Jurassic Park: Dominion

This one hit me in the feels, dude. Obviously, the original Jurassic Park is my absolute favorite of the series. I loved Sam Neil and Laura Dern’s characters so flipping much and I always hoped they would return to the series — so this cast was a dream for me. Maybe the storyline wasn’t the best it could have been, but even if it’s purely for nostallgic reasons, I loved it so much! Plus, seeing my kids stoked about having more Jurassic Park films is worth every bit of it.

The Black Phone

This one didn’t go down the way that I thought it would, but I still really enjoyed it! Ethan Hawke is a great actor and we don’t see him in a “villain” role very often, but he nailed it!

Prey

This one was a sleeper. I honestly went into this one thinking that it was just going to suck. To my surprise, it was actually a /great/ film! Definitely check it out if you haven’t already!

Halloween Ends

Whew boy, this one was a polarizing film. People either loved it or hated it. For me, I needed to watch it twice before I even knew how I felt about it. It went in a COMPLETELY different direction than I anticipated, but I honestly think David Gordon Green did a phenomenal job on this entire trilogy.

NOPE

ordan Peele does it once again! Dude continues to blow my mind with his films. This one isn’t going to go down the way you think, and that’s the beauty of it — It literally goes left when you’re expecting it to go right. Some people hated this one too, but I thought it was pretty brilliant. I can’t say too much about why I think it’s brilliant versus other movies in this type of genre (without spoiling anything), but I think everyone should give it at least a shot.

Hellraiser (2022)

I kind of dreaded this release just because I wasn’t sure how the transition from Doug Bradley to Jamie Clayton would go, since I have loved the Hellraiser franchise. When you get used to an actor in a particular role and then they change it up on you, most of the time it doesn’t go well. This was totally a complete exception to that, as Jamie Clayton SLAYED the role of Pinhead! I’m so excited about (hopefully) new installments into this franchise with her spearheading that role.

Barbarian

Whoa buddy. This is another film that takes a COMPLETELY different turn than you’re expecting. This film was so hyped up, but I honestly think that it delivered. What a ride!

Terrifier 2

Heh. Ok this one isn’t for the faint of heart. If you can’t stomach gore, you’re gonna probably want to tap out as it is completely over-the-top gory. But my gosh, what a FUN ride this one goes on! I /love/ the character of Art the Clown. I thoroughly enjoyed the first Terrifier film, but the second one is even better! A tad longer than it probably should have been, but nonetheless, a slasher film through and through that delivers hardcore on the blood.

X

Dude, Ti West blew minds this year with filming X AND Pearl back to back without anyone knowing — announcing only after X was released that he actually had filmed a Prequel (Pearl) and had plans to make the series a Trilogy. X was fantastic all the way though, and gave me all the vibes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (but don’t go into it thinking that it’s going to be a ripoff of TCM by any means).

Pearl

Ho-lee-crap this film was INCREDIBLE. Mia Goth was absolutely amazing and her performance quite literally made the entire movie. This one was a really unique and fresh spin on horror, and took paths that I might would have scoffed at if you told me about them before hand — but dude, with her acting and Ti West’s direction and vision, it worked SO WELL. I cannot wait for the next installment, MaXXXine in 2023!