Category: Horror

“The Elixir” (2025) / Z-View

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The Elixir (2025)

Director:  Kimo Stamboel

Screenplay: Kimo Stamboel, Agasyah Karim, Khalid Kashogi

Stars: Mikha Tambayong, Eva Celia, Donny Damara, Marthino Lio

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

An extended family has come together to join others in a remote Indonesian village.  The family has come to take part in a celebration.  Prior to the party, family arguments ensue.  The patriarch and head of the family business has had company scientists working on an anti-aging potion.  He hopes that this new serum will save his company.  Perhaps if the business thrives again, the family will get along better.

When he takes the potion, it turns him into a zombie.

Let the madness begin.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The movie begins with a bang.  Then it quickly backs up five hours to show us what caused the excitement.  Instead of an action-packed zombie flick that takes off, we get a family drama.  I had zero interest in any of the characters.  So when the zombie action starts up again after 30 minutes or so, I didn’t care who lived or died.

At 42 minutes I tapped out.  Your mileage, as always, may vary.

The Elixir (2025) rates 1 of 5 stars.

“No Way Up” (2024) / Z-View

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No Way Up (2024)

Director:  Claudio Fäh

Screenplay: Andy Mason

Stars: Colm Meaney, Will Attenborough, Phyllis Logan, James Carroll Jordan and Manuel Pacific.

Tagline: The plane crash was just the beginning.

The Plot…

A plane crashes into the ocean killing most of the passengers.  As the plane settles on an undersea ledge an air pocket forms in the back of the split fuselage.  Ava (the daughter of a rich man), Brandon (Ava’s bodyguard), Jed (Ava’s boyfriend), Kyle (Jed’s buddy), Rosa (a child) traveling with her grandparents and Danilo (a flight attendant) make their way to the slowly shrinking area of air.

If the air pocket lasts long enough the survivors hope a rescue team will get to them.  But as the air pocket slowly shrinks, the plane begins to move towards the edge of the ledge… and sharks find their way into the wreckage.

It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

No Way Up (2024) is what would be a classic drive-in movie, if we still had drive-ins.  Low budget. A “B” star in the lead (who dies early on).  A monster (the sharks).  Young people in danger.  Enough in the group that you’re not sure who will live.

No Way Up (2024) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Troll 2” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Here we have the poster and trailer for Troll 2.

Despite it being on the surface a silly concept, Troll was a fun movie.  So ignore the somewhat goofy looking poster for Troll 2 and check out the trailer.  Then get in the mood for a fun drive-in movie when Troll 2 premieres on December 1st.

A new troll has awakened!

Join Nora, Andreas, and Captain Kris as they embark on their most dangerous adventure yet. With the clock ticking and chaos spreading, they’ll need new allies and ancient secrets to stop the rampage. Can they save Norway before it’s too late?

Watch Troll 2, Dec 1 on Netflix.

“Alien: Earth” Season 1 (2025) created by Noah Hawley / Z-View

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“Alien: Earth” Season 1 (2025)

Created by: Noah Hawley; Based on Alien by Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett

Teleplay by:

  • (eps. 1-2; 5) Noah Hawley
  • (ep. 3) Noah Hawley and Bob DeLaurentis
  • (ep. 4) Noah Hawley and Bobak Esfarjani
  • (ep. 6) Noah Hawley and Lisa Long
  • (ep. 7) Noah Hawley and Maria Melnik
  • (ep. 8) Noah Hawley & Migizi Pensoneau

Directed by:

  • Noah Hawley (eps. 1; 5)
  • Dana Gonzales  (eps. 2-3; 7-8)
  • Ugla Hauksdóttir (eps. 4; 6)

Stars: Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, Adarsh Gourav, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Jonathan Ajayi, David Rysdahl, Diêm Camille, Moe Bar-El, Adrian Edmondson and Timothy Olyphant.

Tagline: Fear takes new forms.

The Plot…

The year is 2120.  Five companies control the planet and colonized outposts in the solar system.  The USCSS Maginot, a spacecraft owned by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is returning from a successful mission in space to retrieve alien life forms.  When the ship crash lands into a city owned by the Prodigy Corportation, the race is on to secure the alien specimens.

Prodigy is owned by Boy Kavalier.  The world’s youngest trillionaire and a genius to boot.  Kavalier created the world’s first first human-synthetic hybrids by placing the minds of terminally ill children in adult synthetic bodies.  These hybrids were mentored by a synth named Kirsh.  Wendy, one of the hybrids, was given AI intelligence making her even smarter than Boy Kavalier.

The Weyland-Yutani Corporation sends notice that they want the “cargo” of their crashed ship. Boy Kavalier responds that any incursion into Prodigy territory will be seen as an act of war.  Kavalier then sends Kirsh, Wendy and the four other hybrids on a mission to the crash site to retrieve the alien specimens.

At the same time a city rescue team arrives at the crash site.  They are unaware what the craft was carrying or that a Xenomorph has escaped.  Worse still, there are other creatures on the ship equally as dangerous.  As tensions mount, lives are lost and it becomes clear that the shipwreck wasn’t accidental.

It could be “we were safer in space”.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Alien: Earth has a lot going on.  There’s several different dangerous alien life forms, synthetic beings, human-syn hybrids, a boy genius with plans of his own, corporate intrigue, betryals and more.  On one hand, I’m not sure eight episodes was enough to get into everything. I wanted more with the escaped alien specimens.  Also, I wasn’t sold on the “relationship” between Wendy and the Xenomorph.

That’s not to say that I didn’t like Alien: Earth.  I did.  But not as much as I had hoped.  Still, I hope we get a season two.

“Alien: Earth” Season 1 (2025) earns 3 of 5 stars.

“The Invisible Man” by Ryan Kelly!

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The Invisible Man by Ryan Kelly!

When I was a kid I loved horror movies.  I still do.  But when it came to The Invisible Man, I just didn’t care for it.  Re-visiting the film as a young adult (and now an older one) I’ve come to love the movie.

I can honestly say, I’ve loved Ryan Kelly’s riff on The Invisible Man from the first time I saw it.  ; )

“The Vampire Lestat” aka “Interview with the Vampire: Season 3” – The Extended First Look Trailer is Here!

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The first two seasons of Interview with the Vampire were must-see tv.  I’m hoping the third season, now titled The Vampire Lestat, will be as well.  This trailer for the new seasons looks like expectations will be met.

Bang bang.

Anne Rice’s #TheVampireLestat premieres in 2026 on AMC and AMC+.

“The Burrowers” (2008) / Z-View

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The Burrowers (2008)

Director:  J. T. Petty

Screenplay: J. T. Petty

Stars:  Clancy Brown, Joel Kinnaman, Jocelin Donahue, Doug Hutchison, Laura Leighton, Suzi McLaughlin, Tatanka Means, David Midthunder and William Mapother.

Tagline: Evil will surface.

The Plot…

1879.  When a family of settlers is found brutally mutilated, it is thought that hostile Indians did it.  Some family members, including a young girl are missing and believed to have been kidnapped.  Although there are strange holes in the ground surrounding the kill zone, not much notice is paid to them.  A group is formed to track the Indians and save the survivors.

Little does the posse know that the holes were created by vicious creatures that live beneath the prairie.  And the posse is heading straight into their territory.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The creatures are pretty cool.  I wish we had more action with them.

The Burrowers (2008) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” Alt Poster by Yvan Quinet!

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Yvan Quinet is the artist behind this creative alt poster for Bram Stoker’s Dracula!  This is so cool.  I love the colors and composition.  How about the design around Dracula?  Check out the Dracula’s shadow.  And don’t forget to look into Dracula’s goblet.

Bravo!

You can see more of Yvan Quinet’s art at his website and/or his Instagram page.

“Die Alone” (2024) starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Douglas Smith and Frank Grillo / Z-View

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Die Alone (2024)

Director:  Lowell Dean

Screenplay: Lowell Dean

Stars: Carrie-Anne Moss, Douglas Smith, Jonathan Cherry, Sari Mercer, Steven Roy, Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat and Frank Grillo.

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

A zombie outbreak is underway.  Ethan and his girlfriend Emma planned to make it to a remote cabin which they hoped w0uld provide sanctuary.

That’s all that Ethan remembers since he woke up alone.

As Ethan begins looking for Emma he is attacked by several armed men.  He’d have been killed if Mae, a middle-aged woman, hadn’t rescued him.  Ethan thanks Mae and says that he since he woke up, he can’t remember much, only that his girlfriend is missing.  Mae hasn’t seen her.  Mae says that Ethan is in no condition to continue his journey.  She says he’s welcome to stay at her farm until he’s better.

Ethan agrees.  Mae’s definitely a survivalist.  Her farm is remote and full of booby-traps.  As time passes Ethan starts remembering more and more.  Before long he’s sure all is not as it seems.

But he has no idea of what is to come.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Frank Grillo appears in just a few (but very memorable) scenes.

I figured out the twist early on, but wasn’t sure how it would play out.  The final scenes of the movie were unexpected.

Die Alone (2024) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“We Bury the Dead” starring Daisy Miller – The Trailer is Here!

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Check out the trailer for We Bury the Dead starring Daisy Miller.

Deal me in!

After a catastrophic military disaster, the dead don’t just rise – they hunt. Ava (Daisy Ridley) searches for her missing husband, but what she finds is far more terrifying.

Starring: Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites, Mark Coles Smith
Directed by: Zak Hilditch
Release Date: January 2, 2026