Highly Suspect Reviews

GHOST IN THE CELL MOVIE REVIEW Let's just get out of the way from the get-go that this is in no way beholden to the film that you almost certainly thought of when you saw the title was Ghost in the Cell. There's no anime referencing here. Instead you get the modern master of Indonesian […]

5 MORE MINUTES MOVIE REVIEW The time-loop time travel conceit in film and tv has been well explored, certainly since 1993's Groundhog's Day (although explorations of the idea in fiction go back to the early 20th century). The Spanish film 5 More Minutes which played at this year's Fantastic Fest sets very specific boundaries to […]

DONKEY PRINCESS MOVIE REVIEW From the directors of the politically charged, surreal, animated fairytale film The Wolf House comes the politically charged, surreal, partially animated fairytale film Donkey Princess which was featured at Fantastic Fest this year. The story follows Princess Diana who lives in a magical kingdom with her father the king. When the […]

PHREAKER MOVIE REVIEW If you've ever listened to us talk about Fantastic Fest, you've heard us say that often it's the films that weren't on your radar at all that end up on your ‘best of the fest' lists. It's rare for one of those films to be one of the minority of entries in […]

THE SPIRAL MOVIE REVIEW Coming off a run at some other major festivals and the announcement that it will be the Italian entry for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming Academy Awards, The Spiral is getting a lot of discussion right now. From a young Italian director Paolo Strippoli who has already gotten lots […]

DIGGER MOVIE REVIEW Director/Co-writer of Digger Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman) has made a film that is structured in such a way that it is completely impossible to discuss without giving away the game it plays with the audience. Thus, this Highly Suspect Review of the film spends only a little time upfront in non-spoiler territory […]

KICK ON MOVIE REVIEW After being kicked out of a club for fighting, a group of young party folks make a decision to go up the drug food chain and head to the 9th floor apartment of the son of a Russian gangster to acquire more ‘party favors'. Eden is in a relationship with Drew […]

FUTURE TENSE MOVIE REVIEW The past is filled with many key points that if one small thing changed, history would be completely different. This comes as a bit of a complication to a corporation in the Fantastic Fest film Future Tense. They offer time travel to places in the past far enough away from these […]

THE DEPUTY MOVIE REVIEW When good men refuse to do nothing, the long arm of the law has the power to deputize the men who just need a chance but don't test so well on exams and probably couldn't pass the physical. In The Deputy, local town screw up Toby (Duke Nicholson) is awoken from […]

THE HERETIKS MOVIE REVIEW Horror website Dread Central has gotten into the filmmaking game with their first ever production, The Heretiks, which premiered at this year's Fantastic Fest. The story follows a coven of witches who have aims to awaken their goddess who dreams the world which will bring about the end of all things. […]

JANUR IRENG – SEWU DINO THE PREQUEL MOVIE REVIEW If you have yet to dive into the world of Indonesian horror films, the time is now. With their industry regularly releasing some of the most original and graphic films out there, it's no surprise that any given genre festival, like Fantastic Fest, is going to […]

RIVER MOVIE REVIEW Nothing like a lazy day floating down a river on your boat, hanging out with your family, drinking beer, scattering your father's ashes, and being set upon by masked serial killers. Man, these summer days really are the memories we cherish. In the horror film River, three estranged siblings (Jane Levy, Jessica […]

PRIMETIME MOVIE REVIEW Perhaps you remember the NBC early 2000s show To Catch a Predator. Host Chris Hansen had a team of folks catfishing child predators online and eventually getting them to show up to a meet where a younger looking actor would pretend to be the child until Hansen himself and his cameras walked […]

THE CYCLE MOVIE REVIEW Meg (Deborah Ann Woll) is a forensic examiner who specializes in the decay of human bodies. When the police show up to ask her to consult on a mysterious case of a body found outside of a murder house that seems out of place, she's interested…until they tell her it's the […]

GODMOTHER MOVIE REVIEW Theo and Colby are going to the desert to a cute little air b&b run by a delightful old couple (horror stalwarts Dee Wallace and Bruce Davidson). Unfortunately, Theo's party girl sister Katie got invited along kinda making Theo's plans for a romantic weekend get quashed. Much more unfortunately, the delightful old […]

VICTORIAN PSYCHO MOVIE REVIEW The director of Sanctuary is back with another seriously weird little horror film, Victorian Psycho. Maika Monroe (It Follows) plays Winifred Notty, a new governess at the remote and huge Ensor house for the wealthy Lamb family. The mom (Ruth Wilson) doesn't like her because she thinks she's screwing her husband. […]

THE YETI MOVIE REVIEW Pack your parka, grab a rifle, and for the love of God, stop following the enormous footprints. Set in 1947, The Yeti sends Ellie Bannister (Brittany Allen) and Merriell Sunday Jr. (Eric Nelsen) into the frozen wilderness of northern Alaska after the vanishing of their fathers, famed adventurer Hollis Bannister (William […]

THE WHISPER MAN MOVIE REVIEW Widowed crime writer Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott) is thrown into every parent's nightmare when his young son Jake is abducted. Desperate for answers, Tom turns to his estranged father, retired detective Pete Willis (Robert De Niro), whose past may hold the key: decades earlier, Pete captured notorious child killer Frank […]

WILD HORSE NINE MOVIE REVIEW Director/Writer Martin McDonagh has become one of our ‘never misses' creatives. Since moving from stage to screen in 2008 masterfully with In Bruges, he's made one delightfully dialogued film after another. This year at Fantastic Fest we got to see his latest work of hysterical somberness, Wild Horse Nine, and […]

BEWARE BOIÚNA MOVIE REVIEW I am not sure anyone was clamoring for another film about folks traipsing around the Amazon who are set upon by a giant killer snake, but here's Beware Boiúna to take up that space anyway. The second film we saw at this year's Fantastic Fest is directed by Mike P. Nelson, […]

RESIDENT EVIL MOVIE REVIEW There have been seven Resident Evil live action film adaptations. SEVEN. That's not even counting a whole slew of animated film ones to boot. So why can't anyone translate the terrifying and legendary game series into a film that works on a level past ‘campy' or ‘the director just wants to […]

THE WEIGHT MOVIE REVIEW Long time producer and editor Padraic McKinley (The Good Lord Bird) makes his directorial debut in The Weight, a new thriller set during the height of the Great Depression. Ethan Hawk plays Samuel Murphy, an unemployed widower with a young daughter, Penny (Ava Berry). When Samuel is wrongfully imprisoned, he's sentenced […]

SAMURAI BALLERINA MOVIE REVIEW Ah, Paris! The City of Light. Where everyone starts the day with seven-foot-tall baguettes consumed with wine, and if you don't work as a painter, professional lover, or mime, you seriously must rethink your life, you traitor to the Republic! Set in 1912, Fujiko, a young woman from a wealthy Japanese […]

LUCY LOST MOVIE REVIEW She doesn't speak. She doesn't remember her past. Yet somehow, she can see more than anyone else. Lucy is a mysterious girl living on a remote island in the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall. Raised by a humble fishing family, she is the town's outcast, accused of witchcraft […]

PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 MOVIE REVIEW After 28 years, you would think that a beloved cult classic like Practical Magic would receive a worthy follow up but such is the curse of the…legacy sequel! Practical Magic 2 initially starts after the sudden death of Gary (Aiden Quinn's character from the original) where Sally (Sandra Bullock) makes […]

THE VIOLINIST MOVIE REVIEW The only greater thing then creating music, is creating it with a dear friend… and then World War II shows up to ruin everything. Set in 1930s Singapore, The Violinist follows Fei and Kai, two childhood friends who share a love for music and dream of becoming world-class violinists. But when […]

MAYDAY MOVIE REVIEW Mayday is a retro 80's-style buddy action-comedy set during the waning days of the Soviet Union. Ryan Reynolds plays Lt. Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a US Navy pilot assigned to a black ops spy mission over a remote Soviet facility. Unfortunately for Troy, his plane is shot down, and he finds himself stranded […]

HOPE MOVIE REVIEW South Korea's film industry has been unpredictable and kind of amazing at points, especially with some of their genre offerings. One of the best giant monster films of the last 20 years, The Host, showed they know how to deliver rampaging beastie cinema. Now with Hope, another bizarre creature is wreaking death […]

MY ADVENTURES WITH SUPERMAN SEASON 3 REVIEW Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a lot of anime references!? Season three of My Adventures with Superman stars Jack Quaid as the titular character, Superman! After saving the world from an evil alien invasion led by the methodically apathetic dictator Brainiac, […]

RICK AND MORTY SEASON 9 REVIEW Thirteen years after it launched into our pop culture, the adventures of the maddest of scientists and his family returns for another ten episodes of interdimensional hijinks and existential dread. Rick, Morty, Summer, Beth, and Jerry stumble through sentient technology, memory wipes, evolutionary nightmares, family trauma, questionable alien substances, […]

GATTO WORK IN PROGRESS REVIEW What the–? The new Pixar movie is already out?! Not quite! One of the great things about the Annecy Film Festival is getting to see Work in Progress presentations for upcoming features, with directors and artists sharing their secrets, progress, and the development behind their projects. Set in Venice, Gatto […]

THE SUN NEVER SETS MOVIE REVIEW During the summer time in some parts of Alaska, there are more than 15 hours of direct daylight. You might even say, much like the title of this new IFC release,  that The Sun Never Sets. Wendy (Dakota Fanning) loves camping, taking long hikes, breathing in the fresh air, […]

ALLEY CATS SERIES REVIEW Hold the chicken and toss out the liver. These cats don't eat the domesticated posh cat food but do deliver comedy in casual conversation with little nuggets of wisdom. Netflix presents a six episode animated mini series about five cats and one kitten shoot'n the shit with the voices of English […]

NECROMANCER EP.147 – A PERFECT GETAWAY The necromancers take a ghoul's trip with Nathan Flynn to Hawaii for his horror pick, A Perfect Getaway (2009). Will Bret and Shira's pupils remain a normal size or have they not yet seen the craziest thing that could happen to Steve Zahn on a Hawaiian vacation? Listen to […]

CAMP ROCK 3 MOVIE REVIEW Everyone remembers their first rock concert because everyone remembers their first time dreaming of being under those bright stage lights with thousands of voices screaming your name. With your guitar and best buds on stage with you, your job would be to teach the world how to rock! Disney Plus […]

ONSLAUGHT MOVIE REVIEW The director of You're Next and The Guest goes back to the action/horror style of his earlier works with Onslaught. The film follows Celeste (Adria Arjona) a super pissed-off single mom and ex-marine now managing a rundown trailer park in the middle of nowhere. Who should interrupt this existence of creeping despair […]

IDIOTS MOVIE REVIEW From actor/writer/director Macon Blair (I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, The Toxic Avenger) comes Idiots, a twisted road trip comedy about a couple of losers who get more than they bargained for when they accept a job escorting a wealthy teenager to an exclusive rehab clinic. Davis (O'Shea Jackson) […]

THE LAST HOUSE MOVIE REVIEW Home is where the heart is. Unfortunately, it's also where the doors won't open, the windows won't break, and something deeply unpleasant is wandering around outside in the rain. Netflix's The Last House traps Jason (Wagner Moura), Ann (Greta Lee), and their two children inside their family home with absolutely […]

THE DOG STARS MOVIE REVIEW Is just surviving after an apocalyptic pandemic enough? This is the question that Ridley Scott's new film poses. Based on the book by Peter Heller, The Dog Stars follows Hig (Jacob Elordi), a civilian pilot. He and his ex-marine friend Bangley (Josh Brolin) have holed up outside Denver in an […]

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL PT.1 REVIEW Batman is having a very, very bad week. Can't catch a break! If rehabilitating the murderous vigilante Azrael wasn't enough, some jerk named Bane sets all the inmates of Arkham free. Well, not all of them… there are some confusingly notable exceptions. Raised in prison and deluded by his late mother, […]

BUTTHOLE SURFERS: THE HOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUTT MOVIE REVIEW Legendary music journalist Michael Azerrad said about his iconic book Our Band Could Be Your Life, “The most surprising and rewarding chapter to write was the Butthole Surfers chapter. I'd always thought of them as a bunch of drug-addled reprobates – which maybe they were […]

HELLCAT MOVIE REVIEW How's this for a horror movie setup? Lena (Dakota Gorman) wakes up injured, confused, and locked inside a camper trailer hurtling down the highway. The mysterious Clive (Todd Terry), communicating from the truck ahead, insists she's been infected with something nasty and they have only an hour to reach a doctor. Lena […]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON SEASON 3 REVIEW It's been two years since season two of House of the Dragon premiered and the world has been waiting with bated breath to finally see some action in the show. We last left our heroes walking into a giant battle and season three picks up immediately in the […]

DON'T SAY GOOD LUCK MOVIE REVIEW There are two kinds of people in this world; those who get excited when they see Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production slate appear before a film, and those who brace themselves for two hours of lowbrow schlock. While neither reaction is entirely warranted, Sandler can be a divisive figure […]