Apple Originals has unveiled a first-look preview at the upcoming film, What Happens at Night, which comes from director Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio (naturally) and Jennifer Lawrence, both of whom also produce the project. You may have noticed a mustachioed DiCaprio at the Academy Awards this past Sunday and it looks as if his look is for this movie as principal photography kicks off. We get a peek at our main character couple, played by DiCaprio and Lawrence, as they arrive in a small, snowy European town. Filming is now underway in the Czech Republic, with support from the Czech Film Commission.

Apple is working in association with StudioCanal on the film. Scorsese also produces, and the executive producers on the movie include Lisa Frechette and Marianne Bower for Sikelia, Jennifer Davisson for Appian Way, and Justine Ciarrocchi for Excellent Cadaver.

What happens in What Happens at Night?

The film “is a dream-like story of a married American couple who travel to a small, snowy European town to adopt a baby. They check into a cavernous, largely deserted hotel where they encounter an enigmatic cast of characters, including a flamboyant chanteuse, a depraved businessman and a charismatic faith healer. Nothing is quite as it seems in this strange, frozen world. As the couple struggles to claim their baby, the less they seem to know about themselves and the life they’ve built together.“

DiCaprio and Lawrence are joined by Jared Harris, Mads Mikkelsen and Patricia Clarkson. What Happens At Night has been scripted by Patrick Marber (Notes On A Scandal), based on the novel of the same name by Peter Cameron.

Vertigo inspiration

Several months ago, DiCaprio mentioned he’s “working on a film where [Vertigo] is a reference point.” Although he didn’t mention the project by name, it’s pretty safe to assume that he’s referring to What Happens at Night.

“Had a conversation with Marty [Scorsese] about it. Any time you get to sit and talk with him about movies, it’s a religious experience,” DiCaprio said. “But when he talks about a movie he’s still trying to figure out, it’s like, ‘Each decade that movie means something different to me. Is she a ghost, or is she not a ghost? Is she there? Is he a ghost? What is it?’ So I rewatched it, and I knew the exact moments in the redwoods that he was talking about. I was like that’s the moment that Marty felt that. So yeah, there’s something we’re working on that has been a reference to that.“

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Chris

THE STORY: A corrupt American cop (Michael Douglas) and his partner (Andy Garcia) wind-up in Japan after a prisoner exchange gone awry. With their former captive cutting a swath through the local Yakuza in an attempt to establish himself as the new Tokyo boss, the cops are forced into an uneasy alliance with a by-the-book local police inspector (Ken Takakura).

THE PLAYERS: Starring: Michael Douglas, Andy García, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw and Yusaku Matsuda. Directed by Ridley Scott. Music by Hans Zimmer.

THE HISTORY: Michael Douglas was riding high in 1989. Following his Oscar-win for Wall Street, and Fatal Attraction’s boffo box office, his was considered one of the most bankable actors in Hollywood. Opting for a rare action role, grittier and more hard-edged than his turns in Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, Douglas, with his Fatal Attraction producers Stanley Jaffe and Sherry Lansing (who would soon run Paramount Pictures), hired Ridley Scott, then on a career downswing following Legend and Someone to Watch Over Me, to helm this stylish East-meets-West thriller, which would shoot on-location in Japan.

I remember when Ridley showed us the first cut of the movie it was about two hours and forty minutes, and it was extraordinary… But, this was his first cut, and so we all new that he was going to go in and make the film under two hours. I mean, the texture of the movie, the performances, the visuals, the sound, we were thrilled. Then, Ridley called us back, I dunno, four weeks later and showed us a movie that was an hour and fifty minutes long. We looked at him and asked, “what did you do,” and he said, what do you mean “what did I do?” “You took out all the good stuff, why did you make it this?” He said, “but I had to,” and he DID have to, to make it under two hours he had to take out some of the texture and some of the finest scenes in the movie. So, we said, “just make it the right length, it doesn’t have to be under two hours, just make it the right length.” (note- the final cut runs 125 minutes) – Sherry Lansing (BLACK RAIN DVD).

Despite critical acclaim and Douglas’s star-power, Black Rain was only a modest hit upon its release in the fall of 1989. It grossed $46 million, decent enough numbers for the era, but it wound-up grossing far less than comparable action movies of the time, although worldwide it was a solid hit, grossing an additional $88 million, while it also became a hot rental on the VHS market.

Nowadays, Black Rain remains popular among aficionados of eighties action cinema, with it remaining Michael Douglas’s one real attempt to make an action-movie on par with what Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were doing at the time. Sandwiched between Douglas’s more well-known vehicles, with Basic Instinct another giant hit just a few years later, and coming along at a fallow time in Ridley Scott’s career, it remains a movie rarely discussed in examinations of either’s career.

WHY IT’S GREAT: Black Rain is an eighties gem for many reasons. For one thing, Michael Douglas aces his anti-hero part. While introducing him by staging a motorcycle race is maybe trying a bit too hard to establish him as a sexy rebel, it’s notable that his character, Nick Conklin, is allowed to be sleazy and imperfect. He’s under investigation for being on-the-take, and while, with another actor in the lead, he’d eventually be vindicated, we learn early-on that Nick is in-fact guilty. He’s also shown to be a racist, making derogatory comments about the Japanese, and often screwing up his own investigation with a mixture of ego and fool-headedness, all of which eventually gets his partner, played by the great Andy Garcia, killed.

I remember when the picture first came out, there was a very influential critics who called it a racist film because of how it depicted the Japanese. This really bothered me, so I called him up and asked him, “have you ever been to Japan?” Silence..”no.” “Then what do you think you’re talking about?” Then a few weeks later, it gets nominated for best foreign film in Japan. A very respected critic said, “well, this is the best Japanese film I’ve seen this year,” so it was a real compliment to Ridley. – Michael Douglas (BLACK RAIN DVD)

Lest you think he’s unlikable, Douglas makes Nick three-dimensional, to the point that even if we know he’s not too far removed from the baddies he chases, he’s essentially a good man, and his evolution is convincing. His relationship with Ken Takakura’s more honorable Japanese cop, himself a victim of the rigid class system in Japan, is touching. Douglas initially treats him like a joke, but he comes to realize Takakura (who’s one of the biggest stars in Japanese history – on the level of someone like Chow Yun-Fat in Hong Kong) is truly on his side, and an honorable man.

Meanwhile, Yusaku Matsuda’s bad guy is among the scarier ones of the eighties, sporting a crazed look and sense of sadism. Matsuda was, unbeknownst to the filmmakers and Douglas, terminally ill at the time. He apparently knew it would be his last role, and he put everything he had into it. Likewise, Ridley Scott, who one might assume would phone-in what, to him, might seem like a routine assignment, infuses Black Rain with oodles of style. His vision of Tokyo seems almost as futuristic as the Los Angeles of Black Rain, and his eye, matched with Jan De Bont’s cinematography and Hans Zimmer’s amazing, hard-edged score, makes this one of the most impeccably made action films of the era.

BEST SCENE: In cop movies, the younger, more inexperienced partner is always going to die. Even as a child watching Black Rain, I had seen enough of these movies to know Andy Garcia was doomed. As an action-junkie you almost look forward to the partner dying, because it’ll kick the hero into high gear. But, Garcia is so damn likable and charismatic, singing Ray Charles with Takakura (who apparently loved Garcia off-screen) and busting Douglas’s balls that you want him to pull through. All of this makes his eventual death all the more hard-hitting, with it being, in the annals of action movie murder, one of the most sadistic.

SEE IT: Black Rain is easily available on DVD/Blu-ray (I actually have it on HD-DVD), streaming, iTunes, Amazon and more.

You know, people always ask me in my career, what’s your favorite movie. And I have to say, Black Rain is right up there for the unique qualities of the movie, the execution across the board… – Michael Douglas (BLACK RAIN DVD)

PARTING SHOT: Black Rain is another entry into this column that many of you may remember having seen when it came out. If it’s been awhile, I urge you to check it out again, as it holds up really well. And to those younger readers who may have never heard of it, do you like Ridley Scott and Hans Zimmer? If yes, boy oh boy will you love this.

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Sky recently released a UK trailer for Fuze. Now, Roadside Attractions and Saban Films have dropped a new US trailer for the film. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars in the new action thriller with Theo James (Divergent), Sam Worthington (Avatar), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Loki), Elham Ehsas (The Kite Runner), Honor Swinton-Byrne (The Souvenir) and Saffron Hocking (Top Boy) making up the rest of the cast. Fuze comes from Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie. It was written by Ben Hopkins, who has previously written Simon Magus, Janice Beard, The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz, The Market, Lost in Karastan, Hasret: Sehnsucht, Marionette, In Search of Monsters, Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie, and Inside (2023).

The official synopsis reads,
“Set in contemporary London, Fuze unfolds after an unexploded World War II bomb is unearthed at a busy construction site, forcing a massive citywide evacuation. Amid the escalating tension and chaos, a daring criminal operation is set in motion—one that uses the evacuation as cover for a meticulously planned heist. As authorities race against time to contain the crisis, alliances blur and moral boundaries are crossed, the film deftly propels audiences through a series of calculated twists delivering a wildly entertaining ride”

Mackenzie is producing the film alongside Gillian Berrie of Sigma Films and Sebastien Raybaud and Callum Grant of Anton. Anton is fully financing the film and Sky will handle the theatrical release in the UK and Ireland. The UK release is scheduled for April 3, but Roadside Pictures and Saban picked the film up for distribution in North America for an April 24 release.

Our Chris Bumbray got to see the film at its Toronto International Film Festival screening and gave it a glowing review, saying, “Like Relay, Fuze relies on a handful of twists and reversals, and Mackenzie delights in subverting audience expectations. The movie is peppered with action sequences, including some solid gunfights and sniper moments, while also maintaining a light touch with music cues that occasionally lean on the nose but work within the film’s pulpy tone.” He, then, added, “TIFF is usually divided cleanly into two sections. One is the awards fare put out by major studios, while the other is devoted to more commercial movies up for acquisition. Fuze is one of the latter, and while it wasn’t part of the Midnight Madness selection, it probably would have fit nicely, as it gave me a much-needed blast of action and tension amid all the heavier fare I’ve been watching. This would be a smart acquisition for a high-end streamer.”

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It’s been 22 years since Tony Scott unleashed Man on Fire, starring Denzel Washington as former CIA operative John Creasy, and now Yahya Abdul Mateen II (Wonder Man, Candyman) is taking up the mantle for an action-packed Netflix series, based on the iconic character created by author A.J. Quinnell. Today, Netflix released the official teaser and first look images for the upcoming action drama, Man on Fire. The series stars Emmy-winning Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as former elite mercenary John Creasy, alongside Billie Boullet, Bobby Cannavale, Alice Braga, and Scoot McNairy, and premieres globally on Netflix on April 30, 2026.

Here’s the Official Logline for Netflix’s Man on Fire:

Based on A.J. Quinnell‘s book series, Man on Fire tells the story of John Creasy. Once a high-functioning and skilled Special Forces Mercenary, known for surviving even the most desolate of situations, Creasy is now plagued with intense PTSD. Determined to overcome his personal demons, he sets out on a path to redemption. But before he can adjust to this new life, he finds himself back in the fire, fighting harder than ever.

Stephen Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts, Creed II) directs the first two episodes, while Vicente Amorim helms episodes 3 & 4, Clare Kilner directs episodes 5 & 6, and Michael Cuesta directs episode 7.

In addition to helming the first two episodes, Steven Caple Jr. executive produces alongside Kyle Killen (Halo, Awake and Lone Star), who also serves as the writer and showrunner for Man on Fire.

Yahya’s Making Moves

Yahya Abdul Mateen II is coming in hot after starring in the well-reviewed Marvel Spotlight series Wonder Man. He’s also recently completed work on The Adventures of Cliff Booth, an offshoot of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…, starring Brad Pitt, Elizabeth Debicki, Timothy Olyphant, Carla Gugino, Emily Alyn Lind, Peter Weller, Holt McCallany, Scott Caan, and more. I remember loving Denzel Washington in Tony Scott’s Man on Fire, and can see Mateen II slipping into the role with ease. He’s got the look, the power, the dynamic screen presence, and everything else you’d need to bring Quinnell’s iconic badass to life. I’m putting this one on my radar. How about you? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Cody

There’s just something inherently creepy about dolls, and filmmakers have had a lot of fun over the decades crafting horror stories around that creepiness. Audiences clearly love to see it, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many creepy / killer doll movies out there. So to celebrate this sub-genre, we decided to put together a list of some of the all-time best killer dolls. Not killer doll movies, but specific dolls. Here is our list of the Top 10 Killer Dolls!

ANNABELLE (THE CONJURING UNIVERSE)

This is a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” list entry if there ever was one. If we don’t include Annabelle – who scared people so badly in the opening scene of The Conjuring, she got her own spinoff franchise – there will be a lot of fans asking, “How could you leave Annabelle off a top 10 doll list?” If we do include her, genre fans will also point out that Annabelle doesn’t actually kill anybody. It’s the demon she hangs out with that’s the problem. But she is so popular, we’re forced to include her anyway. She may not walk around slashing up victims with a knife, but when she’s around, people are still in mortal danger.

DOLLY DEAREST (1991)

Sure, Dolly Dearest is a blatant Child’s Play ripoff… but it has such an an oppressively dark tone and features evil dolls (inhabited by an evil force called the Sanzia devil child) that are so ugly and creepy, that I found Dolly Dearest too unnerving to sit through when I was a kid. Despite the fact that I was already a Chucky fan by the time I tried to watch this one. So this little knife-wielding knockoff earns a place on the list.

DUMMY (TRILOQUIST – 2008)

Coming to us from director Mark Jones, the director of the original Leprechaun (and the less popular Rumpelstiltskin), Triloquist is an awful movie… but it’s one of those movies that is so bad, it can be highly entertaining to watch once or twice, if you’re in the right mindset. The small killer here is Dummy, a wooden ventriloquist dummy who seems to have somehow been imbued with a life of his own… and not only is he homicidal, he’s also quite horny. He hits the road with the trashy, bloodthirsty Angelina and the developmentally disabled Norbert for a cross-country killing spree, and Jones was clearly endeavoring to make the movie as sleazy and appalling as possible, packing it with wildly inappropriate dialogue. Watching Triloquist is quite an experience.

PIN (1988)

Technically, the life-size anatomy dummy Pin is not a killer. He’s just an inanimate object. But that doesn’t keep him from being an intensely creepy presence throughout the film. Terry O’Quinn plays Dr. Linden, who uses ventriloquism to have the dummy interact with young patients and even teach his own son and daughter life lessons. This is a terrible idea, because it convinces the son that Pin is a living being – especially after he witnesses his father’s nurse using the dummy as a sex toy. That also gives him sexual hang-ups, which leads to him taking an unhealthy interest in his sister’s sex life. Before you know it, people are getting killed. Pin himself isn’t the killer, but he’s at the heart of a well-made, twisted psychological thriller.

FATS (MAGIC – 1978)

I’ll put Fats back-to-back with Pin because they’re sort of in the same boat. Based on a novel by legendary screenwriter William Goldman and directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, Magic is a psychological thriller that stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as struggling magician Corky, who has a tumultuous relationship with his ventriloquist dummy Fats. Is Fats the mean, possessed, potentially homicidal little bastard he appears to be, or is Corky insane? Well, check the movie out and see what you think.

M3GAN (2023)

Like Annabelle, M3GAN is a James Wan production – but while the Annabelle doll isn’t actually a killer, there’s no confusion over whether or not the AI-powered robot doll M3GAN is a killer. She’s supposed to be a little girl’s best friend, but she’s not wired quite right, turning her protectiveness into a homicidal rampage. M3GAN can do the latest trendy TikTok dance to entertain the youngsters, then she racks up a body count when she’s not showing off her moves. She proved to be so popular that the filmmakers decided to make her an action comedy heroine in the sequel… but audiences weren’t so thrilled by M3GAN 2.0.

BABY OOPSY (DEMONIC TOYS FRANCHISE)

I haven’t seen Imaginary as of this writing, but I’ve seen images of that teddy bear Chauncey, and I’ve also seen images of Chauncey where he has transformed into a hulking beast. It’s a familiar look, because I’ve seen this exact same thing done before, in the 1992 Full Moon classic Demonic Toys! That film features a teddy bear called Grizzly Teddy, which also turns into a large monster. He’s awesome, but the star of the Demonic Toys franchise – and the only toy that would be referred to as a doll – is Baby Oopsy, who has gone on to cause all sorts of trouble over the course of several movies.

ZUNI DOLL (TRILOGY OF TERROR – 1975)

There are three horror tales packed into the anthology Trilogy of Terror (thus the title), each one directed by Dan Curtis and based on a story by Richard Matheson. You have to wait until the third segment to be introduced to the tiny terror known as He Who Kills… but it’s worth the wait. This little guy is a total maniac who relentlessly pursues a young woman played by Karen Black throughout her apartment. This part of the movie proved to be so popular, the Zuni doll was brought back for a sequel story in Trilogy of Terror II twenty-one years later.

BLADE (PUPPET MASTER FRANCHISE)

There are a whole lot of killer dolls in the Puppet Master franchise, and each one of them has their adoring fans – which is why this is the biggest franchise on this list, currently standing strong at fifteen entries (and a sixteenth in development). But the most popular puppet of the bunch is Blade, who has a knife for one hand and a hook for the other. In some movies he’s a villain, in others he’s a hero, it all depends on who his master is at the time. He has slashed his way through humans (including a number of Nazis), battled tiny demons, and even faced off with the Demonic Toys. He usually has some puppet pals backing him up, but a few years ago, he even got a solo movie.

CHUCKY (CHILD’S PLAY FRANCHISE)

There are other popular killer dolls out there, but it’s not likely that any are ever going to surpass the popularity of Chucky… and, of course, we’re talking about the original Chucky here, although the Child’s Play remake was surprisingly good. A combination of impressive special effects, wild stories concocted by Don Mancini, and incredible vocal performances from Brad Dourif have made Chucky an iconic character we’ve been fascinated to watch through several feature films and now multiple seasons of a TV series as well.

HONORABLE MENTION: CLOWN DOLL (POLTERGEIST – 1982)

We had to include this one as an honorable mention. The Clown Doll doesn’t kill anyone; in fact, no one is killed in Poltergeist… but the Clown Doll certainly made an attempt to kill little Robbie, and it’s been scaring the hell out of viewers for over 40 years now.

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The phone is ringing and the creatives at The Night Agent have answered the call. In a cute public stunt, Netflix had set up a landline phone in Times Square, where bystanders had the opportunity to become Night Agents themselves. The call recipients were given directions and code words for a small, but adventurous mission. And once they accomplish the mission, they are greeted with a message on one of the video billboards, which said that The Night Agent will be returning for a season four. You can check out the publicity stunt in the video above.

Creator, executive producer and showrunner, Shawn Ryan, would state, “It’s been a wild ride filming The Night Agent in five countries across three continents to this point and we’re so thrilled that the adventures of Peter Sutherland will continue into Season 4. Our writers, our cast and our crew stand ready to answer the call to bring our incredible fans even more twists, turns and thrills.”

The Night Agent has been a hugely popular series for Netflix. Its debut season currently at #10 on the most popular list. Season 2 would go on to debut at #1 with 13.9 million views in just its first four days of release. Meanwhile, the recent season 3 hit #2 on the English TV list and earned 9.9 million views in its second week, with fans driving Seasons 1 and 2 back into the Global Top 10 list. 

Season 3

Series regulars Gabriel Basso, Louis Herthum, Stephen Moyer, Callum Vinson, David Lyons, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Jennifer Morrison, Albert Jones, Ward Horton and Genesis Rodriguez all returned for this last season.

The synopsis for season 3 reads, “Coming off the explosive events of Season Two, Night Agent Peter Sutherland is called in to track down a young Treasury Agent who fled to Istanbul with sensitive government intel after killing his boss.  This kicks off a sequence of events where Peter investigates a dark money network while avoiding its paid assassins, while putting him on a collision course with a relentless journalist. Working together, they uncover buried secrets and old grudges that threaten to bring the government to its knees — and get them both killed in the process.”

Sony Pictures brings you the show and the executive producers on board include Marney Hochman with MiddKid Productions, Seth Gordon and Julia Gunn with Exhibit A; James Vanderbilt, William Sherak, Paul Neinstein and Nicole Tossou with Project X; David Beaubaire with Sunset Lane Media, Munis Rashid, Paul Bernard, Guy Ferland, and Seth Fisher.

What did we think of season 3?

Our Alex Maidy gave the third season of The Night Agent a favorable review, where he said, “The Night Agent is a great example of popcorn entertainment that can be enjoyed without caveats or disclaimers. This series is well-written and action-packed, never succumbing to genre tropes, and it drives the story. Gabriel Basso has come into his own in this role, and it shows that he and the character are evolving in lockstep. There are a few detours in the plot this season and a surprisingly cliffhanger-free ending that sets up a fourth season while also bringing this chapter of the story to a satisfying close.” And check out Alex’s interview with the show’s stars, Gabriel Basso and Genesis Rodriguez, which we shared a couple weeks ago.

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Charlize Theron will soon be seen in Apex, a Netflix survival thriller directed by Baltasar Kormákur and written by Jeremy Robbins. As a Christmas present the streamer released the full trailer for the film late last year. The movie is due to come out on April 24th globally on Netflix. The film has been described as Free Solo meets The Silence of the Lambs. Theron stars as “a rock climber and adrenaline junkie who finds out that nature isn’t the only dangerous element out to get her when she sets out on an expedition in the wild.” Taron Egerton plays a stalking psychopath, with Eric Bana playing the partner of Theron’s character.

Apex’s rating from the MPA

The MPA has just released its list of newly branded ratings on upcoming films in their latest bulletin. Apex is among those that have received their new ratings and it will be Rated R for some strong violence, grisly images, nudity, and language. Strong violence and grisly images in a survival movie set in treacherous terrain sounds like an intensely good time. Here’s hoping the suspense lives up to its promises.

Theron went all-in on the climbing

In a recent sit down with People, Theron explained all the prep she put into the role: “I had never climbed, except for trees when I was a kid in Africa,” she said. “It’s great. It’s so much fun. In this case, I was climbing a lot. I was climbing pretty much every day. And when I got to Australia I was kayaking a lot. That’s a massive workout. I was just getting a strong as I could because I climb all of the actual mountains in the movie. I’m climbing all of it — and I’m climbing it barefoot on my own raw feet.” Getting to play the villain also gives Egerton a role he doesn’t usually tackle, and he sports a shaved head. “I was very excited by not having to worry about what my hair looked like every day,” he said.

Next up, Theron is also part of the star-studded cast of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. She plays Circe, a goddess and witch who encounters Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his crew on the island of Aeaea. That film will be released on July 17.

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Newborn, which is described as being “an emotionally charged, edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller that will stay with audiences long-after the end credits roll,” is set to receive a theatrical release – exclusively in AMC theatres – on April 10th. With that date right around the corner, a trailer for the film, which stars David Oyelowo of Lawmen: Bass Reeves, has dropped online and can be seen in the embed above.

Synopsis

Written and directed by Nate Parker, who runs the joint production and distribution label Mansa Studios with Oyelowo, Newborn follows Chris Newborn (Oyelowo) who after serving seven years in solitary confinement seeks to rebuild his life and reconnect with his family only to find that freedom has become a terrifying psychological battleground. I have to say, it’s a relief to find out the movie is called Newborn because it’s the guy’s last name and not because there’s a baby at the center of the thrills. Newborn horror peaked with Rosemary’s Baby and It’s Alive.

Parker and Oyelowo produced the film alongside Aaron L. Gilbert and Christina Lee Storm.

Oyelowo is joined in the cast by Olivia Washington (I’m a Virgo), Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan), and Jimmie Fails (The Last Black Man in San Francisco).

Long-Awaited Release

Deadline notes that the film, which was originally known as Solitary, went into production in 2020… and then, for years, it was an unreleased mystery, as it “had to contend with the COVID period, and an increasingly challenged space for indie film distribution.” AMC got on board with a vote of distribution confidence around the holidays, and now we’re just weeks away from the movie finally making its way out into the world.

Nikkole Denson-Randolph, Chief Content Officer, AMC Theatres, provided the following statement: “Newborn is the kind of bold, provocative, and original storytelling that comes alive on the big screen. We’re proud to be the exclusive exhibitor supporting a release model that prioritizes theatrical.“

Oyelowo added, “When it came to our distribution goals, AMC truly understood the empowering direct-to-consumer nature of the partnership we were seeking for our film while embracing the non-algorithmic yet immersive experience we wanted the audience to have.”

Parker said, “It was essential to us that audiences experience this emotionally charged, edge-of-your-seat thriller together—on the biggest possible stage, and AMC provides both scale and a dedicated audience.“

Take a look at the Newborn trailer, then let us know if you’ll be watching this movie by leaving a comment below.

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The action-packed thriller Pretty Lethal will be streaming globally on Prime Video as of March 25th – and one month out from that date, a trailer for the film has arrived online! You can check it out in the embed above.

Cast and Synopsis

Promising “blood, sweat and tutus,” Pretty Lethal centers on five ballerinas who are on their way to a prestigious dance competition and barely on speaking terms when their bus breaks down in a remote forest. With no other options, they reluctantly seek shelter at an unsettling roadside inn run by Devora Kasimer (Uma Thurman), a reclusive former ballet prodigy. From the moment they arrive, something feels wrong—and their worst instincts prove right. As the situation turns deadly, the fractured team must set aside rivalries and weaponize years of brutal training, turning grace, discipline, and even pointe shoes into tools for survival. The film was directed by Vicky Jewson (The Witcher: Blood Origin) from a screenplay by Kate Freund (Afterlife).

Uma Thurman (Kill Bill) is joined in the cast by Iris Apatow (The Bubble), Lana Condor (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place), Avantika (Mean Girls), Maddie Ziegler (Music), Michael Culkin (Surprised by Oxford), and Lydia Leonard (Down Cemetery Road).

Pretty Lethal was produced by Kelly McCormick, Mike Karz, William Bindley, and Piers Tempest.

Statement

Vicky Jewison provided the following statement: “In Pretty Lethal, I wanted to bring the highly specific skillset of a ballerina to the action space. We created a world built on the broken dreams of a dancer, played by the iconic Uma Thurman. This world and our incredible young cast gave me the freedom to swing between horror, comedy and action to create a breathless rollercoaster ride. The troupe embraces team work, sisterhood and ballet-fu in order to stay alive. Dance like your life depends on it!“

Will you be watching Pretty Lethal when it starts streaming on Prime Video next month? Take a look at the trailer above and the images below, then let us know by leaving a comment.

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On May 15, 2026, Focus Features will be giving the horror movie Obsession, starring Inde Navarrette of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and The CW’s Superman & Lois, a theatrical release – and three months out from that date, Deadline reports that Navarrette has signed on to star in the thriller Invertigo, which is coming our way from Fall and Obsession producers Capstone and Tea Shop. Filming is due to begin by the end of this month.

Synopsis

Matthias Hoene (Cockneys vs. Zombies) will be directing Invertigo from a screenplay written by Kathy Charles (Love Bomb) and Billy O’Brien (I Am Not a Serial Killer). The story centers on a group of reckless teens who convince a young park worker to sneak them onto a rollercoaster before its debut opening. However a system failure traps them hundreds of feet in the air, forcing them to fight for survival as buried traumas and hidden tensions erupt into chaos.

Despite being set on a busted-down rollercoaster, this movie will be filming in multiple locations: Thailand, the US, and the UK.

James Harris and Mark Lane of Tea Shop are producing the film alongside Christian Mercuri of Capstone Pictures.

Statements

Hoene provided the following statement: “Invertigo is a film about fear—both the immediate, visceral kind and the deeper fears we carry with us. Setting the story high above the ground allowed us to push the tension to an extreme, but it’s the emotional pressure between these characters that truly drives the film. Inde brings an incredible intensity and vulnerability to the role, and I’m thrilled to begin this journey with such a talented cast and crew.“

Mercuri added, “We are really excited to get Invertigo going and thrilled to be working on a third film with Inde. Her performance in our production Obsession has cemented her as an incredibly exciting emerging talent.“

Two years ago, it was reported that Ryuhei Kitamura was set to direct a thriller called Thrill Ride, which would show us what happens when “a group of people, including two young women, are trapped upside down on a rollercoaster taken over by a mysterious saboteur threatening to drop them all one-by-one to their deaths.” That’s an entirely separate project from Invertigo and has not yet gone into production.

Does Invertigo sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this Inde Navarrette thriller by leaving a comment below.

The post Invertigo will trap Inde Navarrette on a rollercoaster appeared first on JoBlo.

REVIEW: In a world where the gap between the ultra-rich and everyone else grows by the day, How to Make a Killing is seemingly well-timed. A loose remake of the British classic Kind Hearts and Coronets, it feels like — had this been made in another era of Hollywood history — our murderous hero would have been presented as a psychopathic “bad guy.” Rather, in John Patton Ford’s movie, Glen Powell’s Beckett, while arguably a sociopath, isn’t presented as an inherently evil or even “bad” person — he’s just a guy who wants the birthright he feels he’s been denied, and if he has to kill a bunch of rich people to get it — so be it.

It’s an oddball choice of a role for Glen Powell, who’s trying to become the next big Hollywood superstar, seemingly following the Tom Cruise playbook — yet to be sure, this is a role Cruise himself would have probably never touched. It remains to be seen if audiences embrace the part, which plays out like a regular Glen Powell rom-com, albeit with a body count that steadily grows as the movie goes on.

One thing is for sure — the makers of How to Make a Killing want us to root for Powell’s Beckett Redfellow, who would be ultra-rich were his mother not kicked out of the family for having a child out of wedlock. Why the family would be so rigid in this regard is never really explained, as everyone in the family is depicted as living pretty debaucherous lifestyles. It’s implied that the family doesn’t want the scandal, but this part of the movie is set in 1993, not 1893 or even 1943. That premise worked well in the original film, but it could have been elaborated on a bit here.

No matter — it’s just a way to arrange a series of set pieces where Powell’s charismatic Beckett meets different members of his estranged family and kills them. Powell is solid in the part, but I couldn’t help but note how, despite us being built up to want him to succeed, I never actually really cared if he got away with his crimes or not. Compare that to Timothée Chalamet as the wildly selfish lead in Marty Supreme, who you can’t help but root for even if you know you shouldn’t. They seem to be trying for that vibe here, but Powell, perhaps in a nod to his growing stardom, plays Beckett as too much of a softie, which — ironically — makes his crimes harder to buy.

In fact, as far as on-screen sociopaths go, Powell is badly overshadowed by Margaret Qualley, who plays a society girl Beckett knew as a child but who has now fallen on hard times and wants a piece of the pie. She has the edge and coldness he lacks, expertly playing her femme fatale–style role. She dominates the movie. In fact, both main female co-stars outshine Powell here, with Jessica Henwick giving the film some much-needed heart as the girlfriend of one of Beckett’s victims, who he ends up falling for. You watch this movie and wonder why, at a certain point, Beckett — as he rises to a level of modest prestige and power — doesn’t just opt to give up and make a life with her.

As for the relatives Powell has to bump off, Ford has fun with his casting. There’s Ed Harris as the ice-cold patriarch, who faces off with Powell in the large-scale conclusion, while Topher Grace has a blast as the Redfellow who’s become a born-again pastor/Christian rocker. Of them all, though, the best performance comes from Bill Camp, who, as Beckett’s uncle, proves to be such a genial, nice guy that his good nature endangers Beckett’s plan.

On the whole, How to Make a Killing is diverting fare, breezing along at 105 minutes and always entertaining its audience. Yet, I couldn’t help but think there would have been a better movie had Powell’s Beckett been given a bit more substance, with the movie not as good as the director’s excellent last film, Emily the Criminal. I had a good time with it, but it’s the kind of movie that vanishes from memory by the time the credits start to roll.

How to Make a Killing

AVERAGE

6

The post How to Make a Killing Review: A Slick Caper That Pulls Its Punches appeared first on JoBlo.

What’s the plot of Knoxville’s new thriller?

Gregor Schmidinger (Nevrland) directs Night Sessions, based on Beachum’s script. According to Variety, “Knoxville plays a charismatic psychiatrist from the U.S. living in exile in Berlin, where he hosts a late-night radio show. A rock-star therapist haunted by his past, Dr. Rick Brennan helps lonely and broken callers with their problems on his daily radio show, until his life is upended by a mysterious caller who accuses him of a horrendous crime, leading to a deadly cat and mouse game between the two.”

“The movie is 90% inside the radio station,” says producer Mair Vargas. “We found a nice location in Belgrade that has a view of the brutalist architecture and the brutalist nature of the city — it’s fantastic, a perfect fit.”

What is Fractal about?

As for Fractal, which also stars Gabriela Garcia Vargas, the upcoming thriller follows “Emily, who has been married to her abusive and alcoholic husband Tom (played by Flemyng) for six years and has finally had enough. She teams up with her ex-convict former boyfriend to kill Tom and bury his body in nearby woods. But what seems like the perfect murder quickly turns into a never-ending nightmare as they find themselves stuck in a terrifying time loop in which Tom keeps coming back.”

I feel like it’s been eons since I saw Knoxville in anything outside a Jackass movie, though I did enjoy his voice-acting work for Netflix’s Agent Elvis. It’ll be cool to see Knoxville lead a new project, and I look forward to the trailer. As for Flemyng, the last two movies I saw him in were 2011’s Hanna and X-Men: First Class. Remember when he played Azazel? He’s been plenty busy since then, but I’ve missed the bulk of his output. I’ll keep my eye out for Fractal and see if it piques my interest.

The post Johnny Knoxville, Jason Flemyng to Lead New Thrillers From Vienna’s Pont Pictures appeared first on JoBlo.

Jake

You feel a sharp, cold icepick prod the back of your neck, and you’re forced to name the most luridly entertaining erotic thriller of the ‘80s and ‘90s. What would you go with? Dressed to Kill? Body Heat? Fatal Attraction? What about Wild Things or The Last Seduction? While all worthy affairs, it’s hard to beat Paul Verhoeven’s controversial and transgressive neo-noir crime film, Basic Instinct.

Indeed, not only did Joe Eszterhas’s screenplay sell for a then-unthinkable, record-setting $3 million, but the film also overcame its polemic response and public protests to septuple its budget and gross over $350 million worldwide.

Featuring a sleek, seductive, ultra-sexy star-making turn from Sharon Stone — who Verhoeven had to fight hard to cast as the ice-hot femme fatale Catherine Tramell — Basic Instinct hopped a slew of production hurdles en route to becoming the quintessential ‘90s erotic thriller. Between Stone’s unscripted pantyless power play, the litany of actresses who passed on the part, Michael Douglas’ diva-like demands, the shocking graphic sex and violence that required 14 editorial cuts to avoid an NC-17 rating, the undying creative differences between Verhoeven, Douglas, and Eszterhas, and a whole lot more, it’s time to reach under the bed and find out what happened to Basic Instinct almost 35 years ago.

Joe Eszterhas Writes a $3 Million Script in 10 Days

After penning scripts for the successful ‘80s films Flashdance and Jagged Edge, Joe Eszterhas drew partly on his Ohio upbringing when conceiving the story of Basic Instinct. For instance, Catherine Tramell was inspired by a go-go dancer who pulled a gun on Eszterhas in his youth. Similarly, Nick Curran was based on a thrill-seeking detective the writer knew in Ohio.

As the highest-paid Hollywood screenwriter at the time, Eszterhas was also inspired to reclaim such a title after he learned Shane Black had sold his script for The Last Boy Scout for $1.75 million. In response, Eszterhas hastily pounded out Basic Instinct’s screenplay in only 10 to 13 days under the title Love Hurts.

Eszterhas claims he began without an outline, listened to The Rolling Stones continuously while writing, and changed the title to Basic Instinct after thinking it up en route to FedEx to deliver the script to his agent.

The script sparked a hotly contested bidding war among various production companies. It was sold at auction three days later, with Carolco Pictures agreeing to pay $3 million — an unheard-of sum at the time.

Milos Forman vs. Paul Verhoeven: The Directing Shake-Up

Once Carolco agreed to make the picture, Eszterhas and producer Irwin Winkler wanted Milos Forman to direct. Although Forman was sent the script while on vacation and liked it enough to accept the job, by the time he responded, the Flying Dutchman Paul Verhoeven had already been hired.

Remember, Carolco and Verhoeven had already delivered the badass sci-fi hit Total Recall in 1990.

Yet once Verhoeven joined the project, he immediately took issue with several aspects of the screenplay and wanted to make it even sexier, more transgressive, and risqué. One of the biggest arguments between the writer and director included Verhoeven’s insistence on a lesbian sex scene, which Eszterhas deemed too gratuitous and exploitative and staunchly disagreed with.

When Verhoeven stood his ground and vowed to keep the scene, Eszterhas and Winkler flat-out left the production and never returned.

Sharon Stone’s Casting Battle (And the 12 Actresses Who Passed)

It’s worth noting that the role of San Francisco homicide inspector Nick Curran was originally written to be a lesbian female detective, with Kathleen Turner envisioned for the role.

Although Verhoeven recruited Total Recall scribe Gary Goldman to do four or five rewrites at Douglas’ request, they became worse and worse, to the point that they reverted to Eszterhas’s original script.

Once Nick Curran’s role was rewritten as a much younger bisexual man, several big-name actors passed on the part due to the stigma attached. Michael Douglas ultimately agreed to star — under several conditions.

Meanwhile, before Sharon Stone won the role of Catherine Tramell, Douglas suggested Kim Basinger, Julia Roberts, Greta Scacchi, and Meg Ryan, all of whom declined due to the graphic sex scenes. Additional actresses who turned down the role included Michelle Pfeiffer, Demi Moore, Geena Davis, Farrah Fawcett, Kathleen Turner, Kelly Lynch, Ellen Barkin, Mariel Hemingway, and Debra Winger.

Only after roughly 12 actresses declined did Douglas agree to test with Stone. It took about three months for Verhoeven to convince the producers she was right for the role. Looking back, it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing Catherine Tramell.

Michael Douglas’ Salary, Script Demands, and On-Set Tension

Douglas agreed to star for $14 million. Once Carolco paid the fee, he demanded script changes to make his character appear less wimpy.

He refused full-frontal nudity as originally scripted, wore lifts to appear taller opposite the statuesque Stone, and insisted the bisexual elements of his character be altered. He also refused to give Stone top billing — despite her arguably being the true lead — which Faye Dunaway publicly criticized.

Stone was paid just $500,000 for her breakout role — a fraction of Douglas’s salary.

Stone later said she was never fully comfortable working with Douglas, but that awkward tension suited the characters.

It’s also worth noting that Stone — who reportedly has an IQ of 154 — was considering quitting acting to pursue law school before landing Basic Instinct.

Filming in San Francisco Amid Protests

Principal photography began April 5, 1991, and wrapped June 28. Verhoeven hired longtime collaborator Jan de Bont as cinematographer, marking their seventh collaboration.

The $49 million production shot extensively on location in San Francisco, including Pacific Heights, Telegraph Hill, Chinatown, Pier 7, The Embarcadero, Golden Gate Park, and Market Street.

When the screenplay leaked and LGBTQ advocacy groups objected to the portrayal of bisexual characters, protests erupted at nearly every location. The SFPD dispatched riot police throughout the shoot.

Catherine’s seaside mansion was filmed in Carmel-by-the-Sea, about 120 miles south of San Francisco.

The Ice Pick Scene: No Body Doubles, Real Blood

Yes, Sharon Stone appears in the opening murder scene. No body doubles were used in any of the sex scenes — though genital pads were worn due to AIDS-era precautions.

During filming, Stone accidentally stabbed actor Bill Cable through the blood packs on his chest. Some wounds were reportedly half an inch deep and required hospital treatment. His screams in the scene were genuine.

The Interrogation Scene: The Most Paused Moment in VHS History

Catherine’s infamous leg-crossing interrogation scene was not in Eszterhas’s original script. It was Verhoeven’s idea, inspired by an incident from his college days.

Stone has maintained she did not fully understand the explicit visibility of the shot at the time of filming and later attempted to have it removed. Verhoeven has disputed aspects of that claim.

Regardless, the moment became one of the most infamous nude scenes in Hollywood history — and possibly the most paused scene of the VHS era.

The NC-17 Rating and 14 Editorial Cuts

The MPAA initially slapped the film with an NC-17 rating due to explicit sex and violence.

Verhoeven made 14 separate edits, trimming approximately 35–40 seconds and adjusting camera angles to secure an R rating. The Director’s Cut later restored the more explicit material for home release.

Box Office Success and Lasting Legacy

Basic Instinct opened in the U.S. on March 20, 1992, and immediately hit #1 at the box office. Two months later, it opened the Cannes Film Festival before expanding worldwide.

With a $49–50 million budget, the film grossed $353 million globally. It became the highest-grossing film of the year in multiple European countries and the highest-grossing film ever in Spain at the time.

Despite controversy, protests, and creative warfare, Basic Instinct emerged as arguably the most successful erotic thriller of the 1990s.

Nearly 35 years later, it remains the definitive example of a subgenre that has largely faded away. And for all the indignities she endured, Sharon Stone will always stand as the brave, badass force behind Basic Instinct’s enduring bravado.

The post Basic Instinct: Why the most luridly entertaining thriller of the 90s is still unmatched appeared first on JoBlo.

Tate Taylor directs Cupid from a script by the Van Dyke brothers, who wrote the screenplay for the Olivia Wilde-directed thriller Don’t Worry Darling alongside Katie Silberman. Cameras will roll on Cupid in the late summer-early fall in Natchez, Mississippi, with Taylor, John Norris, and Ryan Donnell Smith producing.

Tate Taylor teases us about the potential impact of Cupid

“You may never want to seek counselling again,” Taylor warned about his latest thriller. “Or perhaps you will, assuming you can handle it. I’m thrilled to take this journey with Catherine. There is no better artist to bring this unique thriller to life.”

Oh, Tate, I certainly hope not. If anything, more people need to go to therapy. Have you looked outside your window lately? The world is an emotional dumpster fire, constantly on the brink of self-destruction. Let’s not discourage people from seeking professional help, eh? Also, I’m just having fun, I’m sure Cupid isn’t that traumatic.

What’s Cupid about?

“Cupid follows a couple who try to repair their frayed marriage over the course of a weekend at the home of a seemingly helpful but unorthodox marriage counselor (Zeta-Jones),” says the film’s description. “What starts as a hopeful endeavor quickly turns dark as her methods become crueler and more dangerous.”

“Cupid brings together stellar talent on both sides of the camera. This is a smart, contained genre film with real scale in the marketplace, with a global star and a director who has consistently delivered successful, audience-driven thrillers, and we’re excited to launch it at EFM,” says Upgrade’s Jonathan Kier. Upgrade is in charge of international sales when Cupid hits EFM.

Check those credentials, folks

Anyone who cruises Reddit knows that marriage counselors can be a blessing and a curse. I recall reading a story in which a woman’s friend posed as a couple’s therapist, unbeknownst to the husband. The man attended online sessions with the therapist for over a year before discovering that the therapist shared a close connection with his partner. Needless to say, the couple broke up. Could you imagine? The breach of trust! Good lord!

The post Catherine Zeta-Jones to star in derranged marriage counselor thriller Cupid from The Help director Tate Taylor appeared first on JoBlo.

The new Sky original, Fuze, has just released a trailer. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars in the new action thriller with Theo James (Divergent), Sam Worthington (Avatar), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Loki), Elham Ehsas (The Kite Runner), Honor Swinton-Byrne (The Souvenir) and Saffron Hocking (Top Boy) making up the rest of the cast. Fuze comes from Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie.

Scripted by Ben Hopkins, who has previously written Simon Magus, Janice Beard, The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz, The Market, Lost in Karastan, Hasret: Sehnsucht, Marionette, In Search of Monsters, Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie, and Inside (2023), Fuze shows what happens when the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb at a London construction site sparks a mass evacuation as bomb disposal experts descend to defuse it. But the distraction also provides the perfect cover for a bank heist.

Mackenzie is producing the film alongside Gillian Berrie of Sigma Films and Sebastien Raybaud and Callum Grant of Anton. Anton is fully financing the film and Sky will handle the theatrical release in the UK and Ireland. The UK release is scheduled for April 3, but according to Deadline, Roadside Pictures and Saban picked the film up for distribution in North America for a planned release sometime in the Spring.

In addition to Hell or High Water, Mackenzie has previously directed The Last Great Wilderness, Young Adam, Asylum, Hallam Foe, Spread, Perfect Sense, Tonight You’re Mine, Starred Up, and Outlaw King.

Our Chris Bumbray got to see the film at its Toronto International Film Festival screening and gave it a glowing review, saying, “Like Relay, Fuze relies on a handful of twists and reversals, and Mackenzie delights in subverting audience expectations. The movie is peppered with action sequences, including some solid gunfights and sniper moments, while also maintaining a light touch with music cues that occasionally lean on the nose but work within the film’s pulpy tone.” He, then, added, “TIFF is usually divided cleanly into two sections. One is the awards fare put out by major studios, while the other is devoted to more commercial movies up for acquisition. Fuze is one of the latter, and while it wasn’t part of the Midnight Madness selection, it probably would have fit nicely, as it gave me a much-needed blast of action and tension amid all the heavier fare I’ve been watching. This would be a smart acquisition for a high-end streamer.”

Update: Sky has just released a new poster for the upcoming action thriller. You can check it out below.

The post A heist is ready to explode in the new trailer for Fuze (Updated) appeared first on JoBlo.

Chris

It’s always a bummer when great movies underperform at the box office, but what’s even worse is when they’re such massive disasters that they derail careers despite featuring top-tier work. Such was the case, infamously, with Brian De Palma’s Blow Out, a 1981 thriller that ended the director’s superb run at the box office and, more than that, really crippled the then-bulletproof career of its star, John Travolta. The fallout paved the way for a disastrous run of films that it would take him well over a decade to recover from.

But why did people hate Blow Out, even if it’s now considered one of De Palma’s best films, so celebrated that it’s become one of the most popular titles in the Criterion Collection? It has to do with politics, violence, and… well… disco.

This is exactly what happened to Blow Out.

Brian De Palma, Carrie, and the Rise of New Hollywood

Jump back to 1976. That was the year Brian De Palma released the movie that elevated him to the A-list: his adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie. A smash hit, Carrie returned more than ten times its budget to United Artists and made De Palma one of the biggest names in the rising ranks of New Hollywood alongside Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and others.

While mostly remembered for Sissy Spacek’s star-making turn, two other young actors played memorable roles as obnoxious, bullying teens: John Travolta and Nancy Allen. Allen would later marry De Palma and headline another huge hit for him, Dressed to Kill. Travolta, meanwhile, was about to become a worldwide phenomenon.

John Travolta Becomes a Global Superstar

Shortly after filming Carrie, Travolta landed a role on the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, playing Sweathogs leader Vincent Barbarino. Sweet-natured, if a little thick, the character made Travolta a massive teen heartthrob. He even scored a top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Let Her In.”

But what happened next took him from teen idol to arguably the biggest global superstar of the 1970s: he was cast in a mid-budget disco movie called Saturday Night Fever.

The film turned Travolta into a disco-era James Dean. Propelled by the iconic Bee Gees soundtrack, Saturday Night Fever became a full-blown pop-culture phenomenon. Quentin Tarantino often talks on his Video Archives Podcast about just how big Travolta was at the time, comparing his rise to that of the Beatles. Modern audiences know Travolta from his second wave of stardom after Pulp Fiction, but back then he was basically a one-man Beatlemania.

There were John Travolta Superstar dolls not based on any specific movie, just on Travolta himself. In Italy, a lookalike known as John Travolto even had a career starring in movies like The Man with Travolta’s Face. That’s how huge he was.

How Disco Helped Doom Blow Out

This level of fame is part of what doomed Blow Out. At his peak, Travolta was viewed as the boy next door even though Saturday Night Fever is far grittier than its reputation suggests. Tony Manero is violent, profane, and even witnesses a gang rape he could have stopped. The film is a critique of toxic masculinity, but that nuance was largely lost.

Why? Because after Fever became a hit and after Travolta grew even more popular with the family-friendly musical Grease, the studio reissued Saturday Night Fever in a sanitized, PG-rated cut. This disco-only version eliminated the adult content and became the one that played endlessly on TV throughout the 1980s. For years, it was easier to find on VHS than the original R-rated cut.

That re-edit cemented Travolta’s image as an inoffensive teen idol, making any attempt to break away from it risky. He tried, cautiously, with 1980’s Urban Cowboy, playing a flawed, misogynistic blue-collar cowboy who ultimately redeems himself.

Blow Out would be something else entirely.

A Hard-R Reinvention: The Premise of Blow Out

In Blow Out, Travolta plays Jack Terry, a sound technician for a low-rent exploitation film company. While recording sound effects one night, he accidentally captures audio of a fatal car accident: a tire blowout, a car plunging into a lake, and, crucially, a gunshot.

Jack rescues a young woman from the car but can’t save the man inside, who turns out to be a presidential candidate poised to win the election. Reviewing the tape, Jack realizes the accident was actually an assassination.

The woman he saved is Sally, a makeup artist played by Nancy Allen. She was helping set up the candidate for a sleazy private investigator (Dennis Franz) to manufacture a sex scandal. The real villain, however, is Burke (a chilling John Lithgow) who begins murdering women who resemble Sally to frame a serial killer, ensuring her eventual death looks random rather than political.

De Palma Goes Full De Palma

De Palma’s vision for Blow Out was audacious: a political conspiracy thriller mashed up with an Italian-style giallo, the genre he’d already explored in Dressed to Kill. Like that film, Blow Out leans heavily into nudity and violence but in a self-aware, critical way.

The movie opens with a sleazy tracking shot of a killer stalking nude college girls, only to reveal it’s a movie-within-a-movie produced by the exploitation hacks Jack works for. De Palma is condemning and mocking the very audience that might find those images titillating, including fans of his own earlier work.

Though often compared to Alfred Hitchcock, Blow Out also draws heavily from real-life events: the Kennedy assassination, the Zapruder film, and Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick scandal. De Palma even borrows a 360-degree camera move from Michael Snow’s experimental short The Central Region for a devastating scene where Jack realizes all his evidence has been erased.

A Massive Budget and a Bigger Gamble

De Palma and distributor Filmways were convinced they had a masterpiece and priced it accordingly. Blow Out cost $18 million, an enormous sum in 1981. For context, it cost $8 million more than Star Wars and nearly triple the budget of Dressed to Kill.

That money went onscreen, particularly in the film’s massive finale, set during a fictional “Liberty Day” parade in Philadelphia, where Jack desperately chases the killer through hundreds of extras in one of De Palma’s most ambitious set pieces.

The Ending Audiences Rejected

Despite strong reviews from critics like Pauline Kael, Roger Ebert, and Gene Siskel, Blow Out was a catastrophe with audiences. Much of the backlash centered on its bleak ending.

Jack, haunted by a past failure that cost a cop his life, convinces Sally to wear a wire to expose the conspiracy. But he underestimates Burke’s depravity. He arrives seconds too late to save her, kills Burke, and then completely breaks.

Jack abandons the investigation, letting the conspiracy go unpunished. Worse, he dubs Sally’s dying scream into a cheap horror movie he’s working on, immortalizing her death and forcing himself to hear it forever. It’s devastating, nihilistic, and unforgettable.

American audiences hated it. European audiences were more receptive… because, well, it’s Europe.

Box-Office Fallout and Career Damage

Blow Out grossed just $13.8 million. Filmways nearly collapsed as a result. De Palma eventually rebounded with Scarface in 1983, though even that film was controversial at the time. His next true crowd-pleaser wouldn’t arrive until The Untouchables in 1987.

Nancy Allen’s performance was widely misunderstood as ditzy rather than innocent, but she bounced back with RoboCop, arguably her most iconic role.

Travolta, however, was devastated. With disco dead, audiences stopped showing up. He chased commercial projects that damaged his credibility: Staying Alive, Two of a Kind, Perfect. Even his hit Look Who’s Talking owed more to a wisecracking baby voiced by Bruce Willis than to Travolta himself.

How Blow Out Saved Travolta in the End

Ironically, the film that helped ruin Travolta’s career would later save it.

Blow Out always had passionate defenders, chief among them Quentin Tarantino, who has long called it a masterpiece. Travolta’s performance left such an impression on Tarantino that Pulp Fiction’s Vincent Vega was written specifically for him.

That role launched Travolta’s second act, leading to classics like Get Shorty, Face/Off, and more.

The Legacy of Blow Out

Blow Out may have lost the battle at the box office, but it won the war. Today, it’s widely regarded as Brian De Palma’s greatest film and a crown jewel of the Criterion Collection.

It’s proof that sometimes masterpieces fail in their moment, only to be discovered, appreciated, and vindicated years later.

And yes: Blow Out is a masterpiece.

The post Blow Out: The Thriller Audiences Rejected and History Redeemed appeared first on JoBlo.

Synopsis

Claudio Borrelli (Vultures) will be directing The Last of the Tribe from a screenplay by Downfall and The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari writer Mark Bailey. Some online reports indicate that Hawke and Guarani have been attached to this project since 2024, at which time it was going to be directed by City of God‘s Fernando Meirelles. He is still involved with the project as an executive producer.

Here’s the description of Reel’s book: Throughout the centuries, the Amazon has yielded many of its secrets, but it still holds a few great mysteries. In 1996 experts got their first glimpse of one: a lone Indian, a tribe of one, hidden in the forests of southwestern Brazil. Previously uncontacted tribes are extremely rare, but a one-man tribe was unprecedented. And like all of the isolated tribes in the Amazonian frontier, he was in danger.

Resentment of Indians can run high among settlers, and the consequences can be fatal. The discovery of the Indian prevented local ranchers from seizing his land, and led a small group of men who believed that he was the last of a murdered tribe to dedicate themselves to protecting him. These men worked for the government, overseeing indigenous interests in an odd job that was part Indiana Jones, part social worker, and were among the most experienced adventurers in the Amazon. They were a motley crew that included a rebel who spent more than a decade living with a tribe, a young man who left home to work in the forest at age fourteen, and an old-school sertanista with a collection of tall tales amassed over five decades of jungle exploration.

In the film adaptation, Hawke will be taking on the role of William Phelan, a washed-out Chicago cop turned corporate gun-for-hire, who is sent to investigate a death. During his mission he encounters the last surviving member of an Indigenous tribe.

Statements

Borelli provided the following statement: “I’m drawn to films that slam the raw, the rugged and the cruel head-on into the beautiful and the divine. In this story, the rainforest is both the villain and the savior — that natural and forever conflict is the essence of what I want to capture in The Last of the Tribe.“

Edward Saxon is producing The Last of the Tribe with Steve Schwartz and Paula Mae Schwartz for Chockstone Pictures, Mark Bailey, and Ethan and Ryan Hawke. Fernando Meirelles serves as executive producer, with his company O2 Filmes producing in Brazil. The producers said, “The Last of the Tribe is a tense, gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller, a real old-school heart pounding ride. And yet, it is also about something that could not be more timely – the destruction of the rainforest and the people who call it home. Our fantastic cast, spearheaded by the extraordinary Ethan Hawke, and now joined by Bloom, are all so smart, and passionate, and talented and committed to the telling of this story. We are thrilled.“

Protagonist Pictures will be presenting the project to potential buyers at the European Film Market. The company’s CEO Dave Bishop added, “The Last of the Tribe is an intense, propulsive thriller with real moral weight at its core. Set deep in the Brazilian Amazon, the project pairs elevated genre storytelling with urgent contemporary themes. Claudio has crafted a bold vision, and with Ethan Hawke, Orlando Bloom and Zaya Guarani leading the cast, we’re excited to introduce this standout project to buyers at EFM.“

Guarani, who was born and raised in the Amazon, previously told Vogue Brazil, “When I received the script for The Last of the Tribe, I was struck by how closely it mirrored my own journey, as I grew up witnessing many territories around me constantly threatened and destroyed by human madness. As an Indigenous actress, I feel a deep duty to share with the world what our people are still going through… and I am extremely honored to have the opportunity to work with this incredible group of people.“

I’m a big Ethan Hawke fan and spend a lot of time in Brazil, so The Last of the Tribe sounds very interesting to me. Does this sound like something you’d be interested in seeing? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Ethan Hawke, Orlando Bloom, and Zaya Guarani to star in jungle thriller The Last of the Tribe appeared first on JoBlo.

I’ll tell you what, folks. I don’t miss being single. I tried using a dating app for about a month, roughly 14 years ago, and it was nothing but diminishing returns. I’m glad it works out for some. I’m also relieved that I met my wife when I did. Our relationship saved me from a personal hell of self-doubt, strange vibes, and awkward dinner dates. In the trailer for DTF St. Louis, Clark (Jason Bateman) introduces his friend and co-worker, Floyd (David Harbour), to a dating app that leads to intrigue, experimentation, and death. Too much can go wrong when you’re throwing yourself out there to see what sticks, and for Floyd, his willingness to put his heart in the hands of strangers is what gets him killed.

When does DTF St. Louis premiere?

HBO‘s forthcoming original limited series, DTF St. Louis, hails from Steven Conrad (Patriot). The nail-biting thriller stars Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini, with Richard Jenkins, Joy Sunday, Arlan Ruf, Peter Sarsgaard, and Chris Perfetti rounding out the primary cast. The limited series kicks off on Sunday, March 1, on HBO and streaming on HBO Max.

What is DTF St. Louis about?

DTF St. Louis (the DTF stands for “Down to F***,” obviously) centers on a love triangle among middle-aged adults confronting a lack of spice in their lives. We learn that Clark (Bateman) has been having an affair with Floyd’s wife, Carol (Cardellini), and Clark introduces Floyd to the DTF St Louis app. Naturally, things go off the rails as experimentation becomes paramount to happiness, and lies become as easy to tell as singing an all-too-familiar song. We already know that Floyd didn’t live through the torrid events, but who or what killed him? Was it Clark? Carol? Autoerotic asphyxiation? I have questions.

The seven-episode series will debut weekly at 9 pm, culminating in the finale on Sunday, April 12, at 8 pm ET/PT.

What do you think of HBO’s DTF St. Louis trailer? Have you ever tried using a dating app? Do you have any juicy stories? Be careful out there, folks, and let us know if you’re excited to check out DTF St. Louis in the comments section below.

The post Jason Bateman and David Harbour refuse to kink-shame one another while going beyond their limits in the DTF St. Louis trailer appeared first on JoBlo.

Man, my paranoia is such that I don’t need a show like Paradise filling my head with ideas about what the government might be plotting behind the scenes—more than they already are, of course. Like many people, the first episode of Paradise Season 1 blew my mind. The concept that things could get so bad on the surface that people burrow underground and live under a fake sky is unfathomable. Still, if things keep going the way they are, the Mole Man could become our landlord sooner rather than later. Today, Hulu and Disney+ are ready to give everyone gooseflesh with an intense trailer for Paradise Season 2, debuting on February 23, 2027.

What’s Paradise Season 2 about?

“Xavier searches for Teri out in the world and learns how people survived the three years since The Day. Back in Paradise, the social fabric frays as the bunker deals with the aftermath of Season 1, and new secrets are uncovered about the city’s origins.”

Paradise stars Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Krys Marshall, Enuka Okuma, Aliyah Mastin, Percy Daggs IV, and Charlie Evans, with recurring guest stars James Marsden,  Shailene Woodley,  Thomas Doherty, and Jon Beavers.

On the production side, Paradise is created and executive-produced by Dan Fogelman. Jess Rosenthal, John Hoberg, Sterling K. Brown, Steve Beers, Glenn Ficarra, and John Requa also serve as executive producers. The series is a 20th Television production.

What happens in the new trailer for Paradise Season 2?

In the latest trailer for Paradise Season 2, Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) discovers a message from his missing wife. Determined to find her, Xavier ventures beyond the “comfort zone” of what counts as “civilized society” to search for answers to her whereabouts. While exploring the unfamiliar, Xavier encounters a woman who’s remained on the surface throughout the apocalyptic events. Together, they brave the elements, harsh locales, and strangers scattered across a path leading to uncertain dangers.

What would you do if the world were going to s**t and you had to choose between tunneling underground or risking it all by remaining on the surface? It’s a tough choice. I want to stay on top of the world, but at the risk of starvation, seclusion, and other factors, I can’t say for sure. What would you do? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Sterling K. Brown & Shailene Woodley join forces for a Paradise Season 2 trailer that shows society coming apart at the seams appeared first on JoBlo.

Michael

Certain movies do not simply exist to entertain you. They exist to test you. They guide you through a familiar setup, lull you into believing you understand the code it is written in, and then slowly shift your certainty until the entire experience becomes something you never saw coming. Frailty is one of those movies. It is quiet, grounded, and methodical, built on the kind of slow burn that does not scream at you or flaunt its secrets. It waits. It lets you think you understand the people on screen. Then it forces you to confront the flaws in your own assumptions.

Directed by the late, and GREAT, Bill Paxton, Frailty is the kind of story that pulls you in with the gentle confidence of a confession. It begins with a man walking into an FBI office with a horrific claim, speaking in the measured tone of someone who has carried this truth for too long. The mood feels like a true crime documentary wrapped in southern heat. A killer is on the loose. A childhood was broken. A father descended into madness. A son escaped with the burden of knowing too much. The setup feels almost comfortingly predictable.

Frailty relies on that comfort. It relies on the preconceived ideas we carry without realizing. We are conditioned to trust law enforcement. We are conditioned to distrust religious visions. We are conditioned to believe that a grieving boy is the voice of reason in a household where faith has curdled into violence. The film counts on that deeply rooted instinct. It lets you settle inside a story you think you understand, then quietly begins twisting the edges until the image becomes something entirely different.

The brilliance of Frailty is not simply that it misleads the audience. It reveals how easily wemislead ourselves. It exposes how often we judge the sanity of others based on the rules of our own worldview. It makes you the unreliable narrator without ever pointing a finger. By the timethe final reveal lands, the film has already dismantled your certainty. The story you believed you were watching was not the story being told at all. And the truth you dismissed as impossible may have been the only real thing in the entire film.

This is what makes Frailty endure. It is not a story about supernatural justice. It is not a movie about the psychology of delusion. It is a story about perception, about how belief shapes reality,and about how frighteningly easy it is to get the entire story wrong. Now that the ground has shifted, we can walk through the film and uncover how it builds its puzzle, how it plays with belief and bias, and why the ending still lingers long after the credits roll.

Plot Summary – A Confession That Hides More Than It Reveals

Frailty begins with a man (Matthew McConaughey) who introduces himself as Fenton Meiks. He walks into the office of FBI Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe), claiming he has information about the God’s Hand killer, the murderer who has been baffling authorities. Fenton is calm, steady, almost eerily composed as he tells Doyle that he knows who the serial killer is. The revelation is simple and devastating. The killer is his younger brother Adam.

From here, the movie sinks into memory. Fenton recounts his childhood in a small Texas town, living with his younger brother and their widowed father (Paxton). Their father is an ordinary man. Hardworking. Decent. Loving. Until one night he wakes the boys and tells them he has received a message from God. God is going to give him a list of demons that walk the earth disguised as humans, and he is meant to destroy them. God will send him tools. Their family has been chosen for a holy mission.

At first, it feels like the kind of story children tell themselves to explain their parent’s sudden change. But the father is unwavering. He builds an altar. He retrieves an old axe. He takes the boys along as he kidnaps a man he believes is a demon. He touches the man and claims he can see his sins. Then he kills him in front of his sons. To Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), the youngest, this is a divine responsibility. To Fenton, it is a nightmare.

As the killings continue, the family falls deeper into a pattern of ritual and fear. Fenton (played in the flashbacks by Matt O’Leary) becomes desperate. He begs his father to seek help. He tries to escape. He tries to protect his brother.His father responds with harsher devotion, convinced that Fenton’s resistance is a sign that heis being tested. When Fenton finally refuses to participate, his father locks him in a cellar for days without food or light, waiting for God to speak to him. When Fenton emerges, broken and hollow, he plays along long enough toget close to his father. Then he kills him.

This moment becomes the supposed turning point of Fenton’s life. He grows up horrified by what he endured. His brother Adam becomes the true believer, convinced their father’s mission was real. Their paths split. Their bond dissolves. One grows up trying to forget. The other grows up trying to continue the mission.

The story Fenton tells Agent Doyle feels tragic but logical. A childhood warped by a father’s mental collapse. A brother consumed by a violent faith. A family destroyed by delusion. But the truth is waiting just outside the edges of the story. And the film has no intention of letting the audience stay comfortable for long.

Thematic Exploration – Belief, Perception, and the Dangers of Certainty

Frailty is built on themes that quietly dig into the foundation of what we accept as truth. At its core, the film is about belief. Not religious belief specifically, but the belief we place in our own worldview. We tend to assume that reality must align with our expectations. People who do not follow those rules must be misguided, misinformed, or mentally unstable. The film uses this instinct to guide the audience down a path that seems rational.

We assume the father is delusional because visions of angels feel impossible. We assume Adam is indoctrinated because children imitate their parents’ beliefs. We assume Fenton is the one seeing the world clearly because his interpretation aligns with our own. These assumptions shape our understanding of the story long before the twist. The film never has to lie to us. It simply lets us lie to ourselves.

Once the ending reveals the truth, those assumptions become the very thing the movie is criticizing. Frailty shows that reality is not always filtered through reason. It can be shaped by forces we do not fully understand. The film invites an uncomfortable possibility. What if the father was not delusional? What if Adam truly sees what others cannot? What if the line between faith and madness only exists because we cannot imagine the world operating differently?

The movie is also about perception. Memory is a dangerous storyteller, one shaped not just by experience but by perspective. The entire film is narrated by a man claiming to be Fenton, but he is not telling the story from a position of objectivity. He is shaping the narrative to lead the listener, and the viewer, toward a specific emotional conclusion. We trust him because he seems calm. We trust him because he seems rational. But rationality can be its own disguise.

Faith also plays a major role in how the story unfolds. In most films, faith is framed as poetic or inspiring. Frailty treats it as something more complicated. It can be a gift. It can be a curse. Itcan be a lens that reveals truths or blinds its followers. The film refuses to take a stance. It asks the audience to sit in the discomfort of uncertainty. It asks us to consider how often we dismiss what we do not understand simply because it does not fit our version of the world.

Character Analysis – Father, Fenton, and Adam

Frailty’s emotional impact comes from the dynamic between the three central characters. The father, played by Bill Paxton, is the heart of the film. He is not portrayed as a raving madman,but as a good man convinced he has been chosen for a divine task. That balance is what makes him terrifying. He truly believes he is saving his children. He believes he is protecting theworld. The sincerity of his faith is what gives the film its power. Delusion rarely feels sincere.This does.

Fenton is the anchor for the audience. He is the child who resists. He is the one who sees the killings as murder rather than mission. His fear mirrors the viewer’s fear. His confusion mirrors our confusion. He embodies reason in a world that seems to be collapsing into supernatural chaos. But the story uses that alignment to hide the truth from us. Fenton is the character we trust because he reflects our understanding of reality. That trust becomes the film’s most dangerous weapon.

Adam is the character the audience underestimates. As a child, he seems impressionable. Asan adult, he seems calm. He is the one person in the story who never wavers in his belief. That consistency makes him seem naive. But by the end of the film, Adam becomes the most unsettling presence in the story, not because he is monstrous, but because he may be the only one who understands what is really happening. His faith does not break. It guides him. And the film suggests that faith may have been justified all along.

Together, these characters form a triangle of belief, doubt, and truth. The dynamic between them is what drives the narrative toward its conclusion. Each of them sees the world differently, and the ending forces the viewer to reconsider which perspective was closest to the truth.

Ending Explained – The Truth Beneath the Story

The ending of Frailty is where the film reveals its real intentions. The man claiming to be Fentonis not Fenton at all. He is Adam. The calm, controlled voice guiding us through the story has been leading ustoward a conclusion designed to hide his identity. He has been shaping the narrative, not to confess, but to conceal.

When Adam leads Agent Doyle to a remote location supposedly connected to his brother, the truth uncovers itself piece by piece. Adam kills Doyle. He reveals that Doyle himself was ademon, one of the people his father saw as corrupt. The twist is not just that Adam is the killer. The twist is that the supernatural elements of the story may be real. Adam’s ability to see the sins of others is confirmed when he touches Doyle. The father’s visions may have been genuine. The divine mission may not have been a delusion.

The movie drives this revelation home with smaller details that only make sense in hindsight. Townspeople failing to remember Adam. Security footage being mysteriously erased. People forgetting the face of the man they interacted with moments ago. These details point to a force at work that lies outside the boundaries of rational explanation. The film does not explain it. It does not justify it. It simply presents it as reality within the world of the story.

The ending reframes the entire narrative. What we interpreted as the collapse of a father’s sanity becomes the fulfillment of a divine mission. What we believed was Adam’s indoctrination becomes his true calling. What we believed was Fenton’s sanity becomes an obstacle he never overcame. The truth is not what the audience believed. The truth belongs to the characters who were dismissed, underestimated, or misunderstood.

Why the Ending Divides People

Frailty remains divisive because it refuses to conform to the boundaries of traditional storytelling. The film does not choose between psychological realism and supernatural certainty.It allows both interpretations to coexist until the ending tips the scale. Some viewers want the father to remain a tragic figure. They want the story to remain grounded in delusion. They want the killer to be shaped by trauma rather than destiny.

But the film makes a bold choice. It declares that the supernatural elements are real. It confirms that the father was chosen. It confirms that Adam inherited a gift. It confirms that the audience, just like Fenton, failed to see what was right in front of them.

This choice challenges the viewer’s relationship with the story. It forces a re-evaluation of what we consider rational. It forces us to confront the biases that shaped our understanding. It forces us to ask whether the film tricked us or whether we tricked ourselves.

The Real Point of the Ending

The ending of Frailty is not just a twist. It is a commentary on perception. It shows how easily truth can be hidden beneath the weight of our assumptions. The film uses the audience’s instinct toward skepticism as a tool. It invites us to dismiss the supernatural. It invites us to assume that reason must be correct. Then it gently, quietly reveals how wrong we were.

The real point of the ending is not that demons exist. It is not that divine missions are real. It is that truth can exist outside the boundaries of what we consider possible. It is that belief shapes perception. It is that certainty can blind us as effectively as fear. Frailty uses its story to reflect the limitations of the human perspective. It uses its characters to show how truth can be twisted, hidden, or misunderstood based on where we stand and what we choose to see..

Final Thoughts – Why Frailty Still Matters

Frailty stands as one of the most quietly effective thrillers of its era. It is a film that does not rely on spectacle or shock value. It builds its power through restraint. It invites the viewer into a story that feels familiar, then slowly transforms that familiarity into something unsettling. It challenges our assumptions. It forces us to confront the possibility that reality is not as stable as we want it to be. The ending does not exist to trick the audience. It exists to reveal a truth woven into the story from the very beginning.

The brilliance of the film lies in its simplicity. A father, his sons, a mission, a belief. Within that simplicity lies a labyrinth of interpretation. Was the father mad or chosen. Was Fenton the voice of reason or the obstacle to truth. Was Adam a killer or a servant of something beyond comprehension.

The film offers answers, but it also leaves space for doubt. That balance is what makes Frailty linger. It is a movie that asks the audience to reconsider how quickly we judge others. How quickly we dismiss what we do not understand. How quickly we cling to the safety of our own worldview.

And that is why Frailty still resonates. It is not a film about evil. It is a film about perspective. It holds up a mirror and asks if you are truly seeing what is in front of you, or if you are only seeing what you expect to find. It leaves you with a quiet, unsettling question. When the truth does not fit your understanding, do you change the truth, or do you change yourself.

The post Frailty (2001) – Ending Explained | A Story That Twists Your Faith In Truth appeared first on JoBlo.

Steve

In today’s episode, we’re going back to 1992 and talking about Barbet Schroeder’s Single White Female. A movie about dangerous obsessions, urban paranoia, and a serious (and sexy) case of mistaken identity. This is one of those ’90s erotic psychological thrillers on par with something like Basic Instinct. But what you might not know is the toll that making this movie took on its cast. Let’s rewind the clocks a few decades and get to the bottom of what the fuck happened to Single White Female.

For those who don’t know, Single White Female is an adaptation of John Lutz’s novel “SWF Seeks Same”, and follows the story of Allie Jones (played by Bridget Fonda), a recently single software designer in New York City who just so happens to be looking for a new roommate after leaving her cheating fiancé. After taking an ad out in the paper specifying that Allie is looking for a female roommate, she meets a sweet, quiet candidate named Hedy Carlson (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh). What starts as a budding friendship between two girls in the big city quickly spirals into an inferno of chaos, deception, and (as is the case with these films) cold-blooded murder, as we learn that Hedy isn’t as harmless as she appears and that nobody is safe.

And the term “Single White Female” comes from the old text used in newspaper ads when women were seeking women roommates.

The Age of the Erotic Thriller

So, this movie is definitely considered a cult classic among fans of the genre, and gaining that coveted title was not easy. The novel the film is based on was published in 1990 and was almost immediately optioned by Columbia Pictures for a major motion picture. At the time, these kinds of movies were just beginning to show their potential, and the age of the 90s erotic thriller was just on the horizon, with Basic Instinct and The Hand That Rocks The Cradle being released that same year. While the novel and the film have their similarities, many of the things this movie is most known for are specific to the film, and we’ll talk about some of that as we go.

How did Single White Female get its start?

In 1990, director Barbet Schroeder, who was vibrating with Oscar buzz at the time for the film Reversal of Fortune, was hired by Columbia to make the movie from a screenplay adapted by Don Roos. Schroeder read the script and the book and noted that he enjoyed the story’s tone and intense themes, and that he was fond of the character dynamics. However, he felt that it was too close to being a slasher (which he wasn’t interested in) so he said that he’d need to lean more into the psychological realism of the movie. And Columbia agreed! And just like that, Schroeder was in, and production would start in the summer of 1991, in New York City.

Bridget Fonda was offered the role without auditioning. Actually, she was offered either of the two leading roles without auditioning. According to the production, Schroeder met with Fonda and told her she could choose between Allie and Hedy, and Fonda wanted the role of Allie, as she felt playing the anchor character would be more of a challenge. What Barbet Schroeder wanted to make sure of was that the two actors he hired were able to (at a certain point in the plot) converge and achieve the same look. With that, Jennifer Jason Leigh was chosen to pair with Fonda. Jennifer Jason Leigh was known widely in the industry for disappearing into her roles, and the production thought that would come in handy for the character who (in some ways) would end up doing the same.

Additional casting includes Steven Weber as Sam (Allie’s ex-fiancé), Peter Friedman as her friend and neighbor, Graham, Ned the Head himself, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Happy Gilmore’s grandma, Frances Bay. That’s honestly most of the named characters in the film; the whole story is primarily focused on the two main characters.

Setting the tone

Now, this is the 90s, and we’re talking about an erotic thriller. As such, this movie includes such staple scenes as a weird nightclub that is definitely a public orgy, moments of romantic tension between the characters (even if it’s one-sided), and a classic 90s New York movie apartment. All of which were shot on location in practical settings, adding to this movie’s unbelievable set design and visual style. And that’s one of the main things this film will be remembered for. The slick, moody, shadowy aesthetic of this movie makes for a very strong rewatch.

Fonda would later speak about making the movie and admit that the production was extremely hard for her. Not because of the director, not because of the other actors, but because being in the headspace of Allie all summer and spending hours on end being vulnerable, afraid, and paranoid had left her exhausted and emotionally scarred. Not to mention her scenes that involve more violent actions from Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character; she found it hard to go through with the physical acting. She got through it and gave a superb performance like a true professional, but, according to her, it was one of the most demanding jobs of her career, and it changed something inside her after the film wrapped.

You know what? I’d be traumatized too if Jennifer Jason Leigh was aiming her performance directly at me because her work on the character of Hedy was AWESOME. Leigh is one of those actors who can switch from soft and sweet to diabolical and spooky on a dime, and it is legendary. She starts to show her weirdness early on in the film and it only gets more and more intense as the movie goes. I’d liken her performance in this movie to something like Terry O’Quinn in The Stepfather. This subtlety eventually becomes full-on over-the-top rage, and the blend from one state to the next is seamless, terrifying, and unpredictable.

Let’s go clubbin’

As for the fetish club that Allie visits. They used the exterior of a real bondage club in New York called “The Hellfire Club,” but the interiors were rebuilt on a soundstage based on the inside of a similar club called “The Vault.” So even the locations that weren’t real feel very real.

Similar to The Talented Mr. Ripley, which I just talked about here, Hedy’s whole deal is that she slowly and gradually starts to transform herself into Allie out of a similar obsession. All building up to a point in the movie where Hedy fully takes on the look of Allie and uses her likeness to nail her ex-fiancé. It’s just one of those movies.

For the iconic look of Allie, Fonda wore a shiny, red bob-cut wig that was so incredibly ’90s. I actually still think it’s cool. Both actresses used wigs for the shoot, so that when the transformation was complete, they had total control over the look, as they felt that was the most important aspect for driving home the movie’s believability.

After the film wrapped, it took Fonda a while before she felt she could fully shed the skin of playing Allie and get herself (and her psyche) back to neutral. Jennifer Jason Leigh, being somewhat of a method actress, also took some time to shake out the evil she brought to playing Hedy.

Making magic in the editing bay

The film entered its editing pass, and many decisions made in the edit REALLY impacted how effective this movie is. Things like shots of doors closing, hearing foley, and phones ringing off-screen to induce anxiety, and the layout of the apartment itself. They all serve as a sneaky form of misdirection that makes the viewer feel uneasy and paranoid. And I have to admit, these choices DO make a difference. The film’s score (composed by Howard Shore) also does the whole movie a favor, as it’s an eerie soundscape of strange tones and a slow tempo. Something we weren’t really seeing in similar movies and their scores.

In the late summer of 1992, Single White Female was released to theaters to pretty solid success, making about $84 million worldwide on a budget of only $16 million. The critics were mixed on this one at the time, but it has since come to be seen as an enjoyable, sharply directed movie with powerful leading performances. Both, I’d agree with. But let me tell ya, you don’t have to take my word for it, folks, as this movie CRUSHED the home-release market when it came out. It was released on laser disc (if y’all remember that) and VHS and became one of the most rented films of 1993. Everyone saw this movie at home. I remember it being on in my house more than once over the years.

Single White Female somehow repped LGBTQ+ cinema in the ’90s

The movie’s reputation has also evolved into being sort of iconic as an LGBTQ + film, as its themes of romantic connection and downright same-sex attraction have served as subtext to finding one’s identity and discovering one’s own desires and preferences. These themes were noted in the 90s by some critics and caused some controversy at the time of their release. Most criticisms have subsided, however.

Although it has kind of become a meme – at least for me growing up – the term “single white female” would be used to describe a friend who was like… clingy. Like how the term “Stan” has taken on new meaning since the 90s.

And as if that legacy weren’t enough, the movie also spawned a direct-to-DVD sequel in 2005, which was a sequel in name only, as it had no canon to the original film. The movie was called Single White Female 2: The Psycho, which reads as desperation. I don’t know, I haven’t seen it, and neither have you. So, let’s forget about it.

But let’s never forget about the recent stage adaptation of Single White Female, which hit the road as a traveling show and has received rave reviews from those who have seen it. I think it’s only showing in the UK, though, so I’m not sure if it’ll end up here in the U.S. If it does, I’m there.

And folks, that is basically what the fuck happened to Single White Female.

The post WTF Happened to Single White Female? appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: In the near future, a detective stands on trial accused of murdering his wife. He has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to the advanced A.I. Judge he once championed, before it determines his fate.

REVIEW: Despite it not having anything to do with catching future murderers, it’s hard to see the trailer for Mercy and not immediately think of Minority Report. Something about the visual language for the film feels familiar, and the whole “person who’s part of the system trying to prove their innocence” aspect. But instead of Tom Cruise, we’ve got Chris Pratt, and instead of a smart action/thriller, we’ve got… Mercy.

The story of Mercy follows Chris Pratt’s Chris Raven, a detective who’s on trial for his wife’s murder. He must now prove his innocence in front of an AI judge, and he only has 90 minutes to do so. He gets to utilize all the surveillance that exists to try, and so we’re given bits and pieces of the story as he combs over the footage. Most of the film is just Pratt sitting in a chair as footage soars past him. Kind of hard getting invested when we’re just watching our protagonist look at screens.

Chris Pratt has fallen into the category of “action star who plays the same role in most of his movies.” There’s nothing inherently wrong about that, but it’s past the point of stale and makes his films much less interesting as a result. Doesn’t help that he seems to be sleepwalking through the movie. Thankfully, Rebecca Ferguson is always great, and it’s always fun to see her do her thing. Unfortunately, her character is far too humanized and gets a bit ridiculous. Nearly all the other performances are over the top and eyeroll-worthy.

AI is a very popular topic right now, so it’s interesting to see how it’s utilized in the story here. It just doesn’t really feel like it’s fully taken advantage of. This feels more like what a teen boy thinks AI is, versus actually using it in a smart and provocative way. Most of the evidence is found through pure luck that the movie pins on “a hunch.” No, it’s just bad writing. Most of the reveals are handled poorly, and the final act is absolutely laughable. I could see someone getting some “so-bad-it’s-good” enjoyment out of it, if it weren’t so damn boring most of the time.

From Night Watch to Wanted,  Timur Bekmambetov has always had a very fun visual style and kinetic way of shooting action. He goes a little too CGI-happy for my liking, but he’s often thinking very outside of the box when it comes to his action sequences. I’m genuinely not even sure why this was presented in IMAX 3D, as this feels like a streaming movie. They don’t take advantage of the 3D, and it’s mostly just screens whizzing around and Pratt/Ferguson having a bit of dimension to them as they talk directly to the camera. The little bits of action are short-lived, and it feels like a disservice to even call this an action movie.

Let’s be honest: this is a January release starring Chris Pratt. Whenever a big star has a film dropped in this time period, it’s easy to set some low expectations, as January is notoriously a “dump month.” Somehow, Mercy manages to sink even lower than those expectations, however. The twist is stupid, and the action is so disconnected. I had a hard time even caring about Pratt’s journey and just wanted him out of that stupid chair and doing something. Not even Ferguson could save this one, and it probably should have just gone straight to streaming.

Mercy is playing in theaters on January 23rd, 2026.

Mercy

NOT GOOD

4

The post Mercy Review: How Did This Even Make It To Theaters?! appeared first on JoBlo.

Nearly three years have gone by since it was announced that Atomic Monster, the production company headed up by genre regular James Wan, would be teaming with Amazon Studios to produce a psychological thriller series based on the best-selling novel 56 Days, by Catherine Ryan Howard (pick up a copy HERE). We’re going to have the chance to watch the show soon, as it was recently revealed that the series will premiere on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Four weeks out from that date, a trailer has dropped online and can be seen in the embed above.

Creative Team and Source Material

Lisa Zwerling and Karyn Usher, who were behind the Starz drama The Rook, wrote the adaptation and serve as executive producers alongside Sandrine Gros d’Aillon, Wan, and Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Rob Hackett. Danielle Bozzone oversees the series for Atomic Monster. Howard is a co-executive producer. The first two episodes of the adaptation were directed by Alethea Jones, whose credits include episodes of Evil, Shining Vale, Mrs. Davis, and Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.

Written by Howard during the pandemic lockdown in Dublin back in 2020, the book 56 Days is set during that very same lockdown. It tells the story of an intense, erotic romance that turns deadly. It follows two young professionals, striking out on their own in a new city, who are entangled quickly in a charged relationship that leads to a powerful intimacy that is soon cracked open by their secrets … and to murder. Here’s the book description: No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead. 56 DAYS AGO: Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin and start dating the same week COVID-19 reaches Irish shores. 35 DAYS AGO: When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests they move in together. Ciara sees a unique opportunity for a relationship to flourish without the scrutiny of family and friends. Oliver sees a chance to hide who — and what — he really is. TODAY: Detectives arrive at Oliver’s apartment to discover a decomposing body inside. Can they determine what really happened, or has lockdown created an opportunity for someone to commit the perfect crime?

Series Adaptation

The TV series (which was once going by the title Obsession, but has since reverted to the 56 Days title) is not set during the pandemic lockdown, but it does follow Oliver and Ciara, who, after meeting randomly in a supermarket, fall for each other fast, and dangerously hard. Fifty-six days later, homicide investigators arrive at Oliver’s apartment to find an unidentified body—brutally murdered and intentionally decomposed. Did he kill her? Did she kill him? Intercutting between an intense single day in the present investigation and the twisted trajectory of the young lovers’ affair in the past, the series is both a unique crime story and a riveting, sexy, psychological thriller.

Dove Cameron, Avan Jogia, Karla Souza, and Dorian Missick star. As Prime Video puts it, “56 Days features a star-studded ensemble cast led by Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia as Ciara Wyse and Oliver Kennedy, showcasing the chemistry and building tension that drive this toxic love affair. Rounding out the ensemble are Karla Souza as detective Lee Reardon and Dorian Missick as detective Karl Connolly, who anchor the present-day investigation with gripping performances that keep audiences on the edge of their seats.“

Will you be watching 56 Days when it premieres on Prime Video in February? Take a look at the trailer, then let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Directed and written by Ken Sanzel (Kill Chain), Best Pancakes in the Country is “set over the course of one night at a small-town diner that becomes the epicenter of a deadly standoff involving rogue federal agents, a fast-talking con man with a dangerous past (Cage), and a waitress (Hennig) harboring secrets of her own. As loyalties blur and tensions erupt, survival depends on who can outthink – and outgun – everyone else. In this diner, the ‘best pancakes in the county’ turn out to be the least explosive thing on the menu.”

The best pancakes in Long Island, New York

Sign me the f*** up! People who read JoBlo know that some of my favorite movies are Death to Smoochy, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Summer Wars. Still, if we’re talking about food, there’s nothing I enjoy more than a delicious stack of pancakes with a pad of melting butter on top and an overflow of syrup. If you ask me, some of the best pancakes in the country come from Maureen’s Kitchen in Smithtown, New York.

Producers include Raja Collins (Hunting Season), Eduard Osipov of Beno Films (The Last Resort), Eric Brenner (Crazy Heart), and Niko Fomenko and R. Wesley Sierk III of Caliwood Pictures. Additionally, Caliwood’s John D. Straley, Audra Gricius, Jina Panebianco, Lance Kawas, Ahmed S. Boomrod, and Eugene Pruss executive produce alongside Nadine de Barros of Fortitude International.

The producers are excited to work with Cage and Sanzel

“We’re thrilled to reunite with the iconic Cage, guided by the visionary Ken Sanzel. This action-packed, fast-paced adventure with wit and intensity is set to captivate audiences worldwide,” said the producing team.

Are you a pancake fan? If so, where would you recommend wolfing down a stack of the best breakfast food ever? What do you prefer on the side? I like a bowl of strawberries, a few double-smoked bacon strips, and three scrambled eggs alongside my pancakes. That’s my ultimate breakfast configuration. Damn. I’m hungry. We’re having breakfast for dinner tonight!

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Cineverse has dropped a new trailer for Misdirection, a home invasion thriller starring a couple of Marvel veterans: Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and Olga Kurylenko (Black Widow). You can check that out above. The film is set to debut on Digital and VOD on February 10.

What’s Misdirection About?

The film follows a couple (Kurylenko and Oliver Trevena), who are driven to carry out a series of high-end heists to pay off a dangerous mob debt. When their latest break-in — targeting a prominent defence attorney (Grillo) — spirals out of control, the pair find themselves caught in a web of secrets, deception, and deadly consequences.

In a statement, director Kevin Lewis added, “Misdirection is a home-invasion thriller centered on a desperate couple who, after a string of high-end break-ins, find themselves ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse—where the tables turn and the hunters become the hunted. Working alongside Frank Grillo, Olga Kurylenko and Oliver Trevena was an extraordinary experience that elevated this neo-noir thriller at every turn.“

What Else are Grillo & Kurylenko Up To?

Since leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe behind, Frank Grillo seems to be having a much better time in the DC Universe. He plays Rick Flag Sr. and has already appeared in Creature Commandos, Superman, and the second season of Peacemaker.

Grillo also joined the main cast of Sylvester Stallone’s Tulsa King, starting in the second season. He plays Bill Bevilaqua, a Kansas City mob boss.

As for Kurylenko, she reprised her role as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster in last year’s Thunderbolts*, and also starred alongside Dave Bautista and Samuel L. Jackson in Afterburn. The post-apocalyptic action flick follows a treasure hunter (Bautista) who teams up with a freedom fighter (Kurylenko) to recover the Mona Lisa before an unhinged warlord gets there first.

She also starred in Other, a horror film in which she played a woman who returns to her childhood home after her mother’s death, only to find the house is rigged with surveillance tracking her every move, as a sinister presence lurks, driving her towards a terrifying revelation.

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What is The Rip about?

Here’s the official plot synopsis for The Rip, courtesy of Netflix:

“Upon discovering millions in cash in a derelict stash house, trust among a team of Miami cops begins to fray. As outside forces learn about the size of the seizure, everything is called into question — including who they can rely on.” The supporting cast includes Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Kyle Chandler, Scott Adkins, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, and more.

Carnahan on his inspiration for The Rip

Director Joe Carnahan, whose credits include Narc, The Grey, Smokin’ Aces, and The A-Team, shared that he was inspired by a friend from the Miami-Dade PD’s Tactical Narcotics division after a real-life raid. Carnahan explained, “I went through an unbelievably bad breakup, and it was really fraught with a lot of pain and anger. And in the weirdest way, man, it just reconstituted—I kept thinking of Back to the Future II, like give me trash and I’ll create fusion. I’ve never been good at therapy, and probably because there’s something deeply wrong with me that I’m immune to it. But I found this to be very therapeutic, and that script just kind of flew out of me.”

In the new character posters for Netflix’s The Rip, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Kyle Chandler, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Sasha Calle strike a pose for Carnahan’s upcoming thriller. Without knowing who they can trust, every character looks suspicious AF on the new posters. What would you do if you stumbled across millions of dollars? Would you turn the money into the authorities? Would some of it go missing? I’d like to think that I would find a way to keep at least one duffle of that sweet, sweet cash, but I’m not a fan of putting myself on the fuzz’s radar. I’d probably fork it all over, then live with the regret. Then again, getting caught means jail time, and that’s not something I’m willing to do.

The Rip comes to Netflix on January 16.

The post Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s The Rip gets a gallery of character posters before the action thriller’s January release appeared first on JoBlo.

The transition from one year to the next often brings chaos, particularly regarding work, family, and holiday-related commitments. As a result, I’ve barely had any time to catch up on movies. Thankfully, hitting the reset button on a new year often brings a restored sense of purpose, and this year I want to watch more movies than last, and I’m craving something that taps into action and thrills. As luck would have it, Amazon MGM Studios hit us with another trailer for Crime 101 over the weekend, and I’m officially excited to see what filmmaker Bart Layton’s latest project brings to the table.

What is Crime 101 about?

Here is the official plot, courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios: 

“Set against the sun-bleached grit of Los Angeles, Crime 101 weaves the tale of an elusive thief (Chris Hemsworth) whose high-stakes heists unfolding along the iconic 101 freeway have mystified police. When he eyes the score of a lifetime with hopes of this being his final job, his path collides with a disillusioned insurance broker (Halle Berry) who is facing her own crossroads, forcing the two to collaborate. Determined to crack the case, a relentless detective (Mark Ruffalo) closes in on the operation, raising the stakes even higher. As the multimillion-dollar heist approaches, the line between hunter and hunted begins to blur, and all three are forced to confront the cost of their choices–and the realization that there’s no turning back.” In addition to Hemsworth, Ruffalo, and Berry, Crime 101’s cast is rounded out by Barry Keoghan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Tate Donovan, Monica Barbaro, and Corey Hawkins.

Crime 101 is adapted by Barry Layton and Peter Straughan, with Layton also serving as director. Layton’s most recent film was 2018’s American Animals, while Straughan earned major accolades for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Conclave, the latter of which earned him the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Crime 101 brings the Heat

The latest trailer for Crime 101 presents a slick, action-packed crime thriller featuring a stunning cast, intense intrigue, nail-biting chase sequences, and witty one-liners. Interestingly, Crime 101 is getting compared to Michael Mann’s Heat, which we all know is a stone-cold classic. If Crime 101 brings even half the thrills of Mann’s 1995 cop drama, we’ll be in business.

Crime 101 releases on February 13, just in time for Valentine’s Day!

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Neon announced today that they will be giving director Oliver Laxe’s survival drama Sirāt a theatrical release in New York (at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center) and in Los Angeles (at Landmark’s Nuart Theatre and AMC Burbank 16) on Friday, February 6, with a nationwide rollout to follow in later February. Along with that announcement comes the unveiling of a trailer for the film, which can be seen in the embed above. Sirāt previously had a one-week Academy qualifying run in November. 

Accolades

A press release let us know that, “since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize, the film has emerged as one of the most acclaimed international films of the year. Sirāt is nominated for 2 Golden Globes including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Score, and 9 European Film Awards including Best European Film, Best Director, Actor, Screenwriter, Casting Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Production Designer and Sound Designer.  The film is also shortlisted in 5 categories for the 2026 Academy Awards including Best International Feature (Spain), Best Casting, Best Cinematography, Best Music (Original Score) and Best Sound. The movie is also nominated for 4 London Critics’ Circle Film Awards including Film of the Year, Foreign Language Film of the Year, Director of the Year and Technical Achievement for Laia Casanovas in Sound.”

Cast and Synopsis

Directed by Oliver Laxe (Fire Will Come) from a script he crafted with Santiago Fillol, the film has the following synopsis: A father (Sergi López) and his son arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. They are searching for Mar — daughter and sister — who vanished months ago at one of these endless, sleepless parties. Surrounded by electronic music and a raw, unfamiliar sense of freedom, they hand out her photo again and again. Hope is fading, but they push through and follow a group of ravers heading to one last party in the desert. As they venture deeper into the burning wilderness, the journey forces them to confront their own limits.

López is joined in the cast by Bruno Núñez Arjona, Richard Bellamy, Stefania Gadda, Joshua Liam Henderson, Tonin Janvier, and Jade Oukid.

Sirāt was produced by Domingo Corral, Oliver Laxe, Xavi Font, Pedro Almodóvar, Augustín Almodóvar, Esther Garcia, Oriol Maymo, Mani Mortazavi, and Andrea Queralt. A Spanish and French production, the film tells its story in the Spanish, French, English, and Arabic languages.

What did you think of the Sirāt trailer? Are you looking forward to seeing this movie on the big screen? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Two years ago, Lionsgate had a rough string of flops with films like Borderlands, The Crow remake and Francis Ford Coppola’s infamous Megalopolis not doing big business for the studio. However, this past year also saw releases like Ballerina, The Long Walk and Good Fortune. The studio will soon be taking big swings with a new Rambo and the task of encapsulating the life of Michael Jackson in the (two-part?) biopic Michael. However, Lionsgate also had a little holiday success with The Housemaid, which stars Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. Now, the studio is going forward with a sequel.

The Housemaid’s Secret

Lionsgate announces that after The Housemaid raked in $133 million in global ticket sales, the studio will now be adapting the second novel in the series, The Housemaid’s Secret, by author Freida McFadden. The Housemaid’s Secret has been in development for the past few months and production is planned to start sometime this year.

According to the press release, screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine, who adapted The Housemaid, will also return to adapt the sequel. The producers on the sequel are set to include Todd Lieberman of Hidden Pictures, alongside Paul Feig and Laura Fischer of Feig’s Pretty Dangerous Pictures, who are also returning as producers, with Hidden Pictures’ Carly Elter and Alex Young and The Housemaid star Sydney Sweeney will be executive producing. McFadden will also serve as an executive producer. The project is being developed with the intention of director Paul Feig and stars Sydney Sweeney & Michele Morrone making a return.

Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chair, Adam Fogelson, stated, “It’s clear from both the global box office and from the outpouring on social media that audiences have responded strongly – and audibly – to the totally unique and truly theatrical experience of The Housemaid and want to know what happens next. We believed in these stories from the very beginning, and we are beyond excited to bring the next chapter of Millie’s story to life on-screen in collaboration with our outstanding creative partners, Todd, Paul, Laura, Carly, Alex, and Sydney. The Housemaid’s Secret is another wildly thrilling book in Freida’s series that has captivated readers worldwide, and we look forward to translating it into a similarly rousing and riotous moviegoing experience.”  

Director Paul Feig also added, “It’s been thrilling to see audiences around the world fall in love with The Housemaid and the incredible work of our talented cast and crew. We’re lucky that Freida McFadden has already extended Millie’s journey on the page, and that we get to work with Rebecca Sonnenshine and Lionsgate to bring this next story to audiences.”

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Mike

The early ’90s were a buffet of sexy danger for thriller fans, and today’s unheralded 1992 man-vs-man-for-all-the-marbles psycho-fest has it all. It’s a creepy stalker movie packed with all-time great actors and a look into what happens when a happy couple has their world wrecked by inner-city crime reaching into their suburban safe haven. This movie is full of sex, horror, and questionable decisions. It even ends with a fistfight in the kitchen that makes the Halloween Ends Laurie vs. Michael Myers throwdown look like a gentle cuddle. Unfortunately, it also involves a scene depicting police brutality during a boiling point in America, something that cast a shadow over the film’s release and nearly buried it forever. This is the story of what happened to Unlawful Entry.

The Simple, Terrifying Premise

There isn’t a ton of information about where the inspiration for Unlawful Entry came from. Maybe it was simply a desire to jump on the thriller boom with a psycho-cop angle. At its most basic level, the movie asks a genuinely unsettling question: Who do you call when the guy who wants your wife is a cop?

That question was explored by writers George Putnam (NYPD Blue, Deadwood), John Katchmer, and Lewis Colick, who would later write thrillers like Judgment Night and Domestic Disturbance. Largo Entertainment, fresh off several entertaining Fox releases including Point Break and The Super, optioned the script in the summer of 1991.

When Suburban Safety Shatters

The film follows Michael Carr, a wealthy but otherwise average guy, and his beautiful yet naive wife Karen. Their suburban bliss is shattered when a home intruder puts a knife to Karen’s throat after Michael fails to restrain him. The intruder flees, but the psychological damage is done. When the police arrive, Officers Pete Davis and Roy Cole take the report. Almost immediately, something feels off about Pete. His stare lingers too long. His interest in Karen is unmistakable. Even his partner senses it. From that moment on, you know this situation is going to spiral.

Horror From Both Sides of the Badge

What makes Unlawful Entry so effective is its two-pronged horror. On one level, it’s about a rage-fueled, mentally unstable cop roaming the streets of Los Angeles at night. On the other, it forces the audience to imagine what they’d do if that cop turned his attention toward their spouse.

To make matters worse, Karen is clearly drawn to Pete’s sad-eyed, misunderstood-cop persona. It’s a nightmare scenario for Michael, who soon finds himself targeted in the most sadistic ways possible. As Pete uses his authority and connections to dismantle Michael’s life piece by piece, Michael is forced to rise to the occasion to save both himself and his wife.

Jonathan Kaplan and a Perfectly Cast Trio

The film was directed by Jonathan Kaplan, best known for The Accused and a long list of music video work. His approach turns Unlawful Entry into a psychological karate kick aimed squarely at the average man’s worst fears.

Casting was crucial, and they nailed it.

Ray Liotta, fresh off Goodfellas and Field of Dreams, plays Officer Pete Davis in one of his most underappreciated performances. His presence is deeply unsettling. Sometimes he doesn’t even do anything, he just watches. His performance evokes echoes of Taxi Driver, Nightcrawler, and even American Psycho. The difference is that this Patrick Bateman has a badge.

Opposite him is Kurt Russell, who deserves serious credit for taking a role many actors would’ve passed on. For much of the movie, Russell plays a man who is powerless, scared, and being outmatched at every turn. But when the time comes, he snaps, and it’s deeply satisfying. Russell perfected this “everyman pushed too far” role in films like Breakdown and Executive Decision, and Unlawful Entry is an early example of how well he could sell it.

Roger Ebert even noted that Russell and Liotta felt like twisted reflections of one another on screen. Their face-off is pitch-perfect; more Cape Fear than traditional stalker fare.

Between them is Madeleine Stowe as Karen, delivering a performance that walks a tricky line. She’s strong, likable, and tragically blind to how dangerous Pete truly is. Stowe had already proven herself in erotic thrillers like Revenge, and here she makes Karen’s denial feel frustrating but believable. When the film shifts from stalking to full-blown slasher territory, Stowe sells the desperation and terror without losing the audience’s sympathy.

The supporting cast is stacked with reliable character actors, including Roger E. Mosley, Ken Lerner, and Deborah Offner, all adding weight to the story.

Real-World Tragedy and an Uncomfortable Parallel

Unlawful Entry was filmed in Los Angeles in 1991, and the production became unintentionally entangled with real-world events. On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was brutally beaten by LAPD officers following a high-speed chase. The footage was released publicly the next day. Unfortunately, Unlawful Entry featured a pivotal scene in which Officer Pete brutally assaults the man who broke into the Carrs’ home, partly to show off in front of Michael. As the Rodney King case unfolded and the 1992 LA riots erupted just two months before the film’s release, the similarities became impossible to ignore.

The director and producers heavily edited the scene, and the cast repeatedly emphasized in interviews that the film was intended purely as entertainment. Thankfully, audiences seemed to understand this context, and the film was able to survive rather than be erased.

Chaos on Set and a Reworked Ending

Behind the scenes, the production was just as intense as the movie itself. Liotta described Kaplan as “an intense little dude,” while Russell affectionately referred to him as “a frantic Santa Claus.” Stowe even admitted that while she and Liotta barely spoke off-camera, she found herself genuinely drawn to him while in character, a strange but telling detail.

The film’s ending was rewritten multiple times, leading to confusion even among the cast during filming. While some critics felt the final act was rushed, the chaotic energy actually works in the movie’s favor. The final confrontation between Michael and Pete is raw, frantic, and vicious, culminating in a kitchen fight that feels earned after all the psychological torment.

Yes, Even the Cat Matters

One unforgettable element of the film is the Carrs’ cat, Tiny, which was played by three different cats during production. The cat consistently prefers Pete over Michael, subtly undermining the old horror-movie idea that animals can sense evil. It’s a small but clever touch that adds another layer of humiliation and unease for Michael.

Even after everything Michael endures to save his family, the cat still chooses Karen over him. It’s darkly funny, strangely human, and maybe proof that I’ve watched this movie too many times.

Music, Release, and Legacy

Legendary composer James Horner scored the film, though not without some creative friction. Kaplan, whose father was composer Sol Kaplan, had very specific ideas about the music’s tone. The result is an underrated score that feels like a traditional thriller theme with just enough eerie restraint to avoid tipping the audience off too early.

Unlawful Entry hit theaters on June 26, 1992, opening in second place at the box office. It grossed over $10 million its first weekend and went on to earn $57 million domestically against a $23 million budget. A solid success. Critical reception was generally positive, with many reviewers praising Liotta’s performance while acknowledging some stretches in believability.

Final Verdict

Even if it doesn’t have the name recognition of Basic Instinct, Unlawful Entry remains one of the most entertaining, rewatchable, and well-acted thrillers from the golden age of the genre. And that is what happened to Unlawful Entry.

A couple of previous episodes of this show can be seen below. For more, check out the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel—and don’t forget to subscribe!

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