Black Hills (2025) - Upcoming Swedish Action Thriller

 

If a person had to end up in a prison anywhere in the world, I'm pretty sure that most would choose a country like Sweden. Black Hills is an upcoming Swedish action thriller that tells a tale of one such location. However, in it, the prison is called Black Hills Correctional Facility, and it is a place no one would wish to be. Here, an inmate by the name of Marius will have to fight his way to reach freedom.

Check out the film's trailer right here!

Directed by David Anghel and written by Jussi Ruotsalainen, the film offers an action-packed tale of redemption and survival. If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, Black Hills will be out across the streaming and VOD landscape, but you can also catch it on Vimeo right now!

Film Review: The Order (2024)

Bleak US thrillers set in the contemporary political and social landscape often pleasantly surprised me over the last few years. These can have an implied political message, like The Standoff at Sparrow Creek has, or they can be dealing in direct, borderline activist commentary like How to Blow up a Pipeline. The Order is a lot less willing to dive into the clear politics of the white nationalist movement in the US, but it still packs an engaging punch when it comes to its characters.

In the film, led by Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult, an FBI agent begins to track and gradually dismantle a white supremacist group that is slowly turning into a terrorist army. Based on the notion of The Turner Diaries effects on the angry young men of the inner US, as well as its impact on the hate groups preparing for a race war, the film covers actual events from the 1980s and their deadly impact on numerous families and individuals.

Justin Kurzel, who directed the film, allowed much of the story to take shape through its main characters, played by Law and Hoult, who act as the main driving forces, but on opposite sides. Here, Law in particular managed to create a transfixing character as the rundown, tired, but endlessly determined Agent Husk. That, along with a tense, minimalistic cinematography, produced a fantastic and very balanced thriller, which doesn't lose any steam towards the end. Ultimately, despite its hands-off approach to modern politics, The Order's story is still very much relevant for the contemporary US political landscape. 

Predator: Killer of Killers

Intensity and energy are the main hallmarks of Predator: Killer of Killers. These elements shine through from the first moment and keep up relentlessly throughout the film. That's not an easy feat in any genre, let alone feature-length animated movies. It is also important to note that the director, Dan Trachtenberg, who previously made, among other things, 10 Cloverfield Lane, has diverse experience working on atypical projects. That helped him to keep both going even though the majority of the film's storyline is broken into three separate vignettes. 

Each of these covers a different warrior on Earth, each in its period. That includes a Viking clash, a violent political turmoil in feudal Japan, and finally the Pacific theatre of WW2. In each, a predator seeks to find the strongest prey, take it down, and become the killer of killers. At the same time, the clueless humans hang desperately to nothing more than the raw desire to survive. 

The vignettes come together in the crescendo of the film, erupting in even more action and bloodshed. But, these work together perfectly with rough but still defined characters, each from a different era and culture. Through a well-chosen style of animation, the desperate humans, just like the unwavering predators, managed to offer one of the best films in this franchise. Simply put, Predator: Killer of Killers is truly a killer movie (I had to go there).

Film Review: Conclave (2024)

 

Electing a new pope of the Catholic church is all about rituals, Conclave shows us. But, what ritual is more ancient and more sacred than the ritual of politics, where powerful players jock and muscle for the leading position? In the film, directed by Edward Berger, the process of choosing a new pontiff ebbs and flows with the internal politics of the Catholic factions. Will the conservatives take over the reins, or will the liberals prevail and move the dogma into a more inclusive and powerful chapter? 

The key element of those struggles is Thomas Lawrence, played by Ralph Fiennes, who presides as the dean over the College of Cardinals. Once they agree, the election of the pope is over and the new leader of the church will take his spot at its head. To the outside world, that is the moment when the black smoke above the Sistine Chapel turns white. 

However, Lawrence’s position begins to complicate as he comes into possession of new information about the wishes of his close friend, the recently deceased pope. With each voting cycle that fails to find the new head of the church, the doubts and fears of Lawrence intensify. As this happens, Finnes masterfully presents this emotional turmoil by embodying a person who otherwise seems like calmness and reason personified.

Gradually, here’s where the film makes its transition from a documentary-like feature to a political thriller. On that road, Berger avoids taking any paths that even hint at violence - despite violence occurring on a grander scale - and keeps the film about people, their ambitions, and their beliefs. This, as Conclave shows, is a much more complicated and self-examining issue than it first might appear. Through that process, the movie builds into an impressive feature about the nature of power and human needs that fuel it, even though the same tale is told through a lens of ritualistic but very brutal politics.

Film Review: Alien: Romulus (2024)

 

Well-made horrors usually tend to include some form of elegant simplicity. Recently, works like Oddity excelled in that regard. But, when you're dealing with a massive, world-famous franchise like Alien, it's a lot harder to keep things simple. Luckily for all fans of sci-fi and horror, director Fede Álvarez managed to pull this off with Alien: Romulus.

The simplicity begins with the plot - on a destitute corporate world where the Weyland-Yutani corporation turns workers into slaves, a group of young people wants to escape and find a better life among the stars. The way to do it is to reach a derelict space station and recover the necessary gear for their years-long journey. On the same space station, however, a xenomorph awaits.

The plot is simple, while the elegance of the film comes from the clever obstacles and dangers that the scavenger team tries to overcome, as well as some gorgeous cinematography. The cast is securely led by Cailee Spaeny, who echoes the collected composure of the much more famous Ellen Ripley. At the same time, the film does not suffer from injected nostalgia or oppressive homages, even though it does transplant (pun intended) one of the original characters into the plot.

The presence of that character, like everything else in the film, is ultimately very smooth. From start to finish, Alien: Romulus is probably the most worthy successor to the first film that was made so far, which is why both the cast and crew deserve a lot of praise.

Film Review: Heretic (2024)

 

Hugh Grant's transformation is truly a spectacular sight to behold. From a bumbling but very charming Englishman, through his career, Grant grew into something that can possess so many horrible human forms. Films like The Gentlemen and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre show a Grant that is sly, greedy, and selfish to the point of disgust. But in Heretic, he took his ability to inhabit unique villains to an entirely new level.

In this setup, he plays Mr. Reed, an elderly recluse who is visited by a pair of young women, acting as missionaries of the LDS Church. But, in his deceivingly humble home, Mr. Reed begins to question the church and their faith, slowly but surely putting them on a path of choices and terrible outcomes. As he does this, he remains both relatable and clearly driven, while each and every idea or question of his comes with a potentially sinister edge behind it.

The film, written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, navigates an interesting space that is brimming with social commentary - connecting things like versions of Jesus-like god throughout history with the Landlord's game - but remains a chilling horror tale that is constantly ratcheting up. The linchpin in all of that is Grant, of course, but both Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East do a great job of initially clueless missionaries engaging themselves in his web of choices and beliefs.

While there is a sense of constant danger that Heretic will slide into the tropes of other similar pawn-in-a-maze-like films, it dodges all of them and instead blossoms into a space neither too fresh nor too stale. Besides being a really good genre film, Heretic also convinced me that I can't wait for what new monsters Grant will create in his upcoming movies.