I still hate admitting that Tales from the Hood 2 was a let-down. The first film is one of my favorite non-Amicus anthology films, so I was expecting so much. And just when I expected nothing from this film, it surprised me at every turn, becoming nearly as good as the original.

Co-writer and co-director Rodney Cundieff (who wrote and directed this with Darin Scott) even admitted as much, telling Pod of Madness, “The stories, you know, they’re not as big as the first Tales. But I do think that the stories are stronger, overall, than the second one, and the look of the film is better, a lot to do with the locations that we found.”

The framing story, “The Mouths of Babes and Demons,” is about an old man named William (Tony Todd) trying to distract the six-year-old Brooklyn from the terror chasing them by listening to her tell him the four stories in this movie.

“Ruby Gates” is about a real-estate agent struggling to remove the last family in an apartment complex from their home. It’s followed by “The Bunker,” in which we think we’re seeing a MAGA white male (Cooper Huckabee from The Funhouse) rant and rave, which we are, but have no idea exactly why he remains so special. “Operatic” makes perfect use of the talents of Lynn Whitfield in the story of an elderly performer who continually watches the one time she was allowed to perform Carmen before racism took away her singing career and the lengths to which performers will go to succeed. Finally, in “Dope Kicks,” the moral is you can take anything from a man, but never steal his shoes.

While this is the first movie in the series without Mr. Simms, this movie is a strong entry in the horror anthology genre, as well as a return to form for Cundieff and Scott. Here’s hoping that Tales from the Hood 4 is on the way.

Family is a hard thing to deal with. You can’t choose them or change who they are, but only adjust the way that you will deal with them. However, this film’s protagonist Summer Roome has a harder to deal with family than most.

When her driftless younger brother and wayward father reenter her life — along with new knowledge about their past sins — she has to figure out how she fits — or doesn’t fit in at all — with her family.

A spiritual sequel to 2018’s Edge of Town — also by writer/director Christopher Flippo — this film brings back Geoff James, who was Sugar Baby in that movie. Plus, it has one face that horror fans may recognize. Duane Whitaker has been in everything from Hobgoblins — he was Roadrash — to Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Vice Academy Part 2 and Tales from the Hood.

While an independent film, this movie has heart to spare even if it doesn’t have the budget. It reminds us all that at some point, the children start to become the adults, which is an incredibly difficult transition.

One of the many rules of horror that I use to guide my everyday life is that if you get a house in a will, do not go back to your hometown to settle the estate. You will face the supernatural at best, die if you’re lucky or end up in Hell if things go the way they usually do.

Rodger is one of the people who didn’t listen. He’s come back home to settle the affairs of his recently deceased father. Soon, he’s dealing with strange childhood memories about a ghost and those memories aren’t going to stay remembrances for long.

Roger also lost his mother and sister at a young age, so he’s surprised when the diaries he finds show that he was in therapy to get over their loss. Yet he barely remembers things. And while his mother’s equations and his father’s videos guide him, there’s also a twist coming that will change everything.

BJ Verot broke into films doing stunts and when you think about it, isn’t being a director the most daring stunt of all? Good news — he’s survived the attempt and I look for him to jump through all sorts of flaming hoops in the future.

The Return is available on demand from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Originally intended as an extra on The Theater Bizarre release, Tales of the Uncanny grew in scope over the lockdown that COVID-19 caused. Starting with Severin Films chief David Gregory and House Of Psychotic Women author Kier-La Janisse, there’s a huge cast of people ready to share their thoughts on the history of anthology horror, like Eli Roth, Joe Dante, Mark Hartley, Mick Garris, Ernest Dickerson, Joko Anwar, Brian Yuzna, Gary Sherman, Rebekah McKendry, Peter Strickland, Kim Newman, Jovanka Vuckovic, Luigi Cozzi, Tom Savini, Jenn Wexler, Larry Fessenden, Richard Stanley, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Ramsey Campbell and David DeCoteau.

The films covered are Eerie Tales, Waxworks, The Living Dead, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, Flesh and Fantasy, Dead of Night, Three Cases of Murder, Tales of Terror, Black Sabbath, Twice-Told Tales, Kwaidan, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, Torture Garden, Spirits of the Dead, The House That Dripped Blood, Tales from the Crypt, Asylum, The Vault of Horror, From Beyond the Grave, Trilogy of Terror, Dead of Night, The Uncanny, The Monster Club, Creepshow, Screamtime, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Nightmares, Tales from the Third Dimension, Cat’s Eye, Night Train to Terror, Escapes, Deadtime Stories, Creepshow 2, From a Whisper to a Scream, After Midnight, Two Evil Eyes, Tales from the Dark Side: The Movie, Grim Prairie Tales, Necronomicon, Tales from the Hood, Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America, Three…Extreme, Trick ‘r Treat, Fear (s) of the Dark, Little Deaths, The Theater Bizarre, Chillerama, V/H/S, The ABCs of Death, V/H/S/2, ABCs of Death 2, Barbarous Mexico, German Angst, Betamax, Southbound, Tales of Halloween, Holidays, Worst Fears, XX, The Field Guide to Evil and Nightmare Cinema.

Fans of anthology horror may not learn many new things, but it’s a great introduction to newcomers, particularly the Amicus section of the film. I’d advise watching this with subtitles, as some of the Skype interviews are a bit difficult to make out. Otherwise, a great package that comes complete with Eerie Tales and Unusual Tales. You can get it from Severin.

The first A Quiet Place left me kind of cold. Once you get past the conceit — aliens that attack based on sound attacking a mostly hearing impaired family — and the nail to the foot scene (repeated in the movie Haunt, which was also written and co-produced by Scott Beck and Bryan Wood), I came away feeling alright about what I watched. However, so many people absolutely adored the first movie, so when the second came out, I decided to give it an open-minded watch.

I’m glad I did.

Written, produced and directed by John Krasinski — who makes a cameo in the opening flashback — this film brings back the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe) while adding Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou as survivors.

The beginning of the film is astounding, showing the initial invasion of the creatures which transforms a small-town American Main Street into carnage before slamming us into the events of a year later, as the family tries to navigate the hostile world that is left behind.

As for Beck and Woods, they didn’t return for the sequel. Woods said they were not interested in a franchise approach and that they would rather “create original ideas” whole Beck claimed that his goal was “…investing back into the ecosystem of original ideas in a massive marketplace.” Krasinski had told the produces to find another writer and director before finding the idea and meaning behind this sequel.

An important team that returned for this film was supervising sound editors Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn and re-recording mixer Brandon Proctor. Their ability to drop sound and then bring it back make the noises in this film anything but wallpaper and dramatically show the experience of the film’s hearing-impaired characters.

On May 29, 2021, director William Friedkin referred to this movie as “a classic horror film” and ended his tweet with “Cinema is back.” How about that for high praise?

You have so many ways to watch this movie. Digitally, the film is available on Paramount Plus and on demand. If you want a physical copy, you can get the 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, as well as Blu-ray and DVD. Or, if you’d like to have both films in the same place, you can get the 2-Movie Collection, available to buy exclusively on Digital or Blu-ray with bonus content on both films. They’re all available from Paramount Home Entertainment.

You can learn more at the official site and official Facebook page.

I lost my teeth playing hockey and I’m still dealing with it thirty years later, with painful implants being removed and redone, and I never made it to any high level. So that made me think about the kids in this movie — which shows how little kids who love hockey go from playing a clean game to suddenly learning about checking when they are twelve — who must learn violence quickly. The issue is that learning violence changed my life. I would not be the man I am today without hockey — and MMA and pro wrestling and fighting — and so while I worry for the young kids in this movie, I also realize that a fundamental part of growing up as a man in our society is learning how to fight. I have been this coach — in wrestling — that worries about my kids while also forearming them in the face until they bleed, pushing them harder than they thought they would be pushed and being proud when I heard both how respectful and how absolutely violent my kids are.

So it’s strange to listen to director and writer Michael Messner deal with what it’s like to not only coach his son Grayson in youth hockey, but to realize that he is coaching young boys as they grow into men and suddenly add size and, yes, the ability to do long-lasting physical harm to one another.

This is a movie that some will be upset by. Some will be interested in this story. And others will say, “That’s how boys become men.”

Hockey may not be as important in the U.S., but in Canada, it’s the same as football. We’re sending little kids out to be gladiators. And then again, like I said, without discovering my body’s ability to withstand punishment, I wouldn’t have the confidence that I have today. Then again, I may like to be able to turn my neck and not wake up in pain.

I want to know what it was like to live in the 1983 of 80s throwback movies, where it’s always neon-lit and set to synth. I kind of remember everything being woodgrain and dismal, but to quote The Hold Steady, “I’ve survived the eighties one time already. And I don’t recall them all that fondly.” You know, outside of all the movies that came out back then.

Joel (Evan Marsh) is a horror movie journalist, aspiring movie writer and pretty much incel who yearns for a roommate that wants nothing to do with him. After trying to play detective and get her latest boyfriend Bob (Ari Millen) to break up with her, he stumbles upon a self-help group for serial killers. Bob is one of them, throwing off his ruse as a taxi cab killer, and leading to the killers stalking him.

This movie makes the most of a David Koechner cameo, as well as appearances by Robert Maillet (formerly WWEs Kurrgan), Julian Richings (the janitor in Urban Legend) and Amber Goldfarb as Carrie, one of the killers who may be more than she seems.

Much like everything that came after Scream, this film desperately wants to take the piss out of the slasher genre while falling to the failings of said films. It says nothing new, it brings Patrick Bateman-lite in as its bad guy and at least has funny cops. Director Cody Callahan also made the two Antisocial movies, as well as The Oak Room, which is also about bad things happening at a bar, and Let Her Out.

You may enjoy this. As for me, if I want to be awash in endless nostalgia, I know that I have plenty of better slashers to indulge in. I’d recommend Just Before Dawn, The Prowler or, well, anything made before 1983 to be perfectly honest.

You can watch this on Shudder.

You know, every time I believe that I’ve seen it all, something shows up to surprise me. Like this movie, which features a pipe monster that takes over a family’s house. So how does the family stay alive? Pretty simple. They rent their home out to people who will serve as food for the beast.

The best part of this movie is that it uses shadows and light to hide the beast, with the kills mostly happening offscreen. Writer/director/producer Emily Aguilar has a background in much lighter fare, making movies like Clara’s Ultimate Christmas. Yet as we’ve learned, often there’s a fine line between directors who do horror movies and those that do holiday movies for kids.

You can learn more at the film’s official Facebook page. Want to watch it? Get it on demand and on DVD from Wild Eye Releasing.