A woman’s hope for a miracle cure turns into a nightmare when she confronts the vengeful spirit of a cursed witch, determined to claim her as a vessel for her evil power.
Diabolic is directed by Daniel J. Phillips director of Awoken (2019).
What you see is what you get with Diabolic, it is about what you expect from a religion based horror movie. The idea here is interesting enough and actually did have some potential to be great, but unfortunately the film’s very undercooked writing really stops it in its tracks.
The characters are very underwritten which leads to no depth and no connection for the audience. It’s a shame because the performances here are quite honestly not bad, Elizabeth Cullen gives a decent performance as the leading role, there is a few moments here where she really blends in well with the film’s atmosphere which does lead into a few standout moments of the whole film.
The writing has a nice setup but falls short in execution mainly due to how predictable it all is and goes into several sub-genre cliches. There is definitely some Evil Dead (1981) DNA here, but the film never takes advantage of it and instead goes on a very dull route that the viewer immediately forgets about after viewing.
It’s frustrating because a lot of the technical elements are there, the atmosphere is genuinely creepy at times and the camera does have some well done shots that capture the film’s creepy atmosphere. The makeup is actually quite solid as well and shows some great detail on the witches. There’s just not a whole lot going on here writing wise which ultimately really sets this movie back.
There is just not a whole lot to comment on here, Diabolic fails to standout in a very crowded sub-genre. The filmmakers clearly know how to create a haunting atmosphere but unfortunately the writing fails to compliment it.
February flew by and we are already in March. Plenty of excellent looking releases this month, I have a lot of reviews coming this month so be ready for that! Let’s get into the list.
After losing their son Hamnet to plague, Agnes and William Shakespeare grapple with grief in 16th-century England. A healer, Agnes must find strength to care for her surviving children while processing her devastating loss.
Hamnet is a powerhouse of a film. it’s a journey of heartbreaking, healing and eventually trying to move on from a devastating loss in this case it’s William Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal) and his wife Anne Hathaway (played by Jessie Buckley) who lost their 11-year-old son Hamnet. We mainly follow Hathaway’s journey of healing but we also do get to see powerful moments of Shakespeare trying to move on.
Jessie Buckley delivers one of the best performances of the decade so far, she completely captures the pain of loss and trying so hard to move on. Finding that path where you can finally tell yourself that “it’s okay to move on and feel at peace” it’s a road that I’m sure everyone has gone through at some point in their lives. We see from the very start to the end of how masterfully Buckley portrays this, it’s done in this beautiful yet devastating way that brings the viewer to tears during certain moments of the film.
Paul Mescal is wonderful as Shakespeare and connects well with Jessie Buckley. Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet is a heartbreaking performance that shows an incredible amount of talent from Jupe who I’m sure is going to go on to have an incredible career. Noah Jupe (Jacobi Jupe’a brother) is only briefly in the film but the scene he’s given in the film’s climax is incredibly powerful and breathtaking.
The film’s ending is one of the best of 2025, while yes On The Nature Of Daylight by Max Richter can be overused in film, it is effectively used here and really captures the film’s theme of loss, healing and moving on. The final scene itself is also just one of the most beautiful portrayals of someone healing and getting the okay from themself to finally move on. It’s a scene that will not doubt make you cry.
Chloe Zhao once brings such a raw experience to the viewer that leaves you mesmerized and will keep you thinking about Hamnet for a very long time.
Hamnet is available on all VOD platforms.
10/10 A+
Die My Love
Grace, a writer and young mother, is suffering from post partum depression and slowly spiralling into madness. Moving into an old house with her husband, Jackson, her mind begins to unravel as she becomes increasingly agitated and erratic
As I said before, Die My Love and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You can absolutely be considered sister films. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You had the more clear vision inside someone’s head, Die My Love is if you took that same person’s mind and continued to bury with darkness or this void like feel. Which works masterfully with the atmosphere attached to the film.
Jennifer Lawrence’s performance as Grace is exactly why a lot of people consider Lawrence to be one of the best of her generation. Every single moment it feels like you are inside the mind of someone going through major depression and so many different thoughts at once. It eventually starts to affect Grace’s life which gives the viewer several moments of breakdowns and a lot of mood switching. The film also tackles the topic of motherhood along with the intensity and wanting an escape, it’s all portrayed brilliantly by Jennifer Lawrence who gives a next level performance. A performance that is going to be talked about heavily as the years go on.
Robert Pattinson is also quite fantastic here, his chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence works wonderfully and shares so many powerful moments, his character Jackson adds depth to the film along with feeling complex. The relationship between Grace and Jackson feel all too real as we get to see the two’s completely different personalities and actions throughout the film.
Die My Love also has this void like atmosphere. Whether it be from scale of the film, the cinematography from cinematographer Seamus McGarvey or from Lynne Ramsey’s flawless direction. It’s truly a hauntingly beautiful film that is incredibly striking to the eyes.
Die My Love is one of the films here that I absolutely plan on talking more about at great length, so for now go into this one knowing as little as possible.
Die My Love is available on all VOD platforms.
10/10 A+
Sentimental Value
After their mother’s death, sisters Nora and Agnes reconnect with their estranged father, Gustav, a once-famous director. He offers Nora the lead in his comeback film, but she refuses, only to find he’s cast a young Hollywood star instead, complicating their family dynamics.
Sentimental Value is my favorite film of 2025, it’s an incredible film with so much going on here that much like Die My Love I plan on talking about this one at greater length. But for now I’ll talking about the basics as to what makes this one so phenomenal.
It should come to no surprise that the cast is what really makes this one as beautiful as it is. Whereas a lot of film try incredibly hard and fail to get each of the cast to contribute in a meaningful way. Sentimental Value manages to do that quite easily due to Joachim’s direction, his script along with Eskil Vogt and the brilliant performances from Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgard, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning.
Renate Reinsve plays Nora one of the daughters of Gustav Borg (played by Stellan Skarsgard) a celebrated film director who wants to give Nora the leading role. The film’s main theme comes in with a path to healing and trying to restart a fractured bond. Reinsve continues to show she’s one of the best actresses currently working, she gives a powerful and emotional performance that she displays perfectly. Her quiet moments with Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Stellan Skarsgard especially show how much chemistry and human connection, she has this beautiful ability to navigate vulnerability, humor and pain. When a certain scene demands one of the three she is able to quickly bring it to the table. A beautiful performance that truly is a transcendent role.
Stellan Skarsgard as Gustv is a career best worthy performance, he brings nuance and vulnerability to a character who we see is very complex. Whether at times he can feel difficult or he finally tries to understand where Nora is coming from. It’s a beautiful way of showing the father and daughter bond and its ups and downs, plus what’s needed to repair it. Skarsgard is already a phenomenal actor, so he naturally does a fantastic job here. His scenes with Elle Fanning in particular shine and show the thoughts and powerful yet quiet moments of his character.
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas plays Nora’s sister Agnes, I was unfamiliar with who Lilleaas was but after seeing her performance I truly can’t wait to see what she does next. Lilleaas gets one particularly powerful scene of Agnes and Nora both comforting each other, the two’s eye contact, speech and body language are all top notch and truly deliver one of the film’s most beautiful moments. Lilleaas commands the screen whenever she’s present and truly delivers a lot of heart and care into her performance.
Finally there is Elle Fanning who plays Rachel Kemp a famous American actress who is hired to play the lead in Gustav’s film. Elle Fanning is given the hardest role here, which is to play an actor that wasn’t right for the part. It’s a challenging role that can easily end up coming off as more so playing yourself. That is not the case here for Elle Fanning, the way Fanning goes about playing Rachel is such a beautiful portrayal of an actress who although wasn’t right for Gustav’s film still shows sincerity and tenderness throughout the film. It comes to a breaking point where she tells Gustav that she isn’t right for the part, the buildup to that moment is truly fascinating and with how Elle Fanning delivers that moment is truly remarkable. Rachel Kemp is a character that Elle Fanning truly brings to life and really does feel like the type of powerhouse performance that Fanning’s career has been leading up to. This performance right here perfectly shows why she is one of the best of her generation a true performer that has so much talent and passion.
Sentimental Value is a beautiful film that has the classic human feel around it, how we explore our bonds and what it takes to repair them. It’s a beautiful story that I truly recommend checking out if you haven’t already.
Sentimental Value is available on all VOD platforms.
Hello again! So you might be wondering what is this? Well I have 6 films from 2025 I just never got around to fully reviewing. So I decided to do something interesting, instead of flat out just not reviewing them I decided to do a wrap up post talking a little bit about each film and moving on to the next one. I’m splitting it into two parts just to keep things a bit more organized, In the future I do plan on talking about some of these films in greater length. But for now I at least want to share my love for these films in brief detail. So let’s start with..
28 Years Later
Set decades after the Rage Virus outbreak, it follows a new group of survivors on an island who venture onto the mainland, discovering mutated infected and new threats.
28 Years Later is quite honestly one of the most hauntingly beautiful horror films of the 2020s. There is a whole lot to be said here about the theme of death and how the film goes about exploring it. Jodie Comer gives a phenomenal performance that has this human connection feel that is constant throughout the film, Alfie Williams is just as fantastic and connects instantly with the people he meets along the way.
Ralph Fiennes as Dr Ian Kelson gives us one of the best written characters of the 2020s, throughout the film we are made to believe that he is this crazy lunatic yet what we get is this calm and balanced man that has this beautiful understanding of life and death. It really brings tears to your eyes due to just how beautiful the dialogue really is here.
Combine that with a beautiful score by Young Fathers (especially their song Remember), stunning cinematography and brutal kills. You have yourself such a wonderful film that you will never forget.
28 Years Later is available on all VOD platforms.
10/10 A+
Marty Supreme
Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.
Marty Supreme is one of those films that continues to get better and better as it goes on, what starts out as a simple enough film turns into a chaotic film that ups the ante and never falls to the floor.
Timothee Chalamet is not holding back here at all and delivers one of his greatest performances (arguably his best), he fully embodies Marty Mauser (which the film is loosely based on. He balances this likable and unlikable aspect that hits this sweet spot that in turns makes him such a fascinating character.
Odessa A’zion gives such a heartbreaking performance during the second half of the film, it’s a soul crushing yet beautiful performance that sticks with you throughout the experience. Her chemistry with Chalamet is wonderful and even when she isn’t on screen you do feel her presence.
What makes Marty Supreme so fantastic is it has this group of characters who balance this realness and weirdness. They all fit so well together in this perfectly bizarre atmosphere the film has going on here, every single moment there is some perfectly normal interactions going on along with some bizarre ones.
Marty Supreme is a wild ride from beginning to end that truly captures every single moment it throws at the viewer.
Marty Supreme is available on all VOD platforms.
10/10 A+
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
While trying to manage her own life and career, a woman on the verge of a breakdown must cope with her daughter’s illness, an absent husband, a missing person, and an unusual relationship with her therapist.
2025 Wrap Up Review
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is like entering someone else’s head, seeing the struggles, thoughts and memories that constantly go on inside their head. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and Die My Love can definitely be considered sister films mainly due to how similar they are thematically however they go about this in much different ways.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You goes about this in a less deep in a void feel, it’s more clear and we can get a better idea of what is going on inside Linda’s (played by Rose Byrne) head. With that being said it’s still a very navigating experience (in a good way). It’s one of those experiences that ultimately feels very rewarding to go on and once you reach the end it’s genuinely stunning to watch.
So much has been said about how fantastic Rose Byrne’s performance is and the praise is absolutely earned. Rose Byrne gives a career best performance that feels next level, a performance that captures the constant thoughts of motherhood and how crushing it can be. Byrne perfectly matches the surreal atmosphere that demands this spiral and break free type of feel that truly leaves the viewer stunned. It’s an unforgettable performance that I still think about constantly.
I highly recommend going into If I Had Legs I’d Kick You knowing as little as possible, it’s such a powerful film about the stress of motherhood and what constantly goes inside the mind during that period of time.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is available on all VOD platforms.
Kermit and friends return in a modern take on their classic variety show format, mixing nostalgic charm with new comedy bits while staying true to the Muppets’ timeless spirit
The Muppet Show is directed by Alex Timbers. The Muppet Show is presented as a revival of the original series (1976-1981).
Whenever there is a new Muppet project you already know you are in for a treat, that’s especially the case here with this special. It brings back everything that you know and love from the original show and keeps it front and center throughout the experience, there is clearly so much charm and passion that went into this special that you can’t help but leave with a giant smile on your face.
Sabrina Carpenter is the main guest and this only showcases her fantastic acting talent, Sabrina Carpenter fits so well with the classic Muppet Show atmosphere it feels like this is something she was born to do. She has this charm that even if you aren’t familiar with her music you still get connected to her easily, her chemistry with Miss Piggy is humorous and some of the special’s biggest highlights. I really can’t stress enough how good Sabrina Carpenter really is here, when the credits roll you want to see more of her performance that right there is one of the key qualities of a star.
The singing performances are phenomenal, Sabrina Carpenter sings Manchild which some have argued that this is the best version of it, which there is a solid argument to be made that is the case! It’s well performed, the dancing chickens doing the Manchild dance is hilarious, Sam Eagle gets a decently funny bit here as well. It also helps that Manchild is just a phenomenal song that really has become one of Sabrina’s biggest hits.
Rizzo the Rat sings Blinding Lights by The Weeknd and it’s truly one of the special’s greatest moments, not only is it completely unexpected but the rats moving in these jerky movements brings this whole comedic element into the mix. It’s not a very long moment of the special but it does leave a lasting impression on the viewer and is quite memorable.
The best singing performance comes from Kermit, Miss Piggy and Sabrina Carpenter who all sing Islands in the Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It’s beautifully sung and all of their voices mesh incredibly well together. We get to hear more of Carpenter’s beautiful vocals and see that Matt Vogel is a very worthy Kermit the Frog, it’s a beautifully done performance all around that feels like the heart of the special. It’s moments like these that really make The Muppet Show all the more fun.
The rest of the special is just classic, from the atmosphere to the many skits it all comes together and this beautiful little bow that really brings back memories. The writing combined with the humor is sharp and gives the viewer so much to chew on, it’s a beautiful piece that compliments the original show masterfully.
Overall The Muppet Show is phenomenal, it’s well done and really combines all of the elements that make the show so fascinating. I truly hope we get to see more of The Muppets soon!
An L.A. cop discovers a local task force is hiding a secret that puts the residents of his childhood neighborhood in danger.
Night Patrol is directed by Ryan Prows director of Lowlife (2017).
Night Patrol is if you took Sinners (2025) and threw in some cops as vampires. Okay that’s a bit harsh, Night Patrol is at the very least trying to do its own thing. It has an important message underneath it all which I do find admirable, with that being said the movie is a mess which unfortunately really drags this one down with the ending result being a very confused mess.
The performances are fine enough of here, Justin Long is here and does a decent enough job. Jermaine Fowler, CM Punk, Flying Lotus, Freddie Gibbs, RJ Cyler, YG and many others are here which is undeniably pretty neat. To their credit they all do decent enough and try to make the script work as well as it can, there is this fun factor of just seeing all of these names together. But that only goes so far with their characters just not getting the writing they need.
The kills are effective, one of the film’s themes is racial injustice so seeing some of these brutal actions take place on screen is effective and gets the viewer uncomfortable. I would argue that these scenes are by far the film’s best assets. The opening scene in particular is incredibly effective and does give the film a strong start, unfortunately what follows pales in comparison.
What hurts the film the most is the writing, we bounce between dramatic and comedic moments that do not blend well together at all. Plus we have so much going on story-wise that it starts to overwhelm the viewer due to how much of a mess it really is, the third act is especially guilty of this as it throws just about every single element from the film at the wall to see what sticks with none of it sticking.
While I respect the film for mixing racial injustice with vampires it just does not have enough writing and firepower to really land, the dialogue bounces between being serious and comedic without trying to build a bridge for the two. There is this classic exploitation movie feel that you can see glimpses of but it never ends up fully coming together.
Overall Night Patrol is a mess, the fine enough performances and the kills are just not enough to salvage the script or its bizarre editing.
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.
After a catastrophic military disaster, the dead don’t just rise – they hunt. Ava searches for her missing husband, but what she finds is far more terrifying.
We Bury The Dead is directed by Zak Hilditch director of These Final Hours (2013), 1922 (2017), Rattlesnake (2019) and a few others.
We Bury The Dead attempts to go for the same sort of atmosphere that 28 Days Later (2002) has, at times it works but other times it definitely feels like a bit of a slog. However the film is decent enough and the story has just the right amount of power in its script to tell an interesting story.
Daisy Ridley is by and large the best part of the film, she gives this very human performance that captures the film’s sense of dread. Her interactions with the rest of the cast has enough firepower to leave impressions on the viewer, there is also this sense of loneliness in Ridley’s tone that works when given the context of the film.
In fact the whole film has this sense of loneliness which I always appreciate when a film does include that sort of theme, the cinematography compliments this well with tons of striking shots that immediately put the viewer into the film’s world. Cinematographer Steve Annis does a wonderful job of making the film’s world that much more sharper and real, this could have easily been another case of a generic zombie affair (in some ways it is but I’ll get to that.)
The score is haunting, the uses of Lascia Ch’io Pianga are very well done and expand the atmosphere, what’s also established early on is the film trades action for atmosphere which ultimately leads to be a positive for the experience. During the more quiet moments, the score captures the sense of dread surrounding the characters and builds to a decently well done climax.
The film does fall in a bit of cliche territory towards the end with some very typical zombie movie elements. However the story revolving around loss and wanting closure does make up for it and leads to a sad yet interesting experience.
Overall We Bury The Dead is a decent little movie, this is probably something you won’t ever go back to and does not stand out all that much from a crowded genre. However I do think it’s worth a look simply due to Ridley’s performance and the atmosphere.
We Bury The Dead is available on all VOD platforms.
Centers on a grieving family who move to a new town after a tragedy, only to find sinister secrets lurking in the woods behind their house.
Rock Springs is directed by Vera Miao which is her directorial debut.
Rock Springs is a very admirable film, while not every single element works entirely the film is clearly made with a lot of knowledge and care about certain topics. Those being racism and trauma, more so about generational ties to trauma. The film mixes this incredibly with horrors of a massacre that actually did happen (based on the 1885 Wyoming incident where white miners murdered at least 28 Chinese miners.) all of this together creates a horrifying image that brings the viewer into the film.
The performances all around are great especially Kelly Marie Tran and Benedict Wong, Tran does a fantastic job of playing a grieving mother. It’s a stunning performance that really sticks with the viewer the whole way through, Wong absolutely nails his performance during the film’s more historical parts. The amount of power and striking atmosphere that goes into his performance is astounding.
The film bounces a bit with the past and present, but it’s done in this way where the film cleverly brings it to you, like we are discovering the dark history of Rock Springs itself. It feels like we as the viewers actually discovered something and now we are told to apply that information into the present day. Not every single part of the translation to past and present works entirely, however there are some genuinely atmospheric moments that do capture the dark history of Rock Springs.
The film’s themes of racism and trauma are well done here, the racism comes from the real event and the generational trauma comes from how the past and present are connected that trauma never really goes away. The script from Vera Miao has some powerful moments that clearly have this sense of knowledge behind them, these moments might not be anything incredibly groundbreaking. However I do think the careful nature of the script more than makes up for it.
I do think some of the editing does end up hurting the connection between the past and present, it makes a few scenes drag out for a bit longer than they should. It’s worth noting that the film does take a bit to get going, however the supernatural elements and the historical elements keep it afloat and really bring you into the experience.
Overall Rock Springs is a solid film, it’s admirable film that executes its ideas decently well. There is a few bumps in the road, however that’s not enough to stop the film from being incredibly intriguing.
The surviving Garrity family must leave the safety of the Greenland bunker and embark on a perilous journey across the decimated frozen wasteland of Europe to find a new home.
Greenland 2: Migration is directed by Ric Roman Waugh director of Snitch (2013), Shot Caller (2017), Angel Has Fallen (2019), Greenland (2020), Kandahar (2023) and a few others.
Greenland (2020) was a surprise for a lot of people myself included, it took the disaster movie genre and brought a ton of emotional moments for its characters. Was it groundbreaking? Absolutely not, it was a flawed yet satisfying movie and a breath of fresh air from the genre. Unfortunately Greenland 2: Migration does the direct opposite and ends up being another case of someone asking the question “was this sequel really needed?”
The acting for the most part is fine enough, Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin are by far the best of the pack. Each of them are able to give a few decent moments and the charm of Butler and Baccarin from the first movie is mostly still intact. The rest of the performances unfortunately are a mix of bad and below average, that’s mainly due to the writing just not doing anyone any favors at all.
Speaking of which the writing this time around throws out a ton of the emotional moments from the first movie and opts for lazy conveniences as well as a very dull journey. It’s quite clear that Greenland (2020) was not made with a sequel in mind so this movie has the feel of making something up as it goes along. The character writing does not fill the screen at all, I guess the final moments of the movie do somewhat of a decent job closing John Garrity’s story, but admittedly it’s something you could see coming during the movie’s final moments.
Overall there is just not a whole lot to comment on when it comes to Greenland 2: Migration, it’s a sequel that surely does exist and will be quickly forgotten about due to how dull the whole movie is. It’s not anything offensively bad, however it lacks so much of what made the first movie interesting that it ultimately does not matter.
Greenland 2: Migration is available on all VOD platforms.
Jerome Reviews... 