Black Gate

A new, twenty-film watch-a-thon, this time looking at horror films from around the world. The rules are the same — they must be films I haven’t seen before, and they must be free to stream.

With a bit of luck, this new watch project will feature a lot more quality films as I unearth horror from around the globe. With that said…

Uncaged (AKA Prey) – Netherlands – (2016)

We are introduced to Lizzy (Sophie van Winden) with her hand down a crocodile’s gullet, trying to retrieve a cellphone. This tells us a couple of things; she’s fearless, and she’s okay working with large animal puppets. This will come in useful. Lizzy is called in by the police as an expert after some folks turn up mangled, having been mauled to death by something big. Following another attack on a golf course, a rogue lion is confirmed, and it seems to have set its sights on Amsterdam.

After a series of botched and bloody attempts to trap the beast, Lizzy teams up with her dodgy boyfriend, cameraman Dave (Julian Looman), and her old flame, British hunter Jack De La Rue (Mark Frost), who is confined to an impressive wheelchair due to the last lion he hunted biting his leg off. After much larking around, the final confrontation takes place in Amsterdam University, and things get messy for a fun climax.

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Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

I have been rewatching a few things as I move through this last part of 2025. I’m not sure why I’m feeling nostalgic, but I am. Part of that rewatch is BBC’s Merlin. I watched this as it aired, all the way back in 2008. I adored it then, and I adore it now. No doubt, part of the adoration now is very much tied to how much I loved it as I was discovering the series for the first time. A not insignificant part, however, is because this show is just good.

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A new, twenty-film watch-a-thon, this time looking at horror films from around the world. The rules are the same — they must be films I haven’t seen before, and they must be free to stream.

With a bit of luck, this new watch project will feature a lot more quality films as I unearth horror from around the globe. With that said…

Clementina – Argentina (2017)

I’m starting this new 20-film watch-a-thon with this masterful exploration of the trauma associated with domestic violence.

The true horror in this film from Jimena Monteoliva is the understanding that domestic violence in Argentina has escalated, with the perpetrators often escaping justice by fleeing the region.

The film begins with Juana, played with extraordinary rawness and vulnerability by Cecilia Cartasegna, lying curled up on the floor in a pool of her own blood, clutching her pregnant belly. We soon learn she has lost the baby, and her neighbour saw her husband, Mateo, running from the apartment.

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Sands of Oblivion (2007) – Tubi

Quite a mixed bag for this one; a cluster of decent actors, an intriguing storyline, a fun, practical monster, and then… SyFy CG effects, TV-safe horror, a dune buggy chase.

A bunch of scientists, Egyptologists, and film historians find themselves in the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes in Santa Barbara, CA, site of Cecil B. De Mille’s epic production of The Ten Commandments. They are there to oversee the digging up and relocation of the original sets, but wouldn’t you know it, old Cecil used real artifacts in his film, and one is a cursed amulet that sets free a demonic force hellbent on destroying the world.

Or something.

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A new 20-film watch-a-thon project. All previously unseen, all free to watch. The twist for this one is that I typed the word ‘mummy’ into Tubi’s search engine, and just chose the first 20 films that showed up. I already know this is going to be terrible, and I’m really interested to see if any of the films I’m going to watch will score higher than 5 out of 10. Here goes…

Isis Rising: Curse of the Lady Mummy (AKA Tomb of the Mummy) (2013) – Tubi

Once again I am tricked like the feeble-minded fool that I am by a film with the word ‘mummy’ in the title, and no mummy in the film.

A hokey, green-screen prologue tells the sordid tale of King Osiris, his sister and wife, Isis, and his jealous brother Seth. Seth fancies Isis (his sister-in-law and sister), so he has Osiris killed and chopped up. However, Isis is a witch of sorts, and vows to reassemble Osiris before she herself is murdered.

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Starting a new 20-film watch-a-thon project. All previously unseen, all free to watch. The twist for this one is that I typed the word ‘mummy’ into Tubi’s search engine, and just chose the first 20 films that showed up. I already know this is going to be terrible, and I’m really interested to see if any of the films I’m going to watch will score higher than 5 out of 10. Here goes…

The Mummy Resurrected (2014) – Tubi

Straight out of the gate comes this steaming pile from Halcyon International Pictures, a production company in the same vein as The Asylum, UnCork’d, and Wild Eye. HIP had a go at ‘reinventing’ a bunch of classic horror stories, and for this one they claim it is based on Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars, a tenuous claim at best.

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Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

If you haven’t heard of Netflix’ surprise movie sensation, I almost envy you. This movie is everywhere. It’s a phenomenal hit; becoming Netflix’ second-most viewed movie and has its songs everywhere on the Billboard top 10. The song Golden has hit the charts at number 1 in many places. It even, this weekend just passed, did something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. It enjoyed a theatrical release just over two months from its initial release on the aforementioned streaming platform. I learnt about it too late to acquire tickets, and I’m quite sad about it.

I watched it. I loved it. I have already reviewed it, so you won’t be getting a rehashing of a review from me here. Instead, I want to talk about what K-Pop Demon Hunters says about original content, audiences, and how wrong some decision makers are about both.

There may be some spoilers. There definitely is at least one piping hot take. Let’s go.

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Rise of the Machine Girls (2019) – Tubi

Arriving eleven years after Noboru Iguchi’s Machine Girl, this film is directed by Yûki Kobayashi in the frenetic style of a live-action manga — all high energy, insane reaction shots, and over-the-top violence.

In a dystopian town, a desperate population is forced to survive by selling their body parts and organs to the ruthless Dharmas, the crime family that controls the area. In the midst of this misery is a small cabaret show that features a pair of girls, Ami and Yoshi, who put on displays of combat for their adoring customers, when they would rather just be ‘idols,’ doing cute dances and making cute sounds. Yoshi has already lost an arm, and she sets out to get revenge on the Dharma family for something or other. She is captured and tortured, and it is down to Ami and a helpful assassin to save her.

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