Category Archives: Horror

Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom

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Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom     5 stars

With the release of Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, from the very British Aardman Animations, directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, we can officially say that it is not too early for Halloween themed movies. Believe it or not, this is only the third in the series of full-length animated movies that stars the mischievous sheep, Shaun and the flock of adventurous sheep who cause no end of havoc on the Soggy Bottom farm and surroundings. The previous outing was way back in 2019 with A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon. These movies are done using puppets and elaborate sets that are photographed in a painstaking process of stop motion animation that takes years to produce. This time around it is harvest season and the sheep are preparing for Halloween having planted their own patch of pumpkins. (Yes, Sheep like Halloween too.) Unfortunately, through a series of pratfalls by Farmer John and interference by a clothesline eating goat, the pumpkins are destroyed, thus denying the sheep their chance to create jack-o-lanterns. (Notice that the Halloween tradition has crossed the Atlantic and entered British culture.) But there is an answer to their misfortune. Creative genius Shaun has a book titled Home-Made Science and endeavors to use the formulas there to create a growing chemical in a very elaborate lab in the farm’s windmill that will allow new pumpkins to grow overnight! The problem is that farmer John has found the chemical and applies it to his balding head, thinking it will give him renewed vitality and allow him to attract the attention of a female veterinarian who lives in town. Only, Shaun’s chemical works too well causing the pumpkins to grow to immense size and the farmer’s hair to quickly grow and completely cover his head and body with orange hair! Thus, the Beast of Mossy Bottom terrorizes the town while Farmer John appears to go missing. So, all sorts of troubles befall the inhabitants leading to hilarious stunts with the sheep and Bitzer, the farm dog, as they attempt to deal with the new threat. It’s all fun that almost any audience will love. And at only one hour and twenty minutes in length it should not wear out on the youngest viewers. There are a few references that only adults will get, including similarities to the Frankenstein movies and Psycho. Shaun’s mad scientist costume, the elaborate Rube-Goldberg style lab that Shaun creates and the vengeful townsfolk are especially amusing. In the film genre of purely visual sight gags, nothing tops what Aardman Animations can dish out. I hope that Shaun the Sheep will brighten more of our days with slap-stick antics.

Buddy

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Buddy   4 stars

Do you have fond memories of those children’s TV shows from the eighties and nineties of adult size colorful characters and children singing happy tunes about learning, getting along with others and doing chores? Or maybe your memories are not so pleasant? Such shows are the basis of Casper Kelly’s Buddy, a horror movie that features a children’s TV show from the nineties that stars a full-size bright orange unicorn set in a colorful house and yard together with several children and a few other adult characters. This movie was featured at The Sundance Film Festival this year, but I had not seen it until it opened in theaters. As the film opens the kids and Buddy (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key of Wonka and Only Murders in the Building) are having a good time singing “You Love Buddy, yes you do.” But later when one of the kids refuses to obey Buddy’s orders, a violent encounter occurs off camera and the child is mysteriously absent later. (The other kids are told that he was called to go to Diamond City.) Things escalate with each new episode as Buddy violently kills off another character or child in stark fashion when things don’t go his way, until the remaining children run away into the woods toward Diamond City in scenes reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. I cannot express how impressed I was with the acting of the children as they displayed artificial happiness switching to suspicion and fear. Later, the setting changes to a family at home in the present. The parents are Grace (Cristin Milioti of How I Met Your Mother) and Ben (Topher Grace of That 70’s Show and Spider-Man 3) who have two boys in a seemingly normal home life. Only Grace has a very uneasy feeling about the situation, expressing to Ben that she believes that they had a third child that they had forgotten. Later, the strange Buddy TV show appears on their TV screen, and Grace is pulled into the TV and added to the cast of the show. Thus, we become aware that Buddy is snatching kids from their homes to be on the show with their memories and those of their families of their past lives being erased. Without giving too much away, the confrontation between humans and orange, plushy control freak escalates to an all-out bloody battle where only one side will survive. Other voice actors include Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water), Patton Oswalt (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), Eric Bauza (Coyote vs. Acme) and Devon Hawkes Ludlow, noted puppeteer. I knew this was going to be a weird one when I went in. Despite the dark premise, I was impressed by the well-constructed story it told and its lesson about trusting your instincts. Although it has bloody scenes, the violence is obviously fake and meant to amuse. It would be appropriate for tweens and older kids and silly horror loving adults to see the movie, but I advise against taking smaller children. While watching it I couldn’t help but think of how fun it must have been for the child actors to be in such an odd horror movie. Other comedy horror movies I have seen of this genre are Krazy House where a sitcom about a suburban family is invaded by violent Russian gangsters and Little Monsters where a young man and a kindergarten teacher must defend a kindergarten class on a field trip from marauding zombies. All of these were available at Sundance.

Kinds of Kindness

Kinds of Kindness                             2 stars

If you are a big fan of movies like me you remember the unusual movies made by Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek filmmaker. His most memorable movie, Poor Things, in 2023 featured Emma Stone as a sort of Frankenstein monster created from body parts by an eccentric doctor played by Willem Dafoe. Last year (2025) he made Bugonia, also starring Stone as a woman taken prisoner by a fanatic played by Jesse Plemons who believed her to be an alien from space. Both of those films are known for their extremely bizarre plots and surprise endings. In between there was another lesser-known film that I finally watched called Kinds of Kindness. It stars Stone, Plemons and Dafoe as well as Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau and Mamoudou Athie. This film consists of three separate tragic, comedic stories all of which are very strange and meant to say something about human behavior. None of them really exhibits aspects of the title as far as I could tell. All of them feature death in some way and are hard to watch at times. In the first of the three stories, Robert (Plemons) is a man whose whole life is controlled by a father figure, Raymond (Dafoe) who provides his house, his job, tells him who he can marry and whether he can have children. In return Robert must do as Raymond says and that includes trying to kill a man by colliding with him with his car. Robert tries to follow this request but is unsuccessful. At the hospital, Robert meets Rita (Stone) and finds that she is also under the control of Raymond. Since Robert is unwilling to make a second effort at the killing, Raymond withdraws his support as this is a sign that Robert does not love him anymore. This all leads to a shocking ending that I won’t reveal. The other two stories are equally strange and brutal. There are bizarre death scenes as well as sex scenes in unexpected circumstances. The movie is described as a triptych fable using dark comedy to describe human nature. They all use the same group of actors, all in different roles. The actors are certainly talented, but some of the dialogue seems to be purposely stilted which is Lanthimos’ style. Though I liked his other movies, I found Kinds of Kindness to be too weird for my taste. I haven’t found any new planned productions from him in the works but look forward to any that turn up. I do recommend that you go back and find The Favourite from 2018. It stars Emma Stone, Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz and was one of the best movies of that year. But you should skip Kinds of Kindness.

Anna and the Apocalypse

Anna and the Apocalypse             3 ½ stars

Just in time for Christmas comes the Christmas musical comedy from England, Anna and the Apocalypse.  The movie starts out with us meeting Anna, a high school senior in England who is dealing with life choices following graduation and her father after the loss of her mother.  She also has her friends at school including John, Steph and Chris.  There is also her former boyfriend, Nick who is something of a jerk.  Since it is a musical some of the story is told by the main characters doing some excellently choreographed musical numbers.  And since it is Christmas time, there is the night of the school musical put on by many of the students.  All seems very conventional until about a half hour into the movie when the zombies come.  It seems a worldwide viral outbreak has occurred and most of the population has transformed into flesh eating zombies.  So it is now up to our small band of high school heroes to do hand to hand combat with the zombies and get Anna back with her father who is a janitor at the school.  All this is done to song and dance while they find inventive ways to kill off the zombies and keep from getting bitten.  Will they make it through the day and find Anna’s father?  The film is strictly for laughs and is fun to watch for its short hour and a half length.  Don’t compare this to such master zombie movies like Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later or The Girl with all the Gifts, but for a pleasant change and a break from holiday stress, it hits the spot.

Scream

Scream                 4 stars

Since I have seen all of the Scream franchise movies except one I had to go back and see the 2022 entry in the series, Scream. This is the fifth entry in the series and the first since Scream 4 in 2011. A Scream movie has certain rules that must be followed. They center around a fictional series of slasher movies called Stab in which the characters are hacked to death by the mysterious knife wielding character, Ghostface. They rely on the audience having a good knowledge of horror movies like Halloween and others. There is always a new killer in each Scream movie since the previous Ghostface has been killed off by the main characters. And there is always more than one killer that work together. All these rules are followed here, and the movie follows the same pattern we have seen since 1996 when the babysitter played by Drew Barrymore first got hacked to death in the town of Woodsboro. This time Ghostface strikes first, again in Woodsboro on teenager Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega (Death of a Unicorn and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice)) who is home alone. She manages to survive multiple stab wounds and ends up in the hospital. Her sister, Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera (Scream VI and In the Heights)) comes back to town to take care of Tara, with the two having been previously estranged. It is up to her and a new assortment of teenagers to try to solve the riddle of who the new Ghostface killer is, but as we all know the killer or killers may be among them. Another rule is that the original Scream characters must return to take part in unravelling the mystery and that is fulfilled when the teens call on sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette of Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4 and Scream 7), who is now retired from law enforcement. He in turn gets our reliable heroes, the final girl Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell of Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4 and Scream 7) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox of Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4, Scream VI and Scream 7) involved as well, all of whom have left Woodsboro for new lives. Weathers is now a well-known news anchor in New York City. One more previous character, Deputy Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton of Planet Terror) returns in this installment as well, but briefly. Two new characters are the sister and brother act, Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma) and Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding of Booksmart). Mindy believes she has figured out the secret that the new killings are related to the release of the new movie Stab 8, and a revolt by the fans who object to the inauthenticity of the latest entry. These new killings are very similar to the original Ghostface spree. Mindy calls it a requel. (Since I already knew that Mindy and Chad are in the later Scream movies, they could not be the killers.) I can give you one spoiler here and that is that one original character may not make it out alive. Co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (who also brought us the Ready or Not movies) have returned to the roots of Scream and given the fans of this comedy horror franchise something to scream about. So far Scream has been followed with Scream VI and Scream 7 with perhaps more to come? Whatever happens, just remember, Shoot ‘em in the head!

Little Monsters

Little Monsters.         4 stars

In the Q&A the director of this film from Australia was telling about his 5 year old son who he accompanied on a field trip with his class and his kindergarten teacher.  He said he was so impressed by how the teacher would look after all of the kids. While the vehicle was moving, it had to stop for some obstacle in the road so the situation had to be remedied.  He said then that it occurred to him what if that obstacle had been zombies.  Thus the idea for his new movie was born.  In Little Monsters, the main character, Dave, is challenged by his sister to take more responsibility so he volunteers to chaperone his 5 year old nephew’s kindergarten class on a field trip to a popular petting zoo. It doesn’t hurt that the teacher , Miss Caroline (Lupita N’yongo) is very charming and attractive. And so it just happens that the zombies being held captive at a nearby US Army base, manage to break out and head for the petting zoo!  It is up to Miss Caroline and Dave to see that no harm comes to the children in the ensuing zombie mayhem.  This movie is pure comedic fun with all that comes with disfigured slow walking zombies hungering for human flesh. It’s practically a laugh a minute. Also doing a great job is Josh Gad as a local children’s TV personality who is there to entertain the kiddies. I wouldn’t take any kids to the movie. It is filled with profanity and gore just like you would expect.

Them That Follow

Them That Follow.       4 1/2 stars

Them That Follow is a first time feature by two new directors that takes place in the Appalachians of Kentucky.  It is about a young woman who is part of the snakehandling Pentacostal Church. The church is under the control of the pastor played by Walter Goggins who sets all the rules of the small mountain community.  He is aided by Sister Hope played remarkably by the incredible Olivia Coleman who keeps a watchful eye over the flock.  The church is often persecuted by the outside world because of their practices with handling poisonous snakes as part of their rituals. The real story starts when we see that the pastor’s daughter has a secret she is hiding that could impact many lives of this small fellowship.  The story was well put together and was aided by some top notch acting. Also in the cast was Jim Gaffigan the comedian in a very uncharacteristic role.  I warn you there are some very intense and graphic scenes. Some of it was too much for some audience members.  I especially liked this one which I picked because of the casting of Coleman in a key role.

Backrooms

Backrooms          2 ½ stars

I went to see the new horror film Backrooms after seeing the trailer and have to say it is one of the most unusual horror movies I remember seeing and maybe the most unsettling. It’s amazing how scenes of empty rooms or hallways with a few ordinary objects can cause terror but the maker of the movie, Kane Parsons somehow pulls it off. We meet Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)), the owner of a discount furniture store in 1990 who has a temper and is going through a difficult time after his wife has kicked him out of the house. He has sessions with his therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value, The Worst Person in the World)), who is trying to help him through his anger issues. Clark has been having electrical problems with the lights in the store turning on and off. An electrician has found some mysterious switches in the store’s lower level that should not be there. One night while sleeping in the store Clark discovers a hidden doorway below ground level and falls through it. There he finds a lit-up room that contains a pile of various furniture that looks very haphazardly arranged. He ventures further and finds hallways and rooms that seem to stretch endlessly, some lit and others dark. The walls are constructed in a way that makes no sense and in places the floor is slanted up or down to a small opening that a person can only crawl through it. In places there is furniture and other objects embedded in the floor or walls. Some places appear clean while others appear to be decaying and dirty. At one point we get a view of a man monitoring Clark on a closed-circuit TV without explanation. Eventually, Clark makes his way back to the doorway and tells others about the mysterious discovery. Among them is Mary who only halfway believes Clark after he sketches out what he thinks he saw. (Now, Mary has had her own problems having grown up with an unfit mother who kept her from going outdoors, so she has issues herself.) Later, when Clark doesn’t show up, Mary goes looking for him at the furniture store only to discover the secret door herself and enter this strange world. I won’t go into what happens to both of them, but what follows can be described as equally troubling and terrifying. There are more than inanimate objects down there. There are beings that may not be entirely human. We never find out what this place is about, but it is described as a minimized version of what places are. The place is like having a dream where you can only halfway remember what is there. Don’t expect there to be any resolution to the situation. I think the point is to make something beyond creepy for the viewer. If that is the point, it succeeds, but the movie is short on plot at best. The director, 20-year-old Kane Parsons, has never made a movie before and is known for making creepy YouTube videos as a teenager. Somehow, he got the backing to make this movie with studio A24 using A-list stars. Given the lack of resolution, I can’t say I enjoyed it. It is more like an extended version of a Twilight Zone episode than a movie. I will say that the production design team must have had a ball designing the sets for it. They outdid themselves at every turn. There is talk of Parsons making this into a series of movies in the future. I am sure he is full of more ideas.

Velvet Buzzsaw

Velvet Buzzsaw.     4 stars

Of the films I saw today the one that probably has the widest audience appeal is Velvet Buzzsaw. This is a satire thriller that absolutely skewers the art world with its representation of the pretensions of artists, critics, buyers and museum curators and the greed infecting these people. The film seems like a big budget Hollywood movie with its A list stars and big sets in Los Angeles. Cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, Billy Magnussen and John Malkovich. Since it is a satire, I am not sure how many people might like it. Some of the comedy is a bit high brow, but at the same time it’s also a silly comedy. I can’t go into detail on why it’s so silly without giving away the plot, but suffice it to say the greed of many of the characters gets the best of them in highly unusual ways. The satirical nature of the movie can be compared to The Death of Stalin and Vice, two recent movies that if you liked might mean you would like Velvet Buzzsaw. It was one of the better comedies I have seen at Sundance. I hope it will do well in theaters.

Obsession

Obsession           4 ½ stars

What is a guy to do when the girl he loves doesn’t quite feel the same way about him, but he really wants her to? This is the question that is asked and answered in Obsession, by second time feature film director Curry Barker who at age 26 has already been making short films for years. This film could also be called Be Careful What You Wish For. Poor Bear (or Baron) (Michael Johnston) is a nice guy who has a massive crush on longtime friend and co-worker Nicky (Inde Navarrette). But Nicky is comfortable with them being friends and working with him in a family-owned music store where they are also friends with co-workers Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) and Sarah (Megan Lawless). Ian knows about Bear’s problem and gives him suggestions of things to try. Bear is still afraid but knows he has to do something. Then one night while in a novelty store looking for a necklace to give to Nicky, Bear finds a mysterious item called a One Wish Willow. The container says that if the user makes a wish and breaks the stick of willow wood, then his wish will come true. So, Bear figures why not. What could he lose? He buys the item and at an opportune time while with Nicky makes the wish that Nicky would love him back and breaks the stick. Almost immediately Nicky changes and is attracted to Bear but starts to exhibit strange behavior. Ian and Sarah notice that the two always seem to be hanging out together and become very concerned over the sudden change in behavior. Nicky becomes so obsessed with Bear that she can’t stand it if they are not together to the point that she becomes like a whimpering child or she lets out a piercing scream. When in the company of others Nicky even lashes out in a jealous rage when she perceives that someone else may be giving too much attention to Bear. It is like an inescapable force has taken over her and Bear’s lives. This is very upsetting to poor Bear, and he is once again in a quandary as to what to do. When he contacts the seller of the Willow, asking them to cancel the wish he is told that they don’t do that. He must live with his choice. Obsession starts out as pure psychological horror that slowly becomes increasingly extreme. Not everyone will survive the last night! What really makes the movie pay off is the performance of Navarrette as Nicky as she transforms herself from the lovable version of Nicky to the raging psycho that strikes terror in Bear and those around her. She doesn’t do much for women’s issues though. The movie is very similar in theme to 2001’s Wishcraft, with Obsession being the superior of the two. (In that earlier movie the special item was the penis of a bull, and it allowed three wishes!) I found Obsession to be entertaining, and I rank it among the top two horror movies I have seen so far this year (the other being Send Help). If you like bloody horror that is more than sudden gotchas, then I recommend it. Curry Barker’s next project is Anything But Ghosts which has a much bigger budget.