★★★★ Is there anything scarier than high school? Horror/comedy Fifteen (Quince) sets its sights on the pursuit of acceptance through the lens of a desperate outsider. Channeling the excellent coming-of-age horrors of Stephen King's Carrie, this Mexican import dabbles in body horror, and has some truly great practical effects to back up the chilling imagery. … Continue reading SXSW 2026: Fifteen
SXSW 2026: Basic
★★★★★ SXSW's Basic, from writer/director Chelsea Devantez, is anything but. This darkly hilarious gem takes an incredibly basic-sounding premise and elevates it around every turn. Two women. One ex boyfriend. Two completely different points of view. On paper, Basic could be a bare-bones indie footnote. Instead, the cast—particularly Leighton Meester and Ashley Park—and a sharp … Continue reading SXSW 2026: Basic
Film Review: Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
★★★★ Filmmaking team Radio Silence have made some of my favorite modern horror films, including 2022's Scream and Scream VI, so how would they approach a long-awaited follow-up to their masterful 2019 genre flick, Ready or Not? The ending of that film felt pretty final, with Grace the bride (Samara Weaving) being the sole survivor … Continue reading Film Review: Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
Film Review: Slanted
★★★★ Obviously the subgenre has existed for decades, yet The Substance truly made body horror cool again. One of horror's most unsung categories gets a racial facelift with Slanted, a twisted coming-of-age tale about the cost of popularity, and the insane price of beauty. Ryan Murphy just tapped into genuine greatness with FX's The Beauty, … Continue reading Film Review: Slanted
4K Blu-Ray Film Review: Freaked
★★★★★ Over three decades since its initial release, underrated bizarro masterpiece Freaked finally gets the overstuffed, magically wonderful 4K treatment it so rightfully deserves. Alex Winter and Tom Stern’s mutant satire—once misunderstood, mishandled, and prematurely discarded—always deserved so much more. Perhaps blowing up once it hit video rental and cable stations wasn't what they initially … Continue reading 4K Blu-Ray Film Review: Freaked
TV Review: Emily in Paris – Season 5
There's no place like Rome! Emily in Paris returns for a fifth season with a fresh coat of paint and an apt, albeit probably temporary, name change: Emily in Rome! All signs were pointed in this direction. We last left Emily (Lily Collins) relocating to help open a new Agence Grateau office there, also pursuing … Continue reading TV Review: Emily in Paris – Season 5
Film Review: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
★★★★★ At this point in his career, Rian Johnson has become a well known name, perhaps most famously for firmly dividing the fandom with his Star Wars: The Last Jedi. For this critic, his Knives Out films are his crowning achievement. In the third installment of his murder mystery series, the tone shifts dramatically from … Continue reading Film Review: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Theater Review: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
When you have five Glee cast alumni on the theatre stages of New York City at the same time, decisions must be made. As an avid obsessive of that show—we’re talking Gleek of the century here—spotting Kevin McHale amongst the cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was more than enough to warrant … Continue reading Theater Review: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Fantastic Fest 2025: Body Blow
★★★ Genre-bending queer movies are my bread and butter, so seeing Body Blow amongst the Fantastic Fest lineup was just a no-brainer. To call it bizarre would be an understatement—this oddball flick has it all, from cock cages to promiscuous sex, from drag queens to hidden breastplate drugs. Every character has one form or another … Continue reading Fantastic Fest 2025: Body Blow
Fantastic Fest 2025: Bad Haircut
★★★★ A preposterously funny, wickedly entertaining horror/comedy feels like the perfect match to debut at genre-heavy Fantastic Fest. Enter: Bad Haircut, a campy title that evolves past horny teen comedy into a bonafide horror mashup with heart. At its zany center, the off-kilter Mick (Frankie Ray)—who should affectionately be described as an overly enthusiastic barber … Continue reading Fantastic Fest 2025: Bad Haircut