Horror Watch 2025 - Day 21 - Ghostwatch (1992)

  Absolutely phenomenal movie.  Especially considering the budget and time period.  Content warning:  blood, verbal description of animal death (dog), off-screen assault of a child

A BBC program does a live feed from "the most haunted house in Britain" as a television special for Halloween but the crew gets a little more than they bargained for as mysterious phenomena begins to happen.  

This has become quite notorious in a War of the Worlds kind of way.  It aired precisely once on TV, presented as a real documentary and not fictional, and has never been re-shown in the U.K.  Frankly, that is world-class commitment to the bit.  Wikipedia says an estimated one million people called in to complain/praise the broadcast, though it does say that number is dubious.  Regardless, this was impeccably done.  If you liked Late Night with the Devil, you should definitely see Ghostwatch.  

I do want to add that how they describe the ghost's identity at the end felt a little transphobic and if that is your read, I will absolutely not argue with you about it.  I decided that it was more about possession, but that is only my take.  Not to be spoiler-y, but a word of caution.  

It is streaming on AMC+ and Shudder, which I get through Amazon.

Horror Watch 2025 - Day 20 - I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

  I am starting to despise the term "legacyquel".  Content warning:  blood, gore

A group of friends accidentally cause the death of a stranger on the 4th of July and decide to cover it up instead of coming clean.  A year later, one (Madelyn Cline) receives an anonymous note stating that someone knows about their indiscretion.  Guilty and afraid, the group digs into the past of their town, discovering that a similar incident took place in 1997, where a vigilante in a fisherman's coat carved up that year's hot twenty-somethings.  They reach out to a survivor (Jennifer Love Hewitt) for advice before the bodies start piling even higher.

I never watched the original or any of the sequels so some of this was probably wasted on me.  It's still pretty decent.  I was a little annoyed at how indiscriminate the killings seemed to be but the Evil Monologue actually tied it all together, so I will give it points for that.  Overall, a solid enough slasher.  It's currently streaming on Netflix.

Horror Watch 2025 - Day 19 - Cutting Class (1989)

  The 80s are responsible for a lot of garbage.  Content warning:  blood

Creepy kid Brian (Donovan Leitch, Jr.) is finally released from the mental institution where he spent the last five years after killing his father to finish his senior year of high school.  He has a crush on Paula (Jill Schoelen) who is unfortunately dating his ex-best friend, Dwight (Brad Pitt).  And then the murders start up again and wouldn't you know?  Brian is suspect number one.

There is a kernel of a very good horror comedy here and I bet it was probably better in 1989 (it feels like Scream especially owes a debt to Cutting Class) but holy shit, this has not aged well.  Paula's character giggles every time a male character sexually harasses her and has very little agency.  She mostly just gets pulled from one scene to another, usually half-dressed.  The tension between Leitch and Pitt is very strong and if the movie were a little braver, that subtext would be actual text.  Make that triangle a pyramid, you know what I'm sayin'?

I can't dismiss it out of hand because it does have something but I am issuing a strong word of caution.  It's streaming on Tubi, Freevee (or whatever nonsense Amazon is calling their free shit now), the Roku Channel, and Crackle with ads or on Kanopy with a library card.  I would actually suggest you lean into the trashy sleaze of it and watch with ads.  

Horror Watch 2025 - Day 18 - A Nasty Piece of Work (2019)

  This is actually part of a horror anthology series called Into the Dark produced by Blumhouse for Hulu, with each episode centering on a different holiday.  I didn't know that when I clicked on it.  I'm still counting it.  Content warning:  blood

Ted (Kyle Howard) is desperate to get ahead at his venture capitalist firm but his boss, Steven Essex (Julian Sands, RIP), is almost impossible to please.  So Ted jumps at the invitation to Essex's home for a Christmas party, only to discover that Essex also invited Ted's rival, Gavin (Dustin Milligan), and is treating the evening as a fucked up interview for an executive position.  As the games get nastier and bloodier, Ted has to decide the cost of success he is comfortable paying.

Sands and Molly Hagan are absolutely, gloriously evil as the jaded, rich Essexes.  If you liked Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf but thought it needed more gunshot wounds, this is for you.  Milligan again shows some excellent comedic timing, as does Natalie Hall.  The dialogue is nice and sharp, if a little predictable, and the end is a satisfying inevitability.  All in all, a solid Christmas horror comedy.  It is episode three of season 2  of Into the Dark if you are looking, streaming on Hulu.

Horror Watch 2025 - Day 17 - The Collector (2009)

  This was a nasty, filthy little movie and I'm not mad at it at all.  Content warning:  blood, gore, animal death (cat, dog), torture, homophobic slurs

Arkin (Josh Stewart) needs money by midnight so he decides to rob the house of a rich family because he knows they are out of town.  Unfortunately, a serial killer (Juan Fernández) has also targeted them and Arkin is not invited to the vicious little games he has planned.  The thief-turned-rescuer must figure out how to save this family while remaining undetected and avoiding the shockingly elaborate traps set up throughout the house.

On God, how much prep time did this dude have?  This is Kevin McAllister levels of fucked up booby traps.  I would have loved to see a little more whimsy in the design but that is a personal preference and I am never going to knock the hustle.  Also, can I tell you how much I loved the Collector's whole design?  The mask, the eyeshine, the silence?  Iconic.  Leave them wanting more, queen.  

It's streaming on Paramount+ if modern horror is a little too in your feels.  

Horror Watch 2025 - Day 16 - Presence (2024)

  Content warning:  sexual assault

Chloe (Callina Liang) and her family have only just moved into their new house when she becomes convinced that they are not alone.  She believes it is the spirit of her friend, Nadia (Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Film), who died of a drug overdose, but the only person who is willing to listen is her dad (Chris Sullivan).  Her brother (Eddie Maday) thinks she's making it up and her mom (Lucy Liu) barely pays attention to her at all.  Is it just a manifestation of teen grief and neglect?  Nope!  Stuff flies all around and outside help is called.

I didn't love the ending of this but I had the same problem with The Haunting of Hill House.  Otherwise, this is a solid ghost story.  All the camera work is shot from the ghost's POV so there's this sense of fluidity unmoored from time and the family dynamics felt realistic and natural.  Personally, I hit my limit on the amount of drama --some of this was a little overwrought-- but your mileage may vary.  Lucy Liu is full-on Tiger Mom here in an understated supporting role, but the standout to me was the gloriously named West Mulholland as Cool Kid/Teenage Heartthrob Ryan.  

This is directed by Steven Soderbergh who I am generally not a fan of but I know a lot of people like.  It's streaming on Kanopy and has no blood, no gore, just a couple of really tense moments if you're more into atmospheric horror.

Horror Watch 2025 - Day 15 - Companion (2025)

This is my 3000th post!    I loved this so much.  I'm sad it took almost half the month to get to it, but better late than never.  Content warning:  blood, gore, domestic violence, sexual assault

Iris (Sophie Thatcher) is nervous about traveling with her boyfriend, Josh (Jack Quaid), for a weekend at his friend's "cabin", which is actually a huge lakeside house.  And it doesn't really belong to Josh's friend, Kat (Megan Suri), but to her shady Russian boyfriend, Sergei (Rupert Friend, looking damn near unrecognizable).  Things get worse when Sergei tries to sexually assault Iris and she has to kill him, but then she finds out that she's actually just Josh's fuckbot: a literal companion android, and that he's planning to shut her down and turn her over to the manufacturer.  Suddenly, Iris is experiencing a whole new range of important internal directives, like self-preservation and righteous anger.  

This might become my new litmus test for whether or not dudes are okay to date.  With whom do you sympathize in this movie?  There is a wrong answer and a right answer.  Between this and The Menu, I've got my traps all set.  

If you watched Ex Machina, and thought, yes, more, please, this is for you.  Also, if you have ever dated a dude who treated you like an emotional support robot that they could fuck.  

Ultimately, this is a feel-good movie about empowerment and liking who you are.  It's currently streaming on HBO Max and I highly recommend it.