FILM: Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) (dir: Mike P. Nelson, 2025)

"This...I did not expect."

This unexpected remake of the lurid and at-the-time controversial 1984 slasher takes its core ideas and offers something that is a bit different and surprisingly interesting.  It follows the story of Billy (Rohan Campbell, Corey from the divisive Halloween Ends), traumatised by witnessing the murder of his parents as a child and as an adult donning the Santa suit to mete out deadly vengeance on any wrong-doers, guided by an inner voice Venom-style.  Director/writer Mike P. Nelson obviously wants to give the material a more serious tone than the basic formula slasher original, as he did with his 2021 reboot of Wrong Turn, and his fusion of 80s cinematic stylings and more contemporary psychological shading makes it interesting to follow - the infamous 'antlers' moment makes an appearance, the original's shock schlock value here grounded in something more well-embedded and justified.  Rohan Campbell clearly has the tortured/haunted characterisation pinned down, but here he gives a notably well-thought-out performance that elevates Billy beyond a one-note serial killer and makes his journey and inner justifications more engaging and even sympathetic as a result.  Also of note is Ruby Modine as Pam, dealing with her own significant issues and traumas as his (rather quick) love interest in a sparky and well-balanced turn.  In adding depth and complexity to the simple slasher concept, the film can feel a little overstuffed with its fleeting hits at exploitation in the fostering system and the extreme right alongside elements of child kidnapping and spousal murder, but these are all there to service the overarching theme of everybody having hidden secrets and what lies beneath the surface (of individuals and of the town).  The film inevitably has moments of violence, and the Terrifier-squelch factor increases significantly in the final act.  Whilst far from perfect or indeed significant, this 2025 take on its minor slasher source material has a surprising amount to offer, it is rather well made and it is a lot more interesting than would be expected.

VOD: Troll 2 (dir: Roar Uthaug, 2025)

"You don't know what criticism is until you've been roasted by 12-year-olds on TikTok!"

Now-reclusive palaeontologist Nora (Ine Marie Wilmann) and her team from the first film (with a couple of perfunctory new additions) are re-assembled in this 'go bigger, go dafter' sequel to the 2022 Norwegian Netflix surprisingly-fun fantasy/disaster-movie hit, as Nora inadvertently awakens a hibernating 'MegaTroll' discovered in a top-secret research facility, and when the UV safety system fails, the giant goes on the rampage to wreak vengeance for man's treatment of his kind many years ago.  Once again, there is real ambition evident on screen, the location work looks spectacular, sound design is impressive and detailed, and the serious approach taken gives the mythology some real-world weight (although this time the tongue-in-cheek humour is more evident).  The early ski-resort attack is terrific, but the trolls' face-offs feel rather brief.  It may be at its heart a slightly bigger re-tread of the original with a bit of Dan Brown thrown into the mix, but Troll 2 has just enough warmth, charm, whimsy and well-staged action (and a fun running gag from the first movie) to see it through as a rather messy but still entertaining ride.

VOD: The Roses (dir: Jay Roach, 2025)

"I love this fun banter you guys do!"

This re-imagined update of The War Of The Roses mines its unabashed dark comedy from the get-go with a laugh-out-loud marriage counselling session with chef Ivy (Olivia Colman) and architect Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch), before circling back to trace how their relationship/marriage changed and gradually fell apart, peaking with an excruciating dinner party with their awful friends.  With solid rapid-fire dialogue and two superb actors in the lead roles, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch are both at their extraordinary dry comedic best and use their razor-sharp dramatic skills with aplomb.   There is a strong supporting cast, notably Andy Samberg and the fantastic Alison Janney, who almost steals the film in one impeccably-delivered scene.  The script is slick, efficient and unshowily honest, built to deliver consistently with wit, deft humour and a piercing dramatic undercurrent, making The Roses very good, mature fun to watch. 

 

VOD: Jingle Bell Heist (dir: Michael Fimognari, 2025)

"Have you ever been to a mass gathering of Shreks?"
 

In this restrained but sincere and warm-hearted British Christmas movie, downtrodden department store worker Sophia (Olivia Holt) and IT security guy Nick (Connor Swindells) cross paths and plan to steal half-a-million pounds from her despicable boss's office safe on Christmas Eve, using her practical magician/thievery skills and his hi-tech savvy.  This unashamed mix of reluctant rom-com, heist caper and (incidental?) Christmas movie is more drama than comedy with its low-key low-budget stylings, making its protagonists more grounded and easier to root for than most festive offerings, aided by the addition of Sophia's sickly mother and Nick's cute young daughter.  The two likeable leads spark off each other well, with Connor Swindells in particular giving a very sympathetic performance.  Jingle Bell Heist may have a sombre streak akin to the feel of Last Christmas, but with its 60s genre-inflected music, engaging leads and well-used festive London settings, this is a gentle but actually rather sweet film.

VOD: Clown In A Cornfield (dir: Eli Craig, 2025)

"We're all going to be headless teenagers...without heads!"

Starting off in 1991 in classic slasher-movie style with a party of somewhat old-looking youths drinking, smoking weed and having sex that ends in inevitable tragedy in the nowhere America small town of Kettle Springs, the action then jumps forward to present day as new-girl-in-town Quinn and her classmates (the usual mix of unashamed stereotypes) face local legend Frendo the clown as he comes to life and starts picking them off in grisly efficient Final Destination-style ways.  Performed and delivered with a confident energy (from the director of 2010's criminally underrated Tucker and Dale vs Evil), the film takes the well-worn slasher genre and offers a pure and very effective piece of entertainment for its fans.  The mid-point twist (signposted earlier in the film if you pay attention) offers a great reveal and changes the trajectory of the film to good effect.  Clown In A Cornfield is no meta-self-aware-almost-parody horror, as the filmmakers show they know their genre and their audience and simply deliver in a very entertaining manner.
 

VOD: In Your Dreams (dir: Alexander Woo, 2025)

"Maybe they're trying to tell me something...or maybe it's just a dream."

This Netflix children's animation finds young Stevie  trying to support her parents' fracturing marriage and her lively younger brother Elliot, who discovers a magical book at a local antiquities store about The Sandman and making dreams come true, which sets them off on a wild quest of discovery, adventure and imagination to find him in their (shared|) dreams and nightmares.  The film is a colourful, madcap, free-flowing series of ideas that flits between dreamworld and (occasionally) real world and plays like an e-numbers-fuelled fever fantasy.  The sheer weight of the number of visual ideas and their rapid-fire delivery becomes exhausting quickly, all confusingly juxtaposed with the very real trauma of childhood parental separation anxiety, and by the end it seems like an awful lot of bluster for its basic 'life isn't perfect' messaging.  A short mid-end-credits sequence sends up the whole premise in (literally) throwaway fashion.
 

VOD: OH. WHAT. FUN. (dir: Jay Roach, 2025)

"Come to think of it, where are the holiday films about moms?  I can name a dozen about men, easy."

With its agenda to focus on the female characters set out very clearly at the start, MGM/Amazon's big 2025 festive offering presents Michelle Pfeiffer as a 'holiday hero' suburban mum, Claire, doing everything she can to make Christmas special for her unappreciative family, but as they unknowingly leave her behind Home Alone-style when setting off to a Christmas Eve dance show (for which she had bought the tickets), Claire sets off on her own mini-adventure and inadvertently becomes a TV star of the moment.  Most of the story ideas feel played out by the mid-point, and Claire's solo adventure feels flimsy and underdeveloped at best, with her appearance on her TV heroine's lifestyle show contrived and somewhat desperate.  The supposed comedy set-ups offer very slim pickings, a highlight being son Sammy's awful emo-styled rendition of a well-known Christmas song, and the over-familiar domestic/family/Christmas dramas are played out through rather worn tick-box character types (although as Claire's grown-up children, Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz and Dominic Senna do turn in solid performances).  With its declared intention to focus on its female characters, the male characters are largely feckless, underwritten and barely register, and the film is resolutely white-upper-middle-class (with brief stereotypical appearances from a 'perfect' neighbouring Asian family and a sassy young black delivery driver whose appearance in the story serves unclear purpose).  It is a rather one-note movie that grinds along to demonstrate its unsurprising central message, saved by Pfeiffer's professional and always-watchable performance, but it is rather low-powered and offers little festive cheer.

VOD: Continental Split (dir: Nick Lyon, 2025)

"I'm a geologist!  That's why I'm here!"

The Asylum's latest mockbuster disaster movie follows a very familiar template of big stakes on a micro-budget, questionable performances, and lots of angsty dialogue interspersed with a small number of boldly-attempted FX shots.   It wastes no time getting down to business as an unclear mix of global warming/fracking causes earthquakes, sink holes and fault lines that impact on a very small number of barely-introduced characters in a curiously under-populated scenario.  The infrequent effects work is ambitious but variable in quality, but there is some attempt to create a sense of cinematic size, and there is an obvious mis-match between the sheer scale of the implied events and the tiny number of people involved on screen.  All the technobabble dialogue is spat out at one monotonous level in order to create a sense of urgency but offers little engagement.  At a couple of points, even the characters her acknowledge that their interpersonal relationships/drama are out of place in the situations presented.  Continental Split promises much but fails to deliver sufficiently.

 

VOD: Death Of A Unicorn (dir: Alex Scharfman, 2025)

"I don't think I should be in swim shorts for this moment!"

Disconnected widowed father Elliot and daughter Ridley (Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega) are en route to the rural retreat of his billionaire dying boss (with gauche wife and feckless son) with a view to a big job promotion, when they accidentally run into and seemingly kill a unicorn (as one does), but the magically regenerative creature offers a possible medical solution for the sickly magnate (and his company) but with unexpectedly deadly consequences.  The bottle situation is very firmly established and used purposefully as the players find themselves under siege, and the tone straddles comedy and fantasy horror/thriller, never quite achieving either and wandering waywardly between the two genres, in a manner reminiscent of 2015's Krampus.  Rudd and Ortega commit well to the ridiculous scenario, although neither of their characters offers the actors much of a stretch from their familiar personae, with a strong and quirky supporting cast (Richard E. Grant, Tea Leoni, Jessica Hynes and the surprisingly-comedically-gifted Will Poulter) clearly enjoying the ride.  The first act shows promise but drags a little, but then by taking its daft premise seriously the film is allowed to revel entertainingly in its silliness which - whilst not entirely successful - offers slight fun.
 

VOD: Train Dreams (dir: Clint Bentley, 2025)

"This world is intricately stitched together, boys.  Every thread we pull, we know not how it affects the design of things."

The American frontier in the early years of the twentieth century provides the setting for this earthy and contemplative historical drama/meditation, as it tells the life story of an ordinary logger and railroad worker, Grainier, as he works hard to build and maintain his family and to survive the harsh conditions of the era.  The opening shots set the scene of the powerful, still beauty of nature juxtaposed with man's incursion, with the men working hard and a reflection on life in its immediate and universal scopes, all of which runs through this quiet, thoughtful and powerful film.  The gentle narration offers poignant humour and preceptive observations of people and the environment, with the film capturing the importance and beautiful simplicity of the simple, the mundane and an awareness of the natural world around us, with Grainier's idyllic self-built lakeshore home and his wife and child at the centre of everything in his life and a mid-point disaster testing the man to his limits.  Joel Edgerton gives a wonderfully grizzled and understated strength throughout in his powerful performance, with Felicity Jones as his wife showing genuine warmth and stoicism.  Timeless themes of permanence and loss, regeneration and the power of love are woven through this captivating tale, with beautiful camerawork, composition, editing and music, making Train Dreams a steady, gorgeous and profoundly moving piece of work.