Welcome to pillbugm.blog

Hello my spooky pumpkins, it’s 2025 and now that I’ve gotten myself fully into the Halloween spirit, here’s five bite-size reviews for the horror movies I’ve watched in 2025.

You’ll probably notice that I did not mention movies that are part of a franchise or some kind of sequel/prequel/remake. This is because I feel like horror is always at its best when its something new and doesn’t require you to have prior knowledge of how the movie’s universe works, so I hope this list appeals to anyone looking for something to go watch with their friends/partner or well, alone…ahem.

*Minor Spoiler Warning for all movies mentioned*

1. Weapons, Zachary Cregger

This movie reminded me of Longlegs in terms of having a really strong marketing campaign that only set me up for disappointment.

Having seen his 2022 directorial debut Barbarian, it’s hard not to notice that Cregger really has a thing for multi-perspective narratives, but I often find that he’s unable to justify their inclusion. It’s undeniably woven in better in Weapons than Barbarian, primarily because it’s choice of protagonist is more personal to the central mystery than Barbarian, but Cregger still makes the mystifying decision of dedicated a large portion of the movie to a weird screwball comedy-esque sequence with a bad cop, before transitioning into a kind of stoner comedy. Yes, I understand that Cregger is trying to express the horror of realizing uncontrollable forces are at play, whether that be death, systemic problems or supernatural malice, but none of this is explored to its full potential either narratively or visually. 

For a movie that initially seems to be setting itself up to feel like an urban myth, there’s nothing about the presentation that makes you feel like anything might be surreal or entirely subjective. The multi-perspective also makes the overall picture feel sluggish – too much screentime dedicated to reiterating the same scenes already shown to the audience and development given to ultimately disposable characters since it’s really just one character’s perspective that truly matters to the story. 

Still, it isn’t the worst way to spend a weekend or a couple hours with friends. If you were hoping for an atmospheric, spooky detective movie about a supernatural mystery like me, this is not for you. But if you’re a fan of goofy and even sort of campy horror comedies, then you might like this one. There are things to like about this movie – the premise is interesting and it makes for a decently entertaining first watch, but the movie leaves absolutely nothing for you to chew on after the images have left the screen. Sadly I think this will go into the same collection of underbaked but somehow universally praised modern horror movies for me.

2. The Home, James DeMonaco

I had to type this review out as soon as the credits began to scroll, because I knew it’d exit my mind by tomorrow morning. I’m a little shocked that this was made by the creator of The Purge – not that The Purge is a horror must-see, but The Home has such a strong energy of being a debut B-horror popcorn slasher flick. I mean, I should’ve probably known just from the trailer – but I couldn’t resist my morbid curiosity over the idea of Pete Davidson of all people playing a horror movie protagonist.

This is a pretty okay movie to put on in the background of a Halloween party, and there’s a pretty big twist in the end that sort of (but only sort of) redeems that absolute drudgery that is the first half, but otherwise this is undeniably mediocre. Also made worse by the mystifying decision to cast comedian Pete Davidson so he can deliver what is perhaps a performance that is at best unmemorable, and at worst making the movie actively confusing.

However, this movie does pick up by the third act with hilariously campy villains, a ton of weird eye stuff a la Argento’s Opera (1987), and Davidson finally bringing something to his performance (even if I can’t quite pinpoint what it is) in the last 10 minutes before the whole movie just abruptly ends. An all around disposable movie.

3. Exit 8, Genki Kawamura

Adapted from the eponymous Japanese video game that I’m sure that you’ve either speedrun in 5 minutes or watched your favorite YouTuber play, Exit 8 marks this year’s third notable movie adapted from the video game, following A Minecraft Movie and Until Dawn. Which…sure? I guess? I’m sure the studio executives are happy to finally be able to capitalize on the youth’s shifting interests, but boy do video games not translate well to the big screen. 

The source material’s core appeal is in the simplicity – the fact that you are engaged in solving what is essentially a puzzle with easy-to-grasp mechanics makes it fun. Unfortunately, the repetitive nature of the game makes it not as fun of a viewing experience for a passive observer.

I don’t know quite know what to think about this – Japanese horror often displays a very strong understanding of how to build suspense, and this movie is no exception. It just felt like this movie was missing something – maybe it’s because I can’t speak Japanese and am not a salaryman with a fear of commitment, but it also might’ve helped if they honed in on the more surrealist sequences towards the end instead of relying on melodrama at it’s core.

I do understand and appreciate how Kawamura tries to add some depth to the source material to justify not making this into a short film – turning a simplistic game into an introspective drama about how the small details in life add up to big decisions is an interesting idea, so I don’t think this is all that awful. Just…kind of boring to sit through.

4. Opus, Mark Anthony Green

Ah yes, another movie about cults with a person of lower class who realizes something is amiss amongst the weird rich people – that’s not getting old at all. Okay, no. That’s not fair to say – as someone who is also fascinated by cults, it’s not that I think any movie about cultish behavior is automatically unoriginal, but it’s fair to say there’s a bit of a fatigue with a movie like this basically coming out every year now in a post Get Out (2017) and Midsommar (2019) world.

I watched this one because I love Ayo Edebiri and the trailer presented me with the idea that this would be a bonkers horror movie with Edebiri in it, despite knowing the bad reviews. Well, it’s nowhere near as bad as some people are saying, but the movie is basically only mildly disturbing to the extent where you can take your friends to see it without them looking at you weird afterwards. This movie hits all of the cult sub-genre conventions set by the aforementioned Midsommar, The Menu (2022), and Don’t Worry Darling (2022) with all the energy and enthusiasm of the morning commute, and is too wrapped up in these conventions to give a fulfilling parody of publicity stunts and notoriety, or even to provide further exploration of art as being a collective distillation of the human experience and not an item of idolatry. I’d describe it as a freakish baby of Velvet Goldmine (1998) and Midsommar, like the airpod thing from Eraserhead (1977). But honestly? This movie might be worse than its influences – at least The Menu had the decency not to include a voice-over ending signposting the movie’s ideas to you.

Still, wonderful setpieces, nice original music, and some really great performances from Malkovich who steals every scene he is in. Edebiri does succeed in making me care about her getting to escape, even if her signature awkward charm is a little overpowering at times. I wouldn’t attribute too much fault to her – you’d imagine a movie parodying egotistical celebrities and their sycophant followers would have a bit more humor in it. I’d say you’re not missing anything by skipping this, but if you have a huge hankering for this kind of cult horror film, go ahead.

5. Sinners, Ryan Coogler

This one is mostly an honorary addition. Wikipedia lists ‘Sinners’ as a horror movie, but in my opinion it contains very little hallmarks of the genre except for mild gore and vamps with fangs, white pupils – y’know, the whole shebang. Sinners is probably the most hyped movie of 2025 and I absolutely plan on writing more about it in my end of year summary, but for now I’ll just give a Cliff Notes version of my thoughts on it as a horror movie. For all the emotions I felt during the movie, fear wasn’t quite one of them.

Well, actually – I don’t know. I think there is a very real, looming horror in the realization of the overwhelming hate in humanity that coincides with the beauty of human creation. The vampires here exist more as a vehicle for sociopolitical messaging and to provide a background for some of the best action scenes I’ve seen in recent years. That is to say, Sinners is a fantastic movie, but not so much a horror movie – but it certainly is one that you can show the scaredy cats in your life for Halloween.

Final Thoughts

So, what did I learn from this? Nothing, really. You can’t really learn much from watching 5 horror movies in a year and whilst I do love generalizing things I didn’t quite catch anything that isn’t already noted by a majority of people. I suppose I could say that trauma-exploitation horror is on the rise, but there were also plenty of horror that didn’t fit this mold.

Actually, I did learn one thing about myself, which is that I absolutely hate forcing myself to digest movies before a certain date. I’d initially planned to watch Danny and Michael Philippou’s Bring Her Back, The Monkey and Companion too, but after force-feeding myself three deeply mediocre horror movies back-to-back (and you can figure out which three I’m talking about), I just couldn’t really appreciate it. What can I say except I appreciate professional movie critics a hell of a lot more now.

If I do have to provide a conclusion though, it’d be this – watch Sinners! It’s a great movie. Maybe you’ll enjoy Weapons too. Happy Halloween! 🎃