28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) Review

Survivors confront violent factions and evolving infected, forcing hard choices about faith, morality, and what it truly means to stay human in a broken world.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) picks up directly after 28 Years Later, continuing the saga in a stark, visceral post-apocalyptic Britain. Written by Alex Garland and directed with precision by Nia DaCosta, the film expands the world of the Rage virus while shifting the focus from pure survival horror into the brutal terrain of human cruelty, cult dynamics and moral fracture. Rather than rehash, it moves forward like Romero’s Dead films.

The lead performances are a high point. Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Ian Kelson again brings depth and quiet intensity to every frame to a story packed with brutality.

Alfie Williams's Spike, whose journey through devastation and exploitation anchors the film's human stakes. Jack O'Connell is chilling as Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, sadistic leader of a vicious gang - his screen presence heightening the film's tension at every turn. Erin Kellyman as Ink (Kellie) and Chi Lewis-Parry as Samson deliver strong supporting work, rounding out a cast that turns this bleak world into something vivid and lived-in.

The direction from DaCosta is assured and unflinching, guiding a story that is linear in its continuation of Danny Boyle's previous film. With great special effects, and gory setups, the cinematography by Sean Bobbitt gives the film a gritty, documentary-like feel, tangible, on-location realism that makes its violence and terror feel immediate and raw.

While the gang's cruelty can be hard to watch, it serves the story's examination of humanity's darker instincts far more potently than the infected themselves.

The score by Hildur Guðnadóttir anchors the film's mood perfectly and the subtle callbacks to the original 28 Days Later theme, especially in the closing moments, give this sequel a sense of thematic continuity. The soundtrack's integration including Duran Duran and Iron Maiden strengthens the narrative's pulse.

Although the story doesn't return the to the island setting of the previous film, thanks to Fiennes it never loses emotional clout. The Bone Temple grapples with questions of morality, survival, faith and loss, giving weight to every blow and every choice. It sets itself up for the next chapter, pleasing 28 Days Later fans while expanding the franchise's emotional and thematic range. Taken together with 28 Years Later, these two films function as one evolving saga - and this instalment stands as a powerful, terrifying, and unexpectedly thoughtful entry in the series.

Recommended.

One Battle After Another (2025) Review

 

An ex-revolutionary forced back into conflict when a long-buried enemy resurfaces.

Written by Paul Thomas Anderson and Thomas Pynchon. Anderson also directs, One Battle After Another blending crime, politics and personal stakes into an intriguing, constantly unfolding narrative. Delivering a gripping, character-driven action thriller.

Leonardo DiCaprio is memorable as Bob Ferguson with a mix of humour, exhaustion and resolve, supported by an excellent ensemble: Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, and Chase Infiniti. The cast gives the story weight, allowing Anderson's layered storytelling to unfold naturally rather than through exposition. Although Del Toro is excellent, he feels underutilised, while Penn gives one of his best performances todate. That said, Taylor steals every scene.

Anderson's direction is grounded, with a strong on-location feel that gives the film a realistic, lived-in texture. The music by Jonny Greenwood can be a little insistent at times, but it ultimately adds to the gritty crime-thriller atmosphere, reminiscent of 1970s hard boiled films reinforcing tension and momentum.

Overall, intriguing, well-paced and sharply performed, One Battle After Another succeeds through strong storytelling, assured direction and a great cast. It's immersive genre filmmaking - recommended.

Tron: Ares (2025) Review

 

A highly advanced program called Ares crosses from the digital world into the real one on a dangerous mission that tests the boundary between AI and humanity. 

Directed by Joachim Rønning and written by Jesse Wigutow (story by Wigutow and David DiGilio), the film leans into sleek sci-fi action while honouring the legacy of the original. Tron: Ares takes the Tron franchise in a bold new direction mostly out of the Grid.

Jared Leto brings an intense, cool presence to Ares, and though the film doesn’t dig as deep as it could into the “fish-out-of-water” or higher-intelligence themes it hints at, his performance consistently heightens the mood and gives the story a centre of gravity. Greta Lee as Eve Kim and Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger also deliver strong turns, while Gillian Anderson adds gravitas in a key role. Jodie Turner-Smith add some pizzazz and intensity. There’s a nod to David Warner’s Edward/Sark, Jeff Bridges’ appearance, a nod to his original Tron role as Kevin Flynn, is brief but welcome, grounding Ares within the broader franchise and giving longtime fans a moment to savour.  

Tonally, Tron: Ares is a little more linear and grounded in real-world stakes than Tron: Legacy, and that can make the narrative feel less daring at times. Evan Peters, in particular, feels slightly underused, with much of his character’s arc confined to one location rather than fully expanding. That said, the stunts and effects are excellent — crisp, kinetic sequences that deliver visual thrill and energy — and the film’s real-world segments build logically on the ending of Legacy even if you find yourself wishing for more time exploring the luminous digital world of the Grid.  

The score and soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) is fitting, it propels the action and mood even though it doesn’t reach the heights of Daft Punk’s work on Legacy. 

Tron: Ares may not fully realise every thematic ambition it gestures toward, but it is surprisingly the most rounded of the series so far, confident in its design, strong in its performances, and thoroughly worthwhile. 

Both the ending and the end-credits scene tease of a fourth instalment, which I’d welcome. Recommended.

Night Life (AKA Grave Misdemeanours) (1989) Review

In this '80s  zombie horror-comedy, a bullied teen mortuary assistant thinks his problems are over when his tormentors die in a crash-until lightning reanimates them as unstoppable undead jerks.

Night Life also known as Grave Misdemeanours (and not to be confused with the vampire movie Nightlife of the same year) is a 1989 high school bully/undead oddity. Directed by David Acomba and written by Keith Critchlow, the film is clunky at times and tonally mismatched, often unsure whether it wants to be a horror comedy, or straight undead thriller.

The film stars Scott Grimes in the lead as Archie, with John Astin turning up in a memorable supporting role. Cheryl Pollak lights up the screen as Archie's friend Charly. Memorable faces include Darcy DeMoss from 1986's Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives and Lisa Fuller from The Monster Squad (1987). The supporting cast also includes the likes of Anthony Geary and Mark Pellegrino.

The score is fitting enough, but it lacks that punchy, unforgettable soundtrack that defined many of its genre peers.

Where Night Life really comes alive is in its third act. After a fatal accident, the dead begin to rise-not as mindless ghouls, but as thinking, car-driving corpses with unfinished business and a taste for the living. Once reanimated, the film finds its feet. The zombies draw clear inspiration from The Return of the Living Dead-intelligent, articulate, and unsettling in ways slow shamblers aren't. At times they're genuinely creepy, helped enormously by strong practical makeup effects, stunts, and an effective on-location atmosphere that gives the film a grimy, after-hours feel.

Flawed but oddly endearing, this is one of those VHS-era undead films that rewards patience. If you enjoy The Video Dead, Night of the Creeps, Night of the Comet, or The Return of the Living Dead, there's no reason not to get a kick out of this-whatever title you happen to find it under. A truly forgotten, imperfect undead gem that deserves rediscovery.

Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) Review

Traumatised by childhood violence linked to a Santa-clad killer, Billy Chapman spirals into a bloody holiday rampage that unfolds amid snow, lights, and seasonal cheer twisted into menace, but is there more to the killings?

Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) reworks the notorious Christmas slasher into something sharper than its B-movie roots. It's best experienced cold, with no spoilers. But there’s more to it than a simple slasher.

Rohan Campbell is excellent in the lead, giving Billy a fragile, unsettling humanity beneath the violence. Oozing screen presence, Ruby Modine provides a strong performance, while the supporting cast, including Mark Acheson, adds grit and personality. The performances take the material seriously, which is key to why the film works as well as it does.

Writer-director Mike P. Nelson shows real control, balancing slasher excess with atmosphere and character. The on-location winter setting (shot in Manitoba) gives the film an authentic chill, and the cinematography leans into cold blues and stark whites to strong effect. Blitz//Berlin's score enhances the unease, blending menace with warped seasonal undertones. There's plenty of gore and inventive kills, and while some ideas are familiar and you may see the ending coming, the journey is so well executed and satisfying that it hardly matters.

Overall, this is a film that elevates its B-movie source material, exceeding expectations through confident direction, strong performances, and craft. It may not reinvent the slasher, but it refines it - and in doing so becomes one of the most effective Silent Night, Deadly Night films to date. Highly recommended.

Deathstalker (2025) Review

 

Deathstalker finds a cursed amulet and is plunged into a wild hunt across witch-haunted wilds, crypts and taverns as dark forces close in.

Steven Kostanski writs and directs the film leans hard into practical monsters, swords and gore. Like the comparable Red Sonja, this comes off a little better given its low budget 1983 source material. What it lacks in budget it makes up for in pure fantasy entertainment - cheap but hugely imaginative effects, hands-on creature work, solid swordplay and ragged, effective costumes. The production favours practical monsters, masks and suits over CGI, and that DIY approach gives the fights real weight. Many of the gore and icky revivals are impressive.

Colour timing can look a touch TV-bound at times, and the film wears its low budget on its sleeve - but that TV feel is partly disguised by bold production design and a taste for the grotesque: limbs fly, heads come off. It's grubby, loud and unapologetic packed with pig-men, swamp creatures, a flying eye, a mad bishop, teleporting phantoms, stop motion skeletons, mystics, creatures and more.

Kostanski's fingerprints are all over it, it's all functional, from Andrew Appelle cinematography, Robert Hyland editing and Blitz//Berlin the score which includes the original theme too.

Daniel Bernhardt is great fit in the title role, physical, grimy, and utterly believable as a sword-scarred hero, while Patton Oswalt (voice) Doodad the wizard (with physical performance by Laurie Field) and Christina Orjalo give the supporting cast texture and dark humour.

If you want glossy fantasy, look elsewhere. If you want cheap-charm, practical monsters, real sword fights and a willingness to spill blood for fun, this is exactly the throwback sword-and-sorcery flicks of the 1980s you hoped for. Short, sharp and highly watchable.

The Astronaut (2025) Review

NASA astronaut Sam Walker, returns to Earth suspecting a sinister extraterrestrial presence has followed her home.

In her feature directorial debut, Jess Varley excels in the first act, achieving more with less. After an off-screen crash, the film opens in a sleek, modern safe house that feels deliberately claustrophobic. This low-budget restraint becomes a strength, building dread through shadows, silence, and suggestion.

Kate Mara anchors the film,emotionally raw, fragile yet quietly fierce, conveying the mystery and creeping paranoia. Laurence Fishburne lends some weight as General William Harris, despite sporadic appearances. Gabriel Luna is almost unrecognisable as Mark.

Jacques Brautbar's subtle score works effectively, while cinematographer David Garbett frames the safe house in stark angular architecture-interiors inky and cold, every corridor foreboding like the woodland nearby.

Tonally, The Astronaut initially echoes The Night House (2020) and feels like a spiritual successor to underrated sci-fi thrillers such as Last Days on Mars or Life, with an intimate rather than cosmic alien threat. Yet the third act unravels into ET meets The X-Files-in a twisty, muddled finale that aims for shock and emotion but falls short. Perhaps check out Sputnik instead.

The Running Man (2025) Review

 

Ben Richards signs up for a brutal televised game show: if he can survive being hunted for 30 days, he can win life-changing money — and potentially save his sick daughter.

Edgar Wright delivers a dark action-thriller set in a dystopian near-future. Based on Stephen King’s 1982 novel, which he wrote under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Unlike the 1987 Schwarzenegger version, Wright’s adaptation is much more faithful to the book, turning the story into more of a road movie — Richards is constantly moving, hiding, and meeting different people as he tries to survive.

Cinematography from Chung-hoon Chung is notable, along with the editing by Paul Machliss and music by Steven Price.

There are echoes in the concept of other works like the French novel/film Le Prix du Danger (The Prize of Peril), which King clearly seemed to borrow from, where people are hunted for entertainment. Wright’s version stays true to King’s themes of media, desperation, and spectacle.

Glen Powell is impressive as Ben Richards: he’s tough, scared, determined — Powell brings real emotional weight to the role. The supporting cast is excellent; Josh Brolin plays the ruthless producer Dan Killian; Colman Domingo is memorable as the show host Bobby “Bobby T” Thompson; Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, and William H. Macy all contribute strong performances. Katy M. O'Brian is particularly memorable. There’s also a nice nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger (the original’s Ben Richards).

The action and stunts are great — you really feel the danger. Wright’s direction builds a tense but stylish world, the film has real scope, and the chase sequences feel grounded and raw. Despite the violence and serious stakes, there’s also dark humour, and the satire about media and spectacle is sharp.

Fans of the novel will appreciate Wright and Michael Bacall’s tweaks for the most part.

Overall, this is a very good adaptation. It respects King’s original novel, but it’s not just a rehash of the old movie — it stands on its own. If you like dystopian thrillers, action with heart, or just want something a little different, this is well worth watching.

Highly recommended.

Frankenstein (2025) Review

 

Egotistical scientist Victor Frankenstein, whose experiment in creating new life results in dangerous consequences. 

Guillermo del Toro is one of the best contemporary directors... fantastic, in fact, but this just does not reflect it.

It lacks grit, which is surprising for a gothic horror. It's all runtime, which adds very little; the abandoned tower doesn't fit with the rest of the film. It feels cheap in places, and the CGI wolves and rats undersell it. The creature aside, many of costumes while well designed all look BBC drama off the rack new, with no wear or tear.

That said, the ship stuck in ice is a visual treat, and there's some impressive gore, and cadaver effects. Editing by Evan Schiff is first rate, Dan Laustsen's cinematography has it moments here and there, and Alexandre Desplat's score is effective enough.

It's not stylistic like Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Hammer or Universal's Frankenstein, and in contrast it's not as visceral as Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), or as grounded as Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire (1994). It simply lacks the atmosphere of those and Joe Johnston's The Wolfman (2010) managed to create which is a crying shame. It also reflects how good The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015) are.

It feels like much of Mary Shelley's source material is missing. I'd like to think it's due to Guillermo del Toro having to avoid some sort of rights issues mixed up with other on-screen incarnations.

Mia Goth is on form; Jacob Elordi makes a great creature. Christopher Waltz is notable but lacks screen time, though Oscar Isaac sadly feels off. Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson is memorable; also, blink and you miss Charles Dance, who is sorely underused. Both Felix Kammerer as William Frankenstein, Victor's younger brother, and David Bradley as a Blind Man leave an impression.

Overall, I'd watch all the other aforementioned films and series' again. But this disappointingly doesn't have that pull.

Predator: Badlands (2025) Review

A young, exiled Yautja is thrust into a harsh alien world where he forges an unlikely alliance, including with a damaged synthetic.

Written by Patrick Aison from a story by Dan Trachtenberg and Aison. Sadly, it isn't the stripped-back simplicity of Predator (1987) or Prey (2022); instead, it embraces the franchise's comic-book and other mediums-big ideas, bold visuals, and kinetic action, much like Trachtenberg's Predator: Killer of Killers (2025).

The special effects are first rate, the music from Sara Schachner complement Trachtenberg's slick direction, action setups and emotional beats.

Badlands feels closer to 2004's AVP than the core series. It blends Enemy Mine-style companionship, Aeon Flux-like surreal grass, Conan the Barbarian vibes, and Weyland-Yutani nods, Alien, Aliens, and Alien: Romulus (especially in the third act), there's also wild beasts reminiscent of Predators (2010). Even some callbacks especially the ship to Predator 2 and much more. If you're hoping for a gritty return after Prey? You'll be disappointed. Badlands is mythic, heart-driven sci-fi adventure. The Predator's design and lore work well, while not the same reasoning, it still echoes 2018's genetic explanations for its human mannerisms.

Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi anchors the film as Dek, giving the Predator heart and a strong arc. Elle Fanning shines in dual roles as quirky, unsettling Thia (a severed Weyland-Yutani android) and Tessa. The supporting cast, including Dek's father, brother, and clan leader, add depth.

Was it what I expected? No. Did I enjoy it? Thoroughly. Sequel? Absolutely.

Badlands isn't the primal jungle horror or urban action, I would have liked, but it's a spirited, emotionally rich expansion of the mythos, shaped by comic lore and sci-fi grandeur.