Prey

Prey – 2022 – United States

Prey is the fourth sequel to Predator (1987), and it might be the best movie in the series. Is it better than the original? Maybe. Is it better than any of the other sequels? Definitely.

Prey puts an interesting spin on the Predator formula. The movie is set in Canada in 1719. The protagonist is a young Comanche woman who wants to become a hunter for her tribe. While undergoing a rite of passage to prove her hunting skills, she stumbles upon the Predator, and the two hunt each other through the ruggedly scenic Canadian wilderness.

Poor Things

Poor Things – 2023 – Ireland, England, United States

The story of Frankenstein is eternal. Last month saw the release of both Lisa Frankenstein (a kitschy horror comedy) and Poor Things (also a comedy of sorts). Those two movies are totally different, and that says a lot about the adaptability of Frankenstein.

A mad scientist finds the body of a pregnant women who committed suicide. Although she is dead, her baby is alive, so he implants the baby’s brain in the woman’s body. The result is Bella, a woman who loves life and is often violent, hedonistic, and totally ignorant of social mores. She also loves sex to an extreme degree. Poor Things has a lot of sex in it.

Poor Things is quite funny when Bella’s immature attitudes, destructive impulses, and wanton sexuality cause a bunch of awkward situations. However, it explores some serious themes in a thoughtful way. By growing up outside of society, Bella is able to question social norms, and as her maturity and understanding grow over the course of the movie, she becomes a little wiser than the rest of us. Sexism is one of the many themes explored in Poor Things as the various men in Bella’s life (her mad scientist “father” and various lovers she has) try to control and imprison her.

Renfield

Renfield – 2023 – United States

The novel Dracula has spawned countless adaptations, but Renfield might be one of the most notable. The movie follows Renfield, Dracula’s mortal lackey who finds victims for the vampire to drink from. Unlike the utterly deranged, bug-eating Renfield of the novel, the movie character is kind of a nice guy, and he only eats bugs to gets supernatural powers (this isn’t really explained).

Renfield takes place in modern-day New Orleans. After attending a group therapy session for people in abusive relationships, Renfield realizes Dracula is an abuser and a manipulator, and Renfield wants out of the relationship. Seeing the relationship between Renfield and Dracula framed in modern mental health terminology is amusing and eye-opening, and Dracula’s manipulations might feel very authentic to someone who has been in a similar relationship. Nicolas Cage as Dracula does a superb job of chewing the scenery, and Nicholas Houlte as Renfield is very relatable.

Willy’s Wonderland

Willy’s Wonderland – 2021 – United States

If you are not familiar with the Five Nights at Freddie’s series of video games, Willy’s Wonderland might seem like an original movie. In the movie, a man is trapped in a condemned Chuck E. Cheese-like restaurant where he battles possessed animatronic puppets. This is a great premise, but it borrows heavily from the extremely popular game series. It’s basically an unofficial adaptation, so it’s hard to be impressed by what is mostly a rip-off. Even the designs for the killer puppets are extremely similar between the movie and the game. That being said, Willy’s Wonderland is more entertaining than the official Five Nights at Freddie’s movie from 2023.

Willy’s Wonderland isn’t a very well-made horror movie. There isn’t much tension or atmosphere, and despite all its intentional camp, it isn’t very funny either. It’s admirable how little the creators of this movie seemed to care about making a “real” movie. It’s like a series of disjointed scenes that only equals a story if you fill in the blanks yourself. That being said, the movie is highly surreal, and that keeps things interesting.

Hellraiser

Hellraiser – 2022 – United States/Serbia

The Hellraiser series has so much potential. Most supernatural horror movies fall into two camps. They are about traditional monsters (i.e. vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc.) or they are heavily influenced by H. P. Lovecraft. Hellraiser creates its own mythology that is divorced from existing horror folklore. Its demonic cenobites, their arcane bureaucracy, and the dark powers that control them are utterly mysterious and dreadful. Unfortunately, the Hellraiser movies never quite live up to their compelling premise. Hellraiser (2022) doesn’t either, but it comes a heck of a lot closer than any of the others.

This time, the story follows a recovering drug addict name Riley who steals a magical puzzle box while robbing a warehouse with her sleazy boyfriend. Solving the puzzle box involves sacrificing people to a group of demons known as the cenobites, and when all the box’s configurations are solved, the solver can make a wish. When Riley accidentally sacrifices her brother while experimenting with the box, she must discover the box’s secrets for a chance to bring him back to life.

The Munsters

The Munsters – 2022 – United States/Hungary

Knowing that Rob Zombie wrote a song called “Dragula”, I’m not surprised to learn he is a Munsters fanatic. Apparently, creating The Munsters movie was a dream project for Rob Zombie. He had been trying to acquire the rights for as long as he had been making movies. I’m not sure if I actually like Rob Zombie’s movies, but I think I might, and I admire how extreme they are. I appreciate their commitment to their campy, psychedelic, horror aesthetic. I wish I enjoyed The Munsters more, but I’m not surprised that I didn’t. The TV show always seemed sort of annoying.

The Munsters is about a family of monsters including a vampire, werewolf, Frankenstein’s monster, and goth lady. This movie is a prequel to the original TV series. It shows how Herman and Lily met and why they left Transylvania for Los Angeles. It might be a romance, but it’s definitely a comedy even if it isn’t that funny.

Star Sweepers

Star Sweepers – 2022 – South Korea

Star Sweepers is over two hours long, and I still loved it. That is the sincerest praise I know how to offer. In the year 2092, a crew of space junk scavengers find a little android girl that might actually be a hydrogen bomb. Terrorist groups and corporations fight over her, and the scruffy scavengers get stuck in the crossfire. The premise of this movie makes it sound like an anime. It isn’t, but the colorful, detailed visuals have a similar eye-popping appeal.

Star Sweepers was made in 2022, and it definitely feels like it. Earth has been destroyed by a climate catastrophe. Everyone is suffering under the dehumanizing yoke of capitalism. The police are highly militarized and totally corrupt. The villain is like a homicidal version of Elon Musk, and he is colonizing Mars as a utopia for billionaires. Another character is a robot who is trying to scrape together money for gender correction surgery.

Femalien: Cosmic Crush

Femalien: Cosmic Crush – United States – 2021

What can I say about Femalien: Cosmic Crush? It’s a sequel to Femalien (2017), but I didn’t know that before I watched it. I doubt the two movies are closely connected anyway. Cosmic Crush is about ancient aliens made of pure energy that can change into sexy babes. They are called the Alterians, and they explore the galaxy to “collect erotic intel and experiences”. Some Alterians wind up on a remote planet where they must stop a tentacled Thanagarian “sex eater” and its “pleasure pods” from turning a group of human explorers into sex zombies.

Battle Star Wars

Battle Star Wars – 2020 – United States

Battle Star Wars is a low-budget clone of Star Wars, but you probably already guessed that. In the space opera future, the tyrannical Coalition seeks to destroy the secret rebel planet of Haven. Protecting Haven is a space pirate, a barbarian clone, the rebellious daughter of a Coalition commander, and a robot who might be a hologram. Oh yeah, I almost forgot—there’s also a Paladin, which is basically a Jedi. This stoic warrior comes from an ancient tradition of stoic warriors. He has an energy shield and a Scottish accent, and he can fly through space like Superman.