The Grand Prix of Europe, featuring Ed Euromaus & Edda Euromausi

Most Americans have never heard of Ed Euromaus and Edda Euromausi, but the Europark mascots are beloved (or at least well-liked) in German. However, the unstated dark secret of their animated film debut is that their race cars are probably fueled by Russian oil. Of course, there is no mention of geopolitics, but there is a fair amount of globe-trotting in Waldemar Fast’s The Grand Prix of Europe, which opens today in theaters.

Euromausi aspires to a career grand prix racing, but she defers her dreams to work in her family’s struggling amusement park, out of loyalty to her widower father, Erwin. Learning her father is in debt to loan sharks, Euromausi travels to Paris, the first leg of the European Grand Prix, hoping to promote their park. However, she is distracted by her idol, Euromaus, and his car.

Through a cartoony set of circumstances, Euromausi crashes his car and sprains Euromaus’s shoulder. Ed would be disqualified if the borderline-psychotic race director, Cindy (a Fox), knew he was injured, so Euromaus reluctantly agrees to let the bundled-up Euromausi pass for him, until his shoulder heals.

Of course, she gets off to a rocky start in Paris. Yet, the legs through Italy and the Swiss Alps are even more dangerous, because of an unknown rival driver’s sabotage attempts. Naturally, her suspicions fall on Nachtkraab, because he is a crow—but to be fair to Euromausi, he has a nasty habit of sneaking up on people (more like animals, but you get the point).

Stumble, on NBC

Despite her recent scandal, Courtenay Potter is the kind of cheer coach Ted Lasso could appreciate, because she really cares about her team. Unfortunately, to break the record for cheer competition victories, Potter must build a new team from scratch, but fortunately, she always maintains a can-do attitude in co-creator-showrunners Jeff & Liz Astrof’s Stumble, which premieres tomorrow night on NBC.

Potter had it all at Sammy Davis Sr. Junior College, until she was caught on camera celebrating a little too much with her team. Her big, dopey loving husband Boone remains the football coach at SDSJC, but the best coaching position she can find is with ambiguously pronounceable Heådltston Junior College, where she also must half-heartedly teach typing.

Somehow, Potter recruits a team of misfits, including a narcoleptic, a delinquent with natural parkour skills, a former team-member who never graduated when Potter coached him sixteen years ago, and Krystal, the star cheerleader for Sammy Davis Sr., who transfers because she thinks the documentary will be all about her.

Yes, this is yet another mockumentary sitcom, but it probably shouldn’t be, because the things that really work do not lend themselves to the format. Based on the first two episodes provided for review, Stumble excels when it depicts the warmth and humor of the Potters’ marriage and her tough but compassionate approach with her team.

Frankly, this show would work better if it didn’t feel a need to constantly go for big yucks. Arguably, it ought to go more for gentler laughs, sort of like the vibe of the old Family Affair show. For now, Kristin Chenoweth lays on the shtick so thickly as Tammy Istiny, Potter’s former assistant coach turned catty rival, viewers could get toxic shock from the cringe. Several of the new cheer team members could stand for a little toning down as well.

Exit Protocol, Starring Dolph Lundgren & Michael Jai White

When your job is assassinating assassins, you probably aren’t contributing much to your 401K. Yet, Sam Hayden is somehow surprised when his boss takes out a contract on him. Nevertheless, he still wants to complete his latest job, retired assassin Charles Managold, even though they sometimes must cooperate to survive the other hit squads. It is awkward, but Hayden and Managold work together better than Cuomo and Sliwa in Shane Dax Taylor’s Exit Protocol, which releases this Friday in theaters and on VOD.

Usually, Hayden’s marks have it coming, maybe even the ones that trouble his conscience. Managold was one of the worst, until he first found Danique Kellar and then found God. Unfortunately, Hayden has now found them, but the notorious Managold’s skills are as good as advertised. Hayden is better prepared for his second attempt, until his colleagues Isaac Florentine and “Wicked” show up, guns blazing, in his general direction.

Despite still hoping to complete his contract, Hayden forges an uneasy alliance with Managold. It is probably because of the visions he sees of his late girlfriend, Nona Messenger. Her scenes are weirdly clumsy. At first, Taylor presents her as if she were of the flesh, but he soon reveals her “ghostly” status shortly thereafter. Perversely, almost every subsequent appearance tries to shock us with another revelation regarding her backstory, but it is all very silly and hopelessly telegraphed. Frankly, the only thing Messenger’s character manages to accomplish is reminding viewers of the vast superiority of The Sixth Sense.

Nevertheless, Dolph Lundgren and Michael Jai White continue to be two of the most reliable stars of VOD action. Frankly, Lundgren shows some acting chops as Managold, especially in his scene discussing his conversion. In the case of White (playing Florentine), his delivery manages to wring some dry humor out of screenwriter Chad Law’s pedestrian dialogue. He and Lundgren maintain their instant credibility administering beatdowns.

A Life’s Worth, on Viaplay

During the Vietnam War, Sen. John McCain received even harsher treatment then his fellow POW’s when their North Vietnamese Communist captors learned his father was a very senior Admiral. Unfortunately, Mikael Forss, the son of the Swedish Defense Minister, finds himself in a similar position when his squad is captured during the UN’s 1993 Bosnia “peace-keeping” deployment. Supposedly, their mission is re-opening the Mario Road supply line, but their day-to-day objectives are dangerously vague in writer-creators Mona Masri & Oliver Dixon’s six-episode A Life’s Worth, based on Magnus Ernstrom’s autobiographical novel, which is now streaming on Viaplay.

The military is only supposed to be a stepping stone for Forss, on his way to a position in the diplomatic corps and then a political career. At least that is what his father tells him. However, service in Bosnia is much more difficult than he or anyone else expected, except maybe their strict but conscientious commander, Col. Andreasson. Shocked by the death of their APC leader on their first mission, Forss reluctantly accepts the promotion to be his successor, even though he lacks confidence. Frankly, Andreasson probably should have picked the Serbian-speaking Babic. He usually does not make decisions based on politics, and he certainly resist such thinking in later episodes.

Regardless, Forss has his hands full with his APC crew. Kilpinen gets hooked on morphine self-medicating his injuries, but he seeks redemption by helping Eldin, a Muslim father, find his daughter lost after the Croatian HVO’s massacre of their Stupni Do village. Meanwhile, Strand falls for Alma, a Croatian cafeteria worker, whose family will be menaced by both Serbian militias and Bosniak paramilitaries augmented by Mujahideen.

It is painfully clear the combatants have little fear of the peacekeepers and no respect. They call them “Smurfs”’ in [dis]honor of their blue helmets. Viewers quickly see why. The first time Forss’s APC encounters war crimes in progress, HQ tells him to act on his own discretion. This is clearly a coded invitation to retreat, without using so many words.

Indeed, Life’s Worth suggests there is good reason the American military rarely places ground troops under UN command (but we sometimes contribute advisors and staff officers). Neither the objectives or the rules of engagement are ever clearly established for any of the APC crew’s operations, except perhaps Andreasson’s Stupni Do rescue mission, which they volunteer for. “Going out and just doing your best” is not something you can wargame and that’s a long-term problem.

Indeed, Masri, Dixon, and series director Ahmed Abdullahi do an excellent job portraying the Swedish military, up and down the chain of command. Much of the Balkan characterization is more simplistic. There appears to be a conscious effort to depict atrocities on all three sides. Yet, the Bosnian Muslims probably emerge with the least to answer for, while the Croatians, like Alma, are arguably the easiest former Yugoslavian characters to relate to.

Stefan Ruzowitzky’s Icefall

Sometimes ice and snow make a thriller more thrilling, like Cliffhanger, Insomnia, and The Thing. And sometimes they don’t. At least this excursion to Northern Central Montana continues the trend of thrillers that tell viewers to respect their local game wardens and park rangers, represented by Joe Picket, Wind River, and Untamed. Just buy those darned hunting licenses. Unfortunately, poachers will be the least of newly hired game warden Ani Bayawaa’s concerns in Stefan Ruzowitzky’s Icefall, which releases tomorrow on VOD.

Rhodes’ gang successfully heisted millions of dollars from the Bulgarian mob, but the plane carrying the loot crashed into a lake in Montana Blackfoot territory that soon froze over. As the water started to thaw, one of their black cases rose to the surface while rugged Harlan was ice-fishing. He is not exactly the license-buying type, so Bayawaa [rightly] assumes he is a poacher. The big container full of money makes her even more suspicious, but they soon find themselves working together to survive when the tracking device leads Rhodes’ goons to them.

Technically, Pen prefers to think of himself as an ex-goon, because the indigenous local was born again after the heist. However, Rhodes does not except resignations. Regardless, Pen can tell Bayawaa and Harlan better understand the land and the dangers it represents than his fellow crooks.

Ruzowitzky’s empathy for the indigenous characters (including Pen) and Harlan, a veteran of Afghanistan, is all to the film’s credit, but in most other respects, Icefall is a middling thriller. Frankly, he might have gone back to the ice-fishing hole once too often, because his wintery Deadfall was quite good. Unfortunately, Icefall isn’t at the same level, the “fall” notwithstanding.

Once again, Joel Kinnaman is maybe a little too strong and silent as Harlan. Cara Jade Myers does not bring much warmth or energy to the film either as Bayawaa. However, Martin Sensmeier really stands out (in the right way) as the conflicted and brooding Pen. He helps create an intriguing character, whose Christian conversion is treated with respect by Ruzowitzky and screenwriters Steve Isles and George Mahaffey, but not necessarily by his former criminal associates.

St. Denis Medical: Season Two, on NBC

This hospital should certainly count as a workplace comedy setting, because head nurse Alex Mazurkian definitely works as hard as anyone. Yet, the toughest part of her job is keeping her sanity. That’s a universal truth we can all relate to. It also helps that the comedy is still actually funny in the second season of co-creators Eric Ledgin & Justin Spitzer’s St. Denis Medical, which premieres tonight with back-to-back episodes on NBC.

Mazurkian finally got to enjoy a well-deserved break, so now she wants to keep those vacation vibes going in “Aloha, Everyone.” Curmudgeonly Dr. Ron Leonard knows that will never last, but good luck to her. That will be especially true when the Steve Carell-esque hospital administrator Dr. Joyce Henderson starts drafting the nursing staff to finish decorating their new birthing center for a major donor.

Frankly, this is a relatively laidback episode compared to some of the highlights from season one, but it still has far more bite than the toothless The Paper. There is no question St. Denis Medical is the true successor to The Office. Regardless, it serves as a nice showcase for recurring cast-member David Theune as Keith Finger, the deadpan sad sack orderly. It also offers Kahyun Kim an opportunity to act a little nutty as the ordinarily too-cool-for-you Nurse Serena Jung.

Regardless, “Mama Bear Activated” is a prime example of the show’s edgy wit, especially when Dr. Henderson calls a meeting to discuss a recent wave of physical attacks on staff members. On a serious note, medical professionals really are five times more likely to be victims of violent assaults. That is a legit problem, but Henderson is not solving it with her self-defense seminar—in lieu of greater spending on security systems, of course. Seriously, this compares favorably with some of Carrel’s best Office scenes. Arguably, there is no funnier depiction of an obnoxious boss currently on television than Wendi McClendon-Covey’s portrayal of Henderson. That is meant as the highest praise. Yet, what really makes her funny is her after-the-fact realizations of her infractions against current heightened (wokish) sensitivities.

DC Showcase: Blue Beetle

Please forget the Blue Beetle movie from two years ago. It wasn’t simply bad. It disrespected the original characters co-created by Steve Ditko and the beliefs they expressed for years. Remember, in addition to many of the characters DC acquired from Charleton Comics (including Blue Beetle), Ditko also created Marvel’s Spider-Man and the explicitly Objectivist and very independent Mr. A. Instead of the stridently anti-capitalist live action betrayal, watch the cheeky DC Showcase animated short film Blue Beetle, directed by Milo Neuman, which salutes many of Dikto’s signature characters, making it appropriate viewing today, the birthday (11/2) of the Hall of Fame comics writer and artist.

The characters are now part of the DC Universe[s], but their roots are in Charleton. Yet, the animation deliberately evokes the vibe of the groovy, goofy 1970s Spider-Man cartoons. Somehow, the Squid Gang (Blue Beetle’s frequent AIM or Hydra-like nemesis) successfully getaway with a massive Hope-ish gemstone, despite Blue Beetle’s best efforts.

This is the real Blue Beetle: Ted Kord, Charleton/DC’s version of a mecha-suited Tony Stark. Screenwriters Jeremy Adams & Jennifer Keene make him tech-smart, but dumb in most other respects. Fortunately, he teams up with The Question—the real Question, Vic Sage (and not the current Question of the recent All Along the Watchtower limited comic series), who quickly traces the Squids back to mad scientist Dr. Spectro.

Alarmingly, Dr. Spectro has applied his cutting-edge mind-control technology to Captain Atom and Nightshade, two additional former Charleton superheroes created by Ditko. It is particularly satisfying to see Captain Atom’s heroic resistance, considering his struggles in the limited series Justice League: The Atom Project (which overlaps with All Along the Watchtower).

This DC Showcase short is devilishly sly and delightfully silly, but perhaps the best part is its spot-on presentation of the Question’s uncompromising philosophic honesty. Indeed, the character and his intellectually rigorous dialogue are well served by David Kaye’s incisive voiceover performance. Clearly, Neuman and company have affection for the character and appreciate the philosophy that makes him who he is.

Sew Torn, on Shudder

If MacGyver and Rube Goldberg started a sewing circle, they would invite Barbara Duggen to join them. She can do almost anything with a needle and thread, except keep her late mother’s custom seamstress business afloat. A briefcase full of cash would certainly help, but no matter what choices she makes, someone always comes after her in Freddy Macdonald’s Sew Torn, which premieres today on Shudder.

After enduring the verbal abuse of her senior citizen bridezilla client, Duggen drives through the wreckage of a shootout between drug dealers. Instead of calling the police (or rather the Scandinavian village’s sole cop/justice of the peace/notary), she wires up the scene with thread, to finish them off. When the ambusher still survives, she carries him home, rigging him into an unlikely needle and thread pulley system. How does it end? Not well, as viewers know from the gruesome prologue montage, so the film rewinds to let Duggen chose two more alternatives.

Calling Sheriff Engel from the scene also turns into a nightmare for Duggen, because the eccentric peace officer immediately uncovers her plan to make off with the loot. For her third go-round, Duggen forms an alliance with Joshua Armitage, the bleeding and battered drug courier, who also happens to be the much-abused son of Hudson Armitage, the drug lord making each branching fork end so badly for her.

Frankly, some of Duggen’s threaded contraptions are a little too convoluted for viewers to fully comprehend the mechanics involved and a little too cute to take seriously. However, the ironic sense of humor adds a good deal saltiness. Regardless, it is inventive, which is cool.

Babak Anvari’s Hallow Road

Gen X did a lot of things right, but our record raising Millennial and Gen Z kids has been admittedly dismal. The job Maddie and Frank did with Alice is a case in point. She has always been an irresponsible basket-case, but she might have to find some sudden maturity when she takes a detour through the Twilight Zone (so to speak) in Babak Anvari’s Hallow Road, which opens today as part of a special AMC horror double feature.

After arguing with her parents (yet again), Alice drove off angry into the night, where she slammed into an unsuspecting girl her age. Of course, she calls her parents hoping they can fix her mess (yet again). Maddie, a burned out EMT wants her to call back emergency services, so she can follow their directions, but the even more-coddling Frank insists she keep them on speaker phone as they race to meet her along a lonely stretch of Hallow Road.

Apparently, that titular road has a bit of a folky horror reputation. Not surprisingly, the vibe feels off. (Coincidentally, the GPS display says its 10/31, but maybe its always Halloween on Hallow Road.) Regardless, Maddie has more pressing concerns, like trying to save the poor girl’s life. To make matters worse, Frank constantly contradicts her with his responsibility-averse advice. Then a mystery couple arrives on the scene.

To a great extent, Hallow Road is like the genre take on Locke—and it works surprisingly well as such. Anvari’s execution is tense, moody, and claustrophobic. It literally incorporates several of parents’ worst fears, so it is easy to relate to Maddie and Frank, despite (or even because of) their shortcomings.

Indera: Malaysian Folk Horror

The Memali Incident was sort of like Malaysia’s Waco or Ruby Ridge. Essentially, the somewhat Islamic government laid siege to a village dominated by very Islamist militants, who gained sympathy during the subsequent crackdowns and curfews. When asked by a prospective employer, Joe the handyman assures her he avoids politics, but he would be safer amid the chaos of Memali than in her remote crumbling villa. To make matters worse, his young mute daughter is even more at risk in Woo Ming Jin’s Indera, which releases today of all days on VOD.

The circumstances of Sophia’s birth were tragic and suspiciously sinister. Since then, it has just been her and her father Joe—and they don’t talk much, because she has been mute since birth. After their latest landlord evicts them, he every so helpfully refers him to a weird Javanese woman, who operates a makeshift “orphanage” in the middle of the rainforest.

The crypto-shaman has a weird relationship with the gaping hole behind her house. Clearly, it seems to exert an unhealthy power over the household. Frankly, Joe should have left as soon as the sinister woman he is supposed to call “mother” separated him from Sophia, making her bunk with the other three children. Regardless, neither he or Sophia should trust the apparent ghost of her mother Anisa, who regularly pays them visits.

Indera boasts plenty of atmosphere, but Woo cannot generate the tension of the Indonesian folk horror movies that obviously inspired his film. Frankly, Indera can be maddeningly slow, especially the unhurried first act. Still, Woo aptly uses the overheated Memali backdrop to suggest a sense of danger in the air.

Food Delivery, in The Epoch Times

FOOD DELIVERY is a very timely documentary that captures an unprovoked Chinese attack on a Philippine Naval vessel, as well as the human suffering of average, workingclass Filipino fisheman resulting from CCP maritime imperialism. EPOCH TIMES review up here.

Careless Crime, on OVID.tv

The 1978 Cinema Rex fire in Abadan, Iran was sort of like the frequently misreported Gaza hospital bombings. In reality, it was committed by Islamist militants, but the Ayatollah and his fellow revolutionaries successfully blamed the Shah’s SAVAK. Even though the Shah was not responsible, it turned public opinion against him. Forty-some years later, history might repeat itself in Shahram Mokri’s Careless Crime, which premieres today on OVID.tv.

Time loops in very strange ways throughout Careless Crime. Visibly disturbed Takbali needs embargoed anti-depressants to medicate his anxiety stemming from his role in a notorious theater arson case that killed 400-some people. To meet a black-market contact, he visits the cinema museum, where he encounters an exhibit dedicated to the Cinema Rex tragedy. However, his pharmaceutical dealer connects him with three malcontents, whom the penniless Takbali must aid in their plans to burn down a local cinema, in lieu of payment.

Meanwhile, the theater staff takes every measure possible to create fire hazard conditions. Extra rows are added to the theater and the beverage overstock barricades the fire doors. It just gets worse and worse, despite the many repeated references to the Cinema Rex, from both patrons and employees.

However, the film-within-the-film, Careless Crime, is a bit of a puzzle. Supposedly, it depicts a senior Iranian military officer, who accidentally runs over his own daughter—hence the title—but from what the real-life audiences sees, it is an absurdist story about unexploded ordinance. Perhaps it was originally set during the Iran-Iraq War, but time has a way of jumping and slipping, throughout both Careless Crimes.

Admittedly, there are sequences that suggest Mokri and co-screenwriter Nasim Ahmadpour are trying to deliberately confuse the audience. However, each instance when time loops back around in the presumed-modern day theater, Mokri produces foreboding chills, palpably suggesting the terror on the verge of exploding. It is not exactly a traditional time-loop movie, but the tight construction of each coil will hold viewers attention like a vice. The choreography of entrances and exits is also just as meticulous as the most inventive sf loops, if not more so.

Down Cemetery Road, on Apple TV+

Where are Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis when we need them? A house blows up in Oxford but the local police barely bother to notice. Admittedly, the UK deep state (which can’t be bothered to prosecute Chinese spies) does everything possible to block their investigation. That leaves a neurotic art restoration technician and cynical private detective to crack the case in creator Morwenna Banks’ eight-episode Down Cemetery Road, based on Mick Herron’s novel, which is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Just down the street (presumably, it must be on Cemetery Road) a house blows up, just while Sarah Trafford’s conspicuously desperate husband Mark tries to butter-up a skeptical wealthy client. Despite several fatalities, young Dinah survived the inferno—and then she disappeared. Nobody seems to know anything, least fo all the police, so she hires Joe Silverman to track her down. Weirdly and tragically, he kills himself shortly thereafter. Of course, Trafford is skeptical, while Silverman’s partner and philandering wife Zoe Boehm is even more so.

Of course, they team-up as an odd couple, to battle the sinister assassin brothers contracted by Hamza, a nebbish intelligence officer tasked with covering up a disastrous chemical weapons program. It was a rather unsavory experiment that used enlisted British soldiers as guinea pigs. Downey was one of them. He also happens to be Dinah’s uncle and possibly Trafford’s other ally. If exposed, the top secretoperation could be a three-alarm scandal, but Hamza’s abusive boss “C” would still rather humiliate him then offer constructive leadership.

It is surprising that the wickedly smart Slow Horses series was also based on Herron’s novels, because Cemetery Road always takes the most obvious, least surprising fork in the road. Frankly, eight episodes of Boehm bickering with Trafford and C berating Hamza is punishingly excessive. At most, this story could have been better translated as a TV-movie, but even that would have been wholly unnecessary.

Instead, we have schtick all over the place, starting with Emma Thompson’s intermittently amusing Philip Marlowe act. Ruth Wilson’s chronic breakdowns grow increasingly tiresome, but she certainly dispels all memories of her femme fatal glory in Luther while portraying Trafford.

Little Amelie or the Character of Rain, in Cinema Daily US

LITTLE AMELIE OR THE CHARACTER OF RAIN is a vibrant animated film that loooks equally inspired by Henri Matisse and Studio Ghibli. Yet, its toddler perspective on life, death, and family makes it easily accessible and relatable. CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

Triumph Over Evil: Battle of the Exorcists

Do not even think any of this is allegorical and metaphorical. The priests explaining the rite of exorcism will assure the audience the Devil and his demons are very real and present in our world. However, on the positive side of the ledger, exorcisms are much calmer and more orderly than most of us have been led to believe. Even though it is obviously screening for Halloween, the Men of God proclaim the good news in Giovanni Ziberna & Valeria Baldan’s documentary Triumph Over Evil: Battle of the Exorcists, which has a special nationwide Fathom Events screening tomorrow night.

It is not just the old conservatives like Pope Benedict XVI who believe in demonic exorcism. The various exorcists remind the audience Pope Francis referred to the Devil as a force for evil at least 50 times and there were eighteen non-metaphorical references to the Devil and his demons in Vatican II. They also cite C.S. Lewis’s insights into what makes us vulnerable to demonic evil. One is obviously disbelief. The other is an unhealthy fascination. At this point, a lot of the horror movie fans will nervously start clearing their throats and looking at their shoes.

Yet, eventually the film circles back to the redemption experienced through exorcism, which seems very compatible with the writings and films of William Peter Blatty (who was also a very nice man in-person). They do indeed suggest the Lord works in mysterious ways. In fact, you hear that from one of the most famous exorcists, Father Gabriele Amorth.

In many ways, the exorcists (including Father Amorth) try to explain the rite in terms that de-mystify the process and reassure viewers. There is extensive medical consultation at every step and little physical conflict during the actual ritual. Light is always plentiful, but restraints are almost always absent.

Still, the exorcists provide cautionary notes, especially with regards to the rise of occult and New Age practices. Pretty much anyone claiming to be a magical practitioner should be considered suspect. Their intentions might not be deliberately nefarious, but they are literally asking for trouble. Naturally, the internet is not helping either, so think twice before downloading that Ouija board app.

Stitch Head, Based on Guy Bass’s Books

Those classic Universal Monster movies continue to shape how we think about monsters—and apparently how monsters think about us. Thanks to their usual endings, mad Professor Erasmus’s creatures live in fear of the villagers storming Chateau Grotteskew with torches and pitchforks. Yet, when his original creation looks for belonging, he finds the wrong kind of acceptance from the human world in Steve Hudson’s animated Stitch Head, based on Guy Bass's children's books, which opens today in theaters.

Ironically, nutty old Erasmus started with his most human-looking creation—Stitch Head, who is obviously so-called because of the Frankenstein sutures crisscrossing his face. In contrast, his latest, simply called “Creature,” resembles a fusion of two major characters from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. He also immediately adopts Stitch Head as his “best friend.”

Yet, poor Stitch Head feels unloved and unappreciated by his creator. Unfortunately, that leaves a void for Fulbert Freakfinder to exploit. The traveling sideshow proprietor recognizes a good attraction when he sees one—and Stitch Head is happy to finally feel wanted. However, Arabella a bright little girl living in the village, is appalled by Freakfinder’s cynical exploitation. Both she and Creature want to facilitate his escape, but Stitch Head must want to accept their help first.

Basically, Hudson’s film starts out riffing on James Whale’s Frankenstein films, but segways into a kids-friendly send-up of Nightmare Alley (the original, good one). The press materials repeatedly stress it is not intended as R.L. Stine-ish horror for young audiences, but the monsters and mad scientist certainly deliver a lot of Halloweeny vibes.

Hell House LLC: Lineage, on Shudder

The Carmichael Manor is so notoriously haunted, even bottom-feeding reality TV crews stopped coming. Henceforth, no more found footage for the Hell House LLC franchise. Of course, they still have the evil clown mannequins. They also have a returning cast-member, but Vanessa Shepherd has been a mess since surviving the third movie. She’s not the only one. Frankly, nearly everyone in Rockland County lives in terror of the evil forces hopping from the Manor to the notorious Abaddon Hotel and back again in Stephen Cognetti’s Hell House LLC: Lineage, which premieres this Thursday on Shudder.

Evidently, back around the time Jason Voorhees drowned at Camp Crystal Lake, a car full of drunken guys slammed into a young girl as they were all leaving the Rockland County Fair. Since then, the hit-and-run dudes had prodigious offspring whom the uncanny mannequins have steadily murdered.

At least that seems to be the gist of it, according to Alicia Cavalini (a journalist, researcher, or something). She finally started to connect the dots between the carnival and all the horrors at the Carmichael and the Abaddon, but Shepherd can’t really deal with her revelations. She is too busy with her own nightmare visions and mourning friends, who are dying like flies. However, Cavalini convinces the reluctant Father David to perform an exorcism.

Father David is a man of faith, but he understands the dangers much more than Cavalini. In fact, he is probably the franchise’s most interesting character, thanks to Mike Sutton’s grounded, humanist portrayal. On the other hand, Elizabeth Vermilyea’s Shepherd is such a neurotic basket-case, you wonder why Cognetti spends so much time with her.

Brilliant Minds: The Doctor’s Graveyard, on NBC

Obviously, the psych ward is a great setting for special Halloween-themed episode. Of course, the usual scolds need to lecture us, whining that our genre fun stigmatizes mental illness. Fortunately, showrunner Michael Grassi’s Brilliant Minds embraces the scary season anyway in “The Doctor’s Graveyard,” which airs tonight on NBC.

According to the credits, Grassi’s series is “inspired” by Dr. Oliver Sacks’ writings, but you would hardly know it from this episode—and we’re not complaining. It starts with Dr. Kinney having a panic attack in an asylum-themed haunted house. Soon, Dr. Nichols falls under the curse of room 313 (where patients keep dying), while Dr. Wolf starts having ghostly visions of a patient he wasn’t able to save. Best of all, Dr. Pierce from the psych department is supposed to evaluate the evil looking clown in a holding room, but she is having none of that.

All in all, writers Sara Saedi and Will Ewing deliver a lot of satisfying Halloweeny stuff, without any Scooby-Do-style explanations, which are always a letdown. Despite his limited screentime, Andy Boorman is devilishly creepy as the clown. Frankly, his storyline should have ben bulked up more, because Wolf’s relatively “normal” case is just okay.

TV We Love: The Love Boat, on CW

Star Trek had two pilots, which was unusual. This show had three. That was almost unheard of, but in the late 1970s, Aaron Spelling had some serious clout. Of course, the show became a hit and an economic driver, largely creating the cruise ship industry as we now know it. Surviving cast-members and critics remember the good times (which really were quite a party behind-the-scenes) in The Love Boat episode of TV We Love, premiering tonight on CW.

High art The Love Boat was not. However, it is interesting to see it get the nostalgia treatment instead of the usual suspects. There is no denying its novelty, especially since it is considered the only successful hour-long sitcom, even to this day. It made a lot of money for a lot of people, including the senior Golden Age Hollywood stars, who took their swan songs and victory laps as guest stars—in what for many became their final screen credits—like when Lana Turner taught Menudo how to play soccer—of course they include those clips.

Comparing the numbers for the cruise lines before and after The Love Boat are like night and day. It also launched the career of sensible four-term Congressman Fred Grandy, who played goofy Gopher. He and Ted Lange (Isaac Washington, the bartender) are probably the two most prominent voices in the interview segments, for good reason. However, there is no discussion of Grandy’s political career or his tenure as a radio commentator, perhaps because his warnings against radicalization continue to go unheeded.

Chainsaw Man: The Movie - Reze Arc, in Cinema Daily US

Explosions will ensue in CHAINSAW MAN: THE MOVIE - REZE ARC, but loyal fans will appreciate the time devoted to the title teen character's relationship challenges. CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

R.L. Stine’s The Graveyard Club

The town of Graves End is even spookier than Riverdale, but it ought to be. It is hard to imagine the CW show without the years of groundwork laid by children’s and YA author R.L. Stine. He popularized horror for a generation of young readers, placing the scares in the settings they knew best: school, camp, the neighborhood, etc. Stine is still writing—probably more than ever, including graphic novels. With obvious seasonal timing in mind, the first two installments of his latest franchise have been collected in the omnibus The Graveyard Club, illustrated by Carola Borelli, which releases this Tuesday.

Graves End is only distinguished by two things: the multiple cemeteries that define its boundaries and the large flocks of bats that often fill its skies. Bad things tend to happen there, like the disappearance of Parker West’s father. Almost nothing good has happened to West, except maybe his wooing of Patti Olsen, a fellow member of his loose group of pals, who call themselves the Graveyard Club, in honor of the one place they feel comfortable. However, that meant geeky Caleb came out the loser. Yet, the motley crew remains united against the bullying of corrupt Officer Ray-Ray Higgins and his nasty son Billy Roy.

In the first story arc, Revenge Game, their pal Trip convinces the gang to finally go for some serious payback. Of course, that is a dangerous door to open in the horror genre. In fact, it almost costs Trip his life when Billy Roy presumably retaliates. Indeed, thing go dark quickly, in ways consistent with the early season of the aforementioned TV series.

One of the coolest stories, is a shorty, “The Girl in the Graveyard,” sandwiched between the two full length tales. It is a great example of how Stine has “re-purposed” traditional motifs for younger audiences. More importantly, it delivers the kind of atmosphere that fans look for from horror comics.

Following the middle yarn, Fresh Blood continues to dial-up the supernatural elements. West is brooding even harder these days, because the anniversary of his father’s disappearance is fast approaching. It also affects fellow “Club” member Rhonda, since her father also vanished that same night, during their weekly poker night at the now abandoned Dockside Inn. Wanting some answers, they decide to visit the shunned building, naturally agreeing to meet at the dark of night. Of course, it turns out to be a great place for some serious horror business.

Brooklyn Horror ’25: Tales from the Woods

These fairy tales often leave the “happily” out of “every after,” but if you read the original Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, they often did so too. Not surprisingly, the genre filmmakers participating in this series of fairy tale-based short films had no trouble relating to their chosen stories, even though they often took extensive liberties. Nevertheless, the results still vary amongst the three short films in the Tales from the Woods series that screened at this year’s Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.

By far, the most successful is Mattie Do’s Sleeping Beauty, which turns Princess Aurora into a Fisher King curse. The Laotian filmmaker (The Long Walk, Dearest Sister) transfers the French folk tale to colonial Vietnam, where the governor’s biracial son Philippe falls under the spell of the sleeping beauty and brings her home to meet his parents.

Unfortunately, no amount of kissing will wake her up, but that doesn’t bother Philippe. His mother Dao recognizes the source of his bewitchment from folk legends, but she is too timid to act accordingly, even if it brings ruin to her family and the surrounding community. Obviously, Do incorporates some rather provocative taboo themes, but they deliver a subversive twist to the familiar fairy tale. Sonadala Sihavong is also terrific, in a crushingly human way, as Dao.

Surprisingly, the weakest constituent short film comes from the usually mind-bending filmmaker-tandem of Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead (Spring, The Endless, Synchronic, Something in the Dirt). Jacques the Giant Slayer opens with an intriguing late 19^th Century expedition vibe, but the creature encounter underwhelms.

In Our Blood: Found Footage Horror Worth Finding

Emily Wyland should leave family reunions to the Waltons and awkward family documentaries to Sarah Polley. Instead, she drags her camera guy down to record her homecoming in Las Cruces, New Mexico with her former (hopefully) junky mother Sam. Unfortunately, they quickly suspect some sinister horror movie business is afoot, preying on the meth gangs and illegal aliens whose deaths wouldn’t be reported. It is not a great advertisement for Las Cruces tourism but the techniques of found footage horror are unusually well-executed in Pedro Kos’s In Our Blood, which opens today in theaters.

It had been years since Wyland last saw her mother. Their attempt at Thanksgiving dinner is not exactly a success either. However, Sam volunteers to make a long, cryptic “confession” on-camera. She certainly seems to feel guilty about something. Wyland hopes to extract more specifics the next day, when they arrange to visit the homeless shelter where her mom volunteers, but her mother no-shows. There are also no signs of her at home.

As they investigate her disappearance, Wyland and her creeped out cameraman Danny Martinez start to suspect it involves the local biker drug-gang, several of her aging hipster artist colony friends, and paranoid schizophrenic client of the homeless shelter.

Before long, they are deep in the trust-no-one horror-conspiracy weeds. It is definitely bad, but somehow Kos and screenwriter Mallory Westfall will probably manage to surprise a lot of experienced genre fans when they finally reveal the wizard behind the curtain.

The found footage conceit also really, really works for this film. Maybe there are a few times when you just have to accept that Wyland was also shooting footage, but that is relatively easy to look past, compared to the cheating you can see in most of its less ambitious sub-genre brethren.

Tenement: Submitted by Cambodia

It's prime affordable housing in Phenom Penh, as long as your soul comes cheap. Returning Cambodian expat Soriya and her Japanese boyfriend Daichi scored a short-term rental in a property loosely modelled on the so-called “White Building” but that was not a stroke of good fortune. She hoped to kindle inspiration for a horror manga, but she might find more source material than she can handle in director-screenwriters Inrasothythep Neth & Sokyou Chea’s Tenement, Cambodia’s official international Oscar submission, which releases tomorrow on VOD.

After her mother’s death, Soriya was surprised to learn she had an aunt back in Phenom Penh. As it happens, her editor just challenged her to explore her cultural roots for her debut manga. Daichi also happens to be between gigs, so off to Cambodia they go. There was even a vacancy in Aunt Mao’s building. However, Jam, their Chatty Cathy cabbie, is alarmingly alarmed to see where they will be staying.

Soriya is delighted to connect with her extended family, especially Mao’s daughter Nimul. Daichi isn’t crazy about her food, but surely that’s a cultural thing, right? Still, even Soriya must admit her zombie-like great aunt moldering in the backroom is deeply unsettling.

Frankly, Soriya’s long lost relatives are a little too welcoming, like the neighbors in Rosemary’s Baby, which looks an obvious influence on Neth and Chea. However, it is interesting to see it executed in a style that also pays tribute to J-horror. Regardless, the third act is quite a wild funhouse ride. Some fans might be frustrated with the quietly measured start, but the deliberate, slow building atmosphere pays dividends over time.

Armed Only with a Camera, in The Epoch Times

Flawed, but undeniably moving at times, ARMED ONLY WITH A CAMERA documents the death and repatriation of documentary filmmaker Brnt Reenaud, who was fatakky strafed by Russian forcs in Ukraine. At its best, it also shows the respect and sensitivity he and his brother Craig brought to their covderage of U.S. military personnel in Iraq. EPOCH TIMES review up here.

Lazarus, on Prime Video

Dr. Joel "Laz" Lazarus is seeing ghosts, but at least they shouldn’t linger longer than fifty minutes. Apparently, he is experiencing visions, or something, from his late father’s life. Dr. Jonathan Lazarus was also a shrink, but his office was clearly not a safe space. Some of the sessions were rather intense, but they might help Laz identify his father’s killer, since his ghost can’t, or won’t explain directly. Regardless, each visit to his late father’s office brings new questions and often further family angst in Harlan Coben & Daniel Brocklehurst’s six-episode Lazarus, which premiers today on Prime Video.

Old Man Lazarus was supremely self-confident and he never owned a gun, so Laz considers his supposed suicide highly unlikely. However, everyone knows the senior Lazarus took the childhood murder of his daughter Sutton especially hard, because she was his favorite. Of course, the cops know all about Sutton’s murder, especially since DI Alison Brown is an old friend of the late doctor and DS Seth McGovern is the other Dr. Lazarus’s childhood buddy. In fact, McGovern still carries a torch for Laz’s other younger sister, Jenna, a psychic, who is quite offended that the ghosts come to Laz instead of her.

It works differently for old man Lazarus, who just walks up to Laz to start another conversation from beyond the grave. Yet, in most cases, Laz takes his father’s place in conversations from the past, experiencing them through his eyes. Frankly, the first time it happens, he simply assumes he is talking to a patient who is too crazy to tell him from his father. However, he soon learns Cassandra Rhodes is dead—murdered in fact.

Frankly, Laz is probably a little too confiding about the ghost business, especially to McGovern. Of course, he will eventually need some kind of reason to explain finding a corpse that has been hidden for over a decade. Meanwhile, Sam Olsen, the original suspect in Sutton’s disappearance makes a suspicious habit of walking around the late Dr. Lazarus’s office at all hours of the night.

Lazarus is not exactly horror per se, but it has enough of the supernatural and uncanny to feel appropriately atmospheric for October viewing. Frankly, the first five episodes are addictively bingeable. Coben and Brocklehurst dexterously dangle a juicy new cliffhanger-revelation at the end of each episode. Unfortunately, the concluding sixth installment plays out like it was conceived to disappoint, if not outright enrage, everyone who invested nearly fives hours of their lives in the Lazarus kin.

Frankly, five out six is not bad, especially for an anthology, but a weak dismount definitely hurts a thriller like Lazarus. Still, Sam Claflin delivers some of the best work of his career as poor Laz, whom Coben and Brocklehurst truly put through an emotional wringer. Each episode he has multiple freakouts, breakdowns, and existential crises.

Mistress Dispeller

Apparently, this phenomenon is a by-product of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” The regime might like to boast of “traditional Chinese values” and “thousands of years of Chinese culture,” but one of the Mainland’s fastest growing service industries seeks to separate unfaithful husbands from their mistresses. For a top performer like Wang Zhenxi, business is booming. Elizabeth Lo follows Wang as she targets her latest love-triangle in “Mistress Dispeller,” which opens today in New York.

Eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Li and well as Fei Fei, the other woman, consented to the release of Lo’s highly revealing documentary. Presumably, it helped that the Hong Kong-born Lo agreed to never screen the film in China—which was a small concession, considering the remote likelihood Mistress Dispeller would be approved for theaters in the tightly closed Mainland market.

Having secretly discovered her husband’s affair, Mrs. Li seeks out Wang on the advice of her brother, who was once on the other side of her sleuthing. Soon, Wang is charming Mr. Li in the guise of his wife’s badminton buddy. Frankly, it is a good thing Wang works as a private fidelity cop, because could easily fleece plenty of marks as a con artist.

Indeed, Wang soon has Mr. Li confessing to the affair and agreeing to arrange a meeting for her with Fei Fei, his mistress. Yet, in this case, terms like “affair” and “mistress” almost seem a bit too strong. He has clearly played sugar daddy because he is intoxicated by her youth, while she has accepted his support out of economic need—and both feel guilty about it.

In fact, all three interested parties are riddled with insecurities and neuroses. As a result, it is relatively easy for Wang to sever the affair. Instead of passionate drama, the documentary is mostly defined by gloominess and regret.

Nacho Vigalondo’s Daniela Forever

Nicolas makes sleeping his grief away a proactive strategy, rather than a form of denial. That’s because it is lucid dreaming, pharmaceutically boosted. Regardless, he reunites with his late girlfriend, who is exactly as he wants to remember her, until maybe she starts to get a little bit real in Nacho Vigalondo’s Daniela Forever, which releases today on DVD and BluRay.

Nicolas and Daniela were perfect together. At least that is how he remembers them as a couple, so her freak accidental death sends him spiraling downward. He gets so bad, his platonic friend Victoria arranges for him to join the test group taking her big pharma company’s lucid dreaming drug. She knows it works, because it helped her manage her post-divorce depression. However, the experimental controls are so lax, Nicolas accidentally starts dreaming of Daniela on the first night—and he keeps going back to her, filing fake progress reports for the scientists.

Initially, the dream world is his oyster. Daniela is just the way he remembered her, but when he’d prefer her slightly different, he simply instructs her to forget inconvenient memories. Their world is only limited by his past experiences, so the borders are a bit blurry and indistinct. However, the more time he lucid dreams of Daniela, the more their dream world expands and fills in. It might actually be turning somewhat, kind of real. That’s not my interpretation. Nicolas dreams that Victoria suggests that very possibility.

Vigalondo is incapable of making of boring films, but this isn’t among his best work. The early scenes are rather confusing, but he down-shifts into interesting territory when Nicolas starts to question the supposed unreality of his dream world. However, it loses steam when it morphs into a pseudo-feminist critique of the Twilight Zone episode “A World of his Own,” guest-starring Keenan Wynn, as an author who can change reality by simply recording into his Dictaphone. To make matters worse, the conclusion is a murky letdown.

Last Stop: Rocafort St.

It is like Barcelona’s version of Kisaragi Station, the supposedly haunted Japanese train station that has become the stuff of urban legend, even though it never really existed. Haunted or not, Rocafort Street has undeniably become a magnet for suicides. That would have been a good question to for Laura to have asked about during her interview. However, she needs this job as the station’s night attendant, so she stays long enough to witness a suicide. She then sees a lot more after that in Luis Prieto’s Last Stop: Rocafort St., which releases this Friday on VOD.

As we witness during the prologue, it wasn’t just suicides that happened in the Rocafort stop. It was there that notorious serial killer Elias Soro killed his final victims. The investigating detective, Roman Azpuru tried to stop him, but things turned out badly for everyone, including the disgraced Azpuru.

Nevertheless, Laura turns to Azpuru after witnessing a train engineer’s suicide. The distraught man told her not to look, but she did so anyway. Now she is seeing grotesque visions of the victim and perhaps the gory fates of others around her. There also seems to be a devil dog haunting the lower tracks, but when you see him, you’re really done for—because he is like Cerberus.

Initially, Prieto and co-screenwriters Ivan Ledesma and Angel Agudo follow the playbook of Asian horror films riffing on the Kisaragi mythos, like the Korean Ghost Station. However, they add elements of Aztec death cult mythology that probably appeals to Spain’s colonial guilt, but also distinguishes Rocafort from other haunted station films, like The Sound (which featured Toronto’s infamous Lower Bay subway stop).

The Chosen Adventures, in The Epoch Times

Prime's THE CHOSEN ADVENTURES success blends family-friendly humor and wise-cracking animaals with upbeat, positive Biblical stories and lessons in responsibility and compassion. Consequently, casual viewers should never feel like they are being preached at or proselytized to. EPOCH TIMES review up here.

The Path of the Dalai Lama, His Holiness in Graphic Novel Form

Like Superman and Batman, His Holiness, the 14^th Dalai Lama is now the star of his own graphic novel, but his superpowers are mindfulness, nonviolence, and integrity. In a way, you could argue he also exhibits precognition. As the 13^th Dalai Lama, he foretold impending threats to Tibet and its Tibetan Buddhist faith, both from foreign and domestic sources. Yet, due to his nonviolent convictions, the 14^th Dalai Lama still tried to negotiate a peaceful arrangement with the CCP occupiers, to preserve the nation’s culture and traditions. It did not work, but it led to an ironically triumphant exile chronicled Tom Taylor’s graphic novel, The Path of the Dalai Lama, illustrated by Matyas Namai, which releases this Tuesday.

In addition to unexpcted enthusiiasm for advanced science, His Holiness is also surprisingly receptive to comics and graphic novels, because he gave Taylor and Namai his blessing for this project, based on their comic adaption of Orwell’s 1984. Their collaboration follows the historic events that might be familiar to many, especially if you have seen Martin Scorsese’s Kundun, despite Disney’s efforts to hide it. Yet, they cover some telling and undeniably significant incidents, like the 13^th Dalai Lama’s aforementioned prophecy and the year and a half he spent as a hostage to Muslim Chinese warlord Ma Bufang, before the young newly identified reincarnate was finally allowed to continue to Lhasa.

Clearly, Taylor’s graphic novel will not appear on the CCP’s reading lists. In addition to documenting the horrors of the late 1950s invasion and colonization, he also devotes considerable space to the late 1980s mass protests and the mid-1990s self-immolations, which have been almost entirely forgotten by the Western media in recent years. Taylor does a decent job channeling HH’s personality, but his real strength comes in the way he crystalizes decades of personal and national history into 100-some pages of incredibly striking comic panels.