The action choreography is top notch (though a little video game-y in parts) and the synth-heavy score by Carlos Rafael Rivera is quite good. It's great to see Heather Graham and Patricia Arquette in action, even though Arquette's Irish accent is a little dodgy. I live in Florida, so you know I'm an expert on Irish dialects. So all-in-all, They Will Kill You is worth a look and besides, who doesn't love a US-South African-Canadian co-production from a Russian director!?
Silly as it sounds, I can't help but get so freakin' excited around this time every year because it's time once again to get out my creepy notebook and peruse my first time watches. My hope is that you will find something in here you forgot about or haven't heard of before to add to your "To Watch" list for 2026. My brain is already electrified with all of the stuff I can barely wait to get to in the coming year. Sadly, I only watched like 90 new-to-me movies this year. Ugh, that is awful! I did a whole mess of rewatching favorite shows and movies. 2026 will be different, trust me. I did watch one new show that I loved called "Murderbot" (2025). Highly recommended.
Before I get started, I want to mention a couple of things I did that I would be grateful if you'd lend your eyes/ears to. I put out two albums of ambient music this year. One on the techno side of things and another of the ambient guitar variety. The first is Light Pollution and the second is Sleep/Walk Situationer. I'm immensely proud of these releases, and don't worry, I'll make more! My musical moniker is The Slow Wizard and my YouTube channel where I share my meager attempts at learning synthesizers and other doodads is chugging along. And lastly, the Hello! This is the Doomed Show podcast is still going strong as is my Doomed Moviethon channel.
In other news: Doomed Moviethon Dot Com celebrated its 20 year anniversary in 2025. I can't believe that I've been writing about horror and cult movies for twenty freakin' years. Unreal. To all of you who have been there supporting my work all this time or folks new to my nightmare worldview, thank you one thousand and five times. I guess I'll keep doing this shiz.
Okay, that's enough self advertisement -though you should really check out this commercial I made. Anyway! Here are my favorite films I watched this year. As usual, this is not a top 10 list and the order is mostly random, though my favorite film of the year always gets the top spot. Let's go!
Keeper (2025)
Anyone who knows me definitely saw this choice coming as my favorite film of the year. What can I say? I'm always up for the strangeness that Osgood Perkins is going to deliver. And Keeper is certainly a strange one! I went to the theater and it turned out that I was the only person who'd bought a ticket for that night's showing. So there I was, alone in the room, dead center in a sea of empty seats, and regretting not being able to convince LeEtta to come with me. Why? Because I was freakin' scared! (And also this film should have done better.) I can't wait to get this on disc and see it again!
The Vourdalak (2023)
Oh, hello there, France. I remember seeing an early trailer for this and thinking, "I NEED TO SEE THIS." Then finally, it popped up for rent and I went for it. Between the masterful version of this story from Mario Bava in Black Sabbath (1963) and the gory version called Night of the Devils (1972), I never expected another adaptation to hit as hard for me as The Vourdalak does. First time feature film director Adrien Beau (not to be confused with Adrian Belew) takes this film to some very atmospheric, ghoulish, and surreal places. What a treat!
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
LeEtta and I watch a whole bunch of Agatha Christie adaptations all the time, so I've seen multiple versions of her classic tale. And yet somehow, I had missed this star-studded affair from total boss, Sidney Lumet. Everyone in this film is a who's who of awesome A-listers from multiple generations of Hollywood, but it's Albert Finney's gleeful portrayal of Hercule Poirot that makes this one a new favorite I'll enjoy time and time again.
Oddity (2024)
I can't get excited about The Conjuring or Insidious movies. They're fine, but I've never seen past the second installments of either franchise. Then a movie like Oddity comes along and, for my money, does what those films do, but better. Or at least, it does ghosts really, really well without the cheap -I'm not talking budget- feeling. This spooky ass film also has Carolyn Bracken in it, an actress that I can't take my eyes off. And she is great in this!
Loft (2005)
I kept stashing this one for a rainy day and when that rainy day arrived, I was totally blown away. Kiyoshi Kurosawa has had the most incredible career, and every time I find another one of his that I haven't seen before, I feel hashtag blessed. How he manages to get so much dread and creepiness into his films is nothing short of miraculous. One of the things I love about him, and something that is absolutely true of Loft, is his films move in such unexpected ways. A fine journey to Hell.
Sinners (2025)
Usually, I am prepared for a film to hit me in the emotional solar plexus. For instance, I knew Godzilla Minus One (2023) was going to get me, and it did! But the ugly crying I did after Sinners was nearly out of control. Even trying to talk about this film had me choking up for a days afterward. It comes down to emotionally connecting with the characters. The performances, the script, the music, and the production design all came together exquisitely. Those things along with the assured hand of a great director, this was bound to hit and hit hard. The night I saw this film, I was in the presence of greatness.
L.A. Bounty (1989)
I was feeling sad about the passing of Wings Hauser, and I snagged a few of his lesser known (to me) titles and L.A. Bounty was my favorite of the handful I checked out. He plays the whacked out villain in this one and not surprisingly, he almost steals the whole movie. This one is Sybil Danning's show through and through. She plays a mostly mute bounty hunter who will kick your dick inside out. You need to see this.
Hercules (1983)
Luigi Cozzi made a sci-fi sword and sandal movie in the 1980s packed with eye-popping special effects?! And it's got Lou Ferrigno, Sybil Danning, William Berger, Bobby Rhodes, AND Gianni Garko? Then sign me up! Hercules has just tiniest bit of lag in its energy in the last reel, but otherwise this one is damn near perfect. It's pretty wild. I have to give credit to my childhood favorite, Clash of the Titans (1981), for inspiring the little wave of fantasy films like this and Lucio Fulci's Conquest (1983).
Furiosa (2024)
Sadly, the negative hype of this one got to me -partly that it was a prequel and partly that it was going to be more CGI-heavy than Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)- so I didn't see it in theaters last year. That was dumb of me! I should have had faith in George Miller, because I enjoyed Furiosa so damn much. The weirdness and the contemplative moments of Fury Road were expanded into this insanity. As usual, I'm looking forward to rewatching the whole franchise from start to finish, and I'll be excited to see how this one plays out with the rest of the films.
Strike Commando 2 (1988)
While I very much enjoyed Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso's Strike Commando (1987), this sequel never missed a beat for me in terms of the awkward, cornball bullshit I want from a shockingly derivative Italian action film. The characters are total weirdos that make me laugh every time they open their mouths, usually to scream at each other and the action scenes are actually cool even though they almost make zero sense sometimes.
The Monkey (2025)
Did I actually get two Osgood Perkins films in one year and they were both great? Yes, but also yes. While Keeper was more in keeping with what I crave from Perkins's work, The Monkey is a solid entry in his filmography. While I'm pretty much done with gore for comedy sake -though there are exceptions like Psycho Goreman (2020)- there's a great deal of heart stashed away in this outrageous film.
Black Tight Killers (1966)
I had never heard of this film until Radiance posted the boffo trailer for it, and I turned it off after just a few seconds because the fire had been lit. When the Blu-ray arrived, the film exceeded my expectations! If you need some dynamic spectacle in your life, then Black Tight Killers is for you. It's a pop art explosion with a bonkers ass plot.
The Night of the Walking Dead (1975)
Rod and Troy of the The Naschycast covered this film ages ago on their show and I very patiently waited for someone, somewhere to put this one out in a non-shitty bootleg/download. Sure enough, Severin Films came in like champs and I was finally able to see this one on a nicey nice Blu-ray. This León Klimovsky jam was totally worth the wait. If you need more strange and atmospheric Spanish horror in your life, then bump this one up in your queue.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025)
Well, dress me up in a tinsel tutu and call me Rudolf, I did not see this last one coming at all. This new take on the freaky ass SNDN franchise hit all the right sleigh bells for LeEtta and I. We absolutely loved this. I love how they too what folks who are familiar with the first film and threw a whole new spin on it, and I think made this just a cool film for newbies. I can't wait to get my hands on this one in the new year.
Honorable Mentions
Surf II (1983) - Truly bizarre spoof movie and sequel to nothing.
Ferrari (2023) - Classy. Cars are cool or whatever.
The Lady Vanishes (1979) - A cozy and delightful film.
Mickey 17 (2025) - Do we need more dystopian sci-fi? Always.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) - Essential 1970s trash.
Trancers II (1991) - Oh my God! Almost better than the original.
Stopmotion (2023) - Sad and damn good horror to depress you.
Lady Morgan's Revenge (1965) - Excellent Italian gothic.
Camp Fear (1991) - Almost a fave of the year but I can't remember it.
Prime Cut (1972) - This is so good and so badass that I can't even.
Hired to Kill (1990) - Outrageous and cheap action. A parody?
An Eternal Combat (1991) - Very imaginative Hong Kong goodness.
The Power (1984) - Ambitious horror schlock.
Cut (2000) - Aussie slasher goodness that is pretty wild.
Weapons (2025) - I want to bottle and sell this one's energy.
Mister Scarface (1976) - Silly but charming poliziotteschi from my birth year.
Worst Films I Watched This Year
Bloody Psycho (1989) - Just jaw-droppingly bad. Kind of infuriating.
Summer Catch (2001) - Cinematic food poisoning.
Children of the Living Dead (2001) - Brutally sucky, but in a bad way.
Hey there, folks! Did you know that’s it’s been 9 years since a proper Franco Friday and 5 years since I’ve reviewed a Jess Franco film at all? It's all true. Sorry about that. I got a little distracted. Some more of Old Jess’s work has been popping up over the years that I had always been curious about, so here I am. My list of films isn’t very long, but I really felt like I needed to bring the randomness of our guy’s canon back into my life. You ready? I amn’t.
Even though his boss thinks he’s a drunk and a womanizer, soldier guy Derek Carpenter (Christopher Mitchum) is called in to identify and then capture or maybe assassinate -that part was unclear- a drug lord named Luis Morel (Christopher Lee), who’s hiding out in Spain. Derek must go undercover as a photographer doing a story about the effects of drugs on society to get close to his target. How is that going to work? On his flight, he meets the lovely Linda (Cristina Higueras), a fun-loving gal who might be the daughter of his target. Wouldn’t that be wild if she was?!
My favorite quotes:
“Well, hello. Is this that vampy Cinderella who likes to take advantage of poor weary travelers?”
“Oh, where are you going, dream boy?!”
“You haven’t seen the worst of it.”
Who is Akira Inugami (Sonny Chiba)? Is he a private detective? Is he a deadly coin-thrower? Is he the last descendant of a race of vaguely wolf-like people? The answer to these questions is yes, definitely mostly kind of yes. Akira gets dragged into a bizarre case where men are being slashed to bits by an invisible assailant. His only lead is Miki (Etsuko Nami), a nightclub singer who was raped by a gang of dudes who gave her syphilis. One by one, her rapists are being mangled to death by what can only be described as a psychic tiger. This case leads Akira down a dangerous path when a group of scientists capture him and Miki, looking to exploit them for their unusual gifts. He escapes -How does he do it? Let’s just say that it takes guts!- and flees to the countryside to visit what’s left of his village. But where Wolf Guy goes, trouble always follows.
Where the hell did this come from? Oh duh! Wolf Guy is straight from the heady miasma of Toei’s disturbingly prolific production output of the mid-1970s. Sonny Chiba made 6 films and a TV series in 1975 and I’ll be damned if this isn’t the strangest. He’s absolutely not wasted here and he dominates the screen -as usual- while bringing this unusual character to life. Director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi certainly knew how to get the most out of his star especially since they collaborated several times before and after Wolf Guy. Etsuko Nami manages to wrangle some well-deserved screentime away from Chiba with her hypnotic performance as Miki, a woman whose life was destroyed by sexual violence and who is now spiraling out of control.
What really stands out in Wolf Guy is the score by composer- well, I don’t have a clue who did this gorgeous combination of fuzz guitar-laden funk and atmospheric synthesizer. According to IMDB, cinematographer Yoshio Nakajima shot 36 films in 14 years and certainly gives the viewers of Wolf Guy a lot of vibrant colors and kinetic madness to drool over. I have to wonder if screenwriter Kazumasa Hirai -and creator of the character Akira Kazumasa- was happy with the final product onscreen here. Toei producer Toru Yoshida hints in an interview in this release that he was not. But screw that! Wolf Guy is a howling good time!
While I’ve never read the source material, Wolf Guy captures the wild, anything goes spirit of manga itself and is a helluva good watch for Japanese cult film aficionados. This forgotten oddity will certainly be a title I reach for when I want to confuse guests on a Saturday night. The really extreme exploitation elements, a very brief rape sequence and some real surgery footage, are never cranked up to levels that make for uncomfortable viewing. And the superb pacing of this film is such that I didn’t want the film to be over once the credits started rolling. I can’t wait to watch Wolf Guy again!
