Queen Of The Ring

I can still remember one of the greatest TV moments in history of my childhood and that was back in the year of 1990 on April 1st. This was when one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time took place at WrestleMania VI between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior where Hulk Hogan lost his title and that made Ultimate Warrior the new WWF Champion. I was only 12 years old at this time and that time period in wrestling was very unique. Not only this fight of course but you had so many great wrestlers back in 1990 such as André The Giant, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, The Bushwackers, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Earthquake, "Macho King" Randy Savage, The Undertaker. WWE Wrestling used to be my Saturday watch and i would imagine myself running in the ring making wrestling strikes. In my adult life i have not really followed wrestling that much and know all the latest big names. I pretty much stopped watching wrestling around the year of 2003 when i watched wrestlers like Chris Jericho, John Cena, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and many others deliver great matches. The one thing i do appreciate is that a lot of wrestlers started their own movie careers such as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Obviously Dwayne Johnson is the biggest movie star coming out of the wrestling community but i enjoy seeing others trying to hit the big screen. Speaking of movies and wrestling just 2 years ago in 2023 we had a really good drama film called The Iron Claw released in cinemas, based on the true story of the American wrestling family known as The Von Erichs. It´s a very tragic story knowing how much this family went through and the film does a really good job capturing the curse of this family. The acting in general is really good but the strongest acting performance comes from Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich. If you love powerful drama movies you need to see The Iron Claw from director Sean Durk. It´s not very often you hear about female wrestlers unfortunately so when i saw a film have been released about the female Amercian wrestler Mildred Burke. I did not know about her story so i was very curious to see if this film would do a good job telling her own incredible story. Is this a film everyone should see this summer or is Queen Of The Ring a film that doesn´t really manage to make this story interesting at all?

Mildred Burke ( Emily Bett Rickards ) is a hard working single mother working at a diner. She visits a wrestling match one day and feel a big passion for the sport. At one moment she meets wrestler Billy Wolfe ( Josh Lucas ) and ask him to train her. At first he doesn´t take her seriously but decides to give her a chance. This is where the journey for Mildred Burke begin where she becomes one of the first women to win the world champion title in wrestling for women, while raising her son as a single mother.

I think it is very important that we have stories that are being told how women all over the world had to fight to get their respect. Just because you are a woman shouldn´t mean you are treated differently than a man, she deserve to be treated respectfully. And this is one of the reasons why this film Queen Of The Ring is an important film how women such as wrestler Mildred Burke made a big change in the world of wrestling. There is a charming approach in this film how it all started and why Mildred felt so much passion for learning wrestling. Speaking of wrestling we do get to see quite a lot of wrestling scenes and they do look good from a technical perspective. I also feel that we get to know the personality of Mildred and what her values are as a single mother ( this was seen as normal back in the 1950´s, you were supposed to have a traditional family ). Lead actress Emily Bett Rickards ( who i enjoyed in the DC superhero TV series Arrow ) does a great performance as Mildred Burke and i think she balance this character in a realistic way. I also feel that her wrestling performance ( yes she actually does wrestling in the actual film ) looks good in the ring. We have other great performances from actor Josh Lucas as Mildred´s manager and husband Billy ( who can forget him from the brilliant Russel Crowe film A Beautiful Mind ) and of course The Wire actor Waltor Goggins as the wrestling manager G. Bill. Not only is this a solid film in general but i do feel Queen Of The Ring manage to show what an impact Mildred and other female wrestlers made in the 1950´s. On the negative side i would say knowing this film is supposed to take place during the 1950´s i wonder why modern music is playing towards the end. They did a good job on costume design as well as locations taking place during this time period, so getting the music right shouldn´t be very difficult. Overall this is a well made biographical film and this film leaves an important message especially towards women. No matter what passion you have in life do not let any man tell you not to follow your dreams. Director Ash Avildsen ( who directed the controversial 2017 film American Satan ) is clearly inspired by the story of Mildred Burke making this film and you can feel that in the atmosphere of the wrestling ring. Worth a watch if you want a different story in the world of sports.

Rating: DDD

In The Lost Lands

There are certain director´s who don´t care about movie critics and if they are disliked for not doing Oscar winning films. These director´s make movies with stories that they love to do and create them out of passion for movies. A perfect example of a director that have always been passionate about making movies of genres that he loves is the well known director Paul W.S. Anderson. I can still remember the very first time i watched his first full feature debut film Mortal Kombat ( based on the extremely popular video game franchise ) back in 1995 in cinema with my school friends. It was a cinema experience i really enjoyed and my school friends enjoyed it as well. Mortal Kombat the live adaptation had so much to be pleased about. Lots of martial art fighting, cool action scenes and most of all characters that matched well with the story. It is still today one of the better movies based on a video game and have been a best seller on VHS, DVD and blu ray as well. Paul continued making other great films such as the sci fi horror classic Event Horizon, sci fi action film Soldier with Kurt Russel and of course all his films based on the extremely popular video game franchise known as Resident Evil. I actually enjoy the Resident Evil films and even if i think the final film Resident Evil - The Final Chapter was the least good one ( it was edited far too much that it became hard to see certain action scenes ) i still feel director Paul W.S. Anderson did a good job on this franchise. Of course it is well known that his wife actress Milla Jovovich played the game character Alice in all of the Resident Evil films and i think she did a great physical performance. Speaking of Milla and Paul i am one of those who openly admit i am a fan of the 2020 sci fi action film Monster Hunter ( also based on a video game ). I think this film is far better than some movie critics said back in 2020 and i had a great time in the company of Monster Hunter. During the pandemic i heard that Paul and his wife Milla was working on a project called In The Lost Lands. At that time i didn´t know much more about it until i saw a picture from the set of the film. It did look like an apocalyptic story and this is definetely something in my taste ( i have seen a lot of films taking on different stories regarding the apocalypse ). This film was delayed for several reasons but i was finally able to check this film out on blu ray. Is this another entertaining release from husband Paul and wife Milla or is In The Lost Lands their worst collaboration so far in one of their movie projects?

In the apocayptic world of Lost Lands, the Church ruled by Overlord is trying to execute the witch known as Gray Alys ( Milla Jovovich ) by hanging her. She manage to use her powers to make a man release her as she is able to escape. While Gray Alys is back in her home she is visited by The Queen Melange ( Amara Okereke). The Queen needs a werewolf to be killed by Gray Alys so The Queen can steal the powers of the beast. Gray begin her journey to find a hunter to help her named Boyce ( Dave Bautista ) to face the werewolf in the Lost Lands location known as Skull River.

Imagine for a moment if you mixed the apocalyptic films of Priest, The Book Of Eli and throw in some western influences in there are you pretty much have the look of In The Lost Lands. This is a film that clearly have inspiration from a lot of different styles, and since i have not read the short story In The Lost Lands ( written by author George R.R. Martin ) that´s found in the anthology book Amazonas II, i don´t know if this film capture the look or feeling of the short story. So i will only give you my opinion of the film itself not knowing much about the source material. The film itself may not be original in any way and i have seen several films in the past that use certain similar details as this film, but one of the things i think this film does right is use the Christian church in a completely different way. In this version of the Christian church they send out deadly hunters to kill sinners, especially witches of course since they have never been approved by church. I like the idea of followers of Jesus arming themselves with guns and other weapons in a more modern version of Christian crusaders. The church palace itself looks pretty cool and different from a traditional church. The apocalyptic world of Lost Lands have some cool looking locations. Even though i will say some places do have bad CGI effects i do like the idea behind the locations and how depressing it looks, as if there is no hope there and just misery. The chemistry between actors Milla Jovocich as the witch Gray Alys and Dave Bautista as huntsman Boyce may not be perfect acting wise, they both have some issues delivering dialogue but i will say this. I do enjoy seeing them travelling together in the Lost Lands fighting against humans and beasts. Their journey together reminded me of western films in the 1960´s and 1970´s except here it is in a completely different world. I also enjoy seeing actress Arly Jover ( who played the character Mercury in the original Blade film ) as the Christian huntress Ash. On the negative side i will definetely say some CGI scenes look bad. I can accept bad CGI as long as the film is entertaining but in certain scenes it feels like they didn´t made an effort to make the scenes look good. There are some terrible acting as well from certain characters that you will soon forget about. In general i would say In The Lost Lands is worth checking out if you enjoyed the apocalyptic films of Priest and The Book Of Eli. This film have issues but i can accept that, i just happen to enjoy apocalyptic action films and i do feel this is something worth watching this summer on physical media. Not one of director Paul W.S. Anderson´s better films but enjoyable enough to recommend buying a physical copy. In The Lost Lands is a film that´s made for B movie lovers and im definetely a part of that audience.

Rating: DDD

A Tribute Movie Review Of Tony Todd: Immortal

In a world filled with anger and sadness, no matter if someone lost a job, lost a family member, perhaps you have an illness that´s very difficult to deal with, no matter why you feel this way know that there are people out there who actually care about you. When some people may seem cold there are still good people out there who will take their time to hear your voice, help you any way they can. At some point some of these good souls have to leave our world to begin their next chapter. One of the people i have in mind who unfortunately passed away in November last year is the actor known as Tony Todd. I never met him unfortunately but i have been told he was one of the most kindest, good hearted men who walked on this Earth. That he was very supportive and cared about many people in his life. When i have heard so many positive words regarding him for who he really was, i wish we would have more people like him in society. My first encounter with the name Tony Todd happened back in 1993 at the VHS rental store Videomix. The brand new horror film Candyman just came out and of course i had to rent this film. My friend Pierre who worked at the Videomix rental store said it was his favourite horror film of the year. I was about to find out why he enjoyed this film so much and i personally felt that actor Tony Todd delivered a very strong performance as Candyman. The first film is still today seen as one of the true classics in horror society all over the world and there were 2 sequels made as well. I would recommend you to check them out as well, especially because of the character Candyman who is unique. Tony proved his powerful acting skills once more in the cult classic The Crow in 1994 and of course in the Final Destination franchise as well. Since i have seen several films with Tony Todd over the years i try to check some of the films out where he is included, films that may not have been in cinemas worldwide and relased on other platforms. One of Tony Todd´s closest personal friends reached out to me and asked if i could review one of his films called Immortal and of course i said that i would be honored to do so. Is the film Immortal one of the films from legendary actor Tony Todd that more people should watch?

4 different stories told by four different director´s where each story have a connection with each other, especially on a subject that may be sensitive for some.

Before i watched Immortal i didn´t read about this film at all to know as little as possible. I personally love to know as little as possible for certain films and i felt that Immortal would be perfect to visit. This is an anthology film with 4 different stories and each story have something important to say, especially the subject of immortality. What if you suddenly found out that you can not die? How would you react? How would you deal with this if you discovered you can not die as an ordinary human being? There are several questions i think most of us would think about regarding if we found ourselves in this situation. But there are some other details as well in each story that´s connected to immortality. For example in the third story ( and my personal favourite of the 4 stories we are presented with ) called Ted and Mary and this is where legendary actor Tony Todd really give a heart breaking performance as the husband Ted taking care of his cancer sick wife Mary ( played powerful by actress Robin Bartlett. One of the reasons why this segment touched me personally is because i lost my grandfather in cancer and i feel this segment really captured how heavy it can be emotionally seeing your partner ( or family member ) dying. I have to be honest and say that this might be one of the best acting performances i have seen Tony Todd do in his career. It feels honest, realistic and i am pretty sure a lot of people can feel a connection to his character if you have someone you love struggling with cancer. The first segment Chelsea surprised me with an unexpected twist between the main character Chelsea ( played by actress Linday Mushett ) and cult film Trick r´ Treat actor Dylan Baker as her teacher Mr Shagis. I do appreciate the acting between both of these characters and how the plot of this segment is constructed. This is an anthology thriller that will make you think about life in general, and this film may also make you think about the things that really matters in life instead of material things or money. Directors Tom Colley, Jon Dabach, Danny Isaacs and Rob Margolies have all directed interesting stories that all look great as well from a technical perspective. Immortal is a film you should see if you want to experience a film that´s well told and have some very important things to say.

Rating: DDD

Revelations

I have been a huge fan of foreign films since the early 90´s and i can still remember the very first time i watched the Indian drama film Salaam Bombay! on VHS in 1990. This film really emotionally touched me of the story of the homeless child Krishna ( played brilliant by child actor Shafiq Syed ) who tries to survive in the city of Bombay among criminals and drug addicts. There are several very powerful scenes in this film and i feel this is one of those classics you should see. Then we have other classics from countries such as South Korea and they have made plenty of quality films for many years. One of the titles from South Korea i feel doesn´t get mentioned often anymore is the 2000 South Korea mystery thriller known as Joint Security Area directed Park Chan-wook a true legend who directed classics such as Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance. All three films are included in the so called Vengeance trilogy from director Park Chan-wook. Joint Security Area was actually released before this trilogy and this was my introduction to this beloved director. The first time i watched this film was on a Swedish DVD release from the distribution company Atlantic Film, which is a 2 DVD disc release. Joint Security Are tells the story of an investigation regarding a shooting incident involving two North Korea soldiers in the Korean Demilitarized Zone ( DMZ ) in the Joint Security Area at a North Korea border house. A very well made film with powerful acting performances and i have to say a very interesting plot. Definetely worth a watch on physical media and Arrow Video released a great blu ray release of this film filled with special features. Let´s stay with films from South Korea and how many of you watched the very effective zombie horror film Train To Busan back in 2016? The director of this wonderful film Yeon Sang-ho released his latest film Revelations on Netflix this spring so of course i had to check this out ( considering how much i enjoy Train To Busan ). Is this anotherr high quality film from director Yeon Sang-ho or is this not as good as i was hoping it would be?

Pastor Sung Min-can ( Ryu Jun-yeol ) leads a small congration and tries to welcome everyone from society without judging anyone. One day he is visitd by an unknown man he have never seen before known as Kwon Yang-rae ( Shin Min-jae ). He welcome him for a cup of coffee and offer to write him in as a new member of the church. Pastor Sung get a phone call and leave for a short while. As he return back to the room Kwon Yang-rae is about to leave. Pastor Sun notice that he have a foot shackle, not knowing what crime he have comitted. When Pastor Sun get a phone call from his wife that their daughter is missing he immediately think of the new visitor. Does he know anything about his daughter?

You may have noticed over the years that it´s not often i watch many Swedish films because they are mostly not good, or they don´t have powerful acting performances. I feel that a lot of Swedish directors should learn how to construct a high quality film by watching this Netflix film Revelations. There are several details i appreciate with this film and let´s begin talking about some of the details that makes this a strong film experience. I have to say the characters in this film are very strong, especially the character known as Pastor Sung Min-chan ( played really good by actor Ryu Jun-yeol ). What i find so interesting about this character is that he have so many things to deal with. His wife is cheating with him plus his daughter is vanished. She is eventually found but an accident happens within this timeline that will change the life of Pastor Sung Min-chan forever. Ryu Jun-yeol plays this character very emotional who is clearly struggling inside himself, while he tries to keep the positive Christian Pastor image alive for his congregation members. Knowing that he have comitted sin and he should tell the truth, instead he tries to hide the truth while there is another young girl missing. We also have the story of Detective Lee Yeon-hee ( great performance from actress Shin Huyn-been ) who is consumed by guilt ever since her sister killed herslef after she was kidnapped by a sadistic sex offender. Revelations have different stories to tell that connect along the way, there is a reason to why these stories are connected especially in biblical terms. I wouldn´t say that this film does anyhing original but what it manage to do is show us how vulnerable we can be in life, when we are forced to face consequences that may change our lives completely. Director Yeon Sang-ho clearly felt inspired by classic thrillers while making Revelations and he manage to craft this film with his own personal touch. It looks great, deliver strong diaogue and the psychological perspective from different angles of humans dealing with personal crisis hits the right spot. Not the best film from director Yeon Sang-ho but definetely one of the better thrillers i have seen this year. Revelations say a lot about human guilt and you should definetely watch it on Netflix.

Rating: DDDD

The Bayou

As much as i love being in nature and explore different areas, i am aware that there is a possibility i could face a bear where i live in the north of Sweden. There have been several bears witnessed in different parts of forest areas here and some bears have even stepped into house areas. For example a male friend of mine who owns a house outside of the city he had a bear walking close to his parking lot. He had this recorded through his security system so you can imagine how shocked he was seeing a bear walk close to his garage. This only happened one time for him specifically but he have heard other house owners who have seen a bear get close to their home. As long as you stay inside your home you are safe, the bear will not attack you if he / she doesn´t feel threatened. I would imagine the bear was looking for food, because my male friend noticed that some apples were gone from the ground when he got back home. He didn´t mind the bear ate the apples i think he was more concerned if the bear would return since he have 2 children to think about. Event though i love animals and love to see bears from a distance i am very careful. One time i actually sat and watched a bear family from a mountain, as i witnessed a bear family walking together. I did keep a far distance because i know i should not get too close. When it comes to lakes or the ocean i have not witnessed more than fishes of different kinds. I have been thinking about visiting the Alligator Bayou in Louisiana, USA, simply because it would be fascinating to see alligators for real. Alligators have been included in a lot of different movie adaptations over many years and there are some classics that you should see. Perhaps one of the most well known classics when it comes to alligator horror films has to be the 1980 horror film Alligator from director Lewis Teague ( director of the classic Stephen King film adaptation Cujo from 1983 ). Gruesome murders are happening around the city´s sewer system where different body parts are found, Detective David Madison ( played by legendary actor Robert Forster seen in the classic Gregory Peck western film The Stalking Moon, worth a watch ) is on this case where he tries to find out who is behind all these horrible murders. Alligator is a classic creature feature horror film worth a watch and i highly recommend the UK blu ray release of this film from distribution company 101 Films, it has some really nice special features included. Speaking of alligators i have been curious to see a animal horror film simply called The Bayou that i saw a trailer for earlier this year. It looked like something similar to the 1980 horror film Alligator but takes place in the swamp instead. I picked up a physical DVD copy of The Bayou to see if this would be something in my taste. Is this one of the horror films you need to see this summer or is The Bayou a film so dull that you would be more excited watching British Chess Campionship?

Houston university student Kyle ( Athena Strates ), is on vacation with a group of friends. While they are flying in a smaller plane with some other  passengers as well the plane crashes into a swamp. Out in the middle of nowhere with no radio, they don´t know what´s waiting out there for them

Imagine if you mixed the 2023 action film Plane with Gerard Butler, spiced it up with a different version of the 1980 classic film Alligator and add influences from the film Cocaine Bear. There you pretty much have The Bayou and what audience this was made for. This is one of those horror films that clearly feel inspired animal horror films in the past and i have to say this is actually better than i expected. Don´t get me wrong, this is not going to be a future classic that everyone will talk about The Bayou. I do believe though that this could be a film that might find it´s audience if you happen to love this genre in the same category as Alligator. There are a few smaller details i feel could have been better but let´s get into the positive. I do think the alligator attack scenes work pretty good in this film and this is quite a brutal film at certain moments. The alligators design looks quite realistic except for the fact that these alligators have become stronger thanks to drugs. The story is very simple but works for this particular formula. One detail i actually think this film manage to do that a lot of horror films fails with is to have a big cast and manage to pull this off. I feel that the casting of this film is well done and in general the acting performances are alright. I especially enjoy actress Athena Strates as her character Kyle who have a lot of knowledge on alligators, so clearly she is the perfect person to have around if you are stuck in a swamp. I also enjoy actor Adonis Anthony ( who i remember from the 2015 war movie Soldiers Of The Damned ) as the character Frank who tries to find solutions of suvival in the swamp. So to the negative and i find the character known as Rufus ( played by actor David Newman ) to be annoying. His negative attitude and his phone scenes doesn´t really add anything to the story. The Bayou ends up being a positive surprise for me and this really feels like a love letter to B horror movie fans. Directors Taneli Mustonen and Brad Watson must have been inspired by the 1980 film Alligator while they made The Bayou, and i really appreciate their effort to bring back animal horror films to a classic formula that VHS fans will recognize. Definetely worth a watch, The Bayou is my kind of cup of tea.

Rating: DDD

Heart Eyes

The 80´s were full of slasher horror films and had a lot of classics released in this specific genre. You have the Friday The 13th franchise of course ( who released 8 films in this franchise up until 1989 ) and then you have the Halloween sequels of course. But then you have completely different horror slasher films in the 80´s that didn´t have franchises but were good anyway, For example some of you might have seen the 1981 slasher horror film The Burning from director Tony Maylam ( who also directed the Rutger Hauer sci fi horror classic Split Second, worth buying on physical media ). The Burning is a great example of 80´s slasher horror classics. You could say that this film is similar to Friday The 13th but im ok with that, this is just a fun horror film with practical make up effects and cheesy dialogue. Interesting fact, did you know that in the film The Burning you find actor Jason Alexander ( mostly known from classic comedy TV series Seinfeld as his character George Costanza ) playing the character of Dave. If you love 80´s slasher horror then you should check out The Burning on DVD or blu ray, no matter what format you prefer watching movies in. Another 80´s sasher horror classic i have to mention is the 1981 horror film My Bloody Valentine from director George Mihalka ( who actually directed 2 episodes of the classic thrilller TV series The Hitchiker ). I remember i saw this film for the very first timee on rental VHS back in 1991. This is a very simple slasher horror film where a masked miner killer is murdering the people of a small town where the miner mask is what this film is known for. I will say that for a slasher horror film that especially uses a Valentine´s Day theme i think My Bloody Valentine is a good choice if you want something to watch in this specific genre where it is considered to be cult classic. Also check out the 2009 remake My Bloody Valentine 3D from director Patrick Lussier ( director of the horror cult film Dracula 2000 ), i actually enjoy this remake as well. Speaking of Valentine´s Day and the horror genre we did have a slasher horror film released earlier this year called Heart Eyes that had quite a lot of positive reviews. I was planning to see this film in cinema but plans changed so i decided to rent it on VOD instead. Is this a solid horror slasher film or is Heart Eyes a film that will most likely be forgotten on the DVD shelves in the future?

For the past several years, the "Heart Eyes Killer" have wreaked havoc on Valentine´s Day by stalking and murdering romantic couples. Valentine´s Day is here once again and Heart Eyes is ready to end more human lives.

When it comes to the genre of horror slasher films i personally enjoy if you can mix a bit of comedy into the slasher genre. I don´t mind serious slasher films but if you mix a bit of comedy that can actually be a very effective tool in this genre. It becomes clear that Heart Eyes is one of those films that actually doesn´t take itself seriously at all and have plenty of comedy moments between the slasher scenes. Knowing that this is a film that brings up the holiday known as Valentine´s Day this is a theme that actually works for this film. Considering how many romantic films and romantic comedies that are made for this special day i think it´s great to make fun of this day, not everyone loves Valentine´s Day and for some people it can actually be a difficult day. So let´s talk about what i enjoy about Heart Eyes and i have to say the mask of serial killer Heart Eyes looks good. It is definetely a different design of a serial killer mask than for example Ghostface in Scream ( im honestly not a big fan of the design of the Ghostface mask ). There are quite many killing scenes in this film so if you love brutal kills or classic killing ingredients you will definetely find all of this in this film. Lead actress Olivia Holt ( who i have only seen as an actress in the 2023 slasher horror film Totally Killer ) as the charming character Ally is a good match for this film. I especially like her scenes when she is challenged to survive against Heart Eyes and how she is able to fight back with the help of character Jay. Speaking of Jay i have to mention actor Mason Gooding ( known from the Scream franchise ) and i do enjoy his acting performance as well. I can´t really say anything negative about Heart Eyes because this is just a fun slasher horror comedy that manage to balance both horror and comedy effective. Director Josh Ruben deliver a surpringly solid horror film that will definetely be loved by those who love holiday horror themed films and is definetely worth a watch. Just let Heart Eyes fill your heart with joy and a big blade, to me that sounds like the best way to end a romantic day bleeding at the dinner table.

Rating: DDD

Peter Pan´s Neverland Nightmare

I used to read several children books back in the early 80´s at our local library. My mother had a library card so we could basically borrow as many books as we wanted. I remember in the year of 1983 when i was 6 years old i was sitting in the library reading the book known as Treasure Island from author Robert Louis Stevenson. This was the children´s book version and not have as many pages as the original book released in 1883. I loved reading about a pirate adventure and the images in the book looked good as well. This was the first time i encountered the story of Treasure Island and i would begin to read the original version of the book at the age 12 back in 1989. I remember that i really enjoyed reading the real book compared to the children´s version because there were so many more details and events compared to the shorter version for smaller children. Just 2 years later in 1991 legndary director Steven Spielberg released his film adaptation of the classic story of Peter Pan known as Hook, inspired by the 1911 novel titled Peter & Wendy, written by author J.M. Barrie. I did see this film in cinema but not until in the spring of 1992 when the Swedish premiere took place. Hook is a charming fantasty adventure that really feels like a Peter Pan movie. The cast is really good with legendary actors such as Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, Bob Hopkins, Maggie Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow and Phil Collins among many others. Unfortunately the film became a big box office bomb at that time but i still enjoy the film Hook. It is a fun family film if you are in the right mood. In 2003 a new updated version of Peter Pan was released in cinemas worldwide from director P.J. Hogan ( director of the 1994 Australian romantic comedy classic Muriel´s Wedding ). I enjoyed the 2003 version of Peter Pan and i think the casting was great and there are some fun adventure scenes in this film adaptation. The character of Captain Hook in the 2003 film played by actor Jason Isaacs is especially enjoyable. I know that there was a Disney movie released in 2023 called Peter And Wendy, i have not seen this film though. However, i did decide to check out the horror film Peter Pan´s Neverland Nightmare that seemed to be doing something similar to the low budget slasher film Winnie The Pooh Blood And Honey II ( a film i actually enjoyed ). Does the story of Peter Pan work well in a horror format or is this film just as bad as the original Winnie The Pooh Blood And Honey film?

Fifteen years ago, Peter Pan ( Martin Portlock ), worked at a fantasy-themed circus where he performs as a mime for many children. After a show that night, Peter attempts to abduct thirteen-year-old James Hook ( Charity Kase ) in his house. James mother, Roxanne Hook ( Kierston Wareing ) fights Peter and mutilates his face, but is overpowered and murdered while Peter abducts James. In the present day, Wendy Darling ( Megan Placito ) lives in a complex family dynamic with her younger brothers John Darling ( Campbell Wallace ) and Michael Darling ( Peter DeSouza Feighoney ), and their mother Mary Darling ( Teresa Banham ). On Michael´s birthday, Wendy gives him a ride to school and promise to pick him up later. However, she gets distracted while talking to her boyfriend, and does not notice Michael leave on his bike. While Michael rides through the woods he gets abducted by Peter Pan. Michael´s family get a phone call from Peter who promise them that he will take Michael to Neverland, where all the other children goes.

Ever since i saw the poster of Peter Pan´s Neverland Nightmare i was curious to see how on Earth they would do a different take on the classic character Peter Pan. Considering how bad Piglet was as well as Popye´s Revenge ( two films who are also based on famous children book and comic  book characters ) i knew there might be a chance that this film would not be good either. I will be honest and say though i actually enjoy this film for a number of reasons. I have to say i really appreciate seeing a completely different take on the Peter Pan character. This is the serial killer version of Peter Pan which makes this a completely different version than we are used to see. The way he kills his victims is a fun slasher surprise plus this is not the flying Peter Pan you might remember from the Steven Spielberg film Hook, this is basically the mentally disturbed version where he doesn´t play ordinary games. This film have some really brutal kills and they are all made with practical make up effects. As some of my readers might know after all of these years i really love horror films that uses practical make up effects, simply because it actually makes the horror scenes more effective. Seeing the character Peter Pan slash bodies open in different way is of course a jolly good time. Actor Martin Portlock as Peter Pan deliver an acting performance that´s actually better than i expected and i especially love the scenes where he goes completely nuts and hunt his victims. I do enjoy the acting performance of actress Kit Green as Tinker Bell and her scenes with Martin Portlock are effective from a horror perspective. Actress Megan Placito also surprised me with a very physical performance that matches the film. The horror scenes in general of Peter Pan´s Neverland Nightmare works well and i appreciate that this film doesn´t go in the traditional Peter Pan pattern and try a different approach. To be honest this is my favourite of the British independent horror films recently compared to Winnie The Pooh Blood And Honey franchise, Peter Pan´s Neverland Nightmare is a gory enjoyable slasher horror film that will please fans of this genre. Director Scott Chambers manage to deliver a horror film that actually refreshing and different, and that is something you don´t see everyday. I picked up a physical copy of this film and so should you if you enjoy fun slasher horror films.

Rating: DDD