MOVIE REVIEW: WHALEFALL

 

Following the death of his father, Jay Gardiner dives off California’s Central Coast in search of his remains, only to be swallowed by a massive sperm whale. Trapped inside with one hour of oxygen, Jay must draw on the lessons his father taught him to escape.

Director: Brian Duffield

Cast: Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz, Jane Levy, Emily Rudd

Release Date: October 16, 2026

 

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for peril, violent content, bloody images, some strong language, and thematic content.

Runtime: 1h 46m

Review:

Whalefall’s modern day Jonah story takes a decidedly claustrophobic and gooey approach to the story that works fairly well in the first half of the film before things take a more abstract turn in the back half of the film.  Brian Duffield has delivered some well-made thrillers such as 2023’s No One Will Save You and 2020’s Underwater which makes him perfectly suited for this adaptation of the book of the same name.  Once he sets up the basics of the family dynamics he quickly moves to the action to the ocean which makes for some beautifully shot sequences in the ocean before he moves the actions inside of the whale.  When the action moves inside it turns into something closer to 127 hours except the walls and fluids are actively trying to digest the main character.  Austin Abrams is tasked with carrying the film on his own for large portion of the film, which he does so impressively by putting the audience in his shoes in spite of how outlandish the situation is.  His sole costars, in the whale, are a rather nasty CGI squid that’s ingested with him and a helpful bioluminescent jellyfish he uses as a flashlight at one point which leaves him having to generate every shred of emotions that he can pull out of the character.  It’s an impressive performance, it’s tangibly different than his snarkier but equally hapless courier in this year’s Resident Evil, that lets you feel every moment of guilt and unresolved daddy issues particularly in the flashback and real-world scenes.  He and Josh Brolin work off each other incredibly well together which leaves you wishing Brolin’s character had been given a bit more depth since we never get a clear idea as to why he treats his son so harshly.  Lacking any sort of context, Brolin’s character’s sole motivation for treating his son like crap is to prepare him for the inevitable moment he’s shallowed by a whale.  It saps those moments of authentic emotionality since they amount to little more than 2002’s Signs infamous "tell Merrill, swing away" moment.  It doesn’t help that the flashbacks are so heavy handed and self-serious that you’re left with the impression that they read better on the page vs onscreen.  It’s a similar situation to the final act which moves into a much more hallucinatory and abstract approach which makes for a strange tonal shift that’s sure to turn off a portion of the audience.   Elisabeth Shue and Jane Levy have small supporting roles, but the film and story doesn’t give them anything worthwhile to do, which is a waste of their talents.  Sadly, it leaves Whalefall being a bit of mixed bag since it doesn’t take advantage of Austin Abrams performance and the visceral sense of claustrophobia from the first half of the film.  

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: RESIDENT EVIL

 

A medical courier finds himself in a desperate fight for survival against bloodthirsty, mutated creatures.

Director: Zach Cregger

Cast: Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Johnno Wilson, Paul Walter Hauser

Release Date: September 18, 2026

 

Genre: Action, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout.

Runtime: 1h 37m

Review:

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is a lean, mean machine of wonderfully constructed scares and gross outs, taking heavy inspiration from John Carpenter’s The Thing, that’s a thrillingly fun ride from start to finish.  Cregger’s decision to avoid the pitfalls of trying to adapt any of the game specific storylines or characters pays in spades as we follow Austin Abrams’s hapless courier thrown into the world of the video game.  Cregger’s love of the game shines through as he drops plenty of Easter Eggs along with tongue in cheek references to the seemingly endless number of padlocks should make gamer fans smile.  The way shots are constructed and set up really delivers the look and feel of early games along with an increasingly grotesque collection of creatures our protagonist encounters.  There are a handful of masterfully set up jump scares that’s sure to get even the most seasoned horror fans to shudder in their seats.  The visuals are consistently impressive from the opening snow covered farmhouse that dominates the opening act to the urban hellscape of Racoon City, highlighted by a speed run down a street as zombified citizens launch themselves off buildings.  Woven into all the carnage thrown onscreen is a rather sinister sense of humor that works incredibly well for the film thanks in large part to Austin Abrams’s performance.  Abrams’s character has a strange Jessie Pinkman, from Breaking Bad, Michael Cera hybrid energy as he is thrust into the nightmarish situation, he finds himself in.  He’s tasked with carrying the film since there aren’t many supporting characters populating the film with recognizable faces such as Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis and Zach Cherry popping up and disappearing in steady succession.  This is Abrams’s film and he delivers excellent work, making this iteration of Resident Evil one of the best adaptations of the video game and one of the most fun horror films in recent memory.  

A

MOVIE REVIEW: WEAPONS

 

When all but one child from the same classroom mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

Director: Zach Cregger

Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan

Release Date: August 8, 2025

Genre: Horror, Mystery 

Rated R for strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use.

Runtime: 2h 8m

Review:

Zach Cregger's sophomore film, Weapons, is a Pulp Fiction style maze that's equal parts unnerving and hilarious, powered by stellar turns from Josh Brolin and Julia Garner.  Cregger's film is visually potent from the start, and he delivers a series of shocks that are sure to leave an impression long after you leave the theater.  That shouldn't come as a surprise after his debut film, Barbarian, which was populated with more than enough nightmarish imagery but here he uses structure to slowly unfurl the central mystery from different points of view.  It keeps everything off balance and unpredictable, particularly in the first half of the film before it shows its hand.  Its grabs and holds your attention for the majority of the film but it might lose some more hardcore horror aficionado once it reveals the game Cregger is playing since it blends more than a few genres with its twisted sense of humor.  The characters are all damaged individuals that are dealing with variety of issues that makes them feel more three dimensional than you'd expect from most horror films.  It helps that his cast is fully committed to his brand of madness and deliver strong performances across the board.  Julia Garner leads the way with a multilayered turn that really shows off her immense talent in a way the other films she has been part of this year have not.  Her alcoholic, obsessive teacher is a treasure trove of complexity and imperfections even before her class goes missing.  She's traumatized and ostracized by the event but Garner is still able to give her an authentic sense of caring about the kids and what happened to them.  Josh Brolin's character is obsessive, to a fault, about finding out what happened to his child and aims his ire at Garner's character initially.  Brolin brings the appropriate sense of misguided parental intensity that just comes through the screen especially early on.  Alden Ehrenreich's recovering alcoholic cop who's involved in affair with Garner's character is a bit more straightforward and one dimensional with his subplot being used more as connective tissue for the overall narrative as opposed to a fully formed character.  Cary Christopher, Austin Abrams and Benedict Wong are solid in smaller supporting roles even though their character could use a bit more depth before the wheels start to fly off in Weapons rather nutty finale that's sure to be contentious with some people. 

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK

The shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large in the small town of Mill Valley for generations. It's in a mansion that young Sarah Bellows turns her tortured life and horrible secrets into a series of scary stories. These terrifying tales soon have a way of becoming all too real for a group of unsuspecting teens who stumble upon Sarah's spooky home.

Director: André Øvredal

Cast: Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Abrams, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, Lorraine Toussain

Release Date: August 9, 2019

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for terror/violence, disturbing images, thematic elements, language including racial epithets, and brief sexual references.

Runtime: 1 h 47 min

Review:

Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark is a solid entry level horror movie that may be a gateway for younger horror fans to explore the genre.  Norwegian director André Øvredal, who has been turning out solid horror films for a good while now, delivers an impressively stylish film.  It’s not ground breaking in any shape or form but his adaptation of the short stories are staged well enough to keep most people entertained even if the film start to film like a light version of IT as the plot unfolds.  The monsters are effectively creepy which makes for some solid moments of terror even though the film is very light on blood.  The cast of mostly unknowns does a great job of carrying the film with Zoe Colletti leaving a strong impression.  More seasoned horror aficionados may find the whole thing a bit quaint since the film feels like a throwback of sorts to the old horror films like Night of the Scarecrow or The Town that Dreaded Sundown.


B-