Do you like Scary Movie ? Well whether you do or not, it has returned! Much like that body you and your friends once tried to dispose of, or the one that crawled out of your TV. And now it's coming home! The movie, that is. Which is why I decided to take a look back at this up until now almost forgotten franchise. To see - or at least remind myself - what all the fuss was about, and more importantly, why it wore out its welcome. Many, many years have passed since I watched the original Scary Movie , and in that time I've forgotten pretty much everything about this horror parody. Apart from a Doofy highlight reel, of course. On the face of it, Scary Movie  is an amusing skewering of Scream  and I Know What You Did Last Summer . The two movies are squished together with a healthy dose of slapstick to form a fairly coherent teen slasher flick. One with comical jabs at the likes of  The Usual Suspects , Final Destination , American Pie , and a certain Budweiser advert thrown ...

During a Christmas ceasefire in 1944, two American soldiers serving in northern Europe encounter a nightmare they did not expect. Trench of the Damned  could be a spiritual sequel to Overlord . With allied soldiers on the front lines of northern Europe falling foul of some gruesome Nazi experiments. Unsurprisingly, there is an eeriness to this short film, but also an authenticity. In fact, bar a couple of anachronisms, it's impressive how period accurate everything looks. That unnerving eeriness, however, goes well beyond the dark and freezing fog of winter, as the twisted screams of whatever it is the Nazis have cooked up, haunt the battlefield. Could this simply be a test? Maybe even part of some larger battle plan? Or is it nothing more than a last ditch attempt to snatch victory from the allies? Whatever it is, this late-night encounter certainly comes as a surprise to Burke (Daniel Griesheimer) and Kincaid (Motti Ken). Griesheimer and Motti bring a restless energy to the two s...

An ageing spy is unknowingly sent on a suicide mission and hunted for a valuable device in his possession. Jamel Lewis' bold proof of concept (which you can view below) is both a stunning demonstration of his abilities as a filmmaker, and an intriguing glimpse at the espionage thriller he has in development under his production banner; 210 Films . But more than that, it's a love letter to the stunt performers and coordinators who have elevated action cinema to the heart-pounding adrenaline rush that it is today. Kicking off mid-mission, Emergence  follows Chukwudi Iwuji's 'Marcus' as he simply tries to stay live. It is unclear exactly what he has done to garner such attention, even if his own emergence on to our screens is a little suggestive. All we know is it has to do with a mysterious device that everyone seems to want and he currently possesses. Thankfully such ambiguity doesn't prevent this electrifying short from taking hold. In fact, the not knowing actu...

Todd is a man struggling under the weight of life. He's searching for help. Guidance, even. So he turns to a fortune teller. But quickly discovers that the fortune you get, might not be the one you want. If you get a bad fortune, can you blame the fortune teller? Probably not. But as this crazy short film suggests, you might want to see how things play out, or at least check your interpretation of said fortune, before making any major life choices. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and all that. Which is certainly what Todd (Timothy J. Cox) should have done, anyway. Cox is perfectly unhinged as this man on the precipice between hope and desperation, and yet still manages to make Todd relatable. That is, to a degree.  Usually however, it isn't just the person at the centre of this kind of situation that is affected. Family members are especially vulnerable. In this case it's Todd's estranged wife Kate (Diane M. Strohm) and his father Rick (George R. Hildebrand) - a ...

A veteran sniper calls on members of her old unit for help when a warlord she once tangled with comes looking for revenge. Seven Snipers  is a movie that wastes no time in getting to the action. After briefly meeting Kris Hendricks (Radha Mitchell) - A.K.A. 'Voodoo Child' - during what can only be described as an impromptu and somewhat tense archery lesson with her daughter, Anja (Annabel Wolfe), we learn of the fear that she has been living with for many years. The how and why of it all, naturally, are saved for later, but in those opening moments we see just how capable and ferocious Kris can be when it comes to protecting her own. Moreover, it is an opening that perfectly sets the tone for what is to come. In many ways  Seven Snipers is your standard revenge tale. A protagonist hiding from their past, calls in old friends when that past catches up with them. Death is soon to follow - if he's not already lingering somewhere. There's nothing particularly original about...

After 5 years living underground, the Garritys are forced to leave their bunker in search of a new home. With all of North America uninhabitable, their only choice is to head for Europe, and the place where the Clarke asteroid impacted our planet. Which, due to its unique makeup, is believed to be one of the last hospitable places on Earth, and could hold the key to a new life on the surface.  I remember when Greenland  landed on Prime Video  after a cinematic release was aborted thanks to Covid. It was a bit of a surprise, in that it wasn't your typical Gerard Butler vehicle. Instead of the Scottishy-American hero in a super cheesy action flick, you get this pretty average guy and his family, caught up in an extinction level event. Their journey to safety is certainly tense, and a thrill ride for audiences, but witnessing all the chaos of Armageddon  from their perspective makes it all oddly relatable. Possibly a little too relatable. There was, however, one thing t...