Very happy to announce that Gynisis Productions, an independent production company, has optioned THE CHILDREN OF RED PEAK for potential film adaptation.
This popular psychological horror novel is about a group of children who grew up in and survive a doomsday cult that commits mass suicide. Years later, they gather to come to terms with their trauma and try to piece together what really happened that final night…
Adapted from a Stephen King novella of the same name, Mike Flanagan’s LIFE OF CHUCK (2024) is an interesting movie that nails a big theme–that each human consciousness is a universe unto itself, and when that human dies, an entire universe dies with them, though they continue to have a lasting impact on those they leave behind.
The movie begins with Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor, perfectly cast in the role), a lonely schoolteacher struggling to keep his students interested in learning while the world appears to be rapidly ending due to ecological catastrophes. Everyone is giving up. While all this is happening, Marty begins to notice mysterious ads and billboards appearing around town, showing a smiling man in a business suit with the words: 39 GREAT YEARS. THANKS, CHUCK! As things get progressively worse, he seeks out his ex (Karen Gillan), whom he’s still close with, to watch it all end.
This is act one in a three-act story told in reverse chronological order, same as the King story. In the second act, we meet Chuck himself (Tom Hiddleston), understand his illness, and then go back to examine his life back to his childhood when he first learns about death and eventually comes to terms with it.
What I liked: Flanagan lavishes his love for filmmaking and the story in every frame. He’s loyal to the actors he works with, and many of them take part here. Hiddleston has a dance number that is a lot of fun to watch. The film is loaded with feeling and has a big, kinda sappy theme, but it never got saccharine for me. This is a top-notch adaptation.
What I didn’t: I simply didn’t find Chuck a compelling character as an adult, as we barely get to know him. Most of our time is spend on his childhood and adolescence. It’s all pretty enjoyable to watch, but honestly I wished we’d stayed with Marty and kept the odd Chuck appearances mysterious longer. For the short amount of screen time he receives, I really connected with his character and story. I just didn’t find Chuck quite as interesting; a lot of the time we spend with him as an adult is narrated (Nick Offerman), making the story feel detached.
Overall, I liked LIFE OF CHUCK quite a bit. If you’re a Stephen King fan, I think you’ll appreciate how much love Flanagan and his cast pour into adapting this story. Even if you’re not, there’s a lot to admire here.
In OPUS, a reclusive ’90s mega-pop star is ready for a comeback with a new album, inviting a very select group of guests to his remote commune to be the first to hear it. The only trick is the star’s opus isn’t the album but something far more nefarious.
The film centers on Ariel (Ayo Edebiri, whose understated wry irritation with almost everything, which works so well in THE BEAR, didn’t quite fit this role for me), a writer at a music magazine trying to get ahead. She has big dreams to write a book everyone will read, only it’s clear she doesn’t have anything to say yet.
In a big surprise, Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich), a mega star in the 90s who disappeared for the past few decades, has announced a comeback and has invited her boss along with several other guests to be the first to hear his opus. The final surprise: Ariel is invited too.
They arrive at Moretti’s remote commune, where he lives with many of his fans who now follow his teachings in what becomes increasingly clear is a cult. Then the horror begins…
What I liked: The movie has a lot of polish, some smart writing, a solid cast. Malkovich steals the show as Moretti, a sort of David Bowie-Elton John mashup. In one scene, he vogues as he sings one of his songs, and the result is hilarious as he performs it to the playful hilt. Two original songs are presented, and they’re both okay, not great in my view, but whatever, I ran with it.
What I didn’t like: The movie doesn’t seem to have much to say itself, upscaling a very familiar horror plot but to no real purpose other than for Ariel to get a big reveal at the end about why she was chosen to come to the commune. The characters and the cult itself are all pretty shallow, and while it’s fun, one can’t help but feel like the film could have been so much more and wanted to be. The horror isn’t particularly horrifying.
The result is reminiscent of BLINK TWICE, but without the edginess, mixed with THE MENU, only without the big theme. Most reviewers didn’t like this one, and many viewers didn’t care for it either, but I honestly, I liked it enough. It doesn’t ask for much, and John Malkovich, though somewhat miscast at his advanced age, is a lot of fun to watch as he chews the role of the pop star.
I’ve always enjoyed superhero media more around the fringes, going for the heavier, more thoughtful stuff like LOGAN, THE DARK KNIGHT, and LOKI. Checking out DEADPOOL on a lark, I was surprised by how much I loved it. DEADPOOL 2 was just as good if not better, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. So when DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE hit the theaters, I was ready to watch, finally catching it when it hit streaming on Disney Plus.
I was severely disappointed.
In this movie, the Time Variance Authority (TVA) recruits Deadpool to save his universe from destruction because Wolverine died in his timeline. (This makes zero sense, but just go with it.) To accomplish this, he sets out to find a Wolverine variant willing to help, leading to a team-up adventure against a villain living in the End who wants to destroy all reality.
The setup promises to be fun as the ultimate unlikely buddy movie, Deadpool’s freakiness versus Wolverine’s moody earnestness, and they work in plenty of surprising cameos and crazy set pieces like Deadpool fighting an army of himself, but despite the potential of all these great elements the whole is just a hot mess. Confusing character development, a non-stop stream of F-bombs and meta jokes covering up a bad script, and no real stakes, no reason to care.
The highlight was Hugh Jackman as WOLVERINE, who did have something of a story arc. Even here, you can see why he’s one of Marvel’s most beloved characters.
So, I didn’t hate it, but instead of DEADPOOL standing out from the usual Marvel fare, it joined the club. I know it’s “mindless entertainment, just go with it and have fun,” and that’s fine, but it just wasn’t nearly as fun for me as the first two movies. If there’s another DEADPOOL I’ll watch it, but I’m hoping it gets back to its clever roots.
In SINNERS (2025), two Black men return to rural Mississippi after serving in the First World War and a stint working for Al Capone in Chicago, hoping to open a juke joint for the local Black community only to run afoul not only with the KKK but an infestation of vampires. The result bursts at the seams, can be pretty messy, but is ultimately a really good time.
Smoke and Stack (twins played by Michael B. Jordan) spend quite a bit of time pulling together the people they need to open their establishment while reuniting with those they left behind. Among them are past loves (Hailee Steinfeld and Wunmi Mosaku), a veteran blues musician (Delroy Lindo, one of my favorite actors), and upcoming blues prodigy Sammie (Miles Caton). Smoke and Stack are haunted men, real sinners, and they hope to see Sammie mature and find his own way in the world while also taking steps to protect his innocence so he doesn’t follow the same dark path as them. The men open their joint and throw an amazing party, but Sammie’s music catches the interest of a passing vampire and all hell breaks loose.
The movie is about a lot of things and is trying to be a lot of things, but that’s fine, I was enjoying it for its Southern Gothic feel and great cinematography, but once the vampires show up, the movie takes off. Jack O’Connell steals the show as Remmick, the Irish vampire who sees his kind as full of communal love and beyond racism. He also absorbs the memories of everyone he turns, which is why he wants to invade the juke joint so badly–he falls in love with Sammie’s music and wants his stories. A lot of whether a vampire movie today really works, at least for me, is in how the vampire is handled, and I loved this portrayal of a cheerful but very hungry and lonesome cult.
Did I mention this movie is trying to be a lot of things? One of them is a musical, with several songs, two of which are amazing set pieces that made me wish I’d seen SINNERS in the theater. In one, Sammie’s playing transcends time and space to draw dancers and musicians from across history, and in another, the grinning vampires jam to an Irish folk song while Remmick jigs. These scenes are surprising and elevate the story even while it relies on familiar tropes like stakes and garlic, creating something new.
Overall, all the disparate elements in SINNERS didn’t quite come together perfectly for me, but they came together well enough, and where it worked for me it shined. In short, I loved it and would recommend it.
In horror mockumentary SAVAGELAND (2017), the 57 residents of a tiny Texas border town are massacred in a single bloody night and the lone survivor is accused of the heinous crime. But the pictures he took tell a different story.
This was a real surprise. What the filmmakers accomplished with a small budget is amazing. SAVAGELAND is presented like a true crime documentary and follows the same structure, presenting the crime, the man who stood accused, and the questions raised about his guilt. Only, in this case, the survivor described a group of strange people who came to the town and tore everyone to shreds.
As the story progresses, we meet the sheriff, who is absolutely convinced Salazar, an illegal immigrant, committed mass murder; various locals caught up in the debate over immigration; a reporter who discovered the mysterious photos depicting a nightmarish horror; a border patrol agent who believes Salazar is innocent; and families and friends of the victims.
When the photos are introduced, they tell the story of Salazar’s mad dash through hell, and they are super creepy. Depicting the last moments of various residents, blurry with motion, they take on a life of their own and give heavy NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and 30 DAYS OF NIGHT vibes. Coupled with the secondhand nature of the storytelling, it really plays on the imagination and brought me directly into the story.
Overall, I loved SAVAGELAND and recommend it. I didn’t expect anything, and it turned out to be a great surprise.