25 Years Anniversary Review Of Training Day

No matter how many years goes by, some movies manage to age gracefully and you never get tired of them. I could easily mention at least 20 films that you simply have to see, but let´s just talk about certain films that remain just as good as they were during their cinema releases. A perfect example of this is the 1996 black comedy crime thriller Fargo, directed by Joel Cohen. This film have everything you could wish for, brilliant dialogue, brilliant acting and characters that´s so effective on the big screen you will never forget them. This is one of those films that you should own on physical media, especially if you love odd films from the 90´s. There is also a TV series made out of Fargo that´s actually really good as well. My advice is that you should buy the TV series on physical media as well, put it next to the original Fargo movie. Let´s move on and talk about another film that you need to see. We are still sticking to the 90´s and let´s go back to the year of 1995 to a film that was actually a box office flop, but has since then become a cult classic for people who appreciate similar films to Quentin Tarantino. I am talking about the American crime drama film Things To Do In Denver When You´re Dead, directed by Gary Fleder ( who also directed the great Michael Douglas thriller Don´t Say A Word, worth checking out ). What made the film Things To Do In Denver When You´re Dead such a unique film was the characters of this film. It is not often you see perfect casting as you did in this specific film. You have really good performances from actors such as Andy Garcia, Christopher Walken, William Forsythe, Christopher Lloyd, Bill Nun and...one of my favourite acting performances ever from Treat Williams as the crazy Bill Dolittle. The editing is so smooth, the dialogue matches perfect with each character, you simply have to see this film on physical media as well. I was recently going through a list of films released in the year of 2001, because there were some really good films released that specific year. I decided to do a 25 years anniversary review of one of the titles on this list and i picked a personal favourite of mine. It is the 2001 crime thriller film known as Training Day. I watched this film in cinema back in the day and at that time it was one of my favourite films of the entire year. I decided to rewatch the film on the DVD copy i still own ( bought in back in 2002 ). Is this film just as good as i remember it to be or have this film aged and lost some of it´s powerful impact along the way?

Jake Hoyt ( Ethan Hawke ), a young, ambitious LAPD officer, is assigned to work with Detective Alonzo Harris ( Denzel Washington ), a highly decorated narcotics officer for a one-day evaluation to determine if Jake will be invited to join his narcotics squad, Driving around the city in Alonzo´s Monte Carlo, Jake is about to experience the roughest day in his entire life.....

One of the biggest reasons why Training Day turned out to be so unique in the category of cop thrillers, is the potrait of the character known as Detective Alonzo Harris. Not only is he corrupted, he doesn´t care about following law and order in any way at all. This is of course a journey to complete disaster, because we all know that if you become completely corrupted you loose all credibity working for the police. Denzel Washington ( who actually won an Academy award for this role, which he definetely deserved ) as Detective Alonzo show you as an actor, how you really go all in for your character, you don´t see acting on such a powerful level that often. I love a lot of Denzel Washington acting performances in his career, but this might be one of his best acting performances ever. The way he portait this asshole Alonzo, how he manage to capture his selfish, macho image combined with his evil personality, this is what real acting is all about. I have to mention actor Ethan Hawk as well as Alonzo´s new partner Officer Jake. Ethan have always been a really good actor, and he proves his acting skills in this film very clearly by capturing the personality of a unsecure police officer just trying to follow orders. Their scenes together is delightful to witness, because you could not see two more different characters than this sitting insisde a car together. Of course you can tell Officer Jake want´s to be a good cop in society and follow the law, which is very difficult when you are out on the streets with Alonzo. Training Day capture very realistically how chaotic society can be, especially if you cause too much damage with criminals. When you sell your soul completely just to make money, and don´t care if you will end up dead in a body bag. What director Antoine Fuqua manage to do with Training Day is show two completely different sides of the police force, where you have honest people trying to do right while some can be bought for the right price. It shouldn´t be like this of course, but corruption have always been around in society and will never go away. Training Day is a very effective, smooth, yet pretty violent action thriller that looks really good, have many strong dialogue scenes and powerful acting included. Training Day is a future classic that should be in your physical movie collection.

Rating: DDDD

45 Years Anniversary Review Of The Burning

I can still remember in late November back in 1992 when i was walking downtown of my home city Uddevalla. Back then we had 2 different cinemas in our city, we had the major cinema called Saga Biografen and we had a smaller one that was located quite far away of the street known as Drottninggatan. Why i remember late November of 1992 specifically was because of the latest cinema release of legendary actor Rutger Hauer´s latest film Split Second. The cinema poster was the most coolest poster i had seen in a long time, and since i had seen a lot of his classics such as Blade Runner, Flesh & Blood, The Hitcher, Wanter Dead Or Alive, Blind Fury and many other titles on VHS, of course i was excited about this film. Especially when i found out Split Second is a futuristic sci fi action horror film combined, set in London in the future. I did not see the film in cinema, even if i wanted to see it on the big screen it just never happened. But i did buy the VHS release and it did turn out to be a great film. Directed by Tony Maylam, Rutger Hauer plays Detective Harley Stone, a man filled with personal struggles and addicted to coffee. He is on the hunt all over London after a serial killer, who leaves pentagram markings on dead bodies. This is no odinary serial killer though, this seems to be a serial killer that is not human. Split Second is not only a cool action film, the horror elements with the monster works as well And i have tto say the costume design of the monster looks great ( considering the budget this film had ). Worth picking ip on physical media. Speaking of director Tony Maylam, many years after i watched the film Split Second i discovered that Tony also directed the 1981 slasher horror classic knoan as The Burning. A film i first saw back in 2002 on a UK full uncut version dvd release. I don´t have that dvd release in my movie collection ( a former working collegue kept it, without permission, he just borrowed it to watch it and never returned it ), but that´s ok because i have the film on a even better blu ray release. Since this film turned 45 years old this year i decided to check out my blu ray copy and do a annivversay review. Is this still a great slasher horror film, or have this film aged a lot over the years and lost some of it´s charm?

An evil summer camp caretaker known as Cropsy ( Lou David ), working at a summer camp known as Camp Blackfoot is accidently severly burned from a prank gone horribly wrong. 5 years have passed since this happended, it´s another summer camp filled with teenagers and children, where everyone tries to fit in and join the summer activities. And it seems that Cropsy is still alive, ready to kill anyone who gets in his way.... 

While the 1980´s was filled with horror slasher movies and a lot of films were similar to Friday The 13th, i would still say that The Burning stood out a little bit from some of the horror films in this category. The fact that this is supposedly a man who was burned inside alive, barely made it and now revenge those who hurt him. that´s still different from Jason Voorhees as an example. I think this was a good choice considering you want the character to be remembered, to be able to make the film feel more effective. Especially if we are talking about a slasher horror film, since in this category we have a lot of forgettable killers that don´t really stand out. The best part of The Burning ( outside of some fun characters ) is actually the brutal killing scenes by practical make up artist legend Tom Savini. Even if these kills are not his best work in his horror career, i think they still look good considering this is such an early film in the 1980´s. There are several really bloody scenes that look quite good, and this is exactly what you want in a film such as this. The mask of the killer may look cheesy today, but i still like the design by make up artist Tom Savini. it has a very 80´s feeling to the design which i find delightful. The acting is actually not bad for a B movie horror film such as this, i have seen some terrible acting in many slasher horror films of the 1980´s, and The Burning actually have some descent acting performances. I especially like the acting performances by Brian Matthews and actress Leah Ayres ( who would later in the 80´s be in the Jean-Claude Van Damme classic Bloodsport ). It´s fun to see Seinfield actor Jason Alexander in a very early acting role, he is quite charming in this film. Anything negative to say? I could probably dive into some smaller issues, but why bother when The Burning is a beloved classic slasher horror film by fans worldwide. I do think this film looks pretty good considering the budget, and director Tony Maylam use the locations quite effectively to the slasher horror story. I still think Split Second is the best film director Tony Maylam made, but in second place i feel that The Burning have a worthy position there. Definetely wirth a watch if you just want a cheesy fun slasher horror film from the 1980´s.

Rating: DDD

If you want a really nice blu ray version of The Burning and live in Scandinavia, you should pick up your physical copy of The Burning here from the official store of Filmvalvet in the following link:

The Burning – Filmvalvet - Studio S & Friends

If you live in Europe and want a Region 2 blu ray of The Burning with great special features, get your physical copy right here on the follow link from Arrow Video:

The Burning Dual Format Blu-ray - Arrow Films UK

45 Years Anniversary Review Of Raiders Of The Lost Ark

For some young people in modern day society, they may not realise how important cinemas was for my generation back in the 80´s. To watch the latest Hollywood movies on the big screen was such a delightful moment, because there were some incredible movies made during the 1980´s. Just think about this for a moment, we had Escape From New York, The Howling, An American Werewold In London, The Thing, Blade Runner, Gremlins, The Goonies, Witness, The Hitcher, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and so many more titles during this time period. Not only did the 80´s have so many wonderful cinema releases, but the cinema posters back then looked much cooler than what modern cinema posters looks like in 2026. Just look at legendary director John Carpenter´s 1982 sci fi horror film The Thing, that movie poster designed by artist Drew Strutzan. It´s really well designed, very futuristic and still feels very 80´s in some ways with the blend of colors. This is actually one of my personal favourite John Carpenter films, and i can not tell you how many times i have watched it. Considering this film came out in 1982, this film have some brilliant practical make up effects by  artist Rob Bottin, alongside Stan Winston. Of course the acting performances in this film is brilliant as well, and for a sci fi horror story i think it´s very effective. I highly reccomend getting The Thing on a blu ray released from the distribution company known as Arrow Video. Since we are talking about Hollywood movies of the 1980´s, we have to mention legendary director Steven Spielberg. Back in 1975 he shocked the world with Jaws, and now into the 80´s he kept making cinema magic such as E.T. the ExtraTerrestrial and The Color Purple. But it was especially one character that would really bring cinema magic into the 1980´s, and that was Indiana Jones played by Harrison Ford. Steven Spielberg released 3 Indiana Jones movies in the 80´s and they were really loved by critics and fans. Indiana Jones is still to this day one of the most beloved cinema characters of all time, by many generations of cinema visitors. Since the first film Raiders Of The Lost Ark turned 45 years old in 2026, i thought it would be nice to revisit the first film with a anniversary review. Is this adventure film a worthy classic 45 years later, or have this film aged a lot over so many years?

In 1936, American archeologist Indiana Jones ( Harrison Ford ) recovers a Golden Idol from a booby-trapped Peruvian temple. Rival archeologist René Belloq ( Paul Freeman ) corners him and steal the Golden Idol. Jones escapes in a waiting float plane. After returning to the United States, Jones is briefed by two Army Intelligence agents that Nazi German forces are excavating at Tanis, Egypt, and one of their telegrams mention Jone´s former mentor Abner Ravenwood. It seems that the Nazis are seeking the Ark of the Convenant, which Adolf Hitler believe will render their army invicible. The agents recruit Dr. Jones to recover the Ark.

One of the things i always felt that legendary director Steven Spielberg managed to do in the Indiana Jones films, was to make real old school adventure films that felt like a throwback to cinema classics such as the 1954 film Secret Of The Incas, from director Jerry Hopper. I can´t say for sure but it is possible that director Steven Spielberg were inspired by films such as Secret Of The Incas, where legendary actor Charlot Heston played the hero character Harry Steele. If you have seen that film you can clearly see some details that might clearly be an inspiration for the character Indiana Jones. If you can get the Imprint blu ray release of Secret Of The Incas, it´s worth picking up if you want to see a classic. Lead actor Harrison Ford as the most iconic archeologist Indiana Jones in cinema history, have such a great combination of charm, his strength and flaws combined with slick dialogue. No one could play this character better than Harrison Ford, and in Raiders Of The Lost Ark he really proved how he managed to make this character such an icon for adventure movies. We will get into the other characters in a while, but i have to say i love how beautiful this film is with the set designs, the bright colors that captures the historical look of the 1930´s in Egypt. The action scenes in this film looks absolutely brilliant, and the adventure scenes are so well crafted it is very difficult not to be impressed how well designed they are with everything from stunts, to more physical violence. Speaking of the stunts, there are some really impressive action stunts made in certain scenes of this film. Legendary composer John William´s brilliant score for Indiana Jones is one of the greatest movie scores ever made. It really capture the essence of the character and the epic adventure combined. Regarding characters, we have actress Karen Allen portraying Marion, who does a wonderful performance. Paul Freeman as the Nazi character René Belloq is a perfect match for this character, one of the most unforgettable cinema villains of all time. Director Steven Spielberg manage to bring this adventure movie to life with a lot of nostalgic tools, where he knows exactly what the main character needs to capture the hearts of the audience. Raiders Of The Lost Ark is without a doubt one of the greatest adventure movies ever made, and will forever be one of the greatest cinema classics of legendary actor Harrison Ford. This is a must own in your physical ( or digital ) movie collection, a film you can rewatch and never get tired of. Raiders Of The Lost Ark is one of those 1980´s theatre releases that will never age, it will always be a true cinema classic.

Rating: DDDD

A Summer Vacation Break In August

Greetings everuone!

Thank you so far this year for making this my most popular year so far, the numbers of readers have increased a lot since early 2026 so i am forever grateful. As much as i appreciate my readers worldwide, i am going on vacation in August and i will not be writing anything during that time. I may not write as many reviews in August as i usually do, but there will be a couple at least when im back home. Until then you have plenty of reviews to read, in case you have not had an oppurtunity to read reviews published this year so far. If i have to give you a recommendation to watch this summer, i would tell you to watch They Will Kill You on streaming service MAX, finally a really violent, fun action horror film in my taste.

I personally think that i have managed to mix up quite a lot of different reviews this year so far, in different categories and interesting stories. Of course we did have terrible films such as Deadly Little Mermaid, and the Amazon Prime documentary film Melania ( which i did write a review each on this blog ), that´s just life sometimes, you can´t always experience quality films. Anyway, i hope you all will enjoy the rest of the summer, have lots of lovely lunches in the wonderful weather. I really hope you will watch a couple of movies during summer that actually entertained you. Take care everyone and hopefully you all enjoy my final reviews in July.

Cheers from Daniel

The Mortuary Assistant

Some people are afraid to see a dead person, i am personally not afraid of that. Since i have worked now for 27 years in health care, i have seen people die, i have seen dead people in different situations. When ever i meet someone dead i show the same amount of respect as anyone, i feel that we should respect each person who passed away and let them rest in peace. Death is a natural way of life we all will face at some point, no matter how it happens or where we may die, we will all face death when our time has come to leave this Earth. I find it very interesting how many different cultures respect the dead, for example in Maya death traditions encompas a rich, complex set of beliefs and practices centered around the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The ancient Maya people believed that death was not an end but a sacred transition to another realm. I would love to visit some Maya temples in the future and learn about their traditions, and their fascinating history as well. Speaking of death and being close to someone dead, we have a lot of horror films that touch on the subject of taking care of dead bodies. One of my personal favourite horror films regarding death and respecting the dead is the 2016 horror film The Autopsy Of Jane Doe, directed by André Overdal ( director of the 2010 Norwegian cult film Trollhunter ). Even 10 years later this is still a horror film i watch almost every year, that is how much i love The Autopsy Of Jane Doe. This film takes place at the local morgue in Graham County, Virginia. Here we find father Tommy Tilden ( Brian Cox ), and his son Austin Tilden ( Emile Hirsch ). They help the law enforcement by doing autopsys and finding out the cause of death, no matter what shape the body is in. When they are supposed to close for the night, they get an unexpected corpse brought to them that wasn´t even planned on scheduele for the day. This seems to be a adult woman who died under msterious circumstances. As the abuduction of the body begins, both Tommy and Austin begin to raise questions about this body. Something doesn´t seem right when they find certain details inside her body. The Autopsy Of Jane Doe is really well made, includes strong acting performances and the horror elements are really strong in this film. The best film so far from director André Overdal. Speaking of the morgue and dead people, i sat down to watch a horror film called The Mortuary Assistant that looked interesting. One difference between The Autopsy Of Jane Doe and The Mortuary Assistant is that both films takes place in two completely different working locations, there are some big differences between a morgue and a mortuary. But in both films you work with dead people, which is an interesting subject for a horror film. Is this a solid summer film to enjoy this summer, or should you skip this one and just watch The Autopsy Of Jane Doe?

Rebecca Owens ( Willa Holland ) is learning her job as a mortuary assistant, being educated by her boss, Raymond Delver ). So far she have done a great job and Raymond seems to feel hope in her working at this mortuary. Rebecca have been sober a year from alcohol addiction, she is trying to focus on doing her best and focus on her future. Raymond call her to come in one night to the mortuary, to work late instead of just daytime to prepare new corpses before they will be burned. During her night shift a lot of strange things seems to be happening at this mortuary, where Rebecca seems to be confused about what is real, and what is just an illusion.

I feel divided about The Mortuary Assistant, simply because i feel there are certain scenes that should probably have been changed and focused more on the work of a mortuary assistant. I guess you could say that there are some similar ideas to The Autopsy Of Jane Doe in this film, except for the witch influences and a religious undertone. As long as we see the bodies being worked on by mortuary assistant character Rebecca, this is where the film works best at the autopsy table. This is where you can actaully feel some solid horror influences in the air, no matter if it´s a body moving or Rebecca begin to hear certain vioces. Simple details such as this can actually make horror scenes work surprisingly well, as long as you use these tools effectively. Where i feel this film get a little bit lost is the scenes where we see Rebecca feeling confused about her memory, if this have something to do with her addiction past. The idea itself is not bad at all, i just don´t feel that this part of the film works as well as i was hoping it would do. And this is not to put any blame on lead actress Willa Holland, her performance is good and i do think she does a great job with her performance in general. I think this is more an issue from the writers of this script, or if this was something they decided to add into the script to make the character feel more personal. On a positive not i do think The Mortuary Assistant have enough good ideas and manage to create a horror film that´s quite good, i especially appreciate the mortuary location and the atmopshere of dead people. I like the screen chemistry between actors Willa Holland and Paul Sparks, where they bring some interesting dialogue regarding the work at a mortuary. In general i would say that The Mortuary Assistant is a good horror film, i just wished they could have made some smaller changes and this might have been even better. This is still a horror film that director Jeremiah Kipp ( who directed the 2021 horror film Slapface, definetely worth a watch ) manage to construct effectively enough, and i would recommend this film if you enjoyed The Autopsy Of Jane Doe. Who ever said dead people have to be boring? The Mortuary Assistant proves that dead people need to have a good time as well, i can´t blame them at all.

Rating: DDD

Do Not Enter

Im a part of the generation that was young when internet was just about to break through worldwide. I must have been around 16 years old in 1993 when i first saw you could web search. That was a big thing, being able to search for different things on the web. I remember just one year later in 1994 the premiere for Aftonbladet, the biggest Swedish newspaper that went online as well. This was a huge success for Aftonbladet, because you could read newspaper articles online instead of buying a physical newspaper. They also started Aftonbladet Chat, i would sit there talking to people all over Sweden and that was so much fun. You could actually connect with other people in the entire country. Since the internet have grown all across the world through social media, we are able to talk to anyone across the planet. It is amazing how you can connect with someone no matter where you are located, on a boat, inside a car, even up on a mountain while you are climbing there. Social media users have also found a way to make a profit through platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, so called Influencers. I wouldn´t personally fit to be perfectly honest, you have to have a certain kind of charatcer to be a social media personality i believe. I could probably sell my farts to fetish people online inside a jar ( easy money i would say ), but that´s about it. Speaking of influencers, i did enjoy the found footage horror film Deadstream from director  Joseph Winters and Vanessa Winter. This is an interesting found footage horror film, because it is filmed like a vlogger video, of a vlogger influencer called Shawn Ruddy ( played by director Joseph Winters ) who is spending a night in a haunted house. Nothing original about this, but the film is well made and actually works surprisngly good as a horror comedy. I appreciated the practical make up effects, and the acting in general is alright. Deadstream is worth a watch on streaming or physical media. Speaking of social media and influencers, there have been a lot of horror films over the years that are inspired by influencers. One of the horror films that seemed to be inspired by influencers and actually looked interesting, is a horror film known as Do Not Enter. Ever since i watched the trailer i felt curious about this film, if it actually would be better than most people expected. I finally got a chance to sit down to watch Do Not Enter on VOD. Is this one of the horror films you have to watch this summer, or should you skip this one and watch Deadstream instead?

A group of influences known as The Creepers are trying to break out big on social media, making daring videos that are borth risky and dangerous. The numbers are not looking that good at all so they need to change their plans, find something that will definetely make their channel grow. One of the team members suggest they should visit a haunted hotel known as The Paragan, where it is said in the late 1970´s a lot of money was hidden, somewhere around 300 million U.S. dollars. The idea is to make videos about their journey inside the hotel. They are about to find out, some things are meant to be left alone for a good reason.

While Deadstream actually worked thanks to a good influencer idea, and managed to function as a found footage horror as well, Do Not Enter tries to be both a traditional jump scare horror film, while trying to touch the influencer surface as well. They so called YouTube channel that this film is supposed to be showing, i have to say that it looks really terrible. The so called videos that they make for the most part doesn´t really feel effective, or fun either. I mean if you are supposed to capture a young audience for social media, shouldn´t you make the videos look as cool as possible? Or make sure you have something entertaining to offer your viewers? I could be wrong i suppose, im just trying to view this film from a younger mind´s perspective looking at these influencers. There is an interesting story regarding this old abandoned hotel, and i really wished they could have given us more throwback memories of what relly happened here. We get a little bit of information, but very little interesting details that might have helped the plot become more fascinating. I don´t really have a problem that this is supposed to be a more modern take on horror films, i just feel that the influencer characters are not fully developed and feel very blend. I swear you will not remember any of these characters once you have seen Do Not Enter. I would probably say that between the characters i can probably accept the one known as Todd, played by actor Nicholas Hamilton ( perhaps known mostly from the 2017 horror film IT ). His character Todd reminded me a little bit of the character Evil Ed from the 1985 horror film Fright Night, a similar wacky character with a crazy laugh. At least Todd gives this film some charming scenes, which we definetely needed. What about the horror scenes? The best part is the strange thin mysterical creature, that´s lurking around the old hotel. I have seen better monster designs than this, but at least the creature does have an interesting look. Other than this i would say that the horror elements feel pretty weak in several scenes. Not much creativity in any scary scenes, or using the creature in a effective way. It´s almost as if they thought just showing the creature would be enough and don´t put much more effort into it. I am honestly disappointed in Do Not Enter, because i was actually looking forward to this film. With a stronger story developed surrounding this old hotel, and more effective horror scenes this could have been a recommendation. This film is just too dull to care about honestly, and director Marc Klasfeld should stay away from making boring influencer films such as this.

Rating: DD

Mortal Kombat II

Some of you may not know about this, but around the beginning of 1989 i started training Judo in my hometown Uddevalla. It was around late 1990 when i was 13 years old i did my final year training Judo and i had a yellow Judo belt at that time. I was supposed to go for the orange belt, that was the plan at least. But that´s when i decided go fully invested into my local tennis club instead, who i stayed with quite many years. So i never took the orange belt and dropped out of Judo completely. I did meet my Judo trainer sometimes dowtown, who tried to convince me to come back. But at that time i felt more interested training tennis, and nothing would change my mind honestly. During the 90´s i toured across Sweden with our local tennis team, and even if we won a few matches we did loose some big matches as well. I am forever grateful though for the short period of time i did train Judo, and i still have some good memories from that time period. During the 90´s i did watch my good school friend Björn in karate matches, since they would allow a smaller amount of people as an audience. This was actually quite fun because karate is different from Judo, physically and mentally different. In 1995 both me and Björn were really excited because a film adaptation of the extremely popular video game Mortal Kombat was released in cinemas. Of course we were at the premiere weekend, where Björn actually dressed up in his karate clothes to the cinema. I still love this film still today, Mortal Kombat from 1995 is a really fun martial arts film with great performances, some really cool fighting sequences and a good sense of humour. Let´s not even talk about Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. After a lot of successfull Mortal Kombat games over the years we did get a new updated film adaptation of Mortal Kombat in 2021. A film i did enjoy and i can still recommend. So here we are with the official sequel to the 2021 film, where we see both actors from the previous film plus Karl Urban joining the cast as Johnny Cage. Is this latest Mortal Kombat film the best martial art film of this year or should they stop making sequels completely?

Emperor Shao Kahn ( Martyn Ford ) kills King Jerrod ( Desmond Chiam ) in Mortal Kombat, taking over Edenia in the name of Outworld as well as Queen Sindel ( Ana Thu Nguyen ) and young Princess Kitana ( Sophia Xu ) as his consort and daughter, respectively. Twenty years later, a nre Mortal Kombat tournament is on the horizon. Back in Earthrealm, Lord Raiden ( Tadanobu Asano ) and Sonya Blade ( Jessica McNamee ) visit Hollywood action star Johnny Cage ( Karl Urban ), who seems to be struggling with his past. He tries to stay relevant in a modern world without any bigger success. This visit however from Lord Raiden and Sonya give him an oppurtunity to take his dignity back, by fighting in the Mortal Kombat tournament. At first he is having doubts taking them seriously, until he accept the offer and get a chance to proof his skills.

I have a feeling this latest Mortal Kombat sequel will divide fans of the classic video games, including fans of the more modern Mortal Kombat games as well. One of the issues that some fans had since the 2021 film adaptation was that there was no tournament there. In this film we get an actual torunament, just like we did in the 1995 live adapation film of Mortal Kombat. And i have to say, i actually think this sequel manage to capture the look, and a pretty good character development of several of the iconic fighters of the video game. Let´s talk about the look of this torunament for a while, we see different fights at different locations and in some fights it really looks similar to the fighting locations. I think details such as this is very important to take notice of, when you know that fans of the video games remember a lot of important details. For example when Shao Khan ( Martyn Ford ) fight down in the most demonic sewer i have seen, it looks pretty similar to how it looked like in the video games. Speaking of characters, actor Karl Urban as Johnny Cage was a great casting choice. He is a bitter, former action star of the 90´s and Karl Urban manage to capture that personality in Johnny Cage. Best performance comes from he real funny character known as Kano, played by actor Josh Lawson ( who fans of TV series House Of Lies will recognize ) deliver some really funny dialogue in this film. His scenes together with Karl Urban was actually more entertaining than i expected. I like the character of Baraka ( CJ Blomfield ) and especially his fight scene against Johnny Cage. The fighting scenes in general looks alright, some scenes are more effective than others and i appreciate the gory violence. I do think this film capture the fighting skills of several well known fighters as well as their physical look. The fact that they play the theme song from the original film towards the end, this was something i really appreciated. You get a nostalgic feeling while it also feels like they pay tribute to the 90´s. Any flaws with this film? It is very difficult defeating the original film from 1995 and Mortal Kombat II is not as good as that specific film. I will say though i found myself having a good time with this sequel, director Simon McQuid return with another Mortal Kombat film that is pure popcorn entertainment, that will surely please martial arts film fans, and fans of the video games as well. I feel like having a fight right now down in the demonic sewer, anyone up for the challenge?

Rating: DDD

Immortal Combat

Martial art action films used to be a must watch for me in the 90´s. I saw so many VHS films of different martial arts inspired films, some were pretty much action movies while other ones were more focused on fighting. There are so many classic films i could easily mention that would never be done today ( the world have changed, we can´t have macho male action scenes too often because someone might be offended ). You see back in the 90´s you could see big muscular men fighting saying terrible dialogue that would be seen vulgar in today´s society, especially talking about issues that matters to men. Im glad though i can still watch these wonderful martial arts films and just have a good time. Plot? Acting? Who needs that if you have big muscles and round kicks. There are several 90´s classics i can mention so lets just bring up one of the films you should check out. You should watch the 1992 martial arts action film American Samurai from 1992, directed by legendary director Sam Firstenberg that stars action legends David Bradley and Mark Dacascos. What made this film especially fun to watch was the so called illegal gladiator fighting matches underground, taking place in Istanbul, Turkey. The best part of this film is the underground fights themselves between different fighters. My favourite match is between the characters Haing Yi ( Dion Lam ), and Phan-Xu ( Antony Szeto ). I also love the fight between Phan-Xu and Mark Dacascos character Kenjiro Sanga. David Bradley proved himself once more why he was such a great maretial arts action actor as his character Andrew "Drew" Collins. The director Sam Firstenberg wasn´t happy with the theatrical version, so he finally released his Director´s Cut on his official Youtube channel, you can watch the film on the following link:

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I personally prefer the director´s cut since a couple of scenes were emoved that did not need to be there, and he added some other scenes instead where the plot is more focused on the arena fights. Definetely worth a watch if you enjoy martial art films from the 90´s. Fun fact, this was one of the final films produced by the legendary distribution company Cannon Pictures before they stopped releasing films. Speaking about martial arts. legendary low budget distribution company The Asylum had to get along the train of the Mortal Kombat II release, so they made a low budget film called Immortal Combat. Of course i had to watch this film, not just becuase i enjoy some of the films that The Asylum release, simply because i want to see them make a martial arts inspired film. Is this a must watch this summer or will Immortal Combat be one of the films that will quickly be forgotten, once you have watched it?

In a distant future, a group of historical warriors from history books such as Joan of Arc ( Eva Fournier ), Boudica ( Mila Orion ), Ghengis Khan ( Charlit Dae ), Cleopatra ( Roxanne G.C. Brooks ), Atilla The Hun ( Sasha Di Capri and many other warriors, havet travelled through a portal of time. They have been chosen to fight in a tournament gladiator game known as Crinsom Havoc, where only one can survive the whole tournament.

Let me begin by saying i like the concept of this film. Historical legendary personalities being sent into the future to fight each other, i do think this is a fun idea itself if you can make it work. So there are details i appreciate about the concept of Immortal Combat, but we have some real big issues here as well. First of all, why do they use several big scenes with so much AI? The Asylum used to make fun terrible CGI effects that may have looked terrible, but at least i had a good time with several films. I rather have terrible CGI effects instead of flat, dull AI scenes that doesn´t add any qualities to the film. If you are making a tournament battle/ fighting film, why not focus on the fight battle scenes using real people, even if you have to add certain CGI moments. For me personally the charm is lost when AI effects are brought in, it doesn´t leave the same impact if im being completely honest. Truthfully i will say that low budget CGI effects looks better than any AI effects, and that is my personal opinion. Some of the so called fight scenes are not well choeographed. They look pretty lame to me, as if they did not put much effort into the fighting scenes. This is supposed to be a fighting tournament, shouldn´t you try at least making the fighting scenes look cool at least, to please the martial arts action audience? So to the positive for a short while, i do think the costume design is pretty cool on certain characters. I know this film have a very limited budget so they have to use whatever they can, and i can accept that you have to be creative with what you have. The acting is not always as terrible as you might think, for being a film produced by The Asylum. Actress Dominique Swain ( who i reviewed in her TV film Seclusion, you can find the review in this blog ) as the character Aria is actually a charming character in this film. With attitude and a bitchy approach, and it matches the character personality quite well. Actor Samuel Selman does a wonderful over the top acting performance as warrior Shaka Zulu, which doesn´t mean he acts good, yet he is the most entertaining character of Immortal Combat . I have a feeling Immortal Combat will not be on the list of memorable The Asylum films, there are some fun parts but too many flaws can be found. Director Monroe Robertson ( director of Planetquake, a terrible yet fun watch if you like bad movies ) have a good idea behind Immortal Combat, but should have made this film more focused on the combat scenes instead of using AI effects. Not a film most people will remember, i suggest watch the director´s cut of American Samurai instead.

Rating: DD

The Yeti

If you ever talk to some American people ( i have met some during my travelling years around Europe ), there is a possibility you will hear that some of them believe that Bigfoot really exists. For example on one of my journeys to The Netherlands, Amsterdam i met an American couple from Idaho who was there backpacking together. They told me that they have been out at Kaniksu National Forest, they were looking around there because apparently some people have seen Bigfoot there including themselves. When i hear something like that im not really convinced, and i told them i was skeptical about their claims that Bigfoot was actually seen there. Both of them were sure that they thought they might have seen Bigfoot from a long distance. Now, i was still respectful and listened to what they had to say, because i still wanted to listen to their story. I didn´t see them more than that day, but i will say that they were nice to talk to. Regarding Bigfoot ( or in some folklore stories also known as Yeti ), we have a lot of different horror films that brings up the subject of Bigfoot, or in some cases the Yeti. I have seen several films over the years and i remembered an interesting title called The Sighting from directors Adam Pitman and David Blair. The film starts off like a foud footage horror film, but later becomes a psychological horror film instead. And there is also a story that seems connected to Bigfoot, while there might be a different twist in there. I think what makes The Sighting worth a watch is the special twist, when you might think this is just a traditional Bigfoot film and it´s actually not. Lead actors Adam Pitman and Nathaniel Peterson both give surprisngly good performances, considering this is a low budget film. I do recommend you checking The Sighting out if you want to see a different kind of Bigfoot film, and if you live in Europe you can get the German DVD or blu ray release cheap these days. Speaking of the Yeti that i mentioned earlier, i had seen a trailer of a horror film called The Yeti. The trailer did caught my attention because this really looked like a horror story, inspired by similar films like classics such as Indiana Jones.  With a combination like this i just had to give this film a chance. is this a must watch this summer, or should you pick up a physical copy of the 2016 horror film The Sighting instead?

When two people named Merrel Sunday Sr. ( Corbin Bensen ) and Hollis Bannister ( William Sadler ) vanished in Alaska,  Merrel Jr ( Eric Nielsen ) and Ellie Banister ( Brittany Allen ) set up an expidition team, to seach for the missing men. But during this expedition they come across a beast, like no other creature they have ever seen before.

While the film The Sighting was a different kind of Sasquatch inspired film, The Yeti definetely feels more like a throwack to old school monster movies of the 1950´s. The fact that this expidition looks like something out of an Indiana Jones film, while looking for The Yeti is a great idea for a film. Because we don´t see these kind of old school expiditions on the big screen these days, at least not like we used to in the 1980´s. I also like the fact that this film tries to capture the feeling of an expidition team, where each character have knowlegde in different areas such as chemicals, science, medicine or happen to be good at handling weapons. Because we don´t want too many people to look similar, each character is supposed to bring something different to the table. Since there are quite a lot of characters in this expidition, let me mention a few of my personal favourites. Lead character Ellie Bannister ( played by actress Brittany Allen, who you might recognize from TV series Dexter: Original Sin ), she feels like a family member of Indiana Jones. She may not have the whip but she is clearly passionate about history, and folklore stories as well. Actor Linc Hand ( who you might recognize from the TV series Revenge ), plays the half masked character Leander Coates. This was the right kind of character for an expidition like this, with confidence in himself and always locked in on survival mode. I do think the half mask adds something different to his personality as well. Legendary actor Corbin Bensen as the character Merrel Sunday Sr. was nice to see here, i wish he had a bigger role though. Lets´dig into other positive details, we do get some brutal practical make up effects which looks pretty good. I enjoy the mystery sourrounding the Yeti, where you hear the beast more than physically see it. I think this works pretty good, makes the atmosphere feel a little bit more creepy when you barely see the creature, until the end of the film when we see the actual beast. I like the creature design, which reminds me of old school monster films. I guess if i have to mention something negative, that is probably that some of the characters in this expidition don´t feel that interesting. They do a little bit of screen time and don´t have much else to offer. Overall, as an old school creature feature horror film i still had a good time with The Yeti. Directors Gene Gallerano and William Piscotta deliver a horror film that´s actually a good choice this summer, if you want to experience something similar to VHS horror of the 80´s.

Rating: DDD

Karen: The Beauty Queen Butcher

AI is apparently something we will have to live with in the future. And as long as it´s used for a good purpose i can imagine there are some positive ideas where AI might be useful. For example from what i understand there are especially in some areas where AI might be helpful in health care, for example help discovering rare diseases that we usually might not discover that quickly. This is something that Harvard Medical School have confirmed as they have looked into using AI in health care treatments. If we can find ways to discover rare diseases, of course i think we should use these tools. This could save human lives before the disease might have spread too far. When it comes to using AI in movies i am a bit more skeptical, and i have ever since i watched the 2024 drama film known as Here. Directed by legendary director Robert Zemeckis ( director of classics such as Romancing The Stone, Back To The Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forest Gump among other titles ), this film tell the story about different generations of families, through different time periods in human history. Now, i have been a big fan of Robert Zemeckis films of the past ( especially the Back To The Future franchise and his classic Forrest Gump of course ), but the amount of AI effects he uses in the film Here is just too much for me personally. I was actually looking forward seeing him work together with Tom Hanks again, but truthfully the AI version of Tom Hanks does not look good. And how they used AI in other details as well, i honestly don´t understand why when they could have used a real set instead of using AI. I get it, they want to try using a different method in making a film, so why not use old school CGI instead? Either way, i can´t say Home is a completely terrible film, but i cant´recommend it compared to other films of director Robert Zemeckis. Speaking of AI, i was given an opportunity to watch a screener of the independent film Karen: The Beauty Queen Butcher. I only read a little bit about this film before watching it, just to get a picture of what kind of film this could be. Is this a must watch this summer, or is Karen: The Beauty Queen Butcher a film that will most likely dust on a DVD shelf?

Karen Mangione ( Jasmine Flores ) is unhappily married to her husband Ted ( Scott Bulger ). To try and find some kind of happiness, Karen joins different beauty pageant competitions hoping to win the title. But when things are not going the way she was hoping for, she have no other option but to kill other women who is standing in her way. Only she deserves to win the title.

I completely understand if you as a independent film maker want to use different methods to make your movie, while it may help you to save some money as well ( practical make up effects do cost money, depending on how gory the scenes are that needs to be included ). I understand if you want to experiment with the technology of AI in a film, just to see if it really works. My biggest issue though with this film Karen: The Beauty Queen Butcher, is that they use a lot of AI effects in this film. Anyone who knows me personally they know im a huge fan of independent horror films, and i really love old school practical make up effects. I can accept a smaller amount of CGI as long as it looks ok. I just have to ask myself;. Why use this much AI effects in this film? Did they think it would look just as cool as practical make up effects? Or perhaps the director loves AI technology and if he does that´s perfectly fine, i have no issues with that. For me personally this affect how i look at this film. What could have been a fun slasher horror film becomes too over the top with AI killer scenes, when practical killing effects would have been more effective. The AI scenes may be very brutal, but if they would have been done with practical make up effects, that would have left a stronger impact. Even the photographers running scenes are AI generated, why? The best part of this film is actually the police investigation by Detective Harry ( Philip Green ), and Detective Louis ( John Fiduccia ). Their dialogue scenes are actually a pleasant surprise, i like their chemistry on the big screen. Lead actress Jasmin Flores as Karen Mangione have some entertaining dialogue scenes, where she actually give her character a unique personality. With her bitchy attitude she does become like a true Karen. This film tries to capture the world of beauty pageant competitions, while trying to be a serial killer film as well. I like the idea behind this combination, i just feel like it could have been a stronger presentation than what we are presented with. Detective Harry and Detective Lou definetely made parts of this film work, and im grateful for these gentlemen bringing some delightful scenes. Overall, i would say this film is ok but not much more. Director Zachary Snygg ( the director of the hillarious B movie Beaster Day: Here Comes Peter Cottenhell ) had a good idea for a slasher film, but with all the AI effects i think this film lost some of it´s charm along the way.

Rating: DD

They Will Kill You

I never liked censorship at all, especially when it comes to feature films. I remember clearly back in the late 80´s, early 90´s how much they censored a lot of VHS releases here in Sweden. It got to a point where they censored films so much that they destroyed the film completely. A perfect example of this was director Albert Pyun´s classic sci fi action film Cyborg from 1989. If i remember correctly ( which im quite sure that i do ), the Swedish VHS version of Cyborg was cut at least around 10 minutes becuase of censorship. And you have to remember, this film is around 87 minutes long, so if you cut out 10 minutes from 87 minutes, you are left with 77 minutes of playtime. I did see the censored version and it was so bad. Nothing made any sense, the storyline was messed up, cutting right before the violence made everything confusing. You could not learn about the characters either because so much was cut out. Thankfully, a school friend of mine known as Robert managed to get a uncut VHS copy of Cyborg from the UK. It was like watching a completely different film, the violence was wonderful, some of the characters were fun, and to see action star Jean-Claude Van Damme do his round kicks was just beautiful. So when VHS censorship finally ended around early 1993 in Sweden i was extremely happy. No more censoring films, give me lots of violence, gore, blood and nudity ( hopefully ). Since then i have experienced so many wonderful violent films. And when ever i see a really violent film with extreme violence of course i need to see it. Doesn´t matter if it´s not realistic at all, i just want people´s heads blown to pieces from a shotgun, body parts cut off. One perfect example of this is the 2020 satirical action horror film The Hunt, directed by Craig Zobel ( who also directed the crime drama TV series Mare of Easttown, worth a watch on MAX ). Some of you may not remember this but The Hunt became a bit of a controversial film because of the subject of guns. And yes, this film does lift up the right to arm yourself, but in the context of the film´s plot it actually makes sense. This film is basically a man hunt film where rich people hunt humans for fun, and the ones that are hunted have to survive somehow. A really funny satirical action film where especially female actors, Betty Gilpin and Hillary Swank did really good acting performances. The Hunt is extremely violent, and yet really entertaining of how society could funtion among rich people using others for pleasure ( which is already happening worldwide ). If you have not seen this film, check it out on streaming. Early this year i was hearing some really positive reviews about a film called They Will Kill You. A film that was described as:- Extremely violent and over the top action combined. When ever i read something like that of course i will be on board. You can not have too much violence in a film ( accrding to me ), because if you really want to shock the audience you might as well go over the top. I sat down watching They Will Kill You on streaming serivie MAX. Is this a must watch this summer or is this noot as good as it could have been?

A woman named Asia Reaves ( Zazie Beetz ) takes a job as a cleaning lady inside a very exclusive building, where the hostess Lily Woodhouse ( Patricia Arquette ) show her around. This building is quite strange, with very strict rules to follow. What most people in this building don´t know is that Asia is not really here for the job, she is here to help her little sister out in freedom after being locked up inside this building.

Imagine if you took some slices of Quentin Taramtino´s Kill Bill, added some of the satirical moments of the 2019 American horror comedy Ready Or Not, and felt inspired by the 2020 film The Hunt and mixed all of this together. This is basically some of the combinations that They Will Kill You  tried to go for. They Will Kill You have so many ideas mixed into each other, that you might think this is not possible that it could work in this combination. But i am here to tell you that this film actually works. There are so many details about this film you should be happy about. All the gory killing scenes deliver really funny slaughter moments, the action scenes in general a very well choreographed, you have really strong acting performances from certain actors plus the dialogue is much smoother than what i expected. Let´s talk about lead actress Zazie Beetz ( who made a very positive impact on me with her performance in the 2019 film Joker ), as the character Asia Reaves. My first reaction seeing her kicking ass all over this Satanic building, was that she felt like a similar charatcer to Beatrix "The Bride" Kiddo ( played by actres Uma Thurman ), in the two Kill Bill films by legenndary director Quentin Tarantino. It´s the same type of over the top violence, almost like a tribute to Kung Fu movies of the late 1960´s and the 1970´s as well. Zazie Beetz does an amazing job with her character, especially during the fight scenes considering how violent they really are. I also appreciate Zazie showing a different side of her character, when she left her sister 10 years ago and regret this every single day. You also have great performances from female actors Heather Graham and Patricia Arquette ( who i had a crush on as a 16 year old in the 1993 classic film True Romance ). The building where satanists have been given eternal life is a cool concept to use and add martial art scenes into the mix, it actually works much more effective than i ever would have imagined. The story itself may not be anything special, but it´s the violent tone of the film, combined with strong acting performances that makes this film uniqie within this specific genre. And the comedy tone works great as well, it´s not easy making a funny action horror film combined, and yet They Will Kill You prove that it´s possible. If you are a big fan of Kill Bill or other violent action films, this is definetely something for you. Director Kirill Sokolov, who directed the funny Russian action thriller film Why Don´t You Just Die!, ( definetely pick up a physical copy from Arrow Video ), have made a gorgeous film that´s both a throwback to VHS video violence, and also a satirical viiew on Satanism in general. They Will Kill You will without a doubt end up on my list for best films of 2026, and i am definetely getting myself a physical copy.

Rating: DDDD

Apex

I love being out in nature, especially during some hot days during spring and summer and visit a beautiful lake. Usually i bring some hot dogs with me or different sausages, easy to barbecue and some potato salad on the side. Easy, simple and still a great dinner while enjoying being out in nature. I usually go look for dead wood lying around, since it´s dry enough to use for a fire. Oh and i almost forgot, i always bring brewed coffee on a thermos as well. In my childhood i did try camping in some forest areas, while we fished to get dinner out on a lake we were familiar with called Bysjön in Värmland. Back in the late 80´s and in the early 90´s, i remember we could catch quite a lot of fish. I try and go to different lakes and sometimes to the coast line here in Sweden, there are many great locations to stop with your car along the ocean to barbecue and just enjoy the scenery. But what if you are just out on vacation, just heading towards a beautful location to camp and end up in a deadly situation? That is exactly what happened in the 2016 survival psychological horror film Killing Ground, directed by Damien Power ( who also directed the 2022 great psychological thriller No Exit, worth a watch on Hulu or Disney + ). The film takes place out in the beautful Australian wilderness, where a couple Sam ( Harriet Dyer ) and Ian ( Ian Meadows ) are going to camp at a lake where Ian used to go as a child. But after a while something seems seriously wrong, they are not alone out here. Killing Ground is a well made psychological survival thriller with great acting, and beautful shots from the Australian wilderness helps the atmosphere of this film feel more effective. Definetely worth a watch on VOD or physical media. Speaking of survival thrillers i did see the trailer for the Netflix film Apex earlier this year, and since i am a fan of actress Charlize Theron ( especially after her incredible acting performance in the 2003 film Monster ), of course i was curious to watch this film. Is this a must watch on Netflix this summer or should you watch the 2016 film Killing Ground instead?

Sasha ( Charlize Theron ) lost her husband Tommy ( Eric Bana ) in Norway, during a rough storm while rock climbing. After several months she decides to travel by herself to Australia to do a kayak adventure, to try and get herself focusing on something else. While visiting a local store she meets two rude Australian local men, who she just tries to ignore. In this store she meets a man named Ben ( Taron Egerton ), who helps her locate the place she should go on her kayak journey. This may look like a beautiful journey, but there is a dark secret hidden within these mountain.

Apex starts off almost like a different version of the 1993 classic Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone, and then turns into a something similar to the 1994 survial thriller The River Wild with actress Meryl Streep. Obviously, these films does not have any similar plot as Apex, but you get a sense of similar survival films might have influenced the film Apex. The fact that this film later turns into a serial killer / cannibal influenced film is quite a surprise for me. This was not something i expected to see in a film such as Apex but i actually think this give this film a more interesting approach. If we look outside of these many different influences from different films, the plot is not that complicated after all. And i am completely fine with that, since this is meant to bea more violent entertaining version of The River Wild - The Cannibal Version. Actress Charlize Theron is no stranger to being good in an action film, i mean she proved herself several times in films such as Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde and in the Netflix film The Old Guard ( including the sequel ). And she proves herself as a lead actress again as the character Sasha, she is one woman who don´t take shit from anyone. I also like the fact that she is able to use her acting skills not only doing physical action scenes, her dialogue scenes lands pretty good. You can call Apex a psychological thriller as well, since we find out about actor Taron Egerton´s distured character Ben and his hunger for human meat. Taron does his Australian accent a bit over the top, but i enjoy his psychotic performance playing a serial killer. The action scenes in the jungle looks good, the brutal violent scenes feels effective when they finally kick in and the climbing scenes looks beautful. Is there something missing in this film? Honestly, i don´t care about any flaws. I just want to be entertained by a survical action thriller and that´s exactly what Apex manage to do. Apex may not deliver anything fresh or original we have not seen before, but as a survival thriller i would say this film is worth a watch. Director Baltasar Kormákur have worked on survival films in the past with solid films such as Everest and Adrift, and with Apex he manage to show the world he knows how to make interesting survival films.

Rating: DDD

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