Movies Of The Month February 2026

 

 It's been a bumper month for movies new and old, a few honourable mentions first, 'Shelter', 'Dust Bunny', 'Terrified', 'Redux,Redux and 'Reindeer Games', but that's the potatoes, here's the meat:

1. Wasteman (vicious Brit flick)

2. Primate (just great gory fun)

3. The Plague

4.Crime 101

5. Frailty (an oldie but a goody)

**COMING SOON In A Violent Nature 2** Teaser Trailer 1

 It's gotta be said the original was some strange s**t indeed, a lot of plodding around, some sporadic violence to liven things up occasionally, but it did contain one awesome kill that made it all worth while, let's hope the carnage candy is set to 10 for this one!

Sweetness (2025)

 

Rylee (Kate Hatlett) meets up by accident (literally) with her Pop star hero Payton Adler ( an actual real pop star Herman Tommeraas) and decides to kidnap/imprison him to get him off drugs via some cold Turkey action. Obviously there's a big up to the classic 'Misery' (1990) and thing's also spiral out of control, like Misery's Annie Wilks Rylee thinks she has Payton captive for his own best interest's, but as soon as friends and family get in the way it doesn't end well.  The final third does get slightly melodramic with teen angst but the payoff finale is mean and lean and this flick's well worth your time.

4/5

Maniac (2012)

The original 'Maniac released way back in 1980 was one of the few video nasties that was any good, actually it was very good, gory (the shotgun scene is a classic)

 and very, very creepy. So when a remake was announced eye brows were raised, this was some serious grim subject matter, a psychotic young man troubled by his abusive upbringing, murders women, then scalping them, keeping them as 'trophies'.

Good news came when it was announced that Alexandre Aja (Piranha 3-D, Switchblade Romance, The Hills Have Eyes) would be involved but when Elijah Wood was cast as the killer, well, brave casting was certainly in my mind! (He later went on to make the superb 'Crawl' in 2019)

So, what's the result? Well 'm delighted to report that it's as grim, gory and downright nasty as the original, dark and unrelenting this is horror for the real fan, if you're expecting babes running down alley ways screaming like your average studio horror flick, go else where, hardcore in your face, you'll feel like a shower after this bad boy.

4/5

Frankenstein's Army (2013)

 

Russian soldiers are pushing into East Germany during WW2, all they find are a few dead Nazi's, and the twisted remains off what seems to be half Human, half machine 'soldiers', soon though they stumble upon something more terrifying than the Third Reich!!

If you've seen the mad trailer for this movie you'll know what to expect, you're also be pleasantly surprised. For a low budget horror flick by a first time director, Frankensteins' Army has very high production values, good solid acting, great sound FX, good set designs, and the monsters look great!
Each creature is original, like a mash of Nazi Cenobites from the mind of HR Geiger and Guillermo Tel Torro, drills knives or guns for hands, real nightmare stuff. The found footage POV works a treat, adding to the films sense of chaos, terror and dread, like a viewing a 1st person shoot'em  up on a PS5, and who can not dislike a movie that features a human robot that resembles the love child of Dusty Bin, R2D2 and a seriously twisted mind!!

4/5

Big Ass Spider (2013)

 

When you're going to watch a low budget movie entitled "Big Ass Spider" you know how far, or high, the bar will be set, and this straight to dvd B movie thankfully doesn't disappoint.

Yes the special effects are pretty ropey to say the least, but director Mike Mendez has his tongue firmly in his cheek, it's fun and daft, lead Greg Grunberg is a likeable as the arachnid hunter out to save Los Angeles, and the whole thing is an affectionate tribute to the 50's giant creature flicks.

4/5

Deadly Weekend (aka Zellwood) (2014)

 

Four 'kids' go camping in the woods, you'll never guess what happens!!

Just one look at the movie cover hides no fact what it's u.s.p is, the main star is an ex Playboy model Sara Jean Underwood, can she act? I don't think she was hired for that!! We're firmly in the horror/slasher cliché territory here folks, blonde, brunette, token black guy, painfully poor (even for something this low budget) dialogue spewed out over an annoying score.
Example:
"I think it's there about half mile to the left"
"You think? It better be, or I'll kick your ass!"

25 minutes in I'm thinking "please kill these people!", before you know it the men are being "men", playing 'football' with their tops off, drinking beer out of paper cups, the girls are being girls, bikinis on sunbathing. Forty minutes in, the film turns into an episode of 'Hollyoaks', then predictably we enter the 'torture porn' genre with cheesy cheap ultra violence. Not even the constant eye candy of said Sara Jean Underwood is any type of recommendation for this garbage.

2/5

You're Next (2013)

 

'You're Next!' kicks off like any other horror genre movie, things go bump in the night, "is anybody there?" "Yeah me with an axe!!" but thankfully it soon throws off these shackles. The story is nothing new, a groups of people (a family reunion) get together in a remote location, they are attacked by an unknown assailant, with little hope of escape and no contact with the outside world.
This horror flick though has the kill count on max, crossbows, axes slay our poor victims, this is home invasion horror set to 11 with a tongue firmly in it's (bloody) cheek, smart, darkly funny at times, a fine female lead role (Sharni Vinson as Erin), edgy and bad ass, this was a 'Scream' for the 21st Century before more great movies of it's "ilk" such as 'Ready Or Not' (2019), 'Happy Death Day' (2017)'and 'The Menu' (2022) came out years later.

4/5

U Want Me 2 Kill Him ? (2013)

 

An impressionable popular teen Mark (Jamie Blackley) hooks up with Rachel (Jaime Winston) on a chat room and soon an intense 'relationship' starts, but this relationship has devastating consequences for Rachel, her family and Mark. Ignore the rather sloppy title, it makes the movie sound like a cheap teen slasher flick, this movie is incredibly based on true events that took place way back in 2003, and is a slow burning, intriguing tale, showcasing the manipulative power cyber-talk can have, especially on younger more impressionable minds (which is much more relevant now)

This is a powerful drama with a strong cast both young and old, and all the more fascinating knowing that this is quite accurately based on true events, though because of their ages, all the real life peoples identity's have been protected.

4/5

Old Boy (2013)

 

Spike Lee does a remake of the 'classic' South Korean flick from 20 odd years ago, the critics all turn their pompous noses up at it, ignore them.
If you don't know the story, here goes, some fella gets kidnapped and imprisoned for 20 years, he is then released and contacted by his kidnappers with a proposition,

 "who am I and why did I do it?"

Josh Brolin stars as he (literally) cracks heads with his trusty hammer, he doesn't eat a live Octopus like in the original but does get jiggy with Elizabeth Olsen, the dirty old (lucky) bugger. Mega violent, all rather silly, but very entertaining with an evil killer twist.

4/5

Savaged (2013)

 

'Savaged' kicks off like your seen it all before "I Spit On Your Grave"/"Hills Have Eyes" revenge genre flick but takes an excellent twist into the supernatural/occult, a kind of female "Crow".

"This is what happens when you put an Angel in Hell"

A young deaf mute woman is raped and murdered by a gang of serious low life's, a native American mystic gives her powers from beyond the grave to reek revenge on the scum responsible. For a low budget indie horror flick 'Savaged' displays excellent production values, strong believable performances from the relatively unknown cast, good screenplay and some well filmed set pieces, oh and it's incredibly brutal and violent with plenty of the red stuff! An excellent genre flick and highly recommended for the horror aficionado.

4/5

Hate Crime (2013)

 

A Jewish family recording their Son's birthday have their house suddenly invaded by a gang of three Meth crazed Neo Nazis. Jeez, where do I begin? the gang start by shooting dead a child, and things go down hill from then on, all caught on shaky cam! A brutal sadistic home invasion movie, this is hard core horror at it's low budget meanest, reminiscent of the original 'Last House On The Left', it even has the same grimy 70's unwashed feel. 71 minutes of relentless depravity that is hard to recommend to anyone but the serious horror fan, anyone else stay away!

3.5/5

Shelter (2026)

 

"Jason Statham stars and 'is' Jason Statham"

It's the old story that Jason Statham plays the same old character, and he does, but who cares, I love him. "The Bee Keeper", "A Working Man", "The Mechanic", and of course the 'classic' "Crank" series, I love them all, even shite like "The Meg" I'll give a go when the potato headed bruiser is cast, just love him. So when I saw this trailer it was on the "too watch" list, so what do we have? "The Stath" plays a reclusive Man who rescues a young girl only to trigger a wave of danger, and yes VIOLENCE! This is your typical Stath, movie, he grunts, he sneer's and he cracks heads, and lots of them. Good supporting cast, Bodie Rae Breathnatch is another young actor to watch out for in the future as the young Girl Jessie caught up in all the madness, then throw in Bill Nighy as the dodgy ex MI6 commander and the welcome addition of the always watchable Daniel May as Mason's, sorry The Stath's ex Marine vet, and you get a solid action flick. Nothing ground breaking, but an enjoyable 100 mins of head-cracking.

4/5

Wasteman (2026)

 When you see a film boasting it's directed by Cal McCau who brought us the astonishing 'Adolescence' and 'Boiling Point' you know this is priority viewing so off I trotted to my nearest Vue on a Wednesday morning at 10am, and I wasn't disappointed.

Taylor (David Jonsson) is looking at early parole due to the over crowding problem in UK prisons, he just needs to keep his nose clean, but a can of worms is opened when he gets a new cellmate, the unhinged gangster drug dealer Dee (Tom Blyth) and slowly things spiral out of control. With a certificate 18 (which is quite rare now) this is a brutal, nasty cold world we are viewing, drugs rule the wing, and who controls the supply, rules the wing. Violent, superb acting, none of your usual prison cliches, this is top notch British cinema and a must see.

4.5/5

Drag Me To Hell (2009)

 

I've been watching quite a lot of retrospective horror reviews on You Tube, and this is one that pops up quite often, one I've seen but looking at my IMDB history I gave it a average to good 7/10, so I thought I'd give it a retrospective re-review to see if I was slightly dismissive all those years ago. A good hearted women at a Bank has to refuse a Gypsy a loan, she is then cursed, this set up in her workplace is a huge per cursor to 'Get Help', the down trodden work environment, overlooked by management by a slimy Boss played by the always excellent David Paymer. What we get then is a cool possession story, very Raimi with huge nudges to 'Evil Dead' talking animals (a Goat-always creepy), lots of blood spewing, demonic voices and some flying possessed people. It's all great fun and wrapped up with an awesome twist finale, yep, I was wrong!

4/5

Crime 101 (2026)

 

Boasting a stellar cast of Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Halle Berry, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Holte, 'Crime 101' oozes class. It's finely crafted, smooth as the LA sun where its located with some fine realistic action scenes. Comparisons of course will be with the classic 'Heat' but this has it's own originality, it's a long haul with a run time of 2hrs 20 minutes but it's slick quality  means it never drags it heels.

4.5/5

The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)

 

I can't even recall this film being released, but when I did I had ZERO interest in it at all, I mean, the original was an absolute classic of the 70's, everyone remembers Sissy Spacek's performance and Brian DePalma's masterful directing, so the thought of a 90's sequel really was a WTF? moment. But here we are 25 years plus later, so why am I now giving this a go? well in the past year or so I've seen this film pop up quite a few times with very positive comment's, something I really didn't expect, so how does it bare up all these years later? well very well it must be said. The film does carry on from the event of the first one, but of course in a very different 'world', the High School is "ruled" by the football jocks, all tracksuits, baggy jumpers and block heads, but it has the same issues that the 'Carrie' character Rachel had, the excellent Emily in her acting debut as Rachel, trying to fit in as a "misfit". The film goes the way of the original kind of, but the plot is solid and the finale blood-soaked with some cool non CGI kills. One moment that must be mentioned though is that Mena Suvari stars as Rachel's best friend Lisa, and in a bizarre scene, a jock meathead in a brown cardigan mocks her looks, yes, MENA SUVARI !! very amusing it must be said, but overall, this is well worth your time.

4/5

Dust Bunny (2025)

 

'Dust Bunny' is the true story (only joking) of an 8 year old girl who asks her scheming neighbour to help her kill the monster under her bed, who she believes ate her family, well that got my attention!  The movie it must be said starts off at quite a slow pace, 15 minutes could have been trimmed here, but once it hits it's stride it's an absolute blast.  Mads Mikkelson is his usual moody self as the "intriguing neighbor" (that's how he's credited) our young heroine Aurora (Sophie Sloan) take's no shit from nobody, and then Sigourney Weaver turns up as the manic Laverne and almost steals the show with her performance, the woman really is a fine Wine in acting and it must be said looks!

The whole thing is wrapped up nicely, and the icing on the cake is  ABBA's  fantastic "Tiger" bringing the whole thing to a satisfying conclusion.

4/5

Terrified (aka Aterrados) 2017

 

"We should bury him again..."

Argentina is not the place you think of when it comes to horror, but I urge you to start with the vicious 'When Evil Lurks' from back in 2023, a real head cracker piece of nastiness. Terrifier tells the mad tale of an investigation into a series of unexplained and violent supernatural events occur in the same street in Buenos Aires. The movie goes for the jugular in the first 5 minutes with a brutal assault, and doesn't let up. It's a non stop barrage of sinister shit, creepy visions and great camera work.

Available on Shudder, highly recommended.

4.5/5

Frailty (2001)

 

This movie has one kick ass pedigree, directed and starring the legend Bill Paxton R.I.P  (who owns the illustrious accolade of being killed by a Terminator, Predator and Alien) Matthew McConaughty and Powers Boothe (checkout the legendary 80's classic 'Southern Comfort'). A single Father of two boys in a good wholesome family turns their world upside down when he becomes confinced he has to save humanity by killing "demons". This is a terrific piece of horror, in particular Matt O'Leary who is superb as the elder brother Fenton who watches his world crumble with his father's insanity, but backed up by his younger impressionable brother Adam (Jeremy Sumpter). The film has a killer twist and satisfying equally dark conclusion.

4.5/5