Greenland 2: Migration (2026) | I enjoyed the first one, but solid performances and grim visuals can’t save this sequel that forgets basic logic. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.3/10. I was glad that Greenland 2: Migration picks up right where the first film’s end-of-the-world anxiety left off, opening with a quick recap of the comet catastrophe before dropping us into a radiation-decayed version of Earth that looks about as welcoming as a frozen landfill. The Garrity family is back, still alive, still stressed, and still making big decisions under impossible circumstances. Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin return as John and Allison Garrity, and Ric Roman Waugh is once again in the director’s chair, clearly committed to keeping this world as bleak and unforgiving as possible.

This time around, the hook is movement. After surviving in the bunker for five years, the Garritys are forced to venture out due to Mother Nature giving everyone a big reminder that she’s still in charge. John’s health is failing him, and since he knows he’s not going to last much longer, he becomes dead set on getting his family to the supposed safe zone near the crater. Why the crater would suddenly turn into some sort of Garden of Eden instead of being a smoldering hole filled with lava is quite a stretch, but you’re just supposed to go with it and move forward with the story, much like the characters do.

Visually, the film does a solid job selling a dead, frozen Europe. The environments are grim, empty, and convincingly miserable, which helps maintain that constant survival-movie tension. Unfortunately, the storytelling doesn’t always keep up. A rushed encounter in northern France introduces Denis (William Abadie) and his daughter Camille (Nelia Valery), who are quickly folded into the Garrity family’s journey like they were old friends bumping into each other at a local sports bar. Before you know it, they’re trekking through a literal war zone, which had me wondering. What in the world is everyone fighting over at this point? Resources? Territory? Immigration issues? Hell if I could guess.

Logic issues start to pile up the longer the journey goes on. The characters spend years terrified of radiation while living in a bunker, yet once they leave the island, nearly every place they travel through seems oddly radiation-free. That naturally begs the question of why staying underground for so long was such an absolute necessity in the first place. Then there’s the matter of fuel, because apparently gasoline is still plentiful enough to keep cars running across a shattered continent. It’s hard not to notice these things when the film leans so heavily on realism elsewhere.

Ultimately, Greenland 2: Migration isn’t a disaster, but it’s definitely a step down from the first film. The performances are perfectly fine, the world looks appropriately bleak, and it is still watchable. However, the writing and overall story feel less cohesive, with too many unanswered questions and logic holes to satisfy someone with a brain. It’s a sequel that moves forward geographically, but creatively, it is heading the other direction.

Greenland 2: Migration (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/greenland-2-migration-2026/

Jungle (2017) | A gripping survival film that becomes even more powerful once you realize how much the true story was toned down #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.8/10. Jungle is one of those survival films that quietly sneaks up on you. My first thought was "Here we go, another typical man-versus-nature flick." I clearly wasn't familiar with the actual story. Backpackers make some bad decisions and head into a jungle that absolutely does not give a crap about their personal growth. But once I realized how much this movie actually tones down the real events it’s based on, it shifted from “that was pretty good” to “okay, that’s damn amazing.”

Set in 1981, the film follows Israeli backpacker Yossi Ghinsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), who meets a mysterious Austrian geologist in La Paz, Bolivia. This guy spins the kind of stories that should immediately trigger every internal red flag - lost tribes, untouched land, secret opportunities - but instead convinces Yossi and his friends, American photographer Kevin (Alex Russell) and Swiss teacher Marcus (Joel Jackson), to head deep into the Bolivian jungle. With a “seasoned guide” leading the way (always comforting words), they expect adventure and self-discovery. What they actually get is the jungle slowly dismantling every ounce of optimism they brought with them.

Once the Amazon becomes the main attraction, the movie wastes no time killing the fantasy. This is not a friendly wilderness (South Park had this right). The jungle here is everything eating at your nerves and aggressively uninterested in your survival. Jungle does a great job showing how quickly confidence evaporates when nature stops cooperating. When the group inevitably becomes separated, because you knew that was coming, Yossi’s story turns into a punishing survival ordeal that never feels overcooked or melodramatic.

Daniel Radcliffe is excellent here, easily one of his best performances. The physical transformation alone is convincing, but it’s the mental breakdown that really sells it. Every bad decision, hallucination, and moment of sheer exhaustion feels earned. There’s absolutely zero Harry Potter energy left by the end unless Hogwarts added starvation, infection, and psychological collapse as electives.

Visually, the movie looks amazing. Shot in Australia and Bolivia, the jungle is endless, suffocating, and in a weird way, beautiful. And constantly reminding you that it has the power to kill you at any moment. The setting is almost like another character. It is breathtakingly gorgeous, frightening, and utterly unapologetic to the suffering of others.

What really elevates Jungle, though, is its restraint. Knowing that this is based on actual events, and still a toned-down version, adds an extra holy shit layer. The real Ghinsberg had to endure much worse than what is depicted, and that alone helps to keep this from feeling exploitative.

This is one of those rare cases where the actual events are even more incredible than the film, and that’s a compliment in itself. Jungle is a great survival movie and a launchpad for an even crazier true-life tale. I’d honestly recommend reading up on the actual events before or after watching. It really drives home just how insane this experience actually was.

Jungle (2017)

https://jackmeat.com/jungle-2017/

It is that time of year, the Oscars are coming. | As usual, another way to enjoy The Oscars is a pick’em contest for all the bragging rights (maybe prizes). Join US. #jackmeatsflix

As I have done for decades, it is time for this year's Oscars contest (password is Oscar). Choose your winners, and win the bragging rights. And maybe if you really know your stuff, ESPN does offer a grand prize: A round trip for two to the Official Oscars Watch Party at the Academy Museum + $5,000 in cash to spend! Plus Ten (10) First Prizes: an Oscars-themed prize pack! Rules

Best Picture

BUGONIA
Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone and Lars Knudsen, Producers

F1
Chad Oman, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers

FRANKENSTEIN
Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Scott Stuber, Producers

HAMNET
Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, Producers

MARTY SUPREME
Eli Bush, Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Anthony Katagas and Timothée Chalamet, Producers

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER
Adam Somner, Sara Murphy and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers

THE SECRET AGENT
Emilie Lesclaux, Producer

SENTIMENTAL VALUE
Maria Ekerhovd and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Producers

SINNERS
Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian and Ryan Coogler, Producers

TRAIN DREAMS
Marissa McMahon, Teddy Schwarzman, Will Janowitz, Ashley Schlaifer and Michael Heimler, Producers

Full list of nominations

Jackmeats Flix Oscar Contest

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

Bears on a Ship (2025) | My opinion? The poster deserves an apology for being associated with this audience-punishing filmmaking. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 2.3/10. I saw Bears on a Ship pop up and thought, “Hey, 75 minutes. Worst case, I lose an hour and change and find a chesseball guilty pleasure.” Didn't take half that time for my mind to wander off, wondering when they would jam the obvious quote in.

The premise is pure bargain-bin poetry. During an airline strike in Mexico, stranded passengers hop on a ship back to the U.S., unaware they’re sharing the voyage with two man-eating bears. That sentence alone should’ve been enough to either deliver trashy fun gore or glorious incompetence. What it delivers instead is mostly just…incompetence, without an ounce of gore. Or fun for that matter.

The opening gives us a pair of hick-stereotype hunters chasing bears for money, and to be fair, director Eduardo Castrillo wisely avoids showing any wildlife early on. Smart move. If you don’t see the bears, you don’t see the budget. Unfortunately, hiding the creatures does absolutely nothing to hide the horrendous acting. The first half hour plays like a casting call for “People You Actively Root to Be Mauled.” Every character arrives preloaded with irritation, zero charm, and dialogue that sounds like it was read off cue cards taped to the wall behind the camera.

Then we meet the stereotypical stoner dude, who finds a bear locked up on the ship and decides, and this is true, that releasing it might get him laid. Galaxy-brain thinking. Later, we get a “two of my men were killed” joke while holding up three fingers, completely missing the timing that would’ve made it land. Comedy is all about rhythm, and this guy’s playing a different song entirely.

When the movie finally shows the bears, you’ll wish it hadn’t. The highlight reel includes - a CGI bear outline in an extremely dim corridor, a glove pretending to be a bear paw, and a brief, tragic glimpse of someone wearing the lower half of a bear suit awkwardly climbing stairs. It genuinely looks like a junior high school play where the budget was spent on snacks instead of costumes. Occasionally, some bargain-bin CGI is sprinkled into the kills for “special effects,” and yes, the quotation marks are doing a lot of work here.

And finally someone says, “I’m tired of these mth$rf#cking bears on this mth$rf#cking ship,” and I’m not saying Sam Jackson’s lawyers should be alerted, but I’m also not not saying it.

The end credits reveal this was crowdfunded, which is honestly the scariest part of the film. Imagine knowing your hard-earned money helped bring this #turkey to life. This flick has everything. Wooden performances, off-timed line delivery, lighting so bad it feels accidental, and set design that seems confused about what movie it’s in. See that poster? Forget it. No giant bears. No spectacle. Not even convincing bears.

The best thing about Bears on a Ship is the cover art. Unfortunately, it’s also the most misleading thing in the entire movie.

Bears on a Ship (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/bears-on-a-ship-2025/

The Beldham (2025) | Postpartum horror meets haunted farmhouse, occasionally interrupted by scenes that feel like they wandered in from another movie. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.9/10. The Beldham sets out to be another slow-burn psychological horror about motherhood and the fear of losing yourself after childbirth. Harper (Katie Parker), teetering on the edge of postpartum psychosis, moves into her mother, Sadie’s, rural farmhouse with her newborn. Sadie (Patricia Heaton) is already living there with her new boyfriend Frank (Corbin Bernsen), and before long Harper begins to suspect that a malevolent presence - a “Beldham,” defined early on as a medieval witch who steals babies’ souls - has its sights set on her child. Unfortunately, while the ingredients are promising, the execution is a frustrating mess.

The tension is established right from the beginning of the film, but it is never clear what director Angela Gulner wanted to do with it. Scenes seem disconnected, motivations are unclear, and character reactions are often baffling. There is a sense of disconnection throughout, as if the film were assembled from several drafts. While some of this is presumably intended to make sense in light of the big twist, and yes, there is a twist, there is a great deal of it that simply does not make sense, whether or not it is supposed to.

One scene in particular had me questioning reality, and not in the way the movie intends. Harper suddenly attempts to breastfeed her baby during an open house, in front of a room full of strangers. There is no buildup, no payoff, and no relation to anything else in the movie. It just… happens. Moments like this pop up repeatedly, undercutting any chance I was getting into this flick. Add in things like wandering around with a candle when there’s clearly a flashlight or light switch nearby, and the tension starts slipping into unintentional comedy.

That’s a shame, because some elements genuinely work. The ominous birds, the creeping folklore surrounding the witch, and Sadie’s increasingly shady behavior all generate solid unease. The witch itself is effectively creepy, and the farmhouse setting should have been a perfect pressure cooker. The problem is that the horror is so deep down under all the heavy drama that the film never allows itself to actually be scary. It moves towards the reveal at a glacial pace and then speeds through it when it gets there.

The acting is the film’s saving grace. Parker is convincing as a woman unraveling under impossible stress, and Heaton brings an unsettling edge that keeps you guessing. Without these performances, the film would collapse entirely. Still, everything ultimately exists in service of the twist, which lands rushed, flat, and oddly disconnected from the story that precedes it.

I can see the intended audience, especially mothers, connecting with the pervasive dread and fear of losing control. For me, though, the central “is she crazy or is the witch real?” question simply isn’t supported by enough compelling or coherent moments. And that ending? I didn’t buy it, emotionally or logically. I can’t say more without spoiling it, but I just don’t believe it works that way. In the end, The Beldham has atmosphere and ideas, but it never pulls them together into something satisfying.

The Beldham (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/the-beldham-2025/

The Internship (2026) | This felt like Spy Kids with an identity crisis and way too much CGI blood for its own good. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.2/10. I think The Internship wanted to be a bleak, rage-fueled action thriller about stolen childhoods and institutional cruelty. However, it feels like it's unsure whether it wants to be Nikita, The Amateur or a very angry episode of Spy Kids that accidentally wandered into R-rated territory.

The film opens with a theft that quickly devolves into a bloody gunfight, immediately introducing one of its most persistent problems - the CGI blood. Within the first twelve minutes, the splatter is already so artificial and overused that it becomes distracting rather than visceral. This is surprising, especially since the film feels like it had a slightly higher budget than what’s ultimately reflected onscreen. Shot in Sofia, Bulgaria, the locations themselves look solid enough, but the digital excess undermines any sense of danger the action is trying to convey.

We’re introduced to Catalyst (Lizzy Greene), the ringleader determined to dismantle the CIA’s secret assassin-training program known as “The Internship.” Her goal is simple. Expose the program, locate the other recruits, and burn the whole thing down. The team she assembles - Analyst, Apothecary, Caliber, Rubicon, and the notably spotlighted Dagger - gets rolled out via a montage that feels more stylized than intimidating. Despite the film’s darker intentions, the group’s presentation often leans closer to youthful operatives than hardened killers, which clashes with the supposed brutality of their upbringing.

On the opposing side of the spectrum, the CIA inserts Candace (Megan Boone), who is the biological mother of Catalyst and was unaware of her daughter’s existence as she gave her up for adoption. It’s a rich concept that the film doesn’t delve into enough. Candace works alongside Nelson, played by Sullivan Stapleton, and though both actors are solid, the storyline feels like a necessity rather than a genuine anchor. Flashbacks are used to depict the suffering these children went through, but they are fleeting.

The script starts wobbling when it hits the inevitable “someone is the mole” subplot. Catalyst conveniently scripts out reasons why literally everyone could be the traitor, which drains the mystery rather than building tension. Rubicon’s hacking scenes are particularly rough, with typing that looks laughably fake even by genre standards. Logic also takes repeated hits, with characters magically finding each other in one scene and being completely untraceable in the next, sometimes back-to-back.

While the action itself is mildly entertaining, it's nothing to write home about. There are some nicely framed scenes that showcase what this could have looked like. Of course, this is assuming that the action was more tightly choreographed and less plagued by digital blood. The final showdown comes and goes suddenly, and I found myself asking aloud to no one, "Wait, is that it?" The twist, however, feels like it was retrofitted, like the writers decided who the mole was and then came up with an explanation for it afterward. I assume after someone complained about it not making sense.

The Internship (2026)

And then, instead of giving us a definitive ending, The Internship awkwardly leaves the door open for a sequel. Unfortunately, given how shaky the foundation is, that’s exactly what the open door feels like. Wishful thinking.

https://jackmeat.com/the-internship-2026/

Fisted! (2025) | IF you want to be a throwback to terrible 90's SOV slasher movies, you don't have to nail the TERRIBLE part so well. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 2.1/10. Fisted! has one of those IMDB summaries that sounds like it was generated by a drunk grindhouse AI at 3 a.m. - and honestly, if the movie had even one-quarter of the energy promised by that paragraph, I might’ve been on board. A camping trip, a deranged slasher called The Jerklin’ Boy, hate and dynamite flowing through his veins, and a “fist of destruction”? Sure. Sign me up. Unfortunately, what I saw is less blood-soaked nightmare and more painfully indulgent home movie that desperately wants to shock you into laughing.

It kicks off with a simulated home-video warning from a guy trying way too hard to be edgy, solemnly informing us how “extreme” this is going to be. At that point, you already know exactly where this train is headed, and it wastes no time getting there. Almost immediately, I was treated to a scene involving a man, a needle, and a comically oversized dildo pulled out of his shorts like it’s a party trick. That’s the joke. That’s the scene. He’s then killed by…something…with some, eh, practical effects that briefly hint at effort before giving up.

Smash cut to obnoxiously loud music for the title card. Then straight into a guy wearing a Creature from the Black Lagoon mask watching Lloyd Kaufman play a news anchor on TV, because that is what he does. Pop up in some of the silliest flix. The campers are all visibly older than their supposed counselor, except for one character who is literally a puppet. Not metaphorically. An actual puppet. At this point, the movie isn’t even pretending to care.

Midway through, the film grinds to a halt so the cast can push their own merch. And that really seals the “friends messing around with a camera” vibe for me. Shortly after, the counselor delivers what may be the most jaw-dropping scene. A rambling speech that essentially outlines which kid is going to get raped, followed by an extended demonstration of giving a blowjob…on a potato. One kid laughs obnoxiously for a solid minute, as if we’re supposed to be laughing with him. Instead, I was wondering why the scene wasn’t mercy-killed in editing.

The technical issues don’t help. The sound is atrocious - any scene shot outdoors might as well be subtitled “WIND.” Instead of reshooting, they just let the microphone get assaulted by the elements. The simulated VHS aesthetic is cranked so hard that fake tracking errors and tape crimps start piling up like visual spam. It’s less retro homage and more editing software gone rogue.

To be fair, there is creativity in some of the cheap gore effects, and you can tell the people involved were having fun. But that’s also the problem. This feels like a private joke stretched to 70 minutes, packed with inside references, dubbed-over names no outsider could possibly understand, and scenes that exist solely because no one said “maybe cut this.”

Fisted! (2025)

I’m sure Tom Martino and his buddies think Fisted! is hilarious. And to them, it probably is. But for anyone not sitting inside that circle, this is just a noisy, sloppy, aggressively unfunny mess. Even with the occasional goofy gore gag, I can’t recommend this with a straight face. Sometimes a movie deserves to be fisted…just not in the way it was intended.

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

Dracula (2025) | Equal parts tragic romance and stylish horror, Besson’s Dracula is a feast for the eyes, anchored by solid performances. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.7/10. This one had me at writer/director Luc Besson. Listing all the reasons why would take a while, but if his name doesn’t at least spark curiosity, that’s on you. Dracula is very much a Besson film. Lush, romantic, visually indulgent, and occasionally a little too in love with itself. Honestly, I have no problem with that.

The story starts off in 15th-century Romania, and introduces a confident and frightening Prince Vladimir (Caleb Landry Jones). His overwhelming passion for his wife, Princess Elisabeta, who is portrayed by Zoë Bleu, sparks off everything that follows. The threat of the Ottoman Empire, as well as their soldiers invading and moving across the country, is unstoppable. Vladimir earns a fearsome reputation, but it’s his personal loss, and not war, that makes him cross over into evil territory. His denial of faith appears to be as vicious as his denials of heaven. Immortality is not a gift here. It’s a curse, one that condemns Vlad to wander the centuries as Dracula, unable to die, unable to forget.

Four hundred lonely years later, Besson shifts the film into dazzling Belle Époque Paris and absolutely nails the period. The costumes, sets, and atmosphere are gothic eye candy from start to finish. This is a flick that is aware of its own visual glory, sometimes to the point of being pretentious, but it’s hard to complain when every frame looks so good. The castle interiors, the roaming gargoyle servants (such a fun touch), and Dracula’s makeup all add to the film’s striking aesthetic identity.

At its heart, Dracula is far more romance than horror, although it easily achieves both genres. Vlad’s eternal search for Elisabeta plays out across eras, including one of my favorite scenes, where there’s a demonstration of perfume as mind control. A playful, stylish bit that feels very Besson. Dracula, as he relates his ill-fated history to Jonathan (Ewens Abid), adds another layer to our understanding of the vampire, beyond mere gore and fangs.

Christoph Waltz is excellent in his depiction as the priest, who is intent on ridding the world of the curse of Dracula. He brings with him assurance, in addition to a bit of menace. The battle scene is quite good in the final showdown, with the gargoyles joyfully leaping into the fray. Passion, anger, vengeance, and hatred are fighting it out in an appropriately operatic fashion (can you hear a blue alien singing?).

Jones shines in his role as Vlad/Dracula, giving a performance that is as heartfelt as it is terrifying. Dracula is a visually stunning, rich Gothic romance that, while it’s never subtle, is impossible to look away. I'd have to recommend this to any fans of smart horror movies, grand sagas of love, and bold productions that take risks.

Dracula (2025)

Released internationally on July 30th, 2025, this will be hitting theaters in the USA on February 6th, 2026. I'll update those streaming links (they are currently for Australia) for you as long as I remember to. Another movie that would've hit my Top Ten for 2025, at least an honorable mention, had I watched it last year, but now it is my first noted for Top Ten of 2026.

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

Street Knight (1993) | Jeff Speakman kicks plenty of ass, but Street Knight never hits like The Perfect Weapon. Still fun, still fast, still very ’90s. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 5.5/10. Back in 1991, I caught The Perfect Weapon and genuinely thought I’d just seen the birth of the next big martial arts star. Jeff Speakman had it: the look, the presence, and most importantly, the skills. As a Kenpo master, his lightning-fast hands were something special, and that first film has stayed with me ever since, rewatched many times to the point I could probably recite half the dialogue in my sleep. Street Knight, on the other hand, sat quietly on my watchlist for years, largely forgotten. So the good news is that I finally ticked it off. And no, I definitely couldn’t recite this one from memory. LOL.

The setup is very early-’90s straight-to-video action. Former cop Jake Barrett (Speakman) returns to the streets of Los Angeles to disrupt a plot designed to escalate gang violence. The film opens with a hostage situation that introduces our villains, a group of mercenaries who conveniently met in prison and now want to light the fuse on a full-blown gang war so they can take control of the streets. It’s pulpy, broad, and not exactly subtle. We also get a quick “butt in the moonbeams” shot early on, presumably included to keep the ladies renting this on VHS happy.

Christopher Neame plays lead baddie James, and he’s obviously having a riot, inciting chaos at gang gatherings, poking and prodding until violence feels inevitable. Jennifer Gatti, of the criminally underappreciated Nemesis, appears as Rebecca Sanchez, the sister of a missing youth who happened upon a crime in progress and is now running from pretty much everybody. One scene involving a very creative use of a human body shield stands out enough for me to mention it. No spoilers, but think guns, not punches.

Let’s be honest, though. Nobody rents or watches a movie called Street Knight starring a martial artist because they’re hoping for a nuanced, heartfelt social commentary on gang violence. They’re here to watch Jeff Speakman kick serious ass. On that front, the movie delivers just enough. The fight scenes are well choreographed, Speakman’s Kenpo is on full display, and his speed and precision still impress. It’s very much a “switch your brain off” experience, but a satisfying one if that’s what you’re in the mood for.

I also have to give props for one unusual creative choice - a car chase that turns into Speakman riding a horse while being pursued by bad guys in an SUV. Is it a great chase? Not really. Is it memorable because it’s weird and different? Absolutely. Also, how about the showdown between the larger dude and Speakman, where he reminds the thug before the brawl, "You're not that big, think about it."

The message is well-intentioned, but the ending is pure fantasy and would never happen in a million years. Still, Street Knight ends up being better than its budget and better than many other straight-to-video action flicks of the era, even if it lands a solid point below The Perfect Weapon. Recommended for fans of the Van Damme/Seagal era when these movies were being churned out nonstop (and yes, Speakman did briefly appear in Van Damme’s Lionheart).

Street Knight (1993)

https://jackmeat.com/street-knight-1993/

Psycho Sex Dolls (2025) | Ridiculous, self-aware sexploitation comedy pretending to be horror. Unfortunately, the killer robots forgot the killing part. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.8/10. This is one of those movies where the title does most of the heavy lifting. And honestly, that’s probably for the best, I mean, Psycho Sex Dolls, what are you expecting? The premise is gloriously trashy. Porn filmmaker Damien Self (Simon Weir) turns to AI sex dolls to save his flailing adult business, dreaming of mogul-level success, only for things to go sideways in ways that are…well…mildly sideways. If you’re expecting a full-on robo-slasher bloodbath, you may want to adjust expectations early. This is far more timid chuckles and awkward thrusting than Terminator with boobs.

And for a full hour, it’s literally just softcore porn with self-aware attempts at comedy. It’s the kind of film it knows it is, and it’s self-aware to the point where it’s embracing the sexploitation feel of it all. And the best part of the film comes when the dolls are dressed up as the characters out of A Clockwork Orange. They look absurd, and yet pretty amazing at the same time. It’s the kind of thing where you see it, and you’ll go, “Did they really just do that?” Yes. Yes, they did, and it’s easily my highlight of the film.

When the horror finally shows up, it’s more of a polite tap on the shoulder than a punch to the face. The CGI blood is cheesy, brief, and nowhere near as unhinged as the concept promises. Had the movie been fully committed to killer robots going absolutely feral, this could’ve been a cult classic in the making. Instead, it flirts with danger, flashes some red pixels, and backs away before things get too messy.

Performance-wise, Stella Paris handles dual roles surprisingly well, capturing the detached control and quiet contempt of the adult industry, mixed with moments where you can tell the job occasionally pays off. Jamie Leigh Jones and Emma Cole round out the trio and do exactly what’s required of them. If you’re critiquing the acting too harshly here, you may have missed the title, the trailer, or the general vibe of a “trashy midnight movie.”

Simon Weir is mildly amusing as Damien, and honestly looks like he’s having a great time, and what guy wouldn't be? The film leans into ridiculousness hard, especially when the AI dolls are constantly kissing or making out for absolutely no reason. Even Damien questions it at one point, noting that they’re robots and wouldn’t get anything out of it. The movie knows the answer, though. The audience knows the answer. No one’s pretending otherwise. LOL.

Ultimately, however, Psycho Sex Dolls is less horror and more a comedy mixed with softcore nonsense. Is it good? No, not really. Is it occasionally funny and stupid enough to be entertaining? Yeah… kind of. Just don’t expect your robotic nightmares to "blow" you away (wink wink).

Psycho Sex Dolls (2025)

https://jackmeat.com/psycho-sex-dolls-2025/

Boy Kills World (2023) | Boy Kills World will appeal to fans of high-energy, blood-drenched action with a touch of surrealism. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 7.0/10. Boy Kills World is a loud, bloody, and frenetic action movie that gets you on the same page as to what kind of experience you are in for immediately. It is a film that is fueled by excess - be it in terms of violence, style, or a ridiculously exaggerated sense of mayhem that borders on cartoonish. Adrenaline, yes, but subtlety is a hell no.

The movie kicks off with a comedy-packed flashback that promptly establishes the tone by combining black humor with graphic violence. This is when we meet Boy (Bill Skarsgård), a deaf-mute who has a rather vibrant imagination that’s brutally disrupted when his family is slaughtered before his very eyes. After that, a revenge-based origin tale follows as it’s presented through the channel of surrealistic visuals and over-the-top martial arts performances. Boy goes AWOL into the jungle when he meets a shaman who takes away his imagination to transform him into a killing machine.

Skarsgard gives a total commitment to the part, including a physical as well as facially detailed performance that drives a lot of the movie. Skarsgard doesn't have to give much spoken dialogue since a lot of the necessary communication comes from bodily expression, which does indicate innocence as well as rage. Jessica Rothe and Brett Gelman do the rest to make the bad guys more unpredictable by carrying out suitably nutty performances that do add a lot to the unstable atmosphere that permeates most of the movie.

Where Boy Kills World really rocks is in its action scenes. The fighting is top-notch all the way around, but the final battle is phenomenal, featuring some of the best hand-to-hand fighting in recent action films. There is a level of brutality and attention to detail in each and every physical battle that is apparent, and the physicality is first-rate. There is a tremendous amount of blood spilt from the opening to the closing frame in this film. It’s not for those faint of heart and never attempts to claim otherwise.

On the visual side, the film is a display of colors and frenzied shots that manage to reflect the troubled psyche of Boy. There is a frenzied style at work here that simply throws us straight into the midst of this strange world. Although the plot takes a second seat to the visual feast and the action scenes, the elements associated with loss and change are enough for the flick not to be shallow.

Boy Kills World won’t be for everyone, but for fans of stylized, ultra-violent action films with memorable fight choreography, it delivers exactly what it promises. And then some.

Boy Kills World (2024)

https://jackmeat.com/boy-kills-world-2023/

Doctor Plague (2026) | Feels like a lost VHS slasher with a killer in an outfit you could DIY and a conspiracy far messier than needed. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.7/10. I couldn't help thinking that Doctor Plague was stitched together from two entirely different Blu-rays found at the bottom of a dusty video store bargain bin. On paper, it reads like pulpy fun. Jaded private investigator John Verney (Martin Kemp) tracks down an ancient order of Plague Doctors dismembering the underworld of London, with the faint hum of Ripper conspiracies in the air. In practice, the end result suggests that the filmmakers can’t quite make up their minds whether or not they want to produce an occult thriller with style or just be a low-budget slasher flick with an affinity for bird masks.

The story starts strong enough. Kemp plays Verney with a worn-down, “I’ve seen too much” energy that mostly works, even when the script doesn’t give him much to do beyond glare, brood, and ignore common sense. The murders are brushed off by his superiors as gang-on-gang violence (yeah, why not), pushing Verney down a conspiracy rabbit hole that escalates rapidly from “something’s off” to “1888 secret societies are after my family.” It’s all very serious, very grim…and occasionally very silly.

I did kind of dig the Plague Doctor killer. The costume is actually decently creepy at first glance, but it also has a strong “I could buy or make that myself this weekend” energy. And honestly, I’m still not convinced what woman on Earth would step closer to a dude dressed like that just to hear what he’s saying. If anything, that beak should come with its own restraining order. Still, the look does its job, especially in shadowy scenes where the film briefly remembers that atmosphere exists.

The biggest issue here is how wildly uneven everything feels. Some sequences, particularly the visions and nightmare moments, are surprisingly polished and effective, hinting at a much better film lurking underneath. Then the next scene rolls around, looking unmistakably B-budget, with flat lighting and staging that drains any tension right out of the room. The body count follows a similar pattern, swinging between offscreen shrug-fests and genuinely worthwhile practical gore effects that slasher fans will at least appreciate.

The conspiracy itself becomes far more complicated than it ever needed to be. You won’t get lost, but you may find yourself wondering why the plot keeps taking unnecessary right turns when a straight line would’ve done just fine. The cast, to their credit, isn’t bad at all for a film of this tier. They’re simply stuck in a story that feels forced and oddly cramped, never giving them enough space to really sell the madness.

Director Ben Fortune deserves some side-eye for the inconsistency, but there is potential here. The film has a commendable old-school video store slasher vibe, which was clearly the goal. It just needed more shine, not necessarily more money. Doctor Plague isn’t for everyone. Not even close. But for fans of slasher films (Shogun's last flick, Helloween, would be a good comparison) who have a tolerance for imperfections and a few lost opportunities, it might be a fascinating late-night watch. Just don’t go in a dark alley with anyone sporting a beak mask.

Doctor Plague (2026)

https://jackmeat.com/doctor-plague-2026/

Self-Help (2025) | Self-Help feels like it’s constantly about to go off the rails, then politely decides not to. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.8/10. Self-Help opens with the Bloody-Disgusting logo, which is usually a reassuring sign if you’re hoping for some mean-spirited carnage. Even better, it kicks off at a birthday party inside a ShowBiz Pizza Place, complete with the animatronic band that instantly unlocks some of my own fond kid party memories. For a brief moment, I thought I was getting a movie about to weaponize nostalgia and take us somewhere delightfully unhinged. Then that optimism takes a hard left turn when young Olivia catches her mother enjoying a very personal backroom moment with a clown. Childhood trauma - unlocked. Smash cut to college years, title card, and we’re off.

Now older, Olivia (Landry Bender) carries her emotional baggage openly, guarded and shaped by years of unresolved trauma. When she agrees to reconnect with her estranged mother, Rebecca (Amy Hargreaves), she ropes her friend Sophie (Madison Lintz) into tagging along to what turns out to be a self-actualization community that’s about three red flags deep within seconds. This is where we meet Curtis (Jake Weber), the group’s smooth-talking leader who runs his operation with an iron grip and a permanent aura of “something is very wrong here.” As the members reveal themselves, it becomes painfully clear that Olivia and Sophie have wandered into some weird-ass shit.

Despite the cult setup and a few bloody splashes here and there, this isn’t really a horror film. Despite the imagery, this is much more of a subdued thriller than anything that would qualify as a slasher film. It is always hanging on the edge of going with the dark and/or dangerous options, but it never quite follows through on this tease. Even the violence that happens is purely for effect and not at all cleansing.

The story’s twists are another weak point. Nothing here lands as a genuine surprise. Instead of “oh damn, didn’t see that coming,” most revelations are met with a shrug and a “yeah, that tracks.” Writer-director Erik Bloomquist also has a habit of underexplaining key developments, leaving certain motivations and turns feeling oddly incomplete. If you’ve seen it, you know exactly what that means.

The biggest problem, though, is pacing. The film drains its own energy before it really gets going. The early stretch is heavily focused on dysfunctional family drama, emotional wounds, and Olivia’s attempt to reconnect with a mother still under the influence of Curtis and his self-help society. Such aspects are significant, but they take over to such an extent in Self-Help that other aspects, such as the cult intrigue and mayhem, are relegated to the backseat. They seem to have already spent most of their runtime when the real action starts.

Self-Help (2025)

Self-Help isn’t awful, but it’s annoying. There’s a better, nastier movie buried in here, one that never quite scratches its way free. What’s left is a tame, oddly cautious thriller that had the potential to be much more disturbing than it ever lets itself be.

https://jackmeat.com/self-help-2025/

The Devil's Disciples (2024) | Horror royalty assembles for a paycheck parade through a bland, soap-opera demon flick that confuses gore for substance. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 3.5/10. Talk about a story that sounds far more epic than the movie itself ever manages to be. That was my immediate take on The Devil’s Disciples. A forgotten prophecy threatens Lucifer’s dominion, Hell is on the brink, and his elite council must race against destiny to save the infernal balance. On paper, that’s prime supernatural horror territory. In execution, it’s more like a soap opera wandered onto a low-rent soundstage, found some fake blood, and decided to call itself apocalyptic.

I’ll give the film this much. The cast list absolutely did its job. Seeing names like Tony Todd, Bill Moseley, and Angus Scrimm pop up is enough to make any horror fan sit up a little straighter. The opening credits feel like watching a trailer, rattling off familiar faces as if daring you to bail out early. Even when Tony Todd shows up, and for a moment I was thinking, “Okay…maybe we'll get something here.” Then the movie starts, and that hope slowly packs its bags.

The screenplay, penned by writer-director Joe Hollow, is just so generic, so boring, for a premise that could be so thrilling. For chrissakes, prophecy, demons, and fate all offer so much fertile ground to plow, but instead, what we're left with is dialogue that sounds like it was written by a middle-school English class, action that could only be described as "meh, it gets the job done," and, worst of all, a film that never gets any flow, any momentum. The special effects, of course, were limited, at least confined mostly to the gore elements. To be fair, the gore is serviceable, doing just enough to remind you this is technically a horror film.

The real hook here is pure horror history. Beyond the big three, you’ve also got Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley, and Elissa Dowling rounding out a cast that reads like a convention guest list. Add in Felissa Rose, and you may have nailed everyone in recent horror. Performances across the board are mostly fair, as in, no one’s embarrassing themselves, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that this is a “paycheck is a paycheck” situation for everyone involved. Strip this movie of its horror icons, and you could comfortably knock another two points off the score without hesitation.

It almost hurts to mention that the score comes from Harry Manfredini of Friday the 13th fame. That’s a serious name attached to a movie that doesn’t earn it. There’s a ton of horror pedigree baked into The Devil’s Disciples, which only highlights how underwhelming the final product is. The film does at least tick off the B-budget horror checklist with ample blood and a generous dose of nudity, so fans of classic exploitation will find the expected comforts.

In the end, The Devil’s Disciples is a curiosity rather than a recommendation. It’s worth a look strictly for the cast and the novelty of seeing so much horror legacy crammed into one forgettable package. Sadly, all that history can’t save a movie that never quite figures out what to do with it.

The Devil's Disciples (2024)

https://jackmeat.com/the-devils-disciples-2024/

Dust Bunny (2025) | The monster under the bed is real, it’s adorable, and somehow the assassins are the least scary thing in this charming flick. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 6.8/10. Well, that was a pleasantly strange flick. Dust Bunny is one of those that sneaks up on you, wins you over, and makes me wonder why more movies don’t take risks like this anymore. The setup alone feels like a dare. Ten-year-old (not 8 according to Bryan Fuller) Aurora (Sophie Sloan) asks her quiet, hitman neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen) to kill the monster under her bed, which she insists already ate her family. Of course, he doesn't believe her. He thinks all the commotion in and around her apartment is the aftermath of enemies seeking to get to him. The truth turns out to be that both are right and completely wrong.

The film opens with subtle but effective visual cues, introducing the “evil” dust bunny through fleeting shadows and movement, paired with moody shots of an urban cityscape that carries a faint Tim Burton vibe. It’s atmospheric and immediately had me intrigued. Things escalate quickly when Aurora follows her neighbor and stumbles into something far less ordinary - an unexpectedly flashy, out-of-the-blue hand-to-hand fight staged against a firework-lit backdrop. It’s a bold tonal shift, but it works. At that point, Dust Bunny immediately reminded me of Big Trouble in Little China, and honestly, you know that's a compliment from me.

Writer/director Bryan Fuller imagines a singular, playful world where hitmen, monsters, and childhood imagination all coexist without apology. Sigourney Weaver pops up as the hitman's handler, doling out sharp dialogue with serious attitude and reminding everyone just how effortlessly commanding she can be. The genre mashup is where the film really shines. Thinking the monster under the bed is only some metaphor for gang violence or trauma? Think again. The monsters are very real, and once Aurora is dragged into their world, gun-toting assassins are quickly the least of anyone's concern.

Despite the carnage, the film doesn’t rely on excessive gore to rack up a body count. The creature effects are well done, and the titular dust bunny is oddly adorable in a deeply unsettling way - cute, but in a “please don’t let that near me” sense. That makes it tricky to label this as straight horror, but the genre elements are definitely there, just wrapped in whimsy rather than pure terror.

The heart of the movie lies in the chemistry between Mikkelsen and Sloan. This odd couple partnership surprisingly works, with a nice enough running joke involving his inability to say her name right, adding a bit of genuine warmth to proceedings. This is a film that arguably goes to the fringes of what a child-friendly horror film can be without getting neutered.

Visually, Dust Bunny has a strong aesthetic identity, which helps to complement the tone of the film, and the rhythm keeps the story churning along. Although the narrative occasionally wanders, the charm, imagination, and directness of Dust Bunny keep everything fascinating. For a debut feature, Fuller delivers an achievement in itself, especially following his excellent work on Hannibal. I guess he and Mikkelsen are still on good terms, as he appeared in Hannibal, too.

Dust Bunny (2025)

Dust Bunny is a creative, intelligent movie that works on its own silly terms. It's funny, imaginative, and surprisingly heartfelt. For those in the mood for something different, it's an easy recommendation. Side note: if I caught this during 2025, it absolutely would’ve landed a spot somewhere on my Top Ten horror list.

https://jackmeat.com/dust-bunny-2025/

The Centipede Strangler (2025) | Feels less like a movie and more like an excuse to grope actresses with Halloween props. 66 minutes felt eternal. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 1.3/10. I put The Centipede Strangler on my watchlist for one noble reason - it was 66 minutes long. That felt survivable. That was before I realized it was another Jamie Grefe joint and before the Cinema Epoch logo crawled onto the screen like a bad rash. At that exact moment, my soul tried to strangle itself.

The description promises something vaguely horror-adjacent. A psychic investigator is driven to madness after being hired to track a killer obsessed with centipedes. Which sounds like it might involve, I don’t know, centipedes, killing, or strangling. Silly me. What it actually involves is the same Jamie Grefe greatest hits package we’ve suffered through before - pervy camera work, zero blood, zero tension, and a profound misunderstanding of what words mean. “Strangler,” for instance, appears to mean “guy who awkwardly presses a rubber centipede onto women while they twitch.”

It opens with a woman having bad dreams, and once she wakes up, the real nightmare begins. The audio. It genuinely sounds like the microphone was placed inside a running washing machine filled with pillows. Someone whispers “centipede” ominously, as if that alone is supposed to do the heavy lifting. It doesn’t. It matters about as much as the red static rising effect, which also goes completely unexplained, like the repeated fake-orgasm-slash-possession scenes that just keep happening because… reasons?

Ah yes, the latex mask returns, that old Grefe staple, looking like it was pulled from a Spirit Halloween clearance bin. Enter the rubber centipede, the exact one you bought as a prank to scare six-year-olds. The actors seem unsure whether they’re supposed to laugh, convulse, or call an ambulance as latex boy gently fondles them with it. Seizures occur. No explanation follows. Characters vanish via what looks suspiciously like someone hitting pause and record. Still no strangling.

Once the washing machine mic is finally shut off, we’re treated to a constant, droning hum that never leaves, like tinnitus with a budget. By this point, I genuinely wondered whether to feel sorry for the actresses. Does Grefe just lie to them? Is there a script? Did anyone ask why nobody actually dies, or gets strangled, or why this feels less like a horror film and more like an excuse to grope people on camera?

The “effects” eventually escalate to fake worms from Bikini Guillotine slithering over someone for absolutely no reason, confirming that the entire special effects budget was spent at a local bait shop. The performers drift around like performance art without the performance, the art, or the talent.

The Centipede Strangler (2025)

Let me be crystal clear. If you see the Cinema Epoch logo, proceed with extreme caution. If Jamie Grefe’s name is attached, avoid it like the plague. The Centipede Strangler earns its #turkey rating by failing to strangle and failing at cinema on every conceivable level. The real horror is that this keeps happening, and that somehow he got these women to take their tops off.

https://jackmeat.com/the-centipede-strangler-2025/

Death Count (2022) | A Saw-lite online nightmare where likes mean survival, proving once again that social media was a mistake. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.1/10. Death Count is one of those movies that’s been quietly loitering on my watchlist like a sketchy guy outside a convenience store, and curiosity finally won. The premise is simple, cruel, and very online. Strangers wake up in individual cells, collars locked around their necks, and if they don’t earn enough internet “likes,” they die horribly. Because of course they do. Nothing says modern horror quite like social media deciding whether you live or get turned into abstract art. And for being strangers as the description tells us, they seemed to know each other real quickly.

We kick off with Sarah French waking up in her cell, confused, restrained, and immediately having a worse morning than anyone who’s ever overslept for work. She quickly realizes she’s not alone, and soon the rules of the game are laid out by the warden, played by Costas Mandylor, who once again proves he has a permanent reservation in “authoritative creep” roles. One of the rules is promptly ignored by Robert LaSardo, because someone always has to test the system. This earns him a swift, painful lesson in compliance and a headache you definitely can’t fix with aspirin.

From there, the movie leans hard into its Saw-lite DNA. Non-compliance results in nasty ejections from the game, and yes, the gore factor is alive and well. The traps and challenges revolve around self-mutilation, disfigurement, and generally doing things to your own body that would make even a tattoo artist back away slowly. Every time that obnoxious siren blares, it’s time for another round of unplanned “body modification,” all while a live audience watches, votes, and pretends this is somehow entertainment.

Once the stream hits the internet, the police get involved, with Michael Madsen showing up as Detective Casey, looking like he wandered in from a completely different movie but decided to stay anyway. The participants must escalate their grotesque performances to earn votes, because subtlety does not win likes. I did briefly wonder why one character didn’t just exploit the internet’s oldest weakness sooner - let’s be honest, boobs will always get votes. Spoiler: the movie eventually agrees with me, just far later than expected.

Between rounds of bodily harm, the film drops in the motivation behind the whole ordeal. Revenge. The backstory is revealed piece by piece, and while the reason for staging this elaborate murder-livestream feels wildly disproportionate to the original offense, that’s pretty much how these movies operate. Everything takes place inside an abandoned warehouse, which keeps the budget low and the scenery nonexistent, though some fake news clips and post-event interviews try to sell the realism and underline the internet’s moral rot.

The ending leans into sequel-bait territory and gets a bit hokey, but by that point, you know exactly what kind of ride you signed up for. Death Count isn’t here for deep character work or a compelling moral thesis. It’s here for brutality, gimmicks, and social media satire with a blunt object. If you’re into Saw-like carnage and don’t need a strong motive to enjoy the bloodshed, this one will scratch that itch. If not, you might want to log out.

Death Count (2022)

I saw the Mahal Empire logo at the beginning and realized I had missed hearing from my buddy Sonny Mahal, so I emailed Sonny around Halloween. On a sad note, he informed me his brother, Michael, who also produced this film, passed away several months back. RIP Mr. Mahal.

https://jackmeat.com/death-count-2022/

Bullet in the Head (1990) | Beneath the gunfights lies a tragic tale of friendship destroyed, proving Bullet in the Head remains powerful even decades later. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 8.1/10. A movie that is perhaps overshadowed in John Woo’s filmography for its momentous gunplay in Hard Boiled or The Killer, Bullet in the Head may just be his most emotionally brutal film. What first appears to be a purely action-oriented film on its surface is, in fact, a harsh story of friendship, loyalty, and how fast things fall apart when blood, money, and war are added to the mixture.

The initial situation is simple enough. It’s 1967, and three young friends are just ambling about, dancing, fighting for sport, and talking about a bright future to come. Ben (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) is the emotional anchor, and Woo takes a while to show these normal-life experiences - visits from family, idle bluster, young invincibility - when disaster strikes and they must flee not only the city, but the entire country of Hong Kong because they are guilty of a murder resulting from a fight with a local gang.

The action is ferocious and impeccably choreographed, but what really hits is the contrast Woo creates. One minute you're watching skillfully choreographed hand-to-hand combat or adrenaline-fueled gunfights, and the next you're placed in the position to deal with the consequences and repercussions of violence that can never be reversed. The score may border on melodrama in some aspects but finds perfect harmony in this film and the corruption and guilt that seeps in as a consequence of the first wrong step.

Vietnam itself functions less as a political lecture and more as a pressure cooker. The trio gets tangled in a gang war involving a corrupt leader and the kidnapping of Chinese celebrity Sally Yan Sau Ching (Yolinda Yam), before stumbling into the much larger machinery of the actual war. Their gold heist accidentally implicates them as CIA operatives, leading to capture, torture, and some genuinely harrowing scenes involving POW executions, often punctuated by the film’s chilling motif - a bullet to the head. Woo doesn’t flinch here, and the violence feels intentionally ugly rather than stylish.

There’s no doubt that there’s an Apocalypse Now influence, especially regarding the American forces, but Woo expresses it in his own operatic way. Money becomes the ultimate corrosive element, pushing relationships that were already on the edge to their limits. There’s no trust left, just desperation, and loyalty turns out to be more brittle than anyone cared to believe.

Even decades later, Bullet in the Head remains on my must-see list when anyone asks. The 4K release wisely restores the extended ending, which fully commits to Woo’s bleak, furious view of betrayal and broken bonds. Compared to the shorter alternate ending, this version lands with far more destruction. In the end, this isn’t just John Woo doing Vietnam. It’s Woo at his most merciless, crafting a war drama with the impact of The Deer Hunter and reminding us why he remains the true godfather of action cinema.

Bullet in the Head (1990)

https://jackmeat.com/bullet-in-the-head-1990/

Descendent (2025) | A slow-burn sci-fi thriller where uncertainty fuels dread as a traumatized man questions whether he was abducted or just broken. #jackmeatsflix

My quick rating - 4.7/10. Descendent is one of those movies that actually reels you in with atmosphere, tough performances, and a truly creepy concept, only to utterly blow it when it counts. But for a while, it's an effective slow burn for a sci-fi/psychological thriller that knows how to get under your skin.

The story centers on Sean (Ross Marquand), who is stuck in a dead-end security guard position while awaiting the arrival of his child with his pregnant partner, Andrea (Sarah Bolger). One evening while on duty, Sean notices an unusual light in the sky, falls off the roof, and finds himself in the hospital with no explanation of what actually happened. In his world, Sean’s reality begins to unravel as he suffers visions from alien creatures, nightmare sequences, and random physical changes such as his keen sense of hearing and the compulsion to draw nightmare pictures.

Marquand absolutely carries this movie. If your main exposure to him has been The Walking Dead such as me, this performance should surprise you. He holds Descendent together through sheer commitment, selling Sean’s confusion and obsession as his grip on reality slowly loosens. Wisely, director Peter Cilella keeps most of his focus on Sean's internal struggle, documenting his descent through fractured dreams and increasingly tense arguments with Andrea. Bolger is also very good, keeping things in focus as a supportive spouse who slowly realizes something is deeply wrong. Her performance feels natural and believable, even as the story becomes more abstract.

Visually, Descendent has some genuinely creepy moments. The alien imagery and dream sequences are frightening yet don't go too far. Nor is the uncertainty about whether Sean is dealing with real trauma or something more extraterrestrial for the most part. In fact, I think the line between what is going on has got to be one of its strongest points, as I was left guessing about everything, for the most part.

Unfortunately, that's where the bottom falls out. Without getting into spoilers, the film makes choices that feel like it completely disregards the careful build-up. Any theories or emotional attachment you may have developed gets tossed in the trash and replaced with this unsatisfying ending that feels rushed and basically disconnected from the rest of the movie. It’s frustrating, especially because Descendent had done so much right up to that point.

This is one of those cases where strong acting and atmosphere simply can’t save a weak script. Perhaps this was more effective on the page, but on screen, it does not land. I walked out of this feeling more annoyed than interested. Kind of a shame, given the promising start this flick had.

Descendent (2025)

Worth watching for the performances and mood, but don’t expect a payoff that matches the buildup.

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