is decided.

The Bigfoot costume deserves a mention. It looks like something that made its way to the floor in the clearance aisle after Halloween. The credits roll over colorful cartoon backgrounds and an upbeat tune, which somehow feels more expensive than most of the movie itself.

Once Big Foot Burgers opens, the film quickly reveals its true business model. Cleavage with a side of fries. The movie repeatedly tries to make cooking burgers look sexy, but the camera work and editing are so frantic that it often looks like people are suffering from mild electrical malfunctions. The acting is exactly what you'd expect from a movie called Big Foot Burgers. Nobody is hiding the budget either. At one point, the film literally uses an "AI Report" video to explain the restaurant's success story, complete with green-screen interviews.

Writer/director Cindy Lucas throws every idea imaginable at the wall. A recession hits. Gas prices rise. Commercials appear. Random celebrity cameos arrive. There are references to Becky LeBeau and Deborah Dutch that will probably only excite fans of obscure 1980s B-movies. Bigfoot spends much of the movie hanging out with groupies, receiving lap dances, and generally acting less like a legendary cryptid and more like a washed-up rock star. At one point, they're even making "Kick Kok" videos because subtle parody wasn't on the menu.

Most of the film consists of increasingly desperate attempts to save the restaurant, which mostly translates into finding new excuses to feature the waitresses. Despite all the effort, very little of it is funny. The jokes rarely land, the story barely exists, and the low-budget charm never becomes charming enough to overcome the sheer stupidity.

My initial concern after seeing the trailer turned out to be completely justified. Big Foot Burgers is every bit as awful as I feared, and unfortunately, not nearly funny enough to make that awfulness entertaining.

Big Foot Burgers (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/big-foot-burgers-2026/

Deep Water (2026) | Renny Harlin delivers exactly what I expected. A survival-thriller that rarely lets up, even when physics occasionally takes a lunch break. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.7/10. Sometimes a movie jumps up my watchlist based on nothing more than the name behind the camera. That was absolutely the case with Deep Water. As soon as I saw it was directed by Renny Harlin, the man who brought me a couple of my favorites, Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger, this went from a casual "I'll get around to it eventually" to "alright, let's see what you've got."

Instead of immediately tossing us into screaming passengers and flying debris, Deep Water takes a surprisingly calm approach. We spend a little time with pilots Ben (Aaron Eckhart) and Rich (Ben Kingsley), getting a glimpse into their everyday lives before disaster strikes. Well, "everyday" might be stretching things when one of those scenes involves karaoke, but close enough. We also meet several passengers, and veteran disaster movie fans will quickly start making predictions about who is going to survive and who is being introduced purely as future shark food. The racist bully, the rude guy shoving through lines, the people who instantly trigger your internal "yeah, that one's not making it" alarm.

Once the emergency landing begins, Harlin delivers exactly what you hope for. The crash sequence looks great. The tension ramps up nicely. And the aftermath feels quite chaotic. We get a good mix of survivors, injuries, panic, and those souls floating face down. The film does a good job making the situation feel dangerous without turning everything into relentless misery. (If you look at the trailer still image here, I am pretty sure they cut that silly-looking scene.)

The sharks themselves are surprisingly convincing. Yeah, they're CGI, but they avoid that distracting rubbery look that sinks these kinds of movies. Every dip below the surface kept me glued because you never know if someone is gonna climb back onto the wreckage or become an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. The movie repeatedly gives that false sense of safety before reminding you that hundreds of sharks did not gather here for sightseeing.

One thing I could not stop noticing was the miraculous durability of everyone's phones. I don't think I've ever seen so many people carrying expensive devices that can survive repeated underwater adventures and still function perfectly afterward. Forget the sharks, apparently the real science fiction element was the battery life.

Even though Deep Water mostly revolves around the sharks, the movie is actually a survival-action film rather than a horror. The focus is on the cooperation of the passengers, coping with the situation, and staying alive long enough for a rescue. The end does turn out to be rather typical for Hollywood movies, but Harlin embraces that choice with confidence

Deep Water (2026)

You've seen movies like Deep Water before, no question about it. The idea is far from groundbreaking. What I appreciated is that when the movie decides to be intense, it fully commits to that mission for 106 minutes. No unnecessary detours. No long stretches of boredom. Just a disaster movie that understands exactly what it wants to be and keeps its foot on the gas all the way to the credits.

https://jackmeat.com/deep-water-2026/

Saccharine (2026) | The monster looks like Jabba the Hutt's sleep paralysis demon, which became one of my favorite parts. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.7/10. There’s that Shudder logo again, which means you're either about to discover a hidden horror gem or spend the next two hours wondering how the pitch meeting ever got approved. Throw in the fact that Saccharine is an Australian horror film and the odds become even harder to predict.

The movie wastes little time establishing its themes. We get slow-motion shots of people stuffing their faces and exercising while Hana (Midori Francis), a medical student struggling with body image issues, gets introduced to a mysterious weight-loss study through Alanya (Madeleine Madden). Naturally, ominous music starts playing almost immediately because Hana is determined to lose weight for Alanya. To get in her pants, of course.

After reconnecting with Melissa (Annie Shapero) during a night out at a club, Hana takes one of these mystery diet pills and wakes up the next morning unsure of what happened. What she does know is that she's losing weight, and quickly. Before long she's obsessively tracking her progress and monitoring other people's transformations online. Being a medical student, she also has the unfortunate advantage of being smart enough to investigate exactly what she's putting into her body.

The answer is both disgusting and hilarious in a darkly twisted way. It turns out the weight-loss miracle involves consuming human ashes. More specifically, the ashes of Bertha, a cadaver Hana previously worked on during a medical procedure. So when Hana starts seeing Bertha's ghost lurking in reflections, it's hard not to laugh and think, "Well, yeah. You ground up part of her rib cage and swallowed it. That probably voids some sort of warranty."

To the film's credit, Saccharine comes up with some genuinely creepy imagery. The creature itself looks great, resembling something along the lines of Jabba the Hutt that is dragging around some unresolved trauma. Hana's horrific dreams, perpetual hunger, sleep-eating, and increasing grotesqueness result in quite a number of memorable horror scenes. The practical body horror effects work especially well here, as well as a couple of jump scares.

The biggest weakness of Saccharine lies in the fact that it does not know how to clearly define its genre. There is horror, there is satire, there is social commentary, and even some dark humor mixed into one movie, but it does not always come together nicely. The discussion of the body image and diet culture in society is relevant and entertaining, however, some other plot lines seem to be unnecessary and uninteresting. The subplot involving Hana's parents, for example, never contributes anything that I could tell.

At 112 minutes, the film also overstays its welcome. By the final act, I found my attention starting to drift as the story wandered through a few side roads that didn't really lead anywhere.

However, Saccharine is not a bad movie in any sense. It has its own original plotline (sorta like The Substance, not nearly as good) some good body horror moments, and also has some disturbing images that will remain with you after the movie. It is just unfortunate that the plot was rather loose and unfocused. However, I gotta say the ending is rather memorable. It is dark, nasty, and outright evil.

Saccharine (2026)

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

Time of Death (2025) | I enjoyed the investigation far more than the ending, which somehow found room for several extra tragedies nobody ordered. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.3/10. Time of Death starts with the universal movie signal for "things are about to get very complicated." Michael Kelly is crawling toward an upside-down burning car with a woman and child trapped inside. Before you can ask any questions, the movie cuts to the credits and essentially says, "Relax, we'll get back to this eventually."

We then jump to December 1987 in the grim surroundings of Seneca Ridge Penitentiary, a decrepit institution that appears as if it has long ago become ripe for demolition. The warden, played by Kevin Pollak, awards a prisoner a pass out of the penitentiary for 48 hours, and it becomes evident from the start that the decision is a regrettable one. For the lucky prisoner.

Detective Frank Morley (Michael Kelly) is sent to investigate when that prisoner vanishes without a trace. Along the way he crosses paths with Sgt. Dale Aarons (Dennis Haysbert), whose voice remains one of the most authoritative things in cinema, and investigator Alan Murphy (Trevor Morgan), who begins uncovering strange connections to an execution that took place back in 1978. Unfortunately, Murphy contracts an aggressive case of death before he can explain much of what he found.

Considering it's a mystery movie, Time of Death does a decent job of creating suspense. The movie is not rushed into giving away all the details. Instead, we're taken on a journey through which we get occasional tidbits of information. There's sufficient mystery for us to be intrigued by and great performances that run throughout the film. Kelly handles the investigation with style, and then Mena Suvari shows up just as things become far too suspicious to ignore.

One of the movie's funniest accidental moments comes when Morley discovers the missing inmate's body outside his motel during a power outage. Naturally, he's outside looking for the breaker when he stumbles across the corpse. You know, the way these things happen all the time.

What surprised me most is that Time of Death really isn't much of a horror film despite some marketing that might suggest otherwise. It's far more interested in mystery and investigation, and for most of its runtime, I was digging that direction.

Then the final twenty minutes arrive like a wrecking ball.

The movie becomes so obsessed with closing its own clever little loop that it completely derails much of what it spent the previous hour establishing. The reveals themselves aren't terrible, but the execution feels forced and unnecessarily melodramatic. Characters start making decisions that exist purely to increase tragedy, including one particularly frustrating moment involving someone bleeding out when saving them seemed like a very realistic option. Apparently, common sense was also serving a sentence at Seneca Ridge.

The ending piles coincidence upon coincidence, stacking "oh crap" moments on top of one another until the whole thing starts feeling more contrived than shocking. I will give writer Jason Rosen credit for avoiding the safer Hollywood route, but different doesn't automatically mean better.

By the time the credits rolled, I was left with one final question. What exactly was this ancient prison constructed from? Dry pine needles soaked in gasoline? Because when things start burning, this place goes up like someone hid a warehouse full of fireworks behind every wall.

Time of Death is an interesting film with good acting and a great storyline. It is a pity that the end could not refrain from spoiling its own investigation at the same time.

Time of Death (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/time-of-death-2025/

Mārama (2026) | I went into Mārama completely blind and discovered that accepting mysterious letters to creepy mansions remains a terrible decision. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.7/10. Going into Mārama completely blind might actually be the best way to experience it. I knew absolutely nothing beyond the horror tag, skipped the trailer entirely, and just hit play. Sometimes that works out brilliantly. Other times you end up watching ninety minutes of interpretive dancing performed by haunted vegetables. Thankfully, Mārama lands much closer to the first category.

Set in the year 1859, this movie starts with a message indicating the fact that this movie is based on the colonized past of Aotearoa New Zealand and why it’s important to know the past in order to go forward. It becomes obvious right away that this movie doesn’t intend to become a popcorn horror movie with many jump scares and ridiculous choices made by the characters. That being said, taking a trip to a creepy mansion in the middle of nowhere has never exactly been a winning strategy.

We get a brief glimpse of a bloodied young woman trapped in a room. You know, the classic "don't worry, we'll come back to this later" opening, we meet Mary (Ariana Osborne). She arrives after receiving a letter from Thomas Boyd requesting her presence to discuss her family history. Unfortunately, Boyd manages to die before she gets there. The mid-1800s equivalent of sliding into her DMs, sorta.

Mary is quickly hired as governess to young Anne (Evelyn Towersey) by Nathaniel (Toby Stephens), the owner of a remote estate that practically screams "nothing suspicious is happening here." Naturally, plenty of suspicious things are happening there. As Mary, or Mārama, settles in, disturbing visions begin appearing whenever she looks into mirrors. It's probably one of the few movies where avoiding mirrors is genuinely solid advice.

The film is a deliberate slow burn, but it earns that pacing. The gothic atmosphere is thick. Mixing dread, revenge, grief, and colonial history into something far more thoughtful than your typical horror story. Rather than relying on cheap scares, Mārama builds suspense with an unsettling mood and the growing mystery surrounding Mary's family, her twin sister Amelia, and how Nathaniel's fits into it all.

From a visual standpoint, this film is superb. The outdoor settings are gorgeous, showing off New Zealand's landscapes, while the production design captures the period convincingly. The costumes, locations, and overall attention to detail make the world seem authentic.

Ariana Osborne holds most of the movie together and gives a great portrayal of a girl torn between two sides while discovering some very unsettling facts. The horror in this one is not about monsters but more about legacy, trauma, and the results of deeds that are not allowed to be forgotten.

Mārama may not appeal to those who expect to be continuously terrified or splattered with gore, but if you have an interest in gothic horror that relies on creating an atmosphere through characters and their stories with a bit of revenge thrown in, there's much to enjoy. Solid feature debut for Taratoa Stappard. I look forward to seeing more.

Mārama (2026)

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

Don't Look Now (1973) | 2 years ago today, we lost Donald Sutherland. In typical form, he commands the screen in this chilling and thought-provoking film. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.2/10. It has been two years since we lost Donald Sutherland, so I figured it was time to dig up Don't Look Now. Going in, I honestly didn't remember much about it beyond hearing people talk about that scene for years. You may have read about it. The scene that apparently had audiences clutching their hearts back in 1973. Having finally seen it, I can understand why it got people talking. By modern standards it's pretty tame, but fifty-some years ago this was probably enough to make somebody spill their tea and write an angry letter.

I wasn't expecting just how good the movie itself is.

In Don't Look Now, we follow the journey of John and Laura Baxter, actors Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, after the unfortunate death of their little girl. The two of them visit Venice since John is engaged in the renovation of an old church. Naturally, because this is a horror movie, Venice decides it has other plans. Before long, they encounter two mysterious sisters, one claiming to be psychic and able to communicate with their deceased child, and things get progressively weirder from there.

What caught me off guard this time was how little the horror mattered compared to the grief. The tragedy from the start of the film haunts everything else. Sutherland’s portrayal of a man desperately holding on to sanity amidst constant attempts to draw him into what he can’t understand is amazing. Likewise, the performance of Julie Christie as Laura, who takes this possibility much more seriously than anyone else, is excellent.

And then there's Venice.

I always see Venice portrayed as one of the most romantic cities in the world. Nicolas Roeg apparently took one look at that reputation and said, "Let's make it feel like a nightmare." The city looks incredible here. The narrow alleys, dark canals, endless maze of streets, and aging buildings create an atmosphere that's creepy as hell without even trying. Half the suspense comes from feeling like if you took one wrong turn, you weren't making it home. Ever.

The way in which Roeg directs his film also warrants credit. There is an element to the editing that might be confusing, but it is purposefully done. There is a consistent feeling of things being somewhat off because of the flashes of red, odd camera shots, and images.

And yes, the famous love scene is still here. What surprised me is how important it feels to the story. It isn't there just for shock value. It's one of those rare instances where John and Laura felt bonded amid their struggle.

By the time Don't Look Now reaches its final act, it becomes clear this isn't your typical horror flick. This is actually an extremely touching story of loss, wrapped up in ghostly puzzles culminating in an ending that will shock you decades later. Added to the brilliant performance of Donald Sutherland and Roeg’s stunning imagery, it is not hard to understand why this has become a highly acclaimed classic.

Don't Look Now (1973)

https://jackmeat.com/dont-look-now-1973/