179 | Piranha

Directed by Joe Dante

Written by John Sayles

Stars Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies-Urich, Dick Miller

Released August 3, 1978

Available on Amazon Prime, Hoopla

Rated R

Runtime: 1hr 34min

RT: 69% critics 42% audience

Looks like animals are attacking all the kids!

Synopsis 

A failed and abandoned government experiment results in ferocious, mutant piranha swimming loose in a freshwater river. The man-eating fish leave carnage in their wake and no one is safe - not even precious, young campers.

Bobbit Worm

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For our next movie, we’re gonna check out the newest M. Night Shyamalan flick, Old. We’re heading to the theaters for this one so join us in two weeks!

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

178 | Saint Maud

Written and Directed by Rose Glass

Stars Morfydd Clark and Jennifer Ehle

Premiered at TIFF September 8, 2019

Released February 12, 2021

Available in US on Hulu and Paramount+

Rated R

Runtime: 1hr 24mins

RT: 93% critics, 65% audience 

Synopsis: Maud is a young nurse who has recently undergone a religious conversion after she was responsible for an unnamed but serious accident that caused the death of one of her patients. When she takes an in-home assignment with a dying former dancer and choreographer, Maud becomes convinced that her real mission is to save the woman’s soul.

Trivia

• Rose Glass’s first feature film. She was named best debut director at the British Independent Film Awards

• Holy shit that chest bursting scene came from a real story from an ICU nurse

Caravaggio’s “Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy”

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It’s that time of the year here in the midwest when we like to watch a movie about people being killed/attacked in the water. Last year we covered the classic, Jaws. Join us next time when we’ll be reviewing 1978’s Piranha, now streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

177 | The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

Directed by Michael Chaves

Written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

Stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson

Released June 4, 2021

Available in theaters & on HBO Max

Rated R

Runtime: 1hr 52mins

RT: 56% critics, 84% audience 

Synopsis 

The Warrens are back at it, investigating the demonic possession of a young boy. When things don’t go exactly as planned, the Warrens find themselves pursuing the demon once again, only this time it’s taken over the body of Arne Johnson. When Arne finds himself at the center of a brutal murder, his attorney looks to the Warrens to help with their client’s defense of “The Devil Made Me Do It.”

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Join us next time when we’ll be reviewing Saint Maud, now streaming on Hulu.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

176 | A Quiet Place Pt II

Written & Directed by John Krasinski

Stars Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Cillian Murphy

Released May 28, 2021

Available in theaters

Rated PG-13

Runtime: 1hr 37mins

RT: 91% critics, 93% audience 

Synopsis 

We rejoin the Abbott family pretty much right where we left them, grieving the death of husband/father Lee and preparing to leave their ruined home. When they reach a factory not too far away they find that a former friend has also survived and has been using the building as his home. While her mother is preoccupied with replenishing their supplies, daughter Regan forms a plan to follow a radio signal off the coast to share her discovery with a settlement that might be located on an island.

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Join us next time when we’ll be reviewing The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Hopefully we like it better than the other ones…

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

175 | Army of the Dead

Directed by Zack Snyder

Stars Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera

Released 5/21/2021

Available on Netflix

Rated R

Runtime: 2hrs 28mins 

RT: 69% critics, 75% audience

Synopsis: An army transport accident leads to a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas. Many people are killed but the city is eventually walled off, the outbreak contained within Vegas. Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) was a hero in the outbreak, but now works as a line cook in a diner, having become estranged from his daughter. One day a mysterious millionaire offers him a heist job that will pay big. The only catch? The vault is in Las Vegas, of course. Can Ward and his team get the money and get out alive? And can they do it before a nuclear bomb is dropped, annihilating the city?

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Join us next time when we’ll be reviewing A Quiet Place part deux. Let’s see if they came up with an interesting follow-up to the first film, without her having another baby…

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

174 | Willy's Wonderland

Directed by Kevin Lewis; From a screenplay written by: G.O. Parsons

Stars Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Beth Grant

Released 2/12/2021

Available for rent on Amazon Prime

TV-MA

Runtime: 1hr 28mins 

RT: 62% critics, 74% audience

Synopsis: When a man finds himself in a weird town after running over a spike strip and ruining all his tires, he’s offered the job of cleaning out the town’s cursed/closed themed restaurant, Willy’s Wonderland. What the man doesn’t know, however, is that the animatronic characters in the restaurant have a sordid past and come alive to do what they do best…KILL!

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The horror world will never outrun zombies. But since it’s been a while since we’ve covered a zombie flick, if you join us next time, we’ll be reviewing the Netflix released, Army of the Dead.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

173 | Hunter Hunter

Written & Directed by Shawn Linden

Stars Camille Sullivan, Devon Sawa and Nick Stahl

Released December 18, 2020

Available on Hulu 

Not Rated

Runtime: 1hr 33mins 

RT: 94% critics, 66% audience

Synopsis: Joseph and Anne are a couple who live off the grid with their young daughter in the Canadian wilderness. They barely eke out a living by selling animal pelts at the local general store but their livelihood is threatened when their old enemy - a wolf - returns and begins stealing their trapped animals.

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We decided that we needed something a little more Cagey for our next movie so we’ll be watching and reviewing Willy’s Wonderland. We smell an Oscaaarrrr!

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

172 | Come True

Directed by Anthony Scott Burns

Written by Anthony Scott Burns, based on a story by Daniel Weissenberger 

Stars Julia Sarah Stone, Landon Liboiron and Carlee Ryski  

Debuted at Fantasia Film Festival August 30, 2020

Released March 12, 2021

Available on VOD ($6.99) 

Not Rated

Runtime: 1hr 45mins 

RT: 86% critics, 67% audience

Synopsis: Homeless teenager Sarah enrolls in a sleep study to both have a place to stay and to attempt to understand her nightmares. The researchers are utilizing groundbreaking technology which records images from dreams, and they’re finding the same entity appearing in all of them - the shadow men.

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Maybe we picked this next movie based solely on the fact that it stars 90’s heartthrob, Devon Sawa, and maybe we didn’t. Ok, we did. But Hunter Hunter also looks like a solid survivalist thriller and that theme is right up our alley.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

171 | Sea Fever

Written & Directed by Neasa Hardiman

Stars Hermione Corfield, Dag Malmberg, Dougray Scott and Connie Nielsen 

Debuted at Toronto International Film Festival

Released April 10, 2020

Available on Hulu 

Not Rated

Runtime: 1hr 35mins 

RT: 87% critics, 47% audience

Synopsis: Awkward marine biology student Siobhán comes along on a fishing trip off the coast of Ireland to gain real world diving experience and struggles to get along with the tight-knit crew. When the trawler disobeys the rules and enters into restricted territory the crew pulls more than fish into their boat. Soon the foreign substance (creature?) is affecting the boat, as well as members of the crew. Will Siobhán devise a way to fight the invader before it’s too late?

The Beast (1997)

Trust me, you’ll immediately want to go watch this movie after seeing the trailer. It’s all the beats of Jaws but with a giant squid.

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It’s been a hot minute since we’ve covered a movie about sleep paralysis but the moment is finally here. Join us next time when we’ll be hopefully be too scared to sleep after watching Come True. It is currently available for rent.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/