Michael

Before the Backlash: The Burden of Being a Brand

Let’s rewind the clock a bit. There was a brief, glorious window in the early 2000s when M. Night Shyamalan felt completely and utterly untouchable. The Sixth Sense wasn’t just a massive hit movie; it was a full-blown cultural event. People didn’t just recommend the flick to their buddies; they actively dared their friends to try and guess the ending before the credits even rolled. It genuinely reshaped how modern audiences engaged with suspense on the big screen. Suddenly, everyday viewers were scanning background extras, obsessively rewatching quiet scenes, and treating Friday night movies like high-stakes puzzles to solve.

Then Unbreakable arrived and quietly, confidently proved that Shyamalan wasn’t just a guy dependent on one parlor trick. It wasn’t a loud movie. It wasn’t flashy. Instead, it was patient and incredibly restrained, taking an almost meditative approach to superhero mythology years before the genre totally dominated cinemas. It trusted its heavy mood and rich character work way more than the CGI spectacles we see today. Following that, Signs hit theaters and once again demonstrated that Shyamalan could squeeze absolute dread out of the most ordinary, mundane settings. A dusty farmhouse. A quiet dinner table. A terrifyingly normal child’s bedroom. And a brief flash of an alien at a birthday party that scared the ever-loving shit out of us all. He built his tension through suffocating silence rather than chaotic action.

Three films. Three wildly distinctive tones. Three iconic endings that completely recontextualized everything that came before them

In today’s episode, we look back on The Village, the immense weight of being a blockbuster brand, and the chaotic, deceptive marketing that turned this movie from a highly anticipated thriller into a bitter disappointment, and eventually back around to a misunderstood cult classic. Let’s cross the tree line and find out what really lurks in the woods.

The Buried Secret: Selling the Supernatural

But here is where the problem started. By the time The Village was officially announced in 2004, the audience’s relationship with Shyamalan had fundamentally changed. He was no longer simply a talented filmmaker; he was a literal brand. And that specific brand came loaded with some dangerously high expectations. People were no longer just walking into his movies to be entertained; they were actively bracing themselves for the exact moment they would be surprised.

The studio marketing for The Village fed directly into that frenzied mindset, and unapologetically. The trailers heavily emphasized the terrifying red cloaks and those creepy, shadowy figures moving through the trees. The theatrical posters listed a set of rules that sounded like ancient warnings carved into stone: Never enter the woods. Heed the warning bell. Let the bad color not be seen. To make matters even wilder, the hype train went totally off the rails with the release of The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan. This was an elaborate, completely fake mockumentary aired on the Sci Fi Channel to promote the movie, designed to convince audiences that Shyamalan himself had a real, dark connection to the supernatural. Staff members even had to sign insane $5 million non-disclosure agreements just to keep the hoax under wraps. When the network finally admitted it was all a deceptive “guerrilla marketing campaign,” the backlash was immediate, drawing huge criticism for its deception and forcing Disney and NBC to do major damage control. Between the fake documentary and the misleading trailers, everything about the promotional campaign suggested a hardcore supernatural thriller, something primal and entirely creature-driven.

So, when the film finally dropped and the infamous twist revealed that the monsters were absolutely not supernatural and that the setting wasn’t even historical, the audience backlash hit with lightning speed. Many hardcore viewers felt totally misled by the marketing. Critics were brutally blunt, and the movie was quickly labeled a massive disappointment. It was widely seen as the ultimate example of a filmmaker overindulging in his own trademark device.

But let’s be real: time has a funny way of sanding down those harsh first impressions. Two decades later, when you finally remove the suffocating expectation of a cheap shock, The Village plays completely differently. Without the exhausting need to guess the twist, the film miraculously becomes something much more cohesive and emotionally grounded. It stops being a puzzle box and becomes a harrowing story about grief, fear, and ultimate control. And once you allow yourself to see it that way, the ending doesn’t feel like a cheap gimmick at all; it feels entirely inevitable.

Life Inside Covington: The Illusion of Safety

When we first step into Covington, it appears to exist entirely outside the normal flow of time. The rustic architecture, the drab clothing, and even the spoken language feel perfectly preserved from another century entirely. The people out here farm by hand. They cook their meals over an open fire. They speak with a bizarre formality that feels almost rehearsed, as if every casual conversation were part of a much larger, unseen ritual.

But beneath that surface-level calm lies a carefully engineered, rigid structure. The terrifying woods surrounding the village are treated as a living, breathing boundary. The mysterious creatures—ominously known as “Those We Don’t Speak Of”—are said to constantly roam that forest. The strict rules governing their daily life revolve completely around avoiding these beasts: Red attracts them; Yellow wards them off; The bell signals imminent danger. The brutal line between absolute safety and total destruction is literally the tree line.

The town Elders enforce this dark mythology with a quiet, unshakeable authority. Edward Walker stands tall as the emotional and philosophical center of that leadership. What makes him fascinating is that he is not portrayed as some cruel or malicious dictator; he is calm, steady, and deliberate. But make no mistake: he absolutely controls the flow of information. He controls access. He controls the truth.

Enter Lucius Hunt, who becomes the first real, dangerous crack in that perfect system. He dares to question why the village stubbornly refuses all contact with the outside world, especially when people are needlessly dying from basic infections that modern medicine could easily treat. He boldly proposes crossing the cursed woods to retrieve vital supplies. The Elders instantly refuse, arguing that the outside world is inherently violent and totally morally compromised. Lucius reluctantly stays put, but his burning desire for radical change lingers in the air.

At the very heart of this story is Ivy Walker. Blind but fiercely, almost dangerously independent, she navigates the borders of Covington with total confidence. Her blindness is refreshingly never framed as a fragility; it is simply a part of who she is. Her blossoming relationship with Lucius feels remarkably sincere and incredibly grounded, offering a rare warmth in a society totally defined by cold caution.

The massive turning point of the flick comes when Noah Percy—who is highly unstable and deeply attached to Ivy—savagely attacks Lucius in a fit of jealous rage. Lucius is violently stabbed and left critically wounded, bleeding out. Suddenly, the Elders’ philosophy of complete isolation collides with a real-world consequence. The primitive village absolutely cannot treat him. The antibiotics he desperately needs exist out there, beyond the terrifying woods.

Ivy bravely volunteers to cross the nightmare forest herself. And right there, that is exactly where the story begins to peel back its darkest layers.

The Manufactured Fear: The Ultimate Rug-Pull

Let’s talk about the exact moment Shyamalan completely pulls the rug out from under the audience. When Edward Walker finally takes Ivy into that locked shed, he drops a massive bomb and reveals the ugly truth: the terrifying creatures are absolutely not real. All of it—the sinister red cloaks, the razor-sharp claws, the chilling growls echoing in the night—is a massive fabrication maintained entirely by the town Elders. And the heartbreaking reason behind this colossal lie? Utter, devastating grief. Each of the founding Elders lost someone they deeply loved to senseless violence out in the modern world, and they bonded over this shared trauma. But instead of seeking therapy or healing within society, they aggressively chose to completely abandon it. They pooled their bank accounts and built Covington from the ground up as a massive, heavily controlled experiment in total isolation. The legendary monsters were specifically invented for one reason: to terrify the next generation so badly that they would never even think about leaving. Cold, hard fear became the glue that literally held the entire community together.

This massive reveal completely reframes everything we watched in the first hour; the suffocating tension in the woods was never supernatural, it was entirely psychological. The isolated village is absolutely not protected by some fragile truce with monsters; it is completely contained by a well-told story. So, when Ivy bravely enters the woods, she does so with only partial knowledge. She knows the creatures are totally fake, but she has no idea just how deep the Elders’ deception actually goes. When a red-cloaked figure suddenly attacks her, the danger feels incredibly immediate, and her blindness violently heightens the entire sequence. Since she cannot see her attacker, she must rely entirely on her hearing and pure survival instinct. She manages to survive by outsmarting the monster, luring the terrifying figure into a hidden pit. We later learn that the attacker was actually Noah, who had stumbled upon the secret costumes and fully adopted the creature’s crazed persona. Think about how brilliant that is: the only genuine act of horrific violence in the film’s present timeline comes completely from within Covington, not from the dangerous outside world. The very system brilliantly designed to prevent chaos is exactly what produces it instead.

The World Beyond the Woods: Smashing the Illusion

When Ivy finally reaches the absolute edge of the forest, the carefully constructed illusion fully collapses as she encounters a towering, modern security wall. She stubbornly climbs over it. Suddenly, a park ranger vehicle approaches, and the timeline shifts violently—we are sitting smack in the middle of 2004. We discover that Covington is actually just a heavily guarded part of the Walker Wildlife Preserve, entirely funded by Edward’s massive family wealth. The village is absolutely not a forgotten relic of the 1800s; it is a meticulously deliberate construction. Every detail, from the antique clothing to the old-school language and rigid customs, is strictly maintained just to preserve the illusion. Ivy crosses paths with a stunned modern ranger who actually retrieves the desperately needed antibiotics for her, but because she is completely blind, she tragically never visually registers the modern world surrounding her. She simply hears the roar of an engine, feels the cold air shift, blindly accepts what she is given, and turns back. She never learns the full, earth-shattering truth. And because of that, the grand illusion survives. This is exactly what separates The Village from a simple, one-and-done twist movie; the truth is not gloriously revealed to the masses. It is darkly compartmentalized, allowing the broken system to continue.

Why It Works Today: A Masterclass in Craft

When The Village first hit theaters and totally bombed with expectations, the pop culture conversation centered almost entirely around whether that massive twist actually worked. Angry viewers treated the film like a pass/fail test: Did it shock us enough? Did it measure up to the legendary twist of The Sixth Sense? Honestly, that unfair framework did the movie a massive disservice. Watching it now, totally removed from that suffocating 2004 context, reveals exactly how carefully constructed this flick actually is. The agonizing tension in the early scenes is incredibly effective, specifically because it is heavily grounded in thick atmosphere rather than loud CGI spectacle.

The phenomenal performances also age remarkably well. Bryce Dallas Howard absolutely anchors the entire film with raw sincerity, ensuring Ivy never feels like a cheap symbol. She feels like a real, breathing person. Joaquin Phoenix plays Lucius with a brilliant, simmering restraint that makes his quiet defiance totally believable. Adrien Brody’s turn as Noah is deeply unsettling but miraculously avoids becoming a cartoonish caricature, while heavy hitters like William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver bring incredible gravity to roles that could have easily tipped right over into goofy melodrama. Without the exhausting expectation of a cheap shock, the brilliant thematic throughline becomes crystal clear: The Village is a movie entirely about the dangerous illusion of safety. It is a dark tale about terrified parents desperately attempting to control outcomes in a chaotic world that simply cannot be controlled. It is about pure love motivating insane courage, even from within the confines of a massive lie. The infamous twist absolutely does not undermine the story; it brilliantly clarifies it. The movie works today because it commits fully to its wild premise and absolutely does not wink at the audience. It never treats the grand reveal as a cheap punchline; it treats it as a devastating tragedy. And that hardcore commitment is exactly what makes it stronger with the distance of two decades.

The Ending Explained: Maintenance Over Revolution

In the grim final act, the grand illusion could completely shatter, as Noah’s violent death brutally exposes the monster costumes, leaving the terrifying truth sitting dangerously close to the surface. But what do the Elders do? They cold-bloodedly decide to preserve the lie. They explicitly tell the terrified villagers that Noah was savagely killed by the mysterious creatures. In a sick twist of fate, his tragic death becomes absolute confirmation of the dark mythology rather than the evidence needed to destroy it. Even his grieving parents accept the horrific explanation simply because it maintains the comfortable structure of their fake world. Ivy returns with the life-saving medicine, Lucius somehow survives, and the fake village continues on. The film shockingly ends not with a glorious revolution, but with bleak, silent maintenance. The broken system absolutely does not collapse; it brutally adapts.

Final Thoughts: A Misunderstood Masterpiece

At the end of the day, The Village was never a movie about scary creatures hiding out in the woods; it was a devastating look at fear aggressively used as a shield against crushing grief. It was a deeply sad story about broken people who experienced unimaginable loss and responded by literally building giant walls instead of confronting their harsh reality. The terrifying monsters were just cheap costumes. The real, unrelenting danger was entirely human. And now, two decades later, completely stripped of those toxic opening weekend expectations and that exhausting twist discourse, The Village proudly stands as one of Shyamalan’s absolute most thematically cohesive films. It may not deliver the kind of cheap, popcorn shock people aggressively wanted back in 2004, but it absolutely delivers something way more lasting. It delivers a brilliant, quiet warning about exactly what happens when personal safety becomes a toxic obsession and actual truth becomes entirely negotiable. Sometimes, a little bit of distance is exactly what a good film desperately needs. And sometimes the ambitious movies that disappoint us the most at first are exactly the ones that brilliantly reveal their true depth over time.

The post The Twist No One Wanted: Why The Village Actually Rules! appeared first on JoBlo.

Jake

As we continue to chronicle the checkered production history of the cinematic Highlander saga, all eyes turn to Highlander: Endgame, the fourth theatrical entry in the film franchise that also functions as a continual mashup of the TV series starring Adrian Paul. Famously uniting the big and small-screen characters Connor and Duncan MacLeod, Highlander: Endgame bridges the gap between the movie and television versions and marks the fifth and final time Christopher Lambert starred as the badass Scottish warrior.

Originally envisioned to connect Highlander: The Series with the TV spin-off Highlander: The Raven, plans were radically altered when The Raven was swiftly canceled due to poor ratings and a network change. The result created a massive disparity between the original screenplay draft and the final cut of Highlander: Endgame, forcing Miramax to delay the release and prompting a contentious “Producer’s Cut” that ran 14 minutes longer than the theatrical cut and featured an alternate ending.

Perhaps most troubling, Highlander: Endgame shamelessly recycles enhanced footage from the original Highlander and feels like a patchwork hodgepodge of franchise loose ends hastily tied together at the last minute. And yet, it still might be better than the previous two installments combined.

So, as the expensive new franchise reboot continues to attract big names, it’s time to unearth the Holy Ground and find out what happened to Highlander: Endgame roughly 25 years ago.

Development

The confusing nature of Highlander: Endgame is directly related to its misguided intent. Meant to fuse the mythological canon between the film and TV series, the original screenplay bears little resemblance to the theatrical release. For instance, Kate MacLeod was named Alexis in early drafts, with most of the flashbacks taking place in Shanghai rather than Ireland. In those versions, the TV character Hugh Fitzcairn appeared during these sequences. Methos’ home was originally located in Paris instead of London, and Duncan lived aboard a French cargo ship during the contemporary timeline.

Original Highlander screenwriter Gregory Widen worked on several early drafts under titles such as:

• The Immortals
• The Search for Connor
• World Without End

Although Widen, who directed The Prophecy, was once in talks to helm Highlander: Endgame, he ultimately received only a “Characters Created By” credit when Eric Bernt and Gillian Horvath began developing the story and Joel Soisson wrote the final screenplay. With too many chefs in the kitchen, Highlander 4 was already overcooked before filming began.

Before Bruce Payne was cast as Jacob Kell, the villainous immortal who murders Connor’s mother and forces the MacLeods into battle, several surprising names were considered for the role, including:

• David Bowie
• Billy Idol
• Jean-Claude Van Damme

Notably, Kell marked the fourth Highlander villain whose name began with the letter K, following the Kurgan, Katana, and Kane.

Meanwhile, Lucy Lawless and Juliet Landau were considered for the role of Kate (also known as Faith). Lawless was interested but had to decline due to scheduling conflicts with her hit TV series Xena: Warrior Princess. The role ultimately went to Lisa Barbuscia.

The character Jin Ke was loosely inspired by Jing Ke, the historical figure known for his failed attempt to assassinate Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 227 BC. Martial arts legend Donnie Yen played Jin Ke and also served as the film’s martial arts choreographer.

If it seems strange that director Doug Aarniokoski hasn’t been mentioned yet, there’s a reason: he was hired only five weeks before principal photography began. With almost no pre-production time, it’s no surprise that Highlander: Endgame often feels like a rushed rehash of the original.

Producers Peter Davis and William Panzer initially wanted to shoot the film in Vancouver, Canada, to match the TV series’ production. However, Dimension Films insisted on filming in Romania as a cost-saving measure, a decision that frustrated the producers and strained their relationship with the studio.

Principal Photography

Armed with a $25 million budget, Highlander: Endgame began filming in Romania on October 22, 1999, and wrapped on March 7, 2000.

The film was photographed by Full Metal Jacket cinematographer Douglas Milsome.

While most filming took place on location and at Castel Film Studios in Bucharest, additional scenes were shot in:

• London
• Paris
• New York
• Appin in the Scottish Highlands

Specific Scottish locations included Loch Linnhe, Loch Laich, and Castle Stalker.

Faith’s fashion show sequence was filmed during London’s Millennium Dome Exhibition.

During production, Bruce Payne became severely ill with bronchitis, forcing the production to declare a “Force Majeure” shutdown for nearly three months. When filming resumed, Payne refused to return to Romania, and most of his remaining fight scenes were filmed in London instead.

One unusual filming location involved the Sanctuary scenes. When the story jumps ahead to 1994 and Connor visits the Sanctuary following Rachel’s death, the interior scenes were filmed 600 feet underground in a deserted salt mine in Bucharest. With only a single working elevator, cast and crew had to take turns traveling between the surface and the set.

Interestingly, fans later complained about the script repeatedly referring to the Sanctuary as “Holy Ground,” since the Highlander mythos traditionally forbids immortals from fighting on such sacred land. As a result, these references were removed from the DVD release.

Script Changes and Editing Problems

Just as there were major differences between the script and the theatrical version, there were also huge discrepancies between what was filmed and what ultimately appeared on screen.

For example, Connor originally set the town of Glenfinnan on fire in the 1555 timeline. Producers felt this made the character too cruel, so the scene was re-edited to imply the fire started accidentally.

An early subplot also required Kell to kill 666 immortals to gain immense supernatural power. To reach that number, he slaughtered many of his own followers before targeting Jin Ke. However, when Jin Ke commits suicide, Kell instead turns his attention to Duncan to reach the fatal threshold. This entire storyline was removed from the theatrical version, although traces remain, including a moment when Kell’s kill count reaches 661.

The infamous “Last Supper” sequence also changed drastically in editing. Jin Ke was originally supposed to impale a wall with his sword and decapitate himself using the blade when he realized Kell couldn’t be defeated. Instead, the final cut awkwardly implies Kell kills him off-screen.

Because of these inconsistencies between writing, filming, and editing, the narrative became a confusing jumble. Eventually, Davis and Panzer released their own “Producer’s Cut” on DVD featuring a different ending.

Studio Cuts and Trailer Footage That Never Appeared

After filming wrapped in March 2000, distributor Dimension Films demanded heavy edits to speed up the film’s pacing. Unfortunately, many of the removed scenes contained crucial exposition explaining the rules of the Highlander universe. Without these explanations, new viewers were left confused.

Originally, the film was supposed to open with a sequence explaining that the story takes place in an alternate reality created after Connor won the Prize in Highlander. This concept was abandoned because it was deemed far too complicated.

Even the movie’s trailer features footage that never appears in the final film. In the trailer, Kell displays supernatural powers such as:

• creating clones of himself
• summoning mystical orbs
• generating protective force fields

None of these abilities appear in the finished movie.

Another unused moment shows Connor and Duncan jumping through a time portal together.

Director Doug Aarniokoski later claimed this footage was created solely for promotional purposes.

Recycled Footage from the Original Highlander

Perhaps the most awkward moment in the film is its blatant reuse of footage from the original Highlander.

Four shots were lifted directly from the 1986 film:

1. A CG-altered shot of Glenfinnan originally showing Connor leaving his village.
2. The Silvercup Studios sign from the scene where the Kurgan escorts Brenda.
3. Two rooftop Quickening shots of Connor and Heather.

Fans quickly noticed the recycled footage.

Release, Reception, and Franchise Fallout

Highlander: Endgame was originally meant to release in 1999 alongside the TV spin-off Highlander: The Raven. When the show was canceled due to low ratings and syndication changes, the film’s release was delayed. The movie finally opened on September 1, 2000.

At the box office, it earned $15.8 million against a $25 million budget, making it a disappointment.

Critics were mixed. Some enjoyed it more than Highlander II: The Quickening and Highlander III: The Sorcerer, but few considered it a good film. The franchise went dormant for seven years, until the release of Highlander: The Source in 2007.

The Producer’s Cut and Alternate Ending

After Dimension Films forced the theatrical version down to 87 minutes, producers Davis and Panzer assembled their own Producer’s Cut for DVD. This version added roughly 12 minutes of footage, along with improved color grading, sound, and visual effects.

The biggest difference involved Kate’s fate. In the theatrical version, it’s implied that Kell kills Kate during the Last Supper massacre. In the Producer’s Cut, however, she survives.

The alternate ending shows Duncan celebrating New Year’s in the United States when Kate suddenly appears and reveals that Kell spared her life. Assuring Duncan that her Faith persona is gone forever, she kisses him and the two rekindle their romance.

Additional restored scenes include:

• a new opening sequence in New York
• Rachel entering Connor’s antiques store before it explodes
• an extended confrontation between Duncan and Kell
• the introduction and death of Watcher Matthew Hale
• a longer flashback to Duncan and Kate’s wedding

A rough workprint version on the Region 1 DVD also introduced a subplot where Connor donated Christmas trees to an orphanage every year, a tradition Duncan continues after Connor’s death.

Most fans agree the Producer’s Cut is the superior version, as it restores crucial mythology and narrative clarity.

The Future of the Franchise

Meanwhile, a long-gestating Highlander reboot has remained in development since 2008. The newest version will star Henry Cavill as MacLeod and will be directed by John Wick filmmaker Chad Stahelski.

Recent announcements indicate a large cast that includes:

• Dave Bautista as the Kurgan
• Russell Crowe as Ramirez
• Karen Gillan as Heather MacLeod
• Drew McIntyre as Angus MacLeod

With the reboot generating renewed excitement, now is the perfect time to revisit the chaotic production of Highlander: Endgame.

A couple of previous episodes of this show can be seen below. For more, check out the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel—and don’t forget to subscribe!

The post Highlander: Endgame: The Messy Film That Tried to Unite the Franchise appeared first on JoBlo.

Just like a time-traveling Terminator, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking to fill his future with journeys back into the past, as he’s planning to revisit multiple characters he previously played decades ago. If all goes well, Schwarzenegger says we can expect to see him in upcoming sequels to his 1987 sci-fi action horror classic Predator, his 1985 action extravaganza Commando, and his 1982 sword and sorcery hit Conan the Barbarian (and its less successful 1984 follow-up, Conan the Destroyer).

Predator and Commando

There have been a lot of rumblings about Schwarzenegger’s return to the Predator franchise in recent months, with a coda on the animated anthology movie Predator: Killer of Killers setting things up. We know that Schwarzenegger has had multiple meetings with Prey, Predator: Killer of Killers, and Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg about the idea they’re cooking up – and during last weekend’s Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, Schwarzenegger said (as reported by The Arnold Fans), “They did an additional Predator and the director (Dan Trachtenberg) has been doing a great job of that. Now, he wants me to be in the next Predator. We’ve talked about it. As a matter of fact, (20th Century Studios) has kind of rediscovered Arnold. They’ve come to me and said, ‘We want you to do Predator, we just got a script for you to do Commando 2’.“

He added that 20th Century Studios has also hired Christopher McQuarrie, now free from his Mission: Impossible commitments, to write and direct King Conan, a project that Schwarzenegger has been hoping to do for more than a decade at this point.

King Conan

Schwarzenegger said, “They just hired a fantastic writer/director who did Tom Cruise’s last four movies. They just hired him (Christopher McQuarrie) to write and direct King Conan. Now, what they do is that they write the part, they don’t write them like I’m forty years old, you write it to be age-appropriate. I’ll still go in there and kick some ass but it will be different. With King Conan, its a great old story that Conan was forty years as King and now he gets forced out of the kingdom and there’s conflict, of course, but somehow he comes back and there’s all kinds of madness, violence, magic, and creatures and stuff like that. And now, of course, there’s all kinds of special effects. The studio has plenty of money to make those movies really big, so I’m looking forward to all of those projects.“

Previous drafts of King Conan have been written by Will Beall, Andrea Berloff, Chris Morgan, and Conan the Barbarian director John Milius. We’ll see if McQuarrie will be the one to finally get it into production.

What do you think of Arnold Schwarzenegger gearing up for Predator, Commando, and Conan sequels? Let us know by leaving a comment below. I would love to see all three of these happen, as quickly as possible.

The post Arnold Schwarzenegger confirms Predator, Commando, and Conan sequels are in the works appeared first on JoBlo.

I have watched the original Ghostbusters, a movie that was released when I was an infant, many times over the decades, but the majority of my viewings were packed into the earliest years of my life – and I remember, even as a little kid, being fascinated by the beauty of the “Female Student” participating in Venkman’s rigged ESP test. One of my girlfriend’s all-time favorite movies is the coming-of-age dance movie The In Crowd, which she watched on repeat as a kid. The actress who played the Female Student in Ghostbusters, Jennifer Runyon, had a lead role in The In Crowd, so we’re both very sad to hear the news that Runyon has passed away at the age of 65.

Runyon was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 1, 1960, the daughter of radio DJ Jim Runyon and actress Jane Roberts. She followed her mother into an acting career, making her screen debut in the 1980 Christmas slasher To All a Goodnight (which was directed by David Hess of The Last House on the Left). From there, she landed a job on the soap opera Another World, appearing on 111 episodes as a character named Sally Frame.

She did a lot of TV work through the ’80s and ’90s, appearing on episodes of Boone, The Fall Guy, The Master; Magnum, P.I.; The Highwayman, Charles in Charge, Who’s the Boss?, Dear John, Valerie, Quantum Leap, Booker; Murder, She Wrote; Beverly Hills, 90210; and Vinnie & Bobby, plus the miniseries Space and the TV movies Six Pack, Pros & Cons, Dreams of Gold: The Mel Fisher Story, Blue de Ville, Tagteam, and Till Death Do Us Part.

The most popular TV movie she ever worked on was 1988’s A Very Brady Christmas, where Runyon replaced Susan Olsen from the original sitcom as Cindy Brady after Olsen dropped out due to a contract dispute (and because the filming schedule conflicted with her honeymoon plans). A Very Brady Christmas was a major TV event that year and the second highest rated television film of the season. 37+ years later, I still remember sitting down to watch that premiere airing with my family. Last December, A Very Brady Christmas was shown on MeTV’s House of Svengoolie, and Runyon was interviewed in that episode.

In addition to To All a Goodnight, Ghostbusters, and The In Crowd, Runyon’s film career included Up the Creek, The Falcon and the Snowman, Flight of the Spruce Goose, 18 Again!, A Man Called Sarge, and Killing Streets. After marrying Todd Corman, the nephew of legendary producer Roger Corman, in 1991, Runyon largely stepped away from acting, working as a teacher and focusing on their children: son, Wyatt, and daughter, Bayley. They have both worked in the entertainment industry, as Wyatt was a production assistant on the 2013 Corman production Piranhaconda and Bayley is an actress with over 20 credits to her name.

If you grew up on the ’80s like I did, chances are that Jennifer Runyon spent a good amount of time on your TV screen.

After appearing in the 1993 Corman horror film Carnosaur, Runyon didn’t act again until 2015. In the last decade, she has worked on Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival; Bloodsucka Jones vs. the Creeping Death, Terror Tales, Gunfight at Silver Creek, and Spectral Squad: The Haunting of Sophie Lawson. She also had her own cooking podcast.

Runyon still seemed to be in great health and spirits in December, but it’s being reported that she was diagnosed with cancer quite recently and her fight with the disease was very brief. Our heartfelt condolences go out to her family, friends, and fans.

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PLOT: A 19-year-old criminal, Tommy, is kidnapped and forced into a rehabilitation process by a dysfunctional couple, Chris and Kathryn, who try to make him a “good boy.” Tommy must find a way to escape.

REVIEW: I’ll always love a movie that isn’t quite what it seems on the surface. Even when you see the poster for Heel, with a family looking picturesque only to notice the chain and dog collar on one of them, and you know you’re in for something different. And with two powerhouse actors at the forefront, it’s hard not to have high expectations. The story follows Tommy, a public nuisance who spends most of his nights partying and being a hooligan. If left unchecked, he’s going to be yet another criminal who makes society worse. He’s kidnapped by a mysterious family and chained up, and they try to teach him how to behave and atone for his past behavior.

Stephen Graham (who was in last year’s fantastic one-take TV show Adolescence) is extremely layered as Chris. There’s something off about him, and it’s all bubbling beneath the surface. Yet there’s still a kindness there, where it feels like he’s genuinely doing this with the best of intentions. When Tommy needs punishment, it’s almost a punishment to Chris as well. I loved his dynamic with Andrea Riseborough’s Kathryn, who plays his voice. She’s very subdued, having lost her son, and is a bit shut off from the world. But she clearly agrees with her husband’s methods and is the ying to his yang.

I can’t remember the last time I disliked a character as much as Anson Boon’s Tommy. He’s such a little shit and the way he treats people is pure selfishness. He thinks of only himself and it works so perfectly for this story. If they didn’t go as far with these qualities, the rehabilitation would have felt out of place or harsh. But this is what Tommy deserves and it really allows for a more nuanced story to unfold. Boon does a tremendous job and has you feeling for him by the end. And it’s extremely impressive what he’s able to do while chained up for most of the film.

There are moments of beauty amongst the dark chaos, and director Jan Komasa refuses to color things black and white. There’s a lot of morality that stays in a uniquely gray area, and it makes everything so much more interesting. It really challenges you as, especially in the first act, everyone seems like an antagonist and seems to fit in a box, one way or another. But perceptions can change as the human element is put more at the forefront and decides to avoid putting things in a binary way.

Even the title, Heel (originally titled Good Boy but changed due to the dog movie from last year) has multiple meanings. You can take it in the professional wrestling way of the name for the antagonist, of which the film has many. Or you can think of it in terms of the command used in dog obedience, where the dog is taught to walk on or off a lead. Like the story itself, it’s really in the eye of the beholder as to which carries the most importance.

Heel does the impossible and actually had me rooting for the kidnappers. As disturbed as they were as human beings, they had the right motivations. Tommy is a misguided and terrible person who was never going to change on his own. Sure, the methods are pretty harsh but he’s far enough gone that it feels like a suitable option. And as dark as the concept is, this is a human story that has deep familial roots. I won’t deny that it’s not dark, but it’s shockingly more heartfelt.

Heel releases to theaters on March 6th, 2026.

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Plot: FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft is sent to investigate a case at a hotel where she’s ultimately forced to face her past.

Review: Much like a crowd of zombies after hurling a leaking gas tank into the oncoming horde, Capcom is on fire right now. The time-honored game studio unleashed the latest chapter of its Resident Evil franchise late last month, Resident Evil: Requiem, and it’s an all-timer. From the start, Requiem takes a different approach to the hallowed horror franchise by putting you in control of Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst with a traumatic past, an anxiety disorder, and personal demons to exorcise. As Grace, your boss tasks you with investigating a rash of mysterious bodies, the latest body having been discovered at the Wrenwood Hotel, where Grace’s mother met her untimely end several years prior. Gathering her wits and limited expertise in fieldwork, Grace investigates and quickly discovers that the past is far from over, and the reason she’s a walking disaster is that the horror will start again if she doesn’t get her s**t together.

By placing us in Grace’s shoes, Requiem leaves players feeling vulnerable as they explore the hotel, Grace’s labored breath catching with each discovery, and startling revelations about a shadowy organization, Umbrella, striving to create bioweapons out of humankind, living or dead, it doesn’t matter. On a similar path to uncover the truth about Umbrella’s latest apocalypse in the making is Leon S. Kennedy, a seasoned veteran and fan-favorite hero of the Resident Evil franchise. By giving players control of two vastly different characters, Capcom splits the game into two halves. Grace traverses the game’s terror-inducing, haunted-house-like beats. At the same time, Leon tackles the more action-heavy sections like a ’90s action hero on steroids, complete with one-liners and grimdark humor that make him a fan favorite.

Among many stand-out elements of Resident Evil: Requiem is the game’s pacing. The writing team knows exactly when to end a chapter of the game, pushing you toward set pieces involving over-the-top action or the next piece of a dark mystery. At the center of both game types is Requiem‘s villain, Dr. Victor Gideon, a former Umbrella Corporation researcher obsessed with carrying out the eugenicist legacy of Oswell E. Spencer. Antony Byrne plays Dr. Gideon to perfection, introducing a corrupt antagonist who’s oddly charismatic, creepy, and dangerous. Beyond his imposing look, with his infected complexion, Icabod Crane-like headgear, and crooked gold teeth, I love, love, love Dr. Gideon’s voice. It’s strangely soothing, and one of the best voice performances I’ve ever heard in a video game.

Regarding gameplay, Resident Evil: Requiem never stops perfecting old tricks or introducing new ways to fight your way through hell while playing as either Grace or Leon. While not as skilled as Leon, Grace is a survivor, constantly innovating and using her know-how to craft items that give her an advantage. At the start of the game, Grace can barely wield Leon’s Requiem revolver. When she takes aim, her hands tremble, the gun sways, and you essentially need to fire it on a wing and a prayer. However, as Grace makes her way through the game, she becomes more capable, her aim steadies, and by the end, she’s firing that cannon as straight as an arrow. It’s an awesome progression, and we love to see it. In the handful of reviews I’ve seen, critics aren’t giving Grace’s evolution enough credit. She’s a fantastic addition to Resident Evil‘s pantheon of heroes, and I’d like nothing more than to continue her story in another game.

Meanwhile, Leon’s gonna Leon, with his knee-slapping one-liners, no-holds-barred attitude, and fearless approach to reducing zombies to nothing but a pile of mince meat. I played through the game on a PlayStation 5, and the control over both characters was flawless. I never felt the game hitch, my character never misbehaved, and if I died, I knew it was my fault, not the game’s. Capcom has spent decades polishing the Resident Evil gameplay experience, and its efforts have never been as rewarding as with Requiem.

Another outstanding element of Requiem is that the game doesn’t forget its roots. Included in the dread-filled adventure are all the puzzle elements you remember from the game’s past. Find the key, read the document, locate the missing fuse, fill a tank with gasoline. All the stars are here! Still, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and Requiem does an exemplary job of impeding progress through puzzles without losing the game’s killer pace or sense of urgent exploration. Furthermore, while some Resident Evil games tend to dip in quality during the game’s final act, Requiem feels like a game comprised of three Act 1s stitched together for a non-stop injection of fun, action-packed immediacy. In my experience, there are no boring stretches, and, as I said, switching between Grace and Leon and back again feels like a formula Capcom has perfected and should use in RE games in the future.

If you’re looking for Resident Evil: Requiem to do more than play the hits, don’t worry, there’s some cool stuff waiting for you in this game. For example, the infected behave differently in Requiem. Blind zombies, for example, will only react to sound, so if you don’t make any noise, you can usually sneak past them pretty easily. However, if you want to use this quirk to your advantage, you can throw a bottle toward an enemy, and the blind zombie will follow the sound, swinging its IV pole in blind rage, damaging nearby enemies to a significant degree. In fact, if you’re strategic about it, you can get the blind zombie to take out some of the game’s stronger foes, like the Butcher, or Chunk, a massive, blob-like zombie slithering through the halls of the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center. There are other enemies with behaviors that could work to your advantage, but I don’t want to spoil all the fun. My advice is to get creative. The game allows for several combinations of combat and antagonism that could turn the tide in your favor.

I remember buying the original Resident Evil sight-unseen from Planet Comics in the Smithhaven Mall on Long Island, New York, in 1996, and having it change my opinion of what horror video games could be. I’ve played every mainline entry in the franchise (and many of the spinoffs and offshoots), with my favorites being Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 7, and Resident Evil Village. If RE 7 felt like an homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Village was a twisted fairytale that was never concerned with taking itself too seriously, Resident Evil: Requiem is a shining example of how dedication, hard work, and imagination can take a decades-old property and make it feel like an essential example of how video games are still capable of blowing our minds. Resident Evil: Requiem is not only an early Game of the Year contender, but it’s also an entry that stands out as one of the best in the RE franchise. I’m already counting the days until Capcom officially announces DLC for Requiem, and I’m the proud owner of Grace Ashcroft’s Fortnite skin. I started my second playthrough of the game last night and don’t plan to stop until I’ve at least gotten all the alternate costumes. Or, until Capcom’s Pragmata comes out next month. Whichever comes first.

The post Resident Evil: Requiem (Video Game) Review: A Nonstop Fright Fest in Capcom’s Legendary Horror Series appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: A young woman, Macy, fights for survival after being abducted by a deranged, monster-like figure who wants to raise Macy as their child.

REVIEW: It feels like there’s very little effort in putting together a brand new slasher villain, instead relying on relics of the past. Don’t get me wrong, I love the old guard as much as the rest of you, but I’m always craving something new. Thankfully, with shades of other famous horror villains, there’s a new killer in town. And she likes to wear porcelain doll masks and wear dresses.

Dolly follows a couple as they head into the woods to a beautiful lookout, with the prospect of a proposal on the horizon. Unfortunately for them, they’re interrupted by a crazy woman obsessed with dolls and must fight for their own survival. It’s a pretty basic setup, but most slashers are. It’s really about the atmosphere and the tension. Oh, and the kills. Can’t forget about those. Most of the story follows Macy as she’s being held captive by the crazy woman known as Dolly. I always prefer when a film tells a singular story and doesn’t try to add too many elements to try and spice things up.

The film is shot in a bit of a grindhouse style, with proper grain and film imperfections. There’s also what seems to be a bleach bypass, which lowers the saturation and gives the visuals a worn-out look. These kinds of movies will always benefit from being shot on film versus digital, and I wish more would take this path. I really enjoyed it, and it helps with the backwoods aesthetic. All the performances are good, with Fabianne Therese really impressing. Sean William Scott isn’t around as much as you’d think, and Ethan Suplee continues his streak of wonderfully disturbed characters.

Dolly goes in some pretty unexpected directions and can be quite brutal. The deaths are few but very impactful. I was also impressed with how the FX work is handled, with a jaw rip being an absolute standout. They appeared to be practical, maybe with a bit of CGI enhancement, but they always look great. However, some of the blocking when it comes to the kills can be a bit “let me just stand here so you have enough time to kill me.” That will always annoy me, and it feels a bit lazy.

It’s cool to see a slasher villain that’s not just a hulking man (even if instead it is a hulking woman). There is no doubt plenty of comparisons to be made to Leatherface, especially the more Next Generation version of the character. In fact, it can get a little blatant, especially with some of the mannerisms. But I still found Dolly to be creepy enough that she’s able to overcome the obvious similarities. There’s only so much you can do with a brutish slasher villain. Professional wrestler Max the Impaler brings a good physicality to the role. And I like that her main tool of destruction happens to be a shovel, as we don’t see that often.

I think where it stumbles is its betrayal of the grounded nature of it all. As much as the film wants to be on the more realistic side, it can get a bit absurd at times. There’s one moment in particular that had me rolling my eyes with how over the top it got. It doesn’t help that some of the character decisions are just colossally stupid. Especially in the third act. I’ve heard the term “Fairy Tale” bandied about, but outside of a few abstract shots, it doesn’t really fit the motif. I always like a movie that makes me feel like I need to take a shower afterwards, but Dolly feels a bit lost. There are some really interesting ideas here, but it sometimes devolves into dumb slasher territory when it could have stuck with its more interesting cat-and-mouse, psychological approach. And it’s going to be tough to avoid the Texas Chainsaw Massacre comparisons when you blatantly recreate one of the most famous scenes.

Dolly is playing in theaters on March 6th, 2026.

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