Movies I Watched That I Didn't Review in 2024
A fair amount of my free time that I had available and dedicated to reviewing movies this year was obviously dedicated to the various James Bond films. Other than No Time to Die, all of which I had seen before 2024. However, there were plenty of movies I watched that I just didn’t have time to fit into the review schedule or that were not quite interesting enough to warrant a review. I figured I’d list a bunch of them out here with a short snippet regarding what the movie is about and whether I found it worth a watch.
Hell Night
Genre: Horror
Released: 1981
What’s it About?
A group of college kids spend the night in an old abandoned estate that is allegedly haunted in order to join their fraternity and sorority. No one gets much sleep, however, because some are busy having sex while others are busy getting murdered by a mysterious killer.
Overall Opinion
Hell Night is a boring affair made more boring by the fact that it tries to stretch out the running time with numerous scenes in which nothing is happening. If I wanted to create a drinking game for this, it would only need one rule: Start drinking your beverage when a character begins to cautiously and slowly walk towards something, and do not stop drinking until they stop walking. You’ll probably be dead before the movie ends.
The acting quality of the cast ranges from terrible to mediocre. The scares and gore are weak aside from the one at the very end.
Verdict
Skip it
Chopping Mall
Genre: Horror
Released: 1986
What’s it About?
“Teenagers” stay overnight in a textile store within a mall in Middle America. They’re all having a good time partying and having sex in the mall but the party is ruined by the new security system that was just implemented. Security robots equipped with tasers, lasers, and incredibly strong robot hands have gone berzerk after a freak storm destroyed their AI and are killing everyone in their path.
Overall Opinion
Despite the misleading name—no one gets “chopped” in Chopping Mall—it’s a fun, cheap ‘80s horror film. It’s not scary. It’s not complex. However, there’s a lot of fun in the cheesiness and style of this movie. Some of the effects are pretty good with some funny deaths. It doesn’t overstay its welcome as a relatively short film.
Verdict
Worth a watch
Warm Bodies
Genre: Horror/Romance
Released: 2013
What’s it About?
The zombie apocalypse has happened and humanity is dying off as they are forced to scavenge for supplies and hope for a future. One awkward zombie named R is rather introspective for a dead person as he ponders life away in his little home at an airport with countless other undead. Suddenly, he finds himself falling in love with a female survivor. Rather than eating her as he does to her boyfriend, he brings her back to his place and protects her as his humanity seems to slowly come back.
Overall Opinion
Warm Bodies is a solid mixture of horror and romance. Even though the focus of the plot is the burgeoning relationship between the two main characters, there are some gruesome horror scenes scattered throughout the movie to keep the tension high. The movie culminates in a fun and exciting climax and a satisfying ending, even if it’s a little unbelievable by zombie movie standards.
Verdict
Worth a watch
I’m Your Man
Genre: Drama/Romance
Released: 2021
What’s it About?
A woman named Alma is leading a team of anthropology students at her local university and has been selected by the dean to participate in a study being conducted by a company experimenting with AI to spend a couple of weeks with a robot that has been specially made for her as a romantic partner. She is reluctant to interact with him as anything other than a machine at first with many personal mental barriers preventing her from wanting anything romantic. Some of those walls come down over time as she begins to see his complexity and as she is forced to face some unfortunate realities of her life.
Overall Opinion
I’m Your Man does a good job of making you root for the characters, even if they behave in ways that do not fully deserve your sympathy. There are some great performances and heartfelt moments that are earned through a slow drip of information and hints at what is eating at Alma. When it’s all over, we have a much better idea of who Alma is and whether a relationship between her and Tom will work out.
Verdict
Worth a watch
Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case
Genre: Non-fiction/horror
Released: 2020
What’s it About?
In 2017, a Swedish journalist who was writing an article for Techradar magazine about the eccentric Dutch inventor, Peter Madsen, went missing after she joined him on his private submarine. This documentary, which was originally meant to document Madsen’s ambitious goals and progress towards going into space as an independent science experiment, quickly becomes about the investigation into the missing journalist, if Madsen has anything to do with her disappearance, and how all of his friends and colleagues are reacting to the allegations against him.
Overall Opinion
The reason I decided to watch this was because I remember slightly following the story when it was happening and how the allegations against Madsen got more and more serious. The documentary goes into a lot more detail about how a person like Madsen was able to garner such a following of dedicated friends and teammates with his charismatic personality and how we often see what we want to see when there is evidence right in front of us. It’s a tragically fascinating story that showcases the personality traits of a psychopath and how people can be so easily fooled into trusting one.
Verdict
Worth a watch
Jared from Subway - Catching a Monster
Genre: Non-fiction/horror (multiple episodes)
Released: 2023
What’s it About?
It’s a well-made series of episodes that covers the iconic individual who was featured in Subway commercials for many years as a success story for weight loss and how a brave woman was instrumental in exposing him as a pedophile and predator. It goes into detail about various other people in Jared’s life who influenced his downfall, but it also has a central focus on Rochelle Herman, who bravely fostered a friendship with him in the hopes of capturing evidence to put him behind bars.
Overall Opinion
While I could go back and watch Into the Deep again, despite the tragedy that takes place in that documentary, I do not think I could rewatch Jared from Subway. For one thing, you just want to take a shower after hearing all the recorded conversations that are featured in the docuseries. The main reason, however, is that while Jared justifiably suffered a downfall in his life, Rochelle Herman unfortunately did as well. She basically destroyed herself and her family by doing the right thing. It’s not an easy thing to watch when someone who does something heroic is then rewarded with pain and misery, and it’s especially true when it’s something that really happened.
Verdict
A tough watch, but well done
Bloodhook
Genre: Horror
Released: 1986
What’s it About?
A psychopathic serial killer is killing people around a lake with a fishing lure, seemingly at random.
Overall Opinion
Bloodhook is one of several Troma movies on this list that I watched this year. In fact, most of the Troma movies on this list clearly came from the studio before it had established its reputation for comical absurdity, gratuitous nudity, and ridiculous gore with its movies like The Toxic Avenger or Thankskilling. As a result, Bloodhook just comes across as a cheap slasher movie with not much going on. It’s a pretty slow, dull experience and the summary of what it is about is the most interesting thing it has going for it.
Verdict
Skip it
Invitation to Hell
Genre: Horror
Released: 1984
What’s it About?
A family moves to a home in a new neighborhood that has a problem with being in close proximity to Hell thanks to a local demon that is going around and leaving invitations to hell in their mailbox (not literally). The patriarch of the family must find a way to save his family from succumbing to the temptations of Hell.
Overall Opinion
I half-paid attention to this movie. It was a made-for-tv movie and it shows. Even though it was directed by Wes Craven, it wasn’t interesting enough to keep my attention and I struggle to recall what occurred.
Verdict
Skip it
Black Roses
Genre: Horror
Released: 1988
What’s it About?
An evil metal band, called Black Roses, is made of up literal demons and traveling across America on tour. Each performance brainwashes more teenagers into becoming part of their evil flock. Some even become demons themselves. Black Roses has come to a small suburban community and is well on their way to converting more of the local crowd to their demonic causes, and it’s up to a few unlikely heroes to stop them.
Overall Opinion
The movie is pretty forgettable because I struggle to remember the various events that took place. However, I didn’t hate watching it at the time. The makeup effects were obviously a little cheap—this being a Troma film after all—and the acting was as poor as you expect. Still, there’s some fun to be had with this silly movie.
Verdict
Watch or skip; it’s a toss-up
Q: The Winged Serpent
Genre: Horror
Released: 1982
What’s it About?
A giant bird creature that resembles the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl has taken up residence in the Chrysler building in New York City and has created a nest for itself. The creature manages to find a person relaxing on their roof, some construction crews, a few window cleaners, and anyone else on a rooftop to eat. Then, a local scumbag who is involved in a botched heist finds the nest and uses it to lure people who are after him to their deaths before he’s caught by the police.
Overall Opinion
This movie is pretty boring and doesn’t deserve your time unless you like stop-motion animation. The serpent is animated in this manner and automatically makes the movie 50% more interesting whenever it is on the screen. The rest of the time is spent either with the manipulative scumbag who is occasionally abusing his girlfriend or with the detective who is investigating what mysterious creature is killing everyone. You might think that the detective is the one we would prefer to be with, but he’s investigating a mystery we the audience know the answer to and see plenty of footage before he finally catches up with us. There’s not much of a mystery to solve and even all the material that ties the creature to ancient Aztec mythology doesn’t go anywhere because that information is not used in any way to get rid of the creature.
Verdict
Only worth watching for the stop-motion
Graduation Day
Genre: Horror
Released: 1981
What’s it About?
A young athlete dies suddenly on the running track. A year later, her sister returns to the small town in time for all the classmates of the dead sister to graduate. Whether it’s high school or college is somewhat unclear with how unstructured the schedule is for the kids, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s just a bunch of 30-somethings playing horny teenagers who are killed off one by one by a mysterious killer.
Overall Opinion
Another tame entry in Troma’s lengthy catalog. That means there’s not a whole lot going on for the majority of the runtime. The acting is weak. The effects look cheap. There’s barely any tension whatsoever. The kills themselves are pretty uninteresting too. There’s the occasional red-herring and twist at the end, along with a sequence involving a rock song that goes on for way, way, way too long. What makes it all worse is that the characters are so forgettable by the movie’s own standards that two women play the same character over the course of the movie. It’s not because of some creative reason, either. One actress did not wish to appear topless so they got another actor to play the same character, continuity be damned.
Verdict
Skip it
Maniac Cop
Genre: Horror
Released: 1988
What’s it About?
A person dressed as a police officer is going around Manhattan killing people, seemingly at random. Witnesses point the finger at a particular policeman who has some personal issues in his life, but one detective is not convinced, especially as the body count adds up.
Overall Opinion
Despite being another Troma entry that does not mimic the ridiculousness of its most well-known films, Maniac Cop is not bad. The more the movie progressed, the more invested I became. I was surprised at how much I was enjoying it. A decent part of why I found it so compelling is because they managed to get some good actors who have been in a number of horror films: Tom Atkins and Bruce Campbell. They sell the story and make the mystery worth solving. It’s not really a scary movie, but it’s an interesting one.
Verdict
Worth a watch
Dead and Buried
Genre: Horror
Released: 1981
What’s it About?
A string of murders have occurred in a small coastal town, including some random drifters and tourists. It seems like the murders are being done by more than one person and one local detective with his own personal issues is driven to find out why. What he discovers shocks and horrifies him to his core.
Overall Opinion
I honestly didn’t give this movie the attention it deserved. I was distracted by a number of different things while it was on and wasn’t fully invested in what was happening. However, as it went on, I got more and more interested. The makeup effects were pretty impressive for a seemingly low-budget Italian horror film, due in no small part to the effects being done by Stan Winston. There’s some overacting as you expect in an Italian horror film, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining. The end has a good stinging twist that, while predictable, is still sold well by the cast. It’s a slow-burn film, but I think the experience is worth it by the end.
Verdict
Worth a watch
Ghosthouse (La Casa 3)
Genre: Horror
Released: 1988
What’s it About?
A man receives a mysterious signal on his radio and decides to investigate it with his girlfriend (who can barely speak English). They end up at a spooky old house where another group of youths is just hanging out, for some reason. As you might expect, they start dying.
Overall Opinion
The most interesting thing about this movie is that it’s technically the third movie in the Evil Dead franchise. It’s obviously not, but La Casa and La Casa 2 were the titles for Evil Dead 1 & 2 for the Italian releases of the movies. This has absolutely nothing to do with Sam Raimi’s classic films and is about as far from their quality as you can get. Ghosthouse is a boring, predictable movie that is most interesting in its last five minutes. You’re better off watching the Rifftrax for it.
Verdict
Skip it
Freaky
Genre: Horror / Comedy
Release 2020
What’s it About
An awkward teenage girl named Millie (Kathryn Newton)—though the movie didn’t even bother to affect her physical appearance in anyway to make her seem as awkward as she is supposed to be—finds herself in a Freaky Friday situation in which she swaps bodies with someone. However, she doesn’t swap bodies with her mom but with the local serial killer called The Butcher (Vince Vaughn), who tried to murder her the previous night. A curse unwittingly unleashed by the killer in his murder attempt has put her soul/personality in his 50-something body and his soul in her teenage body. His serial killer tendencies come out while in the body of the tiny lady which, of course, makes her popular in the process. She meanwhile must try to avoid capture as the notorious killer and try to swap bodies again before the change is permanent.
Overall Opinion
Freaky is a relatively unoffensive film, which I realize is damning with faint praise. It had its funny moments that made me chuckle, but I also think it’s trying a little too hard a lot of the time. If you have seen any comedy film in which a person body-swaps with someone else, you already have an idea about the jokes that are going to be made. The change in perspective from age or gender are two key categories. Freaky has these jokes, but the fact that one of the unintentional participants in the swapping experiment is a serial killer, the humor is somewhat one-sided because when Millie is inhabited by The Butcher, she doesn’t exactly say much. She gets popular by being mysterious and confident because…because that’s all it takes, I guess. At least when she tries to kill people, the film acknowledges that she doesn’t have the physicality of Vince Vaughn, which isn’t saying much, but whatever. Most of the comedy comes from Vince Vaughn channeling the attitude and behavior of a teenage girl, similar to Jack Black in the Jumanji movies—though, I think Black and those movies do it better.
Regardless, I recommend it but just barely because it took me months to remember that I even watched it. What I did remember, I thought was perfectly fine and entertaining for a cheap random horror-comedy. Take it or leave it.
Verdict
Worth a watch
