The latest horror movie in the ever expanding Blumhouse catalog is “The Woman in the Yard”. While it’s straightforward title may not generate the most excitement, the film’s star certainly does. Danielle Deadwyler hasn’t given a bad performance and should have at least two Oscar nominations to her name. So having her attached adds a certain draw that makes this a must-watch for me.

“The Woman in the Yard” is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra who’s perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with Liam Neeson and Dwayne Johnson. But he also helmed one of 2024’s biggest movie surprises in “Carry-On”. Collet-Serra is no stranger to the horror genre, making his directorial debut with 2005’s “House of Wax” and directing the terrific psychological slasher “Orphan” in 2009.

This story follows a mother, Ramona (Deadwyler), her teen son Taylor (Peyton Jackson), and her younger daughter Annie (Estella Kahiha). All three are trying to pick up the pieces after her husband and their father David (Russell Hornsby) was tragically killed in a car accident. It has been especially hard on Ramona whose broken leg pales in comparison to her severe bouts with depression.

The family dynamic is an interesting one, especially during the movie’s first half. We see Ramona struggling physically but more so mentally. She’s overly strict and emotionally detached which is slowly driving a wedge between her and Taylor. He’s doing his best to pick up the slack around the house, but he’s still a boy who deeply misses his dad. Meanwhile young Annie is just trying to process everything the best way she can.

One morning the family wakes up to find the electricity out at their rural farmhouse. Ramona attempts to call the power company but her cell phone is dead. As the three of them gather for breakfast, they’re alarmed at the sight of a strange woman completely shrouded in black, sitting in a chair in their yard. Ramona tries talking to the woman but to no avail. With her identity and motives unclear, the unsettling figure goes from being a creepy mystery to a sinister terror.

“The Woman in the Yard” is a tough movie to sort out. On the one hand it’s certainly helped by Deadwyler and two sterling performances from young Jackson and Kahiha. The one-location setting proves to be fertile ground for what the movie is going for. And the first half sets the table for a potentially powerful examination of grief. As for the woman, actress Okwui Okpokwasili makes her a terrifying presence.

But the film’s second half begins to unravel once Collet-Serra starts revealing his hand. Even a semi-seasoned horror fan can probably guess who the woman is and/or what she represents. But the bigger issue is in the execution. By the final act things are so muddled that I wasn’t sure what was going on even though I knew what the movie was trying to convey. Sadly the last third drags the film down which is a real shame considering how well it sets itself up early on.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

The savvy directing duo of Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell take a fairly simple idea and turn it into something horror-thriller fans should relish. “Wake Up” pits a group of hapless young people against a sociopathic killer – nothing new there. But it’s the gnarly tone, the razor-sharp execution, and the gutsy all-out ending that makes the movie stand out.

Written for the screen by Alberto Marini, “Wake Up” follows six young activists turned vandals looking to support their cause in a most ill-advised way. The group’s leader, Ethan (Benny O. Arthur), his buddy Tyler (Kyle Scudder), the seasoned Yasmin (Jacqueline Moré), the playful Grace (Alessia-Yoko Fontana), the flirty Emily (Charlotte Stoiber), and the newbie, Karim (Thomas Gould) have set their sights on a home improvement superstore known for its animal-unfriendly history.

The crew enters the store and hide inside until closing time. Once the doors are locked and the lights go out, the invaders come out of hiding, put on what looks like papier-mâché masks, and begin ransacking the place while videoing it for their social media followers. They claim to have spent months putting together their plan. But it doesn’t take for the audience to see the gaping holes all in it.

As the vandals are busy on their crusade, two security guards sit in the back room paying no attention to what’s happening in the store. One is Kevin (Turlough Convery), a burly primal hunting enthusiast whose volatility got him moved to the night shift. The other is his brother Jack (Aidan O’Hare) who has done everything he can to help Kevin keep his job. The pair finally notice the intruders on their monitor. But with Jack half-drunk, they skip calling the home office and attempt to scare away the trespassers.

Unfortunately everything that could go wrong does go wrong. The guards and the activists collide, Jack is accidentally killed, and Kevin’s maniacal side takes over, turning him into a bloodthirsty hunter and making the ill-fated activists his prey. From there the filmmakers have a blast seasoning an old-school slasher with classic survival horror elements, building some solid suspense while throwing in some satisfying (and fittingly bloody) kills along the way.

And then there is the ending I alluded to. While it’s nothing especially groundbreaking, it does give the movie a nasty kick that somewhat goes against what we expect from the genre. That said, “Wake Up” does fall into a few of the usual traps that often accompany these movies. Character choices don’t always make sense, there are a few logic lapses, and there is an overall silliness that’s hard to get away from. But the entertainment value is there, in large part thanks to Whissell and Whissell knowing what kind of movie they’re making and nailing the execution.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Writer and director Lior Geller explores the depths of human cruelty and the heights of human resiliency in “The World Will Tremble”, a historical drama that tells another heart-wrenching yet inspirational true story from the Holocaust. Deftly handled with accuracy and urgency, Geller’s film is both a powerful testimony and a harrowing indictment that doesn’t gaze directly upon the horror but it doesn’t hide from it either. The results are astonishing. “The World Will Tremble” is the first great movie of 2025.

With the help of historian Dr. Na’ama Shik, Geller spent ten years researching the horrifying history of the Chełmno extermination camp in west-central Poland. The rural Chełmno was the Nazi’s first killing center of its kind, over time resulting in the deaths of nearly 200,000 Jews. Much of Geller’s movie takes place in and around the camp, bringing to light just some of the atrocities that took the lives of so many.

But the film also tells the extraordinary true story of Michał Podchlebnik and Solomon Weiner, two prisoners who became the first to escape the Chełmno camp. Even more, they would go on to offer the outside world the very first eyewitness accounts of the mass murder taking place at the hands of the Germans. Their testimonies were smuggled to London and broadcast on BBC radio on June 26, 1942 and later in the New York Times on July 2, 1942. These stand as the first official reports on the Holocaust.

“The World Will Tremble” leans heavily on the deeply piercing performances from its cast, specifically from Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jeremy Neumark Jones, and Charlie MacGechan. At the Chełmno extermination camp, a select group of Jewish prisoners work at gunpoint, digging mass graves and filling them with dead bodies of Jews slaughtered inside large trucks serving as mobile gas chambers. Among the workers is Solomon Wiener (Jackson-Cohen) whose only focus is on surviving. Some prisoners, including Wolf (MacGechan) want to plan an escape. But Solomon resists, naively believing they’ll be okay as long as they follow orders.

Geller’s approach to the storytelling is noteworthy in that he puts a strong emphasis on faces. Entire scenes play out with the camera focusing on the faces of the prisoners as they’re forced to do the unimaginable. Geller conveys so much through the pained expressions of his characters – the terror, the trauma, the overwhelming sorrow. It’s a strategic choice that asks a lot from his actors but that pays off in powerful ways.

As the barbarism intensifies right before his eyes, Solomon finally faces the grim reality of their situation. At the right time and in a moment of courage and desperation, Solomon and Michael Podchlebnik (Jones) make their move. The two jump from a moving truck and flee into the Rzuchowski forest amid a hail of German bullets. The film’s second half follows their daring attempt to escape as they navigate rugged terrain, hunger, the cold, and Nazi patrols.

To no surprise Geller takes a few liberties with the historical account to help develop the drama. But he never loses his grip on the truth that lies at the heart of the real story. In fact, he goes to great lengths to represent events accurately and with startling clarity, whether it’s the sinister ruse used by the Nazis to lure groups of captured Jews to their deaths or Michael Podchlebnik’s devastating discovery concerning the fate of his family.

There’s also impressive craftsmanship on display, from the terrific use of locations to the artful camerawork. Geller works hand-in-hand with cinematographer Ivan Vatsov to add a strong visual component to the storytelling. The use of nature, the emotive color palette, the array of tracking shots and trucking shots – it all adds an enriching level of depth and detail.

Movies about the Holocaust are by nature difficult to watch and they understandably face the most scrutiny. But as memory has almost fully turned into history, I grow increasingly grateful that filmmakers are still telling stories from that indelibly dark time in human history. With “The World Will Tremble”, Lior Geller joins the talented chorus of cinematic voices who responsibly ensure the Holocaust is remembered for the evil that it was and for the generational pain it has inflicted. “The World Will Tremble” opens in select theaters March 14th.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

Maybe it’s just me, but lately there seems to have been an influx of werewolf movies. This seems especially true over the past few years. Now here we are we in January and we already have our first one of the year. It’s “Wolf Man”, a Blumhouse reboot of the 1941 Lon Chaney horror classic “The Wolf Man”. This latest iteration is helmed by Leigh Whannell who impressed with 2020’s superb “The Invisible Man”.

Written by Whannell and his wife, Corbett Tuck, “Wolf Man” takes a dark and gory look at a number of themes through the lens of an old-fashioned monster movie. With a struggling family of three as its centerpiece, the story deals with such subjects as family, parenthood, troubled pasts, and clinging to one’s humanity. Interestingly (and somewhat disappointingly), there’s very little in terms of mythology or folklore. More on that in a second.

Christopher Abbott plays Blake Lovell, a writer and stay-at-home dad who lives in New York City with his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and their young daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth). Blake and Ginger and very close despite his tendency of being overprotective. But his relationship with Charlotte isn’t as strong. She pours a lot of time into her job as a journalist and not only has it come between her and her husband, but it has also left her feeling disconnected from Ginger.

One day Blake is notified that his estranged father, Grady (Sam Jaeger) has officially been declared dead by the state of Oregon after being missing for a long time. Grady was a survivalist living in an isolated farmhouse deep in the Oregon wilderness. Blake left that life as soon as he was old enough and he hadn’t spoken to his father since. Now his father’s homeplace has fallen to him and he needs to make a trip out west to pack up his dad’s things.

Realizing their need of some family time, Charlotte agrees to go with Blake to Oregon with hopes it will bring her closer to her husband and daughter. But it doesn’t take long for things to go bad. Less than a mile away from his father’s place, Blake swerves to avoid a strange figure standing in the middle of the road, causing him to wreck their moving truck. As they climb out of the wreckage a creature suddenly attacks, clawing Blake across the arm before they’re able to run away into the night.

The family makes it to Blake’s father’s house and lock themselves inside while the creature prowls outside looking for a way in. From there “Wolf Man” turns into a story of survival that takes place over the course of that one harrowing night. As its title suggests, the creature is indeed a ‘wolf-man’ and it quickly becomes obvious that Blake is infected with whatever animal-borne disease it is carrying. His symptoms start light but quickly turn more grotesque as he begins to change right before his frightened family’s eyes.

The movie chronicles the family’s fight to survive the night, not only from the creature outside the house but also the one within. Though not as metaphorically rich as “The Invisible Man”, there is still plenty of symbolism in the material. The rest is just good old genre fun. The baked-in tension is accompanied by a healthy amount of gore which fits well with the creature’s ravenous brutality. And then there’s Blake’s painful transformation which is captured practically through the prosthetics and makeup wizardry of effects designer Arjen Tuiten.

Again there’s no traditional Wolf Man mythology to speak of. There is no full moon, no silver bullets, no fur-covered body. In fact there’s not much information at all outside of some brief and scant opening script. The film’s infection angle has its benefits but it can also seem like a shortcut which (for better or worse) allows Whannell to focus on other things. Overall it works, but it would have been nice to have a little more background into something so primally and terrifyingly transformative.

As is often the case with so many movies like this, not all of the character choices make sense. In “Wolf Man” some are downright baffling. Yet we still find ourselves invested in this family’s plight, partly due to Whannell never letting us lose sight of their familial bond. It’s also aided by great performances from Abbott, Garner, and Firth. And though most of it takes place in the dark of night, we still get some stunning Oregon scenery that helps creates an isolated setting that’s both beautiful and forbidding.

As it is, “Wolf Man” doesn’t break the mold but it doesn’t exactly embrace it either. It lands somewhere in between, working best as pure genre entertainment with a few compelling themes on its mind. It’s not a movie that will stick in your memory. But it’s well made and noticeably better than the slew of recent werewolf movies that have come our way. “Wolf Man” is now showing exclusively in theaters.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Julia Stiles makes her directorial debut with “Wish You Were Here” – a sweet, earnest, but sadly formulaic romantic drama that has its heart in the right place but hinges on a few too many tired clichés to get by. Yet while its story is all too familiar, it does offer Stiles the opportunity to show what she can do behind the camera. And it gives the talented Isabelle Fuhrman another noteworthy lead role outside of her entertaining Orphan films.

“Wish You Were Here” is an adaptation of a 2017 novel of the same name written by Renée Carlino. It’s penned for the screen by Stiles and Carlino and stars Fuhrman who worked with Stiles on “Orphan: First Kill”. Their real-life connections show themselves in the film’s strengths, namely in the story’s lead character (played by Fuhrman) who is easily the movie’s most compelling piece. If only the other characters weren’t so thinly sketched.

The story follows a pretty standard blueprint that will be recognizable to anyone who has ever watched a romance turned weepie. Fuhrman plays a young woman named Charlotte who at 29-years-old has found herself in a rut. She works a go-nowhere job at a Mexican restaurant and after several bad experiences (and despite her family’s best efforts to hook her up) she has lost all interest in dating.

But that changes following her chance meet-cute with a street artist named Adam (Mena Massoud). The two have some drinks, paint a mural together, and impulsively go to his place for a romantic nightcap. The next morning a smitten Charlotte wakes up to find Adam cold and adrift. He promptly reminds Charlotte that they’re not a couple which instantly turns her warm feelings to dejection.

Months pass and Charlotte can’t get Adam out of her mind. That’s when she gets a unexpected visit from Adam’s friend and neighbor Stacy (Jane Stiles) who delivers a letter he wrote following their night together that explains why he was so quick to let her go. The heartfelt letter reveals that he had a brain tumor and is now in the hospital with terminal cancer. Charlotte goes to him leading to a rekindling of their relationship which takes on a tender but heartbreaking new form.

Interestingly, Charlotte and Adam don’t spend as much screentime together as you might think. Their relationship bookends what is Charlotte’s struggle to find her place in the world. As she does, a number of underdeveloped side characters pop in and out of her story including her flighty best friend Helen (Gabby Kono-Abdy), her straight-shooting mother (Jennifer Grey) and empathetic father (Kelsey Grammer), and the sweet guy waiting in the wings, Seth (thanklessly played by Jimmie Fails).

Sadly, none of the supporting roles carry much weight. Even Adam sometimes come across as a stereotype rather than a fleshed-out person. And the story itself follows the same path as so many others before it. It even gets a little absurd later on. Take when a weakened Adam is barely able to utter a sentence and then moments later is slipping out of the hospital with Charlotte for a playful afternoon on the beach.

But even with its flaws, “Wish You Were Here” remains interesting thanks to Fuhrman’s emotionally layered and authentic performance. And it’s clear that Stiles has a career in the director’s chair. She especially impresses with the camera, using it in a number of sumptuous ways, from intimate closeups to subtle arc shots. It may not be enough to carry this particular movie, but it does excite us for what she’ll do in the future. “Wish You Were Here” opens January 17th.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

Okay see if you can follow me. “Wicked” is the first film in a two-part movie adaptation of the Broadway stage musical of the same name which is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel which was inspired by the “Oz” book series which provided the source material for the beloved 1939 Victor Fleming movie musical, “The Wizard of Oz”. Whew.

“Wicked” is a $150 million fantasy musical directed by Jon M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians”). Co-written by the duo of Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, it tells a fantastical story set in the Land of Oz that’s loaded with easy to spot social subtext. “Wicked” is a movie of two halves – a fun and comically-charged first half and a more adventurous yet plodding second half which is where the film’s lengthy 160-minute runtime can be felt. Meanwhile its visuals are a mixed bag, offering some elaborate practical sets but with muted digital effects that rarely wow the way they intend to.

The movie opens with the citizens of Munchkinland getting news that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead. As they celebrate, Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande) arrives to join the festivities. As she’s about to depart, a young girl asks the Barbie-pink Glinda if it’s true that she and the Witch were once friends. She answers by telling the gathered Munchkins (and us) the backstory of Elphaba Thropp, the future Wicked Witch of the West.

From there we’re transported back several years where we are introduced to Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo). Born with green skin and imbued with suppressed magical powers, Elphaba has had a tough life marked by ridicule and loneliness. She arrives at Shiz University (and no, the dean isn’t Snoop Dogg) on orientation day to drop off her paraplegic little sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode). Also arriving is Galinda Upland (Grande), a popular and pampered rich girl who we quickly learn is impervious to her own privilege.

After an unplanned display of Elphaba’s powers literally shakes up the campus, the school’s Dean of Sorcery Studies, Madam Morrible (a miscast Michelle Yeoh) agrees to teach Elphaba privately much to the chagrin of Galinda who wanted to be her pupil. At first Galinda’s jealousy (mixed with her snobbery) leads her to humiliate Elphaba. But an unexpected act of kindness by Elphaba opens Galinda’s eyes and the two become unexpected friends despite their polar opposite personalities.

The entire university segment is “Wicked” at its best. The humor is spot-on with Grande’s pin-point timing bringing most of the film’s biggest laughs. She nails Galinda’s oblivious nature and is the perfect target for Erivo’s witty sarcasm. While the big musical numbers are showier and grab more attention, it’s the comic energy that really drives the first half. And while there are a couple of semi-memorable tunes, it was the well written and delivered humor that surprised me the most.

The movie does introduce several more characters, none of whom are given enough depth to leave much of a mark. There’s Pfannee (Bowen Yang), Galinda’s fawning college friend. There’s Boq Woodsman (Ethan Slater), a lovesick Munchkin who has the hots for Galinda. Peter Dinklage voices Dr. Dillamond, a talking goat who teaches history and leads an underground movement to restore animal rights. And there is the new transfer Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey), a dashing prince from Winkie Country.

The movie shifts after Elphaba receives an invitation to travel to The Emerald City where she’ll meet The Wonderful Wizard of Oz played by the always irresistible Jeff Goldblum. Refusing to let her nervous friend go alone, Galinda (now going by Glinda for a pretty funny reason) hops the train with Elphaba and they set out on what becomes an unexpected adventure. This is also where the humor vanishes, the effects get a little shakier, and the story begins to drag as it finally builds to its cliffhanging crescendo.

Despite putting in a lot of effort and even more studio money, “Wicked” doesn’t quite dazzle the way it wants to. It’s an uneven and unwieldy production that packs some early laughs but never soars either as a musical or a fantasy epic. It’s mostly due to the storytelling which is hampered by its inconsistent pacing, underdeveloped plot-lines, and heavy-handed (and at times patronizing) messaging. And neither the sub-par visuals or large-scale musical numbers are enough to fall back on.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS