Child actors in nonverbal roles are making horror fans scream.

by Tracie Reddick

Horror recently saw an uptick in films using grief as a monster metaphor.

But there was another trend lurking in the shadows that has stepped out of the darkness and into the spotlight, placing an emphasis on the lives of nonverbal children.

Most notably was Millicent Simmonds role as Ruby in A Quiet Place), where she played a mute girl hunted by flesh-eating creatures that hunt by sound in a post-apocalyptic landscape.

But that 2018 film directed by John Krasinski, wasn’t the first time a non-speaking youngster was featured in a film.

Back in 1973, Guerdon Trueblood directed The Candy Snatchers, a film about an autistic boy who stumbles upon an teenage hieress hidden by kidnappers trying to extort diamonds from her stepfather.

Other movies have followed, including Silent Fall (1994), Don’t Say a Word (2001), Pixar’s 2020 short film, Loop, and Out of my Mind (2024).

Azhy Robertson’s role as Oliver in Jacob Chase’s film, Come Play (2020) is one of my favorites. He plays a lonely boy whose communication through smartphones and tablets is hijacked by a monster inside the machines.

And Gia Capouya captured Milly’s terror with terrific ease in Jem Garrard’s thriller, Takeout (2025), where things heat up at a remote diner when a serial killer targets the customers and staff.

Plus, Aiden Stoxx’s expressive eyes said it all in Nate Parker’s film, Newborn (2026), where he portrayed Jake, a nonverbal kid whose feelings are shaped by creations he sculpted in clay.

Navigating a world in silence can be scary but when thrust in the context of horror, these young actors are giving audience a new perspective on terror — without uttering a single word.

David Oyelowo shines in this psychological thriller.

by Tracie Reddick

Newborn is a fitting title for Nate Parker’s film currently streaming on PrimeVideo.

It stars David Oyelowo as Chris Newborn, an ex-con viewing life like an infant after his release from prison.

It’s not as hard-hitting as First Time Felon featuring Omar Epps as a young, black man faced with a choice: Spend five years behind bars or enroll in a diversionary, military-styled, boot camp.

Directed by Charles “Roc” Dutton, who served five years for manslaughter, the 1997 HBO drama was released at the height of the crack epidemic that fueled the prison pipeline.

Although incarceration stats have since declined, they are still dismal.

According to The Sentencing Project, one in five black men born in 2001 will wind up behind bars at some point in their lives.

That makes Parker’s film just as relevant as the one Dutton produced 29 years ago.

Oyelowo gives a moving performance, brilliantly demonstrating how prolonged stints in detention recalculates the brains of inmates.

Once they are freed, their minds remain locked up, causing them to behave like one of Pavloh’s dogs waiting for a command to move.

Nevertheless, the film has some minor flaws, working best best when it sticks to its dramatic roots.

However, halfway through, Parker veers into the horror lane, making a wrong turn in a blatant rip-off of The Shining (1980).

Oyelowo’s character spent seven years in solitary confinement and begins to unravel while staying at a secluded lodge under reconstruction.

On the flipside, the supernatural imagery is interesting. Like:

• Constant images of inmates moving in and out of cells was a metaphor for the revolving doors of the criminal justice system.
• Inmate heads mounted on walls like animals represent glorified incarceration stats that become prized weapons for advocates against prison reform.
• Inmates lying in holes is an example of how prisoners dig their own graves, oftentimes dying unceremoniously behind bars.

Also, Olivia Washington was excellent in her role as Oyelowo’s ride or die girlfriend, Tara.

Their relationship reminded me of Director Charles Murray’s film, The Devil You Know (2022), which also starred Epps as an ex-con trying to juggle a new relationship while dealing with inner demons and family drama.

Surprisingly, Tyler Perry’s latest film, Doing Life (2026) also comes to mind. It’s about a guard and a prisoner who find love after lock-up.

Shout-out to Aiden Stoxx for his portrayal as Oyelowo’s nonverbal son, Jake.

Throughout the film, Oyelowo encourages Jake to protect his mind, thus sending a message to black viewers reluctant to seek therapy to get help.

Overall, Newborn is an engaging film about restitution, resilience and redemption.

It offers a ray of hope for those struggling with mental illness and is a plea for society to show grace to ex-cons who’ve done their time.

After all, we all fall down and deserve second chances, right?

What do you do when your favorite series is neutralized?

by Tracie Reddick

Don’t you hate it when a streaming service adds a new series to its line-up and you begin watching it, not realizing there’s no resolution to the storyline.

Me, too.

I was totally engrossed in Hulu’s The Other Black Girl, a mini-series based on a novel by Zakiya Harris.

Directed by Rashida Jones, the series revolves around Nella (Sinclair Daniel), the lone black woman working at a predominately white publishing company that’s literally hiding a dark secret.

It’s in the form of Hazel (Ashleigh Murray), a newly hired sistah on a mission to sabotage Nella’s upward mobility.

Then BOOM goes the dynamite - the show ended with a banging cliffhanger that still has me wondering if Hazel completed her task.

Yeah, I know. Shows get cancelled all the time, but why is always the ones on my watchlist! Like:

• Black Summer — A post-apocalyptic zombie thriller directed by John Hyams that was lauded for its intense action yet stopped airing new episodes after its second season.
• V Wars — Brad Turner directed this show about a scientist who returns from an Artic expedition, spreading a virus that turned folks into vampires and was praised for its political and social commentary.
• Kingdom — Directed by Kim Seong-hun, this South Korean zombie flick is about a Prince battling traitors within his inner-circle and invading flesh-eaters scaling his palace walls.

All three of the above mentioned shows debuted in 2019 and are currently streaming on Netflix.

They are examples of cancelled series that haunted me after their demise.

Are there any shows that made you wonder if the characters lived happily ever after once they vanished into the airways ether?

How do you define a recent spate of hangings involving African Americans across the South?

by Tracie Reddick

One death can be easily ruled a suicide. Two, a coincidence. Three establishes a pattern.

Ten is a crisis representing the number of black people found dangling from tree limbs this year in Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Tennesse and Alabama.

Although the jurisdictions varied, all of the deaths were classified as self-inflicted suicides.

Is that possible? According to the Center for Disease Control: Yes.

Between 2014 and 2024, the agency reported suicide rates among African Americans of all ages spiked by 50%, outpacing other racial and ethnic groups.

And for the first time, black boys, aged 16 to 29, died at a higher rate than their white peers.

Question is: Why are black folks suddenly taking their own lives?

Several reasons have been cited and included an access to firearms, racism, mental illness, drug addiction and depression.

All of those theories seem like reasonable explanations.

But is it plausible to think black people, from different states and backgrounds, are turning into Donnie Darko (2001), setting off a twisted, death-by-lynching trend?

Or is something more sinister happening? Maybe.

Keep in mind, some folks still believe the Ku Klux Klan was responsible for the 28 children murdered in Atlanta between 1979–81.

And since all of the recent hangings of black folks have occurred in the South, the racial undertones are glaring.

For example, an Equal Justice Institute report revealed 6,500 black people were lynched in America between 1865 and 1976.

That number could be higher. Many attacks on black people perpetrated by white mobs were unreported — and oftentimes sanctioned by the police.

Critics claim law enforcement agencies are covering up the hangings, brushing them off as suicides in the same way they label missing minorities as runaways.

As a result, there is a notion that a serial killer is hunting young, vulnerable black individuals, hanging their bodies in trees like skinned animals.

Case in point: Syriah Henderson.

Back in July, the 29-year-old, mother of three, was discovered hanging from a tree limb behind a Dollar Tree Store in St. Petersburg, Florida.

A month eariler, To’Nea Miller, 27, a Michigan native, was found a few miles away, strung from a tree limb in a Miami park.

Henderson and Miller are among the five women comprising half of the 10 hanging victims.

It’s a fact worth noting since black men are four times more likely to kill themselves than black women and they usually die from self-inflicted gun injuries.

Until now.

It appears black folks are gathering ropes, climbing trees in public spaces, wrapping one end of a cord over a branch and the other around their necks before leaping to their deaths.

At least that’s the hypothesis the police are pushing.

On the flipside, family members of the victims contend their deceased loved ones weren’t contemplating suicide. They had a zest for life.

Thing is, what seperates the truth from a lie is the credibility of the story teller. So, who do you believe?

Before you answer, factor in the 70 other cases of so-called, self-infliced suicides that reportedly date back to 2000.

Do you really think all those black folks got up one morning and decided to lynch themselves?

Larry Ulrich takes AI-generated filmmaking to the next level.

by Tracie Reddick

Have you seen Rufus? No, not Chaka Khan’s band mates.

I’m talking about the dark-skinned, digital dude that’s blurring the line between fantasy and reality.

He’s the hero in a full-fledged, futuristic, action-packed, AI-generated western produced by Larry Ulrich, a Los Angeles based filmmaker.

Yeah, the dialogue is cheesy. So much so, I was ready to call bullshit within the first five minutes.

Out of curiosity, I kept watching.

As a visual learner, I must say the imagery and special effects were mesmerizing, making it difficult to look away.

Therefore, if you’re willing to view the movie with an open mind, it could possibly expand your thinking on AI technology.

It’s a game changer for minority screenwriters like myself, giving us direct access to the production process without having to rely on Hollywood gatekeepers to greenlight our projects.

Ulrich is a one-man, movie-making machine who wrote, directed, edited and voiced all the characters in the film.

That’s not an easy process.

If you’ve ever used Copilot then you know the step-by-step, command prompts are not only cumbersome but don’t always compute.

Thankfully, the message wasn’t lost in Ulrich’s translation.

Rufus does not come across as a cartoonish version of an animated video game character.

He pops on the screen, sorta like watching the crystal clear image of someone on a high definition television for the first time.

All of the characters are realistic, to the point where you wanna reach out and touch them. This makes it easy to pay less attention to the lame dialects and focus more on the words coming out of their mouths.

Cuz the movie does have a compelling message.

Streaming on the Roku Channel and PrimeVideo, Ulrich’s three -part series revolves around Rufus, the sheriff of Compton set in the wild, wild west.

He is a chosen figure with cybernetic abilities derived from a glowing, Ethiopian Bible that hums.

Ethiopia is the only African region that wasn’t colonized by slave traders.

And since Africa is viewed as the cradle of civilization, the Bible in Ulrich’s story is considered the last sacred text that contains the true history of mankind via oral stories passed down by tribal griots.

At some point the Bible was stolen and kept from the public by the powers that be, who rewrote the passages and white washed the faces touted in traditional bibles.

It is reclaimed by the town of Compton after Grisby, a railroad tycoon, stages a heist, hoping to steal the good book from a private collector.

After being gunned down by Grisby’s henchmen, the collector makes his way to Compton, a free slave settlement, turning the Bible over to the town before dying.

Now that the rightful people possess the Bible’s power, Compton is transformed into a futuristic city where the folks flourish by following its instructions on technological advancements.

Grisby stops at nothing to reclaim the good book, including sending in the calvary to burn down the town, much like historical black, business districts were attacked by white mobs in Rosewood, Florida and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

It’s a show-stopping, cliff-hanging moment that leaves you wanting more.

Nevertheless, there will be naysayers dismissing the movie simply because its AI generated.

To that I say: Those who can, do. Those that can’t, complain — becoming shields for those in charge to maintain their control via scare tactics.

Ready or not, AI is coming to a theater near you. In fact, it has already arrived.

It’s now commonplace for directors to incorporate CGI special effects as part of their production process. Examples include Late Night With the Devil (2024) and Alien: Romulus (2024).

Plus, it’s almost hypocritical to make an argument against AI when it’s a part of our daily lives. I’m not gonna look for a dictionary or thesarus when I have Google at my fingertips providing instant answers.

The decision to work smarter rather than harder isn’t complicated.

AI is the next step in the evoluion of media that has progressed from radio to television to video to the Internet and now spanning into the digital universe.

Ulrich is an innovator who has capitolized on a technology that, in a worse case scenario, could destroy the world.

Or in this instance, created a new dimension based on the imagination of a filmmaker who isn’t afraid to boldy go where others are too scared to tread.

Overall, I thought Rufus was a remarkable tale where family and friends relied on their faith to defeat their foes.

It had tension that delved in the colorism theme revolving around the rivalry between Rufus and his mixed-race brother, Cain, giving us another layer of a good vs. evil battle.

Plus, it harkened back to a time when black folks lifted one another up instead of gunning each other down in the streets.

This was illustrated through the foot-stomping, hand-clapping music and dancing, as well as the traditional soul food at the cookout and the domino games around the camp fire.

I’d describe it as Buck and the Preacher (1972) dipped in Django Unchained (2012) and wrapped in the Wakanda world depicted in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther (2018).

I see you, Larry. Keep shining.

Mike Flanagan turns a shy, misfit teen into a fire-inducing, warrior princess.

“People don’t get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter, you don’t stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it.” — Stephen King, Carrie excerpt.

by Tracie Reddick

That’s some pig.

Somebody give Mike Flanagan a blue ribbon for putting lipstick on a sow.

That’s how Stephen King described the fat, unkempt girl with a noxious odor who became the namesake of his 1974 novel, Carrie. Hence the reason for covering her in pig’s blood.

Brian de Palmer created a thinner version of the bullied teen who turned the tables on her tormentors in his 1976 film based on the book.

It was a straight-forward, simple tale that didn’t require a lot of dressing up.

Yet, Flanagan adorns Carrie with all sorts of bells and whistles in his modern-day makeover streaming on PrimeVideo, thus giving her a broader appeal to a new generation of fans.

Did it work? Art is subjective, so it depends on who you ask.

For me, de Palmer’s Carrie is like a refreshing bottle of classic Coke. There have been attempts to tinker with the formula, but ultimately, ain’t nothing like the real thing.

When it comes to Flanagan’s version, mistakes were made.

His eight-part miniseries takes Carrie out of her 1970s, high school bubble, popping her into a 21st Century campus.

Summer H. Howell does a magnificent job capturing Carrie’s angst as a naive, home-schooled kid forced to navigate a public school minefield of metal detectors, active shooter drills and teen dramas played out on digital devices.

Casting Matthew Lillard as the principal was an interesting choice considering he played the role of Stu in West Craven’s Scream (1996), where he tried to become Internet famous by slaughtering his classmates.

Here, Carrie’s popularity spreads like a wild fire after she becomes the target of an explosive cyber-bullying campaign.

She is rescued by an invisible sidekick, Emaline (Thalia Dudek), who helps Carrie develop her telekenetic power while amplifying her voice.

Instead of using her words, Carrie prefers to dole out a fist full of fury in small doses.

Question is: What is the lesson behind her actions?

Before you answer, flashback to de Palmer’s Carrie who schooled audiences on a new version of the Three R’s: Revenge, regret and remorse.

After Carrie killed her classmates, she repented, realizing her soul was corrupted by evil, thus turning her into a monster.

This made it easy for folks to feel her pain and justify her rage.

Still, it’s interesting to note how in the 1999 sequel, followed by the 2002 television movie and the 2013 reboot, Carrie becomes less conscious of her feelings, transforming into more of a mean girl with each reincarnation.

In Flanagan’s version, she’s a full-fledged baddie who throws the first blow, admittedly enjoying inflicting pain on others long before any swine blood is spilled.

I think this is where the series misses the mark. In an era of school shootings do you really want to glorify a two wrongs don’t make a right, it makes us even philosophy?

Violence begets violence.

Therefore, you have to wonder if the arrest of two 15-year-old girls who were planning to gun down their classmates on Oct 7th, the same day the series aired, was a coincidence or a sinister warning.

Young minds are impressionable.

If the character doesn’t take responsibility for her actions, is it the filmmaker’s fault for the unchecked message that’s put out into the world?

There’s a lot of conflicting communication in this series where women directed four of the eight episodes. (Flanagan produced the others.)

A monologue proceeds each segment, exploring how women have been persecuted by men throughout history. Yet, the young ladies in this series are victimizing each other. So much for girl power.

Not to mention Carrie is being hunted by an all-female secret society seeking to harness her powers, transferring us into King’s Firestarter (1984) universe.

It’s headed by Flanagan’s wife, Kate Siegel, who in a hypnosis scene reminiscent of Get Out (2017), she bypasses the sunken place, taking Carrie’s mom, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan), straight to King’s Dead Zone (1979).

And Margaret was also a bit of a hellraiser who bullied teachers, parents and Carrie’s nemesis, Chris (Alison Thornton). To me, both girls were two sides of the same coin: insecure, daddy girl’s with serious mommy issues.

I found it fascinating that as Chris’ star began to fall and Carrie’s started to rise, there was a shift in power and empathy.

I felt sorry for Chris during this switch-up cuz at this point Carrie is no longer a victim — or even a participant in her own story.

It’s been hijacked by Emaline, who takes away Carrie’s agency and autonomy since she does most of her dirty work, including turning the prom into a literal blast.

That’s why the ending felt like an anti-climatic, after-school special that went awry since the moral compass highlighted in the first film is missing in this one.

Plus, the removal of the religious dogma spewed by Margaret in the original film, which is what gave Carrie — and the film — a creepy tone.

I was all in until those final moments turned the miniseries into less of a horror story and more of a whiney, battle-cry: I’m a victim, boo-hoo-hoo! I was abused, how ‘bout you? Me, too!

Carrie and Emaline dancing in the streets, taking pleasure in the destruction they’ve caused then others blaming the mayhem on someone else in the aftermath was not, well, a shining moment.

Where’s the accountability? This was more about payback than penance.

If there is a second season, hopefully it’s not a continuation of this agenda where meek girls don’t rise above their mean spirited classmates but become all the rage by blending in with the pack.

Everyone is wielding a knife in Peacock’s new Friday the 13th miniseries — except Jason. Therein lies the problem.

by Tracie Reddick

There was a time when it was taboo for serial killers to target underage adolescents.

Then along came Friday the 13th.

Released during the conservative, Reagan-era, Just Say No campaigns, the 1980 slasher film served as a cautionary tale about what happens to kids who engage in premarital sex and experiment with illegal drugs.

Directed by Sean S. Cunningham, the movie was also a blueprint on delivering death blows and human butchery.

Other filmmakers not only followed Cunningham’s lead, but tried to top his extreme, over-the-top, creative kills.

Written by Victor Miller, the story revolved around Pamela Voorhees, a religious mom who went beserk after youth counselors allowed her son Jason to drown at a sleepaway camp.

Ultimately, she was beheaded and Jason stepped into her shoes as a slayer of sinners in the 1981 sequel, sealing his fandom as a supernatural, psycho killer with an Oedipus complex that would have made Norman Bates blush.

In total, the franchise produced a dozen films, ending in 2009 with a reboot of the original movie.

Therefore, Jason fans were excited about the arrival of Peacock’s miniseries focusing on his back story.

The eight-part miniseries was created by Brad Kane and produced by Michael Lennox, Celine Held, Logan George and Quyen Tran.

Do you call it a sequel, prequel or simply a mindfuck since it pulls you into events that happened after Jason’s death while looping back to circumstances surrounding his birth.

This muddled back to the future approach is a messy retelling of the legend that introduces too many new characters with plot lines that aren’t connected to Jason.

Plus, those cast in original roles are not only unrecognizable but appear lost in this new beginning.

Case in point: Pam Voorhees.

Betsy Palmer’s version of the unhinged, frumpy, Bible-thumping mom who was hellbent on introducing campers to their maker set the creepy tone that lives on in our minds.

Linda Cardellini stars as Pam in the Peacock series. She does a good job working with the material she was given, but the makeover is a bit much.

Mrs. Voorhees has morphed into a sexy, lounge singer turned Stepford wife turned government assassin turned guardian of the good and reminds me of Marge (Ronee Blakley), the spaced-out, suburban mom from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). She’s unbelievable.

Plus, the old mom doted over Jason. New Pam is so preoccupied with protecting another misfit camper, Grace (Gwendolyn Sundstrum), that he literally becomes invisible.

But more importantly, why is this voyeuristic, little girl being groomed by hippies that are preying on underage campers in reel time? It felt wrong and unnecessary.

Prior to tuning into Crystal Lake, I watched Mike Flanagan’s take on the Stephen King classic, Carrie (1976) that’s currently streaming on PrimeVideo. So, comparisons are inevitable.

Like Pam setting fires, seemingly incapable of controlling her emotions while talking to her invisible son and being tracked by a secret society.

Yes, she killed Kevin Bacon in the 1980 film. Why is she now murdering everybody that comes six degrees of separating her from Jason?

Homegirl is ripping off jaw bones, slashing out eye sockets, making it clear she ain’t trying to hear anything from anybody that speaks or sees evil.

Question is, why did she attack the black, hippie chick with such ferociousness? Her beef was with the other carefree girl, Harmony, who she let escape. To that I say: Kiss my grits!

Then I remembered, this is the franchise that set the trend for showing no mercy when it comes to slicing and dicing sistahs. Remember the beheading of Sissy (Renee Jones) in Jason Lives (1986)? Nuff said.

I typically don’t watch slasher films. However, Friday the 13th has a special place in my heart. It was the first franchise to consistenly cast black actors long before DEI was a thing.

Yeah, we died within the first few minutes. Still, turning Jason into an equal opportunity killer was a big deal.

In my young mind, it dispelled the notion that serial killers only targeted white folks. As a horror fan, it took me off the sideline, placing me smack dab in the middle of the nightmare.

I remember hooting and hollering for Ali (Nick Savage) and Fox (Gloria Chiles) in the third movie filmed in 3-D; Reggie the Reckless (Shavar Ross) in A New Beginning (1985); and Julius (Vincent Dupree), the trash-talking boxer in The New Beginning (1988).

And who could forget when Jason turned into a homeboy? Ya’ll did! In Jason Goes to Hell (1993), the masked murderer used the body of the black coroner (Richard Gant) as his first vessel for demonic possession.

Props to the writers for carrying on this tradition by casting Will Catlett as the sheriff, a role that not only had substance but defied the typical now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t, sterotypical tropes usually reserved for black guys.

I could go on. But I digress.

If you recall, the original film pointed out Jason drowned in 1957 and when the camp reopened the next year, Pam went on her killing spree.

It never gave the full story behind his deformed appaearance, which made him an outcast.

So, I appreciate the gesture that was made to connect those dots.

It appears Pam was part of some top secret progam that experimented on pregnant women during the 1950s, a time frame coinciding with the Atomic age.

Her prenatal, mind-altering medications and post radiation treatments inflicted upon Jason resulted in his jug head and other side effects that included sporadic growth spurts and an addiction to violence.

In other words, whatever he kills makes him stronger — and downright indestructible.

OK, go ahead and have your eye roll moment. It’s a bit cheesy. However, it does explain how he died a kid and returned as a grown ass, axe-wielding man.

Plus, it was tragic, yet cool, how he was submerged in a bathtub filled with water for a prolonged period of time as an infant and survived. Hence, explaining how he later emerged from the lake after he drowned.

Then you saw him frockling through the forest like a kitty, bringing dead offerings to a Vietnam Vet who sees dead people. It’s a one-way, trauma bond cuz when the Vet sees Jason, he’s like: That’s not my scarecrow!

Yep, killer Jason finally shows up in the final episode in the same way he did in the 1981 follow-up sequel, wearing a burlap sack with a one-eye cutout and accompanied by the iconic whisper: Kill, kill, kill, kill! Die, die, die, die!

They stayed true to the story since Kane Holder didn’t don the iconic hockey mask until the third sequel and wore it for the last time in the eighth sequel, Jason X (2002).

That’s when New Line Cinema took over the franchise and replaced Holder with a Canadian actor and made him face-off against Freddy Kreuger.

If there is a second season it would be awesome to see Holder return in the role he made famous. His departure was an act that was as egregious as replacing Wesley Snipes as Blade (1998). Don’t get me started …

Here’s the deal, have you ever watched a singing competition where a contestant messes with the arrangment of a beloved song. At first, it seems interesting but then you can’t sing along or get into the groove of the new melody.

Although it’s different, technically it’s the same song.

That’s how I felt after watching Crystal Lake.

It wasn’t a bad series, it just wasn’t the same Jason story.

I think if they tweaked the rough scene transitions and tightened up the storytelling by editing out some of the fluff, it could have been better.

Overall, it didn’t equal the Carrie origin story by Flanagan, which also took some weird turns but was nonetheless was more engaging. (Stay tuned for my upcoming review.)

Truth be told, neither of them matched Director Andy Muschietti’s It: Welcome to Derry another origin tale streaming on HBO/Max.

I find clowns more annoying that scary, which is why IT is my least favorite Stephen King novel. I hated the television series and every subsequent film. Surprisingly, I thought the HBO/Max series had awesome special effects and the story was entertaining, from start to finish.

Get Out and Obsession both feature women who’ve mastered the art of saying no.

by Tracie Reddick

Sometimes you just gotta say no — and mean it.

Like Georgina (Betty Gabriel) in Get Out (2017) and Nikki (Inde Navarrette) in Obsession (2026).

They didn’t just speak the word they turned it into an unforgettable, one-syllable monologue.

But, who said it best?

Check out the videos below and decide.

Here’s a chill factor forecast for horror films releasing in the second half of the year.

by Tracie Reddick

Six months into the new year and the horror genre is heating up with some super cool fall films. Check out the line-up.

JULY/AUGUST Summer Wrap-up

7/3 — Lock Box: Directed by Daniel Stamm, it’s a possession thriller about a woman trying to stop an evil entity from entering her cousin.

7/7 — Black Box: Directed by Steven Quale, it’s about passengers battling alien entities that invade their plane.

7/10 — Evil Dead Burn: Directed by Sebastian Vanicek, this is a standalone feature designed to expand the franchise’s dark mythology and relentless Deadite chaos.

7/24 — Her Private Hell: Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn it’s a stylized thriller about a woman searching for her father and a man trying to save his daughter from hell in a futuristic city engulfed in a neon mist.

8/7 — The Last House: Directed by Louis Laterrier this post-apocalyptic survivor film will debut on Netflix and is about a family inside a sealed house contemplating what to do as resources dwindle and a deadly threat outside prevents them from escaping.

8/7 - Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma: Directed by Jane Schoenbrun, this psychological thriller is about a filmmaker who falls under the spell of a reclusive actress who was the final girl in an old horror film she’s trying to reboot.

8/7 — Ice Cream Man: Director Eli Roth brings terror to the suburbs as a mysterious guy in a frozen treat truck turns popsicle eating kids into cold-hearted killers.

8/21 — Insidious 6: Out of the Further: Director Jacob Chase offers a sequel to Insidious: The Red Door (2023) in the 6th installment of the Insidious franchasie.

8/28 - Colony: Director …

SEPTEMBER

9/2 - Fall 2: Dead Point: Director Michael and Peter Spierig direct this thriller about a rockslide that traps two climbers 3,000 feet above ground Thailand’s Mount Kwan. Arsema Thomas (Luce) is among the cast.

9/4 — Onslaught: Director Adam Wingard’s survivor thriller is about a mom trying to save her daughter from rogue, super-soldiers that escaped from a military facility. Reginald VelJohnson, Leon M. Brown, Malik Watson and Steven Shelby are among the cast.

9/9 — Hope: Na Hong-jin directs this South Korean film about a remote village invaded by otherworldly entities. Taylor Russell is featured in the film.

9/18 — Resident Evil — Director Zach Cregger’s reboot of the franchise is set in modern times following the viral outbreak in Racoon City depicted in Resident Evil 2 (1998).

OCTOBER

10/1 — Terrifier 4: Director Damien Leone fills us in on Art the Clown’s origin story.

10/15 — Whalefall: Directed by Brian Duffield, this visually hypnotizing survivor thriller is based on a Daniel Kraus novel about a scuba diver swallowed by an 80-foot sperm whale.

10/23 — Clayface: Inspired by the 1992 animated Batman series episode, Feat of Clay. Ripped from the DC Universe, it’s about a disfigured actor whose experimental facelift has devasting side effects. Naomie Ackie is featured in the film set before the events of the 2025 Superman movie, making it the first film release out of order in the franchise. It’s directed by James Watkins.

NOVEMBER

11/6 — G Minus Zero: This Japanese kaiju film is directed by Takashi Yamazaki and is the 39th film in the franchise. It’s a sequel to G Minus One (2023), streaming on Netflix and the new film debuts on a date hailed as Godzilla Day since it coincides with the release of the original 1954.

11/20 — Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping: Francis Lawrence directs this prequel-sequel exploring the origins of Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), the mentor from the original trilogy, as a young man competing in the 50th Hunger Games .

DECEMBER

12/25 — Werwulf: Director Robert Eggers offer a gothic take on the hairy, half-human horror hound.

……….

The Caged: Directd by Jeffrey Scott Collins, this folk horror is based on a real haunted house in Essex, England that was at the center of the 16th Century St. Osyth witch trials. Donald Sales stars as Det. Rousch. Release TBA.

This new Peacock thriller lacks suspense and a rational storyline.

by Tracie Reddick

Tyler Perry and Blumhouse teamed up to produce Strung (2026), a new film streaming on Peacock.

It’s a fitting title considering it strings viewers along in this tired thriller featuring performances that are as awkward as the above stated partnership.

Directed by Malcolm D. Lee, the plot revolves around Laila (Chloe Bailey), a music teacher hired to give piano lessons to Zuri (Romy Woods) at the creepy little girl’s lavish estate.

It’s a house full of fragile folks who blend in with the expensive decor where everything and everyone has an assigned place.

Like Laila.

She moves into the home and while bonding with her protege, immediately notices something ain’t quite right.

Yet, she ignores her instincts in a film that’s supposedly about trusting your gut.

As Laila, Bailey delivers a bland performance that’s all over the place, much like this messy, mundane movie that’s a two-hour slow burn that fails to simmer.

Although it’s written by Alan McElroy, it feels like a Tyler Perry script.

It’s basically a lackluster version of Netflix’s horror-thriller, The Perfection (2018), which is about a black, gifted musician and her mentor uncovering a cult connection at their prestigious performing arts academy.

Then there’s Zuri, always wearing a Zulu mask that gives off Us (2019) vibes.

However, it’s suppose to symbolize the Paul Laurence Dunbar poem, We Wear the Mask, which is about black folks having two personalities: one for the world to see and the other representing their authentic selves.

Like the elegant yet fake grandmother, Audra, played by the incomparable Lynn Whitfield, who is the best part of this film.

That beig said, I believe in giving credit when its due. Coco Jones was cool, too, portraying a more relaxed and relatable role as Jasmine. It made me wonder if the pacing of this film would have been better with her as Lalia.

Nevertheless, Lynn was the show stopper. It was fun to watch her transform from refined to wretched.

However, it wasn’t enough to save this storyline.

There were way too many moving parts that tried to come together in the end, but it was too much, too little, too late.

And you should never change the antagonist in the final minutes of a film. That’s Scriptwriting 101.

Yeah, it’s not difficult to figure the pregnant mom, Imani (Anna Diop), is a red herring meant to throw you off the scent of her galavanting, flip-flopping husband, Marcus (Lucien Lauiscoumt).

His motive was ridiculous. This guy murdered his best friend, married his wife and is devised a plot to kill his stepdaughter because his soon to be born son was left out of a will that was written years earlier.

Really? Ya’ll need to do a better job connecting those dots cuz you failed to fill the plot hole with that raggedy scheme.

And the real villain reveal didn’t make any sense either.

If Audra hated her dead son-in-law simply because he was a rapper, she’s not going to murder her granddaughter, the benefactor of his riches, which coincidentily is supporting her lavish lifestyle.

It would make more sense for her to kill Imani since she’s screwing Marcus and her daughter is the legal guardian of Zuri’s trust, thus giving her access to the funds since the child is a minor.

Not this cockamamie story about Audra finally obtaining a worthy heir, which takes us down a different path, detouring into light-skin v. dark-skin black folks.

And why is Imani oblivious to everything that’s going on? She’s basically a prop that serves no other purpose other than to look pretty.

She doesn’t even blink an eye when the crystal chandelier crushes Audra, cutting her face to show the inner ugliness mirrored in her reflection.

Overall, the plot is pretty much a moot point since they didn’t have to go through all that rigmarole to obtain their end goal.

So, in the grand scheme of things, the entire movie is meaningless and a total waste of time.