The Dreadful follows Anne and her mother-in-law Morwen who live a solitary, harsh life on the outskirts of society – but when a man from their past returns, he will set off a sequence of events that become a turning point for Anne.
The Dreadful is directed by Natasha Kermani director of Shattered (2017), Imitation Girl (2017), Lucky (2020) and Abraham’s Boys (2025).
The Dreadful is one of those movies where soon as the movie ends you almost immediately forget what you watched. Outside of the atmosphere and the actually quite beautiful cinematography, there is just not a whole lot going on here making the whole experience feel empty and dreadful (I had to throw in at least one joke here) to sit through.
Kit Harington and Sophie Turner are not horrible here, but they aren’t exactly great either. Their performances just aren’t strong enough to overcome the movie’s terrible script that feels like a slog to get through. Their characters Jago (Harington) and Anne (Turner) are not interesting enough to make the viewer care for the story. What adds fuel to the fire is the two just don’t have very good chemistry, individually the performances aren’t horrible but together there is a ton of awkwardness that starts to rub onto the viewer and never goes away.
The atmosphere tries to do some heavy lifting and bring some scenes to life, which at times it does feel like I’m in this movie’s world especially when you combine it with the cinematography from cinematographer Julia Swain. Swain really tries to make everything work, she brings some beauty to certain scenes with the gorgeous cinematography that is quite detailed. Unfortunately the rest of the movie fails to compliment or take advantage of this, it’s frustrating because the ideas that the camera presents is far more interesting than the ones written in the script.
The pacing is painful, despite the movie only being 94 minutes long. It feels more like a 2 hour long movie that is purposely going as slow as possible, nothing invests the viewer throughout the movie. It’s a very dull and forgettable experience that the viewer will almost certainly check themselves out of by the time the movie is over.
Overall The Dreadful is terrible and there is just not a whole lot to comment on here. At the very least it’s forgettable so it won’t stick with you for that long when it’s over.
Michael Mason is a recluse on a remote Scottish island who rescues a girl from the sea, unleashing a perilous sequence of events that culminate in an attack on his home, compelling him to face his turbulent history.
Shelter is directed by Ric Roman Waugh director of Snitch (2013), Angel Has Fallen (2019), Greenland (2020), Kandahar (2023), Greenland 2: Migration (2026) and a few others.
There is only so much you can say about these Jason Statham action thriller movies at this point, some of them such as The Beekeeper (2024) have a lot more going on than others. If you go into Shelter wanting more you are going to be disappointed, with that being said the movie is ultimately very forgettable.
Jason Statham does a decent job once again, there is a classic saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and that absolutely applies to Statham and his performances. He’s good at what he does and he undeniably has the charisma to back it up, although I will say that finding out Michael Mason (played by Statham) was a former government assassin could be seen coming from a mile way especially if you have seen other Statham films. Bodhi Rae Breathnach as Jessie is great here as well, there’s times where it almost feels way too good of a performance for this movie, luckily the movie does take advantage of this and ends up making Jessie somewhat of an interesting character.
The action is pretty standard, there isn’t anything truly exciting going on here. However when you combine it with some of the set pieces (the club scene in particular) you do get something pretty neat every now and then. The cinematography from cinematographer Martin Ahlgren is solid and he manages to capture the movie’s atmosphere and suspense that it’s going for, even said suspense does not always land.
Overall Shelter isn’t terrible, it’s ultimately just another Jason Statham movie that is forgettable but does have a handful of good elements about it.
Pedro (Hendler) is asked to look after his ex’s senile mother, Alicia (Maura), but she traps him in her home, turning a simple favor into a fight for survival
Crazy Old Lady is directed by Martín Mauregui director of Love (Part One) (2005).
Crazy Old Lady automatically hits you with this claustrophobic atmosphere as soon as it begins which is mainly thanks to cinematographer Julián Apezteguía’s camerawork. It’s a film that does meander a bit but it ultimately does reach the finish line with a solid conclusion.
The performances from Daniel Handler and Carmen Maura are what really make the film. Especially Maura who gives a genuinely intimidating performance, she’s able to capture this sense of dread in each scene. She effortlessly switches between personalities that really does make you wonder which one is going to take the front seat in the scenes of Alicia (played by Carmen Maura) and Pedro (played by Daniel Handler) exchanging dialogue. Maura captures the film’s claustrophobic atmosphere immediately when she enters the film and keeps it that way throughout the experience. Daniel Handler does a great job of displaying fear and realizing how insane the situation really is. He compliments Carmen Maura’s performance incredibly well and serves as this stone to build the movie’s haunting atmosphere.
The writing might not exactly be fantastic and there are cases where the movie is lacking a bit of depth, however the performances from Maura and Handler are able to elevate the material and make it a bit more interesting. With that being said the movie does meander a bit which does end up hurting the pacing at times, the pacing can feel breezy or it can feel rough it’s a very strange case of the movie using both.
Finally there are some backstory elements that are introduced but are not fully explored, the movie does make up for it with some symbolic elements such as the decaying house. The house actually does get development when it comes to the cinematography being so well detailed and with the lighting.
Overall Crazy Old Lady is a decent little film that does hold back at times, but it delivers when it comes to performances, cinematography and atmosphere.
After a video of his music goes viral, he starts selling drugs to earn money for his music, leading him into a world of danger and conflict.
Clika is directed by Michael Greene director of Live (2018).
There is not a whole lot to comment on here with Clika it’s a movie that means well, but ultimately ends up becoming such a huge mess when it blends so many genres together and isn’t able to nail any of them down.
The acting in particular is incredibly rough, it’s hard to really blame the actors as they are given such a shoddy script to work with. However a major problem comes in when singing is involved, the problem being that Jay-Dee can’t sing all that well. You could do far worse, but it is all over the place and does take the viewer out of the movie almost immediately. Eric Roberts has his few moments but even then it feels like he just came on set to collect a paycheck and book it out of there.
The over reliance on voice overs that are delivered poorly certainly hurt the movie, however what really breaks this movie is the constant jumping between genres. You have a music biopic, drama and a thriller none of which are done particularly well. The music biopic part is filled to the brim with cliches that it’s almost impressive how many they squeezed in. The dramatic moments aren’t enough to really bring the viewer’s attention, the only thing that’s really keeping the viewer is the lower budget filmmaking having some sort of charm (but even then that can only work for so long.) Finally there is the thriller portion which ends up being a crime plot that does end up being the movie’s strongest part but unfortunately still lacks a ton of development.
I get Clika was loosely based on the true life story of Jay Dee (Jesus Diego), but the way this movie goes about telling this story in this poorly constructed mess is very baffling. It’s frustrating because stories like this deserve to be told properly, it’s ultimately one of those bad movies that are harmless but really makes you leave the movie feeling like there was a missed opportunity here.
Follows two millennials who flip NY apartments they don’t own to new buyers who don’t know they are being scammed. The con works brilliantly until they run into an apartment owner with a dark secret who flips the game on them.
Twisted is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman director of Saw II–IV (2005-2007), Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), Mother’s Day (2010), 11-11-11 (2011), Spiral: From The Book Of Saw (2021), The Cello (2023) and a few others.
Twisted is an odd one, it definitely feels like it’s trying to recapture the grimy, dark and gory atmosphere of what some horror movies were doing back in the 2000s. Yet this feels like a very watered down version of that, there are a few scenes here that are nasty but those can only push the atmosphere so far. This leads to a pretty underwhelming experience despite the movie’s name telling you that it will be a sick one.
Undeniably the best parts here are Lauren LaVera and Djimon Hounsou, Hounsou has this calm voice that can easily intimidate you and his character Dr. Kezian’s whole motive is genuinely interesting. Even if his backstory needed more stronger writing, Hounsou is able to salvage it by just giving a genuinely intimating performance.
Lauren LaVera gives another great performance here, by now she’s pretty much established herself as a modern day scream queen and here is no exception. She nails both the thrilling and dramatic moments, her chemistry with Mia Healey feels natural and is the heart of the film. These moments are not huge, but they are what mainly helps this movie not feel like a chore to sit through.
The main problem with Twisted is the writing, especially story and dialogue wise which is a bit of a mess, the dialogue does not have a whole lot going on here and is mostly saved due to the performances being surprisingly decent. The story is interesting and had promise, but the movie never takes full advantage of it. Outside of a few gross brain surgery scenes towards the end, the movie never fully commits to its ideas and instead settles on being strangely tame which does ultimately hurt the movie.
Overall Twisted is forgettable, there is just not a whole lot going on here. There is a bit of this giallo feel with some of the blood splatters and with the camera being set up in certain ways, but much like almost everything else in this movie it’s very watered down to the point where you just shrug your shoulders and move on. There’s definitely worse straight to VOD options out there but you can’t help but feel disappointed with this one.
Haunted by terrifying visions, Sarah’s sleepwalking episodes begin to intensify, accelerating her descent into darkness.
Sleepwalker is directed by Brandon Auman which is his directorial debut.
Sleepwalker is the very definition of a January released horror movie. It’s terrible, forgettable and makes little to no sense due to its botched filmmaking. Occasionally there’s a moment or two of good acting from Hayden Panettiere but that is nowhere near enough to save this movie from falling on its face.
As mentioned before, Hayden Panettiere occasionally has some decent moments where she’s able to work with the movie’s awful script and turn it into something somewhat salvageable. However those moments are very far and few in between, we get long periods of the actors trying desperately to make the script work but due to the empty and laughably bad script it all falls down quickly. Beverly D’Angelo’s character Gloria had potential here and attempts to tell some jokes but it ends up being more lame than anything else. Justin Chatwin as an abusive husband who ends up in a coma is quite terrible, his delivery during the more intense scenes is just not there at all and really lacks the tension and acting power needed.
The movie’s attempts at grief and abusive relationships while admirable, just does not work well at all. The grief attempts to combine it with sleepwalking which is admittedly a very solid idea, the execution however is a mess and not well done. Way too many jumpscares and a lack of a thrilling atmosphere make the movie fall flat immediately, as for the abusive relationships part while the set up is interesting that’s about as far as it goes. The dialogue does not do this movie any favors at all, it’s a shame because there is a few genuine good moments here that somewhat work. But all of that goes away when the rest of the movie carries on with its foolishness.
Lastly there’s how badly the movie is crafted. A lot of it is incredibly repetitive story wise, the ending is very abrupt and leaves the viewer with a lot more questions than answers (not in a good way.) The twist (if you even want to call it that) is very predictable and fails to land in any meaningful way.
Overall Sleepwalker has a decent idea here, but the execution goes horribly wrong in just about every way possible. Outside of the occasional decent moments, you are not going to get a whole lot from the movie as it fails to bring the viewer in.
On 12 August 1967, in Montana’s Glacier National Park, the unthinkable happened: On the same night, nine miles apart, there were not one, but two fatal grizzly bear attacks.
Grizzly Night is directed by Burke Doeren which is his directorial debut. The film is based on the true story of the 1967 Grizzly Bear attacks in Glacier National Park.
It’s only January and we have already gotten three killer animal movies. Primate, Killer Whale and now Grizzly Night. If you are going into Grizzly Night expecting the usual killer animal movie you are going to be incredibly disappointed. This one focuses less on the attacks and more so on the rescue efforts, which while admirable and is important to highlight is ultimately not very investing. Which leads to the movie becoming a bit too forgettable for its own good.
The acting is fine enough, nobody here really gives a standout performance but I do think Lauren Call who plays Ranger Joan Devereaux gets better as the movie goes on and actually does have a few emotional moments. Oded Fehr as Dr. John Lindberg is a close second who provides this calm and empathetic atmosphere whenever he’s on screen. Unfortunately the rest of the cast gets the short end of the stick, the acting from the rest ranges from bad to middle of the road. It doesn’t help that the writing gives them very little to work with.
The writing is this movie’s biggest problem, it’s a shame to because the true story itself is incredibly interesting. To this day nobody knows exactly what made the two Grizzly Bears attack so there’s this air of mystery that’s genuinely fascinating. The writing unfortunately does not capture that feel at all, instead it opts to try and set the bear attacks up as something bigger but ultimately changes its mind and focuses mainly on the rescue efforts. Which as I said earlier is incredibly admirable, but the dialogue is just not there to support it. A lot of the characters are very thinly written and don’t offer all that much outside of support.
The big parts Grizzly Night has going for it is the filming and the nature atmosphere, cinematographers Brian Mitchell and Ian Start do a very good job of capturing the outdoors which leads to some decently shot scenes. While director Burke Doeren is able to capture the feel of the outdoors with the atmosphere, there is definitely something here that the rest of the movie failed to lean into especially with the final act that feels very rushed.
Overall Grizzly Night has its moments, but those moments are outnumbered by the amount of flaws that are present here. It’s a very bland telling of an interesting true story.
Grizzly Night releases Friday on all VOD platforms in the USA and on Digital and DVD February 2nd in the UK!
A group of Miami cops discovers a stash of millions in cash, leading to distrust as outsiders learn about the seizure, making them question who to rely on.
The Rip is directed by Joe Carnahan director of Smokin’ Aces (2006), The A-Team (2010), The Grey (2011), Stretch (2014), Boss Level (2020), Copshop (2021), Shadow Force (2025) and a few others.
The Rip is yet another January Netflix original film that isn’t bad (the first being People We Meet On Vacation), while that’s not exactly high praise and admittedly is the bare minimum. A lot of Netflix original January films would wish they are at least middle of the road. There’s a decent amount to like about The Rip from the cast to the action scenes which brings a decent enough experience to fans of the genre.
The main reason why The Rip works is mainly due to the cast. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are undeniably a great duo who work incredibly well together, their dialogue bounces off of each other naturally and the two are already great actors which does help make the material of The Rip a bit more interesting. Teyana Taylor and Sasha Calle also get some great moments here, even if they sometimes feel a bit underutilized in certain sections of the film.
The writing for the most part is decent, the first two acts help establish the film’s atmosphere in surprisingly great detail. The atmosphere is thrilling enough due to the writing and gives these characters some sort of alert to check their surroundings, it’s not a case where everything feels like it’s safe. There’s a few moments in particular that are decently tense thanks to this. With that being said, the writing does drop the ball during the film’s final act. The tension that was built up filters away in a very predictable and empty conclusion that really does feel like the writers couldn’t think of way to close the story. It’s unfortunate because there was some genuine intrigue going on here prior to the incredibly empty final act.
The action scenes are solid, they are not anything groundbreaking and won’t change the landscape of the action thriller genre. But due to the film’s atmosphere the scenes work decently enough, especially when you combine them with the settings which the movie does a pretty good job of incorporating them into the mix. The cinematography is also shockingly really solid, cinematographer Juan Miguel Azpiroz captures some beautiful shots here that add to the overall detail of the movie even if they are little moments.
Overall The Rip is a serviceable action thriller that despite having struggles to close out the film, does just enough to stick the landing and give something that fans of the action thriller genre will have a decent time with.
Hoping for a fresh start, a young woman becomes a live-in maid for a wealthy couple who harbour sinister secrets.
The Housemaid is directed by Paul Fig director of Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), Spy (2015), A Simple Favor (2018), Jackpot (2024), Another Simple Favor (2025) and a few others.
Well it’s very clear to see which of the two Paul Fig films released in 2025 is the better one. After the disappointing Another Simple Favor I figured Paul Fig was going to bounce back with The Housemaid and that was most certainly the case. This is a film that lives in it’s own little world, it knows it has incredibly silly atmosphere that’s reminiscent of those LifeTime channel movies and it’s unapologetic about it which ends up making the film work in the long run.
What makes The Housemaid works as well as it does is the performances. Particularly Amanda Seyfried who leans into Nina Winchester’s unsettling energy that goes into this glorious over the top feel along with this unnerving feel and with a nice mix of entertainment. We can see different parts of Nina’s mind just spill out in different scenes and that’s masterfully captured by Amanda Seyfried who truly brings it home especially during a few particular moments that shoot the film’s bizarreness level up so many notches.
Sydney Sweeney has some solid moments as well, while not every single moment of her performance is great. She is able to squeeze in some great lines and keep her character Millie interesting to the viewer, the interactions between her and Seyfried are some of the film’s best moments which makes the first half of the film quite entertaining and thrilling. Brandon Sklenar is fine enough, he’s by far the film’s weakest performance and his character is unfortunately not incredibly interesting. He does admittedly have some decent moments during the film’s last bit however which I guess does make up for it.
As I said before, the film lives in its own little world and the same can be said about the writing. The writing establishes this thrilling yet silly atmosphere that completely works due to Paul Fig’s direction and his familiarity with blending these genres together, even if I’m not a huge fan of every single one of Fig’s films something I always do appreciate about him is that he likes to experiment. He likes to see what he can put the comedy genre in and make it work, that’s the case here. The film also has the theme of domestic abuse that it explores, which is mainly done through Nina, as entertaining as Seyfried’s performance is there’s also this bit of sadness to her performance that is quite effective when the second half of the film rolls around. It catches the viewer off guard and really delivers in the end.
Overall The Housemaid is an effective thriller that captures a lot of the campy nature of films similar to it while also bringing in some strong atmosphere, well written dialogue and some strong performances especially from Amanda Seyfried.
When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.
One Battle After Another is directed by Paul Thomas Anderson director of Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), Punch-Drunk Love (2007), There Will Be Blood (2007), The Master (2012), Inherent Vice (2014), Phantom Thread (2017) and Licorice Pizza (2021).
Paul Thomas Anderson continues to show why he is a master at his craft with One Battle After Another, a film that right out the gate immediately hooks the viewer into the film with its suspenseful and rich atmosphere, its sneaky score that creeps on you and its characters who truly make the film’s world feel complete. The beginning moments of the film start off with such a high note that the film keeps that note high as we get deeper and deeper into the film, which ultimately leads to a truly thrilling and powerful experience.
The performances are all fantastic here, each of the cast are able to bring something to the table that makes the film shine incredibly brightly. Especially when it comes to how perfectly the cast bounces off of each other when it comes to the dialogue. We get louder moments, we get humorous moments and we get a ton of quiet moments that are filled to the brim with tension.
Leonardo DiCaprio turns in a phenomenal performance, he plays Pat Calhoun/Bob Ferguson a member of the French 75. DiCaprio does a phenomenal job of playing this washed-up former member of this revolutionary group while also trying to be the best father he can be for Willa Ferguson (played by Chase Infinti), there are tons of wonderful moments between the two that are truly powerful. DiCaprio already being a phenomenal actor especially helps, because a role like Bob Ferguson is a bit demanding. There is this balance of humorous and suspense that needs to be captured in order to fully work and luckily that is the case for DiCaprio, underneath more humorous moments there’s a bit of pain that Bob displays and it’s noticeable to the viewer throughout the film. This is a very different performance from DiCaprio’s last couple of roles and he absolutely nails it.
Although Teyana Taylor sort of disappears from the film during the second half, her presence and what her character Perfidia does to help set up the film is felt throughout the experience. Teyana Taylor gives a powerhouse performance that instantly brings the viewer into the film’s world. The body language and her dialogue during the film’s intimidating moments with Steven J. Lockjaw (played by Sean Penn) shows another example of how much of a fantastic actress Taylor really is. The way she captures fear, determination and such really brings together on just how raw her performance really is.
Sean Penn is terrifying there is no other way to describe his performance, sure there are moments where the film is clearly making fun of him and a far right group known as “The Christmas Adventure Club” but make no mistake Steven J. Lockjaw is terrifying and truly evil, when he says lines that are meant to be comedic you feel this strong case of ire and hatred in his voice that never leaves your mind. The way Lockjaw escalates situations and how they can go from bad to worse just by Lockjaw entering the frame is truly haunting. Sean Penn is really great here and especially delivers scene in particular with Chase Infiniti.
Benicio del Toro and Regina Hall are both excellent here as well, Benicio del Toro gives a very likable and quite entertaining performance as Sergio St. Carlos, he gets one of the film’s most memorable scenes that feels like a large in scale thrilling atmosphere nuke that hits the film and makes it even more fascinating. Benicio del Toro also works incredibly well with Leonardo DiCaprio, the whole scene with the hidden passage that Sergio helps Bob to try and escape Lockjaw’s men is absolutely thrilling and filled to the brim with this scale that Benicio brings perfectly. Regina Hall only has a handful of scenes but does have one particularly strong moment that is incredibly memorable and very well acted, it can be argued that we did not get enough about her character Deandra but from what we got she contributed to the film’s story and world in this subtle and beautiful fashion.
Lastly there is Chase Infiniti who gives a star making performance, Infiniti plays Willa Ferguson who the film really puts us in the eyes of. Yes Bob is the main character of the film and we follow him the most out of everyone, however this very much feels like Willa’s story. It’s a story of where this ruined world is like hereditary being passed down until it reaches Willa’s generation and Infiniti does such a fascinating job of showing the pain and body language of someone who was caught up in the middle of everything. Willa’s bond with Bob evolves over the course of the film and sticks the landing due to how raw Infiniti’s acting really is, there is so much power put into her performance. One particular scene with Sean Penn is truly fantastic and captures this sense of survival in her eyes that is truly mesmerizing. We are going to be seeing a whole lot more of Chase Infiniti because this performance was truly something special.
The writing is fantastic, the film takes a horrifying world and scenario that has plenty of genuinely terrifying moments. Yet is able to add humor and hopeful moments is truly beautiful at the same time, the character writing in particular is so well done here. Each of the characters as I’ve described earlier are given something to contribute to make the film feel complete and they all succeed, there’s also this depth we get from each of them that is truly meaningful. Even if we physically don’t see Perfidia or Deandra for a number of scenes their presence is still felt and on its own gives them this character development. It’s a truly fascinating technique that not many filmmakers, writers and such can master but in the case of One Battle After Another mastery is all over the place.
Finally there is the technical parts of the film, the cinematography from Michael Bauman brings the film’s most memorable scene which some simply call it “The Hill scene” it’s a thrilling and a quiet yet explosive scene that captures the film’s atmosphere in a matter of seconds. The score from Jonny Greenwood is wonderfully done and truly paints the thrilling picture in a number of these scenes, some tracks start quietly and eventually keep growing in this subtle and careful way that creeps on the viewer. The large in scale nature of the film combined with the atmosphere works effortlessly, there’s so many moments where you are just looking around in the background of the film, there’s so much to explore in this giant painting that only adds more and more.
Overall One Battle After Another is a fantastic film and one of the year’s best, it’s an incredible experience that brings the viewer in almost immediately and never lets you go.
One Battle After Another is available on all VOD platforms
Jerome Reviews... 