Review by Steve Barton II

​Have you ever felt spoiled by a trailer, seeing all the best moments before even buying your ticket? In the last 10 years, many films have fallen victim to this act and it has soured many fans to even consider supporting the theatrical release due to being burned with all the best scenes in the promos. No genre is completely absolved of this act, but no one does it worse and more often than studio horror movies. Often the studio has no idea how to market the project and have no faith in audiences so they shove every thrilling and creative moment in the trailers with no regard for spoiling surprises or ruining scares. Rob Savage’s past films have fallen victim to this and Other Mommy almost does the same. Other Mommy follows an 8 year old girl named Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) as her parents (Jessica Chastain and Jay Duplass) are having outward martial troubles and making Bela nervous. While trying to find comfort, she’s greeted by a mysterious being in her bedroom that she calls “Other Mommy” that looks nearly identical to her real mother and claims she can fix Bela’s family.

Other Mommy does reveal a bit too much in its trailer, but it holds back just enough to keep you engaged. Anyone who has seen a movie about marital spats can connect the “deeper” meaning about how these situations affect a child’s mind and the long term emotional impact it has. The dream-like sequences that Other Mommy takes Bela through have a surreal nature to them with effects that will make the arm hairs stand at attention. The makeup and digital effects done for Other Mommy herself gives Chastain an unsettling look with the wide smile and the subtle differences that make Bela be hesitant to trust the monster.

Chastain’s performance as Other Mommy may be criticized for being too big and silly, possibly being compared to Smile, but it’s more than that. Jessica has a physical presence with her uneasy smile and silent stare mixed with the body horror and contorting that her stunt double pulls off creepily. Her chemistry with Jay Duplass as a couple who attempt to act happy in front of their daughter, but they give subtle hints from early on through body language and subtle expressions of their troubles. Jay’s performance as a dad who tries to fix everything with humor and silliness will strike a familiar cord with anyone who has dealt with a sad kid. Arabella as Bela plays the role of this young girl who is desperate for her family to be happy again and is easily influenced by the monster’s lies. You often become annoyed with child actors in movies and television because they either don’t act well yet or they’re poorly written, but Bela’s character has so much emotional intelligence and goes through horrific situations and you feel for her. The Coraline fans may find similarities with this Other Mom, but this Mommy makes the creepy button eyes look like gum drops.

Other Mommy may not be the next big horror icon, but her movie was silly and fun. It certainly doesn’t come close to the heights of Host, but it’s got more to say than Dashcam and The Boogeyman with how relationship problems bleed into the well being of the children and how they can be taken advantage of. The surrealistic alternate realities that Other Mommy creates for Bela start out harmless and fun only to become horrific nightmare scapes with brilliant designs. Many of the best moments from Other Mommy did get spoiled by the trailers, but the experience isn’t completely ruined due to the surprises with how violent it gets. They may have achieved a higher box office with cutting the gore down to get a PG-13 rating, but I respect the choice to keep the carnage candy. The editing is hit and miss, especially with the odd choices made with the opening title sequence, but it sets the tone for the strange little ride with Other Mommy behind the wheel! 

Other Mommy is in theaters starting October 9th!

Rating: 3/5

Review by Steve Barton II

​Is losing your private personal life worth having a career as a public figure? Many people on the outside looking in may think so and some may even have a jaded view on anyone with celebrity status or wealth due to class division and other factors. In an age of social media and other sources tracking your presence digitally and physically at all times, it’s difficult to even know what’s truly private anymore. At a time where someone has particular secrets or information of yours and threatening to reveal it to the masses, what lengths would you go to keep it confidential? Writer/Director Ben Affleck’s new film for Netflix titled Animals poses this question while also being a political thriller with added drama mixed in. While running a campaign to become Los Angeles Mayor, Mark Kimball (Ben Affleck) gets a call demanding a ransom payment for $7 million dollars to return Mark’s son. While deciding how he and his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) can get their son safely, they uncover dark secrets that could change their lives forever. 

Animals' main premise being centered around a kidnapping of a high profile person’s child and threatening power isn’t original or inventive in any way. The concept was popularized in Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low in 1963 and was even re-imagined in 2025’s Highest 2 Lowest by Spike Lee. Both Lee and Kurosawa’s films have much more interesting elements with unique voices, where Ben’s Animals feels like an uninspired re-hashing of better movies. From the trailer or even 15-20 minutes into the movie, you can predict all the major story beats and save yourself the time.

​The cast Ben gathered for Animals is remarkably strong given the script itself. With Ben making incredible films in the past both in front of and behind the camera, it’s not shocking that he has this much pull in Hollywood in 2026. Ben and Kerry lead the film as a couple who are obviously struggling with commitments and honesty with one another and it’s played believably by both parties. Some of their arguments felt a bit too melodramatic and cartoonish, but their disagreements are ones that many couples encounter just maybe not on the same scale. Ben plays a politician trying to manipulate his family and staff during the chaos well, but he’s walking through some of the scenes that needed more emotional depth. Steven Yeun and Gillian Anderson round out the rest of the main cast and they both bring their respective talents to their roles. Yeun is great in the role of Mark’s campaign manager who puts his own personal life in jeopardy to help Mark win and keep his status. Gillian plays the hostage strategist who digs into the couple’s dirt to see what the kidnappers may uncover and she does so with the subtle intensity that only Gillian Anderson can pull off.

Animals had potential to be an entertaining political thriller, but it takes the wrong turn at nearly every crossroad. The use of generative A.I. by Mr. Affleck is extremely unfortunate, because we all know he’s capable of delivering a great movie with real people and decent digital and practical effects. In Animals, the most obvious and unnecessary use of it was in the climax of the film when they encounter the kidnappers and it’s blatantly obvious and ugly. Between the A.I. images and the paint-by-numbers script, Animals has so much bad that’s hard to praise the good. The drone shots and editing gives the film some visual appeal, but the experience feels hollow in the end. If you’re cooking dinner, folding laundry or just looking for background noise at a party, Animals will get the job done, but don’t expect a thrilling experience.

Animals is streaming on Netflix starting October 9th!

Rating: 2/5

Review by Steve Barton II

​Anthology movies and shows have become one of the most popular subgenres in horror. Since the first widely popular anthology film in 1945 titled Dead of Night, many filmmakers have echoed the sentiment and made this style of storytelling huge. The comedy and drama genres have dabbled in anthologies, but no genre does it more frequently or of the same quality as horror. Shows like The Twilight Zone and American Horror Story have made it popular on our television sets while movies like Trick r’ Treat, Tales from the Hood and Creepshow did so on the big screen. In 2012, the anthology film V/H/S/ film released to mixed reviews but people vibed with the use of the found footage style and how they gave free reign to a bunch of up and coming filmmakers. The series had two sequels in theaters and then moved to DVD and digital producing 5 more sequels and a sixth that’s all about music! V/H/S/ Mixtape is a collection of 6 short films centered around music hosted by the band GWAR like an episode of Headbanger’s Ball from Hell!

One of the hallmarks of the V/H/S/ series is gathering a unique group of filmmakers who can bring their own unique ideas and perspectives and the crew gathered for V/H/S/ Mixtape understood the assignment. The film got a few familiar faces with the legendary Ernest Dickerson along with musician/directors like Flying Lotus (returning from V/H/S/ 99), Tobias Forge from Ghost and Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA along with other directors David Moreau and Renee Zhan. Each film brought a unique style and story centered around the art of sound and music while still bringing the scares and the gore. Whether it’s a stop-motion animation from Flying Lotus or a literal music video from Tobias Forge, V/H/S Mixtape captures the feeling of a crazy variety show hosted by demon rockstars! They all vary in quality of visuals and message, but they all manage to be disturbing and entertaining and arrive at the perfect time for audiences celebrating Halloween and all things spooky.

The strongest segments of V/H/S/ Mixtape are both Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance by Renee Zhan and Death Tone by RZA. Renee’s segment uses the trend of using mascots/puppets that are normally cute, but in horrific situations and uses an ear worm of a song to hypnotize the audience like a siren. The puppets were also crafted by the Henson company, so you can’t help but reel in the nostalgia until the violence ensues and your left jaw agape. While the trend has become a bit over-saturated, Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance has enough originality and a great cast like the horror legend Barbara Crampton and Josh Willis giving a disturbing performance as George. Death Tone is centered around an artist’s obsession with finding success and their commitment to do anything to achieve success, no matter the cost. Using that general idea to create such a bizarrely profound bloodbath wasn’t the expectation from looking at RZA’s previous work, but it’s an interesting approach. Neela Jolene as the main character gives a dark and disturbing performance while also injecting some humor into the chaos.

V/H/S/ Mixtape is a solid new entry into the V/H/S/ series of films and delivers on both creative storytelling around music and gore candy. Seeing an established name like Ernest Dickerson lending his talents to an installment this late into the series speaks to how influential and powerful the V/H/S/ movies are. Unlike many of the other films in this series, V/H/S/ Mixtape truly doesn’t have a weak link in the whole bunch with each one tackling their own unique stories, characters and meanings and gnarly kills. If you haven’t enjoyed the V/H/S/ movies prior to Mixtape, it’s doubtful that this one changes your entire outlook on it, but you’ll never know unless you give it a chance and DANCE! 

V/H/S/ Mixtape will release EXCLUSIVELY on Shudder starting October 9th!

Rating: 3.5/5

Review by Steve Barton II

Has the new age of artificial intelligence creeped you out enough yet? Just thinking about how advanced technology has become over the last few years will send you into a spiral. All these programs need are a few words and photos of someone to completely transform their lives into ruins. In Chris Marrs Piliero’s writer/director feature film debut, he made a horror movie that will disturb you with its violence, but its deeper message about the new world of revenge deepfakes and the new age of the internet will stick with you. Appofeniacs follows a group of people being harassed with disturbing deepfake AI videos by a random stranger, Duke (Aaron Holliday) who thrives in chaos. What Duke doesn’t realize is his actions have results and consequences that may end in blood or worse.

Depending on your threshold for simulated blood and violence in movies, you may find Appofeniacs to be over the top at times. It’s not a constant splatter fest, but they don’t hold back on painting the walls when necessary. The effects looked to be a mix of CGI and practical effects, but they looked pretty good and the wacky weapon designs certainly added to the absurd tone of the whole movie. A few of the weapons are certainly recognizable to video game nerds as they resemble iconic blades and the results they get will stick with you.

The performances by most of this cast feels off, but it almost felt intentionally weird. Specifically the first 30 minutes had acting that wouldn’t be believable in the worst soap opera your mom forced you to watch as a kid. They do better at selling the horror scenes, but most of them aren’t great at their line delivery quite yet. Sean Gunn and Jermaine Fowler elevate the acting quality upon their arrivals late into the film but for some it may be too late. Sean has an interesting presence as Clinto Binto who is a wealthy tech guy who seems out of touch with reality and doesn’t even think about consequences. Jermaine Fowler has played mostly protagonist roles in the past, but he’s proven he can play bad in both The Blackening and now Appofeniacs. His character Cedrick has an intensity even in his silence that you feel nervous about. Aaron Holliday has deepfake creator plays as slimy degenerate seamlessly and makes it very easy to despise him.

Appofeniacs enters the AI conversation at a perfect moment where many people are starting to sour on the whole concept of it. This film sparks more thoughts and concerns about how quickly this technology is evolving and how easily the worst people can get their hands on it. The cast has hits and misses, but they ultimately convey the message and sell their odd roles to the best of their abilities. The humor is hit and miss, but the jokes specifically about Django Unchained will elicit quite the belly laugh or two. The writing when it comes to call backs and pay offs makes the experience feel more fulfilling by the end. It takes a bit to find its groove, but once the blood starts flowing, it speeds off until the breaks fall off. If you aren’t already on the anti-generative AI train before seeing how Appofeniacs plays out, you will by the end.

Appofeniacs is in select theaters starting October 2nd!

Rating: 3/5

Review by Steve Barton II

If you can’t trust your family, who can you trust? That’s a question you hear posed constantly in life or entertainment. Your family is usually your source of unconditional love and support that you can lean on to when times get tough. For Dane Cook, he never could’ve expected that his brother and best friend that helped him reach incredible heights would also be responsible for his financial downfall. In Brett Harvey’s newest documentary Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story, we follow Dane’s rise to fortune and fame from humble beginnings to losing it all from the most unlikely source. Dane’s half brother Daryl McCauley served as his business manager and embezzled over $12 million dollars from Dane while under his employment.

If you’ve ever had a family member betray your trust, you know that it’s a pain worse than death. That kind of pain has a lasting effect where the victim has trouble with every relationship for the rest of their lifetime where they feel like they can’t trust anyone. You can come to this conclusion after hearing Dane and his sisters talk about Daryl throughout the film. The pain in their tearful eyes and voices when they reflect on the good times with their brother will make you emotional, especially when you hear how the money made him a completely different man. Having Daryl’s best friend as an interviewee also helped show how Daryl became a very different person and became a shell of who he once was. The interview with Erika (Daryl’s wife) will certainly bring the most negative emotions out of the audience, due to her answers and how she reacts to certain information. She was so close to the situation and benefited immensely that it’s hard for both the viewers, other interviewees can’t even begin to believe her and her deceitful statements. There’s even a point where the man behind the camera corrects her about Dane while she’s disparaging his name.

The structure of Funny Money starts like many biographical documentaries showing how Dane Cook rose to stardom in the standup scene and became a global star. They let you know early on about Daryl and speak about him in past tense, but the full reveal of what he did and how he did will still shock and frustrate you. The interview footage mixed with archival footage from Dane’s 20+ year career keeps the pace up and nothing overstays its welcome. Dane has kept every single receipt and fake check he could find from Daryl as we see the undeniable proof in front of our eyes. Some people may get bored or think it’s peters out after the big reveal, but the how and why afterward keeps you invested as well as hearing Erika try to defend her insane and ridiculous actions.

The term “Funny Money” was a silly phrase used by their family, but Daryl made it a dagger in Dane’s back. Funny Money could’ve been just another basic documentary about betrayal but the depth of detail and plethora of interviews gives the audience a unique perspective. The framing of the interviews and how they interject when verifiably false information is being presented was refreshing to see and gives hope that future documentarians will follow suit. Dane Cook has his fair share of critics, but they should be able to see how horrible he was treated and the mental and financial anguish he felt for years after this situation. If you’ve ever wondered why Dane Cook went from being a huge comedian to a shell of his former self, watch Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story now. 

Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story is available on digital platforms now!

Rating: 4/5