Horrorfest: The Thing From Another Thing

This year, I'm accepting my own challenge of doing the Universal Monsters Movies. There are 30 in the box set, so I'm gonna try to get as many as possible. I'll also do most of the Critters films, some Hitchcock, some Carpenter, the last Wes Craven theatrical release I haven't seen, and some anniversary rewatches - with an emphasis on 1996 & 2001 fitting with my theme for the year.

First entry includes some recent theatrical/streaming/Shudder titles, and lesser known 70s/80s stuff - all first time watches.

A BAY OF BLOOD

(Mario Bava, 1971)

After a wealthy woman is murdered and her death staged as a suicide, more bodies pile up as various people vie for her estate. This is considered to be one of the original slasher movies with a body count, sort of a slasher Knives Out. It's only 80 minutes and feels padded even for that, with characters introduced with little explanation. There are several cuts of this, so maybe one of the other ones explains things. GRADE: C+

CADDO LAKE

(Logan George & Celine Held, 2024)

I didn't know this was produced by M. Night Shyamalan, but guessed it was halfway through. A man who recently lost his mother in a car accident discovers a young girl in a Louisiana swamp. As her family looks for her, the narratives come together in unexpected ways. Strong performances by Dylan O'Brien (yum) and Eliza Scanlen propel this. The subgenre that's revealed in the second act is one of my least favorite, but it works here. GRADE: B

CAST A DEADLY SPELL

(Martin Campbell, 1991) 

I hadn't even heard of this prior to it being recommended by some of the YouTube horror community. It was an HBO Movie directed by future Bond and Zorro helmer Campbell. In an alternate 1940's LA where magic reigns, a private eye (Fred Ward) investigates the disappearance of a book that could lead to the end of the world. Not bad, but basically a lesser Lord of Illusions with a little bit of Bogart noir thrown in. Good production design for a TV movie, and I must reiterate as I did with my Tremors rewatch from last year that Ward was an absolute snack. With Julianne Moore, Clancy Brown, and David Warner. GRADE: C+

CHOPPING MALL

(Jim Wynorski, 1986)

Very 80's B-movie with a roster of genre faves, this focuses on malfunctioning security robots terrorizing the horny teen employees of a supermall. Remember malls? Remember movies with horny teens? This is pretty fun, if very slight - another one that doesn't even hit a runtime of 80 minutes. I found out that about 20 minutes was cut after poor test screenings, but I guess the original cut has been lost. With Kelli Maroney and Barbara Crampton. GRADE: B-

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

(Stanley Kubrick, 1971)

Would you believe I've never seen this? A gang of wild youths wreaks havoc across England, one gets arrested and is put through an experimental treatment to fix him. Funnily enough, while watching I realized I never knew what this was actually about. I guess I just thought it was something like Funny Games, which is pretty much just the first act. Pretty shocking even 55 years later, I think more people should talk about how great Malcolm McDowell is here. Top notch cinematography and production design, expected for Kubrick. GRADE: A-

THE DARKEST HOUR

(Chris Gorak, 2011)

No, not the Oscar winner with Gary Oldman. A group of young Americans who met at a Moscow club might fight off an alien invasion - an invisible enemy that uses a lightning-esque current to wipe out humanity. The film has that specific dated look of a movie that was shot in 3D from that era. (Did I really just refer to 2011 as that era? Oof.) Completely unremarkable, it might have been okay to see on the big screen with the 3D effects in place. Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, and Joel Kinnaman star. GRADE: C-

GRADUATION DAY

(Herb Freed, 1981)

From the era where we got a slasher for every single holiday! A killer slashes teenagers on their graduation day several months after a popular track star randomly died of a heart attack at a meet. There's way too much time spent on the rituals of graduation day and for long stretches the film seems to forget it's a slasher. A limp whodunit with okay kills, the most interesting bit about this film may have been Vanna White plays one of the teens. GRADE: C

GRIZZLY

(William Girdler, 1976)

I'm not sure if this was a Jaws knockoff given it opened only a year after, but they certainly knew how to pump out B pictures at a fast pace in those days. An 18 foot grizzly is killing the visitors and rangers of a giant national park, and three men must unite to try and stop the bloodthirsty animal. Surprisingly violent, certainly silly, but still mostly a fun time. There's a sequel that was made in the early 80's that featured Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern, and George Clooney, and was actually never fully finished until a few years back. GRADE: B-

HABIT

(Larry Fessenden, 1997)

In this very 90's NYC indie drama, a man spiraling after his father's death meets a mysterious woman at a Halloween party and the two begin a relationship. Soon, he finds his appetite changing and starts to suspect she may have turned him into a vampire. Fessenden is a big name in both the indie and horror worlds, and I've enjoyed most of his output. This is rough and messy very much the way independent filmmaking used to be, feeling sort of mumblecore before that was a thing. GRADE: B+

HELL HOUSE LLC

(Stephen Cognetti, 2015)

This is part of a successful (I assume?) franchise that has four other installments, but I doubt I'll be checking any of them out. While it does have some effective moments, there's just too many cliches of the recovered digital footage genre of recent years. A group of friends buys an old hotel with plans to turn it into a haunted attraction, but things don't go as planned. GRADE: C

HOPE

(Na Hong-jin, 2026)

I found out after watching that this is supposed to be the first installment of a planned trilogy, which explains the rather abrupt ending. It's already epic length (160 minutes!) but I'm not sure there is enough material here to sustain two more movies when this already feels stretched. In a remote town, police officers and union members team up to stop a violent alien invasion. It has some exhilarating sequences and likeable characters, but the effects are wildly inconsistent. I also didn't know the three English-speaking names billed in the advertising were playing the aliens. GRADE: B-

KING KONG 

(John Guillermin, 1976)

One of the most expensive films of its time, this modern remake of the classic monster movie follows a paleontologist (Jeff Bridges) sneaking about a ship looking for petroleum on a desolate island. The crew along with a beautiful shipwreck survivor (Jessica Lange, she sure was pretty!) encounter the legendary large ape. While Kong is obviously a dude in a costume, most of the practical effects have aged well. Other than that, there's little energy and everything proceeds in a perfunctory fashion. I know it's not technically part of the Universal Monster canon, but I should watch the original at some point. GRADE: C+

NIGHT PATROL

(Ryan Prows, 2026)

The battle between the Black residents of the projects and the LAPD is given a twist when a cop must protect his younger brother who was framed by the police in a murder. And the cops are also vampires. It never quite delivers the genre thrills it should and everything goes down about the way you think it will. The plot would be good fodder for a symbolic thriller, but the execution just doesn't work. Between this and Scream 6, Dermot Mulroney doesn't understand how to act in these movies. GRADE: C

ONSLAUGHT

(Adam Wingard, 2026)

I was a huge fan of Wingard's The Guest and thought it was one of the best of 2014, so I was looking forward to this. Some thought it might be a direct sequel or at least set in the same world, but neither is the case. While that film wore its influences on its sleeve, it at least still felt like its own thing whereas this just feels like a pastiche of references. Scientific experiments lead to the creation of an army of elite killing machines that escape containment and unleash on the residents of a nearby trailer park. I'm firmly on Adria Arjona's team and think she should be the next Wonder Woman, but she's wasted here. Worse are the extended cameos by Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens, two characters that should have been given more screen time. Nice seeing Reginald VelJohnson. Good cinematography, though! GRADE: C+

THE PROWLER

(Joseph Zito, 1981)

In 1945, a WWII veteran kills a couple after the woman breaks up with him, and returns 35 years later to embark on a murder spree during a college graduation dance. (Was there not a holiday this could all take place during?) Probably one of the better of the lesser known slashers from the 1980's, it's not quite too generic and has a memorable story even if the second half of the movie is mostly a long chase sequence. Also, cool killer design. I'm surprised this never had a sequel or remake. GRADE: B

RED ROOMS

(Pascal Plante, 2024)

This might be one of the definitive movies about the current era we live in, certainly the best film to incorporate the modern social media landscape since Zola. A young model has an unhealthy obsession with the trial of a murderer accused of killing three teenage girls and broadcasting the deaths to the internet. The fascination with true crimes, the dark web, serial killer groupies, bitcoin - it's all here. I'm not familiar with either of the actresses, but both were stellar. As someone who has served jury duty three times, the courtroom scenes felt very realistic. Now, if you excuse me, I need a Silkwood shower. Starring Juliette Gariépy and Laurie Babin. GRADE: A-

RETURN TO SILENT HILL

(Christophe Gans, 2026)

Oof, I'm just not having this franchise. I don't play video games so I have no affinity for it, but I pretty much hated both previous films. At least the first one had great production design, though this installment seemingly abandons that film's visual style. A man return to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his lost love. Hinks ensure. Jeremy Irvine, completely miscast, stars. GRADE: D

SACCHARINE

(Natalie Erika James, 2026)

A medical student battling weight issues takes an experimental medication that she discovers is actually human bone ash. As the pounds begin falling off, she finds herself haunted by the ghost of the remains she's ingesting. I wish this had gone a bit more into a weight loss body horror film, instead of a standard haunting/possession. While some have compared it to The Substance and The Ugly Stepsister, I think that's a rather surface level reading. James directed the solid Relic from a few years back, and lead actress Midori Francis is very good. GRADE: B-

SALEM'S LOT

(Gary Dauberman, 2024) 

My review of the original TV movie here. I wasn't a big fan, but it's better than this which debuted on HBO Max. There is one really cool scene that takes place in silhouette. Other than that, standard vampire fare and doesn't have much reason to exist. In a small Maine town, a writer returns home to write his next novel and finds the town overrun by vampires. A decent cast - Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard, namely - can't save it. GRADE: C

SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE

(Carol Frank, 1986)

You'd think a movie with that title would be fun, but alas... I think I always confused this with Slumber Party Massacre, which I have yet to see. Worth noting this one of the few slashers of the era to be directed by a woman, though sadly this feels too much like a direct to VHS film and never really finds an identity of its own. A sorority pledge finds that her new house seems familiar, and soon must fend off a killer she has a connection to. GRADE: C-

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD

(Christian Nyby, 1951)

I reviewed Carpenter's masterpiece remake here, and that film's prequel here, so now I get to complete the trifecta and watch the film that inspired them. In the Arctic, a group of scientists discovers a saucer buried in the ice and soon come face to face with the alien inhabitant. This has too many characters for a film that runs under 90 minutes, but it's such a fun early science fiction yarn. Dewey Martin was such a cutie as Bob. GRADE: B+

THIS IS NOT A TEST

(Adam MacDonald, 2026) 

Let's make the zombie equivalent of The Breakfast Club and take away any charm or thrills of either of those. A group of teens (everyone looks to be pushing 30) hides out in their high school during the zombie apocalypse, with the main girl (Olivia Holt) struggling to stay alive while being depressed about the death of her sister. Way too dour with too many zombie cliches. Featuring two hot gay actors - Luke MacFarlane and Froy Gutierrez, who sadly do not get it on with each other. GRADE: D+

WHISTLE

(Corin Hardy, 2026) 

A troubled teen (Logan's Dafne Keen) moves to a new school where she and a group of friends discovers an ancient cursed whistle that summons death to anyone who hears it. That's not a bad logline, and the result isn't too different than your average Final Destination sequel. The characters are ultimately too forgettable, and Keen doesn't quite have what it takes to make a compelling Final Girl. (Though her look at the end is jaw dropping.) Good fall vibes movies, though. GRADE: B-

Recently Watched Movies (July - 2026)

By Any Means (Bratton, 2026) - C

Hope (Na, 2026) - B-

The Money Pit (Benjamin, 1986) - C+

Habit (Fessenden, 1997) - B+

Red Rooms (Plante, 2024) - A-

Saccharine (James, 2026) - B-

Whistle (Hardy, 2026) - B-

This Is Not a Test (MacDonald, 2026) - D+

Night Patrol (Prows, 2026) - C

Sorority House Massacre (Frank, 1986) - C-

Chopping Mall (Wynorski, 1986) - B-

Runner (Waugh, 2026) - C-

Onslaught (Wingard, 2026) - C+

The Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich, 1971) - A

A Bay of Blood (Bava, 1971) - C+

The Sun Never Sets (Swanberg, 2026) - C+

The Dog Stars (Scott, 2026) - C+

The Prowler (Zito, 1981)

The Thing From Another World (Nyby, 1951) - B+

Grizzly (Girdler, 1976) - B-

The Darkest Hour (Gorak, 2011) - C-

Graduation Day (Freed, 1981) - C

King Kong (Guillermin, 1976) - C+

Return to Silent Hill (Gans, 2026) - D

Hell House LLC (Cognetti, 2015) - C

The Searchers (Ford, 1956) - B+

A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971) - A-

A Streetcar Named Desire (Kazan, 1951) - A-

Cast a Deadly Spell (Campbell, 1991) - C+

Tony (Johnson, 2026) - B+

Caddo Lake (George & Held, 2024) - B

Salem's Lot (Dauberman, 2024) - C

Finding Emily (MacDonald, 2026) - B-

The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo, 1966) - A-

Fly Away Home (Ballard, 1996) - B+

Masculin Féminin (Godard, 1966) - A-

Jerry Maguire (Crowe, 1996) - B

Quo Vadis (LeRoy, 1951) - B-

The Long Kiss Goodnight (Harlin, 1996) - B+

The Misfits (Huston, 1961) - B+

The Chase (Penn, 1966) - B-

One Million Years B.C. (Chaffey, 1966) - B

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Schoenbrun, 2026) - B-

The Magic Faraway Tree (Gregor, 2026) -  C+

My Dinner With Andre (Malle, 1981) - A-

Spa Weekend (Lucas & Moore, 2026) - C-

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (Cassavetes, 1976) - B

Insidious: Out of the Further (Chase, 2026) - C+

Cold Storage (Campbell, 2026) - C

Mutiny (Richet, 2026) - C

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (Berlinger & Sinofsky, 1996) - A-

Reds (Beatty, 1981) - A-

Assault on Precinct 13 (Carpenter, 1976) - A

Body Heat (Kasdan, 1981) - A-

Deep Water (Harlin, 2026) - C-

Emma (McGrath, 1996) - B

Thief (Mann, 1981) - B+

Sexy Beast (Glazer, 2001) - B+

Mother Mary (Lowery, 2026) - B+

The End of Oak Street (Mitchell, 2026) - B+

Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1951) - A-

Down By Law (Jarmusch, 1986) - B+

The Prince of Tides (Streisand, 1991) - B-

The Odyssey (Nolan, 2026) - B+

Victim (Dearden, 1961) - B+

Your Name. (Shinkai, 2016) - B

Secrets & Lies (Leigh, 1996) - A

Excalibur (Boorman, 1981) - C

In Love and War (Attenborough, 1996) - C

Legally Blonde (Luketic, 2001) - B+

Starter For 10 (Vaughan, 2006) - B+

EO (Skolimowski, 2022) - B+

Yojimbo (Kurosawa, 1961) - B

The Sandlot (Evans, 1993) - B

Paris Is Burning (Livingston, 1991) - A

Fat Girl (Breillat, 2001) - B+

Harlan County USA (Kopple, 1976) - A-

Super Troopers 3 (Chandrasekhar, 2026) - C-

One Night Only (Gluck, 2026) - C+

Mona Lisa (Jordan, 1986) - B+

Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) - A

The Bride! (Gyllenhaal, 2026) - C

If These Walls Could Talk (Savoca & Cher, 1996) - B

Pillion (Lighton, 2025) - B+

Letters From Iwo Jima (Eastwood, 2006) - B+

How To Make a Killing (Ford, 2026) - B

Brief Encounter (Lean, 1946) - A-

Dust Bunny (Fuller, 2025) - B-

Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (Capra, 1936) - B+

Ridicule (Leconte, 1996) - B+

Old Joy (Reichardt, 2006) - A-

Dead of Winter (Kirk, 2025) - B

The Proposition (Hillcoat, 2006) - B+

That Hamilton Woman (Korda, 1941) - B+

Breaking the Waves (von Trier, 1996) - B+

Memento (Nolan, 2001) - B+

Waking Life (Linklater, 2001) - B-

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (Cretton, 2026) - C

Pretty In Pink (Deutch, 1986) - B

The Best Years of Our Lives (Wyler, 1946) - A-

Grand Canyon (Kasdan, 1991) - B

Stonewall (Finch, 1996) - B

Miami Vice (Mann, 2006) - B

The Tailor of Panama (Boorman, 2001) - C

Blow-Up (Antonioni, 1966) - B+

Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936) - A-

Haunted Heist (Howery, 2026) - D

City Lights (Chaplin, 1931) - A

La Cérémonie (Chabrol, 1996) - A-

Her Private Hell (Refn, 2026) - D

My Man Godfrey (La Cava, 1936) - B+

Motor City (Ponciroli, 2026) - B-

The Little Foxes (Wyler, 1941) - A-

Fiddler on the Roof (Jewison, 1971) - B

All the King's Men (Zaillian, 2006) - C-

Platoon (Stone, 1986) - A-

The Killing (Kubrick, 1956) - A-

The Good Shepherd (De Niro, 2006) - C+

Annette (Carax, 2021) - C

The Invite (Wilde, 2026) - B+

Hoosiers (Anspaugh, 1986) - B-

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (Hewitt, 1991) - C+

The Birdcage (Nichols, 1996) - B+

Walkabout (Roeg, 1971) - A-

A Safe Place (Jaglom, 1971) - B-

9 1/2 Weeks (Lyne, 1986) - B+

The Pallbearer (Reeves, 1996) - B+

Heartbreakers (Mirkin, 2001) - C+

Not Another Teen Movie (Gallen, 2001) - B

History of the World - Part 1 (Brooks, 1981) - B-

Evil Dead Burn (Vaniček, 2026) - C+

New Jack City (Van Peeples, 1991) - C

Moana (Kail, 2026) - C-

Silent Movie (Brooks, 1976) - B

The Public Enemy (Wellman, 1931) - B+

Beauty and the Beast (Trousdale & Wise, 1991) - B+

Hot Shots! (Abrahams, 1991) - B+

Thelma and Louise (Scott, 1991) - A

The Fox and the Hound (Berman, Rich & Stevens, 1981) - B

Backrooms (Parsons, 2026) - C+

Obsession (Barker, 2026) - B

Minions & Monsters (Coffin, 2026) - B-

Twister (de Bont, 1996) - B

Heavy (Mangold, 1996) - B-

Flower Drum Song (Koster, 1961) - B-

Young Washington (Erwin, 2026) - C-

Supergirl (Gillespie, 2026) - C

Recently Watched Movies (Jan - June 2026 )

305 for the first half of the year. 

Courage Under Fire (Zwick, 1996) - C+

Jackass: Best and Last (Tremaine, 2026) - B-

Feeling Minnesota (Baigelman, 1996) - D+

The Crucible (Hytner, 1996) - B-

The Business of Strangers (Stettner, 2001) - B+

Super 8 (Abrams, 2011) - B

Wet Hot American Summer (Wain, 2001) - B+

Heartbreak Ridge (Eastwood, 1986) - C

Forbidden Fruits (Alloway, 2026) - D+

The Death of Robin Hood (Sarnoski, 2026) - C

For the Boys (Rydell, 1991) - C+

Toy Story 5 (Stanton, 2026) - C+

Walking and Talking (Holofcener, 1996) - A-

Disclosure Day (Spielberg, 2026) - B+

Rebuilding (Walker-Silverman, 2025) - B+

Haunted (Gilbert, 1996) - C-

Backdraft (Howard, 1991) - C

Living In Oblivion (DiCillo, 1995) - B

The Commitments (Parker, 1991) - B

Foxfire (Haywood-Carter, 1996) - B

Dogfight (Savoca, 1991) - B+

Stop! That! Train! (Shankman, 2026) - C+

My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant, 1991) - A-

Dying Young (Schumacher, 1991) - B-

Lantana (Lawrence, 2001) - A-

An American In Paris (Minnelli, 1951) - B+

A Raisin In the Sun (Petrie, 1961) - A-

Sweet Land (Selim, 2006) - B

Curse of the Golden Flower (Zhang, 2006) - B-

Mass (Kranz, 2021) - B

Something Wild (Demme, 1986) - A-

Children of a Lesser God (Haines, 1986) - B

The Believer (Bean, 2001) - B+

The Lives Of Others (Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006) - B+

Cutter's Way (Passer, 1981) - B+

The French Lieutenant's Woman (Reisz, 1981) - B

Three Amigos (Landis, 1986) - B-

Mulholland Falls (Tamahori, 1996) - C

The Wasp (Morales, 2024) - B

She Rides Shotgun (Rowland, 2025) - B

Jockey (Bentley, 2021) - B+

Wild Indian (Corbine, 2021) - B

Coyotes (Minihan, 2025) - C-

The Passenger (Smith, 2023) - B-

Soapdish (Hoffman, 1991) - B

Masters of the Universe (Knight, 2026) - C

The Breadwinner (Appel, 2026) - C-

Dumbo (Armstrong, Ferguson, Jackson, Kinney, Roberts & Sharpsteen, 1941) - B+

Scary Movie (Tiddes, 2026) - C-

Power Ballad (Carney, 2026) - C+

The Emerald Forest (Boorman, 1985) - B

Original Gangstas (Cohen, 1996) - C+

The Children's Hour (Wyler, 1961) - B+

Antitrust (Howitt, 2001) - C-

Kingpin (The Farrelly Brothers, 1996) - B

Sid and Nancy (Cox, 1986) - B+

Jungle Fever (Lee, 1991) - B-

Clash of the Titans (Davis, 1981) - C+

Pressure (Maras, 2026) - B

Sing (Jennings, 2016) - C+

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (Herek, 1991) - C+

I Love Boosters (Riley, 2026) - B

Time Bandits (Gilliam, 1981) - B

The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941) - A

Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen, 1986) - A-

Spy Game (Scott, 2001) - C

Alice in Wonderland (Geronimi, Jackson & Luske, 1951) - B+

Night on Earth (Jarmusch, 1991) - B+

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Stuart, 1971) - A-

Mission: Impossible (De Palma, 1996) - B-

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Nyoni, 2025) - B

The Mandalorian and Grogu (Favreau, 2026) - C

Passenger (Øvredal, 2026) - C+

Michael (Fuqua, 2026) - C-

Crocodile Dundee (Faiman, 1986) - B+

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Hughes, 1986) - A-

Fight or Flight (Madigan, 2025) - B

Mommie Dearest (Perry, 1981) - C+

The Fan (Bianchi, 1981) - B-

The Mosquito Coast (Weir, 1986) - B-

The Color of Money (Scorsese, 1986) - A-

Heartburn (Nichols, 1986) - C+

Memory (Franco, 2023) - B+

The Doors (Stone, 1991) - B

Rumours (Johnson, Johnson & Madden, 2024) - C+

Unhook the Stars (Cassavetes, 1996) - B

The Sheep Detectives (Balda, 2026) - C

In the Grey (Ritchie, 2026) - C

The Last Stop In Yuma County (Galluppi, 2024) - B

Is God Is (Harris, 2026) - B

The Hustler (Rossen, 1961) - A-

Kinky Boots (Jarrold, 2006) - B

Trees Lounge (Buscemi, 1996) - B

Evil Dead (Álvarez, 2013) - B

Arthur (Gordon, 1981) - B+

Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Cameron & Eilish, 2026) - B

Crimes of the Heart (Beresford, 1986) - B

Bugsy (Levinson, 1991) - B

Sugar & Spice (McDougall, 2001) - B

Unknown (Collet-Serra, 2011) - C

The First Wives Club (Wilson, 1996) - B+

No Other Choice (Park, 2025) - B

We Bury the Dead (Hilditch, 2026) - B

Defending Your Life (Brooks, 1991) - B+

Death in Venice (Visconti, 1971) - A-

The Devil Wears Prada 2 (Frankel, 2026) - B

Hokum (McCarthy, 2026) - B+

One Spoon of Chocolate (RZA, 2026) - C-

Saint Omer (Diop, 2022) - B+

Oliver! (Reed, 1968) - B

In the Heat of the Night (Jewison, 1967) - B+

Hallow Road (Anvari, 2025) - D+

The Bridge on the River Kwai (Lean, 1957) - B+

Harold and Maude (Ashby, 1971) - A-

Animal Farm (Serkis, 2026) - C

Normal (Wheatley, 2026) - C+

Broken Bird (Mitchell, 2026) - C

Ruthless People (Abrahams, Zucker & Zucker, 1986) - C+

Over Your Dead Body (Taccone, 2026) - B-

Fuze (Mackenzie, 2026) - C

Outland (Hyams, 1981) - B

All the King's Men (Rossen, 1949) - B+

Bottle Rocket (Anderson, 1996) - B+

My Beautiful Laundrette (Frears, 1986) - B

I Swear (Jones, 2026) - B

Beast (Atkins, 2026) - C

Lee Cronin's The Mummy (Cronin, 2026) - C

Baby Boy (Singleton, 2001) - B

The Testament of Ann Lee (Fastvold, 2025) - B

Bound For Glory (Ashby, 1976) - B+

Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice (Grabinski, 2026) - C+

Sirāt (Laxe, 2025) - A-

Ragtime (Forman, 1981) - B+

Apollo 18 (López-Gallego, 2011) - D

The Drama (Borgli, 2026) - B

You, Me & Tuscany (Coiro, 2026) - C

Get Away (Haars, 2024) - C

Faces of Death (Goldhaber, 2026) - B-

Out Come The Wolves (MacDonald, 2024) - C+

King Ivory (Swab, 2025) - B

National Anthem (Gilford, 2024) - B+

The Devil Wears Prada (Frankel, 2006) - A-

Sleeping With the Enemy (Ruben, 1991) - B

Primitive War (Sparke, 2025) - D+

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Horvath & Jelenic, 2026) - C-

A Nice Indian Boy (Sethi, 2025) - B

High Society (Walters, 1956) - B

The Celluloid Closet (Epstein & Friedman, 1996) - A-

Nightmare Alley (Del Toro, 2021 - Theatrical Version) - B+

The Man Who Fell To Earth (Roeg, 1976) - C+

Logan's Run (Anderson, 1976) - C+

Atlantic City (Malle, 1981) - B+

The Last Emperor (Bertolucci, 1987) - B

Reminders of Him (Caswill, 2026) - C

A Little Prayer (MacLachlan, 2025) - B+

They Will Kill You (Sokolov, 2026) - C

The Sting (Hill, 1973) - A-

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (Bettinelli-Olpin & Gillett, 2026) - B-

Montana Story (McGehee & Siegel, 2022) - B+

My Girl (Zieff, 1991) - B-

Network (Lumet, 1976) - A

Anemone (Day-Lewis, 2025) - C

All the President's Men (Pakula, 1976) - A

Bloody Axe Wound (Lawrence, 2024) - C-

Slacker (Linklater, 1991) - B+

Project Hail Mary (Lord & Miller, 2026) - B

Hoppers (Chong, 2026) - B

Matilda (DeVito, 1996) - B+

Undertone (Tuason, 2026) - B-

Locked (Yarovesky, 2025) - B

Ghosts of Mississippi (Reiner, 1996) - C

Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976) - A

Family Plot (Hitchcock, 1976) - B+

Homicide (Mamet, 1991) - B+

The Man in the Moon (Mulligan, 1991) - B

Is This Thing On? (Cooper, 2025) - C

The Mirror Has Two Faces (Streisand, 1996) - B-

40 Acres (Thorne, 2025) - C

The Assessment (Fortuné, 2025) - B

Sovereign (Swegal, 2025) - B+

Little Monsters (Forsythe, 2019) - C

Griffin In Summer (Colia, 2025) - B

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (Luhrmann, 2026) - B

Protector (Grunberg, 2026) - C

Poison (Haynes, 1991) - B+

Dolly (Blackhurst, 2026) - C

Scream 7 (Williamson, 2026) - B-

Oh, Canada (Schrader, 2024) - C

Frankie and Johnny (Marshall, 1991) - B

Down and Out in Beverly Hills (Mazursky, 1986) - B

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (Borenstein & Talankin, 2025) - B

The President's Cake (Hadi, 2025) - B

Wuthering Heights (Fennell, 2026) - C

Crime 101 (Layton, 2026) - B

The Voice of Hind Rajab (Ben Hania, 2025) - B+

RRR (Rajamouli, 2022) - B+

The Rip (Carnahan, 2026) - B-

Absence of Malice (Pollack, 1981) - B

Beautiful Thing (Macdonald, 1996) - A-

Arco (Bienvenu, 2025) - B

The Mission (Joffé, 1986) - B

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (Verbinski, 2026) - B-

Carnal Knowledge (Nichols, 1971) - A-

GOAT (Dillihay & Rosette, 2026) - B-

Last Year At Marienbad (Resnais, 1961) - B+

Cloak and Dagger (Lang, 1946) - B-

From Here To Eternity (Zinnemann, 1953) - B

Amadeus (Forman, 1984) - B+

Shaft (Parks, 1971) - B

The Last Supper (Title, 1996) - C

Sunday Bloody Sunday (Schlesinger, 1971) - B+

Solo Mio (Kinnane & Kinnane, 2026) - C

My Dead Friend Zoe (Hausmann-Stokes, 2025) - B+

The Moment (Zamiri, 2026) - C-

The Great Ziegfeld (Leonard, 1936) - B

The Wedding Planner (Shankman, 2001) - C

Breakfast at Tiffany's (Edward, 1961) - A-

How Green Was My Valley (Ford, 1941) - B+

Girls Town (McKay, 1996) - B+

The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946) - A-

Hundreds of Beavers (Cheslik, 2024) - B-

The History of Sound (Hermanus, 2025) - B+

The Strangers: Chapter 3 (Harlin, 2026) - D

Send Help (Raimi, 2026) - B

Sometimes I Think About Dying (Lambert, 2024) - B

Dracula (Besson, 2026) - C

Fallen Leaves (Kaurismäki, 2023) - B+

Plainclothes (Emmi, 2025) - C+

Eephus (Lund, 2025) - B+

Blue Sun Palace (Tsang, 2025) - B+

Familiar Touch (Friedland, 2025) - B+

Chariots of Fire (Hudson, 1981) - B

The Mastermind (Reichardt, 2025) - B-

The Secret Agent (Mendonça, 2025) - B+

Swingers (Liman, 1996) - A-

On Golden Pond (Rydell, 1981) - B

The Plague (Polinger, 2025) - B+

Twinless (Sweeney, 2025) - A-

Shelter (Waugh, 2026) - C+

Grace of My Heart (Anders, 1996) - B-

Iron Lung (Markiplier, 2026) - C-

Labyrinth (Henson, 1986) - B

Basquiat (Schnabel, 1996) - B+

Boyz n the Hood (Singleton, 1991) - A-

Crank (Neveldine & Taylor, 2006) - C

The Baltimorons (Duplass, 2025) - B+

Mother (Brooks, 1996) - B+

A Room With a View (Ivory, 1986) - B

Gas Food Lodging (Anders, 1992) - B

Don't Let's Go To the Dogs Tonight (Davidtz, 2025) - C+

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (DaCosta, 2026) - B

The Perfect Neighbor (Gandbhir, 2025) - B+

Mercy (Bekmambetov, 2026) - C-

Hamnet (Zhao, 2025) - B

Seance (Barrett, 2021) - C

Ash (Flying Lotus, 2025) - C

A Man For All Seasons (Zinnemann, 1966) - B-

Delicatessen (Caro & Jeunet, 1991) - B

Come See Me In the Good Light (White, 2025) - B+

Cimarron (Ruggles, 1931) - B-

Abraham's Boys (Kermani, 2025) - C-

Marathon Man (Schlesinger, 1976) - B-

The Lost Bus (Greengrass, 2025) - B

Eleanor the Great (Johansson, 2025) - B

The Fisher King (Gilliam, 1991) - B+

Queens of the Dead (Romero, 2025) - C

Blue Moon (Linklater, 2025) - B-

The Ugly Stepsister (Blichfeldt, 2025) - B

Greenland 2: Migration (Waugh, 2026) - C+

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (Reiner, 2025) - C

She's Gotta Have It (Lee, 1986) - B+

Stripes (Reitman, 1981) - C+

Goodbye June (Winslet, 2025) - C

Stand By Me (Reiner, 1986) - B+

Popeye (Altman, 1980) - B

Relay (Mackenzie, 2025) - B

Eden (Howard, 2025) - B-

Beautiful Girls (Demme, 1996) - B+

Point Break (Bigelow, 1991) - B+

Bone Lake (Morgan, 2025) - B-

Wake Up Dead Man (Johnson, 2025) - B

I Was a Stranger (Andersen, 2026) - C+

The Housemaid (Feig, 2025) - C+

Primate (Roberts, 2026) - C+

Ballad of a Small Player (Berger, 2025) - C

Oh, Hi! (Brooks, 2025) - C

Army of the Dead (Snyder, 2021) - D+

Welcome to the Dollhouse (Solondz, 1996) - A

It Was Just An Accident (Panahi, 2025) - B

Manny & Lo (Krueger, 1996) - B-

Barton Fink (Coen, 1991) - B+

Circle of Friends (O'Connor, 1995) - B-

Sentimental Value (Trier, 2025) - B+

Marty Supreme (Safdie, 2025) - B

Train Dreams (Bentley, 2025) - B+

A House of Dynamite (Bigelow, 2025) - C+

Sorry, Baby (Victor, 2025) - B+

Bottoms (Seligman, 2023) - B

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Han & Vallade, 2025) - B+

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (Bronstein, 2025) - B+

Nouvelle Vague (Linklater, 2025) - B+

Frankenstein (del Toro, 2025) - B

KPop Demon Hunters (Appelhans & Kang, 2025) - B

Jay Kelly (Baumbach, 2025) - D+

JFK (Stone, 1991) - B+

This year I'm going to emphasize 1996 & 2001, two truly great years. The former is one of the best for American indies ever and there's quite a few I missed. Right now I've seen 60 Best Picture winners overall (61 if One Battle After Another or Sinners takes it in 2.5 months), so I'm trying to fill in as many blindspots for that as well. 

98th Oscars Wrap Up

THE 98TH ACADEMY AWARDS

Host: Conan O'Brien

Winners: One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson, Michael B. Jordan, Jessie Buckley, Sean Penn, Amy Madigan

Notable Occurrences/Trivia:

+A tie occurs in the Live Action Short category - the first one in 13 years, and seventh overall.

+Autumn Durald Arkapaw becomes the first woman to win Cinematography, which means women have won Oscars in all non-gendered categories.

+Sinners broke the record for nominations - 16, and now breaks the record for losses - 12. 

+Paul Thomas Anderson wins 3 Oscars after a total of 14 nominations.

+Cast members of Rob Reiner films assemble on stage for a special tribute to the filmmaker.

+Fourth year in a row that the Best Picture winner won 4 above the line awards, along with editing. 

+For the first time in 24 years, a new category is introduced: Casting. 

The Good:

+Conan was great. The Weapons opening was perfect. The Hamnet part with Paul's reaction was the funniest of him being inserted into the films. The Jane Lynch YouTube bit and the Casablanca thing with Sterling K. Brown = good bits. 

+3 horror films won a total of 8 Oscars. 

+The stage looked great! Loved the cutouts during the Editing and Cinematography presentations. 

+The Anne Hathaway/Anna Wintour presenting duo being the comedy team we need in the world right now. Anna may have stolen the night with just a dozen or so words. I was ready for Anne's big Oscar comeback - she has 5 movies coming out this year!

+Leo's stache. Turns out this is for the Scorsese/JLaw collab he's currently working on. It works for him. Hottest he's looked in ages.

+Very smart move doing the casting presentation in the five presenters style. Hope they continue to present it that way. 

+The tie and Kumail Nanjiani handling it like a pro. 

+Teyana Taylor being everyone's hype man. She seemed genuinely happy for so many winners.

+The Bridesmaids reunion and them getting a standing ovation. Actual good bit from them. (Wendi just had surgery on her neck, so that's why she was absent.) "I was just talking about this to a woman I met on a roller coaster." And they mentioned Scorsese! 

+I think they kinda sorta nailed the In Memoriam for once. I'm not sure the stars on the Reiner films just standing there wasn't a little awkward, but it worked. And Rachel McAdams speaking about Diane Keaton - I think I might have gay gasped when she came out. Even more than Streisand?? Yeah, they actually mostly got this right.

+To reiterate, Rachel's tribute to Diane was perfect. 

+Sigourney Weaver's "Get away from him, you bitch!" to Kate Hudson, then Pedro Pascal queening out over it.

+The light globe thingers for "Golden" were really cool.

+The staging of "I Lied to You" was great with the way the camera was roaming the stage. Li Jun Li! Jack O'Connell! He wore vampire fangs on the red carpet. 

+Good on Javier Bardem for saying "Free Palestine" on the Oscar stage. One of the few people there to actually have some balls. 

+Massive enthusiasm for Jordan's win. 

+Paul's shoutout to the Best Picture lineup of 1975... I watched/rewatched all of those films last year, and what a lineup!

+LOL Even the shorts winner burned Chalamet. 

+Nicole Kidman presented Best Picture.

The Bad:

+It gets increasingly frustrating that they can't get the acting category presentation correct. I don't know why they have to constantly try and rejigger it. Cut to the nominee after the clip. And the clips were too short. By the time the applause died down during the clip, it was over. 

+The sound mixing was really bad on the live broadcast. I'm rewatching it now on Hulu and I guess they fixed some of the issues after the broadcast because it does sound slightly better. Only slightly. 

+Painful presenter banter that just went on and on. RDJ and Evans, and the Pullmans were particularly bad. (Bridesmaids and Devil Wears Prada peeps innocent!) So many of the presenter intros were so long.

+Those awkward shots of people walking offstage just illustrates that they don't know each other and look almost uncomfortable. Shoutout to Demi for actually engaging with Autumn.

+I guess Javier and Penelope are just gonna alternate presenting International Feature Film. 

+It makes it so frustrating that presenters get to babble on but so many winners then get cut off. 

+Happy for Kidman presenting Picture and love love love Moulin Rouge! and Nic and Ewan singing together, but he's not really big enough to present Picture. And the audience just felt like they weren't there for it, sadly. Felt underwhelming. 

+Also underwhelming was the overall presenter lineup. Lots of Disney/ABC connections, so I'm not sure what that means when this moves to YouTube. Not enough genuine big stars. When I saw the Pullmans were presenting together, I thought maybe they were doing a secret intro to Mel Brooks who turns 100 this year. Their movie doesn't even open for over another year. I know many producers have said getting people to do the show is the hardest part of the job, so I'm not sure what they have to do to get more people to present. There were numerous people there from Best Picture nominees, and past winners/nominees like Goldie Hawn, Ed Harris, Sissy Spacek, Kirsten Dunst, Danielle Brooks, and Steven Spielberg. So maybe ask them?

+Very little film history. I grew up on the telecasts that were steeped (yes, sometimes too much so) in film history. 

+Both song performances were good, but again sound issues and "I Lied to You" was a little too busy? Why so many special guests unrelated to the movie? Shaboozey just sang one line? And both numbers just kind of ended?

+Diane Warren's nomination streak is embarrassing, but she and the other Song nominees deserved to perform. 

+There was a weird parade of C-list young actors on the red carpet at the start. I know there are various ticket auctions and charities/brand ambassadors, but it was a little odd. 

+Penn wasn't there, so that category felt like a big whimper. Not counting Anthony Hopkins from the COVID Oscars, he's the first acting winner to no-show since Michael Caine 39 years ago. 

+Didn't care for the closing One Battle parody. Let's just watch people leave the auditorium while clips for the show plays. 

Best Dressed:

Hard to choose. I liked Rose Byrne, Ejae, Felicity Jones, Rachel McAdams, Demi Moore, Emma Stone, Teyana Taylor, and Zendaya. And I adore Chloé Zhao coming as a Shakespearean witch. 

But I'm going with Chase Infiniti.

And that's a wrap on awards season 2025. It was a good one with great winners! Back to the "real" world for the time being.