The Binding and Oloture (2020)


While visiting her fiancé’s mother in southern Italy, a woman must fight the mysterious and malevolent curse intent on claiming her daughter.

The Binding is one of the Netflix’s movies in the lineup of horror movies before Halloween, the major problem with The Binding is it does nothing different from other exorcism horror movies. If you have seen at least one exorcism horror movie well you have already seen The Binding, with that said I wouldn’t say it’s terrible. It does have some decent acting and some pretty okay writing during the first half of the movie, however as the second half rolls around it becomes all too familiar and very predictable, The Binding is a perfectly fine movie if you are starting out in the horror genre or if you are looking for time to kill, but otherwise this isn’t something I would recommend.

5/10 C


A journalist goes undercover as a prostitute to expose human trafficking but she only finds a world of exploited women and ruthless violence.


Oloture definitely has it’s heart in the right place when it comes to discussing the topic of the movie or bringing more attention to it. Because Human Trafficking is definitely an issue that does not get talked about enough, the problem is when it comes to filmmaking Oloture is not good. There are some moments there that do work, but a lot of the time it feels very cheaply made and really doesn’t offer too much. The acting is terrible, the writing drags the movie down and stopping it from saying anything important. I definitely understand what they were trying to do with the filming they wanted to go for this “ugly” look showing how terrible Human Trafficking is, the problem is the style is present throughout the film. Even when the scene in question is taking place somewhere else, that’s where the movie really falls flat. Overall this is definitely not the worst Netflix Original but this most certainly is one of the most forgettable.

3/10 D-

Scare Me (2020)


During a power outage, two strangers tell scary stories. The more Fred and Fanny commit to their tales, the more the stories come to life in their Catskills cabin. The horrors of reality manifest when Fred confronts his ultimate fear.


Scare Me is quite different which is very refreshing to see, there’s a lot in Scare Me that works really well! The biggest thing being the small cast, Aya Cash, Chris Redd and Josh Ruben all do a really solid job Aya Cash being the standout. Scare Me has some genuinely good humor that I found myself laughing a few times, as for the premise I thought it was done pretty well! My biggest issue however is it does lose steam towards the end, as it goes on the movie kind of just gets weaker and weaker. That’s mostly due to the premise itself kind of getting tired by the end. The writing is for the most part pretty good, but it does have it’s problems especially when it’s trying to be hip it comes off as trying to hard. I thought the characters were pretty well done again Aya Cash being the best, Scare Me is one of those movies your either going to like or hate. I recommend giving this one a look especially since it is something much different.

6/10 C+

2067 (2020)

When Earth’s air becomes unbreathable, a message from the future sends a man on a dangerous mission to an unknown world to save the human race.

For what “2067” is it’s really not bad, hands down the best thing about this movie is the visuals. There is absolutely no denying that the visuals are beautiful and the filming really does that justice as well, the acting is overall pretty okay it’s nothing noteworthy but it could have easily been worse. 2067 also has some character drama that for the most part is pretty decent, but at times that’s when 2067 is it’s own worst enemy. The pacing feels incredibly slow and way too long when it comes to some of the character drama, it just comes to a complete stop all of a sudden. Outside of that “2067” doesn’t really differentiate itself from other films in the genre. Which can be a problem because this is definitely not one of those movies where you will look back to remember very well. 2067 is definitely not a bad movie in fact I recommend giving it a look, just don’t expect anything groundbreaking.

6/10 C+

Do Not Reply, Let’s Scare Julie and Death Of Me (2020)


Chelsea, a teenager, is abducted through a social media app by Brad and is held captive with other girls who are to become victims in his virtual reality filmed murders.

Do Not Reply wants to be Megan Is Missing so badly but it fails to make the impact Megan is Missing did, for one thing Do Not Reply doesn’t feel raw at all. Which is one of the advantages Megan Is Missing had, Do Not Reply feels very planned and does not feel natural. It doesn’t help a lot of the movie is just not that interesting, I’ll give it this at least it isn’t horrendous…it does a few things okay such as the setup, but the characters make so many ridiculous choices in this movie that it completely ruins the movie. It grows tiresome when none of the characters fight back, not much else to comment on. Do Not Reply could have been a lot worse but that really does not mean much at all..

4/10 D+


A group of teen girls set out to scare their reclusive new neighbor, but the prank turns to terror when some of them don’t come back.


I feel like if Let’s Scare Julie were a short film it would much better and actually could be effective, the problem here is it’s a full length movie. I liked the concept of the movie and maybe thought they were going to do something interesting, but a lot of the time it’s focusing on very unlikable characters talking over each other for long periods of time, the only two tolerable characters are Emma and Lily but even then like all the other characters they have little to no character development. So you are really just left with a bunch of characters you don’t care about, the acting is pretty poor as well as the writing. There’s a few moments that look like they were trying to make something work, but it ultimately wasn’t enough. The major issue here is that it takes way too long to get going (it can be argued that never got going) they really don’t show anything that happens to the girls and then the movie just ends. Overall Let’s Scare Julie is definitely something not worth looking into, it’s a bad horror movie that’s just not interesting.

3/10 D-


A vacationing couple must discover the mystery behind a strange video that shows one of them killing the other.


Darren Lynn Bousman should honestly stick with the Saw movies (Repo was also pretty solid) that’s what he’s good at because when he attempts films like Death Of Me it just doesn’t come together, Death Of Me is pretty much another one of those Americans visit foreign countries and terrible events happen. The acting is terrible, the writing is even worse and offers nothing new to the table. The movie itself is a complete and total mess, with some horrendous editing that completely kills the movie. It’s predictable and doesn’t do anything new at all and it also feels like it was done in less than two days, Maggie Q is the one positive about this movie. She really tries with a terrible script that’s just begging for a rewrite. The best way to describe this movie is it feels like a film that wasn’t complete but they patched it together in a very sloppy way and sent it out there. Give this one a skip…

1/10 F

The Boys In The Band (2020)


At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a surprise guest and a drunken game leave seven gay friends reckoning with unspoken feelings and buried truths.


The Boys In The Band is based on a 1968 play of the same name by Matt Crowley who wrote the screenplay for this movie and the 1970 film of the same name. The Boys In The Band is quite a fantastic film, it tackles a lot of heavy subjects like internalized homophobia which lands some very powerful scenes. My absolute favorite thing about this movie is Jim Parsons, when it comes time for award season I strongly hope Parsons gets a few nominations because his performance here was outstanding, this is hands down his best performance of his career so far. He puts so much power and passion into his role and really delivers on every single level, the same can really be said for everyone else! Matt Boomer is another one who stands out pretty well, the dialogue between the characters is another huge reason why this film is so good, it feels natural and leads to some very powerful moments. With a very strong ending as well, the filming is absolutely well done, the chemistry between all the characters are strong. The third act shows how incredibly directed the film really is and shows Parson and the rest of the cast’s talent. Overall The Boys In The Band is a fantastic film, it’s definitely heartbreaking at times and might be a bit controversial for some but it is worth checking out.

9/10 A

The Glorias (2020)

The story of feminist icon Gloria Steinem’s itinerant childhood’s influence on her life as a writer, activist and organizer for women’s rights worldwide.


The Glorias is the type of film that I really wanted to like more than I did, unfortunately there is a lot holding this movie back from being brilliant. I’ll start with what really worked, Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Bette Midler and Janelle Monae gave strong performances and are what makes this movie stand, I thought the second half of the film was very interesting and had a lot to say. There were some really strong scenes in particular that were quite powerful especially with the ending. As for what didn’t work…the biggest problem was how the movie was put together, so the premise is it shows different ages of Gloria Steinem the problem is it doesn’t do a really good job at it. The editing is just not that great and feels sloppy, combine that with a running time of 2 hours and 19 minutes and you have some problems. It really did not need to be 2 hours, some of it could have been cut and it would have not changed much. Overall I definitely respect what Julie Taymor was going for but it just didn’t really come together. It’s definitely not a bad movie and I do recommend checking it out for the cast alone. Just don’t expect anything incredible.

6/10 C+

Welcome To Sudden Death and Spiral (2020)

A security guard battles a group of tech-savvy terrorists after they take hostages inside a basketball arena.

Welcome To Sudden Death could have honestly been a whole lot worse, but that doesn’t mean it’s good far from it. Supposedly this is a sequel to Sudden Death (1995) but it really doesn’t feel like one, it’s more less the exact same thing only it’s worse. Michael Jai White does fine enough here and there’s a few solid action scenes otherwise this movie has nothing else going for it. The acting from everyone else is very wooden, the effects for the explosions and blood are poor, the direction is all over the place. Dallas Jackson is the director of Thriller (2018) and now this is his second movie, which like Thriller is pretty bad. My biggest problem with Welcome To Sudden Death is the pacing, it takes way too long to get to the action scenes and it goes way too slow at times where it’s not needed. I really don’t have much else to say, it’s a terrible action movie that has little to do with the original. Unless you like terrible action movies give this one a skip.

3/10 D-


A same-sex couple move to a small town to enjoy a better quality of life and raise their daughter with strong social values. But when neighbors throw a very strange party, nothing is as it seems in their picturesque neighborhood.


I do want to apologize I’m a little out of order when it comes to Shudder’s 61 days of Halloween new movies. I reviewed Verotika first which was technically the second Shudder original of the lineup and Spiral was the first. Anyway there really isn’t a whole to say about Spiral, it’s a gay version of “Get Out” and the movie makes that pretty clear. It’s just not as clever or anywhere near as good unfortunately it’s also one of those “what are the neighbors up to” movies and it follows a lot of cliches. The movie doesn’t really have anything horrendous in it but at the same time it doesn’t have anything really good in it either. It takes way too long to get going, I will say the movie is decently made and there was at least some sort of effort put into it. But it falls into the same trap a lot of Shudder original movies tend to fall in which is trying desperately to be a slow burn, the acting and writing are fine enough but again nothing worth writing home about. Spiral might be an okay movie if you have absolutely nothing else to watch, otherwise I don’t recommend it.

5/10 C

Secret Society Of Second Born Royals (2020) and Ava (2020)


It follows Sam’s adventures at a top-secret training program for a new class of second-born royals tasked with saving the world.


Secret Society Of Second Born Royals is basically X-Men for a much younger audience mixed with a ton of Disney Channel original movie elements. There really isn’t a whole lot to comment on, the acting is what you would expect…terrible outside Peyton Elizabeth Lee which is hands down the best part about this movie. The writing plays way too safe to the point where it becomes predictable and really bad. It really doesn’t do anything besides repeating plots that’s been seen in far better movies. The third act feels very rushed, it feels like they had no more ideas so they went with the most predictable third act they possibly could. While the movie is very bad and I highly recommend not watching it…for the most part for a very young audience it’s harmless enough. The biggest problem with it is it really serves no purpose, it’s outclassed by X-Men and Sky High and is overall very forgettable. This could have honestly been so much worse but that doesn’t make it anything worth looking into.

3/10 D-


Ava is a deadly assassin who works for a black ops organization, traveling the globe specializing in high profile hits. When a job goes dangerously wrong she is forced to fight for her own survival.


Tate Taylor is a very unbalanced director it’s nice that he tries several different genres but most of the time his attempts turn out terrible. Sure he’s had some success with Get On Up (which is really great) and The Help (although I am not a fan of The Help but it is one of his better movies) but then you have stuff like Girl On The Train where it’s clear that creating a thrilling atmosphere is his struggle (Ma is at least fun and does a bunch of things right) Ava is one of those movies where if you have seen at least one action movie you have already seen this one. Jessica Chastain (for whatever reason is in this) is definitely the best part about it, but honestly she isn’t even that good in it either. Ava tries to copy off of almost every action movie that has been releasing in the last 3 years have a few recognizable stars and have one of them be the badass character. The problem is the action in this movie isn’t good, it does nothing to separate it from the crowd. The score consists of mostly one song just played over and over again in different styles, trust me it gets very annoying quickly. It would be one thing if the song was you know good..but that’s not the case here, it’s a piece of music that really isn’t that exciting or interesting. Ava is also yet another action movie trying to be John Wick but completely fails at it, mostly due to the action scenes which as I said before aren’t exciting at all and have no depth. The character development is barely in there and just filled with cliche characters and the writing just isn’t there to back the movie up. Overall Ava is a terrible action movie, give this one a pass.

1/10 F

Verotika (2020)

The film consists of three segments. The first segment, “The Albino Spider of Dajette”, is about a sex worker named Dajette and an albino spider that takes the form of an eight-armed humanoid, the latter of whom murders sex workers by breaking their necks. The second segment, “Change of Face”, concerns a mysterious stripper who collects the faces of other women. The final segment, “Drukija Contessa of Blood”, follows a countess who kills virgin women and bathes in their blood.

I’m going to be completely honest, I have no idea what this was but I’ll try my best. Verotika is directed by Glenn Danzig who is a singer and the movie is apparently based off of a line of comic books published by his company. Apparently right before when this piece of garbage premiered Danzig said “they don’t make good horror movies anymore” (which is bull crap) anyway it’s very clear Danzig doesn’t know a thing about film like at all, Verotika is an anthology horror movie all the segments are terrible and have nothing going for them. The best way to describe this movie is it’s pretty much porn, except you have some gore (which is laughably bad) and then some other horror elements (barely). Heck the dialogue is the type you would find in porn, Danzig also wrote the movie which the writing is the equivalent of someone from high school writing a naughty fanfiction. Then there’s everything else about the movie, acting is horrendous and feels like nobody even tried, all the segments are terrible as I said before and are very poorly put together. Most of this movie is basically “things happen at random until the film the ends” I’ve seen a lot of people compare this to The Room where it’s a so bad it’s hilarious or good movie. I completely disagree, the problem with Verotika is that none of it is interesting and it’s very poorly made to the point where it’s hard to figure out exactly what’s going on. At least with The Room it had a story and you could follow along while laughing at it. With Verotika you can definitely laugh at the piss poor writing and acting but after awhile it isn’t very funny and just lands into it’s so bad it’s horrendous territory. Hands down one of the worst movies of the year, give this one a gigantic skip.

Disgrace To Cinema F

Enola Holmes (2020)


When Enola Holmes-Sherlock’s teen sister-discovers her mother missing, she sets off to find her, becoming a super-sleuth in her own right as she outwits her famous brother and unravels a dangerous conspiracy around a mysterious young Lord.


I’m not huge on Sherlock Holmes so I really only watched this because the cast was pretty impressive and it looked promising. I definitely think Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill and the rest of the cast did a very solid job in their roles, the writing was harmless and gets the job done by being surprisingly fun. The main problem with the movie is it really isn’t anything more than that. It’s nice a movie to put on and maybe for background noise even but otherwise there really isn’t much to it. It has just the right amount of fun and enjoyment for everyone to enjoy, it’s just sort of frustrating because there were points during the film where they could have explored much more but for whatever reason did not. Enola Holmes is a serviceable movie, it gets the job done but doesn’t do much else…nothing else to say here.

6/10 C+