Dracula In Space

Dracula

One of the most iconic horror characters of all time, what a ride this have been in cinema history. Obviously the most iconic actor playing Dracula ( in my opinion ) is of course Christopher Lee who played Dracula in several horror film from legendary Hammer Films. Even though these are classic films there have been a lot of different Dracula movies made over so many years. While some of them are ok, there are some really terrible ones that not many people might have heard of. For example, how many of you have seen the 1998 film Die Hard Dracula? 

Wait a minute....... every single one of you have a physical DVD copy of Die Hard Dracula?

Wow, there must be a big fan base for the film Die Hard Dracula. I guess you all love this film more than i did. Seriously though, i don´t know if i have ever seen a worse Dracula film ever before. I mean, the 2004 horror film Dracula 3000 is really terrible for a number of reasons. But compared to Die Hard Dracula i can actually watch Dracula 3000 just to have some good laughs. Because after all who doesn´t want to see 90´s hiphop artist Coolio as a vampire and Casper Van Dien as Dracula? Yes, i know, it´s just as horrible as it sounds. If you wonder yes i actually have a DVD copy of both of these terrible films, so it´s not hard to undersstand my taste in movies. If you for some reason have never seen the 1998 Dracula film i highly recommend you check out Jason Brant´s review of this film in the following YouTube link:

The worst Dracula movie ever made | Die Hard Dracula

I will give Die Hard Dracula one extra point for one reason, i have never seen any Dracula film where they use 3 different actors playing the same role, where especially one of the Dracula actors is so big he barely can get out of the coffin. Now, you have to give the film team credit for this, that is definetely something you don´t see everyday. So should you buy a physical DVD copy of Die Hard Dracula to a beloved family member? Yes, you seriously should. I don´t need to explain why, this is just something that has to happen. Let´s move forward to more modern days and last year i heard about a low budget film coming out called Dracula In Space. My first reaction was:- Is this an official sequel to Dracula 3000 since that film is in space as well? It´s not, this is actually a completely different story of Dracula and different characters. So, knowing that Dracula is going back to space since Draculs 3000, without being connected to this film, i just had to see Dracula In Space just in case i would love this film, Is this one of the best films i have seen this year, or is Dracula In Space even worse than Die Hard Dracula?

Space vessel Orpheus finds an ancient derelict ship near a black hole. After bringing a mysterious sacrophagus aboard, crew members begin vanishing. They´ve unkowingly awakend Dracula ( Marcus Massey ), trapped in space centuries ago.

I already knew this film would have a very limited budget and im perfectly fine with that. You see i can enjoy really terrible films as long as i am entertained. They can have the worse acting, the worst editing i have seen in years, even terrible music scores and i can still love that film no matter what. So the question is, does Dracula In Space have any qualities at all or is this just a pile of pure dogshit? Let´s talk about the positive first. Compared to Dracula 3000 i will say the space effects are clearly better here in this film. CGI effects have improved in low budget films between the years 2004 - 2025. Dracula himself does look like ( some kind of ? ) Dracula at least, except this Dracula version looks more like the cocaine version from one of Elton John´s 1970´s party night guests. The Dracula make up effects are not too bad for this kind of budget. Actor Marcus Massey as Dracula is without a doubt the best acting performance in this film. The costume design is very simple, but at least it looks like some kind of space outfit compared to the ones we saw in Dracula 3000. Ok, so let´s get to the negative and oh boy.....they do a lot of dialogue in this film. It comes to a point to where i am asking myself:- Why are they talking so much? I thought this was Dracula In Space? Last time i checked it wasn´t Dracula In Office Day. I wanted laser battles between Dracula and space staff, i want to see someone shooting Dracula with a special designed wooden stake weapon. In my world this would be how you make the perfect Dracula movie set in space, maybe one day that might happen. The horror scenes ( if we can even call them horror scenes ) are pretty silly. At the end of the day i can´t recommend Dracula In Space, because they could have made such a fun film with the concept of this film. Too much dialogue and no fun action scenes in space, it seems that director Gregory William Randolph, Jr just wanted to cash in on the Dracula formula. A little bit more fiun than Deadly Little Mermaid i reviewed this month, but still a terrible film.

Rating: D

Amityville: Descendants of Darkness

There are several really famous paranormal cases all over the world that´s been written about, both in books, newspapers and even inspired a lot of feature films. No matter what you believe regarding paranormal cases, if you actually think they really have happened or is just horse shit, i let everyone make up their own minds. Because i truly believe that everyone have the right to believe what they feel is right for them. For example a very famous paranormal case that´s been written several books about, is the world famous case known as The Amityville Horror. The book of the same name by author Jay Hanson, was published on September 13, 1977. Based on the horrible murders comitted by Ronald DeFeo Jr. on November 13, 1974, he shot and killed six members of his family at their home. It was later said that something evil remained in this house, some evil spirit that did not want to leave. I first came across this case when i got to see the 1979 film adaptation of The Amityville Horror, directed by Stuart Rosenberg ( director of the 1975 classic Paul Newman film The Drowning Pool ). What made this supernatural horror film so good, other than the wonderful acting performances from actors James Brolin, Margot Kidder and Rod Steiger, was how effective the horror scenes were on a limited budget. Since the original film there have been many Amityville sequels released ( the second film is still the best sequel in my opinion ), and even spin off films inspired by the story. They have even made silly low budget movies such as Amityville Thanksgiving, which is a terrible film in my opinion. I did buy a physical DVD of Amityville Thanksgiving several years ago, i still own it, but i will only watch it if i want a good laugh. Not that long ago i was sent a screener of a anthology horror film called Amityville: Descendants of Darkness. Since i am a fan of independent anthology horror films in general, i was curious to see if this film would be surprisingly good. Is this a film you should watch this summer, or should you watch the 2015 anthology horror film Soutbound instead?

4 different stories by 4 different director´s, all connected to the Amityville house, where all of your deepest darkest fears may rise to the surface.

Going into the film Amityville. Descendants of Darkness i basically knew nothing of this film, other than the title. And im glad that i never watched a trailer or read about the film before i watched a screener. Because this made my experience different from what i expected. At first i was thinking this might be a serious Amityville connected horror film, but it turned out to be a much more wild, and gory film experience. If you love gory horror comedies from the VHS era, then chances are that this is exactly what you are looking for in a story called The Shed. Lots of practical make up effects, very brutal killing scenes, you even have a pastor kicking demon ass. If you expect me to take segment seriously, i can´t. At least not in the first segment known as The Shed. And this is why i enjoy this specific story because it´s so over the top with so many different ideas thrown together, it becomes like a delightful desert where you find your favourite B movie ingredients mixed into a tasteful treat. Is the acting bad? Yes, but that´s the whole point with a story such as this, you are not meant to take The Shed seriously. So other than the fun practical make up effects and the gory scenes, what does Amtyville: Descendants of Darkness have to offer? I would say i like that this is made into an anthology horror film that´s connected to Amityville, different stories that somehow are connected to each other. The weakest story for me is the Spanish talking story known as the Possessed Relic. I tried to connect with the characters but i felt that this particular story wasn´t that interesting to me. However, we do have a story that´s actually told well and that is the segment known as Blood Moon Over Amityville. Some of the acting performances in this story is actually not that bad. The story called Echoes Of The Damned which is the final story, this is the most Amityville connected story that actually feels inspired by the classic case. Seeing film producer and actor Phil Herman in the lead role is fun, he have a charming screen presence. Echoes Of The Damned is clearly inspired by the paranormal case of Amityville, and i enjoyed this story. Since different director´s worked on this anthology horror film, i would say in general they did a good job. Amityville. Descendants of Darkness is an anthology horror film that will probably divide horror fans, if you either like all the stories or just some of them. I would still recommend that you check this film out if you enjoy this specific genre. Amityville: Descenendants of Darkness have a mixed bag of treats for everyone.

Rating: DDD

Protector

In cinema history we have seen actors do a lot unexpected changes in their career, for exampl for a very long time legendary comedian Robin Williams released his 2002 psychological thriller One Hour Photo. This is one of my personal favoutrite films of legendary actor Robin Williams, because i really feel he gave an incredible acting performance. He clearly proved that you can make a completely different character than we are used to see, and you simply have to see this film if you have not seen it. Another perfect example of an actor who did a complete different turn than we were used to see, is legendary actor Liam Neeson After doing a lot of different films in the 90´s and early 2000´s, everything from drama films to romantic comedies like Love Actually, he took on a role that would change his career completely in the year of 2008. It was the action thriller known as Taken, directed by Pierre Morel ( who also directed the French action movie District B13 ). Taken itself was a very simple movie, but what made this film so good was seeing Liam Neeson in full action mode as he is beating up criminals in rage mode, trying to save his kidnapped daughter. It will be considered as one of Liam Neeson´s classic films in the future, and i can still enjoy this film today. The sequels ( there are two of them ) are not that good, well if i had to pick i would probably prefer Taken 3 before the second film. There have been quite a lot of similar films made like Taken over the years, some of them have been ok while others have been....forgettable. So here we are with an action film that looks like something similar to Taken, but have a different plot plus a different lead actor. In the action film Protector we find Resident Evil actor Milla Jovovich kicking ass, and i have been a fan of her for movies for many years, ( yes i even liked In The Lost Lands and Monster Hunter ). I heard there is a female version of The Expendables that´s going to be made, i really hope Milla gets a role in that film, fingers crossed. Milla Jovovich fighting against a human traficking cartel, that sounds like fun right? I decided to give her film Protector a chance. Is this a must watch this summer at the barbecue party, or should you just rewatch the 2008 action thriller Taken instead?

Combat soldier Nikki Halstead ( Milla Jovovich ) stayed many years overseas fighting wars while missing out on her daughter Chloe Halsted´s childhood. As her military serive comes to an end, Nikki can finally retire and have a family life where she especially want to focus on having time together with Chloe ( Isabel Myers ). Until one night when she finds out her daughter celebrate her birthday out in a club, where she is kidnapped by a human trafficking cartel. Nikki manage to track down her daughter, by killing several of the cartel members. This makes things even more worse for Nikki, the cartel wants her dead and they want to kidnap her daughter again.

If you are not a fan of familiar films such as Taken, then i can guarantee that Protector may not be what you are looking for. What makes this fim stand out a little bit is especially one twist, and that is the friendship between lead character Nikki ( Milla Jovovich ) and her Colonel Lavelle ( played by 80´s and 90´s iconic actor Matthew Modine, who can forget his powerful performance in Stanley Kubrick´s  Full Metal Jacket? ). The chemistry between these characters felt like a similar chemistry betweem John Rambo ( Sylvester Stallone ) and Colonoel Trautman ( Richard Crenna in the Rambo franchise. Of course it´s not on the same level of chemistry that Sylvester Stallone and Richard Crenna had, nothing can replace that chemistry. But i do feel Milla Jovovich and Matthew Modine deliver some special moments in their dialogue scenes. When it comes to the action scenes we get quite a lot here. Both gun battles, but also fightiung scenes and some stabbings as well. So if you love old school VHS violence you are in for a treat with Protector. I have to say that Milla Jovovich at the age of  50 looks gorgeous. I always felt she is a beautiful woman, but what really stands out about her is she seems to be so nice in ordinary day life. So to see her as a combat soldier ( Monster Hunter influenced perhaps? ) is of course fun, she´s not taking shit from anyone. The actions scenes feel very traditional to VHS video violence i grew up with, and i had a good time in the best scenes. My only real issue with this film is that the bad guys don´t really have any interesting characters, i could barely remember one of them. So that´s something i feel they could have worked on, because evil characters are usually the funniest part of action movies. At the end of the day Protector feels like a light version of Taken, specifically made for fans of the Taken genre. Director Adrien Grunberg ( who directed the 5th Rambo film known as Rambo: Last Blood ) deliver an action film that don´t take any chances, it´s just created to entertain fans of the action genre. I prefer Rambo: Last Blood over this film, but i still had a good time with Protector. Worth a watch on streaming if you don´t know what else to watch.

Rating: DDD

Deadly Little Mermaid

Let´s travel back to the early summer of 1990 for a moment. I was 12 years old at that time and my little sister Isabelle was 5 years old. It was this summer when she got her hands on a VHS copy of the Disney animated film The Little Mermaid, and oh boy....i can not tell you how many times she watched this film. I would probably guess at least 57 times but i could be wrong, it might have been 52 at least. This was one of her favourite movies at that time while i got my own VHS copy of The Punisher with Dolph Lundgren. Looking back now im so grateful that i had a physical copy of The Punisher, because the musical numbers of The Little Mermaid was driving me insane. When you hear those songs constantly playing from your little sister´s room, you just want to escape to the sewer with The Punisher and kick some ass. I did see The Little Mermaid with my little sister ( i had no other option ) and i will give it this. The animation is good for a 1989 film, but i could care less about the film itself. After all around the summer of 1990 i was getting into a lot of action movies on VHS, horror and comedies as well. So i simply did not care much about Disney. At that time i already owned VHS action films like Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, Predator, Rambo 3, Robocop and some other amazing titles. I would imagine that my sister Isabelle have good memories from the summer of 1990 considering she loved The Little Mermaid so much, just like i loved The Punisher with Dolph Lundgren. Since the 1989 animated Disney film The Little Mermaid was released we have had a number of different similar films released, based on the 1837 Danish fairytale of the same name by author Hans Christian Andersen. The best film adaptation i personally have sene so far is the Russian 2018 horror film The Mermaid: Lake Of The Dead, directed by Christopher Bevins and Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy. This film is more focused on the folklore story of the creature known as a mermaid, and there are actually some great creepy horror scenes in this film. I enjoy the creepy look of the mermaid itself, and her creature design fits quite well in the atmosphere of this specific lake. The version of this film i watched on DVD was dubbed in English language, i might have been able to listen to Russian language instead i just never checked. Either way, this does not affect the film in any way. If you love mermaids and love horror films in general, i would recommend picking up a UK DVD copy of The Mermaid: Lake Of The Dead. Speaking of mermaids i did notice a while ago a review of a independent horror film called Deadly Little Mermaid. The review was by YouTube film critic legend Geek Legion Of Doom, and even if the review wasn´t very positive i was curious checking out this film. Being a fan of independent horror film, did this latest mermaid horror film surprise me in a positive way, or is this just as terrible as Steven Seagal´s 2004 music studio album Songs From The Crystal Cave?

Tyler ( Elliot Eason ) is struggling mentally after his family´s loss. He is just doing his best to deal with everything day by day, not knowing if he will get back to a normal life. He rents out his Airbnb to a group of University friends. As the University student´s  explore the area outside the Airbnb, they have no idea that Tyler brought an unknown woman into his home, who turns out to be something completely different than an ordinary woman.

I am more open minded to bad special effects and terrible acting than most people i know would ever be, i can even accept films that most people would probably never see. While i do think The Mermaid: Lake Of The Dead is one of the best mermaid horror films i have ever seen, i have seen at least 7 other low budget horror films that included mermaids ( ? ) where some of them are not that good. For example the 2019 British low budget film The Mermaid´s Curse is a perfect example of this. Director Louisa Warren ( who for some reason made two of the worst Leprechaun low budget horror films i have ever seen, known as The Leprechaun´s Game, and The Leprechaun´s Curse ), i am sure she is a wonderful woman in real life, and i did enjoy her 2020 horror film Virtual Death Match. But over the years she have been making a lot of low budget films and The Mermaid´s Curse turned out to be a bit of a trainwreck. Not just because of the terrible practical make up effects, but what is supposed to be a so called mermaid doesn´t even look like one. And the horror scenes are absolutely silly if im being completely honest. Just avoid this film, that´s all i can say. Now, let´s get into the horror film Deadly Little Mermaid that Louisa Warrem have directed together with Cameron Uzoka. At least this film does have mermaid´s in the film so....that´s good i suppose? But here comes a huge mistake, and that is that they used scenes from The Mermaid´s Curse, added scenes from that film into Deadly Little Mermaid, almost as if they just run out of ideas and just added scenes just to get a longer playtime for this film. This is just a bad excuse unless you have a good idea of why you are using footage from another film. Was this supposed to be a sequel to The Mermaid´s Curse? While there are at least a few mermaid scenes that´s actually not all bad ( where you have women in a mermaid costume ), then you get the added scenes from The Mermaid´s Curse and this makes the film terrible anyway. Why did you have to add these scenes that no one asked for? If i have to mention something positive i did find the performance of actor Christian Ndodna a little bit fun, playing the character known as Jordan. The death metal music playing while mermaid´s attack is a little bit charming. That´s where the positive ends for me, and the rest of the film is just a dull attempt of a horror film with mermaids included. Director´s Cameron Uzoka and Louisa Warren could have made a fun B horror movie with Deadly Little Mermaid. Instead they just left us with a low budget horror film that´s just a extremely lazy attempt of cashing in on mermaid fans.

Rating: D

If you want to watch Deradly Little Mermaid you can watch it for free on YouTube on the following link

Deadly Little Mermaid (2026) Dangerous Tides [Horror] [Creature] | Full Movie

Terrible Movies Of The Late 1990´s: Steel ( 1997 )

The year of 1997 was an amazing movie year for a number of reasons. This was the year we got some really fun cinema releases such as:

*Face/Off

*Donnie Brasco

*Boogie Nights

*Men In Black

*Jackie Brown

*Copland

*Air Force One

*Con Air

*As Good As It Gets ( You can´t go wrong with Jack Nicholson delivering a brilliant acting performance )

I could probably mention at least 20 films more of this specific year if i wanted to, because the year of 1997 was the true last year of the 1990´s that delivered some of the finest cinema releases of this time period. There are some really good films released in both 1998 and in 1999, but compared to the year of 1997 they just didn´t manage to make the same cinema magic. Now, even if the year of 1997 had some wonderful cinema releases, we have to be honest with ourselves. There were some terrible films released as well that most people have forgotten about in 1997, for example how many of you remember the British 1997 comedy Spice World? This is basically the first film including the pop band Spice Girls? I know, no one remember this film for a very good reason, it is a massive mess. I personally did not see this film in cinema and wasn´t even planning to watch it. But it was showing on a movie channel called TV1000 one day so i just had a look. Let´s just say picking inside my nose would have been more fun than watching Spice World. The comedy scenes are truly awful, the acting? Was anyone acting at all? Anyway, aviod this film at all cost. Let´s stay withi the year of 1997 and mention a superhero movie. Oh, you mean the Batman & Robin film? Actually, no. We are talking about a completely different superhero character from DC comics. In 1997 director Kenneth Johnsson was hired to direct a movie adaptation of the comic book character Steel. I did not see this film in cinema back in 1997, probably because Swedish movie critics were tearing the film apart in reviews. I did rent the film on VHS though, just because i wanted to see NBA basketball player icon Shaquille O´Neal as a superhero. After watching it i had very mixed feelings, probably because i was hoping it would be better than it was. I didn´t watch this film for many years until Spain released a blu ray copy of the film. I decided to get a copy to revisit Steel and see how i feel about this film 28 years later. Have this film become better over the years or is this a horrible superhero movie adaptation no one asked for?

John Henry Irons ( Shaquille O´Neal ) is a weapons designer who invents high-tech laser guns, protective armor. and sonic sounds cannons for the Unites States military. One solider, Nathanial Burke ( Judd Nelson ), decides to show just what Irons´ can do and sets one of Irons´ cannons at the highest power setting, firing the device at an abandoned building, but the weapon backfires and destroys the building where the team is situated. Iron´s partner Susan "Sparky" Sparks ( Annabeth Gish ), is crushed by a large slab of concrete in the ensuing chaos. In court, Irons reveals Burke´s role in the incident, and Burke is dismissed from the military. Because his weapons resulted Sparks becoming a paraplegic, Irons resigns in disgust. Meanwhile, Burke have a plan to sell Irons weapons  to a criminal gang. Irons know if these guns hits the streets there will be chaos. With the help from Susan and his Uncle Joe ( Richard Roundtree ), he will become Steel who is designed to fight against any criminals.

I want to make this perfectly clear so no one misunderstood me, i think Shaquille O´Neal was an amazing basketball player and he is truly one of the sports legends of the 90´s. He also seems like a wonderful man, who have a big heart and have helped a lot of charity work and i admire him for this. With that said, i can´t lie and say he did a wonderful acting performance in the 1997 film Steel. Just because you are a world famous basketball player, that doesn´t make you a good actor. Of course you can become a good actor if you work really hard, there have been several actors who proved themselves like Jean-Claude Van Damme did in his 2008 action drama film JCVD. But regarding the film Steel you can tell lead actor Shaquile O´Neal is not a good choice for a superhero lead role in a film such as this. He tried at least, and i guess that´s fun in some ways. I can appreciate a fun terrible film if it actually have some charming scenes in it, or if i enjoy some of the characters in the film. That´s one of the big issues with the film Steel, there are not that many characters here that you will enjoy basically. Except for legendary actor Richard Roundtree ( the original Shaft ) as the character Uncle Joe, i would say that at least i can enjoy his performance in a cheesy, entertaining way. Because legendary actor Richard Roundtree have a magical screen presence, no matter what kind of character he portrait. And actor Judd Nelson ( from the 1985 film classic The Breakfast Club ) is a little bit fun as the villain character Nathaniel Burke . Let´s get into some other issues with the film Steel and as a superhero movie this is a pretty lame attempt to introduce this comic book character. The costume design of Steel does not look that cool, they probably tried to do what they could with the budget the film had. I think if you are telling a story of a superhero you have to make sure the character looks cool. If you don´t, you might think this is a parody instead of taking the character seriously. There are a few scenes where the action is....ok? But it never goes further than that, for the most part the action scenes feels quite dull at certain moments. I can see that director Kenneth Johnson tried to bring Steel to life, and with a better costume design plus a professional lead actor this could have worked. What we are left with is a superhero that feels very 90´s, but maybe not in a positive way. Not a total trainwreck, but i still can´t say Steel is a good film. Steel is if im being kind average at best in certain scenes and yet ends up being pretty terrible.

Rating: DD

Thrash

If there is one category of horror films that never seems to end, it is the category known as shark movies. I have seen it all, sharks armed with laser guns rided by nazis, sharks that can swim in sand, i have even seen sharks that roar in one of the most hated sequels ever, Jaws: The Revenge of course, ( and yes i do own a copy of the book The Shark Is Roaring - The Story Of Jaws: The Revenge, because i had to read the bakground story of how this film was made ). The amount of different kinds of shark movies seems endless, every single year we get so many different versions of shark attack films that i will admit, a lot of people are very creative coming up with cray plots. If you just want 2 fun B horror movies there are two films released in 2016, produced by the legendary B movie production company The Asylum. The titles that you should check out is Empire Of The Sharks, as well as Planet Of The Sharks. Both films seems to be inspired by the classic Mad Max franchise, while you also feel some vibes from the 1995 classic film Waterworld. The acting is bad in both films, but the characters are fun and the special effects are actually not as terrible as you might have expected. Check these films out on streaming, VOD or physical media. Now, let us stay within the year of 2016 for a while. Because this year we actually got one of the best shark movies in many years, and that is the shark horror movie known as The Shallows. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra ( the director of the beloved horror film Orphan from 2009 ), this film tell the story of a young woman named Nancy Adams ( great performance by actress Blake Lively, who you should see in Ben Affleck´s excellent heist film The Town ), who loves to surf and travel to the same beach in Mexico that her mother used to surf while she was pregnant with Nancy. However, this becomes a pure nightmare when she is forced to survive from a shark attacking her out in the ocean. The Shallows is a very intense survival horror film with really solid acting from actress Blake Lively, and the shark scenes are very well made, including beautuful cinematography by Flavio Labiano ( who worked on the effective action thriller Non-Stop with Liam Neeson ). Definetely worth a watch on streaming unless you prefer a physical copy. Since we get shark movies every single year i wasn´t surprised to see that Netflix released one simply called Thrash. A survival horror film with sharks sounds like a  fun idea, but is this film any good at all or did Thrash deliver more entertainment than i ever would have expected?

The town of Annieville, South Carolina awaits the arrival of Category 5 hurricane Henry. When the storm hits and the storm surge destroy the town´s sea wall, causing Annieville to flood and cause massive damage to the entire town. A tanker truck carrying aniumal blood spills out in the ocean drawing in sharks across the flooded town. A group of survivirs will have to figure out how to get passed the sharks, before they are a part of their food chain.

If some of you remember the 2019 survival horror thriller known as Crawl, you might remember it was about a father and a daughter trying to survive against alligators. But not in the environment we are used to see, in over flooded houses during a hurricane which is a very interesting idea for a film with alligators. I really enjoyed Crawl for trying to go back to old school animal horror films such as the 1980 cult cinema classic Alligator. In some ways you could say that Thrash tries to follow a similar pattern as the 2019 film Crawl and im definetely on board for that. Obviously there is a big difference between alligators and sharks, so we can´t really say both of these films are similar when it comes to the plot of this film. Let´s talk about what Thrash manage to do well considering this is a survival horror film. The hurricane scenes are effective, you almost feel like you are at the location and experience the horrible weather conditions. The shark attacking scenes are far more bloodier than i expected so that was a nice surprise. In a lot of shark movies on a limited budget you barely see anyone getting their arm eaten, but you get to see this in Thrash and im grateful for that. Sometimes it´s just nice to see sharks rip bodies apart, it just takes me back to the wonderful summer days of the 1980´s. The acting in general is actually pretty good, i can´t say for each actor of course but, actress Whitney Peak ( who i recognized from the Disney + movie Hocus Pocus 2 ) especially surprised me as her character Dakota. A young woman struggling with agoraphobia, and i feel that she is able to capture a realistic portait of how someone may struggle with an anxiety disorder. The character known as Lisa ( played well by actress Phoebe Dynevor ) give this film some depth as well, considering she is pregnant fighting to survive, to be able to give birth to her son. Actor Djimon Hounsou is of course a highlight in this film. A survival horror film especially focused on female characters, so does thiss really work? Yes, it does. This is the kind of film you just have to take as pure entertainment, the plot is thin and it´s not original at all but Thrash deliver as a pure shark film. Does it have issues? Yes, but i honestly don´t care, This is a film made specifically for you who just want a fun popcorn film at home. Director Tommy Wirkola ( mostly known for the Norwegian horror comedy classic Dead Snow, including the crazy sequel ) have made a simple, yet fun shark survival horror film. You really don´t have to know more, just go watch Trash on Netflix and enjoy yourself.

Rating: DDD

Fathers

Kidnapping cases may not be something we hear a lot about on the news here in Sweden. Of course, this is a small country compared to many other countries around the world. And even if we don´t have that many cases here, if you take a look at other European countries the numbers are pretty scary. For example in France there are about 4000 kidnappings in one year. I know there are countries with far worse numbers than this, but still around 4000 people kidnapped in one year is still a lot. There may be a lot of reasons why some people are kidnapped of course, ransom for money, in some cases it may be connected to trafficking. There are a lot of different film adaptations that show different kinds of kidnapping cases. You have the 1990 classic psychological thriller Misery from legendary director Rob Reiner, where Kathy Bates delivered one of her most iconic cinema performances ever as psychotic kidnapper Annie Wilkies, keeping seriously injured author Paul Sheldon ( brilliant played by legendary actor James Cann ) locked inside her cabin. If you have not seen Misery for any reason ( based on the classic novel by Stephen King ), you simply have to see it. But let´s talk about a completely different film, that also bring up the subject of kidnapping. Let´s talk about the 2017 action thriller Kidnap, directed by Luis Prieto ( director of the 2012 British remake of Pusher, based on the 1996 Danish original film ). While the British version of Pusher was a big box office flop, Kidnap especially found it´s audience on physical media, digital rental and on streaming as well. Waitress and single mother Karla Dyson ( Hale Barry ) takes her siz-year-old son, Frankie ( Sage Correa ), to a carnival. While she recieves a call from her lawyer regarding a custody battle over Frankie, her son Frankie is suddenly missing. As she looks for him around the area, she see´s a woman dragging her son into a green Ford Mustang van. Why would someone take her son? Who is really behind this kidnapping? Kidnap is a well made action thriller that´s intensive and well acted where especially lead actress Hale Barry deliver the most effective dialogue. Worth a watch if you love well made thrillers. Speaking of kidnapping i recently got an oppurtunity to see director Harley Wallen´s latest film Fathers. I really enjoy most of the films of director Harley Wallen, so i was curious to see if his latest film would be his best film so far. Is the film Fathers a must see this summer, or should you watch Ash & Bone from director Harley Wallen instead?

A young girl Natalie ( Emilia Wallen ) is kidnapped by a mysterious man known as Bobby Nash ( Harley Wallen. Years go by and Natalie Dryden ( Kaiti Wallen ) is now an adult as she decides to escape from Bobby´s house. She is struggling with PTSD and is trying to remember what really happened. But as the truth is getting closer, things are maybe not as they seem to be...

I have always felt that director Harley Wallen is a very talented film maker, and a talented actor as well. I have had the honor to review every single film he have directed for many years now, and since we are both from Sweden this makes it special for me. Not just because Harley is originally from Sweden, but he proved that he may be one of the best director´s we have coming from Sweden in many years. And i sincerely mean this, i can not think of many Swedish director´s who have improved over the years, devoted to tell powerful stories in different categories. That´s not me trying to say we don´t have other talented director´s from Sweden, we do. It´s just that each film he have released over the years just keeps getting more professional, and i can tell that Harley have developed into a very passionate film maker. I would definetely say on a technical level, Fathers is his best looking film so far. Let´s move forward and discuss some very important details as well. Fathers is quite different from Harley Wallen´s previous films, in the sense that this is a kidnapping story that´s covered with some surprising twists and turns. I personally feel that Fathers needed a surprising twist, because it helps the film stand out from an ordinary kidnapping story. When it comes to acting in this film, there are especially four characters i feel deliver the strongest acting performances. Let us begin with actress Kaiti Wallen as the character Natalie. I have followed Kaiti´s acting career so far and i have to say, her acting is growing stronger for each film. She is able to balance different emotions, dealing with PTSD and capture everything through facial expressions, dialogue and body language. To be able to pull this off in a realistic way is not easy, and Kaiti knows exactly what she is doing. Actor Grover McCants ( who you might remember from TV series Tales Of Tails ) as the character Chief Norris is really delightful to witness. Grover feels like an old school Hollywood actor who capture your interest right away, through his powerful dialogue. Actor Deon hunt as Detective Parker is exactly what this film needed, a strong police character. Harley Wallen is as always charming on the big screen and that´s exactly the case here as his character Bobby. The psychological tiwists in Fathers manage to keep you intrigued, where we have to ask ourselves what is really going on with Natalie? As a mystery thriller Fathers have all the ingredients you could wish for, while the film still manage to deliver some surprises along the way. If you love specifically thrillers and appreciate strong characters, i am confident that Fathers will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Rating: DDDD

War Machine

Movies that portrait many different kinds of wars, i have seen some really good ones over the years. I have seen a couple of ones that are truly terrible, but in general most war films are still good enough to enjoy. Some of the best ones are usually the films that capture the war in a realistic way. Then you have the completely unrealistic war movies like Rambo: First Blood Part 2, which is still a fun movie to watch after so many years. If you are more a fan of classic war movies then one of the greatest is of course the 1979 war movie Apocalypse Now, from legendary director Francis Ford Coppola. This is truly a masterpiece in the category of war movies, and the longer version Apocalypse Now Redux ( that was released back in the year of 2001 ) is my favourite version of this film. Not only is this a brilliant film for showing a realistic portrait of how the Vietnam war really looked like, it had the most amazing cast and brilliant acting from each character. This film is a must have in your physical movie collection. We also have some more modern great war films that don´t get mentioned much at all. For example, how many of you have seen the 2018 war movie 12 Strong? I actually paid tickets to watch this film twice in cinema, which doesn´t happen often. This film is directed by Nicolai Fugisig, based on the book Horse Soldiers by author Doug Stanton. We follow a group from the U.S. Army Special Forces sent to Afghanistan immediately after the September 11 attacks. What i appreciate about 12 Strong is to see the companionship among American soldiers and Afghanistan soldiers, that is the ones who want to help U.S. Army Special Forces take down Taliban terrorists. In general there are some good acting performances in this film, especially from Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon. The cinematography by Rasmus Videbak ( who worked on the film adaptation of The Dark Tower, based on the novels of Stephen King ) looks really good, while director Nicolai Fuglsig manage to balance the story and capture the terrible atmopshere of how horrible a war can be. Well worth a watch on streamimg or physical media. Last year i was seeing onlime on different articles that director Patrick Hughes, who directed The Expendables 3 which i really enjoyed ( i know some people don´t because it´s PG13 ), his latest film War Machine was going to be released on Netflix. Since he did a really good job on The Expendables 3 regarding the action scenes, would he succeed with War Machine as well? I decided to sit down and review this film, hoping it would be a positive surprise. Is this a must see on Netflx, or should you skip War Machine and watch The Expendables 3 instead?

2 years have passed since Staff Seargent ( Alan Ritchson ) lost his brother in Afghanistan, during a Taliban terror attack on his team members. The Seargent joins RASP to earn assignment to a battalion of the consolidated 75th Ranger Regiment, and is given the candidate number of 81. It becomes very clear that 81 is very well trained, but don´t really get along with the other fellow recruits. Suddenly there are reports of a blasts in the sky, while everyone is doing the military exercise. Not knowing what crash landed, 81 lead a team of soldiers to find out what really happened. They are about to face their biggest mission yet, that could end their lives

What if you combined War Of The Worlds with the 2012 sci fi action film Battleship, and set most of the film up in forest areas? That sounds about the right combination for this Netflix sci fi action film War Machine. This is a very male macho driven military film that we used to get in the action shelves inside of video rental stores. And this is exactly why this is such a solid sci fi action movie, it´s shaped for a certain kind of audience that it was made for. Lots of violence, robotic machine figures, lots of ammo, the brotherhood that soldiers have together in war. You can pretty much say that War Machine is the ultimate war feast for movie nerds who really love effective CGI effects and simple story telling. And i will be honest and say this is probably one of the better military action films i have seen in a while. The plot is just as thin as Eric Trump´s pointless speeches, but at least War Machine have something to say compared to Eric Trump ( who anyone shouldn´t take seriously at all ). Where this film succeed the most is with the hard hitting action scenes. The war scenes are very well made, and even if we do have a lot of CGI effects they do look really good. The action scenes are intense and i have to say in general the actinng is actually good. We know from the past there have  been American sci fi action films that lacks good acting, so thankfully this film proves that you can actually find solid acting performances in War Machine. Lead actor Alan Ritchson ( who is really good in the Guy Ritchie film The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare ) as the character 81 have probably done his best acting performance in his career so far in this film War Machine. I feel that he really capture the personality of a broken soldier, who struggles every day but still go out there because he have to. The fact that he doesn´t want to be seen as a hero, just a man, this gives the character a much more deeper depth about his personality. War Machine tells a story of how important it is to stick together as humans beeings, even in the worst possible moments when all hope seems lost. War Machine is steady adrenaline pumped action film, that´s specifically made for fans of Battleship and similar films with science fiction influences. It´s violent, brutal and a hell of a good time. One of the better Netflix films released this year for sure. Director Patrick Hughes ( the director of The Expendables 3 ) proves with War Machine why he is such a talented film maker when it comes to making action movies, who actually understand what the audience wants.

Rating: DDDD

Dolly

You know sometimes when an actor becomes famous for a specific role and is most likely remembered specifically for that movie? We have seen this so many times before, i mean just look a legendary comedian actor Steve Guttenberg who played Mahoney in the Police Academy franchise. Most people only remember him from these classic 80´s comedies but forget that he was in really good films such as Diner, Cocoon, the sequel Cocoon: The Return, Short Circuit and Home For The Holidays. I still love his performance in the Police Academy movies, but i would honestly rather watch the Cocoon films if i had to choose because they are really true 80´s nostalgic films. Another actor who clearly have been marked in his movie career is actor Sean William Scott, without a doubt mostly known as the crazy character Steve Stifler in the American Pie franchise. I do enjoy his performance in those comedies, but i actually think he have done some great other films that no one seems to talk about. How many of you have seen actor Sean William Scott´s 2007 drama comedy film Trainwreck: My Life As An Idiot? I remember when this film came out on DVD and i rented it right away, because the trailer looked interesting and to see Sean William Scott do a much more dramatic role. Trainwreck: My Life As An Idiot tells the story of the character Jeff Nichols, who is diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, and a mild case of Tourette syndrome. On top of this he also have a heavy drinking problem. His life is one big mess as he tries to find a job, while struggling to find his place in society. Sean Williams Scott proved in this film he is actually a great drama actor, playing an individual with diffrerent diagnosis and capturing the signs of these diagnosis is not easy through acting. Well worth picking up on DVD, this is not a film you will find everywhere on streaming. Speaking of Sean William Scott did you know that he is one of the characters in a very gory slasher film called Dolly? I have heard about this film for a while and the reviews were positive. Since i am an old school slasher horror fan i just had to check this film out. Anything with dolls and horror combined always get me curoius. Is the slasher horrro film Dolly a must see this summer, or was this film not as fun as i was hoping it would be?

A couple named Chase ( Sean William Scott ) and Macy ( Fabianne Therese ) are out on a hiking trip, where they come across a very bizarre individual known as Dolly ( Max the Impaler ). What they don´t know is that this is a very disturbed individual who have no limits, anyone who go against Dolly will suffer into eternity.

If you have seen the classic 1981 slasher horror film The Burning from director Tony Maylam ( who later in the 90´s directed the sci fi cult horror film Split Second with Rutger Hauer, a must watch ), you might remember how gory that slasher horror film was. You could say that Dolly is following in the same footsteps except this film have no summer camp, we have a very creepy forest area with dolls everywhere instead. While i highly recommend you watch The Burning on physical media, streaming or digital, let´s get into what i appreciate the film known as Dolly. First of all the poreclin designed doll face that this killer Dolly is wearing looks really creepy, almost like a adult version of a pocerlin doll that have a disfigured porcelin face. The facial design of Dolly is one of the better looking killer masks i have seen in quite some time. I feel that this is a very important detail if you want your killer to stand out, from all the most famous slasher horror icons that already exists. The disturbing mindset of the serial killer Dolly is shown by her hearing voices in her head, constantly having headache, clearly in a lot of pain mentally. And the old house she lives in could have been a cousin related family home, right out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre family reunion. There are several disturbing details in this house, especially the creepy dolls in certain rooms. Max the Impaler, the well known wrestling legend plays the character Dolly very effectively, using a lot of body language to express herself since she can´t speak words. Actress Fabianne Therese ( who i remember from the anthology horror film Southbound, worth checking ou ), who plays the character Macy show that she is capable of delivering a solid performance. Actor Sean William Scott may not have a lot of screen time in the entire film, but he still got that charming personality in every character he dig into. Dolly is a love letter to the 1970´s grindhouse cinema with brutal practical special effects, some very disturbing scenery at certain locations and the combinamtion of this actually works. Dolly may not be a slasher horror classic compared to the 1981 horror film The Burning, but i definetely enjoyed this ride. Director Rod Blackhurst manage to bring back grindhouse horror in an old school way that´s charming, without making this film too predictable or boring. Dolly is definetely worth a watch if you enjoy old school slasher horror films with masked serial killers, i always feel welcome home seeing fingers being cut off or a head split into half. I know, my view on a loving home might be slightly different than others.

Rating: DDD

The Investigation Of Lucy Letby

This upcoming summer it will be 27 years ago since i started working in health care. It is truly amazing how time flies by, and i love helping people in need. Before i did my health care education at college i worked as a constuction worker, i was even an educated butcher. But i realized that helping people with different diagnosis was my calling. Have there been rough times in my health care work? Of course i have seen people die in front of me, i have seen people suffer both mentally, physically and emotionally. One thing i learned already in the year 2000, a year after i started working in health care is to learn not to get too emotional. You can feel bad for patients, but if you loose focus on what you are supposed to do, things could go wrong and you might cause more damage. So over the years i have become really good at finding a solid balance, being professional and yet remaining respectful towards each patient while trying not to be affected too much personally. Even if i have had some really good working collegues over so many years, i espeially remember one woman who gave me so many alarm signs. She bascially only came to work just to get paid, didn´t care about any patients, she would rather sit and watch Instagram during her shifts. She was basically fired eventually when we warned our boss that she was not fit to work with patients. We did not talk about her to be rude or disrepectful, we had to think about the safety of the patients. After all this is what really matters, that each patient should feel safe with my team. But what if something very serious happens for example at a hospital, where patients suddenly start dying for unknown reasons? What if there is evidence that makes you question if a nurse or a doctor could be the reason of these deaths? This is one of those criminal cases that is fascinating, where we are talking about former British nurse known as Lucy Letby. I came across this case first in 2024 and i have been fascinated about this case for a number of reasons. Probably because i have worked so many years within health care and care so much about patients, this truly feels like a nightmare when you hear about what happened to these innocent babies. I decided to review the Netflix crime documentary film The Investigation Of Lucy Letby. Is this a well made documentary film worth a watch or should you just watch older news clips instead that are much more fascinating regarding this case?

When a number of children end up dying at a hospital in United Kingdom, people become very worried about what is going on. All tracks leads up to one single neonatal nurse known as Lucy Letby, where each baby seems to have died on her working shifts. Did she really kill all of these babies or is there another truth behind these walls at this specific hospital?

I personally have only heard about this case back in 2024 when i read an article on BBC News, i will link it below so you know where i first came across this case:

Lucy Letby sentenced to 15th whole life term

This article published on July 5 in 2024 did caught my attention, where i understood that Lucy Letby may be sitting behind bars the rest of her life. Now, after watching the Netflix documentary The Investigation Of Lucy Letby i have several questions. Did really Lucy Letby voluntary hurt these children or was this someone else´s fault? If Lucy really did hurt these children, what would her motivation be to do so? We do get to hear from police detectives who worked on this case, we also hear interviews from people who really know her, including interviews with different medical experts. What i find fascinating about this documentary film is that it tries to give you a chance to let you decide what you personally believe. Do you believe in the so called evidence that Lucy Letby really did this, or do you feel that the evidence is too weak to make Lucy look innocent? We are presented with several different details that was used as evidence, where they tried to explain what Lucy Letby could have done during her working shifts at the hospital. Since i have worked so many years in health care, i do feel fascinated in both the trials, the background story of the individual Lucy Letby. Did something happen to her in her youth that affected her to become an evil person or have media tried to make her look like a serial killer? I think the best way to approach this documentary film is to be open minded, so you can get your own opinion on what you believe is true or not. The Investigation Of Lucy Letby is a well made criminal documentary film that will divide a lot of people, seeing what they believe or not. And that´s actually what you want a documentary film to do, make people feel fascinated in a story that captures your interest right from the start. Director Dominic Sivyer deliver a well made documentary film that will clearly make fans of criminal cases pleased, if you love digging into real crimes. Worth a watch on Netflix.

Ratung: DDD

Dead Man´s Wire

I can still remember my very first visit to a film festival and that was in the year of 2003. It was in the Swedish city Stockholm at the Stockholm International Film Festival 2003. I remember how excited i was being able to see films that i usually would not see, mostly foreign films since film festivals such as this had films from all over the world. I was looking back at the program for the movies that were showing, and i do remember some of the films. While other films i can only remember certain details about. You see at this film festival i really tried to see several very different films, from a big diversity of directors across the world. I will be honest and tell you why i especially wanted to visit this specific year. Because this was the exclusive screening of iconic director Gus Van San´t latest film Elephant that i read so many brilliant reviews in movie magazines. If you never heard of this film that´s completely fine. It actually made a lot of movie fans worldside discuss the film, for a very good reason. This film is inspired by the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre, and the film show the day just as the massacre is about to happen. If you love really strong acting, brilliant cinematography by Harris Savides and powerful realistic scenes, then you should definetely watch Elephant on streaming, VOD or physical media. Director Gus Van Sant have done some really wonderful films over the years, where some of his biggest classics are of course Drusgstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho and To Die For. I really love his 2008 biographical drama Milk, with an absolutely brilliant acting performance from legendary actor Sean Pean as the gay activist, politician Harvey Milk. Last year i started hearing about Gus Van Sant´s latest film Dead Man´s Wire, based on a true story of American kidnapper Tony Kiritsis, who on in early 1977 kidnapped Richard O Hall, by attaching a dead man´s switch, a 12-gauge Winchester 1400 sawed-off shotgun to the back of Hall´s head. I know there was a documentary film released telling the story of what happened in 2018, i have not seen this one. But since i always been a big fan of Gus Van Sant i was very curious to see his film adaptation of this true story. Is this another Gus Van Sant classic or is Dead Man´s Wire not as good as it could have been?

On Tuesday, February 8, 1977, in Indianapolis, Tony Kiritsis ( Bill Skarsgård ) arrives for an appointment with wealthy mortgage broker M.L. Hall ( Al Pacino ) at the Meridian Mortgage company. Tony is instead met with M.L, Hall´s own son, Richard Hall ( Dacre Montgomery ), who reveals that M.L. Hall has left for vacation. Tony does not have any patience anymore, as he hold Richard Hall at gunpoint and wires a shotgun to his neck, rigged to fire if he tries to escape or anyone interferes. He believes the Halls cheated him on potential profit after he bought land to develop and is determined to expose them.  He notifies the locla police that he hase taken Richard prisoner, as he takes control over a police car and demand Richard to drive them to Tony´s home. Tony will not let Richard go until Tony get the respect that he deserves.

Knowing that iconic director Gus Van Sant is the director of Dead Man´s Wire does make this film unique of course. I have a lot of respect for him, not only as a director but also for how he manage to tell stories in his own unique way. I have almost seen all of his films ( except for the 2011 film Restless, which i will pick up on physical media at some point ) and i really love how he is able to take on any genre of film, and still make each film feel like a Gus Van Sant creation. Knowing that this film is based on a true story makes me fascinated, how this one single man managed to pull this off. Obviously i understand that police could not take too many risks since the main character, because if they shot Tony they could kill the kidnapped victim as well. Let´s move into what details i really appreciate with Dead Man´s Wire. Actor Bill Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis proves what an amazing actor Bill really is, when he gets the right script and the right character. I personally feel that this performance really show that Bill Skarsgård can take on any kind of character, and capture the personality with the right body language and the sharp dialogue combined. His screen chemistry with actor Dacre Montgomery ( who i really enjoy as the character Billy Hargrove in Netflix TV series Stranger Things ) as the character Richard Hall, they deliver some solid dialogue scenes together where you can feel the atmosphere in Tony´s frustation. Another really powerful performance comes from the iconic The Princess Bride actor Cary Elwes, who playes the character Detective Michael Grable, where you can tell Cary tried to capture the mentality and personality of his character in a realistic way. Legendary actor Al Pacino is here as well, even if he is only in a few scenes you know he will be good. The film looks really good capturing a cool looking 70´s vibe with the right soundtrack, beautiful set designs and solid acting in general. There are only a few moments i feel certain dialogue scenes don´t feel as powerful as they could have been, after all this is a Gus Van Sant film and we know he is really good at delivering dialogue scenes. As a crime thriller i would say that Dead Man´s Wire is strong enough through great acting performances, and the time period captured really well of the 1970´s, director Gus Van Sant proves once more he is such a great director. Dean Man´s Wire is worth checking out on VOD or digital for sure.

Rating: DDD

Crime 101

Criminal heist thrillers can be found on among streaming services and physical media, especially if you love the titles that are considered to be classics such as Michael Mann´s almost perfect heist thriller Heat from 1995. I mean this is probably one of the greatest heist thrillers ever made, who can resist such a brilliant cast such as Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Ted Levine, Ashley Judd, William Fichtner, Hank Azaria and Danny Trejo among many others? Heat is without a doubt one of the best in this specific genre, and i have a feeling it will be very difficult for any heist thriller to ever reach to the same level of quality as this film does. However, there are still some really good heist movie choices that are worth checking out. For example the 2001 heist comedy Ocean´s Eleven from director Steven Soderbergh is a perfect example of a really solid film in this genre. Amazing cast such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia and many more well known actors. The story is pretty simple, a gang of associates plans to rob three Las Vegas casinos and make sure they get away without getting caught. One of the reasons why this is one of the better heist films is the chemistry between the cast. This is a really charming film, that also have solid acting from the whole cast and director Steven Soderbergh captures the magic of Las Vegas with beautiful night scenes and the colorful gambling image. Definetely worth a watch on streaming, digital or physical media. The sequels are alright, especially the third film, but i prefer the first film if im being completely honest. How many of you remember the emotionally strong documentary film The Impostor from 2012? That told the story of a man claiming to be the son who vanished 3 years ago without a trace, who return claiming he is their missing son and turns out to be an impostor. Really good documentary film from director Bart Layton worth a watch if you have not seen it. The director of this documentary film recently made a heist film called Crime 101 that landed on Amazon Prime. I decided to check this film out to see if it would be anything in my taste. Is this the perfect heist film to enjoy after barbecues this summer, or is Crime 101 nothing you will remember at all?

In Los Angeles, Mike ( Chris Hemsworth ) is an elusive and disciplined jewelry thief, carefully planning robberies to avoid violence and DNA evidence while escaping via U.S. Route 101. Interecepting a diamond delivery carrying decoys, he steals diamonds worth 3 million U.S. dollars but is shaken by an unexpected bullet. He calls off a planned robbery in Santa Barbara, but his fence, Money ( Nick Nolte ), enlists volatile young biker Ormond ( Barry Keoghan ) instead. Mike understand someone else is getting paid for jobs as he confronts Money, without any luck. There is a really big job coming up, problem is that Det. Lou Lubesnick ( Mark Ruffalo ) have figured out the U.S. Route 101 pattern of robberies and is on track to find the suspect.

I am fully aware that a lot of people might think Crime 101 is a very basic heist film, and there are elements of that here. But, what makes this film stand out a little bit its that this film is more focused on the consequences of our life chioces. This film have a surprisingly deep meaning regarding how far you are willing to go, what chances are you willing to take in life? So i would say that Crime 101 doesn´t focus on the violence, it´s more focused on the characters and the risks they take. This is actually a good approach if you want to do something different in a heist story, since most films in this genre are usually pretty similar. Speaking of characters there are actually several great characters in this film. One of my personal favourite characters in this film is actor Mark Ruffalo´s character Detective Lou. He is the kind of old school police detective we used to get in the 80´s in different cop films, who seems to have gone through a lot in his life. Mark Ruffalo proves again why he is such a great actor, since he can take on any kind of character and knows how to deliver dialogue. The chemistry between Detective Lou and his partner Det. Tillman ( played really well by actor Corey Hawkins ) is a delightful combination. Legendary actor Nick Nolte is here as well as the criminal character Money, and even if he is an old man now he still deliver strong dialogue and powerful acting in his own unique way. Of course we have actor Chris Hemsworth as the criminal character Mike, what´s interesting about him is that he doesn´t have anything in his life other than doing crimes. No wife, no children, so he basically think about work constantly which makes his character very lonely. Crime 101 is a well made crime thriller with a realistic portrait of criminals, how they function in difficult scenarios and have to take chances. The moments when we do get some action scenes looks good as well, from a technical camera perspective. Nowhere near as good as the 1995 classic Heat, but definetely still worth a watch on Amazon Prime if you enjoy heist thrillers.

Rating: DDD

Send Help

Let´s be honest for a moment. The world of horror would have never been the same without iconic horror director Sam Raimi if he never created the Evil Dead franchise. The Evil Dead, the cult low budget horror film released in 1981 turned out to be one of those horror films that inspired so many low budget director´s. Even until this day you can hear both director´s and film producers talking about how influenced they were making low budget horror, thanks to the work of director Sam Raimi. I can totally understand why since this film looked really good, considering only having a budget around 375.000 U.S. dollars. Ok, i will admit that the practical make up effects in this film might look a little bit silly today, but we are talking about a horror film released in 1981 and a lot have improved since then. A young actor Bruce Campbell proved himself in this film, that he was something special among the characters in The Evil Dead. The sequel Evil Dead II - Dead By Dawn ( my personal favourite in the Evil Dead franchise ) turned out to pretty much me a remake of the first film but with even more brutal kills, even more slapstick humour, and so much blood that it becomes hillarious. Director Sam Raimi returned to direct, taking iconic horror actor Bruce Campbell back in his role as Ash. Evil Dead II is without a doubt one of the craziest horror comedies of the 80´s and in my opinion a masterpiece. This is still my favourite Sam Raimi film until this day, even if i really do enjoy Army Of Darkness. Since then director Sam Raimi have directed several other great films such as Darkman, The Quick And The Dead, A Simple Plan, The Gift, three different Spider-Man films and of course his return to horror in the 2009 film Drag Me To Hell. The one thing that director Sam Raimi always been really good at, is mixing horror and comedy together. And this is exactly what he seems to be doing in his latest film called Send Help. I was supposed to see this film in cinema ( that was the plan at least ), i ended up watching it on Disney + instead. Is this another delightful film from director Sam Raimi, or have he taken on a story that he should have left at the writing board instead?

Linda Liddle ( Rachel McAdams ) is a very hard  devoted worker, she is working as a strategist for a financial management company. She have been promised a promotion from her CEO, until the son of the CEO named Bradley Preston ( Dylan O´Brien ) one day takes over his father´s company. Linda finds out her promotion will not happen, since Bradley have decided to give the promotion to recently hired Donovan Murphy ( Xavier Samuel ). Linda is not happy and confront her new boss Bradley about her promised promotion. Bradley makes a suggestion, that she can go with them to Bangkok, Thailand to prove that she can finalize a company merger. The plane crash on the way unfortunately, only leaving two survivors, Linda and Bradley, on a deserted island. They will have to try and adjust themselves to survive.

Imagine if you combined the reality TV show Survivor and mix it with the 2000 drama film Cast Away with Tom Hanks, and you basically have an the combination of what Send Help looks like. One of the things though that we do find in this film as well, is the classic brutality of Sam Raimi films of the past. As a big fan of films of his past i expected to see Sam Raimi go back to his classic ingredients, and in certain scenes i do feel he manage to bring that cinema magic back to the big screen. There are a few brutal kill scenes ( especially towards the hog killing scene ) where it really feels like Evil Dead brutality, but then the film go in a completely different direction and becomes much softer. I can understand why director Sam Raimi wanted to do something different with this story, and do something that feels more like a Robinson Crusoe inspired story. He have done a lot of different kinds of films, and i would imagine sometimes you get fed up just sticking to gory horror scenes only and actually want to tell a story. Speaking of story, you do feel bad for the lead character Linda Liddle ( played really well by actress Rachel McAdams ). She might be very nerdy and not dress modern, but she have a big heart and mean well. There are certain scenes that are actually difficult to watch, because how terrible certain people bully her. So to seer her become a true fighter on this deserted island located in Thailand is a fun idea. Especially since her surviving boss Bradley ( also played well by actor Dylan O´Brien from The Maze Runner trilogy, all three films are worth a watch ), who is a complete ignorant asshole. The survival story on the island is something we have pretty much seen before, but it is the screen chemistry between actors Rachel McAdams and Dylan O´Brien that makes this film work ( outside of the gory scenes ). Is this a future classic by legendary director Sam Raimi? I still prefer the Evil Dead films plus Darkman over his latest film, but i do enjoy Send Help and can easily recommend it, streaming on Disney +. Nice to see that you can still make a solid survival horror thriller, while having some fun in there as well. Send Help should do the trick if you want something easy to digest.

Rating: DDD

The Stickman´s Hollow

I have a female friend in my hometown Uddevalla named Maria, i actually met her through my work in health care back in the early 2000´s. When i got to know her really well i found out she loves horror movies in many different cartegories. So we used to have horror movie nights in my apartment, where we would rent DVD´s downtown of horror films that looked interesting. But she did have one rule, no found footage horror films. She hated that category while i enjoyed some films in this genre. So, whenever i wanted to watch a found footage horror film Maria always told me:- You will be watching that one without me. I was completely fine with that since she liked most horror films in general. I have not seen her for many years unfortunately, probably because she moved to a complete different city with her fiancee, far away from where i live now. But we did have a lot of enjoyable horror nights together that i always will remember. Found footage horror films have followed with me for many years, and there are several titles i could easily recommend. Instead of going through a whole list, let´s just dive into one specific title for a moment. My recommendation for a found footage horror movie would be, the 2014 horror film known as The Taking Of Deborah Logan. This film is directed by Adam Robitel ( who horror fans might recognize the name since he directed the sequel Insidious: The Last Key ). The Taking Of Deborah Logan tell the story of Deborah Logan ( played by actress Jill Larson ), an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer´s disease who have a film crew filming her, filming her condition and what changes she goes through with her disease. As the film crew capture more footage of Deborah´s behavior they notice some unexpected changes. The Taking Of Deborah Lamb was one of the better horror films of the year 2014, and i love it just as much today. One of the better found footage horror films that i can remember, highly recommended picking up on physical media. One found footage horror film i have wanted to see since early this year is a film called The Stickman´s Hollow. The reviews were pretty positive, and the plot looked interesting as well. I decided to rent this film on VOD and give it a chance. Is this a solid horror choice for true fans of horror, or is The Stickman´s Hollow not as good as i was hoping it would be?

A family travel out into the wilderness to enjoy a family holiday together. As they spend their first night out in these woods, they are about to find out that this is no ordinary hunting ground.

When you make a found footage horror film on a very limited budget, to make the audience fascinated you have to be creative and tell an interesting story. Since you are not supposed to use CGI effects and everything is supposed to portait a certain event on camera, this is where you have to prove yourself as a film maker. I have to say director Jack Cox manage to make this film far more interesting than what i expected. If some of you remember the 2013 found footage horror film Mr. Jones, i could proabably say that The Stickman´s Hollow reminds me of that film a little bit, but still have a completely different plot. Mr. Jones managed to capture the mystery surrounding strange symbols and wooden figures, and this is something that we will find in The Stickman´s Holllow as well. Let´s be clear though that both of these films have not much else in common, just in case you happen to be a huge fan of Mr. Jones and was hoping for something similar. The Stickman´s Hollow is divided into different chapters, where each chapter is connected to why certain specific locations have a important meaning to a young possessed girl. I like that the film is divided into different chapters, makes you think a litle bit more than just being served the entire plot. The acting in general is alright and i can´t really complain about some of the performances. The best part of this film is where the most effective horror scenes kick in, and they actually deliver. You also later find out how these symbols are connected to the story, and i love the design of these wooden figures ( especially the biggest one ). Director Jack Cox manage to find the right tone towards the end of this film, making it a creepy anthology horror film. Nothing original or any surprising twists, still i feel that The Stickman´s Hollow deserve some respect for actually making an effort to bring back this genre on the right path. This is a difficult genre to succeed with and this film proved that it´s still possible. Worth a watch on VOD if you also enjoy the genre of found footage horror films.

Rating: DDD

Marty Supreme ( Blu ray review )

No matter what you are doing at this very moment, grab yoursself a cup of fresh brewed coffe, or a fresh cup of tea and let us go back to the year of 2019. That´s not that long ago right? Very true, but there is a very good reason to why this year is very important, especially in the subject known as movies. This was the year when director´s  Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie brought us one of the best films of that year, that was actually released on the streaming service Netflix. If you don´t know what film i am talking about, i can tell you that it is the powerful Netflix drama known as Uncut Gems. Now, if you have read my reviews over the years you may have seen i have been critical to some Adam Sandler films, for a very good reason. Some of his streaming comedies on Netflix have been pretty terrible, except that i enjoyed his 2024 space drama Netflix film Spaceman. But it´s still nowhere near as good as Uncut Gems is, the best film Adam Sandler have ever done in my opinion. Uncut Gems tell the story of Howard Ratner ( played by Adam Sandler ), a Jewish-American jeweler and gambling addict who must retrieve an expensive 2008 NBA Championship ring he purchased, in order to pay off his debt. Uncut Gems is a perfect example of how dangerous it is being a gambling addict, or addicted to making money in general where you don´t have any limits. Howard Ratner may be a character in a script, but there are so many people out there struggling with gambling addiction as this character does. Adam Sandler is absolutely brilliant in the lead role and the film looks so gorgeous. This is my personal favourite streaming film on Netflix so far and i have probablu watched it 10 times since it came out. There is actually a really good 4KUltraHD release of Uncut Gems from the distrubution company Criterion Collection. One of the director´s of Uncut Gems, the man known as Josh Safdie, released his own film Marty Supreme last year with critical praise and being nominated at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards and the 98th Acadamey Awards. I was supposed to see this film in cinema late last year, but somewhere a long the way those plans were changed. So, to prepare for this review of Marty Supreme i decided to get a physical blu ray copy from the UK ( since this film is not coming out on physical media until June 9th here in Sweden ). Being such a critically acclaimed film worldwide, is Marty Supreme as good as many films critics have been saying or is this just a waste of your precious time?

In New York City in 1952, Marty Mauser ( Timothée Chalamet ) works as a shoe salesman in his uncle Murray Norkin´s ( Larry "Ratso" Sloman ) shop while also competing profesionally as a table tennis player. Marty dreams of winning the British Open to bring American attention to the sport. He also pitches selling orange "Marty Supreme" novelty table tennis ballsto his friend Dion Galanis ( Luke Manley ) and his father. But the journey to reach his goal to have a successfull career within table tennis comes with many challenges, queston is if Marty is prepared to sacrifice everything to reach to the top?

I know that last year there were many film critics calling this film as ome of the best of the year of 2025. My personal opinion is, i don´t think it´s that brilliant. I do think this film holds some really solid levels of quality, especially when it comes to the acting, the costume deisgn and some really effective dialogue scenes. But best film of 2025? I personally feel that i would have probably chosen the Netflix horror film Frankenstein over this one if im being completely honest. Of all films to compare between, why compare Frankenstein to Marty Supreme? One of the biggest issues with Marty Supreme is that the story is all over the place. And even if Frankenstein is a very classic tale that have been told in many different film adaptations, i feel that this version proved to be the most powerful adaptation so far. Director Guillermo del Toro proved with Frankenstein you can make a classic story, tell it slightly different than before and still make if feel so fascinating. I can sort of understand why Marty Supreme needs to be told the way the story is developed, because there are some parts that´s actually really good. But the table tennis scenes is where this film lost me a little bit. Never been interested in table tennis ( even though i have played some back in the early 90´s with school friends ), and even if the table tennis scenes looks good from a technical camera perspective, this is still a sport that i never really cared about. Where this film really works is outside the table tennis scenes where we follow Marty´s chaotic life. This is where things get much more interesting regarding our main character. Lead actor Timothée Chalamet ( really good in the latest Dune films )  as Timmy Mauser is the strongest acting performance in this film. The way he manage to portrait Timmy with facial expressions, his attitude combined with personality is a true winning combination. I personally never cared about if he will be succesfull or not in table tennis, i just want to know how he will be able to control himself before things fall apart. Actress Odessa A´zion gives a really powerful performance as the pregnant character Rachel. The soundtrack filled with 80´s classics actually works well with this film, even though this film is set in the 1950´s. You might think that shouldn´t be possible but this is not an issue for me, somehow the story manage to match to the music. Marty Supreme is a story of finding your place in life, taking chances and work really hard to reach your future goals. A film filled with real top quality acting, smooth dialogue and strong characters. Director Josh Safdie may not have made a future classic, but this is definetely one of the better films i have seen this spring. Marty Supreme hits all the right notes and proves that there is still hope for high quality films.

Rating: DDDD

If you want a physical copy from the Uk with some nice special features, you can pick up your own copy on the following link:

MARTY SUPREME BLU-RAY: Amazon.co.uk: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary, Tyler the Creator, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher: DVD & Blu-ray

Exit Protocol ( Blu ray review )

Everyone have something that will always cheer you up, no matter if it´s a specific song, perhaps a favourite book, or could even be a favourite film. No matter what makes you happy on a bad day, i say go for it. After all we go through so many rough times in life, we have to be able to enjoy certain moments as well. Me personally i have several things that can make me really happy. For example i love listening to Kula Shaker´s debut album K released in 1996, one of my personal favourite rock albums of all time. Whenever i hear songs like Grateful When You´re Dead, Hey Dude, Govinda, Tattva, Knight On The Town and many other songs, i just get into the groove and just rock out. Now, when i have to choose a film i could easily choose a classic like Taxi Driver, Fargo, Leon The Professional, Godfellas and many more. Sometimes though i just want to watch something that really entertain me, for a completely different reason. And this is where i would choose without a doubt to wach the 1992 action sci fi film Universal Soldier. Seriously, what else do you need? Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren as super soldiers, fighting against each other in a whole film? There are some funny scenes as well that comes out of nowhere. You can´t ask for much more than this, and this is why i love Universal Soldier being just a fun action movie for movie nerds like myself. Since i mentioned Dolph Lundgren, i have always said over the years he is one of the best actors ever from Sweden. He may not be the best always at delivering dramatic acting, but he really knows how to deliver funny dialogue and of course make great action films. I love so many of his films, how can you not watch Red Scorpion, The Punisher, Dark Angel, Showdown In Little Tokyo, Men Of War? I have seen a lot of his more modern action films as well over many years, most of them i do enjoy. One of the films that came out on blu ray in Germany this spring is called Exit Protocol. Not only does this film include Dolph but also action actor / martial art actor Michael Jai White. Of course i had to pick up a physical copy for this review. Is this another solid action release with Dolph, or have he lost some of his charm along the way with Exit Protocol?

Professional assassin Sam Hayden ( Scott Martin ) have been killing clients for many years, he is fed up with this job. He decides it is finally time to end his assassin career, and find a different purpose in his life. But what do you do when your past never leaves you behind, and you are forced to find a different way out, knowing it could end your life completely?

Let me be very clear by saying this. If you don´t enjoy old school American action films from the VHS era, i can tell you right now that Exit Protocol is definetely nothing that will make you happy. This is as basic as you could get from an action formula that we have seen so many times befiore, and yet we keep coming back to watch these kinds of movies. I could sit here and find flaws and talk about what this film doesn´t have that could have been interesting, but this is the kind of film that was made for the true fans of Dolph Lundgren. Where the script doesn´t matter, we don´t care about the main plot, just give us action scenes with guns and cheesy dialogue just like we did in the 80´s and 90´s. And this is exactly why you should watch a film such as Exit Protocol if you just want to be entertained, a film so easy to digest you don´t have to think anything at all. And it´s actually nice to have films like these made still to this day, everything doesn´t have to be serious all the time. So what does work with this film? Let me point out that if you enjoy simple plots that don´t feel complicated at all, then this should be something for you. The plot is so simple it could have been written at a McDonald´s restaurant napkin ( on both sides of course or there would be no plot ). This is basically an assassin action film that reminded me of films like Assassin with Sylverster Stallone, and even the 2011 action film Assassination Game with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Scott Adkins. None of these films have the same plots as Exit Protocol, but you can sense that it is similar films that inspired director Shane Dax Taylor to make this film. Dolph is actually not the lead actor in this film so that´s kind of surprising, but i can totally accept that. Lead actor Scott Martin does alright in his lead role as assassin Sam, fun to see him work together with Dolph since they worked together on the action film Best Man. Michael Jai White does alright as well, i can´t really complain. Something i appreciate about this film is to show that working as an assassin, that means you can´t have a normal family life. Sam is bascially going from work to work, no real family, no purpose in life other than work. That really show you that this job doesn´t give you much else other than just a paycheck. One of the issues i might have is that some of the gun battle scenes might feel a little bit stiff. If you are going to make shoot out scenes, make them fun and entertainng at least. Otherwise i think this is a pretty solid action film if you just want something simple to enjoy.  Director Shane Dax Taylor deliver a film made for old school action fans, i think that pretty much says all you need to know.

Rating: DDD

If you want a physical blu ray copy of this film, you can buy your copy on the following link:

Exit Protocol [Blu-ray]: Amazon.de: Martin, Scott, Lundgren, Dolph, White, Michael Jai, Kirk, Charlotte, Taylor, Shane Dax, Martin, Scott, Lundgren, Dolph: DVD & Blu-ray

We Bury The Dead ( Blu ray review )

If there is one specific category where you can find a lot of different stories, it is within the catgeory known as post apocalyptic films. You have pure horror films within this genre, and then you have more science fiction inspired stories combined with some drama influences. There are a couple of thriller post apocaplyptic films out there as well, but for the most part it seems that films makers forcus on horror stories mostly. There are several post apocalyptic films i could easily recommend, depending on what genre you enjoy most between horror or science fiction films. But let´s focus on one specific title at this moment that you can actually find on Netflix where it´s streaming. We are of course talking about the 2017 post apocalyptic horror film Cargo, based on a short film from 2013 directed by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke. The short film Cargo is actually great ( you can watch it on YouTube ) but the 2017 Netflix film adaptation from the same directors is actually even better. Cargo tell the story of father Andy ( played by actor Martin Freeman, mostly known from the British TV series Sherlock, who does a really good performance in this film ), who tries to protect his baby daughter Rosie ( Lily Anne McPherson-Dobbins ) from the undead walking around the Australian wilderness. He lost his wife who unfortunately turned into one of the undead, so he is basically alone out there trying to survive. Cargo is a very well made post apocalyptic film where the Australian outdoors looks really beautiful, the characters are well written and the acting is in general really good. I do think the Australian wilderness mathches the story really good, since this is in the middle out ow nowhere so if you get attacked there is no one who can help you. Definetely worth a watch on Netflix if you have not seen Cargo. Speaking of Australia and zombies, early this year a new horror film called We Bury The Dead was released in cinemas workdwide. Sweden didn´t show this film in theatres here, so i decided to pick up a physical blu ray copy from the UK instead. Considering i have always been a fan of post apocalyptic films and zombie films in general, is this film worth to watch or should you rather go and watch Cargo on Netflix instead?

After the United States accidently detonates an experimental weapon of the Eastern coast of Tasmania, the city of Hobart is destroyed, and victims on the island not caught in the immediate blast are rendered brain dead. It seems like some of these undead function in different ways, some of them barely move while others are far more advanced and may attack. The Australian military need all the help they can get, to take care of all the rotting dead bodies they have to move from different locations. American physiotherapist Ava Newman ( Daisy Ridley ), volunteers to help taking care of the dead bodies. Ava is placed on a team with Clay ( Brenton Thwaites ), who go through homes looking for the undead, where some of them might still be alive. Ava´s biggest concern is to find out if her husband Mitch ( Matt Wheland ) is still alive.

To say that We Bury The Dead is a very traditional zombie film would be wrong to say. Sure, there are zombies seen in this film during different locations, but what this film really is trying to say is how we deal with a world that changed. Nothing is what it used to be, and when we need ordinary citizens working to pick up dead bodies everywhere, you know that this is not the society that we were all hoping for. There are no ordinary schools running, no shops running either. It is basically just taking the supplies that you need too survive. Some people don´t even know if their loved ones have survived or have turned into the undead. Which is why our main character Ava is very important, connected to the main plot and the struggling she is going through trying to find her husband. One thing i really appreciate about We Bury The Dead is that they mostly use still standing zombies, not running, just giving us very disturbing eye contact with their dead eyes. Even if some of them move they do this in a creepy way, while we get too see a few faster. Reminded me a bit of director Lucio Fulci´s classic Zombie Flesh Eaters, since this is one of those zombie films where zombies barely move that fast at all. I appreciate that We Bury The Dead tries to go back to that old school format of 1970´s zombie films, it helps this film stand out a little bit in this specific genre, and the practical make up effects of the zombies look great. When it comes to the main character Ava Newman, i personally feel that actress Daisy Ridley ( who you most likely recoginze from the latest Star Wars films as the character Rey ) deliver a solid performance of a woman trying to deal with so many issues. The horror elements works well with the plot, and i have to say the cinematography by Steve Annis looks great. We Bury The Dead is actually a nice surprise in a horror genre that´s been having a difficult time finding interesting stories, this is actually a solid choice if you enjoy movies that includes zombies. Perhaps some dialogue scenes are a bit too long and dull, otherwise i can´t really complain. Director Zak Hilditch ( who directed the solid 2013 Australian post-apocalyptic thriller These Final Hours, worth checking out on physical media ) proves with We Bury The Dead it is still possible to give life to this specific horror genre, and definetely worth picking up if you love physical media just like myself. No speacial features on this UK blu ray release that i got, still worth adding to your horror collection.

Rating: DDD

If you want a special release of We Bury The Dead on a 4KUltraHD release with a blu ray included, you can get a special release of this film from the Australian distribution company Umbrella Entertainment on the following link:

We Bury the Dead (2025) 4K & Blu-ray — Umbrella Entertainment

Trap House

A lot of wrestlers have turned into actors in their wrestling careers. We saw it happen with André The Giant, Hulk Hogan, "Rowdy"  Roddy Piper, Jesse Ventura, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena, Steve Austin and many others. In a way i can understand why this is a great oppurtunity, to continue your career outside the wrestling ring. With the right script, the right character and a story that works well, it is possible to make a film focused on a famous wrestler. Wrestling icon Hulk Hogan definetely proved his acting ability in the 1982 film Rocky III against Sylvester Stallone as legendary character Rocky Balboa. Unfortunately, the films that followed in Hulk Hogan´s career did not really give him any superstar recognition. It was basically in the wrestling ring he could continue his career. I will say though i did enjoy him in the TV movie Shadow Warrior ( also known as Attack On Devil´s Island ) from 1997, together with legendary actor Carl Weathers, martial arts action legend Billy Blanks and actress Shannon Tween. I remember recording this film on VHS while Swedish TV channel TV3 showed this film. Basically i would say that the TV film Shadow Warrior is a very typical macho American action film. Big muscles, big guns and hot chicks all combined. Hulk Hogan plays SEAL team leader Mike McBride with his SEAL partner Roy Brown ( Carl Weathers ) travel to the Bahamas, to lead an assault to an island fort named Devil´s Island. If you just want a very simple action film that reminded you of the action movies of the 80´s, then Shadow Warrior should be what you are looking for. I can´t remember if i ever saw the sequel released in 1998, i just remember the first film honestly. Anyway, wrestler Dave Bautista have made a lot of films over the years of different qualities. His most famous role by now is without as the character Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise. I did enjoy him in the 2013 film Riddick with Vin Diesel as well, and of course in Blade Runner 2049 where he proved he does know how to act. I have to mention i appreciated his performance in the 2021 Netflix horror film Army Of The Dead as the character Scott Ward, he was the right kind of character leading a team of zombie killers. I recently sat down to watch one of his films released last year on Amazon Prime called Trap House, that had very mixed reviews online. Being a fan of Dave and some of his previous film, is this one of his better titles or ir Trap House a hopeless attempt to cash in on his name only?

DEA Agent Ray Seale ( Dave Bautista ) is a single father after losing his wife in cancer, raising his son Cody Seale ( Jack Champion ) as good as he can. When the father of Jesse Padilla ( Blu del Barrio ) is murdered during a DEA operation, the whole family is shattered. They can´t afford to live in their house anymore and DEA won´t help the family with any money. Cody and his friends decide to do a very risky operation to collect money to their friend Jesse and his family. They will steal money from the Mexican drug cartel in trap houses, where they stash money. Their first attempt only manage to steal around 500 U.S. dollars which is far from enough. They decide to do more heists, even though they know they are risking their own lives and others around them.

The first thing that came to my mind after watching Trap House is how 90´s this film feel. It really felt like something that would have been released on VHS back in the day, where you throw different ideas together and mix it all into a blender. Now, i don´t mind if you try to combine two genres as long as you make the film work. And this is where we find one of my issues with Trap House. Because the action scenes with Dave Bautista is actually the best part of the film, in the few scenes where he actually have something to do. It´s the other genre that this film try to combine that does not work with the action scenes. And that is this film is trying to be a High School Musical without the musical numbers, but starring a gang of annoying young people. Why are they annoying? How realistic is it to see these young people survive against a Mexican drug cartel? Not realistic at all and honestly none of these teenagers have any professional weapon training or know how the cartel works. So to let these young people do several big heists against the cartel when we all know they would be killed instantly, this is my main issue with Trap House. If it was a smaller criminal gang doing money laundry or something, that might have worked. But to go up against the Mexican cartel and fix things this easy? To be completely honest this makes this film looks silly. If they would have focused on telling the story with Bautista´s character Ray Seale and his work at the DEA, this would have been a more fun action film. The teenagers could have just showed up in certain scenes, and leave the hard work to the real professionals. Some of the action scenes looks ok, and i do thing the cinematography by Matt Flannery ( who worked as a cinematographer o both The Raid films ) looks good. But that´s about it that i can say that´s positive. If they only would have given Dave Bautista the main character role and just went for an old school action story, Trap House could have been enjoyable. What we are left with is a 90´s inspired action film with family film influences thrown in there. Director Michael Dowse ( who directed the brilliant film It´s All Gone Pete Tomg ) deliver a film that have a few fun moments, but fails to entertain me thanks to the annoying teenagers. It´s not a disaster, but you might as well watch Shadow Warrior with Hulk Hogan and you might be more entertained. Trap House is one of those streaming films that will most likely be forgotten, once you have watched it.

Rating: DD