Marty Supreme (2025) | A beautifully made movie about a ping pong genius who’s such an ass I spent the whole time hoping he'd lose. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.1/10. Marty Supreme is another one of this year’s Best Picture nominees that I felt obligated to check out, if only to see what all the awards-season noise was about. Set in 1952, the film follows 23-year-old New Yorker Marty Mauser, played by Timothée Chalamet, a man who puts 110% into everything he does. Unfortunately for everyone around him, that energy is directed solely at his own selfish ambitions. Marty is convinced he could be the best table tennis player in the world, and he is dead set on proving it at the world championships in Japan, even though he has no money, no official support, and the personality of a cheese grater.

Marty works in his uncle’s shoe store while dreaming of ping pong glory, all while claiming he needs success to support his overbearing mother (played by Fran Drescher), who is currently supported by the very relatives Marty regularly inconveniences. Along the way, he manipulates just about everyone in his orbit, including his married childhood friend Rachel (Odessa A’zion), with whom he’s carrying on an affair without a second thought for the consequences. Marty genuinely believes that an American champion would elevate the sport’s profile, but the film makes it clear that his real motivation is ego first, everything else second.

To fund his unlikely journey, Marty tries to ingratiate himself with retired movie star Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her wealthy businessman husband, Milton Rockwell (Kevin O'Leary). Calling the scene where Marty hooks up with Kay "fiction" is a huge understatement. It would never happen. Marty’s schemes and hustles often play out over ping pong tables rather than pool tables, which makes for some entertaining and unusual sequences. It was especially satisfying to see how his first meeting with Endo (Koto Kawaguchi) ultimately plays out.

The film is very well shot and convincingly acted across the board. The 1950s set design feels authentic and lived-in, helping sell the period setting without drawing unnecessary attention to itself. The cinematography and overall production quality are undeniably strong, and Chalamet delivers a performance that proves just how convincing he can be as a complete jerk, since he doesn’t seem like one in real life, that’s actually a pretty impressive feat. The hustle sequences around the ping pong table are genuinely fun to watch and give the movie some personality.

Where Marty Supreme stumbles is in its script and flow. It’s just that the story feels so disjointed, and Marty’s character development is completely lacking by the end of it. He seems to learn nothing from his experiences and faces virtually no consequences for his actions. It’s hard to get behind him when he’s been so obnoxious throughout the entire thing that I found myself wanting him to fail at pretty much everything he tries.

The music choices also feel strangely out of place for a 1950s setting, even if any movie that sneaks in a track by Public Image Ltd. earns a few bonus points from me.

Ultimately, Marty Supreme is a technically impressive but emotionally unfulfilling film. It’s a well-made movie with a strong central performance, but it’s one that never provides you with any reason to ever care about its protagonist. Not my choice for Best Picture, no matter how hard the marketing tries to persuade me otherwise.

Marty Supreme (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/marty-supreme-2025/

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) | Less zombie nightmare, more human insanity, and somehow that makes it even more disturbing. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.3/10. If 28 Years Later proved the infected weren’t done ruining everyone’s day, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple proves the humans are doing a pretty solid job of that on their own.

We pick up right where things left off, with Spike (Alfie Williams) now on the mainland and running with Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal’s gang of Satan-worshipping sadists, because apparently surviving the apocalypse wasn’t chaotic enough. The film wastes zero time throwing Spike into a stabby fight-to-the-death with a pack of blond kids. Childhood: cancelled.

Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) remains a theatrical, unhinged nightmare of a villain. Part cult leader, part glam-rock warlord, part motivational speaker from hell. O’Connell plays him with such manic conviction that he’s both terrifying and weirdly hilarious. Every time he’s on screen, you feel like someone’s about to lose a limb or deliver a punchline. Whichever comes first.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) finds himself in a deeply unexpected relationship that could reshape this broken world. His storyline quietly becomes the emotional backbone of the film. Kelson’s insistence on seeing Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) not as a monster but as a being capable of connection is radical in a world ruled by carnage. In a franchise built on infection and collapse, empathy becomes the most subversive act of all. Fiennes plays it with an intensity that never tips into melodrama. Just quiet defiance against moral decay.

Erin Kellyman’s Jimmy Ink feels like a missed opportunity. She could have been a stronger survival mentor for Spike instead of hovering at the edges. And don’t let the brief stretch I jokingly called “My Zombie Buddy” fool you. This isn’t soft. And yes, I was talking to myself. The film is graphic, intense, and choreographed with brutal precision. The violence is relentless, but it’s staged beautifully, with practical effects and makeup work that make every wound feel personal.

Visually, it’s a stunner. That creepy forest makes a welcome return, still looking like it eats hikers for sport. The sound design and the strategic lack of sound amplify every breath and snap of bone. Then there’s the moment with the fingers meeting “Old Nick,” blasted perfectly with Iron Maiden. As someone lucky enough to see them live, that needle drop hit like a sledgehammer.

Interestingly, this entry barely feels like a zombie movie. The infected remain more as background than centerpiece. Rather, the series is guided by director Nia DaCosta and writer Alex Garland into a post-apocalyptic horror that is infused with politics and philosophical undertones. At times, a bit too obvious, but never boring. The convergence of the storylines of Spike and Kelson results in some electrifying repartee between Fiennes and O’Connell.

It’s stranger, richer territory for the franchise - heavier on gore, heavier on ideas, and bold enough to shift the focus away from the infected entirely. And judging by that ending? We’re not done yet.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

The apocalypse, it seems, still has sequels left in it. And if they can combine the human aspect with the zombie mayhem into a single flick, well, I cannot wait.

https://jackmeat.com/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-2026/

Blood Barn (2025) | Blood Barn is basically Evil Dead in a farmhouse (with barn), but with rope demons and acting that never found rehearsal. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.3/10. Blood Barn tries to kick off its summer of terror with a camera glide straight out of The Evil Dead playbook. Something unseen crashes out a window, glides across a field, and slithers into a barn before settling inside a locked chest. Moody? Yes. Original? Not in the slightest. But hey, at least they let you know immediately what shelf they’re pulling from.

To celebrate their final summer before college, Josie (Lena Redford) invites six fellow camp counselors to her family’s abandoned barn. Within two minutes of meeting this crew of soon-to-be-demised twenty-somethings, they’re already openly questioning why they’re even friends with Josie. Nothing says “tight-knit group” like eye-rolling your host before the beer’s warm.

Amanda (Andrea Bambina) stands out as the resident bully, and honestly, she plays it well. Her mean streak conveniently masks her eventual possession arc. Although when your face is painted blue and black like a Halloween clearance rack demon, subtlety isn’t exactly hiding. Still, she commits.

The film leans hard into its 80s homage vibe. We’ve got camp counselors (hello, Friday the 13th), a remote location, flimsy logic, and a whole lot of practical effects. The group of guys? Completely interchangeable. You could swap their names mid-scene, and I would not have noticed. When they strip down for a lake dip, the grass literally sucks their clothes underground. Nature said, “Nope.”

The family backstory, which is supposedly central to Josie’s connection to the evil, is frustratingly thin. There are old photos, ominous hints, and then… nothing. No real explanation of what crawled out of that chest either. It looks like demonic rope. Or snakes. Or haunted extension cords. Your guess is as good as mine.

The possession spreads rapidly, leaving one uninfected friend scrambling to contain the chaos. What follows is a string of cheesy, energetic confrontations. Cheap props. Flimsy effects. Questionable acting (okay, none of them can act). I mean, Rachel is played by Chloe Cherry, and if that name sounds like it is from another genre, you are correct, porn (sorry, kids, no link). But there’s an undeniable low-budget charm. The wine-dripping-lightbulb moment - clearly inspired by Evil Dead - looks like they poured it down the side instead of into it because… physics is hard.

There’s even a gender-flipped nod to the infamous forest assault scene, which at least shows they’re aware of horror history, even if they don’t quite elevate it.

Look, I can’t fault indie filmmakers for wanting to craft their own Evil Dead. That’s practically a rite of passage. But I can fault them for doing such a messy job, unless the mess was the point. And honestly? It might’ve been. There’s a self-aware wink buried under the rubber snakes and dollar-store demon makeup.

Blood Barn (2025)

For horror fans who enjoy spotting references and appreciating all practical effects, Blood Barn offers some sketchy fun. For anyone else? It’ll feel like being trapped in that barn yourself, waiting for something interesting to crawl out of the chest.

https://jackmeat.com/blood-barn-2025/

Mutants of Nature Cove (2024) | You almost have to admire the naked cast's confidence, because everything else, especially the effects, is impressively terrible. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 2.1/10. Mutants of Nature Cove opens with what looks like stock footage of nuclear scientists conducting suspiciously generic “testing” at a beach, along with a few vague hints about radioactive contamination. It’s the closest thing the film has to a production value highlight, and also about the last time anyone appears on screen wearing clothes.

From there, the movie follows a group of party girls who drag shy Beth (Geneva Robinson) along to a supposedly secluded nude beach that’s crawling with hallucination-inducing mutants and one extremely committed spell-casting woman trying to resurrect her dead husband. Beth eventually decides that the soul-stealing mutants need to be sent back to hell permanently, but getting to that point is a long, awkward journey through one of the cheapest-looking productions you’re likely to see.

It becomes obvious almost immediately that the “beach” exists mostly inside a computer. The cast looks like they’ve been dropped in front of a green screen and told to pretend sand is between their toes. The backgrounds rarely match the lighting on the actors, and the illusion collapses constantly. The extras appear to have been filmed somewhere else entirely and pasted into scenes with all the subtlety of a middle-school video project. If you enjoy spotting visual effects mistakes, this movie turns it into a game. Around the 46-minute mark, I saw the green screen bleed-through start appearing in people’s hair, and from there, the errors pile up as if the effects team simply gave up.

The sound design somehow makes things worse. Dialogue echoes with the hollow acoustics of an elevator shaft, which is impressive considering the characters are supposed to be outdoors. Conversations drift in and out with little ambient noise, making every exchange feel awkwardly staged. It doesn’t help that the acting often looks like performers waiting for off-camera direction. Beth spends multiple scenes staring blankly into space in what appears to be less “deep emotional turmoil” and more waiting for Beau Mann to yell action so she knows when to swing the prop weapon.

Mutants of Nature Cove (2024)

The mutants themselves are spectacularly terrible, highlighted by dinosaur-headed snake creatures that look like unfinished animation tests. When the entire beach population joins in to fight them, the results are downright pathetic, with actors flailing at empty air while digital creatures float unconvincingly in front of them.

The movie makes constant attempts at landing jokes, but most of them fail. There is even a meta joke about how the beach is a great location to film a movie, followed by a weak dig at exploitation that somehow recognizes what the movie is doing without being clever or self-aware.

The oddest thing about Mutants of Nature Cove is the tone. Despite the nudity and the plethora of slow motion lotion and insect repellent application scenes, it feels strangely innocent instead of sleazy. The cast deserves some credit for their sheer confidence, because performing in a project like this requires a level of commitment most actors wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot boom mic. It appears as if only a handful of actors were ever filmed at one time and then composited together.

Unfortunately, confidence alone can’t save a movie this poorly executed. The effects are awful, the performances are stiff, and the production values barely qualify as amateur. Aside from my admiration for the cast’s willingness to go all-in on a very questionable project, Mutants of Nature Cove is simply a bad movie from start to finish. And if you’re expecting a trailer to preview what you’re getting into, be warned. With a cast that’s fully naked about 99.9% of the runtime, I really didn't think that was going to happen.

https://jackmeat.com/mutants-of-nature-cove-2024/

Hellfire (2026) | Grabbed this for the cast alone, and honestly, it’s a scrappy little 80s-style vigilante throwback for STV fans. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.8/10. I picked Hellfire for one reason and one reason only. The cast. You put Stephen Lang, Harvey Keitel, and Dolph Lundgren in the same small-town action flick, and I’m at least renting. And let’s be honest, Scottie Thompson isn’t exactly a stranger to my TV after all those years on NCIS.

The setup? A small, dying Southern town called Rondo is being terrorized by a politically connected drug kingpin. The locals are exhausted, worn down, and afraid. And they look it. Hope arrives in the form of a mysterious stranger known only as “the MAN.” Yes, capital letters. And yes, writer Richard Lowry goes to almost comical lengths to make sure Stephen Lang never gets an actual name. Not a nickname. Just a throwaway alias, Nomado. The commitment is impressive.

We open in a diner where Lena (Thompson) works for her father, which conveniently allows the town riffraff to stroll in and establish their bullying credentials. It doesn’t take long for things to feel familiar. The tension-filled meeting with Sheriff Wiley (Lundgren) has strong First Blood energy - small-town law enforcement sizing up an outsider who clearly didn’t wander in by accident. The broader setup smells heavily of Road House, too. I’m fairly certain Lowry has both on Blu-ray within arm’s reach.

Then we cut to an older man playing piano, because of course we do, and surprise! Keitel is the father of the local town bully. It’s a nice touch, but criminally underused. Keitel deserved more screen time. When you cast Harvey Keitel, you don’t keep him in the corner like a decorative lamp.

Director Isaac Florentine clearly knows his lone-vigilante cinema. The first big gunfight/car chase combo has serious The A-Team vibes, meaning Uzis blazing, shotguns pumping, enough bullets to restock a small army… and somehow no one gets hit. It’s almost nostalgic. But after that, the movie finds a mean streak and suddenly remembers bullets are, in fact, lethal. Bodies start dropping, and there’s even a surprisingly decent hand-to-hand fight scene mixed in.

The story itself? Completely by-the-numbers. You know this story of the battered town and the reluctant hero from before, and this one doesn’t deviate an inch from the formula. It’s highly implausible, at times bordering on ridiculous, and has one cringe-worthy war flashback that looks like it was taken straight from the ’80s straight-to-video bargain bin.

Hellfire (2026)

And honestly? That’s kind of the charm. Hellfire just feels like a lost 1988 VHS rental. Gritty, simple, and unapologetic. I wasn’t mad I spent 95 minutes with it. I just won’t be revisiting Rondo anytime soon. If you have a soft spot for old-school vigilante flicks and recognizable tough-guy faces, you might squeeze some fun out of this one. Just don’t expect it to reinvent the genre. It’s too busy paying tribute to it.

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

Diabolic (2025) | Bravely confronting your past is commendable. Doing it by camping at the cursed cabin? Not my first choice. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.4/10. That poster caught my eye a few months back when I popped Diabolic on the weekly slider. What we have is hope for a miracle cure, which eventually turns into “maybe let’s not mess with cursed witches today.” Inspired by true events, right after a quick and deeply disturbing Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints fact drop, the movie opens with a creepy ritual full of ominous chanting and imagery that screams, “This will not end well.” Spoiler: it does not.

We jump ten years ahead to Eise (Elizabeth Cullen), who is understandably still haunted by her past. Earlier, we saw that she was forced into a baptism at a remote cabin. So naturally, the adult solution is to… go camping outside that same cabin. Nothing says emotional healing like pitching a tent next to your trauma.

The plan involves some kind of séance-slash-drug-induced spiritual ceremony designed to confront the past head-on. If you’re a fan of unexplained black ooze, shadowy demon figures, and “what exactly are we summoning here?” energy, you’ll get your fix. The visuals in these moments are effective, leaning into that grimy, occult aesthetic. When the horror shows up, it shows up.

But getting there takes a minute. Actually, it takes most of the runtime. The story moves at a slow simmer until the final ten minutes suddenly decide, “Oh right, we’re a horror movie.” The last stretch cranks up the intensity with some painful-looking practical effects and bursts of violence that feel appropriately nasty. If the entire film had matched that energy, we’d be talking about a much stronger flick.

John Kim plays Adam, the supportive boyfriend, while Mia Challis plays the best friend who, intentionally or not, looks genuinely bored for large portions of the movie. It almost becomes its own subplot: “Is she possessed, or just over this camping trip?”

Director Daniel J. Phillips does a solid job maintaining suspense within a very by-the-numbers cult framework. There’s some witch lore sprinkled in, but it never fully digs into anything fresh. The film hits most of the horror tropes you’d expect. Isolated cabin, ritual gone wrong, stupid decisions, you get the idea.

Visually, though, it’s strong. Michael Tessari makes South Australia convincingly stand in for Utah, and the cinematography gives the film a polished, moody look. The practical gore effects are well done; they’re just used a little too sparingly to leave a lasting mark.

Overall, Diabolic is watchable and competently made, but it doesn’t do much to stand out in the crowded “cursed cult witch” subgenre. A couple of decent jump scares, some solid practical effects, and then, and you knew this was coming, an ending that lightly teases a sequel. Apparently, evil black ooze is a franchise opportunity now.

Diabolic (2025)

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

Mercy (2026) | It’s basically “prove you didn’t do it” to an AI judge who already kinda thinks you did. Log me in. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.3/10. In Mercy, the near future apparently decided that the best way to streamline the justice system was to hand it over to a shiny AI named “Mercy.” Because nothing says compassion like a machine that acts as judge, jury, and executioner. Subtle.

Chris Pratt plays Detective Chris Raven, who finds himself strapped to a chair on trial for murdering his wife. He has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to the AI system he once publicly supported. Yes, the same system that is now very politely preparing to kill him. That’s what I call a rough day at work.

The idea itself is strong right out of the gate. Prove your innocence to an algorithm or face execution. The Mercy system sounds less like AI and more like ICE without the “Intelligence.” It calculates guilt in decimal points, adjusts probabilities on the fly, and somehow treats discovering a whole new suspect like it’s a minor clerical update. In what universe does finding another viable suspect only drop your guilt level by 0.8 points? This thing is supposedly built on millions of prior cases. I’ve seen fantasy football apps with better analytics.

Raven’s defense strategy doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either. His go-to argument of “I couldn’t” isn’t the mic-drop he seems to think it is. It’s less an airtight alibi and more a shrug emoji. To be fair, the guy went off the rails and dove headfirst into the bottle after his partner, Ray (Kenneth Choi), was killed. Yes, that Kenneth Choi from 9-1-1. So the emotional instability angle doesn’t exactly scream “wrongly accused saint.”

What does work surprisingly well is the tension. For a film where the protagonist is literally tied to a chair for the better part of the running time, it does keep the pace going. The countdown clock does a lot of the heavy lifting, but it gets the job done. The pacing is extremely fast, sometimes almost too fast. You get quick bursts of character info, then bam, on to the next revelation. There’s barely time to process one plot point before another breadcrumb gets tossed your way.

The relationship between Pratt and Judge Maddox, played by Rebecca Ferguson, is one of the better aspects of this flick. Their growing partnership, which is both professional and slightly personal, is a much-needed addition to the film, which could have otherwise been a completely mechanical thriller. Ferguson brings that robotic presence that balances Pratt’s frantic energy.

The downside? The 90-minute limit and all the tools ot prove yourself (which, conveniently, only the accused can access - so I guess innocent people don't get cool tech perks?) leave little room to truly know the characters. It’s all urgency, all the time. Effective for suspense, not so much for depth.

That said, as a high-concept whodunnit with an inherent ticking clock, Mercy is entertaining. It handles its twists well enough to keep you guessing, even if the logic behind the AI sometimes seems like it was written in a lunch break coding session. If you're in the mood for something interesting with a possible caution flag and aren't particular about a few glaring algorithmic errors, Mercy is definitely worth watching.

Mercy (2026)

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