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. 

 

A Marvel-ous Superhero Journey: Hi-Five (2025) Review

Director: Kang Hyeong-cheol

Notable Cast: Yoo Ah-in,  Lee Jae-in, Ahn Jae-hong, Ra Mi-ran, Kim Hee-won, Oh Jung-se, Park Jin-young, Shin Goo

Before this review begins, I would like to express my admiration for Yoo Ah-in as a performer and my gratitude for his contributions to Korean cinema as a whole. I think he has made some of the most incredible performances the country has seen over the last decade, and I am beyond delighted to see him back on the screen once again. I will not get political here, but it is a shame to see him completely absent from the marketing of this film, and his lack of presence on even the poster is seen here. His character is absolutely hilarious, and he steals the show every time he is in frame, which thankfully, is quite often. With that out of the way, how is director Kang's latest comedic outing, this time being a superhero genre piece? It's absolutely fantastic, and I'm eager for everyone to see this one. If you love superhero movies in general and enjoy Kang's brand of extravagant humor, then this will be one you won't want to miss!

Money, Corruption, and Soju: Big Deal (2025) Review

 Director: Choi Yoon-jin

Notable Cast: Yoo Hae-jin, Lee Je-hoon, Son Hyun-joo, Byron Mann, Choi Young-jun, Kim Ki-hae

In 1997, a continent-wide financial crisis struck throughout Asia, eventually cutting deep into South Korea. Everyone was struggling to stay afloat, and even a company like Gukbo, the leading producer of Soju in the country, was quickly falling to the wayside. South Korea is one of the biggest consumers of alcohol in the world, so to see a company that is sort of at the heart of the average Korean adult's life taking a plummet... well money grubbers in the form of a global investment firm, step in to "help" the company out. The CFO and Financial Director at Gukbo is played by the great Yoo Hae-jin, one of the best cases of a character actor turned leading man in recent history, and the one pulling the strings at the investment company is played by the young and equally talented Lee Je-hoon. The two form a bond, and the complications of this last hurrah for Gukbo has dire consequences, and a rippling effect of money hungry individuals cause a great rift between the two parties involved, on a large scale, and down to a very personal, philosophical level.

Time Does Not Heal: The Old Woman with the Knife (2025) Review

Director: Min Kyu-dong

Notable Cast: Lee Hye-young, Kim Sung-cheol, Yeon Woo-jin, Kim Moo-yul, Shin Sia, Kim Kang-woo, Choi Moo-seong, Ok Ja-yeon, Lee Hyun-gul

 

In a world where there is one to two “old man with a sordid past kicks ass” movies released a month, it’s nice to know that there will occasionally be an “old woman with a sordid past kicks ass” movie that gets released. However, in the case of The Old Woman with the Knife, the latest South Korean action thriller to hit the States from our friends at Well Go USA, it’s less about an aging killer being pulled back in and more about an aging killer reckoning with their role in their own life. With a strong sense of visual pizzazz, some impressively brutal action set pieces, and a positively riveting performance from Lee Hye-young, The Old Woman with the Knife is a sizzling slice of assassin cinema, even if the plot can get in the way of the story at times.

 

The Old Woman with the Knife establishes its plot and characters in provocative ways. A cinematic world of assassins is always fun to explore, and especially over the last decade or so, thanks to John Wick, movies have been having fun creating fantastic scenarios around killers and their deeds. In this universe, there is a group of assassins that act as “pest control” and eliminate the ill-gotten pests that infect our society. It’s a relatively small group, well-trained and well-equipped to get the job done, that follows their stringent guidelines about their work.

 

Freelance and Fantastical Work: A Working Man (2025) Review

Director: David Ayer

Notable Cast: Jason Statham, Michael Peña, David Harbour, Noemi Gonzalez, Jason Flemyng, Merab Ninidze, Maximilian Osinski, Cokey Falkow, Arianna Rivas, Isla Gie, Emmett Scanlan, Eve Mauro

 

By the film's end, A Working Man is a full-on fantasy where the realistic tones of its first half have entirely ceased to exist for a truly unhinged world. To the point that the location of its final action set piece looks like a Mario Bava soundstage. The fake-looking trees and a moon that looks like it's only 18 feet away set the tone for its physics-shattering action and brutal deaths. Ah, yes, this is precisely what I wanted. Action films are mostly fantasy films, and the final act embraces that aspect, if not the entire latter half. 

 

A part of me wishes the entire film were within this caliber of action cinema. When A Working Man is trying to be a heartfelt and grounded thriller that sees Statham's Levon attempting to rescue the daughter of his boss, the film struggles to find its footing in the tropes. What made the previous outing between star, Statham and director, Ayer, The Beekeeper work so well is that none of it felt like it needed to be grounded in the world we live in - just the world that the characters lived in. A Working Man spends far too much time trying to make us believe we're watching a gritty crime drama before shedding preconceptions and embracing the Cannon insanity of its finale. And when it does, it is precisely what this film needed to be. 

 

Get Stitches - Yadang: The Snitch (2025) Review

Director: Hwang Byeng-gug

Notable Cast: Kang Ha-neul, Yoo Hai-jin, Park Hae-jun, Ryu Kyung-soo, Chase Won-been, You Seong-joo, Kim Keum-soon, Lim Sung-kyun

 

Although South Korea continues to dominate the market for phenomenally great crime capers, that doesn’t mean that every film that makes it to the US will be a gut-punch of entertainment. 

 

On paper, Yadang: The Snitch sounds like it will rank right up there with some of the best crime caper blockbusters. It features a relatively stacked cast, slick action sequences, and one of those “keep ‘em guessing” narratives I thoroughly enjoy. To a certain degree, Yadang does have those aspects, and for many viewers, that’s enough to warrant a viewing and thorough enjoyment. Yet, the film is also bogged down by an unwieldy plot, tonal inconsistencies, and issues in some of its themes that undermine its overall experience. Take it for its charms and it’s a great time. Try to start digging a bit more, and the entire scheme tends to crumble a bit. 

 

Panic Fest 2025: Self Driver (2024) Review

Director: Michael Pierro

Notable Cast: Nathanael Chadwick, Reece Presley, Lauren Welchner, Christian Aldo, Harold Tausch

 

I’m not sure that companies like Uber or Lyft would appreciate the terms' Uber Horror” or “Lyft Horror,” but I’m unsure what else would be more fitting for a film like Self Driver. Saturated in a luscious score, lo-fi and drastically intimate camera shots, and a tense build that ends up sucking its viewers in, Michael Pierro’s Self Driver is the kind of indie thriller darlings that always end up cutting through during a film festival. It’s niche enough that it might be a harder sell for distributors if it gets picked up for a more significant release, but it’s the kind of strange and off-kilter film that we strive to find at Blood Brothers Film Reviews. It’s nuanced genre cinema of the best type and will definitely be a highlight of Panic Fest 2025. 

 

Told almost exclusively from the car of the ‘VRMR’ driver—again, think of it as the equivalent of Uber or Lyft—Self Driver is the kind of intimate thriller one only finds in the indie sector. Mostly that’s because Self Driver needs to be ultra-confident to pull off the narrative, and it absolutely is. 

 

Panic Fest 2025: The Only Ones (2024) Review

Director: Jordan Miller

Notable Cast: Tatiana Nya Ford, Emily Classen, Zach Ruchkin, Paul Cottman, Cayla Berejikian, Christopher Inlow, Jeb Aufiero, Nancy Anne Ridder, Jim Krut, Matt Burns

 

First, there was the meta-slasher. Scream and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare took the slasher blueprint, spun it just a smidge, and then let it run for a new era built on an audience - and its characters - knowing how a slasher trope works. But now we’re in a new era that goes beyond self-referencing slashers, like the previously mentioned Craven efforts. We’re in the meta-meta-slasher era. 

 

Although dissecting how the meta-meta-slasher works would reveal some surprises and spoilers for newer films, such as Bodies Bodies Bodies from A24, it's the most apt way to express the experience of The Only Ones. At its core, this indie horror film flirts with dark comedy and other horror subgenres as it progresses, but it owes its soul to the slasher genre through and through. For fans of the slice ‘em and dice ‘em horror genre, The Only Ones ought to carry enough kills and spins to earn a viewing, but it does require some insight into the genre to be fully effective. 

 

Panic Fest 2025: Beyond the Drumlins (2025) Review

 

Director: Daniel W. Bowhers

Notable Cast: Michael Kowalski, Emma Jessop, Dan Titmuss, Goodfella Mike G, Julia Kerr, Braford Selby, Ed Contini, Simone Boone

A few years ago, one of the prominent thematic trends in horror centered on “nature horror” or “earth horror.” Films like Gaia and In the Earth focused on how people caught in rural settings confronted the horrors of nature (sometimes with a slightly supernatural twist). So, when Beyond the Drumlins, the debut feature film from writer/director Daniel W. Bowhers, began down that path, it reminded us just how fleeting that trend was and how effective it can still be.

 

Beyond the Drumlins' conceptual horrors linger with its audience after the film ends. An archaeological professor, Dr. Rust, and his team venture into a rural area deep in the woods to find a spot for his future class to test their skills. Upon reaching their destination, they discover that the area has a sinister effect on them. Surrealist horror unfolds as members fall under the influence of the surrounding forest. Classic.

 

Panic Fest 2025: Stalkers (2025) Review

Director: Paul Thompson

Notable Cast: Olivia Stadler, Scarlett DiCaro, Hannah Mae Beatty, Allisha Pelletier, Same Wexler, Abbas Wahab, Marlo Aquilina

 

Far be it from me to have too many expectations going into a film festival, but I certainly did not expect what I got from Stalkers. On paper, Stalkers sounds like the classic slasher. Littered with exploitative elements, like having the lead character be a porn star, and then powering its horror elements with a whodunnit style narrative, the film felt like it was going to be cheesy, slashery entertaining through and through. Yet, as Stalkers plays out, it often rejects leaning into any exploitation elements and aims for something far more dramatic and, dare I say, better, for its material. 

 

Stalkers has something to say with its themes within the slasher premise, and never truly embraces the genre until its final act. It’s a surprisingly reflective and character-driven drama at its heart that just so happens to end up being a slasher. It’s perhaps one of the biggest surprises at Panic Fest 2025 already. 

 

Poetic Horror Justice: The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959) Review

Director: Kenji Misumi

Notable Cast: Kazuo Hasegawa, Yasuko Nakada, Yoko Uraji, Mieko Kondo, Joji Tsurumi, Naritoshi Hayashi, Hideo Takamatsu

 

Although the story that The Ghost of Yotsuya is based on has been around for what feels like since the beginning of time, of which there is a nice little documentary on that subject on the Radiance release of this film, it’s this 1959 version that really perked my interested. Why? What could make this version stand out against the slew of other adaptions? Director Kenji Misumi. The notable director had crafted some of the greatest samurai and action films of all time - working on notable franchises like Lone Wolf and Cub, Zatoichi, and Sleepy Eyes of Death just to name some of the biggest ones - but he rarely dabbled in the horror realm.

Thus, I needed to add Radiance’s Daiei Gothic box set to my collection, which featured this adaption of The Ghost of Yotsuya. It was worth it, too, because this version is a lush and often haunting film, complete with a wild third act, an impressive build of tension, and some gorgeous visuals to go with it. Although, at times, this feels like Misumi at some of his most restrained, it’s such a well-crafted film that showcases his understanding of build and atmosphere that any Japanese horror fan will want to watch it. 

 

Objection Sustained: The Prosecutor (2025) Review

Director: Donnie Yen

Notable Cast: Donnie Yen, Julian Cheung Chi Lam, Michael Hui, Francis Ng Chun Yu, Cheung Tin Fu

 

Although Donnie Yen has been the face of Hong Kong cinema since his career went astronomical with the Ip Man franchise, his return to the director’s chair with 2023’s Sakra elevated him to the next level. While the wuxia film was met with many mixed reactions from fans (I felt the film was a massively underrated modern classic, but I digress), it created many new avenues for the action icon to follow for the next part of his career.

The Prosecutor, his directorial follow-up and a wholly different action film than its predecessor, proves that not only does Donnie Yen have the goods as an action star at 60 years old, but his directorial career is very, very bright. Sporting a mixture of dramatic legal thrills and vicious action beatdowns, The Prosecutor balances Yen’s penchant for punching someone as hard as a shotgun blast with a more mature dramatic angle. The modern sensibilities will appeal to a larger demographic than Sakra, particularly those who love Yen’s cops n’ robbers flicks like Raging Fire, Flashpoint, or SPL. Yeah, that’s absolutely a great thing. Case dismissed.