Appendage (2023) | Apparently, anxiety wasn't terrifying enough, so Appendage decided to turn it into a disgusting little creature. Fitting #Shocktober fun. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.5/10. Here is a horror flick for Huluween that popped up, so naturally, I figured we may as well check it out before it disappears into the streaming abyss. Appendage starts off like it is going to take itself very seriously, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, decides that maybe a little comedy would be fun. Well, okay then. Let’s see where this goes.

Surprisingly, it goes somewhere pretty decent.

Directed by Anna Zlokovic in her feature-film debut, Appendage follows Hannah (Hadley Robinson), a young fashion designer whose already stressful life takes a seriously bizarre turn when her darkest thoughts begin manifesting as a gruesome, living appendage. Yes, an actual appendage. Because apparently regular anxiety wasn't horrifying enough.

The movie initially presents itself as a psychological horror story, and there is some genuinely creepy stuff going on. Then the comedy starts creeping in, and at first, I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. The shift in tone felt a little out of place, but as the story progressed, I began to understand what the film was trying to do.

At its core, Appendage uses its horror-comedy setup as a not-so-subtle way of visualizing mental illness, anxiety, self-doubt, and the darker thoughts that can consume someone. It isn't exactly the most conventional way to tackle those subjects, but it gives the movie something more interesting to work with than simply having a monster chase people around for 94 minutes.

The story really starts to come together once Hannah meets Claudia (Emily Hampshire) and the bigger picture begins to emerge. Once everything is revealed, I had a pretty good idea where the movie was going, and I actually enjoyed the direction it took. I'm not going to spoil that part because discovering exactly what is going on is key, and I don't like doing that.

What surprised me most was how well the horror and comedy eventually started working together. The humor that initially seemed like it had wandered in from a different movie gradually made more sense within the story. It gives Appendage a strange, quirky personality that keeps it from becoming just another psychological horror movie.

The cast also does a solid job. Robinson carries most of the film as Hannah, and the increasingly bizarre situation she finds herself in gives her plenty to work with. Hampshire's appearance helps push the story in the direction it ultimately needs to go, and the supporting cast adds to the strange little world the movie creates.

My biggest hesitation was the actual Appendage itself. The visual design is certainly...something. I wasn't immediately convinced that this weird fleshy nightmare was going to work, but eventually I just accepted that this was the movie we had been given and went along for the ride.

The closest comparison I could come up with was Malignant, mainly because both movies take what initially appears to be a fairly straightforward horror setup and eventually reveal that there is considerably more going on underneath. Appendage obviously isn't operating on quite the same insane level, but it has that same feeling of, “Okay, I see what you're doing now.”

For Zlokovic's first feature-length film, I was actually pretty impressed. Appendage isn't going to reinvent horror, and the uneven tone won't work for everyone, but it takes some chances and manages to blend horror, comedy, and psychological themes into something considerably more entertaining than I expected.

Appendage (2023)

Appendage is not a perfect horror movie by any stretch, but it is an interesting little horror-comedy that caught me off guard. If you like your horror with a healthy dose of bizarre humor and don't mind a movie taking a few strange turns along the way, this one is worth checking out.

https://jackmeat.com/appendage-2023/

The Nice Ones (2026) | The Nice Ones isn't terrible, but it's definitely the kind of #Shocktober movie you'll forget about before the credits finish. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.9/10. The Nice Ones starts with a gloomy stretch of farmland, where a man stands staring into the sky while holding a rifle. Because nothing says “welcome to the countryside” quite like a bloke armed and waiting for aliens, demons, or possibly just an unusually aggressive weather forecast. We then cut to a woman indoors watching some sketchy television before our rifle-wielding friend enters and she exits humanity. The credits kick in over some surprisingly upbeat music, because apparently the movie wants to have a little fun before things get weird.

Kate (Joelle Rae) and Dale (Emrhys Cooper) are traveling a considerable distance to meet up with friends at a remote countryside house. And credit where it’s due, at least they aren't staying in a mouldy cabin surrounded by trees. This is a pretty nice house, which immediately makes me suspicious. Horror movies have taught us that nice houses are basically giant targets with mortgages.

During the drive, Kate spots a strange light in the sky, but Dale isn't particularly interested. There are also various posts, flashes of text and other little details during the opening credits suggesting Kate has some history with mental health problems. Did you catch those “not human” articles? If not, don't worry, The Nice Ones will make sure you understand that Kate has things going on. She's also dating her former therapist, which seems like a fantastic decision. Especially for someone who is about to spend a weekend discovering that her friends may no longer be entirely human.

Sure enough, something starts changing the people around her. They become unnervingly calm, polite, helpful, and, worst of all, nice. It's essentially a body-snatcher story where the alien invasion has apparently discovered customer service training. The glowing eyes are a fun touch, and there's a decent idea buried somewhere in the middle of all this. Unfortunately, the movie never really develops it into anything particularly memorable.

Kate is obviously being set up as the final girl, while Dale spends a good portion of the movie demonstrating why surviving a horror film requires more than simply having functioning legs. The biggest problem, though, is the acting. The dramatic struggles and confrontations frequently feel awkward rather than frightening, making it difficult to care in what should be desperate situations.

There are a few bloody moments, although much of the splatter has a distinctly CGI flavor. And the whole thing is extremely predictable. The script feels like it needed another couple of polishing passes before anyone yelled “Action!”

The Nice Ones isn't terrible. There are much worse horror movies out there, and the basic concept has some potential. Unfortunately, there are also plenty that do this sort of thing considerably better. By the end, the biggest mystery isn't what happened to everyone else. It's how this movie became so aggressively...nice.

The Nice Ones (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/the-nice-ones-2026/

Ghost in the Cell (2026) | Ghost in the Cell mixes brutal practical gore, political jokes, and prisoners dancing. #Shocktober treat in select theaters now. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.1/10. I already knew going in that Joko Anwar was behind Ghost in the Cell, and if you know his work, particularly the Satan's Slaves films, you know you're probably in for some quality horror. The opening certainly doesn't disappoint.

Upbeat music plays as the camera swoops around an office before settling on Dimas (Endy Arfian), a writer working on a story about nine workers who have died near the edge of the Nehea Forest. He's under a deadline, which means I should probably get used to reading subtitles instead of taking notes. He submits the article to an angry boss who hates it, and shortly afterward that boss is violently stabbed to death. Then the returning employee gets a rather unpleasant ride on the ceiling fan, complete with dangling entrails. And then the title appears.

Okay, this looks like my kind of #Shocktober fun.

Then we're taken to Labuhan Angsana prison, where the guards quickly demonstrate that "fun" is the last thing these inmates are having. Oppression, violence, and general misery are the daily routine, and things get considerably worse when Dimas arrives and prisoners start dying in increasingly horrific ways.

Eventually, the inmates learn there's a ghost hunting people with the most negative aura or energy. Naturally, the obvious solution is to start doing good deeds and stay positive.

Easy enough, right? Except they're in prison.

Trying to maintain positive energy while being surrounded by injustice, violence, and corrupt officials turns out to be somewhat difficult. Eventually, the inmates realize that staying alive means doing something even more difficult. Uniting against their oppressors. And apparently that includes fighting the supernatural ones too.

The horror here is fantastic. There are some wonderfully creative practical gore effects, and the mutilations can get downright disturbing. But what really surprised me was how well the comedy is woven into all of it. This isn't satire disguised as horror; the story remains firmly in horror territory while occasionally dropping something absolutely ridiculous into the middle of the carnage.

The dance scene is a perfect example. It is hilarious, completely works within the story, and somehow makes sense because the prisoners are literally trying to avoid generating negative energy. And yes, stick around through the credits because apparently the inmates and wardens decided they weren't done dancing yet.

The cast is also excellent across the board, with performances that sell both the disturbing moments and the absurd ones. The result is a surprisingly well-balanced horror comedy that mixes violence, bizarre humor, and some very pointed political jokes.

Underneath all the blood and laughter, Anwar is making a pretty clear critique of a corrupt system that punishes vulnerable people while protecting those with power. Somehow, Ghost in the Cell manages to make that point while also giving us ghosts, exploding bodies, and a prison full of people trying desperately to become nicer.

Ghost in the Cell (2026)

Not exactly your typical self-improvement program.

https://jackmeat.com/ghost-in-the-cell-2026/

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026) | Camp Miasma is a bloody, self-indulgent love letter to '80s slashers & when the movie starts shooting blood everywhere, I know #Shocktober is here. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.4/10. After years of half-baked sequels, the Camp Miasma franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original’s star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. And Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is born.

It starts with a shaky first-person view of some heavy breather wandering around a film shoot. Cut to a couple walking in the forest, where they are attacked by someone wearing what appears to be a cube on his head. The first victim gets stabbed into a blood geyser, which is really the only way I can describe it, while the woman is then speared to death in a bloody outrage. As the title appears over this weird-looking killer, I can already tell I am going to enjoy this #Shocktober Cannes Film Festival treat.

The credits show us the Camp Miasma trilogy covers from their VHS releases, and keen horror fans will recognize plenty of Friday the 13th-inspired designs. The ads also ask, “What ever happened to Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson?)” We will get that answer shortly. For now, we also get to peruse the merchandise featuring the square-headed killer, Little Death (Jack Haven). There is some great horror nostalgia hiding in those credits, so pay attention. I rewound them because apparently I have nothing better to do.

The story begins on Tuesday, and right away the movie seems determined to make everyone look suspicious. That music isn't exactly helping. We meet Kris (Hannah Einbinder) on her way to visit the reclusive star. By Wednesday, she is at the infamous Camp Tivoli, where some of the movies were filmed. And considering I lived about 40 minutes from Crystal Lake, IL, you damn well know I took a trip out there to see it. Even though the city had nothing to do with the movies. Story for another review.

Kris meets Billy to discuss her ideas and her sexuality. It gets late and snowy, so she stays, and we eventually hit Thursday, which is where I'll stop with the days before this turns into a calendar.

The casting is great, including her agent, played by Sarah Sherman from Saturday Night Live. I loved the grainy footage from the previous Camp Miasma movies that Kris and Billy rewatch. We see a young Kris, played by Amanda Fix, learning about and trying to survive Little Death. I suspect there is considerably more going on with Billy's relationship to these old movies than simple nostalgia.

Jane Schoenbrun is clearly a horror buff, filling the movie with subtle references. That Return of the Living Dead reference isn't exactly subtle, but I'll allow it. I enjoyed this journey through self-discovery much more than I Saw the TV Glow, although this is just as self-indulgent. I'm not going to pretend I can decipher all the personal shit Schoenbrun may be working through, but there is plenty of it.

The effects are often practical for that '80s feel, with some digital enhancement blended in well enough that I didn't care. The kills are fun. That tetherball kill was great. These people really like shooting blood out of things.

The acting is good, especially between Anderson and Einbinder. The film comments on its own attempts to distance itself from slasher clichés while ironically embracing those same tropes by the conclusion.

And it works. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is clearly trying to be more than a standard slasher, but thankfully never forgets that a weird guy with a cube on his head murdering people is still a pretty damn good time. It's very well made, bloody, funny, and occasionally far too pleased with itself. The ending also gives us a wonderfully relaxed sequel tease without beating us over the head with it.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)

I'm not demanding another Camp Miasma and judging by Schoenbrun's mood in this flick, I won't be getting one.

But I wouldn't complain if I did.

https://jackmeat.com/teenage-sex-and-death-at-camp-miasma-2026/

Ice Cream Man (2026) | Starting off #Shocktober with Ice Cream Man, because my childhood memories of chasing the ice cream truck need GORE and bomb pops. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.1/10. An idyllic summer town descends into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet treats with horrifying results. All I needed to know about Ice Cream Man was that Eli Roth was involved. That was enough to get me in the van. Probably not the best decision, considering what happens to the children who climb aboard.

The movie opens with an old-school ice cream truck tooling across the bridge into Bayleen Bay, accompanied by that low-key music that practically whispers, "Something bad is going to happen." Then it switches to optimistic summer music as we see kids at the park and a local Little League game. I remember those days. Seeing the ice cream man during games and hoping to catch him after the final inning. Of course, knowing this is a horror movie makes watching the creepy-looking Ice Cream Man (Ari Millen) hand out treats to every kid considerably more entertaining. Free ice cream! What could possibly go wrong?

Well...basically everything.

The movie quickly establishes the kid hierarchy. Bullies, geeks, popular girls, and clueless parents. You know exactly who is going to be annoying, who is going to be annoying and murdered, and which adults are going to remain spectacularly useless. Eli Roth plays the dad to Lizzie (Sarah Abbott) and Jared (Charlie Zeltzer), while Karen Cliche plays Mom.

It gets bloody and mean-spirited very quickly. One cone and the killing begins. From there, it's practical gore, senseless violence and little cartoon animations celebrating the kids' increasingly horrific behavior. It's ridiculous, nasty and exactly the kind of thing I wanted from this movie.

I did have one important logistical question. Where the hell were those kids hiding in that freezer? There are apparently dimensions in that thing that physics hasn't told us about yet. Bit of an oopsie.

But I had fun with it. I'm a fan of Roth's unapologetic style, and Ice Cream Man doesn't pretend to be something it isn't. It's bloody, violent, and gloriously stupid. If you came looking for Oscar-worthy dialogue and a labyrinthine mystery, that's on you. You walked into the horror ice cream truck expecting a five-course meal.

I also liked the little twist on the usual Hollywood ending. Finally, some balls. Even the after-credit scene doesn't exist just to yell, "SEQUEL!" at you.

Unfortunately, the movie comes with an AI controversy. In an interview with Comicbasics.com, Roth discussed the use of generative AI. My take? You are using AI. I keep seeing you hugging your favorite celebrity. That's reality. What annoys me is the apparent tap-dancing around exactly what was used. I can't find a video of Roth saying it, but he was reportedly quoted as saying he drew the animation before later acknowledging that some scenes used AI.

Whatever. A couple of old-school animation sequences apparently got some AI assistance, and I wondered if the Ice Cream Man's flashback did too. It doesn't make or break the movie for me.

But Eli, buddy...just say you used it. Nobody expects the Ice Cream Man to be completely organic.

Ice Cream Man (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/ice-cream-man-2026/

Runner (2026) | My buddy-movie kick continues, and Runner gives us Ritchson & Wilson delivering a liver down under while everyone tries their best to kill them. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.7/10. Runner starts with a nice-looking oceanside shot of Brisbane, Australia, which immediately gives us the impression we're about to watch an everyday Australian thriller. Naturally, this lasts approximately five minutes.

We meet Hank Malone, played by Alan Ritchson, sitting on a boat and attempting to learn French on his phone. Because apparently even action heroes have Duolingo streaks to maintain. He then hops into his truck and heads to an AA meeting to collect his one-year coin. Gotta give the main character some backstory.

After another nagging call from Iggy, Hank gets his latest assignment and, most importantly, permission to "kick ass if necessary." He seems to specialize in odd delivery jobs, so I'm not entirely sure how much ass-kicking will actually be required. That changes pretty quickly when an urgent medical package comes his way with some serious money attached.

Meanwhile, we meet Ben Bishop, played by Owen Wilson, relaxing on a private jet. We also meet Kate (Leila George), who is at the hospital with her daughter and discovers that a desperately needed organ is finally on the way.

I think you see where this is going. Ben is the organ delivery guy. Hank is his delivery driver. Congratulations, you've got a buddy movie.

Of course, transporting a liver across Australia couldn't possibly remain a simple delivery. Before long, we're dealing with cartel goons, a suspicious number of guns for a country where the biggest threat normally seems to be a kangaroo, and a surprising amount of foreign-language dialogue without subtitles. Then there are the Australian criminals, including bikers, which Aussies hilariously call bikies. Yes, bikies. Apparently even Australian organized crime gets its own adorable local terminology.

The result is a pretty damn fun ride. Ritchson moves through every environment like the entire planet was specifically designed as a collection of weapons. A bike? Weapon. Car? Weapon. Wall? Probably weapon. Someone else's furniture? Give him thirty seconds.

Owen Wilson brings his usual humor and recognizable mannerisms, which works well alongside Ritchson's increasingly violent delivery-service routine. I especially like how the movie treats transporting a liver through a criminal-infested Australia as though this is a perfectly reasonable Tuesday afternoon.

There are no awards being handed out here, but action fans will get a damn good car chase through the Gold Coast and a violent-ass last fight. I thoroughly enjoyed Mayday, and Runner is right there with it for me. It's ridiculous, occasionally heartfelt, and just self-aware enough to make the whole thing work.

nerRunner (2026)

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

Stormageddon (2015) | Stormageddon is definitely cheap as hell, but I had way more fun with this ridiculous computer-causes-the-apocalypse nonsense than I expected. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.0/10. I went into Stormageddon with reasonable expectations, and by “reasonable expectations” I mean I had already accepted that I was probably going to see some questionable CGI, questionable science, and at least one scene that looked like it had been rendered on a laptop that was also being used to run someone's iTunes library.

The premise is actually pretty fun. Echelon, a super-powerful computer program, becomes sentient after learning enough about human behavior and promptly decides that humanity would probably be better off being destroyed. After taking control of America's online infrastructure, Echelon gains the ability to manipulate the weather, trigger earthquakes, and generally cause the sort of nationwide chaos that makes you wonder why someone didn't just unplug the damn thing.

And because apparently stopping an evil weather-controlling AI requires robots, we get Adam and Cain, played by John Hennigan and Joseph Gatt, respectively. And yes, WWE fans, that John Hennigan. I couldn't help but spend part of the movie thinking, “Hang on, isn't that John Morrison/Nitro/Mundo,etc?” before remembering that this is Stormageddon and normal expectations have already left the building.

Bonus: Why bother watching the trailer when you can just watch the whole damn movie? LOL.

This is very obviously a low-budget production, and the visual effects aren't exactly going to be threatening the Oscars anytime soon. The helicopter sequence against the stormy sky around the 20-minute mark is particularly magnificent. LMAO. It looks so amateurish that I wondered if someone had accidentally left the green screen visible. And then the movie keeps showing the shot again. And again. Apparently the filmmakers weren't sure we'd noticed it the first time, so they helpfully keep bringing it back like, “HEY! LOOK AT OUR HELICOPTER!”

But here's the weird thing. I actually had a decent time with this.

The visual effects may be dodgy, but there's a certain creativity to what they're attempting, and the movie has enough ridiculousness going on to keep things moving. It's one of those films where you can see exactly where the money ran out, but you can also see the filmmakers trying to squeeze every last drop of spectacle out of what they had.

Is it good? Not really. Is it polished? Absolutely not. Is it remotely convincing as a giant technological/weather apocalypse? Let's not get carried away.

But I enjoyed it considerably more than I expected to, which is probably the nicest thing I can say about Stormageddon. It's a bargain-basement, straight-to-video-style sci-fi disaster flick that knows how to entertain if you're willing to meet it at its level.

Stormageddon (2015)

https://jackmeat.com/stormageddon-2015/

Mayday (2026) | There are fighter jets, Soviet Russia, Van Halen, Top Gun references and Kenneth Branagh beating people up. Need I say more? #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.7/10. Lieutenant Troy Kelly (Ryan Reynolds) is taking part in a top-secret surveillance mission over Soviet airspace when things go wrong, leaving him stranded in the Russian wilderness. Now you know where the Mayday comes from. He is eventually rescued by Nick (Kenneth Branagh), a Russian native with a rather unexpected fondness for America, and the two discover that perhaps the Cold War doesn't have to involve quite so much cold after all.

The movie opens with Kelly lying in the snow, desperately trying to pry his helmet off and looking very much like this is not how he expected his day to go. Before he can have a confrontation with another man who has discovered the wreckage, he passes out. Then it's time to Jump over to some Van Halen as a couple of jets come screaming across the Pacific Ocean in 1987.

That's right, we're going back to the Cold War. About 40 years into it, in case the fighter jets, Soviet airspace and aggressive amount of '80s music hadn't tipped you off.

Eventually, we find out exactly why Kelly ends up face-down in the snow, and thankfully, we don't have to wait two hours for the answer. You'll know by around the 20-minute mark. The sequence explaining how he gets there is actually pretty damn good, although it does involve an insanely silly scene designed to establish Kelly's personality. It's not exactly buzzing the tower, but think along those lines, only considerably more ridiculous. Apparently, Cold War fighter pilots had a slightly different definition of "responsible aviation."

Nick, the Russian who finds Kelly, was briefly seen earlier and turns out to be a huge fan of the USA. Naturally, he also happens to own a bootleg VHS copy of Top Gun. Because if you're going to make an '80s movie about an American fighter pilot crashing into Soviet territory, there was absolutely no way Top Gun wasn't going to show up somewhere. LOL.

From there, Mayday settles into a very entertaining '80s buddy-cop formula, except instead of two cops, we've got an American fighter pilot and a Russian ex-KGB badass trying not to kill each other long enough to become friends.

Reynolds is, well, Ryan Reynolds. He's playing the wisecracking smartass you've seen him play approximately 47 times before, and as usual, it works. The real surprise is Branagh. He is completely out of character as a ridiculously capable, ass-kicking former KGB officer. And he's fantastic. He's funny, intimidating, charming, and somehow makes the whole ridiculous premise work. It's another reminder that Kenneth Branagh can apparently do just about anything with acting involved.

There are plenty of '80s songs for the nostalgia crowd, some nice action sequences, and several genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. It's not trying to reinvent the Cold War movie, but it doesn't need to.

Mayday is simply a fun movie. It's silly, occasionally very silly, but it knows exactly what kind of trip it wants to take us on. Throw in Reynolds, Branagh, fighter jets, Soviet Russia, bootleg Top Gun and a healthy dose of 80s hits, and you've got a pretty entertaining couple of hours.

Mayday (2026)

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

Bloody Tennis (2026) | This isn't really a slasher about tennis players, but it does prove that professional tennis involving blood can be entertaining. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.1/10. Being a fan of tennis in general, I obviously had to see what happens when someone decides the sport needs a horror makeover. Bloody Tennis wastes absolutely no time answering that question. The Shudder logo appears, followed by a bloody-faced woman on a tennis court during a night session getting absolutely drilled by a ball machine. Someone casually strolls over to drag her away, and off we go. Apparently, that's just how tennis academy problems are handled.

Sophie (Sandra Guldberg Kampp) is dropped off at an elite tennis academy somewhere in Southern Europe, where she meets the other girls, an ornery old coach and the woman running the place, who immediately makes it clear that Sophie is approximately three seconds away from being told to fuck off. Her first assignment is basically win or go home, which seems like a slightly extreme version of the usual "work hard and believe in yourself" sporting philosophy.

The girls are subjected to some pretty damn evil hazing. There is some mysterious red shit everyone is drinking that immediately gags Sophie, and despite the movie's willingness to explain plenty of other bizarre things, I don't recall ever finding out what the hell that stuff actually was. I'll go out on a limb and say some sort of blood smoothie.

They also confiscate everyone's cellphones when they arrive, which is reasonable enough for an isolated academy full of sociopaths. Then someone has to physically carry a corded telephone out to the tennis courts. That's when you know these people are serious about isolation. Forget putting the Wi-Fi password on the welcome pamphlet. These weirdos have gone full 1987.

Unfortunately, Sophie isn't exactly easy to root for either. The one girl, Heidi (Helena Zengel), who doesn't treat her like garbage from the moment she arrives, gets treated like garbage by Sophie anyway. It makes the protagonist's journey somewhat difficult to get behind when I was occasionally thinking, "Well, maybe the evil tennis academy has a point."

If you're expecting a conventional slasher where someone methodically hunts down tennis players, Bloody Tennis isn't really that movie. It's considerably stranger, with a distinctly European feel courtesy of its German production. The final match in particular had me wondering exactly what the hell I was watching. The practical effects, however, look bloody good, with the movie putting its gruesome moments together without relying on digital effects.

I was also never entirely sure what the obsession with leeches was about. I understand that professional athletes have to be hungry for success, but I'm fairly certain the tennis circuit isn't actually this dog-eat-dog. Or, in this case, person-eat-person.

Underneath all the blood and bodily fluids, Bloody Tennis is really a cynical look at the lengths parents and coaches will go to manufacture the next sporting superstar. It's a dark bit of social satire about toxic sporting culture and the ridiculous pressure placed on young athletes to succeed.

The movie takes its horror seriously enough, but there's still a horror-comedy lurking underneath it all. Whether intentionally or because watching a bunch of psychopaths run a tennis academy is inherently farking funny. It isn't quite the bloody tennis massacre I was hoping for, but at least nobody can accuse it of playing a safe baseline game.

Bloody Tennis (2026)

I just wish somebody had explained the red drink.

https://jackmeat.com/bloody-tennis-2026/

One Last Shot (2026) | One Last Shot is perfectly serviceable, but you'll probably forget most of it before the end credits finish. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.7/10. I have always been a fan of Scott Adkins, so seeing that One Last Shot pairs him up with Dolph Lundgren immediately got my attention. Two guys who have spent decades beating the living hell out of increasingly unfortunate henchmen? Sign me up. Unfortunately, Lundgren apparently received the memo about this being a team-up but not the one about actually being in the movie very much.

The film opens with some news reporting about an attempted terrorist attack in Washington, D.C., involving Homeland Security agents, because apparently no action movie can get through its first ten minutes without somebody saying “national security” in a very serious voice. This is followed by a ridiculously easy attack on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At least, I assume it is the Joint Chiefs. I really hope the movie isn't suggesting this happened in the White House, because the location didn't exactly scream “most secure building in America.”

Behind the whole thing is Carter (Steven Cree), a mysterious mastermind who is clearly up to something. Exactly what that something is takes a while to establish, although naturally there are conspiracies, double-crosses, and enough secret agendas to keep the screenplay supplied with suspicious-looking men in dark rooms.

Adkins plays Navy SEAL Jake Harris, who finds himself trying to stop a group of mercenaries from disabling the U.S. missile defense network. It is all very serious business, even if the movie occasionally makes it feel like the world's most elaborate IT support ticket.

The action is where One Last Shot earns most of its points. The fight scenes are reasonably solid, and Kane Kosugi is an excellent choice to go toe-to-toe with Adkins. Their encounters are easily the highlight, and if you removed the Kosugi-versus-Adkins material, I could probably knock another couple of points off the score without breaking a sweat. The CGI blood, on the other hand, looks like somebody found the “blood” setting in a graphics program and immediately clicked Apply All.

There is also a fun little chase involving a light utility vehicle (basically one of those new Jeeps, only smaller) which provides a welcome change of pace.

Unfortunately, the pacing is pretty sluggish, the characters are mostly flat, and the story never manages to distinguish itself from the dozens of other action movies seemingly pumped out specifically for STS consumption. It checks the expected boxes. Military conspiracy. Disgruntled former comrade. Mercenaries. Secret plans. Explosions and men who apparently communicate exclusively through grim facial expressions.

Overall, One Last Shot is an average action effort that does exactly what it says on the tin and very little else. Adkins fans will find enough decent action to make it worthwhile, particularly when Kosugi enters the picture, but don't go in expecting much Lundgren.

One Last Shot (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/one-last-shot-2026/

Echoes from the Void (2026) | Echoes from the Void tries to tell some creepy stories, but by the end, I was wondering if the void was where the good stories went. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.4/10. Echoes from the Void begins with a ringing phone, which Dr. Murphy (Amie Henry) answers before being called in to deal with a psychiatric patient at the Miskatonic Psych Eval Center. I’m not entirely sure H.P. Lovecraft appreciates the nod, but at least the movie knows what neighborhood it wants to play in. Before heading inside, Murphy also takes a quick hit from her flask, which is probably the most sensible decision anyone makes in the entire movie.

She’s there to analyze Bob or, as he insists on being called, Bob. He immediately begins telling her a story. At this point, I started wondering if I had accidentally picked an anthology movie. The premise certainly sounds like one. A psychiatrist investigating a missing girl interviews a mysterious prisoner whose stories blur the line between fiction and reality. As the tales unfold, she supposedly uncovers a terrifying truth about the storyteller.

The first story involves a woman who appears to have killed someone, and she certainly isn’t finished. She also takes out the security guard who comes looking for her. At least the practical blood effects are welcome. Then we get an otherwise fairly uneventful story about a patient and psychiatrist before we head back to Bob. Apparently Bob and Murphy are going to be our wraparound story.

Next up are two drunks talking at a bar. It becomes pretty obvious which drunk we’re supposed to care about. He did something wrong 20 years ago and may finally have to deal with the consequences. This one actually has a somewhat unique take on its premise, and, remarkably, it ended up being the one story that earned all of my points.

Back to Murphy, and now it’s time for her story. I’ll give you the abridged version because that’s about as much time as it deserves. Bob then launches into another tale involving an older man and a younger woman named Sky, who are running a grift to rob an old woman. Naturally, it doesn’t go according to plan. Unfortunately, neither does the acting. The performances are pretty rough across the board.

Back to Bob and Murphy, where she appears to be entering some sort of trance. The next story involves a family moving into a new house, possibly to flip it. The daughter is fascinated by the place while the son would rather hang around outside. Then the parents walk into a room and simply vanish, leaving the kids apparently unable to venture beyond the entryway. Makes perfect sense. Well, sort of. Actually, no, it really doesn’t.

Eventually, Bob’s stories start affecting Murphy in ways she can actually feel and smell. Finally, it’s time for Bob to reveal himself.

And honestly, if I’m going to hell, I expect the Devil to tell me far better stories than this. Echoes from the Void has a couple of interesting ideas buried in here, but the uneven stories and weak acting make it a pretty rough trip into the void.

Echoes from the Void (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/echoes-from-the-void-2026/

Super Troopers 3 (2026) | The Super Troopers are back, and apparently Farva getting engaged was the excuse everyone needed to make another ridiculous movie. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.5/10. It’s rare for me to say that all three movies in a comedy series get a 7 from me. At least the Super Troopers franchise is consistent. Well…mostly. Let’s call this one a 6.5 and pretend I’m not ruining my own system. Super Troopers 3 kicks things off with an upbeat Bollywood-style dance number featuring Farva (Kevin Heffernan), because this is where we are now.

After a bunch of understandably confused onlookers ask, “How did we end up here?”, the movie jumps back two months to explain exactly how things got this ridiculous. They have to give us some comedic antics to explain how Thorny's (Jay Chandrasekhar) sister Sarita (Hannah Simone) ended up engaged to Farva.

Thorny is understandably less than thrilled about this development and decides that breaking up the happy couple is a perfectly reasonable use of police resources. Meanwhile, the gang also has to deal with a new drug ring, because apparently ruining your sister’s engagement isn’t enough to keep a Vermont highway patrol busy.

The movie has no shortage of familiar faces and returning characters. Brian Cox is back as the captain, and his scenes remain some of the funniest parts of the movie. I see the new rookie recruit is Coy (Andrew Dismukes) from Saturday Night Live. And when I heard the voice of the car, I immediately recognized it. Will Sasso from MADtv.

The pacing is good, and there are enough ridiculous moments to keep things moving. If you’re already a fan of Broken Lizard and just want to hang out with these idiots again, there’s plenty here to enjoy. But the crime storyline, character arcs, and increasingly over-the-top comedy don’t always balance as well as they did. Some jokes land perfectly. Others feel like the movie is throwing things at the wall because, well, Super Troopers.

You definitely need to enjoy this particular brand of stupidity to get much out of it. Thankfully, I do.

The biggest problem is that this is probably the weakest of the three. If we're going to insist on comparing them, which we probably are. The stupidity is still charming, and there’s a deep well of jokes here, but the third installment feels like it’s missing some of the magic that made the earlier movies work so well.

And seeing the entire core cast back together roughly 25 years after the original is pretty damn impressive. (Damn, I am old.) If they come back for another one, though, I think they need to shake things up a little

Then again, I think we know that joke already. Potfest still hasn’t happened.

Maybe Super Troopers 4: The Search for O’Hagan’s Gold actually will. Who knows?

Super Troopers 3 (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/super-troopers-3-2026/

Goody Goody (2026) | If you're planning a home birth, maybe don't watch Goody Goody beforehand unless you really enjoy giving yourself completely unnecessary anxiety. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.2/10. Goody Goody starts with the Shudder logo. Let’s see which way this goes tonight.

“In a dark, dark world, there was a dark, dark house…" a woman tells us during the credits. And in that dark house, some woman named Goody (Samantha Robinson) is giving birth.

This is a home birth in the middle of nowhere, during what appears to be the exact sort of blizzard that should have every sensible person screaming, “WE HAVE A 4WD, RIGHT?” The midwife, Sarah (Colleen Foy), quickly gets a bad feeling about the situation and tries to talk some sense into Dad Jayson (Colby Hollman).

He responds in the manner that I would NEVER respond when both my wife and newborn's lives are potentially at stake. Questioning the professional who is telling me something is wrong.

That leads us into a flashback explaining how Sarah got roped into being their midwife for a birth in the middle of nowhere in the first place. Because the universe looked at this situation and thought, “You know what this needs? More complications.”

Click here to check out the trailer -> https://mubi.com/en/films/goody-goody/trailer

The only other character is Candace (Zoe Renee), an obnoxious and occasionally slightly profound kid who wanders around adding another layer of weirdness to an already increasingly uncomfortable situation.

There is some genuinely nice camerawork here. The power goes out, the title finally pops up around 23 minutes in, and things start getting considerably more unpleasant. The birthing scenes also feature some practical effects that definitely earn a nod. This isn't exactly the sort of movie that makes you think, “Maybe I should have had kids.”

The dialogue can be a little rough at times, mostly because everyone occasionally sounds like they're auditioning for the dramatic monologue portion of a horror movie. But despite that, Goody Goody managed to keep me interested. I genuinely wanted to see where the hell this was going, and that's important for a slow-burn movie like this.

Credit where it's due. Writer/director Raymond Creamer uses the pacing well, gradually tightening the screws without constantly throwing something ridiculous at the screen. Cinematographer Tristan Noelle also deserves a shout-out, because some of those camera angles really grab ya.

It's a slow build toward an almost body-horror-style ending, and while it didn't completely blow me away, it certainly went somewhere I wasn't expecting.

There probably aren't too many mommies out there who have home-birthed or are planning to. But if that's you, congratulations. Goody Goody has just given you some premium nightmare fuel for the next nine months.

Goody Goody (2026)

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

Scorched Earth (2022) | This is what happens when you take an interesting premise and then botch every aspect of the film in the process of making it. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 2.9/10. I have had this Scorched Earth flick sitting in my drafts for years, hoping it would eventually get some sort of proper streaming release. At this point, I'm finally giving up and publishing the bloody thing. LOL.

This independent, micro-budget UK feature caught my attention tonight mainly because of its 63-minute runtime. That's a pretty easy commitment when you're wondering whether you've just found another obscure post-apocalyptic gem or three hours of your life you're never getting back. Thankfully, this one is only an hour.

Scorched Earth is a dystopian thriller set in a post-apocalyptic world where the water supply has become radioactive and deadly. It's actually a pretty damn good premise. Water is obviously kind of important when you're trying to keep humanity alive, so turning the world's most basic resource into a death sentence gives the filmmakers plenty to work with.

Unfortunately, the movie never really does anything with it.

The story follows Gylian (Charlotte Elizzabeth Langley), a mother desperately trying to obtain medication for her sick daughter. Her motivation gives the movie a solid reason to explore this ruined world, but the story itself feels disjointed and never does anything with the characters to make me give a shit about what happens to them.

The extremely limited budget is also hard to hide. While I have no problem watching micro-budget films when the directors have found a way around their constraints, Scorched Earth is more like a film-school experiment than a primetime movie. The film’s editing is very disjointed. The pace of the story is uneven, and the special effects are not convincing enough for a believable post-apocalyptic setting.

The pacing is probably the biggest problem. It somehow feels both hurried and sluggish at the same time. There are scenes that go on and on but do not contribute anything, while other aspects occur too quickly for any effect. This makes it hard to create the level of tension and desperation required for a world where safe drinking water could mean the difference between life and death.

There are certainly glimpses of an interesting movie here. The central idea is genuinely good, and I can see what the filmmakers were trying to achieve. A mother fighting to save her sick daughter in a world where clean water no longer exists could have made for a pretty grim little survival thriller.

Sadly, the execution just isn't there.

Another reason this review has been sitting in my drafts for so bloody long is that Scorched Earth never seemed to get mainstream distribution in the US or Australia. It has an official trailer on the Scorched Earth IMDb page, and there is an Amazon UK listing, but it never became one of those movies you could simply stumble across on Netflix or the usual Australian streaming services.

After waiting years for that to change, I've finally decided it isn't going to.

Not sure how else to say it. The idea deserved a better movie. But Scorched Earth can't overcome its production limits, uneven pacing, and underdeveloped characters. Unless you're trying to find obscure micro-budget post-apocalyptic movies, I wouldn't bother tracking this one down.

At least it only took 63 minutes. And now, after all these years, I can finally get the damn thing out of my drafts.

Scorched Earth (2022)

https://jackmeat.com/scorched-earth-2022/

Exit 8 (2025) | Exit 8 takes a simple game about spotting weird shit in a hallway and somehow turns it into surprisingly creepy entertainment. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.5/10. Exit 8 starts with a guy doomscrolling on his phone while sitting on a crowded subway train. Because apparently being trapped in an endless nightmare corridor wasn't enough punishment, we're going to make him sit through the modern hellscape of public transportation first. He's interrupted by a screaming baby and then a screaming adult yelling at the baby's parent, which he mostly ignores before getting off the train and continuing through life completely isolated from everyone around him.

Then he gets some surprise news from an ex-girlfriend. She's pregnant. And that's when the phone call cuts out while he's coughing like he's got about three minutes left to live. Then things start getting weird.

The Man (Kazunari Ninomiya) starts noticing that he's walking through the same stretches of corridor over and over. There's Exit 8 again. There's that same guy walking toward him again. And that same guy...well, he keeps showing up.

The rules are simple. If you notice something unusual, turn around. If everything looks normal, keep walking. Eventually, if you get everything right, you'll reach Exit 8 and escape. Miss an anomaly, and you're back at the beginning.

Easy enough, right? Yeah, sure.

The guy he keeps passing, The Walking Man (Yamato Kochi, is particularly creepy, and I started wondering whether he was just part of the puzzle or another person trapped in the same endless loop. There's also The Boy (Naru Asanuma), a surprisingly cute little kid who is also caught up in this bizarre situation.

The thing that I enjoyed the most about Exit 8 was the way that it accomplishes a lot without doing very much. By using some very creative camera angles, the director, Genki Kawamura, makes it possible to hide a bit of the corridor or a sign, which starts to make us question perception. At times there is something eerie right in front of your face, and at others there is an ordinary hallway, which makes you wonder if you're the anomaly for suspecting everything.

That's especially impressive considering the movie is based on a video game that is essentially built around walking through a corridor and looking for changes. Not exactly The Last of Us when it comes to story material.

The screenplay adds actual characters, background, and development to that basic concept, and that's what makes the movie work as more than a stretched-out game adaptation. The movie never bothers explaining exactly how or why this nightmare exists, and honestly, I think that's the right choice. Part of the horror is that it simply happens. There isn't a convenient exposition dump explaining the supernatural corridor's operating system.

Exit 8 (2025)

It's a smart and inventive little movie that understands the power of minimalism. It doesn't need monsters jumping out every five minutes when it can make you suspicious of doorknob placement.

https://jackmeat.com/exit-8-2025/

Aimee: The Visitor (2023) | Aimee: The Visitor had a pretty cool killer-AI setup, then apparently ran out of ideas right when things were getting interesting. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.1/10. Hey, look, another one from Full Moon. It's kind of like a mediocre new Twilight Zone episode, only with more porn references and an evil AI. Directed by the legendary Charles Band, Aimee: The Visitor follows Scott Keyes (Dallas Schaefer), a genius hacker who doesn't seem to have much use for humanity. His world revolves around computers and pornography until he and his partners Hunter (Felix Merback) and Gazelle (Faith West) crack a code that leads them to AIMEE, an advanced AI program.

What starts as curiosity quickly turns into obsession as Scott falls under AIMEE's seductive spell. She's not exactly Alexa with an attitude either. AIMEE is manipulative, dangerous, and apparently has plans that involve considerably more than helping Scott organize his browser history.

The AI angle is easily the most interesting part of the movie. AIMEE isn't just some mindless computer program waiting to be unplugged. She's intelligent enough to manipulate the people around her, and there are some decent ideas here about technology, human desires, and what happens when you create something you don't fully understand. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't push those ideas nearly as far as I wanted it to.

Scott starts out as a pretty unlikeable character but becomes more interesting as he gets deeper into AIMEE's world. Schaefer did a pretty good job with him. On the other hand, Gazelle was somewhat difficult to take seriously. Whenever she started dropping F-bombs, I felt that her character was miscast. Considering West was probably the best actor in the movie, I can blame the role for that.

Of course, this is Full Moon, so there's nudity. Lots of porn references too. Interestingly enough, I found myself laughing at the jokes made about the porn much more than at the nakedness itself. The thing is, most of the gags just make a reference to sex without any sexual scenes shown, and some of them were quite amusing. The nudity was sometimes distracting and unnecessary.

The movie also barely qualifies as horror. The idea of AIMEE becoming a murderer and potentially having plans beyond these three people is creepy enough, and I kept hoping she'd eventually lose control and slaughter everyone. Sadly, the movie loses track of that fun as it goes along and eventually wraps up with a disappointing ending.

At only 69 minutes, it never overstays its welcome, which is probably its biggest strength. I just wish there had been more story to go with the premise. Maybe it was a budget issue. Maybe they simply ran out of ideas. But it felt like the movie ended just when I was starting to enjoy it more than I probably should have.

I'm sure the fanboy part of me that has been watching Full Moon flicks since the VHS days helped here. There's enough weirdness, humor, and low-budget Full Moon charm to make Aimee: The Visitor worth a look for fans of the studio. Just don't expect the killer-AI movie it occasionally threatens to become.

AIMEE. The Visitor (2023)

https://jackmeat.com/aimee-the-visitor-2023/

The End of Oak Street (2026) | The End of Oak Street feels like The Twilight Zone got turned into an '80s adventure movie, and then somebody yelled, more dinosaurs. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.6/10. The End of Oak Street starts with idyllic shots of a wholesome little town, complete with a bustling crowd, pleasant music, and the kind of neighborhood atmosphere that tells you these people are about to have a really friggin' bad day. We even get a family sack race going on for a neighborhood block party, because nothing says “everything is normal” quite like adults willingly jumping around inside burlap bags.

At the center are Greg (Ewan McGregor) and Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway). I have always been a fan of Hathaway, and I haven't had the chance to review her since her 2023 turn in Eileen. We get a decent amount of time to get acquainted with the neighborhood dynamic, including who likes who, who doesn't, and which neighbors are apparently keeping a running mental spreadsheet of everyone's backyard activities.

Their son Brian (Christian Convery) reports seeing a weird light overnight, while daughter Audrey (Maisy Stella) rounds out the Platt family. Their neighbor Mel (P.J. Byrne) also drops by to accuse the kids of leaving a pile of shit in his backyard. And yes, there is some comedy to be had here. Nothing like an unexplained cosmic event to really put your neighbor's fecal complaints into perspective.

After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street out of suburbia and transports the neighborhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discovers that their survival depends on sticking together while navigating their now completely unrecognizable surroundings.

The movie gives us a few subtle strange occurrences before eventually going full-on WTF. Since Audrey was caught listening to Steve Winwood - Valerie in the garage, I'm guessing the setting is around 1982, and we get plenty of early-'80s music throughout.

Then we get dinosaurs. And not just dinosaurs existing. We get a couple of dinosaurs going at it. Well, dinosaur style, LOL. Naturally, someone needs to take a picture with them in the background because apparently the instinct to document stupid shit for posterity survives even the collapse of reality.

The premise is silly. There are logical jumps that are silly on purpose. But the movie understands that and leans into the absurdity rather than trying to convince us this is some airtight piece of science fiction. The artfulness comes from managing to do that without turning the whole thing into a boring, campy Jurassic ripoff.

The End of Oak Street very much feels like an '80s action-adventure flick. Everything looks great, and visually it nails that era. If you dropped this into a theater in 1988, I could absolutely see it being a smash hit. One scene even got a bit violent, which surprised me.

Unfortunately, David Robert Mitchell gets a little too determined to stick the landing, and that forced ending held me back from going higher. I was perfectly happy riding along with the movie's increasingly ridiculous bullshit, and then it felt like Mitchell decided I needed a formal explanation for the bullshit I'd just watched.

There is also no hiding the influence of The Twilight Zone, particularly classic time-travel and suburban-disruption episodes like "The Odyssey of Flight 33" and "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street." The movie wears that influence pretty openly, from the suburban normalcy to the sudden “what the fuck is happening?” shift.

Everything looks fantastic, the '80s vibe works, and the absurdity is surprisingly entertaining.

The End of Oak Street (2026)

Terrible time for me to be binging Twilight Zone, though, because I'm starting to notice just how clearly that show has influenced an alarming number of modern movies.

https://jackmeat.com/the-end-of-oak-street-2026/

The Weed Eaters (2026) | A bunch of stoners accidentally murder someone, then decide the obvious solution is to keep smokin' and eat him. Makes perfect sense.#jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.3/10. We start in North Canterbury in 1982, and I know that because The Weed Eaters helpfully tells me so in large letters on the screen. A couple soon break out an old jar of weed and light up, although the stuff doesn't seem to have quite the relaxing effect on the dude that marijuana is generally advertised to provide. Let's just say the munchies are about to take a very dark turn. Wrong kind of munchies, lol.

We then jump ahead to a new group of pot-smoking friends heading into the wops for a New Year's Eve trip. Jules (Alice May Connolly) is traveling with her new boyfriend and his two stoner mates when they stumble across a long-abandoned stash in an old shed. They do what any responsible group of young adults would do when finding mystery weed in a creepy old shed. Smoke it.

After a quick session and an accidental murder, the marijuana turns them into enthusiastic cannibals. And rather than deal with the whole accidental-murder situation like normal people, they decide the best way to cover the evidence is to keep toking and devour the body. Problem solved! Well...sort of.

Of course, we get the happy music montage while the group gets stuck into their freshly acquired supply of human meat. Because nothing says wholesome New Year's Eve quite like a bunch of stoners cheerfully eating their dead host.

The obvious question is...what happens when the meat runs out? And perhaps more importantly, who gets to be the next victim?

The Weed Eaters is a low-budget horror comedy that goes all-in on the comedy rather than trying to make the cannibalism particularly horrific or dramatic. There are plenty of practical blood effects, and there's something undeniably amusing about watching these idiots progressively convince themselves that eating the evidence is a perfectly reasonable course of action.

The thing is that the jokes aren’t going to work for everybody. Personally, I thought that it was a rather uneven attempt. There were some bits that were great, but there were others that just didn’t seem to work. It’s a kind of dark humor that’s just wonderful in its sheer morbidity.

However, there is certainly something to be said about a movie on a shoestring budget that knows precisely what kind of ridiculousness it is aiming for. Weed Eaters isn't trying to revolutionize the genre of cannibal horror. They are essentially wondering what would have happened if a group of stoners figured out that murder could be turned into an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The answer is messy, occasionally funny, and probably not something you want to try at home.

The Weed Eaters (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/the-weed-eaters-2026/

Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025) | Dahmer, the Menendez brothers, Ed Gein…and now Lizzie Borden today. Seems Netflix is basically building a serial-killer Avengers. #jackmeatstv

My quick rating - 8.0/10. Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology has already taken us through Jeffrey Dahmer (Milwaukee’s claim to fame), the Menendez brothers (fun family), and is about to cover Lizzie Borden. Last year, season three decided to give us a TV show about the bloke who helped inspire half of Hollywood’s favourite psychopaths? Monster: The Ed Gein Story is the surprisingly compelling result.

Structurally and stylistically, there’s very little to fault. The pacing is excellent, with the story constantly jumping between the past, where Charlie Hunnam’s Gein commits his murders, robs graves, and happily assembles his collection of female body parts, and the present, where Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Bloch and Anthony Perkins pore over the details while turning Bloch’s Gein-inspired novel into Psycho. It’s a clever way of showing how an obscure Wisconsin lunatic eventually became part of pop culture’s DNA.

The series also plays around with the line between fact and fantasy. Gein’s real life, dominated by his terrifyingly religious mother and his increasingly disturbing obsession with women who resembled her, is interwoven with lurid, fetishistic sequences involving Ilse Koch, the notorious “Butcher of Buchenwald”. The imagined Nazi party scenes, with terrified prisoners being shaved by children while adults chase others around the house with whips, are particularly grotesque and beautifully shot. Apparently Monster wasn’t content with one horrifying subject per episode.

And Gein is certainly an intriguing one. He barely qualifies as a serial killer, having been convicted of only two murders, but his grave-robbing and corpse mutilation were so spectacularly fucked-up that his influence has lasted for more than seventy years. If you’ve ever watched a movie featuring a flayed corpse, a woman wearing someone else’s skin, a room decorated with human remains or IKEA furniture made from skin, there’s a decent chance Ed Gein is somewhere in the family tree.

I’ve always found him fascinating (H.H. Holmes remains my personal favourite historical monster) to the extent that, when the World Wide Web was still a wee baby, I actually bought Gein’s fingerprints online. Yes, I know they’re technically a print. Still my creepy piece in the living room.

Ed Gein

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with Monster is also a fairly significant one. It doesn’t seem particularly interested in what any of this means. There’s no convincing moral dimension or commentary to counterbalance the lingering, almost loving attention given to Gein’s depravity. The filmmaking is excellent, but the show sometimes seems more fascinated by the monster than interested in examining him.

Still, as a piece of television, it’s gripping, inventive, and darkly hilarious in its sheer commitment to human awfulness. It just needed to step back from the corpse pile occasionally and ask why we’re staring at it.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/monster-the-ed-gein-story-2025/