“Reindeer Games” (2000) directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise and Charlize Theron / Z-View

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Reindeer Games (2000)

Director: John Frankenheimer

Screenplay: Ehren Kruger

Stars: Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, James Frain, Mark Acheson, Tom Heaton, Isaac Hayes, Douglas Arthurs, Ron Jeremy, Peter MacNeill, Donal Logue, Danny Trejo, Dennis Farina, Ashton Kutcher and Clarence Williams III.

Tagline:  The trap is set. The game is on.

The Plot…

Nick Cassidy and Rudy Duncan are prison cellmates who have become friends.  Both are scheduled for release soon.  Nick has been exchanging letters with a pretty young woman named Ashley. Althorugh she’s sent plenty of pictures and letters, she’s never seen Nick.  Nick will meet her for the first time when he’s released.

Nick has shared each letter/photo with Rudy as they’ve arrived.  Rudy has secretly become infatuated with Ashley.

Two days before Nick and Rudy are to be released a fight breaks out in the prison cafeteria.  A convict with a grudge against Rudy uses the confusion to try to kill him.  Nick steps in and the convict stabs him instead.  Nick falls to the floor dead as the guards restore order.

Two days pass.  Rudy and several other convicts are escorted out of the prison gates.  Most have family, girlfriends or significant others to meet them.  Rudy has no one.  He plans to get on a bus and head home.

Then he sees Ashley.

She’s beautiful.  Even prettier than the pictures.  Rudy heads for the bus.  Then realizes that Ashley has never seen Nick.  Rudy hesitates and than makes the decision.  He’ll pretend to be Nick.

It works.  Rudy and Ashley have a wonderful day together.  Finally they head to a cabin she has rented.  Rudy cannot believe his luck.

Then things go sideways.  Ashley’s brother Gabriel shows up.  Gabriel’s a thug without a conscience.  The hardcases with him are nearly as bad.  Gabriel knows Nick used to work at a small casino.  He plans to use Nick’s knowledge of the place to rob it.

With no other options, Rudy admits that he’s not Nick.  Ashley can’t believe it.  Gabriel doesn’t believe it.  He thinks Nick just doesn’t want to help with the robbery.  Rudy continues to protest that he’s not Nick.

Gabriel raises his gun as he says, “Then you’re not worth anything to me.”  Rudy quickly changes his tune.  In order to survive he’s going to have to mastermind the robbery of a place he’s never been in.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Let the reindeer games begin!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

John Frankenheimer’s original director’s cut was much more dark, sexy and violent.  For the theatrical release over 20 minutes was trimmed.  Frankenheimer’s cut was restored for a DVD version.

Reindeer Games was director John Frankenheimer’s final feature film.

Vin Diesel was orginally set to play Pug, a role ultimately played by Donal Logue.  Diesel instead went on to play Dom in The Fast and the Furious.  Smart move.

Ashton Kutcher shows up in a brief scene as a college kid.

There are a couple of unexpected twists that are fun.

Reindeer Games (2000) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Frankenstein” (2025) written & directed by Guillermo del Toro / Z-View

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Frankenstein (2025)

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro; based on FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley

Stars: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, Charles Dance, David Bradley, Kyle Gatehouse, Lauren Collins, Ralph Ineson, Peter MacNeill and Burn Gorman.

Tagline:  Only monsters play God.

The Plot…

 1857.  The Horisont, a ship sailing to the North Pole, has become trapped in ice. While attempting to free the vessel, the crew finds a badly injured man named Victor Frankenstein.  They bring him aboard and begin treating his wounds.

Not long after, a huge scarred man with incredible strength attacks the ship.  Several of the crew are injured or killed.  The monster demands that Victor Frankenstein be turned over to him.  Instead the Captain orders his men to fire upon the creature.  The shots break the ice around the monster and it sinks away.

As the crew rejoices, Victor Frankenstein says that the creature can not be killed.  It will return and attack again.  Frankenstein says he knows this because he created the monster.

This is his (and the creature’s) story…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Guillermo del Toro licensed Bernie Wrightson’s illustrations from Wrightson’s FRANKENSTEIN graphic novel adaptation to be used in pre-production of the film.

Del Toro has created a beautiful adaptation.  It is well cast, well directed and well acted.  The set designs are award-worthy.  I enjoyed the experience of watching it, but his Frankenstein is not one I feel I will be re-watching much.

Frankenstein (2025) rates 4 of 5 stars.

“Rocky” by Chris Koehler!

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I love this Rocky print by Chris Koehler.  It’s so symbolic and iconic.  You have Rocky fists taped and clenched ready to climb the steps to face Apollo who is already in the ring.  Beautiful.

Here’s a bit of what Chris Koehler had to say about this piece…

Take some Stallone, add some Carl Weathers, baby you got a stew going! …my tribute to Rocky, one of the greatest love stories ever told… This was a dream project as I’m a huge fan of Rocky; I’ll even go to bat for Rocky V. Prints will be available online soon…! I hope you dig it 🥊

“Red Eye”: Season 1 (2024) starring Jing Lusi & Richard Armitage / Z-View

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Red Eye (2024)

Created by: Peter A Dowling

Directed by:

  • Kieron Hawkes (eps. 1-6)

Teleplay by:

  • Peter A Dowling (eps. 1-3; 5-6)
  • Jingan Young (ep. 4)

Stars: Jing Lusi, Richard Armitage, Lesley Sharp, Jemma Moore, Dan Li, Thomas Chaanhing and Robert Gilbert.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Dr. Matthew Nolan and colleagues have been at a medical conference in Beijing.  On their last night there, Nolan meets an attractive woman named Shen Zhào.  They end up in a nightclub and from there Nolan’s memory gets hazy.

He knows he was in an altercation.  He has a stab wound to prove it.  Nolan remembers escaping and not much else.  He’s glad to arrive back in England after an all-night flight back.  His joy is shortlived.  Nolan is detained and told he must return to Beijing where he will stand trial for the murder of Shen Zhào.  To make matters worse, his colleagues must also return.

MI5 Director-General Madeline Delaney reluctantly agrees to allow Nolan’s extradition, despite his claim of innocence.  Agent Hana Li is assigned to escort Nolan back.  Nolan is adamant in his claims that he has been set up and he didn’t kill anyone.

When it becomes clear that someone on the plane is planing to murder Nolan before they arrive, Agent Li finds herself wondering who she can trust.

Trapped on a plane heading to Beijing, the bodies begin to pile up.  Odds are Nolan and Agent Li will be dead before the plane lands.

Buckle your seatbelts we’re in for a bumpy ride.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Red Eye ramps up the tension with each passing episode.  Trust no one.

Red Eye (2024) rates 5 of 5 stars.

“First Shift” (2024) written & directed by Uwe Boll / Z-View

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First Shift (2024)

Director: Uwe Boll

Screenplay: Uwe Boll

Stars: Gino Anthony Pesi, Kristen Renton, Garry Pastore, Brandi Bravo, Daniel Sauli, Aaron Berg, Onye Eme-Akwari, Tom Ukah, Cate Bottiglione, Tamara Della Anderson and Willie C. Carpenter.

Tagline:  Day One, Duty Calls

The Plot…

 A hard-nosed NYPD cop is teamed with a new fresh-faced recruit from Atlanta.  They have different styles, but unless they can come together as a team, they won’t survive day one.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Gino Anthony Pesi and Kristen Renton have enough on-screen chemistry to make this one watchable… if you can’t find something better.

First Shift (2024) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Monster: The Ed Gein Story” (2025) starring Charlie Hunnam and Laurie Metcalf / Z-View

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Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025)

Created by: Ian Brennan

Directed by:

  • Max Winkler (eps. 1-3; 6-8)
  • Ian Brennan (eps. 4-5)

Teleplay by:

  • (eps. 1-8) Ian Brennan

Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Suzanna Son, Vicky Krieps, Laurie Metcalf, Tom Hollander.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Ed Gein was a murderer and grave robber.  In 1957, when a sheriff’s deputy, following up on a missing person’s case went to Gein’s farm he discovered the missing woman’s decapitated body in a shed.  The partial corpse was hung upside down and mutilated.  In Gein’s house some of what authorities found included:

  • Whole human bones and fragments
  • A wastebasket made of human skin
  • Human skin covering several chairs
  • Human skulls mounted on bedposts
  • Bowls made from human skulls
  • A corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist
  • Leggings made from human leg skin
  • Masks made from the skin of female heads
  • A victim’s face made into a mask in a paper bag
  • A victim’s entire head in a burlap sack
  • A victim’s heart in a plastic bag
  • A belt made from female human nipples
  • A pair of lips on a window shade drawstring
  • A lampshade made from the skin of a human face
  • more

Gein was determined to be mentally incompetent to stand trial.  He was sentenced to a State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he lived until his death in 1984.  Ed Gein’s murders and depravity inspired the novel (and later movie) Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and more.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Charlie Hunnam is almost unrecognizable as Ed Gein.  Kudos to him for taking on such a challenging role.  Laurie Metcalf is perfect as Gein’s mother.

I wish Monster: The Ed Gein Story stuck closer to actual events.  Liberties are taken that I feel weaken the story.  For example, Gein never had a love interest.  Gein never chased down and killed lost hunters with a chain saw.  Gein never had contact with Christine Jorgensen, an American actress famous for being known as the first transexual widely known in the United States.

Because of these fictional additions, it makes me question things when other real life personalitites, like Anthony Perkins and Alfred Hitchcock show up.  I realize Monster: The Ed Gein Story isn’t a documentary.  But it is supposed to be Gein’s story and that was creepy enough.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“40 Acres” (2024) directed by R.T. Thorne, starring Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Greyeyes & Kataem O’Connor / Z-View

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40 Acres (2024)

Director: R. T. Thorne

Screenplay: R. T. Thorne, Glenn Taylor, Lora Campbell

Stars: Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O’Connor, Michael Greyeyes, Tyrone Benskin, Mimi Côté, Patrick Garrow, John Tench, Derek Barnes and Elizabeth Saunders.

Tagline: Get off our land.

The Plot…

In a post-apocalyptic future Hailey Freeman’s family struggles to survive.  They have become self-sufficient by farming and hunting on a remote piece of land.  There are a few other small groups who have created farms or outposts as well.  They stay in contact using shortwave radios.  When a couple of the groups fail to respond, it is learned that a gang of cannibals are killing everyone in the communities.  They feast, steal what they can and move on.

The cannibal tribe is now heading towards the Freeman farm.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

40 Acres was written by R. T. Thorne, Glenn Taylor, Lora Campbell in the screenwriting debut.  It also marks R.T. Thorne’s directoral debut.

Danielle Deadwyler is a force to be reckoned with!

40 Acres deserves a wider-audience.

40 Acres (2024) rates 5 of 5 stars.