The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) | It's Star Wars with a Marvel vibe. Plenty of laughs, action and aliens, but don't expect that classic galaxy-far-far-away magic. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.1/10. Disney's latest trip back to a galaxy far, far away comes in the form of The Mandalorian and Grogu, where the Empire is gone but cleaning up the mess is proving to be a full-time job. The evil Empire has fallen, Imperial warlords are still scattered across space causing trouble while the New Republic tries to glue everything back together. To help keep the peace, they call in the galaxy's favourite babysitting bounty hunter, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), and his pint-sized apprentice, Grogu.

The movie opens with the usual Imperial board meeting. You know the drill. Someone questions the boss, someone gets shot for questioning the boss, and everyone else suddenly becomes very supportive of management. The only problem this time? Somebody crashes the party. I'll give you one guess who. And yes, Baby Yoda...sorry, Grogu...is along for the ride.

What follows can only be described as Disney standing in the middle of the room yelling, "Look what we can do with CGI!" Thankfully, it's not just visual flexing. It's also a great reminder that the Mandalorian can dismantle an army with the calm efficiency of someone crossing items off a grocery list. Before the opening credits even roll, you've already had about ten minutes of explosions, blaster fire, jetpacks, and general chaos. That's a pretty good way to start a movie.

Sigourney Weaver joins the Star Wars universe as Colonel Ward, the latest person willing to hire Mando for another impossible mission. We also get a fun nostalgic surprise when his first client turns out to be Jabba the Hutt's uncles looking to rescue Jabba's son, Rotta. It's a nice callback without feeling forced.

Visually, the movie is fantastic. The worlds are vibrant, the creatures are everywhere, and the underground fight sequence is packed with enough weird aliens to make the galaxy feel properly lived in again. There are plenty of Easter eggs and nods to classic Star Wars that fans will appreciate, while Grogu continues stealing every scene he appears in. Watching him suit up like a tiny green Rambo had me laughing. Whoever came up with that deserves a raise…or at least first pick at the buffet.

Oddly enough, my biggest criticism is also one of the movie's biggest compliments.

The Mandalorian and Grogu doesn't really feel like a movie. It feels like someone accidentally stitched together four really good episodes of The Mandalorian and said, "Yep...that's two hours, send it to cinemas." There are plenty of entertaining side quests, but no single storyline that ever feels massive enough to justify the jump to the big screen. That's not really a knock on the film because the series has always been consistently entertaining. It just never quite reaches the cinematic scale I was hoping for.

I also never got that classic Star Wars feeling. The sweeping orchestral moments are mostly missing, the story never feels truly epic despite hopping all over the galaxy, and the whole experience occasionally feels like Marvel borrowed Mando's helmet for the weekend. Fun? Absolutely. Legendary? Not quite.

If you're already a fan of The Mandalorian, you'll probably have a blast. It's packed with action, humour, familiar faces, fantastic creatures and plenty of Grogu being impossibly adorable.

If you're a lifelong Star Wars fan looking for the next big cinematic event, you'll probably enjoy it, but don't expect it to recapture the magic of the original films.

And if you've never watched the series? You'll probably spend two hours wondering why everyone keeps risking their lives for a tiny green puppet...before eventually deciding you'd probably risk your life for him too.

Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/the-mandalorian-and-grogu-2026/

The Breach (2022) | The Breach is like an all-you-can-eat horror buffet where none of the dishes match, but you're weirdly glad you stayed. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.2/10. Some horror movies slowly build toward insanity. The Breach blew off the instructions, threw every horror trope into a blender, hit "liquefy," and hoped nobody noticed.

Sometimes it works. Most of the time, I was wondering what exactly I was watching.

Chief of Police John Hawkins (Allan Hawco) is only days away from escaping the tiny town of Lone Crow forever. Naturally, because horror movies have a strict "no retirement without trauma" policy, a horribly mutilated body washes up along the Porcupine River. Instead of spending his final week packing boxes and saying awkward goodbyes, Hawkins finds himself investigating a mystery that quickly spirals into body horror, cosmic horror, science gone wrong, and enough goo to make any practical effects artist smile.

The biggest problem with The Breach isn't that it's bad. It's that it constantly reminds you how good it could have been.

Director Rodrigo Gudiño throws a lot onto the screen. There are hints of Lovecraftian horror, psychological tension, gruesome creature effects, mystery, conspiracy, and enough strange events that you begin wondering if the script accidentally shuffled its own pages. Every individual ingredient sounds fantastic, but they never fully come together into the terrifying feast they're aiming for. It's that horror buffet where none of the dishes match.

As Linda, the mysterious wife of the town scientist, Natalie Brown is definitely the standout performer. She brings an eerie sense of presence to every scene that she appears in, with something far more to her than what meets the eye. But before we can learn anything about her, the movie takes us off on another odd tangent.

That becomes the recurring theme throughout the movie.

Every time The Breach starts building momentum, it immediately gets distracted by another idea.

The pacing never quite settles into a rhythm. One moment it is establishing suspense, the next one, throwing out-of-the-blue exposition, and then going crazy on monsters again. Instead of mystery, the constant detours make the story feel disconnected. Instead of wondering what's coming next, I found myself wondering whether the writers remembered where they were heading in the first place.

Thankfully, us horror fans still have something to enjoy.

The creature effects are clearly the best part of the movie. It is always great to see practical effects get so much attention in an age when CGI takes the spotlight in most movies. The creature designs in some cases are rather frightening and provide some of the best parts of the movie.

Almost.

The atmosphere also deserves some credit. The isolated Canadian setting creates a bleak backdrop, and the eerie soundtrack maintains that uncomfortable mood even when the story starts wandering off into the forest.

By the time the credits rolled, I wasn't angry. I was just disappointed.

The Breach had all the ingredients to become a fantastic Lovecraft-inspired horror film. Strong practical effects. An intriguing premise. Some solid performances. Hell, even some genuinely creepy moments are in there. They simply never lock together into the terrifying experience I had hoped for.

The Breach (2022)

It's still an entertaining 90-minute creature feature if you're a fan of cosmic horror, practical effects, or movies that embrace weirdness without apology. Just don't expect every question to be answered. Or even for every subplot to remember it exists. Sometimes the biggest breach wasn't reality. It was the script.

https://jackmeat.com/the-breach-2022/

Dropbear (2025) | I can't decide what looked faker. The stuffed dropbear, the CGI monsters, or the moving truck that clearly wasn't moving. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.2/10. I popped on Dropbear expecting some low-budget Aussie creature feature nonsense. What I got was…well…exactly that. The difference is that somewhere along the way it becomes so unbelievably ridiculous that you can't help but laugh. AT IT!

It opens with a few mates around a campfire before one wanders off for a midnight piss. He spots a red-eyed koala-looking creature in a tree, there's a bit of snarling, and next thing you know he's hanging upside down as the title card appears. It's cheesy from the very first scene, which sets the tone perfectly.

We then meet four American tourists signing up for a "real Australian adventure" led by two blokes who couldn't look more suspicious if they tried. The brunette is the only one showing any common sense while everyone else happily walks straight into every bad decision imaginable.

The tiny budget becomes obvious almost immediately. During the driving scenes, the truck clearly isn't moving. Everyone just bounces around while the driver wildly jerks the steering wheel. Once you notice it, it's impossible not to laugh.

The guides eventually try the classic fake dropbear prank using what looks like a stuffed toy, but things go sideways when they discover the legends are actually real. Although I'm honestly not sure what looked faker - the stuffed animal or the CGI dropbears that attack later.

Then the movie completely loses its mind.

The group stumbles across a secret government research facility, and we're introduced to the king of the dropbears. He's basically a full-grown bloke wearing a bear costume…who can talk. I genuinely burst out laughing. The flashback showing him as a baby somehow tops it by using an incredibly obvious hand puppet. It's so spectacularly silly that it circles back around to being entertaining.

Writer and director John DeCaux also throws in an ending that feels heavily inspired by Peter Jackson's Bad Taste. It's a fun nod to one of cult cinema's greatest splatter comedies, and I'll happily give credit where it's due. Sadly, borrowing a great ending doesn't magically fix everything that came before it.

The acting is brutal across the board, with performances ranging from wooden to outright painful, although by the time a talking mutant dropbear is delivering dialogue, I almost stopped caring.

Even the end credits get a laugh thanks to a surprisingly funny song, and there's a bizarre post-credit sequel tease featuring what sounds like a Donald Trump impersonator calling the research lab.

Dropbear is objectively a mess. The effects are laughable, the acting is poor, and the production values barely scrape by. But somewhere underneath all that is a movie that understands just how absurd its premise is.

It's not good. It's not even close. But I'll admit. I laughed far more than I expected.

Sometimes that's enough.

Dropbear (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/dropbear-2025/

Sunset Strip Killers (2026) | Sunset Strip Killers proves one thing - love makes people do crazy things, like willingly joining a murder spree. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.9/10. Sunset Strip Killers doesn't waste any time. It opens with a woman sprinting for her life before some blond bloke casually shoots her full of holes. Well...that's one way to kick things off. One body down before the opening credits. Efficient.

Then we're dumped into a dodgy little country bar where everyone looks like they've had a rough decade. It's New Year's Eve, 1980, Carol gets herself thrown out, bumps into Doug, and if you were paying attention, you'll recognise him from that little murder we just watched. Carol really does have an Olympic-level talent for picking absolute winners.

Doug takes her to a party where they somehow end up meeting John Holmes during a movie shoot, which honestly wasn't on my bingo card. Somewhere around here, I realised I'd completely confused this with another trailer I'd seen. That explained why the movie wasn't going where I thought it would.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really go anywhere particularly interesting.

For a film based on one of LA's most notorious serial killer couples, everything happens way too easily. Doug basically tells Carol he's a murderer, and instead of running for the nearest police station she's practically reaching for the hacksaw. Before long she's happily helping remove heads like she's been waiting her whole life for the opportunity. Maybe the real story unfolded that smoothly, but the movie sure doesn't sell it.

The biggest problem is the acting.

Max E. Williams is at least entertaining enough as Doug, but Susan Priver never quite convinces as Carol. Every beat feels just a little off, which is a shame because with stronger performances, the simple script might've actually worked. Instead, it all feels a bit like a true crime reenactment you'd catch at two in the morning after falling asleep with the TV on.

One thing Chad Ferrin (Scalper, Night Caller) keeps getting right, though, is practical effects. As always, the gore feels like old-school stuff, messy and fun but not drenched in lousy computer graphics. The film is imbued with that cheap straight-to-video feel of something you’d watch from a dusty videotape at the local video store back in 1991. Probably its greatest strength.

The film also keeps the real-life necrophilia angle mostly off-screen. It's mentioned, but never shown, so don't go expecting the movie to wander into that level of uncomfortable.

By the end I wasn't bored, but I also wasn't particularly invested. The practical effects deserve a nod, the true story is fascinating, but the performances never let Sunset Strip Killers escape its B-grade roots.

It's worth a look if you're into low-budget serial killer flicks or true crime adaptations. Just don't expect anything that'll stick with you much longer than it takes Carol to decide murder sounds like a fun new hobby.

Sunset Strip Killers (2026)

If you're curious about the actual Doug Clark and Carol Bundy case, it's honestly a far more bizarre and disturbing rabbit hole than the movie manages to capture.

https://jackmeat.com/sunset-strip-killers-2026/

Backrooms (2026) | Backrooms looks fantastic and creates some genuinely creepy moments, but even a supernatural office maze needs a better business plan. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.4/10. Backrooms is another horror movie getting plenty of attention, so naturally I had to see if this internet-born concept could actually work as a feature film. The idea has already become popular through countless YouTube videos, although I personally never made it more than a couple of minutes into them because I always thought they were kind of ridiculous. An endless yellow office space with creepy noises? Congratulations, you invented the world’s worst workplace tour.

We start with some grainy home video footage from around 1990 inside the familiar yellow corridors. If you know the Backrooms, you know exactly what this is. A man is wandering through this strange dimension, trying to broadcast a message to anyone who might hear him. He has seen something. He does not know what it is. And he would really like someone to come find him before this chase is over.

The opening leans heavily into jump scares and creepy imagery, which seems to be the entire point. There are some great visuals as he runs through the endless halls before eventually being cornered. The recording ends, and that is where the actual movie begins.

We are introduced to Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who is talking with therapist Mary (Renate Reinsve). Clark is clearly unhappy with his life, especially his job as a furniture salesman. His embarrassing commercial we see him filming might be the most terrifying thing in the movie. Nothing says “I have lost control of my life” quite like pretending to be excited about selling couches.

When an electrician discovers a strange breaker at Clark’s store that appears to be connected to nothing, Clark decides the logical thing to do is investigate the creepy basement himself. After being thrown out of his house, he starts staying at the store to figure out what is happening with the strange electrical problems.

Naturally, he ends up messing with the fuse box and walking through a wall into another dimension.

The usual.

One thing I appreciated is that Clark actually makes a smart horror movie decision. Instead of just telling everyone about this impossible discovery and hoping they believe him, he brings his employees along and uses a camera to document the place. Finally, someone in a horror movie remembers that evidence is useful.

The Backrooms themselves are easily the highlight. The cinematography is excellent. The visual effects are solid. The movie does a great job of creating a feeling of isolation. Nice trifecta. There is something quite unsettling about being trapped in a place that seems endless and completely disconnected from reality.

Unfortunately, the story never reaches the same level as the atmosphere. I was interested in the idea that the Backrooms represented loneliness, depression, and feeling trapped in a life you don't want. There was something interesting there. Then the movie shifts direction, and the ending weakens a lot of what had been built throughout the runtime.

Since I have been binging the original The Twilight Zone recently, I also have to mention the episode “Little Girl Lost.” I watched it only a couple of weeks ago, and the similarities immediately stood out. A person disappearing into another dimension through an impossible opening in reality? My Twilight Zone alarm went off pretty quickly. Maybe Kane Parsons has talked about that influence before, but it was impossible for me not to notice.

Overall, Backrooms is a good horror movie that could have been great. The visuals, atmosphere, and concept are all there, but the story and ending hold it back. It is a fascinating idea that needed a stronger payoff.

Backrooms (2026)

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

Pitfall (2025) | Somewhere, my old Atari is smiling because Pitfall proves falling into spike pits is bad for your camping trip. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.2/10. Pitfall wastes absolutely no time throwing people into holes. We kick things off with a woman and her daughter sprinting down a lonely forest road while an old pickup truck gives chase. The opening credits are still rolling when I spot Randy Couture in the cast, so naturally I'm expecting somebody to tap out.

Mom and daughter duck into the woods, think they've finally escaped, and then a deer demonstrates why you should never trust random patches of forest floor. Straight into a spike pit it goes. If you suddenly had flashbacks to the old Pitfall! video game, you're not alone.

Of course, the truck never actually left. Mom's exit from the movie is delivered with satisfying practical effects, and the daughter ends up trapped in the pit herself.

Then we jump to daylight, where a completely different family is cruising along in an SUV, playing Never Have I Ever. You know you're watching a horror movie because they're smiling and having a good time. That's basically signing your own death warrant. Those same inconsiderate deer interrupt the road trip, and we meet Scott (Marshall Williams), who wakes from a nightmare revealing he was part of that opening family. He's now travelling with his sister Ashley (Alexandra Essoe) and their own families.

Translation: the body count bus has officially arrived.

From there, Pitfall settles comfortably into an old-school slasher groove. The killer isn't interested in sprinting after victims. They stalk slowly, methodically, and possess that familiar "you can knock me down but you certainly can't keep me there" durability that us horror fans know all too well.

The effects are mostly a decent mix of practical gore with CGI blood. For the majority of the runtime, the digital enhancements don't really stand out in a bad way. Unfortunately, once the rain arrives, so does some CGI blood that looks like it snuck in from a much cheaper movie. It doesn't completely ruin the scene, but it definitely caught my attention.

There is one extended dramatic sequence that had me scratching my head. Without spoiling anything, characters suddenly know a truck is coming and rush to get out of its way...despite having absolutely no logical reason to know it was approaching. Maybe someone unlocked horror movie clairvoyance for thirty seconds. It felt like the script needed the moment more than the story did.

There is a little sting at the end of Pitfall that can either serve as a last scare or as a hint for making a sequel out of it, whatever director James Kondelik decides to do.

Pitfall (2025)

At the end of the day, Pitfall isn't reinventing the slasher genre, but that doesn't mean it is a bad flick. It delivers traps, spikes, a persistent killer, ample gore for us horror fans, and just enough goofy moments. It's the kind of movie where you stop questioning why people keep wandering into obvious danger and instead follow right behind.

https://jackmeat.com/pitfall-2025/

Blowie (2025) | The body count takes forever to start, but the tallywhacker count wastes absolutely no time. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 1.7/10. Sometimes I think I'm about to watch some obscure little slasher. This time I accidentally watched guy-on-guy porn with a horror movie tacked on the end. Blowie follows a group of adult content creators who rent a mansion in the middle of nowhere to film content. After a tragic (and pretty funny) accident, they're stalked by a doll-faced killer known only as...Blowie.

Yep. That's the premise.

I only pressed play because it sounded gloriously stupid, and at a brisk 75 minutes, I figured, "How much damage can it do?"

The answer? Plenty.

The movie opens with upbeat music and full frontal male nudity. Not in a sexy way—one guy's simply making a dash to the toilet. From there, we're introduced to a house full of adult performers, dildos scattered around for photo shoots, and enough softcore guy-on-guy content to make you wonder if you've clicked the wrong streaming service.

Meanwhile, one bloke is literally being suffocated with lubricant while lying on the floor, and somehow nobody notices. Horror movie logic is alive and well.

Then a new guy joins the house, more fetishes get filmed, and before long someone suggests dumping a body in the nearest pond. Congratulations, we've finally stumbled into a horror setup... except the movie still seems far more interested in filming content than creating suspense.

If you've ever wondered what happens when an OnlyFans shoot collides with a bargain-bin slasher. I'll stop there because, NO, you haven't. But if so, this is it. I've seen horror movies with less nudity. And I've seen porn with a better plot. I lost count of the tallywhackers on screen. Bonus points if you know which classic comedy made "tallywhacker" part of my vocabulary.

The funniest part?

The filmmakers appear to remember they were making a horror movie at almost exactly the one-hour mark. Up until then, it's mostly adult content with occasional reminders that someone brought a killer along.

Once the kills finally arrive, they're practical enough. There's a little splatter, but nothing memorable. The mansion itself is probably the best thing in the movie.

Trying to find positives became a horror movie in itself.

To its credit, Blowie does attempt to make a point about the financial insecurity of digital sex workers and payment platforms freezing creators' income. It's a message that's understandable, but it's delivered with all the subtlety of a brick through a window. It never connected with me because I didn't give a crap about any of the characters.

In the end, Blowie somehow fails as both horror and comedy. The scares arrive far too late, the kills aren't worth the wait, and if you came looking for a slasher, you'll spend most of the runtime wondering when it plans to start.

If, however, your idea of a good time is watching a group of untalented performers make adult content before a killer briefly crashes the party...

Well, congratulations. You've finally found your movie.

Blowie (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/blowie-2025/