Smile

“Smile” is a 2022 horror starring Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why), Kyle Gallner (Outsiders), and Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar go to White castle).

An ER therapist (Bacon) witnesses one of her patients kill themselves in a brutal fashion in front of her after the patient claimed she was being hunted/forced by a supernatural/demonic force. It creates a pattern, whoever witness the suicide will face the same fate a week later if not sooner. Now Dr. Rose Cotter (Bacon) must find a way to break the pattern before she faces the same fate while she slowly spirals into insanity.

This movie is insane. It takes a look at the fragility of the mind and mental illness while Sosie Bacon’s life starts to spiral out of control. She begins to not be able to decipher reality from nightmare. This movie is not predictable, it’s creepy, and it will have you leaving the theater saying holy crap, and probably a feeling of unease. There are very few movies that leave me mind blown, but this is one of them. Sosie Bacon plays an amazing role, and she deserves some sort of an award for it. This is a must watch for any horror fan, it will go down as the best horror film of 2022. I give it a 10/10.

Gatlopp: Hell of a Game

“Gatlopp: Hell of a Game” is a 2022 comedy/horror starring Jim Mahoney (The Orville), Emmy Raver-Lampman (The Umbrella Academy), Jon Bass (Sword of Trust), Sarunas J. Jackson (Games People Play).

Four good friends get back together as adults for a fun night after one of them is going through a divorce. It’s a night filled with drinking, and they decided to play a board game that is a drinking game. The game turns out to be paranormal and they must do exactly as it says or suffer dire consequences. One of them must win the game before sunrise or they will be forced to play it for all eternity.

I wouldn’t exactly classify this one as a horror but more of a dark comedy. It doesn’t have any big names in it, but they all play a good part, and the acting is solid. It’s like a messed up adult version of Jumanji that makes them expose their deepest and darkest secrets that they’ve kept from each other. Ultimately it brings them closer, so it has a good message. True friendship can overcome and endure all. It’s a little cheesier and more lighthearted than it sounded like it would be, but it’s a good watch. You can watch it on Tubi. I give it a 6.5/10.

End of the Road

“End of the Road” is a 2022 Netflix original thriller starring Queen Latifah (Set It Off), Ludacris (2 Fast 2 Furious), and Beau Bridges (My Name is Earl).

A mom, her brother, and two kids are moving to Texas after the passing of her husband to try to start a new life. While staying overnight in a seedy motel on their way to Texas, they hear a gunshot go off in the room beside theirs. When they rush over, they find a dead man and duffel bag full of money. The brother takes the duffel bag of money to give them a better life. Now they’re caught up in a dangerous game with a dangerous man who wants his money back.

I love Queen Latifah and Ludacris both, and the plot sounded pretty good. The acting’s good but it’s predictable. I called who “Mr. Cross” was early on in the film, and some off the scenes are laughable. Like for Instance where Queen Latifah has her hands zip tied together but still manages to beat up a group of white supremacists. Not very believable. It’s not a bad movie just not a thriller. I give 6/10.

Intrusion

“The Intrusion” is a 2021 Netflix original thriller starring Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus), and Megan Elisabeth Kelly (Who Needs You).

A Woman (Pinto) and her husband (Marshall-Green) move to a small town into a house he designed for them. A break in occurs where her husband kills the intruders. She soon finds out the break in wasn’t random, and her husband isn’t who she thinks he is. He is hiding something dark and sinister.

The acting from Pinto and Marshall-Green is very good, both play great parts. The movie itself though is a little slow and predictable, I predicted early on what was going on when they made a reference to the pipes. It does have a few heart racing moments but overall, it is pretty slow for a thriller. I give it a 6/10.

HollyBlood

“HollyBlood” is a 2022 Netflix original Spanish comedy/horror starring Oscar Casas (The Orphanage), Isa Montalban (Just One Time), Jordi Sanchez (L’un per l’altre), Carlos Suarez (Money Heist), and Piero Mendez (Calvin Klein: Spring/Summer 2018).

A shy boy tries to impress and win over a girl at his school by pretending to be a vampire. All is well and working until a real vampire shows up.

I’m typically not a fan of foreign movies due to the subs and dubs not matching up and the dubs not matching up with the mouth movement. This one matches up, and it’s not far off from the lip movement so it’s not bad. It’s a silly, dumb, lighthearted movie, it’s pretty much a spoof on vampire romance movies. There’s not much depth, but it’s funny especially Jordi Sanchez who plays the dad. Overall, it’s a fun watch. I give it a 7/10.

I Came By

“I Came By” is a 2022 original Netflix thriller/mystery starring George Mackay (1917), Kelly Macdonald (Brave), Hugh Bonneville (Paddington), and Percelle Ascott (The Innocents).

A young graffiti artist breaks into elite and rich people’s houses and tags their walls as a way of sticking it to the man. He breaks into a retired judge’s house and finds more than he bargained for.

This is a great thriller, it has its lulls but overall, it’s pretty fast paced and keeps your heart racing. The casting is good especially with Hugh Bonneville. He plays a great predator, to the point you hate the guy and are just hoping he gets caught. I give it an 8/10.

The Invitation

“The Invitation” is a 2022 horror/thriller starring Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones), Thomas Doherty (Descendants 3), Stephanie Corneliussen (Mr. Robot), Alana Boden (I am Elizabeth Smart), and Sean Pertwee (Gotham).

A struggling artist from NY takes a DNA test and finds out she’s related to a wealthy family in England when her cousin from England contacts her and shows up. He invites her to a wedding in England and she accepts. The wedding is being held by an even wealthier family with a giant manor, the head of the household is around her age, single, and seems like the perfect gentleman. Although, he’s hiding a dark secret she’s soon about to find out.

I like a good vampire movie, but they’re hit or miss. This one has the aesthetics. 16th century style manor, England, suave characters. It’s set up to be great, where it lacks though is the first half is super boring. The second half is really good from the dinner scene on where she discovers they’re vampires. It’s just the lead up is so dull. If they had a better lead up it would be a high scoring movie, but where it is it just makes it okay to good. I give it a 6/10.

Bullet Train

“Bullet Train” is a 2022 Action/Comedy starring Brad Pitt (Fight Club), Joey King (The Princess), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass), Brian Tyree Henry (Hotel Artemis), and Michael Shannon (The Iceman).

Hired killer and recently turned pacifist (Pitt) believes he is taking a simple snatch and grab job by taking a brief case on a bullet train. What he doesn’t know is there are five other assassins on the bullet train, and they all have more in common than he thinks. Now it’s a fight for survival in order to get off at a stop.

I was excited for this movie since I saw the first trailer for it. I love Brad Pitt, and it’s full of violence. Sounds perfect, this movie did not let me down. It is two hours of nonstop violence mixed in comedic relief from Pitt, and Henry. It gives off series “Kill Bill”/ Tarantino vibes mixed with “Seven Psychopaths”, it’s awesome. It is star studded and also filled with cameos from some big names as well. It will have you glued to your chair and rooting for Pitt to hopefully find his way off the bullet train. I give it a 10/10.

Day Shift

“Day Shift” is 2022 Netflix original Action/Comedy starring Jamie Foxx (The Soloist), Dave Franco (Unfinished Business), Meagan Good (The Intruder), Karla Souza (How to Get Away with Murder), Steve Howey (Shameless), and Snoop Dogg.

A down on his luck L.A. vampire hunter (Foxx) has a week to come up with some fast cash to pay for his daughters braces and tuition. When he kills and defangs an older vampire, he unknowingly causes a chain of events that results in a much more powerful vampire coming after him. Not only that but he is stuck with a union worker (Franco) assigned to watch his every move.

This movie is star studded. Jamie Foxx is a brilliant actor and Dave Franco is one of the funniest guys in Hollywood. So, them teaming up together to hunt vampires, you know it’s going to be good. Plus, you get to see the Dogg father himself hunt vampires, where else are you going to see that? “Day Shift” has the perfect blend of action and comedy to make it a great watch. Don’t get me wrong it is plenty violent with them killing and defanging vampires, but with the comedic relief it makes it a pretty lighthearted action film that will appeal to most. I give it a 7/10.

They/Them

“They/Them” is a 2022 Peacock exclusive horror movie starring Kevin Bacon (You Should Have Left), Theo Germaine (Work in Progress), Anna Chlumsky (My Girl), Austin Crute (Daybreak), and Darwin del Fabro (Dangerous Liaisons).

A group of LGBTQ teens go to a conversion camp, all for different reasons while a horrifying experience awaits.

This is an LGBTQ movie, and it is getting slammed online with a 3.3/10 on IMDB, and a 32 percent on rotten tomatoes, while all the reviews seem bad. Some have gone on to call it too “woke”. Which to a degree is true, but that’s not why it is bad. They focus too much on them being LGBTQ instead of the story. It’s supposed to be a slasher film, which to me it doesn’t matter who’s getting killed. A slasher film is a slasher film as long as it has a good story. However, the word slasher and horror movie are used very lightly. The first murder doesn’t happen until almost an hour in, around the 45 min mark. When there’s more gay sex scenes than killings, is it really a horror movie? It’s not the worst horror movie I’ve seen, but it’s not good either. Not even the worse Kevin Bacon horror movie, that would be “You Should have Left.” That one is just a huge mess. Overall, this one could have been good if they cared more about the story, they missed a good opportunity. I would give this one a pass with a 4/10.