movies Archives – CULTURE MIX

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the sci-fi comedy/drama film “Slanted” features a predominantly Asian and white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A high school student, who comes from an immigrant Chinese family, is desperate to be popular at her predominantly white school, so she campaigns to be prom queen and undergoes surgery to radically change her physical appearance to look like a white person.

Culture Audience: “Slanted” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in seeing dark satires of how white supremacist racism affects people’s lives.

Mckenna Grace and Amelie Zilber in “Slanted” (Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street and Tideline Entertainment)

“Slanted” blends dark comedy and some body horror in this story about an insecure Asian high school girl who has radical surgery to look like a white person. The movie’s concept fizzles out in the last 15 minutes, but most of the satire works well. Because the movie doesn’t fully commit to the horror angle that happens in the second half of “Slanted,” this movie might not be scary enough for horror fans, and it might not be funny enough for comedy fans. However, “Slanted” has enough memorable moments and engaging performances to motivate curious viewers to see how the movie ends.

Written and directed by Amy Wang, “Slanted” is her feature-film directorial debut. “Slanted” had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival, where it won the grand jury prize for Narrative Feature Competition. The movie takes place in an unnamed U.S. city. “Slanted” was actually filmed in the Atlanta area.

In “Slanted,” 17-year-old Joan Huang (played by Shirley Chen) is in her last year at Stanwood Park High School. Joan is the only child of domineering Sofia Huang (played by Vivian Wu) and mild-mannered Roger Huang (played by Fang Du), who immigrated to the United States from China about 10 years before this story takes place. Roger works as a house cleaner for a wealthy woman named Harmony (played by Elaine Hendrix), whose husband and kids are not characters in the movie.

Joan’s best friend at school is Brindha (played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who is sarcastic and outspoken. The “queen bee” of the school’s popular clique is Olivia Hammond (played by Amelie Zilber), a shallow and self-absorbed “mean girl” who pretends to be kind and charitable when she’s filming herself for social media. In reality, Olivia is rude and likes to act superior to people she thinks are inferior to her.

Joan and Brindha are not part of the school’s most popular clique that is led by Olivia. Brindha doesn’t care, but Joan secretly wants to be part of this clique, which consists only of white people in this school of predominantly white students. The clique consists of Olivia; sycophantic blondes Greta (played by Sarah Kopkin) and Cat (played by Callie McClincy); Olivia’s boyfriend Greg; and star athlete Nash (played by Nicholas Myers). All of these clique members are spoiled and entitled.

One day, Olivia announces that she is not going to be a candidate for prom queen, which is a title that Olivia is sure she would’ve won. This announcement prompts Joan to run for prom queen. Brindha offers to be Joan’s campaign manager. Later, Olivia says that in the following week, Olivia will announce which prom queen candidate will get Olivia’s endorsement.

Much of the first third of “Slanted” shows examples of how Joan tries to downplay or erase her Chinese American heritage in situations where she thinks she will be discriminated against for being an immigrant and for not being white. Sofia often gives criticism to Joan for Joan losing interest in Chinese traditions. Sofia also thinks Joan wears too much makeup, even though Joan’s makeup is modest by American standards.

Observant viewers will notice that only white people are in the posters and pin-up photos on Joan has on her bedroom walls. Joan gets embarrassed when Sofia speaks Mandarin in public. Joan also doesn’t tell people that she was born in China. Joan lets people assume that she was born in the United States.

And when Joan notices that all the previous Stanwood Park High School prom queens were white girls with blonde hair, Joan decides to dye her hair blonde. She can’t afford to have the dye job done professionally, so she does the dye job herself. The results are a dye job with uneven streaks and roots that are noticeably showing.

Joan’s parents aren’t thrilled about Joan’s new hair color, but they aren’t angry about it either. At school, Olivia starts paying more attention to Joan, now that Joan is a blonde. Joan is excited when Olivia invites Joan to join Olivia, Greta and Cat for a trip to a local beauty salon/spa. However, Joan’s elation turns to humiliation when Joan finds out that Olivia is just using Joan to speak Mandarin to the spa’s Chinese owner/manager because Olivia wants the owner/manager to give them a discount.

Joan keeps getting text messages from a company called Ethnos Inc., which markets itself to people who aren’t white and who more success in a society that’s dominated by white people. Joan is curious about this company but doesn’t respond to their pitches until after a bullying incident where Olivia and her clique make it obvious that they will never accept Joan into their group.

Joan visits the Ethnos offices, where she meets co-founder Willie Singer (played by R. Keith Harris), who explains that the company offers experimental surgery that can turn people of color into white people. It’s a procedure that’s irreversible. Willie says he got the surgery for himself.

Ethnos also has promotional videos featuring “testimonials” from other people who’ve had the surgery and are happy with the results. The people who give the testimonials all say that their lives are so much easier now that they are white. They give examples of how they get treated better by strangers and they have more success in their lives.

Joan is desperate and wants to do the surgery. Because Joan is under the age of 18, she has to get a parental signature for the surgery documents. Knowing that Sofia will trust whatever Joan says and won’t really look at the documents, Joan lies to her mother and says the documents are for a field trip.

The rest of “Slanted” shows what happens after Joan gets the surgery and re-invents herself as a white girl named Joan Hunt (played by Mckenna Grace), who is a newly enrolled student from California. Joan’s parents are shocked and dismayed by what Joan has done. And, as already revealed in the “Slanted” trailer, this surgery has side effects where Joan’s face becomes disfigured and some of her skin can be peeled off.

“Slanted” has very talented principal cast members, who skillfully handle the movie’s mix of genres, making “Slanted” very intriguing and watchable. The jokes and scenarios about racism and beauty standards have enough truth in them for the satire to be effective. However, once these points are made in “Slanted,” and the movie establishes that the Ethnos surgery is irreversible, the plot really has nowhere else to go. “Slanted” won’t be considered a classic film about how racism affects people, but the movie stands on its own for offering some sly commentary about this provocative topic.

Bleecker Street and Tideline Entertainment will release “Slanted” in U.S. cinemas on March 13, 2026. The movie had a sneak preview in U.S. cinemas on March 9, 2026.

Review: ‘Worldbreaker,’ starring Luke Evans, Billie Boullet, Mila Harris and Milla Jovovich

March 9, 2026

by Carla Hay

“Worldbreaker”

Directed by Brad Anderson

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed part of Earth in an unspecified period of time, the sci-fi/fantasy/action film “Worldbreaker” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) who are survivors in a post-apocalyptic world.

Culture Clash: A man trains his teenage daughter to become a warrior in a world where people can become infected by zombie-like creatures.

Culture Audience: “Worldbreaker” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and dull movies about living in a post-apocalyptic world.

Milla Jovovich in “Worldbreaker’ (Photo courtesy of Aura Entertainment)

Derivative and forgettable, “Worldbreaker” is ultimately too repetitive with its weak plot about a father and his teenage daughter trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world populated by zombie-like creatures. The visual effects are mediocre. Almost the entire movie consists of the father training the daughter to become a warrior like the daughter’s missing mother, the father thinking the daughter isn’t ready, and the daughter whining about it, as some creatures attack along the way.

Directed by Brad Anderson and written by Joshua Rollins, “Worldbreaker” takes place on a remote island in an unnamed part of the world. “Worldbreaker” was actually filmed in Northern Ireland. The period of time in the movie is not specified either. There is no modern technology, but it’s during a time when newspapers exist.

“Worldbreaker” begins with the unnamed father (played by Luke Evans), who is listed as Dad in the movie’s end credits, giving an exposition heavy voiceover narration to his daughter explain the world that exists: “They’ll ask you one day to tell them the story of who the world was saved. They’ll want to know how we found our heroes and together fought back. But to tell that story, you have to tell them how it was before.”

Dad continues: “You’re too young to remember how green the world was, how light, how full of hope. And how we were too blinded by the light of our own happiness to see the darkness buried right beneath our own feet. And when it finally came, it only had one purpose: to destroy all that was good.”

The father goes on to say that men fought in this war first. And eventually, women and children joined in the war. He adds, “They made sure this was a war we could not lose.” Dad also says, “This world has been broken many times. And the breakers are always different.”

Dad and his daughter Willa (played by Billie Boullet), who is 15 years old when the story begins, live in an underground bunker. Inside the bunker, the father has a wall that is filled with newspaper clippings with stories about global warming, arctic warming, power grid failures, asteroids, famine and diseases that have threatened human existence.

A few flashbacks in the movie show that Dad and Willa used to live with Dad’s unnamed wife/Willa’s mother (played by Milla Jovovich), who is listed as Mom in the movie’s end credits. Mom is now away on military duty. Her limited screen time is mostly seen as flashbacks. Dad tells Willa that Mom is a respected and brave warrior, and he wants to train Willa to be this type of warrior too.

Most of “Worldbreaker” (which takes place over a little a more than one year) is a tedious repeat loop of Dad training Willa, and Willa becoming frustrated when Dad doesn’t think she’s ready to become a warrior. The zombie-like creatures are infected humans who are called hybrids because after they’re infected, their bodies change into having monster-like characteristics such as fangs and claws. A subplot about a monster called Kodiak eventually fizzles out and is very unimpressive.

In addition to fighting off hybrids and random giant flying creatures, Dad and Willa have to be on the defensive from humans who are criminals. Because resources are scarce in this post-apocalyptic world, it’s not uncommon for people to be robbed or killed for their possessions. Dad and Willa encounter an orphaned teenage girl named Rosie (played by Mila Harris), who is frightened and alone. Rosie and Willa soon become friends. All of the other characters in the movie are nameless, utterly generic, and aren’t in the movie long enough to show what types of personalities they have.

“Worldbreaker” might satisfy viewers who are just looking for a post-apocalyptic action film that has some fight scenes with zombie-like creatures. However, the movie is disappointing in how it fails to create an interesting story for the main characters. Dad and Willa have two-dimensional personalities and very little is told about their lives before the apocalypse, except for what Willa’s parents gave her as a birthday gift before Mom left the family to fight in the war. “Worldbreaker” is more likely to break the patience of any viewers who is looking for an intriguing and thrilling story.

Aura Entertainment released “Worldbreaker” in select U.S. cinemas on Janaury 30, 2026. The movie was released on digital and VOD on Febraury 20, 2026.

True Crime Entertainment: What’s New This Week

The following content is generally available worldwide, except where otherwise noted. All TV shows listed are for networks and streaming services based in the United States. All movies listed are those released in U.S. cinemas. This schedule is for content and events premiering this week and does not include content that has already been made available.

March 9 – March 15, 2026

TV/Streaming Services

All times listed are Eastern Time/Pacific Time, unless otherwise noted.

HBO Max’s limited documentary series “Naked on the Net: The Truth About Rose Leonel” premieres on Tuesday, March 10 at 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT.

Monday, March 9

“Fatal Attraction”
“In the Shadows” (Episode 1631)
Monday, March 9, 9 p.m., TV One

“120 Hours Behind Bars”
“Washoe County Jail” (Episode 108) **Season Finale**
Monday, March 9, 9 p.m., Discovery

“People Magazine Investigates”
“In the Cut” (Episode 907)
Monday, March 9, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery

“Live PD: Greatest Shifts”
(Episode 648)
Monday, March 9, 9 p.m., A&E

“Live PD: Greatest Shifts”
(Episode 649)
Monday, March 9, 10 p.m., A&E

“The Curious Case of …”
“The Corpse Who Came to Dinner” (Episode 208) **Season Finale**
Monday, March 9, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery

“Fatal Attraction: I’d Kill to Be You”
TBA (Episode 107)
Monday, March 9, 10 p.m., TV One

Tuesday, March 10

“Naked on the Net: The Truth About Rose Leonel” (Documentary series)
Tuesda, March 10, 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT, HBO Max

“Evil Lives Here”
“I Still Hear Their Screams” (Episode 108)
Tuesday, March 10, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery

“Killer Confessions: Case Files of a Texas Ranger”
“A Devil Always Lies” (Episode 108) **Season Finale**
Tuesday, March 10, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery

Wednesday, March 11

“Alaska State Troopers”
“Shots in the Snow” (Episode 910) **Season Finale**
Wednesday, March 11, 8 p.m., A&E

“Police 24/7”
“I Know My Rights” (Episode 241)
Wednesday, March 11, 8 p.m., The CW

“Feds”
“Vanishing Act” (Episode 202)
Wednesday, March 11, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery

“To Catch a Smuggler”
“High Caliber Highway” (Episode 1003)
Wednesday, March 11, 9 p.m., National Geographic

“Ozark Law”
“Labor Day After Dark” (Episode 210)
Wednesday, March 11, 9 p.m., A&E

“Desert Law”
“End of the Summer” (Episode 110)
Wednesday, March 11, 10 p.m., A&E

“Hunt for the Missing: Chicago”
“Lost in the Daylight” (Episode 102)
Wednesday, March 11, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery

Thursday, March 12

“The First 48”
“In Blood”
Thursday, March 12, 8 p.m., A&E

‘“Predator Hunters”
“Someone You Know and Trust” (Episode 102)
Thursday, March 12, 9 p.m., A&E

“True Crime Story: It Couldn’t Happen Here”
“Love County, Oklahoma” (Episode 304)
Thursday, March 12, 10 p.m., Sundance Now

Friday, March 13

“On Patrol: First Shift”
TBA
Friday, March 13, 8 p.m., Reelz

“On Patrol: Live”
TBA
Friday, March 13, 9 p.m., Reelz

“20/20”
TBA
Friday, March 13, 9 p.m., ABC

Saturday, March 14

“On Patrol: First Shift”
TBA
Saturday, March 14, 8 p.m., Reelz

“Buried in the Backyard”
“2000 Lb Secret” (Episode 613)
Saturday, March 14, 8 p.m., Oxygen

“Deadly Women: Fatal Instincts”
“Revenge” (Episode 205)
Saturday, March 14, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery

“On Patrol: Live”
TBA
Saturday, March 14, 9 p.m., Reelz

“48 Hours”
TBA
Saturday, March 14, 10 p.m., CBS

Sunday, March 15

“Snapped”
“Evelyn Zigerelli-Henderson” (Episode 3607)
Sunday, March 15, 6 p.m., Oxygen

“A Plan to Kill”
“Killer Competition” (Episode 202)
Sunday, March 15, 7 p.m., Oxygen

“Enemy at the Gate” (TV Special)
Sunday, March 15, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery

Movies in Theaters or on Home Video

No new true crime movies releasing in theaters and on home video this week.

Radio/Podcasts

No new true crime radio or podcast series premiering this week.

Events

Events listed here are not considered endorsements by this website. All ticket buyers with questions or concerns about the event should contact the event promoter or ticket seller directly.

All start times listed are local time, unless otherwise noted.

No new true crime events this week.

Review: ‘Pike River’ (2025), starring Melanie Lynskey, Robyn Malcolm and Lucy Lawless

March 7, 2026

by Carla Hay

Robyn Malcolm and Melanie Lynskey in “Pike River” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“Pike River” (2025)

Directed by Robert Sarkies

Culture Representation: Taking place in New Zealand, from 2010 to 2017, the dramatic film “Pike River” (based on true events) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one person of color) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two women team up with a crusading attorney in their quest to get justice and have their deceased loved ones’ remains excavated from a mine explosion that killed 29 men because of a mining company’s safety negligence/failures.

Culture Audience: “Pike River” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and dramas based on true stories about legal battles against governments and corporations.

Lucy Lawless in “Pike River” (Photo by Matt Grace/Brainstorm Media)

Based on true events, “Pike River” can get a little hokey, and the pacing is sometimes sluggish. However, this drama about the legal battle over New Zealand’s 2010 Pike River Mine explosion has meaningful performances and empowering messages. This legal battle is ongoing in real life. The movie’s time period covers the years 2010 to 2017.

Directed by Robert Sarkies and written by Fiona Samuel, the 2025 version of “Pike River” is the second scripted feature film of the same name and covering the topic of the Pike River Mine explosion. The 2016 movie “Pike River” (directed by Rupert MacKenzie and Sofia Wenborn; written by John Banas) is a made-for-TV docudrama that’s more of an examination of the events that led up to this tragedy. The 2025 version of “Pike River” focuses on two women who lost loved ones in the tragedy and who took legal action to get justice and accountability.

Filmed in New Zealand, the 2025 version of “Pike River” doesn’t recreate the mining disaster that happened at the Pike River Mine, a coal mine located in Paparoa National Park, on New Zealand’s South Island. The tragedy occurred on November 19, 2010, and killed 29 men. At the time, the Pike River Mine (which was sealed off and shut down after the tragedy happened) was a coal mine operated by the publicly held company Pike River Coal. Of the 29 men who died, 24 were New Zealand citizens, two were Australian citizens, two were United Kingdom citizens, and one was a South African citizen.

Instead of recreating the explosion, this “Pike River” movie shows the devastating effects these deaths had on the loved ones left behind and other people in the community. Anna Osborne (played by Melanie Lynskey), a recovering cancer patient, lost her husband Milton Osborne (played by John Leigh) in the expolsion. Milton (who was a contractor) and Anna were happily married for 18 or 19 years when he died. In the movie, Anna and Milton have a teenage daughter named Alisha Osborne (played by Madeleine McCarthy), whose relationship with Anna becomes strained as Anna becomes more consumed with Anna’s legal battle and activism.

The other woman who is the focus of the story is Sonya Rockhouse (played by Joanna Malcolm), a divorcée who lost her 22-year-old miner son Ben Rockhouse (played by Richard Crouchley) in the explosion. Sonya’s older son Daniel Rockhouse (played by Hamish McEwen), also a miner, was severely injured in the explosion but survived. Daniel feels some survivor’s guilt because he wasn’t able to save Ben. Sonya has a live-in boyfriend named Pete Cahill (played by Erroll Shand), and their relationship experiences problems when Sonya falls into a deep grief-stricken depression.

Complicating matters for the Rockhouse family is the fact that Sonya’s ex-husband Neville Rockhouse (played by Jeff Kingsford-Brown), the father of Ben and Daniel, is Pike River Coal’s health and safety manager. Neville is portrayed as a shifty and cowardly person who takes no responsibility for the safety failures that caused the men to be trapped in the mine. Instead, Neville complains that he was underfunded and overworked in his job.

The loved ones of the dead men have community meetings with Pike River Coal officials, who stall or are vague in giving answers about what happened. Of great concern to the families and other loved ones is getting the remains of the deceased, in order to have burials or cremations. At first, the officials say that all of the dead men’s bodies burned up in the explosion and are unrecoverable ashes. However, when that was revealed to be a lie, officials say that the mine is too dangerous for re-entry.

Anna and Sonya are diligent attendee at these meetings and press conferences, some of which also feature appearances by John Key (played by Daniel Cleary), who was prime minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016. Anna is depicted as one of the first people to openly and defiantly question the official information. After getting fed up with officials continuing to delay giving answers, Anna leads a walkout during one of the town hall meetings and is part of a group of community members who decide to take legal action.

Bernie Monk (played by Tim Gordon), a man who lost his son in the explosion, becomes the leader of this community group because Bernie’s brother-in-law Colin Smith (played by Stephen Papps) is an attorney who can provide free legal services for the group. Bernie often clashes with Anna because they disagree on strategy. Bernie and attorney Colin think that the group needs to be as cooperative as possible with the other side in negotiations. Anna thinks they need to be more combative and more willing to publicly shame Pike River Coal.

At first, Anna and Sonya don’t like each other very much when they cross paths at these meetings. Anna thinks Sonya is being too stubbornly naïve when Sonya defends Sonya’s ex-husband Neville in his possible negligence that led to this tragedy. Sonya thinks Anna is being too aggressive in Anna’s activism.

However, Sonya begins to have a change of heart when her son Daniel tells Sonya that shortly after the accidental explosion killed Ben, Daniel saw Neville express guilt, when Neville admitted, “I killed my son.” Sonya goes to the home that Neville shares with his current wife Tracy Rockhouse (played by Sophie Hambleton) to confront Neville. What happens during this confrontation is one of the best scenes in the movie and is a turning point for Sonya and Anna to become friends and activist allies.

Pike River Coal’s CEO Peter Whittall (played by Jonathon Hendry) eventually resigned because of the scandal and left the company in November 2011. Even though Whittall had 12 charges of safety violations against him, he dodged any criminal charges and civil lawsuits because he made a deal for Pike River Coal to pay a $3.41 million insurance-funded reparation settlement to the families of the men who died in the explosion (about $110,000 per family, as well as any additional trust funds, in exchange for dropping the charges. This payment was distributed in 2013.

Anna and Sonya are united when they decide to sue the federal government of New Zealand to prevent this type of settlement deal from happening again for issues involving public safety from publicly held companies. The outcome of this lawsuit is included in the movie. Jacinda Ardern, who was New Zealand’s prime minister from 2017 to 2023, makes a very quick cameo (less than a minute) as herself in the movie because of her campaign promise regarding this legal battle. Anna and Sonya also take legal action to get the remains of the deceased loved ones removed from the mine before the mine is sealed. The result of that lawsuit is also in the movie.

Although Sonya and Anna become close friends, things don’t always go smoothly during this friendship. Anna often gets frustrated with Sonya, who is hesitant or conflicted about certain things that Anna thinks should be done to help their cause. For example, when a labor union attorney named Helen Kelly (played by Lucy Lawless) reaches out to the families of the deceased men about getting workers’ compensation for the families, Sonya is very offended because Ben wasn’t a member of the miners’ labor union that represented the deceased workers.

Sonya complains that she’ll look greedy if she asks for this compensation: “I’m going to look like a big stroppy bitch with my hands out.” Helen ends up being part of the legal team representing Sonya and Anna in their lawsuits. But it’s only after she wins over Sonya’s trust because Sonya is very distrustful of labor unions and the attorneys who represent them. Anna and Helen have an easier time getting along with each other and have something else in common: They both happen to be cancer patients.

Other conflicts between Sonya and Anna happens over how they choose to handle the media and public relations. Because of the media attention that Sonya and Anna receive from their lawsuits, a small independent documentary crew has been chronicling Sony and Anna’s journey with the lawsuits. Tony Sutorius (played by Jordan Mooney) is the documentary’s director, and he is instrumental in helping Sonya and Anna get positive media attention for their public protests

But when it comes time to do prerecorded statements for one of these protests so these statements can be posted on social media, Anna is willing and ready to go, while Sonya refuses to do it. Anna eventually persuades Sonya to make a statement, but Sonya (who has the type of depression that sometimes leaves her bedridden) has many moments where she needs extra coaxing to do anything related to the media or public relations. Sonya is also more likely than Anna to tell the documentary crew to stop filming something that she doesn’t want in the documentary.

At one point, Sonya makes an insightful comment to Anna about their opposite personalities and how they are perceived by other people. Sonya says that because Anna is soft-spoken and look shy, people assume that Anna is the more introverted and less assertive one, when Anna is actually more confident than Sonya. By contrast, Sonya says because Sonya looks “harder” than Anna, people assume Sonya is the “tougher” one, when Sonya actually feels more vulnerable and more bashful than Anna.

“Pike River” has a total running time of 138 minutes, which is a bit too long because some parts of the movie could’ve been trimmed. The movie has some subplots that take up quite a bit of time, such as the ups and downs in the relationships that Anna has with her daughter Elisha and Sonya has with Sonya’s boyfriend Pete. Helen doesn’t appear until the movie is half over, and there could’ve been more shown about this character. However, thanks to the engaging lead performances of Lynskey and Malcolm, “Pike River” rises above some of its flaws and is a very good option for anyone who wants to see a drama about female friendships and “against all odds” legal battles of people seeking justice.

Brainstorm Media released “Pike River” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on January 30, 2026. The movie was released in New Zealand on October 30, 2025.

Review: ‘Masthishka Maranam,’ starring Niranj Maniyanpilla Raju, Rajisha Vijayan, Jagadish, Nandhu, Suresh Krishna, Divya Prabha, Ann Saleem and Vishnu Agasthya

March 7, 2026

by Carla Hay

“Masthishka Maranam”

Directed by Krishand

Malayalam with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2046, in Kochi, India, the sci-fi comedy film “Masthishka Maranam” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A man who’s addicted to virtual reality role playing becomes entangled in a sex scandal of a movie star, with whom he has become infatuated.

Culture Audience: “Masthishka Maranam” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and jumbled sci-fi movies that heavily feature virtual reality role playing.

Jagadish in “Masthishka Maranam” (Photo courtesy of Prathyangira Cinemas)

The sci-fi comedy “Masthishka Maranam” aims to make big statements about virtual reality addiction, sex-related celebrity scandals and hypocritical society judgments. The storytelling is too chaotic, and the repetitive jokes fall flat. It’s a movie that doesn’t live up to its ambitions, but it does have a memorable visual style. Too bad that so much of this style is wasted on a messy story with hollow characters.

Written and directed by Krishand, “Masthishka Maranam” (which is subtitled “A Frankenbiting of Simon’s Memories,” depending on where the movie has been released) takes place in 2046, in Kochi, in India’s state of Kerala, where the movie was filmed on location. A caption in the beginning of “Masthishka Maranam” explains that in this society, the gap between the wealthy elites and everyone else has gotten much wider. Poor people have to fend for themselves. And illegal activities have taken over the technology industry.

Bimal Raj (played by Niranj Maniyanpilla Raju), who is in his early 30s, is addicted to playing virtual reality role-playing games, especially games where he is in military battle scenarios. Bimal also has a habit of getting high on an unnamed drug vapor while playing these games. He likes to play his role-playing games while clothed and sitting in a bathtub of water.

Bimal is legally married, but he and his wife Anindya Anil (played by Ann Saleem, also known as Ann Jameela Saleem) are separated and still remain on good terms. Bimal and Anindya separated after the death of their daughter Tugunda, who was 5 or 6 years old when she passed away. In the world of “Masthishka Maranam,” companies tap into people’s memories of deceased loved ones and use avatars of these deceases loved ones to try to sell products and services in commercials to loved ones who are still alive.

One day, Bimal is disturbed and offended when he sees an image of Tugunda in a commercial trying to convince Bimal to open an account with a certain bank. In this world of “Masthishka Maranam,” people can also experience other people’s memories, usually for a price. And it goes without saying that people who play a lot of virtual reality role-playing games have a fabricated alter ego. Bimal’s virtual reality alter ego looks like Bimal’s version of Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo character from the “Rambo” movies.

In the real world (not his virtual reality world), Bimal hangs out mostly with Anindya and their buffoonish friend Alpha (played by Midhun Venugopal), who are also heavily into playing virtual reality role-playing games. Out of the three, Bimal is probably the most addicted to this technology. Bimal also has an unhealthy obsession with tapping into people’s memories of near-death experiences so he can recreate them in his virtual reality games.

Bimal has a big crush on a movie star named Frida Soman (played by Rajisha Vijayan), who considers herself to be a very independent-minded feminist. How much of a “feminist” is Frida? An early scene in the movie shows Frida on stage at an awards show, where she rejects the trophy that she has received because the trophy is in the shape of a man. If you think this is hilarious, then “Masthishka Maranam” is the movie for you because this misguided movie is filled with a lot of weird and stale jokes.

Another movie star named Avinash Palode (played by Sanju Sivram) is jealous of Frida because her fame has eclipsed his fame. Avinash likes to take credit for “discovering” Frida because her first movie role was a small cameo performance in one of Avinash’s movies. You can easily predict that Avinash will have some part in a scheme intended to tarnish Frida’s reputation.

Frida is known as a fun-loving party girl, whose virtual reality alter ego is Super Konmani, which is a superhero character that’s a lot like Wonder Woman. She also has a virtual reality alter ego named Shalini Mullumurikkil. Somehow, Bimal and Shalini end up in a role-playing situation where they both find the body of a man named Clint Marthandan (played by Ashlee Issac Abraham), in a murder mystery subplot that just makes this movie more muddled.

At a certain point in the story, Frida is at the center of a scandal when a “sex video” of her is leaked to the public. If people are caught watching the video, they are arrested and jailed. Bimal is one of the people who is arrested. Bimal is accused of “dragging Frida into his porn memories,” which an overzealous police inspector named Praveen Shashank (played by Jagadish) says is the equivalent of rape.

The world in “Masthishka Maranam” is a bizarre mix of “anything goes” anarchy and puritanical authoritarianism. A lot of the story is bogged down by arrests and courtroom scenes that are about as fun to watch as being trapped in a jail cell and being forced to endure obnoxiously loud music, incessant babbling and an onslaught of glittering visuals. “Masthishka Maranam” is irritating sensory overload with a flimsy story that just doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

Other characters in the movie are Bimal’s middle-aged role-playing friend Charley Zen (played by Suresh Krishna), whose virtual reality alter ego is named Dinkappan; a Method actress named Veda (played by Santhy Balachandran); a tabloid reporter/paparazzi photographer named Harry Kumar (played by Nandhu); and two advocates named Don (played by Vishnu Agasthya) and Destimona (played by Divya Prabha). None of movie’s characters is very appealing. They are all quite shallow, with performances that reflect this movie’s tedious superficiality.

There’s a constant flurry of activity in “Masthishka Maranam,” which switches back and forth between reality and virtual reality in such a rushed and choppy way, it gives the movie a cinematic version of whiplash. When a movie like “Masthishka Maranam” is this fast-paced and has all this quick-cut editing, it usually tries to fool people into thinking that it’s so clever, the average viewer will have difficulties following the story. But really, a lot of viewers confusion might occur not because “Masthishka Maranam” is too smart for the average viewer but because the screenplay and directing for “Masthishka Maranam” lack cohesion and just aren’t very good.

Prathyangira Cinemas released “Masthishka Maranam” in select U.S. cinemas on March 6, 2026. The movie was released in India on February 27, 2026.

Review: ‘Protector’ (2026), starring Milla Jovovich, Isabel Myers, Manny Montana, Michael Stahl-David, Lydia Hull, D.B. Sweeney, Chase E. Kim, Don Harvey, Gabriel Sloyer, Texas Battle, Arica Himmel and Matthew Modine

March 7, 2026

by Carla Hay

Milla Jovovich in “Protector” (Photo courtesy of Magenta Light Studios)

“Protector” (2026)

Directed by Adrian Grünberg

Culture Representation: Taking place in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the action film “Protector” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people, African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A military veteran goes on a killing spree in her efforts to rescue her kidnapped 16-year-old daughter from sex traffickers.

Culture Audience: “Protector” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and idiotic action movies about vigilantes.

Don Harvey in “Protector” (Photo courtesy of Magenta Light Studios)

“Protector” is a substandard vigilante flick about a military veteran who goes on a killing rampage to rescue her 16-year-old daughter from sex traffickers. A nonsensical reveal toward the end makes this mindless movie even worse. The acting performances and dialogue range from mediocre to laughably horrible.

Directed by Adrian Grünberg and written by Bong-Seob Mun (who is one of the movie’s producers), “Protector” had its world premiere at the 2025 Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. The movie takes place in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where “Protector” was filmed on location. “Protector” makes the Las Cruces Police Department look incompetent and/or corrupt.

“Protector” begins with protagonist Nikki Halsted (played by Milla Jovovich) giving exposition-dump narration of her life. The movie is filled with excessive exposition dumping that over-explains things that were already shown in the movie. Montages of Nikki’s life flashes by to show how she got to where she is for most of the story.

For most of her career in the U.S. Army, Nikki was a special operations fighter, a job that required her to work outside the United States. Nikki’s military career kept her away from her husband Bernard Halsted (played by Bernie Gewissler) and their daughter Chloe. Nikki often (but not always) couldn’t be with her family during major milestones for Chloe, such as Chloe’s birthdays.

When Nikki couldn’t be with her family during Chloe’s birthdays, Nikki always made sure to do video calls with Chloe and tried to make the day as festive for Chloe as possible. Chloe is shown at ages 3 and 5 (played by Dorothea Morrison) and at age 8 (played by Avery Emerson McMahan) during Chloe’s birthdays. Nikki is a loving mother, but she has a ruthless side to her that comes from her military training.

As Nikki says in the movie’s opening narration, Nikki has a “lifetime of experience” in taking a life. “The logistics of death, I’ve explored in great detail.” Nikki adds, “But when it comes to bringing life into the world, no one tells you shit.” Apparently, Nikki doesn’t know about the massive number of parenting information resources that exist in various forms.

Even with Nikki’s long absences from home, Nikki and Chloe have a very close mother-daughter relationship. On Chloe’s 15th birthday, Chloe (played by Isabel Myers) has an understanding attitude about Nikki not being there in person because of Nikki’s military work. Chloe also tells Nikki that Nikki is Chloe’s “best friend.”

Sometime between Chloe’s 15th birthday and her 16th birthday, Bernard tragically dies of an unnamed terminal illness. Nikki retires from the military so that she can raise Chloe as a widowed mother. However, because of grief over her father’s death and/or because of wanting more independence, by the time Chloe turns 16, she’s openly hostile to Nikki and doesn’t want to spend her birthday with Nikki.

Nikki has given Chloe a birthday cake, which Chloe won’t even eat. Nikki says she’s trying to make up for lost time and to “fix things” in their relationship. “You don’t fix things,” Chloe snarls at Nikki. “You break things.”

Chloe has already told Nikki that Chloe wants to hang out with Chloe’s friends on her 16th birthday. And so, it’s not really that big of a surprise when Nikki finds out later that Chloe snuck out of the house that night. Chloe left a note in Chloe’s bedroom, with the note saying that Chloe is spending her birthday night with friends. Nikki has a tracker for Chloe’s phone, so it’s only a matter of time before Nikki finds Chloe.

Chloe has gone to a local bar with about five or six of her female friends, who all look like they’re under the age of 18, and yet they’re all drinking alcohol at this bar. (New Mexico’s minimum legal age to drink alcohol is 21.) Chloe and a guy in his late teens named Ben Blaine (played by Shane Williams), who’s sitting by himself, exchange glances that make it obvious they’re mutually attracted to each other. Chloe goes over to talk to Ben, who asks her how old she is. Chloe says flirtatiously, “I’m 18—in a year or two.

Ben buys her a drink. Chloe doesn’t know until it’s too late that Ben spiked the drink with an unnamed drug that makes her lose consciousness. Chloe’s friends aren’t paying attention. Chloe’s friend Ellie (played by Arica Himmel), who was gleeful when Chloe told her that she snuck out of her house to hang out, is standing outside the bar when Nikki arrives. Ellie casually says that Chloe is inside with Ben.

And what a coincidence: Nikki runs in just in time to see unconscious Chloe being carried out a back entrance by Ben and his driver Barry Lester (played by Jeremy Marinas), who speed away with Chloe in the back seat of the car. Nikki suddenly goes into superhero mode by lunging at the car and holding on to it, while also fighting the driver to stop. Nikki punches, she kicks, and then she jumps on top of the car.

Nikki takes a key and plunges it into one of Barry’s eyes, which causes Barry to die and lose control of the car. Nikki is thrown off the car and becomes unconsciousness when she hits the ground. The car almost crashes, but a slightly injured Ben is able to get behind the wheel and drive off with unconscious Chloe still in the back. It’s later revealed that Ben is a “spotter” for a sex trafficking gang called The Syndicate.

“Protector” is so sloppily edited, the next scene shows Nikki hanging upside down with her hands bound, in a warehouse that’s styled like a slaughterhouse. A Syndicate thug named Victor the Butcher (played by Manny Montana) tortures Nikki, who eventually sees the dead body of Ben hanging upside down next to her. How did Nikki end up getting kidnapped?

It’s shown in a quick montage that after she regained consciousness from her car fight fiasco, Nikki somehow found the place where the Syndicate kept most of its enslaved females. Nikki set the sex trafficking survivors free and then burned the place down but was captured by Syndicate workers. Victor the Butcher reports to a business-suit-wearing manager named Mr. Sullivan (played by Don Harvey), who always travels in a convoy with other Syndicate men who also wear business suits.

Mr. Sullivan reports to the Syndicate leader known only by the name The Chairman (played by Gabriel Sloyer), who lives in a heavily guarded mansion. The Chairman seems like he wants to be like the Tony Montana character from 1983’s “Scarface,” but instead of trafficking cocaine, the Chairman trafficks enslaved women and teens for sex. All of the villains in “Protector” are tired stereotypes or as generic as generic can be.

It’s quickly mentioned at one point in the movie that about half of the Las Cruces Police Department is on the Syndicate’s payroll, which is why the Syndicate hasn’t been busted by the Las Cruces Police Department. However, some Las Cruces police investigators want to shut down the Syndicate and arrest these sex traffickers. They include police detectives John Blake (played by Michael Stahl-David), Alexa Jane (played by Lydia Hill) and Jin Woo (played by Chase E. Kim), who is the youngest and least-experienced of the three.

The detectives’ supervisor is arrogant Captain Michaels (played by D.B. Sweeney), who is more concerned about finding and killing Nikki than capturing anyone in the Syndicate, thereby making it obvious that Captain Michaels is one of the corrupt cops who’s being paid off by the Syndicate. Nikki escapes from the slaughterhouse and kills Victor in the process. As already revealed in the “Protector” trailer, by the time there’s a police hunt for Nikki, she’s already killed 13 men, who all work for the Syndicate.

However, someone arrives to prevent the police from gunning down Nikki: Joseph Lavelle (played by Matthew Modine), a U.S. Army colonel who was Nikki’s commanding officer when she was in the Army. Colonel Lavelle (who is a mixture of compassionate and goofy) shows Captain Michaels a letter from the U.S. attorney general saying that Colonel Lavelle has been given the authority to lead this investigation.

A S.W.A.T. team, led by a man whose surname is Savoy (played by Texas Battle), is all set to take down Nikki (who foolishly goes back to her house for significant stretches of time) when Colonel Lavelle gives orders for the S.W.A.T. team to not do any shooting. Predictably, Captain Michaels is resentful that someone else has come in to take over the investigation. Captain Michaels has other ideas and defies Colonel Lavelle’s orders.

The filmmakers of “Protector” have a haphazard way of telling this story, as if they assume the movie’s viewers will be too stupid to notice all the glaring plot holes. Nikki is supposedly trained to outwit opponents in dangerous warfare. And yet, she makes incredibly moronic decisions. The federal government is supposedly involved in this hunt for Nikki, but the FBI is nowhere to be found in this movie.

“Protector” is flooded with lapses in logic that the movie tries to cover up with a lot of manic violence and other action scenes. Nikki has given herself a deadline of finding Chloe within 72 hours, because that time period is the most likely to find a kidnapped person after the kidnapping occurs. But like a lot of other vapid action movies, the “hero” is able to heal from injuries at a superhuman rate, so that by the time the big showdown happens, the “hero” is able to run and fight like the injuries didn’t even exist. Nikki’s serious stab wound injuries that she got when she was tortured by Victor get nothing more than some alcohol and basic bandaging that she administers herself, and then Nikki goes back to being a one-woman killing army.

No one in the “Protector” cast is doing anything noteworthy that rises above the awful material. Nikki has only two facial expressions when she becomes a vigilante: rage-filled and sad. Many of the fight scenes are ridiculously staged. And by the time the “reveal” happens, it just adds to the pile-on of unanswered questions that “Protector” has no interest in answering because this terrible flop is the very definition of contradicting common sense.

Magenta Light Studios released “Protector” in U.S. cinemas on March 6, 2026.

Review: ‘The Dreadful,’ starring Sophie Turner, Kit Harington, Marcia Gay Harden and Laurence O’Fuarain

March 6, 2026

by Carla Hay

“The Dreadful”

Directed by Natasha Kermani

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed town of England during medieval times, the horror film “The Dreadful” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A woman, her husband’s best friend, and her mother-in-law have their lives disrupted when an evil spirit causes one of them to become a serial killer.

Culture Audience: “The Dreadful” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching a time-wasting and muddled horror film.

Marcia Gay Harden and Sophie Turner in “The Dreadful” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

Not only does the “The Dreadful” describe the low quality of this horror movie, but this flop also can’t be saved by the two former “Game of Thrones” stars and the Oscar winner in the cast. The incoherent plot is about an evil spirit in medieval times. “The Dreadful” is an endurance test for any viewer watch the entire movie, because boredom or annoyance might prompt viewers to stop watching “The Dreadful” long before the movie ends.

Written and directed by Natasha Kermani, “The Dreadful” takes place in an unnamed rural town in England, during an unnamed wartime year in medieval times. The movie was actually filmed in Cornwall, England. The atmospheric locations (including foggy cliffsides and rocky beaches) are among the few highlights of “The Dreadful.”

“The Dreadful” begins with this opening caption: “Long ago, it was born from war and raised in rain. It walks along a dark path. It feeds on envy and acts without mercy. It does not rest; it does not tire. It whispers … and waits for you.”

The “it” in this description is an evil spirit that will soon plague the story’s three main characters, by turning one of these people into a serial killer. Anne (played by Sophie Turner) is an obedient young woman who lives with her bossy and religious mother-in-law Morwen (played by Marcia Gay Harden) on a small farm. Anne and Morwen are anxious because Anne’s knight husband Seamus (played by Laurence O’Fuarain), who is Morwen’s only child, has gone missing during the war.

One day, Seamus’ best friend Jago (played by Kit Harington), who went away with Seamus to serve in the war, appears in the town, after Jago was last known to be in Tewkesbury, England. Jago is reluctant to tell Anne and Morwen where Seamus is. Jago tells different stories until the truth is revealed. The first time that Anne and Morwen ask Jago where Seamus is, Jago gives this vague non-answer: “You know me. I’m a fisherman, not a soldier.”

As time goes on, Jago makes it known to Anne that he’s very attracted to her. Anne is still pining over Seamus, but she eventually begins to make Jago think that the attraction is mutual. The romance subplots in this movie are extremely dull, since former “Game of Thrones” stars Turner and Harington do not have believable chemistry together as Anne and Jago.

“The Dreadful” sluggishly stumbles along with monotonous scenes of worried and confused Anne, scowling and stern Morwen, and mysterious and dull Jago having forgettable conversations. A clergyman named Brother Penros (played by Jonathan Howard) stops by for a visit, but the way this character is performed is too modern for this movie that’s supposed to take place in medieval times.

There are no worthy scares in “The Dreadful,” which shows that the evil spirit likes to inhabit a certain knight’s helmet. The movie has close-ups of this helmet, as if that alone is supposed to make viewers frightened. The serial killings in the movie are tedious and done in an almost mechanical way. The entire movie is just a hodgepodge of conversations, murders, Anne’s occasional nightmares/hallucinations, and some tacky visual effects.

None of the acting performances in “The Dreadful” can be considered impressive. Oscar winner Harden, who is the most experienced movie actor in the cast, just seems to be going through the motions in this embarrassing movie. There is no real explanation for why the evil spirit and cursed helmet exist, except for the opening caption that says the spirit was “born from war.” By the time, “The Dreadful” limps to a chaotic showdown and a vague ending, most viewers won’t care about any of these characters and will have a hard time remembering the movie’s hollow and terrible plot.

Lionsgate released “The Dreadful” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on February 20, 2026.

Review: ‘Diabolic’ (2025), starring Elizabeth Cullen, John Kim, Mia Challis, Robin Goldsworthy and Genevieve Mooy

March 5, 2026

by Carla Hay

John Kim, Mia Challis and Elizabeth Cullen in “Diabolic” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“Diabolic” (2025)

Directed by Daniel J. Phillips

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. state, in 2025 (with flashbacks to 2015), the horror film “Diabolic” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one Asian) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A woman in her 20s, who is a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), has mental health issues stemming from her teenage years, and she goes back to her hometown to get “alternative therapy” from FLDS members she knew when she was a child.

Culture Audience: “Diabolic” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in supernatural horror movies with religious themes.

Robin Goldsworthy, Mia Challis, John Kim, Elizabeth Cullen and Genevieve Mooy in “Diabolic” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

The horror movie “Diabolic” has some scenes that drag, and some of the acting isn’t very good. However, the story is strong enough to keep viewers interested with plot twists and suspenseful scares. “Diabolic” doesn’t have any major surprises, but it doesn’t take the easy way out with an overly predictable ending.

Directed by Daniel J. Phillips (who co-wrote the “Diabolic” screenplay with Mike Harding), “Diabolic” takes place in an unnamed U.S. state (“Diabolic” was actually filmed in Australia.) The movie is set mainly in 2025, but there are several flashbacks to 2015.

The story is centered around the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS)—a “fringe offshoot of the Mormon Church,” according to the movie’s opening caption—and how FLDS has affected the movie’s protagonist. As a caption says in the beginning of the movie: FLDS members “practice polygamy, underage marriage and cult behavior shrouded in secrecy.”

“Diabolic” begins in 2015, by showing a girl in her mid-teens getting a ritualistic FLDS baptism by a man named Bishop Franklin (played by Jimmy Lyons). The baptism is taking place in a room with baptismal font that is shaped like a small rectangular wading pool. Three FLDS priests (played by David Wilson, Ian Beaton and Mick Young), wearing hooded black robes, stand by and chant.

Observant viewers will notice that the men have hung a portrait photo of Warren Jeffs in the room. Jeffs is the controversial FLDS president who preaches that FLDS men should marry child brides. In 2011, Jeffs was convicted of two counts of child sexual assault. He is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison.

A woman, who name is later revealed as Alma (played by Genevieve Mooy), runs into the room and drops off a note. Bishop Franklin looks at the note, shakes his head and says, “This is too far.” Alma says, “I have just come from the elders. They all agree.” The girl being baptized is dunked in the font every time the men say someone’s name: Eleanor Golding, Heidi Crow and Larue.

When Larue’s name is called, the girl suddenly sees a menacing figure of a female wearing a long pink dress and appearing above the water. This mystery female puts her hands in the girl’s mouth while the girl is underwater. The girl screams in terror. And when the girl emerges from the water, black bile is flowing the girl’s lower mouth.

The movie then fast-forwards to 2025. It’s soon revealed that the girl’s name is Elise (played by Elizabeth Cullen), and she is now a former FLDS member who is currently a painter artist. Elise has been having severe mental health issues that have caused her to have memory blackouts and nightmares. Elise has been recently horrified to find out that she secretly killed a neighbor’s dog and buried it during one of these blackouts.

Elise has a loving and supportive boyfriend named Adam (played by John Kim), who knows that Elise has had some past trauma because of FLDS. That’s why Adam is surprised that Elise has decided to go back to her hometown of Haventon and get FLDS “alternative therapy” for her mental health issues. This “alternative therapy” is at the recommendation of her therapist Malcolm (played by Mark Saturno), who tells Elise: “I think you need to tackle this at the source, from where your trauma began.” Elise says she’d rather take this option than be admitted to a psychiatric facility.

Part of this “alternative” therapy involves taking a psychedelic drug called datura, which is described as similar to ayahuasca. Adam is skeptical, but he says he will go on this therapy journey with Elise. Also along for the ride is the couple’s outspoken close friend Gwen (played by Mia Challis), who says she will be the “sober companion” who won’t participate in the drug therapy.

Elise and Adam have another challenge in their relationship besides her mental health issues. For the past several months, Adam and Elise have not been sexually intimate because Elise has been sexually rejecting him. Adam has been patient about this rejection, and he hopes that this “alternative therapy” can set Elise on a path to healing, so she can go back to the type of person she was when their relationship was going well.

When Elisa, Adam and Gwen in Elise’s hometown, they find out that Alma is the FLDS senior “healer” who will administer the therapy. Alma is stern and domineering. She has an insecure “man child” son named Hyrum (played by Robin Goldsworthy), who knew Elise in their childhoods. Elise doesn’t really remember Hyrum, but Hyrum remembers Elise.

Some of Elise’s memories from her teen years come flooding back during this visit, including her relationship with another teenager named Clara (played by Luca Asta Sardelis, also known as Luca Sardelis), who was Elise’s best friend. What happened to Clara is eventually revealed in the movie. The movie’s performances are serviceable, but “Diabolic” earns its horror merits in some genuinely creepy visuals and a few plot developments that subvert assumptions about who the story’s “heroes” and “villains” might be.

Brainstorm Media released “Diabolic” in select U.S. cinemas on February 13, 2026. The movie was released on digital and VOD on February 20, 2026. “Diabolic” was released in Australia on November 20, 2025.

Review: ‘The Bride!’ (2026), starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale

March 4, 2026

by Carla Hay

Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley in “The Bride!” (Photo by Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“The Bride!” (2026)

Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal

Culture Representation: Taking place in Chicago, in 1936, the horror film “The Bride!” (based on characters in the 1818 novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: After a rebellious partier meets an untimely death, she is resurrected to become the love partner of Frankenstein’s monster, and they both go on a crime spree.

Culture Audience: “The Bride!” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners that make several references to its preceding movies.

Peter Sarsgaard and Penélope Cruz in “The Bride!” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“The Bride!” is an unconventional, stylish and boldly feminist re-imagining of “Bride of Frankenstein” that will either irk or intrigue viewers. Jessie Buckley gives a sensational performance that exemplifies the film’s messy magnificence. People who expect “The Bride!” to follow the same storyline as director Frank Whale’s 1935 movie “Bride of Frankenstein” will probably dislike “The Bride!’s” version of the story. Everyone else who might be open to a uniquely different take on this story can expect to be taken on a bumpy but ultimately memorable and creative ride.

Written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Bride!” is based on characters in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.” The movie takes place in Chicago, in 1936. “The Bride!” was actually filmed in New York state and in New Jersey. It’s also the first major motion picture of the “Frankenstein” world that is written and directed by a woman.

Gyllenhaal cleverly gives a reminder of who created the “Frankenstein” franchise by making Mary Shelley (played by Buckley) a narrator character in the movie. Mary appears intermittently in extreme close-ups, in black-and-white footage. Mary comes across as someone who is a bit of a “mad scientist” herself, as she talks out loud to herself about how she is going to create the bride of Frankenstein character.

Mary says, “What I wanted to write about, what I need to say, I couldn’t … Darling, something is cracking. Is it a horror story, a ghost story, or most frightening of all: a love story?” Viewers of “The Bride!” might be asking themselves the same question because even though “The Bride!” is a horror movie at heart, it refuses to stay confined to traditional horror characteristics and branches out into some action, comedy and a little bit of the musical genre.

The title character in “The Bride!” is free-spirited Ida (played by Buckley), who in the 1930s would’ve been be called a “flapper” or a “good-time gal.” Ida is first seen partying at a table with some friends or acquaintances in a nightclub. She is drunk and seems to be enjoying herself.

Unbeknownst to Ida, the spirit of Mary Shelley suddenly inhabits her, and Ida starts talking like Mary and having body-jerking movements like a possessed person. Ida gets up on a table and starts ranting and loudly blurting out insults. And she aggressively accosts a Chicago mob kingpin named Lupino (played by Zlatko Burić), who is sitting nearby.

Ida’s confrontation with Lupino alarms Ida’s nightclub companions Cyrus (played by John Magaro) and James (played by Matthew Maher), who are also part of the criminal underworld. Cyrus and James hustle Ida out of the bar area of the nightclub and into a hallway that has a steep stairwell. They force her to eat an oyster, in an attempt to stop her outbursts.

Ida becomes even more agitated. She resists the efforts of Cyrus and James to physically restrain her. In the scuffle that ensues, Cyrus pushes Ida, who falls down the stairs, breaks her neck, and dies.

Not long after Ida’s death, an experimental scientist named Dr. Cornelia Euphronius (played by Annette Bening) gets a visit in her institute lab from a mysterious man who calls himself Frank (played by Christian Bale), who is actually the humanoid monster created by Dr. Frankenstein in the “Frankenstein” story. Frank tells Dr. Euphronius that he was born in Bavaria, in 1818. She finds it hard to believe that Frank is that old, so she gives him a medical exam.

Dr. Euphronius determines that Frank is the notorious monster created by Dr. Frankenstein. Frank tells Dr. Euphronius that he wants a bride as a cure for his loneliness. “I’m looking for an intercourse,” Frank says, which is the movie’s way of showing that Frank knows what sexual intercourse is but still doesn’t really know how to describe it. Dr. Euphronius is unwilling to create a humanoid from scratch, but she has the technology to revive human corpses.

At first, Dr. Euphronius is unwilling to revive a dead woman to be Frank’s love mate. “A lot of things can go wrong,” she tells Frank. “I thought you were a mad scientist,” Frank replies. “Aren’t you curious?” And then, they both laugh wickedly.

Dr. Euphronius and Frank go to Ida’s grave and dig up the body. It’s implied that Ida was chosen because her death might have made the news, and she didn’t have any nearby relatives. Frank thinks Ida looks too beautiful for him, but Dr. Euphronius insists that she’s not going to find another corpse for him.

When Ida is revived, she vomits up black bile, some of which she never bothers to wipe off. This black stain is on the side of her face for the entire movie. Frank is immediately smitten and feels protective of Ida. After she is revived, Ida is confused and isn’t told her name for most of the story. The movie has small tidbits of information about who Ida was before she died, but her entire backstory is deliberately a mystery because, just like Frank, viewers can think what they want about Ida and her past.

Before Ida was dug up from her grave, Frank visited a movie theater and became fixated on movies starring Ronnie Reed (played by Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s real-life brother), a matinee idol who is very similar to Tyrone Power. Frank starts to act like Ronnie is his hero and tries to be as smooth and suave as Ronnie. Frank eventually gets to meet Ronnie in a scene that is one of the darkly comedic moments in the movie.

Frank and Ida go on a crime spree that starts when they stow away on a train, a police officer tries to catch them, and Ida pushes the police officer off the moving train. The crime spree part of the movie is intentionally made to look like a Frank and Ida are a monster version of Bonnie and Clyde (Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow), the real-life outlaw couple that got gunned down by law enforcement in 1934. Police detective Jake Wiles (played by Peter Sarsgaard, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s real-life husband) and his secretary Myrna Mallow (played by Penélope Cruz), who wants to be a detective, are in hot pursuit of Ida and Frank.

For “The Bride!,” the production design, makeup, hairstyling, Sandy Powell’s costume design, Lawrence Sher’s cinematography and Hildur Guðnadóttir’s musical score are all top-notch. The movie also gives an out-of-left-field nod to the 1990s Riot Grrrl movement, as outlaw Ida develops a fan base of mostly women. “The Bride!” has a steampunk Gothic aesthetic that is inventive and works very well for the tone of this movie.

“The Bride!” has a few moments that drag with repetition. But mostly, the movie is a showcase for Buckley. The rest of the talented cast members also gamely commit to their roles. Buckley gives a tour-de-force performance not just because Ida is undoubtedly the main focus of the movie, but Buckley also has to portray author/creator Mary Shelley, as well as the version of Ida that is possessed by Mary. Ida’s evolution in the movie sometimes comes at the detriment of other characters’ development.

Bale’s depiction of Frank has a lot of sly comedy that’s supposed to keep viewers guessing if Frank is a macho monster or a lovelorn monster or maybe a combination of both. The subplot of Frank’s fascination with Ronnie Reed could have been more interesting commentary on how movie star masculinity affects how men feel about themselves, but this subplot fizzles out after Frank meets Ronnie.

Jake and Myrna have a stereotypical relationship between a supervisor and a subordinate employee, with pompous Jake and sexist men being condescending to the constantly underestimated and intelligent Myrna. Dr. Euphronius and her nervous assistant Greta (played by Jeannie Berlin) come and go in the story because they don’t intend to control Ida and Frank. Not enough is done with the menacing character of gang boss Lupino, who could’ve been a more impactful criminal counterpoint to Ida and Frank during the couple’s crime spree. Lupino’s fate is satirically shown during the movie’s end credits, but it’s too little, too late.

“The Bride!” takes a lot of creative risks that mostly pay off for viewers who don’t want to watch a formulaic horror movie. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directing and screenplay for “The Bride!” aren’t completely cohesive, but the movie remains steadfast in its maverick vision of the story and its characters. Love it or hate it, “The Bride!” has a lot to say about body autonomy, partner co-dependency and gender dynamics in a world that tends to give more power to men than women. The movie’s messages are not subtle at all because overt messages are harder to ignore and dismiss.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “The Bride!” in U.S. cinemas on March 6, 2026.