The Lie and Black Box (2020) The first two films of the “Welcome to the Blumhouse” eight film series!


A father and daughter are on their way to dance camp when they spot the girl’s best friend on the side of the road. When they stop to offer the friend a ride, their good intentions soon result in terrible consequences.


The Lie is the first film of the “Welcome To The Blumhouse” eight film series four of them being released this year and the other four presumably being released next year. The Lie is a very appropriate title because the advertising is a damn lie, this is not a horror film. This is a terrible thriller that has one of the most ridiculous twists I have seen this year, scratch that one of the worst I’ve seen in awhile (more on that soon) first off the only positive I can give this movie is the filming, it’s actually quite decent and does give the film at least some sort of atmosphere. However everything else is horrendous, Joey King is terrible which I really hate to say because I do really like Joey King. The problem is her choice in roles and this is honestly one of the worst, everyone else in the film isn’t good either…don’t even get me started on the writing. I can’t believe someone actually looked at this and said “Looks great!!!” There are at points where The Lie tries to be much more than it really is and that’s when it’s at it’s worst, it plays out about as well as soap opera. Lastly there’s the ending which is horrendous as I said before, it’s one of those twist endings where you just want to hit your head against the wall. I really don’t know what else to say, its no wonder this movie was shelved…give this one a huge skip.

1/10 F


After losing his wife and his memory in a car accident, a single father undergoes an agonizing experimental treatment that causes him to question who he really is.


The second film in the “Welcome To The Blumhouse” eight film series, luckily Black Box is far better than The Lie. The premise of Black Box has been done before, but at least a lot working for it. Mainly the acting which is really solid Mamoudou Athie does a very solid job in the leading role, the writing is very solid and does deliver some very strong character moments mostly from Mamoudou Athie’s character Nolan. Unlike The Lie I can definitely say that Black Box is a horror movie, it has some haunting moments with a dark atmosphere that works really well in this movie’s favor. It’s also refreshing to see actually well written characters unlike The Lie, while the characters in Black Box might not be groundbreaking they do have depth to them and are interesting all around. I do feel like Black Box could have explored a little more and tried something a little more new with it’s premise, but for the most part this is a very solid film that I would recommend!!

7/10 B

Save Yourselves and Wolf Of Snow Hallow (2020)


A young Brooklyn couple heads to an upstate cabin to unplug from their phones and reconnect with each other. Blissfully unaware of their surroundings, they are left to their own devices as the planet falls under attack.


Save Yourselves! Is an interesting one, it’s different take on the alien abduction genre and has two fantastic leads. Sunita Mani and John Paul Reynolds both do a fantastic job in their roles, the chemistry between the two is both cute and hilarious. The writing really helps the two make many clever jokes, ideas and helps create a very interesting plot. I do feel that the second half is of the film isn’t quite as strong as the first half simply due to it becoming a little more familiar and I do wish the film went into the whole “dependence on technology” a lot more. But from what was shown this was a very solid movie that I definitely recommend giving a go.

7/10 B


Terror grips a small mountain town as bodies are discovered after each full moon. Losing sleep, raising a teenage daughter, and caring for his ailing father, officer Marshall struggles to remind himself there’s no such thing as werewolves.


The Wolf Of Snow Hallow is a weird but interesting hybrid of different genres, it’s one of the better horror comedies that offer a ton of laughs and have a pretty solid chemistry with the characters, Jim Cummings does a fantastic job in his role as well as directing and writing the film. The film is a ton of fun, it’s a different take on the werewolf movie genre and brings in some new ideas to the table that are quite interesting. The location combined with the filming really brings a lot of life into the film and gives it this thrilling but at the same time comedic atmosphere (thanks to the writing) give this one a look!

7/10 B

A Rainy Day In New York (2020)


A young couple arrives in New York for a weekend where they are met with bad weather and a series of adventures.

So it’s finally time to actually sit down and talk about this film huh? A Rainy Day In New York has faced delays ever since 2018, you have probably heard of this movie being on release schedules only to be taken off afterwards. It was delayed mostly due to two factors, one the #Metoo movement (rightfully so) and two it was having a hard time finding someone to actually release it in America. So how is the actual film? Well Selena Gomez is actually the best acted in the film and she’s genuinely great too, I was actually very surprised if I’m going to be quite honest. I haven’t really cared much for her film roles other then Spring Breakers (by far her best) and Fundamentals Of Caregiving but she did a solid job. Elle Fanning definitely comes in a close second, she worked with what she had and for the most part did pretty well. Timothee Chalamet however…was pretty terrible, I really don’t know how to describe his acting in this movie but it felt like he really didn’t care at all. It kind of felt like he was held at gun point, it was some of the worst acting by him I’ve seen. The movie itself is just not interesting, it’s a great movie if you want to fall asleep. Waiting for something to actually happen in this movie is like waiting for your turn at a amusement park ride, it’s also one of those films where clearly the writers have no idea how 20 something years old know how to talk, a lot of the lines just don’t feel believable at all. What else can I really say? A Rainy Day In New York it’s a terrible movie that nobody is going to look back at, it’s always going to be known as “that one Woody Allen film that got constantly delayed and has Selena Gomez in it.”

3/10 D-

Eternal Beauty (2020)


After Jane (Sally Hawkins) falls into a state of despair over her schizophrenia, she encounters new sources of love and life with surprising results.


Eternal Beauty is truly something special, it takes a very heavy subject that is really hard to master in film and turns into something hard hitting and beautiful at the same time, Sally Hawkins character Jane has schizophrenia and we see her struggling with it throughout the film. What I really appreciate is how realistic the portrayal of schizophrenia is, Craig Roberts did a magnificent job when it comes to making it as real as possible. There are tons of touching moments from the chemistry of Sally Hawkins and David Thewlis, the writing feels as natural as possible, the family struggles are believable and emotional. Jane’s relationship with her family feels very real, it shows the harsh reality of how some families or people in general treat people with schizophrenia. It’s extremely sad but at the same time the film does have a lot of heartwarming moments, the acting all around is fantastic Sally Hawkins is absolutely perfect and as I said before gives a very realistic performance, David Thewlis is fantastic as well as Penelope Wilton!! Craig Roberts as the director is flawless, he truly knows how to create a very raw experience and how to tell a sad but beautiful story that it’s emotional and quite honestly inspiring at times. Overall Eternal Beauty is a film that you always think about as soon as it ends, give Eternal Beauty a watch as soon as you can!!

10/10 A+

Cut Throat City (2020)


Set after Hurricane Katrina, four boyhood friends out of options reluctantly accept an offer to pull off a dangerous heist in the heart of New Orleans.

Cut Throat City is actually quite okay, I really did not expect much going into it but I found myself enjoying it, the story is interesting and has some decent characters as well. The writing can be a mess at times especially towards the end of the film, but for the most part it works. The main criticism I have is it being 2 hours and 21 minutes plus the pacing towards the end. The last 30 minutes felt way too long, plus the last 30 minutes were not as good as the rest of the movie, with that said it is a decent crime drama that is somewhat engaging. It’s not going to break any new grounds and I’ll probably never watch it again but for a one time watch I say give it a look.

6/10 C+

Tales From The Hood 3, The Cleansing Hour and Books Of Blood (2020)

William, a lumbering man in his 50s, tries to outrun an unseen evil with 6-year-old girl Brooklyn, who tells him four different moralistic and horrific stories to keep her mind off the impending danger.

Not going to comment much on this, Rusty Cundieff (who directed the first and second film) and Darin Scott (who directed the second film) are both back, I’m one of those rare people who actually enjoyed the second film but can understand why someone wouldn’t like it. I feel like the major problems with Tales From The Hood 3 is it goes into this darker direction, that really just feels out of place. Tony Todd as always is really great and definitely the highlight of the film, the stories aren’t bad, in fact of all them have their moments but I wouldn’t say any of them are anything fantastic. It’s a very below average sequel that really could have done a lot more.

5/10 C


Another successful “exorcism” streamed online – or so it seems. Can the “exorcist”, producer and their team bring the ratings up? Ratings skyrocket, when a real demon gets involved.

The Cleansing Hour is Shudder’s fourth original movie on their lineup of movies leading up to Halloween and this is a surprisingly solid one, The Cleansing Hour takes the Exorcism plot line and manages to do something different with and for the most part the premise works well! Acting wise it’s pretty okay the same can be said with the writing, it’s nothing mind blowing but it’s still pretty solid. It combines exorcism with torture surprisingly well, sure at times it does go over the top but the ending is pretty great and the movie is very interesting to watch. I say give this one a go!

6/10 C+


A journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time.

Books Of Blood is a horror anthology film, those of you who have followed me for awhile know that Horror anthologies are one of my favorite subgenre in the horror genre. The problem is a lot of the recent ones are not that great sure there’s exceptions (ABC’s of death movies and the first two V/H/S movies are really great). While Books Of Blood is certainly the worst attempt it really doesn’t standout at all, the major problems with this movie is mostly the writing and having interesting ideas but not exploring them very well. The movie kind of just throws ideas at a wall to see what will stick, the segments are really nothing special. They are all just okay with very little to offer, the CGI is terrible and feels very out of place. I really don’t have much else to say, unless you are a huge horror anthology fan I don’t recommend this one.

4/10 D+

Vampires Vs The Bronx (2020)


A group of young friends from the Bronx fight to save their neighborhood from gentrification…and vampires.


Vampires Vs The Bronx is another one of the Netflix’s horror movie release lineup for Halloween….and it’s surprisingly quite a good one. I went into this movie with very little expectations, I’ll say this the trailer does not do this movie justice at all. The cast is pretty great what really works is the chemistry between all the characters which helps the movie stand up, a big surprise is that at times Vampires Vs The Bronx has some actual clever writing commenting on issues such as when your poor you can easily be forgotten. What’s even better is the film incorporates that into the story making it actually pretty clever, I will say that some of the jokes are a huge hit or miss. At times it throws in some good jokes and other times you have eye rolling moments. Vampires Vs The Bronx is at it’s best when it has character moments or when it comments on real issues, the vampires themselves aren’t too bad either!! Overall Vampires Vs The Bronx is surprisingly very solid and a lot of fun, I can definitely see this film becoming a favorite to watch during Halloween season by many in years to come.

7/10 B

A Call To Spy (2020)


In the beginning of WWII, with Britain becoming desperate, Churchill orders his new spy agency – SOE – to recruit and train women as spies.


A Call To Spy is about a fascinating World War II story that should have been told in film awhile ago at least now it has been told and it was a pretty good way of telling it. The cast does a really great job in their roles the standouts being Sarah Megan Thomas, Stans Katic and Radhika Apte all three really gave it their all in these roles and the results are impressive. The writing is really solid as well it feels very natural as it should, I say this because a lot of World War II movies as of late have not had very natural writing which is a huge problem, because after all World War II actually happened. So it’s refreshing to see one have a natural feel to it after awhile, the only real main criticism I have with this movie is that I don’t think it needed to be 123 minutes long, at some points it does feel like the movie drags on a bit. But otherwise A Call To Spy is a very solid film, I really hope this is beginning of telling more World War II stories that are barely ever talked about. I recommend giving this one a go definitely one of the better releases (at the time this was written.)

7/10 B

12 Hour Shift (2020)


Bodies start to pile up when a drug-user nurse and her cousin try to find a replacement kidney for an organ trafficker.

12 Hour Shift I actually thought looked sort of decent from the trailers and it had some potential…unfortunately it’s not that great, 12 Hour Shift started out pretty okay but quickly went downhill. First off none of the characters are likable at all, which isn’t necessarily a flaw but how the movie goes about it is just sloppy. It’s almost like two completely different people made this movie and had no idea what to do with it, the movie also got really mean spirited out of nowhere, I’m not even 100% sure what they were trying to go for. There is some comedy thrown in but none of it is really funny or clever at all, what really saves this movie is mostly the acting and some of the filming, as much as I don’t like the characters I can’t deny that the cast actually did the best they could with a very unimaginative script. Overall I can definitely see why one would like 12 Hour Shift, but it just wasn’t for me at all. If it sounds like something that would interest you, by all means check it out. I also don’t think it’s a terrible movie, I just think it’s a movie that just didn’t come together at the end.

4/10 D+

Happy Halloween Scooby Doo! (2020)


Scooby-Doo and the team gather again to solve the mystery of gigantic proportions and save Crystal Cove.


I’m going to keep this short, Happy Halloween Scooby-Doo is refreshing after the mess of a movie Scoob which came out earlier this year. This time the crossover is with Elvira and Bill Nye the science guy, both of which fit in pretty well! The jokes are the typical Scooby-Doo humor and that’s a good thing, you can’t help but just laugh at it! What I appreciate about this movie is it actually gives Daphne a bigger role, a lot of the times she really doesn’t get much to do in some of the movies. But here she is actually used pretty well, I was honestly pretty surprised so I give credit where credit is due. Otherwise it’s a typical Scooby-Doo movie extremely harmless fun that at the same time is very charming, any Scooby-Doo fan will love it.

7/10 B