HORROR THRILLER. “Vicious.” / “The Rule of Jenny Pen.” / “Studio 666.” / “The Wolf of Snow Hollow.” / “The Wind.”

“Vicious” (2025, Apple TV+) horror about a directionless woman in her 30s who is stuck in a dead end job and fretting over starting at school again. 



        Star Dakota Fanning, who basically dominates the screen from start to finish, weeping and screaming and cutting herself.

        Ms Fanning's Polly is a directionless woman in her 30s who is stuck in a dead end job and fretting over starting at school again. She lives alone in a house she rents from her sister Lainie whose daughter Aly Polly dotes over.

        The plot is nothing we already saw in the genre so despite “mixed or average reviews” from Rotten Tomatoes, my judgment is sure: C+. Though I am enamored with Dakota's alluring face, whether she's smiling, stoic or screaming. 🎥💻📽


“The Rule of Jenny Pen” (2024, Hulu) New Zealand psychological horror. In a care home for the elderly, one resident severely harms the others under his tyrannical rule, unbeknown to staff. 



       Although insanely implausible and illogically unbelievable in many ways than one, this little insanity is cleverly-crafted. Kudos to director James Ashcroft! Anchored on John Lithgow's playfully sinister Dave Crealy and Geoffrey Rush's “I had enough!” impatience, this nasty thriller remains hauntingly stylish.

       Yet do super bored and dead-end expectant oldies resort to macabre trickery while in front of their caretakers? Of course not. This is a movie. And what happened after the last (fatal) sequence, you ask? Ask the cat. 🎥💻📽


“Studio 666” (2022, Plex) comedy horror film. Based on a story by Dave Grohl, the movie also stars, alongside his Foo Fighters bandmates. Timeline: 1993 Encino, California. 



       "Studio 666” isn't something you need to take seriously. The band obviously found something fun to while away boredom in between recording sessions and road tours. 

Obviously Dave Grohl enjoyed the hilarious mischief the most. Come on! I would as well. Look, this is not a tad political at all and Donald Trump didn't show up.

       This is supposedly directed by a person, B.J. McDonnell and written by two persons, Jeff Buhler and Rebecca Hughes. But an A.I. director and A.I. writers would have been fine. Or Dave could have assumed all those tasks. No prob. 🎥💻📽


“The Wolf of Snow Hollow” (2020, Amazon Prime) horror mystery about a small Utah town that is seemingly terrorized by a werewolf. 



       This little movie playfully baffled me. Werewolf horror or werewolf comedy? Maybe both? Lead star Jim Cummings’ acting style pretty much parodies Dennis Quaid's wide-eyed whoa! legacy with a bit of exaggeration. I like it! Mr Cummings is also the writer/director so he had the freedom to prance around like this silly project is a frathouse Halloween shenanigan. 

       Yet Jim, it seems, wanted us to get terrified while laughing or get tickled to giggles while scared. Makes sense to me. Odd but cool. I mean, even then perennially dead-serious Robert Forster, as sheriff dad Hadley to Jim's sheriff son John, is frightfully hilarious or comically frightening. 🎥💻📽


“The Wind” (2018, Tubi) supernatural western horror. Plot: In the late nineteenth century on the American frontier, Lizzy Macklin and her husband Isaac arrive from St. Louis to an unpopulated area of New Mexico, hoping to begin a settlement. Then the macabre issues happen.


       The plot-point is intriguing and the overlying horror treatment a tad beyond the stereotypical scares measure. For those, anchored on Caitlin Gerard's involved performance as Lizzy, kept me paying attention to the final sequence. 

       Fine, good enough and a promising debut directing craft from Emma Tammi. 🎥💻📽

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