No Mistakes, Only Choices: Vicious (2025) Review

Director: Bryan Bertino

Notable Cast: Dakota Fanning, Kathryn Hunter, Mary McCormack, Rachel Blanchard, Devyn Nekoda, Klea Scott, Emily Mitchell

 

"There are no mistakes. Only choices. Right and wrong. You saw what you wanted. You gave what you wanted to give. But did you truly need it, Auntie P? Or did you truly need to give something easy? You must suffer not to suffer. Are you ready to play more? What do you love? What do you love? Think hard. Real hard." 

 

There's a lot of hate for Vicious out in the world right now. Far more than expected, possibly due to the film finding itself in the dredges of Paramount Plus, but Vicious is probably writer/director Byran Bertino being the most Bryan Bertino as possible. If you've seen any of his films before (The Strangers, The Dark and the Wicked, Monster), then you already know this man is nihilistic as fuck. And boy, howdy, Vicious lives up its title in terms of “feel good movie of the year.”  

 

Universes of Future Past - The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) Review

Director: Matt Shakman

Notable Cast: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, Sarah Niles

 

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is gorgeously designed to look like it's caught in a time vortex between "the future" and 1960s New York City. It's the kind of production design that ought to catch some Oscar buzz early next year, and it's a shining example of some of the intriguing aspects of this "first" film of the new phase of the MCU. Right away from the trailers, one could tell that there was going to be a little more thought and effort thrown into the mix for this latest adaptation of Marvel’s First Family. To be fair, there was no way it could be worse than Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four (2015).

 

However, First Steps is also a film that seems to be caught in a time vortex between moving the MCU forward in refreshing ways and maintaining the status quo. For every progressive choice it makes for the franchise, it seemingly takes a step or two back out of fear of moving too far away from the blueprint that has made the MCU a movie juggernaut. It's an unfortunate balancing act that never seemingly manages to find its momentum and leaves one wondering what First Steps might have been with just a smidge more courage.

 

Kickstart My Heart - Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc (2025) Review

Director: Tatsuya Yoshihara

Notable Cast: Kikunosuke Toya, Reina Ueda, Shiori Izawa, Tomori Kusunoki, Shogo Sakata, Fairouz Ai, Karin Takahashi, Natsuki Hanae, Yuuya Uchida, Maaya Uchida

 

The first season of the Chainsaw Man anime absolutely had me hook, line, and sinker. I was so taken by its strange tonal balances, cinematic moments, and the sheer lunacy of its violence and tragedies that I ended up purchasing every volume of the manga. And I purchase each new volume on day one of its release in the US. But the anime is now three years old, no season two has come, and the animation studio behind it seemed far more interested in other projects than continuing on with the sensational anime. 

 

Turns out, they were working on a theatrical film to continue the animated adaptation. Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc is perhaps a perfect distillation of everything fantastic about the Chainsaw Man anime. It’s a relatively tight package —a shorter story arc within the larger story — that distills all the tonal insanity, gory action, and emotional collateral damage of the series into an impressively crafted feature-length film that exemplifies the modern anime film. 

 

Spooktacular Tapes: V/H/S/Halloween (2025) Review

Directors: Bryan M. Ferguson, Anna Zlokovic, Paco Plaza, Casper Kelly, Alex Ross Perry, Micheline Pitt-Norman & R.H. Norman

 

It was once reasonably reliable, for at least a decade or so, that if it were the Halloween season, we would get one new entry into a major horror franchise. It was Saw for a while, then Paranormal Activity, and then there seemed to be a gap. That is, until Shudder decided to bring together a new V/H/S entry each October. Truthfully, I was a fan of the series from the first film, even when its quality ebbs and flows, so the decision to make this a yearly event was very welcome in my house. Last year, they started to morph the anthology series into more thematic entries, with the sci-fi slanted V/H/S/Beyond, so with bated breath we all awaited to find out what the 2025 edition would be. 

 

Turns out they called it V/H/S/Halloween. Oh. Perhaps not the most thrilling or unique choice for a theme, but here we are. 

 

Time to Reflect: The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) Review

Director: Michael Chaves

Notable Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Mia Tomlinson, Ben Hardy, Rebecca Calder, Elliot Cowan, Shannon Kook, Steve Coulter, Kila Lord Cassidy, Beau Gadsdon, Tilly Walker, Molly Cartwright, Orion Smith, Madison Lawlor

 

Had anyone let me know ahead of time that The Conjuring: Last Rites was about a haunted fuckin’ mirror, I would have bought my tickets for opening night instead of waiting for the end of the weekend. Not that a haunted mirror movie is guaranteed to be awesome by any stretch of the imagination, but when you have The Warrens going toe-to-toe with a mirror that looks remarkably like Mike Flanagan’s Oculus, I sure as shit would have been there Thursday night at the previews. 

 

Sure, the entire idea that the last mainline Conjuring film would have the delightfully family-focused horror series pitted against a giant 6-foot-tall gothic mirror seems silly, which, to be fair, it is, but this series is known for elevating its material above its schlocky 70s haunted house concepts. And once again, The Conjuring: Last Rites accomplishes that. This fourth (and final?) entry into the series manages to overcome some serious landmine-littered ideas and script issues to deliver another round of love-affirming horror delightfulness while still getting in some intriguing layering that held me until I could write this review. Fans of the series will enjoy it enough, even if it doesn’t reach the heights of The Conjuring or The Conjuring 2, and it puts a nice little period at the end of this“first phase” of the brand. 

 

Hell to Pay: Diablo (2025) Review

Director: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza

Notable Cast: Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Alanna de la Rosa, Diana Hoyos, Lucho Velasco

At this point, if you wanted to add Scott Adkins or Marko Zaror to any film, I’m there. Put both of them in? Well, shake me down and steal my lunch money, cause you can have it. Watching these two duke it out cinematically on screen since Undisputed III might be one of the best things in action cinema in the last 15 years (even when they don’t fight but share the same film like in John Wick 4). For their latest film, Diablo, Zaror is bringing along long-time director and collaborator Ernesto Díaz Espinoza (notable for Redeemer and Fist of the Condor), and the results are as smashingly high-octane as one would hope. 

Fantasia Fest: Mother of Flies (2025) Review

 Directors: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser

Notable Cast: Zelda Adams, Toby Poser, John Adams, Lulu Adams

NOTE: This film will be coming to Shudder in 2026.

The Adams Family has made a name for themselves over the past decade in the horror community. The core four have gathered once more to collaborate on their tenth feature together (if I'm not mistaken on that number), and this marks their 6th horror film together as a collective. I have yet to explore their works before The Hatred (2018), but I have been a fan ever since I picked up that double-bill home video release that Arrow put out with that and The Deeper You Dig (2019), which ended up being the film that got a lot of eyes on them at Fantasia Fest that year. They've since made a plethora of films, and I believe this is their 4th time taking the stage at the big genre festival. They have quite a rapport with many folks, including myself, but there is no denying their handcrafted, DIY, and very punk style of filmmaking, which just seems to get stronger and more creative each year. They sort of detoured a bit with last year's Hell Hole, which had more of a "bigger", perhaps even mainstream appeal. I liked it more than most seemed to. Still, I will say that their woodsy, sort of spiritualistic style of storytelling and narrative crafting shifted into a more streamlined, albeit gooey and absolutely wild creature feature. For the most part, it worked. They did an episode of the show Tales from the Void, and now have two features coming soon to the world. One, called Slug (if memory serves), will be the next one, and today's film to discuss is Mother of Flies, which marks a very strong return to form for the family.

Soul of an Assassin: Ghost Killer (2025) Review

Director: Kensuke Sonomura

Notable Cast: Akari Takaishi, Mario Kuroba, Masanori Mimoto, Ayaka Higashino, Hidenobu Abera, Naoto Kuratomi

 

When the opening sequence unveils itself to have Masanori Mimoto fighting off assassins armed with knives in an alley, humming along to a synthwave score, punctuated by hyper-grounded and lightning-fast choreography, you know that you’re in good hands with Ghost Killer. The latest low-budget, highly executed martial arts actioner from director and choreographer Kensuke Sonomura, his third as a director, follows suit with his previous films. 

 

Both Hydra and Bad City were gems to be discovered, and while Ghost Killer does play slightly into some new realms, it’s another raucous slice of martial arts film that will have both his fans and newcomers hooked into his style. It’s quirky and offbeat in its concept and performances, but never hesitates to deliver those brutal beat-downs and jaw-dropping kung fu choreography that people have come to expect from his material.         

Simply put, it’s another borderline masterpiece to add to his already impressive resume. 

 

The Unordained: Dark Nuns (2025) Review

 Director: Kwon Hyeok-jae

Notable Cast: Song Hye-kyo, Jeon Yeo-been, Lee Jin-uk, Moon Woo-jin, Huh Joon-ho, Kim Guk-hee, Massimo Fierro

Right at a decade ago, in 2015, Jang Jae-hyun burst onto the scene with his exorcism horror film, The Priests, a feature-length expansion of his 2014 short, 12th Assistant Deacon. This film garnered considerable attention and buzz in South Korea, and fans of the region flocked to see this highly effective and absolutely unnerving piece of horror cinema. Now, in the current year 2025, we get a return to this dark and chilling, spiritually driven world with a "sequel" of sorts. I wouldn't quite call it a traditional follow-up, but Dark Nuns ties back into the first film. Thankfully in more ways then one, and yes, before we even get going here, I do absolutely think a third film will be made, and hopefully it doesn't take another decade before that happens, for reasons I won't spoil here.

A Bandit's Heart: 11 Rebels (2025) Review

Director: Kazuya Shiraishi

Notable Cast: Takayuki Yamada, Taiga Nakano, Ukon Onoe, Riho Sayashi, Takara Sakumoto, Seiji Chihara, Amane Okayama, Yuya Matsuura, Hayate Ichinose, Ryota Oyanagi, Chikara Motoyama, Shuhei Nomura, Shunsuke Tanaka, Satoru Matsuo, Fuga Shibazaki

 

It’s a cinematic samurai tradition by now. The story of a rogue’s gallery of anti-heroes, overcoming their differences, their pasts, and their fears to stand together for one last good thing. Although Seven Samurai has been remade and/or influenced thousands upon thousands of films in all genres, there is certainly a case to be made that this kind of samurai story still stands as one of the best kinds of stories to watch, even in 2025.

 

In the vein of classics such as the previously mentioned Akira Kurosawa picture, 47 Ronin, or 13 Assassins, the latest film from director Kazuya Shiraishi, 11 Rebels, will easily become a modern favorite of the genre. It’s brash in some of its narrative choices, particularly in its third act, and it features some incredible performances and action set pieces that set it apart from other action flicks this year. 11 Rebels is brutal in more ways than one, but hits its mark with remarkable efficiency even when it's treading on well-worn paths.