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Guess Juan never said you couldn't talk about the name of porn titles you last seen.
The Evil Dead - With Evil Dead Burn being made available online on August 4, I figured it would be a good time to binge the franchise. My last binge was in October 2024, so not a long time has passed. But apparently, enough time has passed for me to watch the original and actually love it more! This might be my 4th overall viewing of the original Sam Raimi film. My only hang-up from the previous viewing was feeling the slowness of the film too much, especially when the 2nd act was transitioning into the 3rd. The movie didn't feel like a fast 85 minutes. I didn't have that gripe at all in this viewing! I think what helped me from feeling the slowness too much was the greater admiration for the craft on display. The cinematography in this film is incredible, especially considering the budget. So much variety in the cinematography, each choice a smart one. The editing was also very tight, the movie knew exactly when to jump at the viewer, when to slow down, when to turn up the heat. Fun fact, Joel Coen was the assistant editor. I don't know how much he contributed to this film, but the Coen Brothers were experts at pacing, and editing plays a big part in that. Beyond the editing and cinematography is the directing from Sam Raimi. How he tells this basic cabin-in-the-woods story from start to finish is so impressive. It felt like he wanted to do things differently, be as wild and as creative as possible. The movie's first major release was in 1981, but it was shot in 1979. That's important to note because this movie has strong 70s vibes. The chilling atmosphere screams the 70s. There's a torn-up poster of The Hills Have Eyes in the cabin cellar. A nice shout-out to Wes Craven, but now I think it indicates that Craven was an influence on Sam Raimi. Craven at that time was great at setting a creepy, unnerving atmosphere in his movies. As flawed as The Hills Have Eyes is, the atmosphere is unmistakable. Sam Raimi took that and added so much energy, a nice dash of comedy, and reckless abandon. I got wrapped up in all that.
Not to mention Bruce Campbell being an amazing scream king! He wasn't the goofy badass Ash Williams. He was the scared, slightly goofy Ashley Williams. His screams rival top-tier scream queens. Even though the guy wasn't a badass, it was still very easy to feel the toll he had taken for much of the movie. A true survivor. The stunts Bruce Campbell had to do also show a lot of strength and tenacity. Bruce Campbell was as game as Sam Raimi, which explains why they worked so beautifully together. Similar sensibilities as well, of course. Things I loved about the movie from the previous viewings still hold up. The practical effects, the stopmotion, the gore, the overall nastiness of the film, the haunting music, the effective use of smoke, the funny stuff, the cabin itself being a crucial character in the film, and even the other actors. None of them were as impactful as Bruce Campbell, but they all played their roles so well. Oh, and of course, the Fake Shemps! They were also fantastic. 2026 has seen me bump up certain movies after a rewatch. Face/Off and The Cat are two examples. The Evil Dead deserves the same treatment. I was so satisfied with the film that I actually debated whether watching Evil Dead II right after that was necessary. I wanted to sit with the movie for a while. After over an hour, I decided to watch Evil Dead II right away and not wait until tomorrow. I think that speaks volumes about the effect the original Evil Dead has on me now. Now I can't say Evil Dead 2 is obviously better, they're masterpieces for different reasons. Oh, I just spoiled a bit what I think of Evil Dead 2. Before I elaborate, let me rate this film. 10/10!
Evil Dead II - I was a little concerned going into this. After now embracing the first movie as a 10/10 film, I was unsure if Evil Dead II's firm hold on me would weaken. Also, a double feature of the two movies sounded good on paper, but the tones are so different. This is much more of a comedy than the first movie. Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi refer to the movie as "Splatstick." I was in the perfect mood to watch the first movie. Late at night with the lights off. Evil Dead 2 could be watched any time of the day, but after being put through the horror wringer with that film, the sequel might feel a little jarring. As it turned out, the concern was washed away almost immediately. Even though the sequel is more comedic, the energy and commitment are very much the same. A bigger budget allowed Sam Raimi to go for broke, like he did for The Evil Dead, but on a bigger scale. So Evil Dead II doesn't only feel like a change in tone, but an evolution of a filmmaker on full display. Also evolving was Bruce Campbell, who had a charming, timid presence in the first movie. Here, he evolved into a badass! The evolution takes place in the source of the film. He doesn't start the sequel as a badass. I think the film takes its time to justify its turn into comedy, without sacrificing the heavy impact Sam Raimi was able to leave from start to finish.
I think there has been debate over whether Evil Dead II is a sequel or a remake. It starts with a retelling of the first movie, which has significant differences. Only Ash and Linda head to the cabin in this retelling. According to Bruce Campbell, they didn't have the rights to the first film, so they couldn't use footage from that to recap the story. Apparently some people believe that the first 7 or so minutes isn't a retelling, but Ash going back to the cabin! That's silly, unless you believe that Ash has two girlfriends named "Linda." I always labeled Evil Dead II a sequel. Bruce Campbell even addressed this topic and said that if you simply start right at the demons of the forest reaching Ash, which is how the first movie ended, then you have a full-fledged sequel. Well, during this viewing, there were little things that kind of backed up the remake argument. The most notable one for me was Ash finding the shotgun. His reaction to it seemed like he had never seen or used it before. But he did in the first movie. But man, this is a silly topic to discuss. I still think it's a proper sequel.
Anyway, the movie didn't lose any of its luster. Evil Dead II is still a hilarious sequel with Bruce Campbell being more of a star. I'd say that Sam Raimi was the MVP of the first film. Here, Bruce Campbell is arguably the MVP. A big reason for that is the movie staying well above water when it was just Ash. He dominates the first half of the movie, as it takes a while for him to share the screen with other people. Once that happens, there's just no competition. Nearly everyone sucked compared to Ash. They were absolutely necessary for the plot and the film's body count. Their deaths and/or Deadite moments were tremendous, but the movie lived and died on Bruce Campbell. He carried it big time. Combine that with Sam Raimi's evolved state as a filmmaker, the maximum effort, energy, and creativity, and you have a towering classic in genre cinema. The pacing for this is better than the original film. It moves at a faster pace while still having the right amount of slow and explosive moments. The jump scares are so effective. Even after close to a half-dozen viewings, I still had to predict when things would jump. The special effects are even wilder, with a more ghostly animation added to the mix. Stopmotion makes its grand return in the form of Linda. What they do with her was crazy and funny. The stunt work was rough, but impressive. Sam Raimi really threw Bruce Campbell around.
I really have no complaints with this film. In this viewing, I can now spot strings being used to hold up Henrietta (Ted Raimi), but that didn't take me out of the movie. The volume is sometimes too low in this and the original film, which might be a sign that I need to watch either better Blu-ray rips or get 4K versions. None of these hurt the overall experience. Oh, I should shout out Ted Raimi and Sarah Berry. They were good in their respective roles, but Bruce Campbell was still the king. His one-liners were epic. Even after watching the movie multiple times, I still get pumped when he says "Groovy" and "Swallow this." I'm pretty sure Edgar Wright was inspired heavily by Sam Raimi, and the chainsaw hand prep scene had a quick editing style that Wright would trademark. Speaking of influences, I wonder if A Nightmare on Elm Street influenced Raimi. Famously, Freddy's glove appears a few times in Evil Dead 2. In this viewing, Ash getting a streak of white hair made me think of Nancy. The Evil Dead was playing on TV in A Nightmare on Elm Street, fun fact.
Even though the movie ends on a cliffhanger, justifying Army of Darkness, I think the film can stand alone. Army of Darkness is very different from its predecessors anyway. What I appreciate about Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy is that he strived to do things his way and not repeat himself. Between his 3 Evil Dead movies, there's really something for everyone, and it comes down to preference. As of now, I'm leaning a bit in favor of Evil Dead 2, just because it's so much fun. The Evil Dead is a bit more situational. In 2024, I watched that movie during the day. This time, it was late at night. I think that had some kind of impact. With Evil Dead II, it's great regardless of when you watch it. My desktop wallpaper is of Evil Dead II. I've had that since my last viewing of that film, so close to 2 years! I thought about changing it, but now after revisiting the film, I can't do that just yet! Evil Dead II is one of the best horror/comedies ever. I don't think much about ranking my favorite movies of all time. If I were to do that, Evil Dead II has to be on that list, specifically if I'm doing a Top 50, maybe 30! I'm sure in saying that this is my favorite Sam Raimi film. I don't think there has been a bad Evil Dead film, but relatively speaking, it's downhill from here. 10/10
Not to mention Bruce Campbell being an amazing scream king! He wasn't the goofy badass Ash Williams. He was the scared, slightly goofy Ashley Williams. His screams rival top-tier scream queens. Even though the guy wasn't a badass, it was still very easy to feel the toll he had taken for much of the movie. A true survivor. The stunts Bruce Campbell had to do also show a lot of strength and tenacity. Bruce Campbell was as game as Sam Raimi, which explains why they worked so beautifully together. Similar sensibilities as well, of course. Things I loved about the movie from the previous viewings still hold up. The practical effects, the stopmotion, the gore, the overall nastiness of the film, the haunting music, the effective use of smoke, the funny stuff, the cabin itself being a crucial character in the film, and even the other actors. None of them were as impactful as Bruce Campbell, but they all played their roles so well. Oh, and of course, the Fake Shemps! They were also fantastic. 2026 has seen me bump up certain movies after a rewatch. Face/Off and The Cat are two examples. The Evil Dead deserves the same treatment. I was so satisfied with the film that I actually debated whether watching Evil Dead II right after that was necessary. I wanted to sit with the movie for a while. After over an hour, I decided to watch Evil Dead II right away and not wait until tomorrow. I think that speaks volumes about the effect the original Evil Dead has on me now. Now I can't say Evil Dead 2 is obviously better, they're masterpieces for different reasons. Oh, I just spoiled a bit what I think of Evil Dead 2. Before I elaborate, let me rate this film. 10/10!
Evil Dead II - I was a little concerned going into this. After now embracing the first movie as a 10/10 film, I was unsure if Evil Dead II's firm hold on me would weaken. Also, a double feature of the two movies sounded good on paper, but the tones are so different. This is much more of a comedy than the first movie. Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi refer to the movie as "Splatstick." I was in the perfect mood to watch the first movie. Late at night with the lights off. Evil Dead 2 could be watched any time of the day, but after being put through the horror wringer with that film, the sequel might feel a little jarring. As it turned out, the concern was washed away almost immediately. Even though the sequel is more comedic, the energy and commitment are very much the same. A bigger budget allowed Sam Raimi to go for broke, like he did for The Evil Dead, but on a bigger scale. So Evil Dead II doesn't only feel like a change in tone, but an evolution of a filmmaker on full display. Also evolving was Bruce Campbell, who had a charming, timid presence in the first movie. Here, he evolved into a badass! The evolution takes place in the source of the film. He doesn't start the sequel as a badass. I think the film takes its time to justify its turn into comedy, without sacrificing the heavy impact Sam Raimi was able to leave from start to finish.
I think there has been debate over whether Evil Dead II is a sequel or a remake. It starts with a retelling of the first movie, which has significant differences. Only Ash and Linda head to the cabin in this retelling. According to Bruce Campbell, they didn't have the rights to the first film, so they couldn't use footage from that to recap the story. Apparently some people believe that the first 7 or so minutes isn't a retelling, but Ash going back to the cabin! That's silly, unless you believe that Ash has two girlfriends named "Linda." I always labeled Evil Dead II a sequel. Bruce Campbell even addressed this topic and said that if you simply start right at the demons of the forest reaching Ash, which is how the first movie ended, then you have a full-fledged sequel. Well, during this viewing, there were little things that kind of backed up the remake argument. The most notable one for me was Ash finding the shotgun. His reaction to it seemed like he had never seen or used it before. But he did in the first movie. But man, this is a silly topic to discuss. I still think it's a proper sequel.
Anyway, the movie didn't lose any of its luster. Evil Dead II is still a hilarious sequel with Bruce Campbell being more of a star. I'd say that Sam Raimi was the MVP of the first film. Here, Bruce Campbell is arguably the MVP. A big reason for that is the movie staying well above water when it was just Ash. He dominates the first half of the movie, as it takes a while for him to share the screen with other people. Once that happens, there's just no competition. Nearly everyone sucked compared to Ash. They were absolutely necessary for the plot and the film's body count. Their deaths and/or Deadite moments were tremendous, but the movie lived and died on Bruce Campbell. He carried it big time. Combine that with Sam Raimi's evolved state as a filmmaker, the maximum effort, energy, and creativity, and you have a towering classic in genre cinema. The pacing for this is better than the original film. It moves at a faster pace while still having the right amount of slow and explosive moments. The jump scares are so effective. Even after close to a half-dozen viewings, I still had to predict when things would jump. The special effects are even wilder, with a more ghostly animation added to the mix. Stopmotion makes its grand return in the form of Linda. What they do with her was crazy and funny. The stunt work was rough, but impressive. Sam Raimi really threw Bruce Campbell around.
I really have no complaints with this film. In this viewing, I can now spot strings being used to hold up Henrietta (Ted Raimi), but that didn't take me out of the movie. The volume is sometimes too low in this and the original film, which might be a sign that I need to watch either better Blu-ray rips or get 4K versions. None of these hurt the overall experience. Oh, I should shout out Ted Raimi and Sarah Berry. They were good in their respective roles, but Bruce Campbell was still the king. His one-liners were epic. Even after watching the movie multiple times, I still get pumped when he says "Groovy" and "Swallow this." I'm pretty sure Edgar Wright was inspired heavily by Sam Raimi, and the chainsaw hand prep scene had a quick editing style that Wright would trademark. Speaking of influences, I wonder if A Nightmare on Elm Street influenced Raimi. Famously, Freddy's glove appears a few times in Evil Dead 2. In this viewing, Ash getting a streak of white hair made me think of Nancy. The Evil Dead was playing on TV in A Nightmare on Elm Street, fun fact.
Even though the movie ends on a cliffhanger, justifying Army of Darkness, I think the film can stand alone. Army of Darkness is very different from its predecessors anyway. What I appreciate about Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy is that he strived to do things his way and not repeat himself. Between his 3 Evil Dead movies, there's really something for everyone, and it comes down to preference. As of now, I'm leaning a bit in favor of Evil Dead 2, just because it's so much fun. The Evil Dead is a bit more situational. In 2024, I watched that movie during the day. This time, it was late at night. I think that had some kind of impact. With Evil Dead II, it's great regardless of when you watch it. My desktop wallpaper is of Evil Dead II. I've had that since my last viewing of that film, so close to 2 years! I thought about changing it, but now after revisiting the film, I can't do that just yet! Evil Dead II is one of the best horror/comedies ever. I don't think much about ranking my favorite movies of all time. If I were to do that, Evil Dead II has to be on that list, specifically if I'm doing a Top 50, maybe 30! I'm sure in saying that this is my favorite Sam Raimi film. I don't think there has been a bad Evil Dead film, but relatively speaking, it's downhill from here. 10/10
I'm 1h13m into Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but I just can't stomach anymore of it. It's too damn boring.
At least I enjoyed Spider-Man: No Way Home for the nostalgia of seeing actors from previous SM movies.
If I had watched this at a cinema I'd probably just go home.
At least I enjoyed Spider-Man: No Way Home for the nostalgia of seeing actors from previous SM movies.
If I had watched this at a cinema I'd probably just go home.
So you're watching a CAM-rip? I don't think there's any other version of that film to watch at home.
Yep, a cam rip but it's very watchable. The problem isn't even the picture quality, it's the movie itself.
Since my last post, I watched 10 movies. I typed up reviews for Army of Darkness, the Evil Dead remake, Rise, and Burn. I haven't completed Burn, but even if I did, all those reviews would make for an incredibly long post. I don't think I should do that, and I don't feel like condensing them. Then there's my thinking that I should review the other movies I watched this past week. It's overwhelming for me. So I'll just wipe the slate clean and give quick thoughts and ratings for those 10 films.
Army of Darkness - I loved it more on this latest viewing. Some of the comedy didn't land for me. But the ambition and overall energy from Sam Raimi still rocked. Bruce Campbell was amazing, it's perhaps the best performance of his whole career. The movie is rated R, but it should be PG-13 because there's not a lot of blood except for one sequence, and the gore is toned down from the previous films. Either way, Army of Darkness is a lot of fun. 9/10
Evil Dead (2013) - I liked it a bit more on this viewing, but I still believe it's a one-trick pony. What I mean is that its biggest strength is the gore. Everything else is either a mixed bag or very flawed. I did like Jane Levy's performance a bit more, and I recognized some cool cinematography when it wasn't copying Sam Raimi. This movie has seemingly gotten more love over the years, and I just can't get on board with it. It's the weakest in the franchise, but it's still a good movie. 7.5/10
Evil Dead Rise - Holy crap, I loved this more on the latest viewing! What's so baffling is that this was actually my 8th viewing of the film. I watched it 7 times within 2 months in 2024. I watched it with a couple of reaction channels, and I even watched those reactions multiple times along with the film. I thought I had exhausted myself of the film, but returning to it was such a thrill. I actually got goosebumps from certain highly anticipated moments. I loved Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland's performances. I loved Lee Cronin's directing. I loved his homages to the previous Evil Dead films, including the remake! I don't think many people love this movie as much as I do, which made me think I'm overrating it. I would rather be in the minority when it comes to this film. Also, because I bumped up my rating for Army of Darkness, I feel I have to do it for Rise because I previously rated them the same. At the time, I wasn't sure if Rise was better than Army of Darkness, hence rating them the same. Now? I'm kind of thinking Rise is better! So this is an easy 9/10.
Evil Dead Burn - I see it as a midpoint between the remake and Rise. It goes for the neck in the gore department like the remake while having some humor, like Rise. Also like Rise, director Sebastian Vanicek really wanted to flex his directorial muscles and make himself the star of the film. I think he succeeded. This feels less like an Evil Dead film than Rise. It seemed that the director was inspired by New French Extremity films such as Irreversible and crafted an Evil Dead film around that. He succeeded, the gore in this might have surpassed the remake. It is definitely less discriminating about who to kill than the remake! For example, the remake didn't show the dog being killed. Burn does! Like Rise, Burn has a bunch of nods and references to the previous films. The nods to Rise were among my favorites. I was surprised how much the movie referenced Rise. It's the longest film in the franchise, which is one of my gripes. At 1 hour and 50 minutes, the movie is a little too long. Many scenes could've been trimmed down. The desaturated look of the film sometimes bugged me, even though the story seemed to have been set during the winter. It snowed at some point. The desaturated look does go along with a cold atmosphere, and this movie is raw and cold overall. But following Rise, it felt like a bit of a step down. The climax of the film also featured a CGI thing that reminded me of the T-800 at the end of The Terminator. I wasn't a big fan of it. Going back to the runtime, I can kind of see why it was long because there was a mid-credits and post-credits scene, both of which are substantial. Oh man, the post-credits scene got me so fucking hyped! Talk about saving the best for last! 8/10
Wishmaster - A very dumb but fun special effects showcase from the KNB FX Group. The K in that group, Robert Kurtzman, directed the film. He was able to get some horror icons, who just so happened to be people he worked with before, such as Robert Englund, Tony Todd, and Kane Hodder. The practical effects mostly hold up. The CGI sucks! That drags the movie down, unfortunately. Also, sometimes it's just so dumb that it's hard to forgive. In other words, it's sometimes a "so bad it's good" movie. But other times, it's just bad. Still, it's worth watching, especially with people. 7/10
Lee Cronin's The Mummy - I figured that watching this after binging the Evil Dead franchise would be fitting since this movie kept being referred to as an Evil Dead film. Unsurprisingly, I agree with that. Hell, that's when the movie was at its strongest. When Lee Cronin pretty much replicated what he did with Evil Dead Rise. The dark humor, the gore, the gross-out moments, and the very energetic cinematography. He did go a little overboard with the split diopter shots. In Rise, I noticed a bunch of foot shots, which made me wonder if the guy has a fetish. Holy crap, he went overboard with the foot shots in this movie, it was a lot more unsettling. Still, the movie felt the most alive when Lee Cronin went full Evil Dead. Unfortunately, that's not the whole movie. The other half of this film is a supernatural mystery that just didn't fully work for me. There was one subplot that could've been cut out completely. It's a shame because that subplot featured an actor who was in Evil Dead Rise, the guy who played Mr. Fonda. Lily Sullivan is also in this film! Yay! But she's only in one scene. Boo! And they did her so dirty, but it made me laugh! Similar to Rise, this film has a great child performance. In Rise, it was Nell Fisher. Here, it was Natalie Grace, who played the Deadite, I mean, "Mummy" in the film. The movie is way too long at 2 hours and 14 minutes! If it stuck to being an Evil Dead film, then it would've been at least 20 minutes shorter. The third act also felt very bloated, and I didn't like how overly positive the ending was. By the way, I have never seen any other mummy film, this was my first. So I don't have any favoritism over the Brendan Fraser mummy films or the very old ones from Universal and Hammer. I was drawn to the film because of the Evil Dead comparisons and the fact it was written and directed by Lee Cronin. So maybe it's a bad mummy film. For me, it was a decent Evil Dead film. If I were to count this with the other Evil Dead films, it would be the weakest in the franchise, unfortunately. This film needed another editing pass. I heard that the test screenings were very rough and the studio was lost on what to do with this. They released it though. Even though Warner Bros has a bad history of not releasing films, their hesitation over this is a little justified. This film is a mess. A fascinating one at least. The positives narrowly outweigh the negatives. Also, you're not going to see another major film with Arabic actors. The cop in this was played by May Calamawy, a Palestinian/Egyptian actress! Some Latino representation too! The cast overall is pretty good and helps in making the film engaging. Jack Reynor's kind of funny because with the thick beard, it was as if the guy's only visible facial feature was his eyes! His mouth was practically covered by the beard. I just saw eyes on someone's neck. Big, wide open eyes too! Anyway, this review's starting to get long. A full review of this would've taken days. I have so many mixed feelings about the movie, but in the end, I kind of like it. 6/10
Brazil - This was the first film in a Friday double feature with a Discord server I'm in. A very random pairing on paper, but there ended up being a few surprising connections. I think I liked the film more than everyone else. They were very overwhelmed by the maximalist nature of the film, and highly critical of the story. I wish certain things were explained and made clear to the viewer, but overall, I was so sucked into the movie. I only watched it once before, and that was at least 15 years ago! A rewatch was long overdue. I watched the Director's Cut, which makes the film a little over 2 hours and 20 minutes. That's too long to open a double feature, but the host really wanted to watch this. We were supposed to watch it at the end of June, but the video file was corrupted or something. Anyway, the craft in this film is amazing, with the set design being the best. Michael Kamen's score is fantastic. The cast was so energetic, regardless of how much screen time they got. Actors like Bob Hoskins and Robert De Niro kicked ass, despite being barely in the movie. Jonathan Pryce was a very effective lead. Kim Griest was nice. Ian Holm was hilarious. Katherine Helmond and Barbara Hicks were also funny. Terry Gilliam is definitely an acquired taste. I've seen a few of his films, namely Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and 12 Monkeys. I thought about 12 Monkeys quite a bit while watching Brazil. I think Brazil is Gilliam's most well-regarded film, but even that still qualifies as an acquired taste, as demonstrated by the reactions of the people in the watch party. Whereas they would rate the film a 7/10 or even lower, I'm giving it an 8/10.
Cemetery Man - An Italian horror/comedy that just doesn't make sense. The premise was already crazy, corpses in a certain cemetery come back as zombies within a few days. The caretaker and his assistant must kill the zombies. That seemed enough for a whole movie, but the caretaker, played by Rupert Everett, falls in love and later gets the urge to kill humans. That love and murderous urge even come together. It's like Brazil, where the story is so crazy and hard to explain, but you have to go with it. The romance in both movies is totally random, but you have to go with it. Almost everyone in the watch party went for it, including me! There were a few points where I was ready to give up on the movie, but then it would pull something very funny. In hindsight, this movie is in line with the many Italian horror films I watched. Films that are very thin on plot, and excel in nasty, intense, and even funny visuals. Also kind of like Brazil! The nudity in the film was great, I almost forgot to bring that up. Cemetery Man is such a strong case of "It just works." Hard to explain, but not so hard for me to enjoy. 8/10
SOULM8TE - After watching Lily Sullivan in Evil Dead Rise and her one scene in Lee Cronin's The Mummy, I felt that watching SOULM8TE would've been fitting. I didn't have high expectations for the film. Universal didn't have high expectations. After Atomic Monster/Blumhouse failed to find a new distributor, Universal held off on releasing it theatrically in January 2026, only to randomly drop it on August 1 via VOD. A Saturday! Anyway, I never watched the 2 M3GAN films. This movie is a spinoff of those films, but the movie doesn't make any references to M3GAN. This is more of a standalone film. An erotic thriller that sadly wasn't very erotic or thrilling! This was a very mediocre film. It doesn't do anything new in its commentary on AI and relationships with androids. This movie is so inconsequential and kind of shouldn't exist. There was already a great thriller that tackled this subject, Companion from 2025! This movie lacks the intelligence, twists, and overall energy of Companion. It's a meandering film that doesn't say or do much. The erotic scenes could've been better, but I enjoyed them to an extent. Lily Sullivan is very attractive and does multiple sex scenes. No full frontal. She's topless, though, and in one scene, you get half a butt shot while she's fully nude. The best scene in the movie was her riding someone and then killing them. The movie should've had more of that. They failed at the commentary, but I would've been fine if they just went all in on being a dumb, fun genre movie. But nope! It was frustrating to see good actors work with a lackluster script. David Rysdahl and Claudia Doumit were decent. The latter was also very attractive. Elijah Cook was very charming, but he's barely in the movie. Lily Sullivan was easily the best of the cast. Even though the writing sucked, she did very well with the physicality and mannerisms. She was great at playing an android. But Sophie Thatcher was better in Companion! God, maybe I would've liked this film if I had never seen Companion. Then again, this movie's pretty similar to 80s-90s erotic thrillers if you take out the sci-fi element. The AI companion in this film pretty much becomes a jealous psycho bitch, a worn-out trope that's rooted in misogyny. The fact that this movie was directed by a woman didn't seem to minimize that trope. I think Kate Dolan was just a director for hire anyway. Anyway, I can't recommend this film unless you really want to see Lily Sullivan's boobs and grinding on a man. Those moments were nice, but the film was ultimately a failure. Fuck the climax. Ugh! That shit also reminded me of The Terminator. Companion even did Terminator-like things better! The CGI in the climax was rough, the nighttime setting was barely visible, and the final death was so damn lame. This movie overall didn't go far enough. It wasn't sexy enough, not gory enough, and not gun enough. Seriously, you're better off watching Companion. 5/10
Gymkata - I randomly wanted to revisit the movie, so I did. It's a "so bad, it's good" movie. It took me 3 viewings to finally enjoy it. The first two viewings were rough because the movie is a slog at just 89 minutes. The dialogue is shit, and the audio is so low any time people talked. The third viewing was the charm, as I found those major flaws a bit more enjoyable. I can't put it up there with The Room or Samurai Cop because sometimes it's just too boring, just too bad. On this fourth viewing, my opinion hasn't changed. I don't like the movie any more or less. I think what would push the rating up is if I watch it with a bunch of people and roast it with them. Kurt Thomas obviously was a fantastic gymnast, but whenever he wasn't doing that, he was awful! Weak line delivery, no charisma, stiff as a board. Sometimes those flaws made me laugh, but his gymnastic fighting, the "Gymkata," was even funnier! Richard Norton tries to carry the film and does a nice job. Not much to the character, so he only excels in fighting and looking like a hard bastard. In many of his films, Norton was one of the best fighters, competing with his co-stars such as Sammo Hung and Cynthia Rothrock. In Gymkata, there's no such competition, he's easily the best fighter. That's shown in the fight scene with Kurt Thomas, but because they had to make him win, Norton jobbed out, and it was embarrassing. Compare the strikes of Norton with Kurt Thomas, it's no question who was the better fighter. Norton even choreographed the fight scenes and talked about how Kurt Thomas struggled in that department. Speaking of fighting, shout out to Tetchie Agbayani kicking ass. She was a model who had no martial arts experience, but she delivered some great high kicks and karate chops! Hell, she was kind of better at fighting than Kurt Thomas. I must also shout out the third act of the movie, namely when Kurt Thomas goes to the "village of the crazies." That section of the movie was pretty much Resident Evil 4. That was pretty creepy with great atmosphere. But then it became stupid and funny when Kurt Thomas fought a bunch of people for almost five minutes with the help of a conveniently placed pummel horse! Yeah, this movie's very stupid, but fun if you like shitty action films like Samurai Cop and Miami Connection. Those films offer more to the viewer, but Gymkata is still rather special. 8/10
Army of Darkness - I loved it more on this latest viewing. Some of the comedy didn't land for me. But the ambition and overall energy from Sam Raimi still rocked. Bruce Campbell was amazing, it's perhaps the best performance of his whole career. The movie is rated R, but it should be PG-13 because there's not a lot of blood except for one sequence, and the gore is toned down from the previous films. Either way, Army of Darkness is a lot of fun. 9/10
Evil Dead (2013) - I liked it a bit more on this viewing, but I still believe it's a one-trick pony. What I mean is that its biggest strength is the gore. Everything else is either a mixed bag or very flawed. I did like Jane Levy's performance a bit more, and I recognized some cool cinematography when it wasn't copying Sam Raimi. This movie has seemingly gotten more love over the years, and I just can't get on board with it. It's the weakest in the franchise, but it's still a good movie. 7.5/10
Evil Dead Rise - Holy crap, I loved this more on the latest viewing! What's so baffling is that this was actually my 8th viewing of the film. I watched it 7 times within 2 months in 2024. I watched it with a couple of reaction channels, and I even watched those reactions multiple times along with the film. I thought I had exhausted myself of the film, but returning to it was such a thrill. I actually got goosebumps from certain highly anticipated moments. I loved Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland's performances. I loved Lee Cronin's directing. I loved his homages to the previous Evil Dead films, including the remake! I don't think many people love this movie as much as I do, which made me think I'm overrating it. I would rather be in the minority when it comes to this film. Also, because I bumped up my rating for Army of Darkness, I feel I have to do it for Rise because I previously rated them the same. At the time, I wasn't sure if Rise was better than Army of Darkness, hence rating them the same. Now? I'm kind of thinking Rise is better! So this is an easy 9/10.
Evil Dead Burn - I see it as a midpoint between the remake and Rise. It goes for the neck in the gore department like the remake while having some humor, like Rise. Also like Rise, director Sebastian Vanicek really wanted to flex his directorial muscles and make himself the star of the film. I think he succeeded. This feels less like an Evil Dead film than Rise. It seemed that the director was inspired by New French Extremity films such as Irreversible and crafted an Evil Dead film around that. He succeeded, the gore in this might have surpassed the remake. It is definitely less discriminating about who to kill than the remake! For example, the remake didn't show the dog being killed. Burn does! Like Rise, Burn has a bunch of nods and references to the previous films. The nods to Rise were among my favorites. I was surprised how much the movie referenced Rise. It's the longest film in the franchise, which is one of my gripes. At 1 hour and 50 minutes, the movie is a little too long. Many scenes could've been trimmed down. The desaturated look of the film sometimes bugged me, even though the story seemed to have been set during the winter. It snowed at some point. The desaturated look does go along with a cold atmosphere, and this movie is raw and cold overall. But following Rise, it felt like a bit of a step down. The climax of the film also featured a CGI thing that reminded me of the T-800 at the end of The Terminator. I wasn't a big fan of it. Going back to the runtime, I can kind of see why it was long because there was a mid-credits and post-credits scene, both of which are substantial. Oh man, the post-credits scene got me so fucking hyped! Talk about saving the best for last! 8/10
Wishmaster - A very dumb but fun special effects showcase from the KNB FX Group. The K in that group, Robert Kurtzman, directed the film. He was able to get some horror icons, who just so happened to be people he worked with before, such as Robert Englund, Tony Todd, and Kane Hodder. The practical effects mostly hold up. The CGI sucks! That drags the movie down, unfortunately. Also, sometimes it's just so dumb that it's hard to forgive. In other words, it's sometimes a "so bad it's good" movie. But other times, it's just bad. Still, it's worth watching, especially with people. 7/10
Lee Cronin's The Mummy - I figured that watching this after binging the Evil Dead franchise would be fitting since this movie kept being referred to as an Evil Dead film. Unsurprisingly, I agree with that. Hell, that's when the movie was at its strongest. When Lee Cronin pretty much replicated what he did with Evil Dead Rise. The dark humor, the gore, the gross-out moments, and the very energetic cinematography. He did go a little overboard with the split diopter shots. In Rise, I noticed a bunch of foot shots, which made me wonder if the guy has a fetish. Holy crap, he went overboard with the foot shots in this movie, it was a lot more unsettling. Still, the movie felt the most alive when Lee Cronin went full Evil Dead. Unfortunately, that's not the whole movie. The other half of this film is a supernatural mystery that just didn't fully work for me. There was one subplot that could've been cut out completely. It's a shame because that subplot featured an actor who was in Evil Dead Rise, the guy who played Mr. Fonda. Lily Sullivan is also in this film! Yay! But she's only in one scene. Boo! And they did her so dirty, but it made me laugh! Similar to Rise, this film has a great child performance. In Rise, it was Nell Fisher. Here, it was Natalie Grace, who played the Deadite, I mean, "Mummy" in the film. The movie is way too long at 2 hours and 14 minutes! If it stuck to being an Evil Dead film, then it would've been at least 20 minutes shorter. The third act also felt very bloated, and I didn't like how overly positive the ending was. By the way, I have never seen any other mummy film, this was my first. So I don't have any favoritism over the Brendan Fraser mummy films or the very old ones from Universal and Hammer. I was drawn to the film because of the Evil Dead comparisons and the fact it was written and directed by Lee Cronin. So maybe it's a bad mummy film. For me, it was a decent Evil Dead film. If I were to count this with the other Evil Dead films, it would be the weakest in the franchise, unfortunately. This film needed another editing pass. I heard that the test screenings were very rough and the studio was lost on what to do with this. They released it though. Even though Warner Bros has a bad history of not releasing films, their hesitation over this is a little justified. This film is a mess. A fascinating one at least. The positives narrowly outweigh the negatives. Also, you're not going to see another major film with Arabic actors. The cop in this was played by May Calamawy, a Palestinian/Egyptian actress! Some Latino representation too! The cast overall is pretty good and helps in making the film engaging. Jack Reynor's kind of funny because with the thick beard, it was as if the guy's only visible facial feature was his eyes! His mouth was practically covered by the beard. I just saw eyes on someone's neck. Big, wide open eyes too! Anyway, this review's starting to get long. A full review of this would've taken days. I have so many mixed feelings about the movie, but in the end, I kind of like it. 6/10
Brazil - This was the first film in a Friday double feature with a Discord server I'm in. A very random pairing on paper, but there ended up being a few surprising connections. I think I liked the film more than everyone else. They were very overwhelmed by the maximalist nature of the film, and highly critical of the story. I wish certain things were explained and made clear to the viewer, but overall, I was so sucked into the movie. I only watched it once before, and that was at least 15 years ago! A rewatch was long overdue. I watched the Director's Cut, which makes the film a little over 2 hours and 20 minutes. That's too long to open a double feature, but the host really wanted to watch this. We were supposed to watch it at the end of June, but the video file was corrupted or something. Anyway, the craft in this film is amazing, with the set design being the best. Michael Kamen's score is fantastic. The cast was so energetic, regardless of how much screen time they got. Actors like Bob Hoskins and Robert De Niro kicked ass, despite being barely in the movie. Jonathan Pryce was a very effective lead. Kim Griest was nice. Ian Holm was hilarious. Katherine Helmond and Barbara Hicks were also funny. Terry Gilliam is definitely an acquired taste. I've seen a few of his films, namely Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and 12 Monkeys. I thought about 12 Monkeys quite a bit while watching Brazil. I think Brazil is Gilliam's most well-regarded film, but even that still qualifies as an acquired taste, as demonstrated by the reactions of the people in the watch party. Whereas they would rate the film a 7/10 or even lower, I'm giving it an 8/10.
Cemetery Man - An Italian horror/comedy that just doesn't make sense. The premise was already crazy, corpses in a certain cemetery come back as zombies within a few days. The caretaker and his assistant must kill the zombies. That seemed enough for a whole movie, but the caretaker, played by Rupert Everett, falls in love and later gets the urge to kill humans. That love and murderous urge even come together. It's like Brazil, where the story is so crazy and hard to explain, but you have to go with it. The romance in both movies is totally random, but you have to go with it. Almost everyone in the watch party went for it, including me! There were a few points where I was ready to give up on the movie, but then it would pull something very funny. In hindsight, this movie is in line with the many Italian horror films I watched. Films that are very thin on plot, and excel in nasty, intense, and even funny visuals. Also kind of like Brazil! The nudity in the film was great, I almost forgot to bring that up. Cemetery Man is such a strong case of "It just works." Hard to explain, but not so hard for me to enjoy. 8/10
SOULM8TE - After watching Lily Sullivan in Evil Dead Rise and her one scene in Lee Cronin's The Mummy, I felt that watching SOULM8TE would've been fitting. I didn't have high expectations for the film. Universal didn't have high expectations. After Atomic Monster/Blumhouse failed to find a new distributor, Universal held off on releasing it theatrically in January 2026, only to randomly drop it on August 1 via VOD. A Saturday! Anyway, I never watched the 2 M3GAN films. This movie is a spinoff of those films, but the movie doesn't make any references to M3GAN. This is more of a standalone film. An erotic thriller that sadly wasn't very erotic or thrilling! This was a very mediocre film. It doesn't do anything new in its commentary on AI and relationships with androids. This movie is so inconsequential and kind of shouldn't exist. There was already a great thriller that tackled this subject, Companion from 2025! This movie lacks the intelligence, twists, and overall energy of Companion. It's a meandering film that doesn't say or do much. The erotic scenes could've been better, but I enjoyed them to an extent. Lily Sullivan is very attractive and does multiple sex scenes. No full frontal. She's topless, though, and in one scene, you get half a butt shot while she's fully nude. The best scene in the movie was her riding someone and then killing them. The movie should've had more of that. They failed at the commentary, but I would've been fine if they just went all in on being a dumb, fun genre movie. But nope! It was frustrating to see good actors work with a lackluster script. David Rysdahl and Claudia Doumit were decent. The latter was also very attractive. Elijah Cook was very charming, but he's barely in the movie. Lily Sullivan was easily the best of the cast. Even though the writing sucked, she did very well with the physicality and mannerisms. She was great at playing an android. But Sophie Thatcher was better in Companion! God, maybe I would've liked this film if I had never seen Companion. Then again, this movie's pretty similar to 80s-90s erotic thrillers if you take out the sci-fi element. The AI companion in this film pretty much becomes a jealous psycho bitch, a worn-out trope that's rooted in misogyny. The fact that this movie was directed by a woman didn't seem to minimize that trope. I think Kate Dolan was just a director for hire anyway. Anyway, I can't recommend this film unless you really want to see Lily Sullivan's boobs and grinding on a man. Those moments were nice, but the film was ultimately a failure. Fuck the climax. Ugh! That shit also reminded me of The Terminator. Companion even did Terminator-like things better! The CGI in the climax was rough, the nighttime setting was barely visible, and the final death was so damn lame. This movie overall didn't go far enough. It wasn't sexy enough, not gory enough, and not gun enough. Seriously, you're better off watching Companion. 5/10
Gymkata - I randomly wanted to revisit the movie, so I did. It's a "so bad, it's good" movie. It took me 3 viewings to finally enjoy it. The first two viewings were rough because the movie is a slog at just 89 minutes. The dialogue is shit, and the audio is so low any time people talked. The third viewing was the charm, as I found those major flaws a bit more enjoyable. I can't put it up there with The Room or Samurai Cop because sometimes it's just too boring, just too bad. On this fourth viewing, my opinion hasn't changed. I don't like the movie any more or less. I think what would push the rating up is if I watch it with a bunch of people and roast it with them. Kurt Thomas obviously was a fantastic gymnast, but whenever he wasn't doing that, he was awful! Weak line delivery, no charisma, stiff as a board. Sometimes those flaws made me laugh, but his gymnastic fighting, the "Gymkata," was even funnier! Richard Norton tries to carry the film and does a nice job. Not much to the character, so he only excels in fighting and looking like a hard bastard. In many of his films, Norton was one of the best fighters, competing with his co-stars such as Sammo Hung and Cynthia Rothrock. In Gymkata, there's no such competition, he's easily the best fighter. That's shown in the fight scene with Kurt Thomas, but because they had to make him win, Norton jobbed out, and it was embarrassing. Compare the strikes of Norton with Kurt Thomas, it's no question who was the better fighter. Norton even choreographed the fight scenes and talked about how Kurt Thomas struggled in that department. Speaking of fighting, shout out to Tetchie Agbayani kicking ass. She was a model who had no martial arts experience, but she delivered some great high kicks and karate chops! Hell, she was kind of better at fighting than Kurt Thomas. I must also shout out the third act of the movie, namely when Kurt Thomas goes to the "village of the crazies." That section of the movie was pretty much Resident Evil 4. That was pretty creepy with great atmosphere. But then it became stupid and funny when Kurt Thomas fought a bunch of people for almost five minutes with the help of a conveniently placed pummel horse! Yeah, this movie's very stupid, but fun if you like shitty action films like Samurai Cop and Miami Connection. Those films offer more to the viewer, but Gymkata is still rather special. 8/10
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