The Blackwell Ghost 7

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The last time we joined Turner he was communicating with his dead wife via keyboard (I think, my memory ain’t all it’s cracked up to be) and was now the owner of that Lightfoot house that offered up so much evidence of the paranormal while still raising a handful of questions. Now, Turner Clay confesses that the Florida house has almost completely gone silent with supernatural activity. He’ll still hear the keyboard playing sometimes at his family home but it’s a disheartening turn of events. Officer Ramey gets ahold of him and tells him he needs to see him immediately. A local girl has gone missing, and left behind at the possible crime scene was a note with a photo of Ruth Blackwell above the words “want to play”. This definitely connects our hero to things especially because the same note was sent to him a year ago by someone, someone who Turner is now beginning to think is a mentally unwell stalker. Even if he’s hopeful there will be no connection and he can just move on with his life… yeah, sure. A couple days later he gets a package containing a piece of cloth covered in blood with a note that says “A gift for my new friend”. Uh oh. He gets dragged in further as the law officers need his help because he’s the only one this weirdo seems to be willing to communicate with after he gets an email invite to a private chat. He has grandma grab the kids and gets to work, begrudgingly communicating with a probable psychopath. Cryptic statements follow as one would expect when joining a chatroom with a lunatic stalker that has probably killed a young woman. The creep sends Turner a photo of himself from a few months ago attempting to follow the map he has. So Turner heads back to Florida to keep tracking that Lightfoot map. Sure as shit, he finds something this time around. A DIY trail cam and a note that leads him to an old-ass mailbox in the middle of the woods. What’s in that old-ass mailbox in the middle of the woods? Why, it’s another fucking clue of course! A piece of paper in a glass bottle with another riddle (don’t worry, Turner breaks it all down for us) and then a look at the trail cam’s SD card features video of a masked man that would probably disturb anyone more than any phantom knocks ever could. Soon after, masked creep calls Turner to let him know that he’s watching him. Since Turner is alone at the Lightfoot location, that’s something that would induce the crapping of one’s pants. More clues come through and Turner attempts to help where he can and play the weirdo’s games for the sake of the missing girl and unfound victims of Lightfoot. The modified Speak & Spell warns of danger as Turner gets in over his head thanks to some really irresponsible police work. Dropping the supernatural angle for the most part gives this one a different vibe as it throws the true crime angle to the front of everything and it’s alright but the whole pitting Turner Clay against a criminal mastermind is pretty silly and, of course, the film closes with the game still afoot.

Lycan (2017) (USA)

aka Talbot County 

⭐️⭐️

A class project finds a small group of college kids in the middle of the Georgia woods “rediscovering a moment in history”. Said moment turns out to be a bit of local folklore involving the grave of Emily Burt, also known as the Talbot (nice) County werewolf. As these things go, it turns out there may be a little more to the legend. Some well composed shots can’t make up for the unearned pretension throughout the runtime. The music is hilariously intrusive and the acting ranges from adequate to bat-shit over the top. There’s a few likable things sprinkled throughout (Dania Ramirez being a scene-chewing vision of animalistic eroticism is the standout) but everything else feels empty and melodramatic.

Doctor Plague (2026) (UK)

⭐️

A serial killer is cursing London with butcherings while stylishly dressed up as those badass-lookin’ plague doctors just with a professional cosplayer upgrade. Why? Because it looks cool and it’s easy to get sinners to repent by killing them. It’s up to a world weary detective (ain’t it always) to put a stop to things. Opening credits play over lazy AI prompts for “grimy British crime thriller” and let you know that you shouldn’t be expecting too much effort from this one. Helpful prostitutes, frustrated locals, boiling tension, a lack of answers, family drama, “THE BRASS IS ON MY ASS!” and baffled police officers are all familiar notes being plucked but there’s also a forced edginess to everything that makes it pretty damn cringeworthy while it tries and fails like a teenager dressing up as an adult to get some booze from a particularly strict gas station attendant. There’s also a social media subplot that really blows and some strong-handed messaging about print journalism… so it has that working against it as well. Eventually our top cop (Martin Kemp, giving way more than this movie deserves) figures out there’s some secret society shenanigans going on and parallels to the Ripper murders that plagued London in the 1880s. Pretty damn dumb or daft, I guess, considering where it originated. There’s some hilariously awful splat and the dialogue seems like it was written by a chatGPT knockoff. A movie that really feels like Joe Estevez should be in it… take that as you will.

The Church (1989) (Italy)

aka Demons 3/Cathedral of Demons/Demon Cathedral/In the Land of the Demons

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Renovations at a cathedral built over a mass grave eventually bring some rightfully pissed-off spirits back into the world of the living. A large group a random people are soon trapped within the church and most come to messy ends. A good old fashioned train smashin’, facial self-mutilation, icky possession and sexy times with a demon are paraded across the screen like an Italian horror flick on a coke binge. Oh. Wait. This is an Italian horror flick on a coke binge. It's a wild and wonderful time that just keeps getting better with age. A cast full of familiar faces and the stunningly beautiful setting all add to the joyous explosion of spaghetti nightmare heaven.

Noroi: the Curse (2005) (Japan)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

A paranormal researcher uncovers a vast and dangerous curse when investigating what he thought to be several unrelated cases of supernatural occurrences. A mother who supposedly took home discarded embryos from her job at an abortion clinic, a cute actress who had a terrifying experience when she joined in on a ghost hunt for a variety show, a tinfoil-wearing psychic convinced ectoplasmic worms are taking over the world and a young girl with a strong telepathic gift are all woven into a story as complicated as it is horrific. The deeper the journalist digs, the more fatal the consequences are for anybody caught in the path of the unrelenting supernatural force at work. Unsettling all the way up to its violent ending, Noroi is must see horror for any fan of found footage or intelligent ghost stories.

Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996) (USA)

aka Deadly Harvest/Children of the Corn 4: The Fever

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Much like Juggalos, the corn-themed evil is gathering once again. But unlike those Juggalos, who shockingly build their bonds on a feeling of community for outcasts, this gathering is based on a community of evil children getting up to ancient malice and murdering adults. I’m not a Juggalo but I’ve known a few in my life and I have always found them to be respectful and slightly insane, I have never known a child from Nebraska and thanks to this franchise, I don’t wish to. Anyways, a lovely young nursing student (holy shit, it’s Naomi Watts) returns to her hometown just in time for all the children to get hit with a dangerously high fever… the kind of fever that causes convulsions and necessitates ice baths. The next day those kids are now acting like sinister little assholes and going by names of long-dead children connected to a troubling past. Of course our hero Grace is on the hunt for answers because her little sister has been infected by whatever ungodly force plagues the area and as we viewers familiar with Nebraska can tell you, it’s almost always He Who Walks Behind the Rows or some kind of corrupted religious bullshit. Grace’s mother (her majesty, Karen Black) is having horrifying nightmares which are causing agoraphobia and this is why the young woman has taken some dean-approved time off to take care of things at home. Watching a parent mentally deteriorate is tough enough, but imagine adding a biblical style terror that preys on kids to that scenario and you just got a whole bunch of stress. Working in the films favor are some violent deaths wiping out the older folks, Naomi Watts being a really fucking strong actress, a zombie antagonist with supernatural powers, William Windom convincing as a small town doctor, a wrongfully accused local man (a really good Brent Jennings who feels like he’s entered this flick from a buddy cop action movie) who figures out there’s something paranormal in the works, an interesting take on evil being a viral threat this time around and Karen Black being allowed to dig into her role with her usual aplomb. What this entry lacks in the stupid insanity of the prior two entries, it makes up for with some surprising character depth and viciousness. Do I prefer the confounding hijinks to mean streak tomfoolery? Of course I do, I’m an idiot but this is still one worthy sequel to a series whose worst entry so far has been the original… that will change soon.

Eyeball (1975) (Italy/Spain)

aka The Devil’s Eye/The Eye/The Secret Killer/Wide-Eyed in the Dark 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A tour bus full of Americans comes under suspicion when a psychopath wearing a red rain slicker and wielding a stiletto begins to remove the eyeballs of young women in Umberto Lenzi’s excellent giallo. Paulette (Martine Brochard) is followed to Spain by her unfaithful boss who begins to suspect that his mentally ill wife may have trailed him and is now doing away with members of the tour group and the local population. There’s a literal bus full of suspects and a senior police inspector one week from retirement on the case. Sleazy undertones, Bruno Nicolai’s fun and repetitive score, the exotically beautiful Mirta Miller, shitty humans, mucho nudity and a fucking excellent climax shape one heck of a good time. See it!