Movie Meister Reviews

October 16, 2023 leebutler Horror, Review

The Exorcist: Believer (2023) – Demonic

IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Released: 5th October
Seen: 12th October

It’s pretty much impossible to deny the impact of The Exorcist. The classic 1973 shocker is a touchstone of the horror genre, the stories of people fainting and running out of the cinema are the stuff of legends and it is an absolute constant on any ‘Scariest Movies of All Time’ list, to the point that not having it on your list makes the list invalid. With its incredible visuals, revolutionary scares, and Oscar-nominated performances, The Exorcist is one of those all-time classics that everyone can agree earns a special place not only in the Horror genre but in the history of cinema itself. It also should probably have never been turned into a franchise.

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October 15, 2023 leebutler Review

Fantastic Fest 2023’s Mushrooms

So over on Soda & Telepaths I wrote another review about a festival film that was… well, it was really good until the last minute reveal, but read my full thoughts about Muchrooms over here

October 14, 2023 leebutler Horror, Review

The Puppetman (2023) – Puppet Out

Over on the new Soda and Telepaths I went and wrote a little review about a new Shudder release called The Puppetman, which felt a lot like a Nightmare on Elm Street with Freddy forcibly removed which is certainly an interesting creative choice if nothing else

October 13, 2023October 13, 2023 leebutler Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Review, Thriller

To Catch A Killer (2023) – Silence

IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Released: 8th June
Seen: 10th October

Sometimes it’s really hard to figure out how to open one of these things, especially now that there’s a format that begins with “Rambling paragraph that provides some context for the film that’s about to be talked about”. The problem is that some films don’t really give themselves anything to work with because it’s so middle of the road that you might as well describe the method for which white lines are painted on the middle of the road. It’s also the hardest kind of review to write, trying to find a couple of hundred words to say “It’s fine I guess” That explains why it’s merely fine but also gives enough information that people who might still enjoy it will know about the film’s existence. Basically, this is going to be dull for all concerned but I saw it, it came out this year, therefore it gets written about so here are some thoughts about To Catch A Killer.

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October 12, 2023 leebutler Comedy, Review

Book Club: The Next Chapter (2023) – Leave On Read

IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Released: 11th May
Seen: 10th October

In 2018 the film Book Club came out and was a huge hit. On a budget of 14 million, it grossed around 100 million, so it was pretty obvious that the industry was going to probably try and capitalize on that success. It seems like a simple enough idea, just get a bunch of legendary Oscar Winning/Nominated actresses who are over 60 together and put them in a silly little comedy, it’s how we got 80 For Brady and a few other films that make up something that the video essay channel Be Kind Rewind has dubbed the Book Club movie. Of course, with a profit that big it seemed inevitable that the quartet of Book Club women would be brought back to make another film. Sure enough they made one and… eh, it exists.

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October 10, 2023 leebutler Action, Mystery, Review, Thriller

Hypnotic (2023) – Sleep!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Released: 11th May
Seen: 6th October

Robert Rodriguez is a fascinating creative force that’s been a mainstay in pop culture ever since the 90s. For over 30 years now he has been one of the few true auteur directors, a man who has his fingers in every element of the filmmaking process and making magic out of extremely low budgets. With films like From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City, and the Spy Kids franchise under his belt, Robert Rodriguez’s name alone is enough to get people excited to see what he’s going to do. You would’ve thought his name attached to a Ben Affleck action film would’ve been something of a slam dunk, a creative director and one of the few true superstars of modern cinema together feels like it should be a combination designed for greatness… As it is, Hypnotic is just pretty OK.

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October 8, 2023 leebutler Comedy, Horror, Review

Totally Killer (2023) – Tubular

IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Released: 6th October
Seen: 7th October

One of the most fun additions to the horror genre recently has been when someone takes a classic supernatural comedy film and throws a serial killer in the middle of it. Groundhog Day with a serial killer? You get Happy Death Day. Freaky Friday with a serial killer? You get Freaky. It’s insanely simple to pull this off, half the work was done in the 80s so changing it from a zany comedy to a camp slasher is a fun new addition that we need a lot more of. There’s also some upcoming stuff like Caddy Hack, a horror version of the classic comedy Caddyshack and something called Time Cut which sounds like it’s going to be a spin on Back to the Future but with a serial killer… but apparently, that film has been waiting too long because it got beaten to the punch by Totally Killer and the bar is now set pretty damn high.

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October 7, 2023 leebutler Drama, Review, Romance

After Everything (2023) – Death To All Of Them

IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Released: 6th October
Seen: 6th October

The After franchise has become a nemesis of mine, a franchise I have a deep and profound hatred of that will never die. Every single time a new entry is released, the sound of my wail of pain can be heard around the block because it’s almost predetermined what is going to be put on the screen. Every film is an hour and a half of a depressingly demented toxic relationship with a blank sheet of paper that answers to the name of Tessa (Josephine Langford) and an abusive piece of excrement meant to resemble one of the biggest pop stars of our generation who answers to the name Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin). Every time it’s a film of two people who shouldn’t be sharing time zones having an absurdly toxic and awful time, arguing constantly and breaking up their arguing with lackluster sex set to music chosen by a DJ who is high on ketamine and every time it’s just a bad time for anyone watching that has half a brain.

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October 6, 2023 leebutler Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Review

Renfield (2023) – Bitingly Funny

IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Released: 6th April
Seen: 6th October

Ever since Bram Stoker printed his legendary novel Dracula, people have been doing wild and crazy things with the character. He’s one of the true greats of horror literature, the first Universal movie monster and a blueprint for pretty much every vampire that’s been used in modern media. He’s been the star of films, TV series, video games and even a musical. The uses for the character are endless and constant, hell a single chapter of the book ended up being made into The Last Voyage of the Demeter which is one of the best horror films of the year so it’s fair to say that there’s a lot of great ways to utilize this character and his world… and now, finally someone looked at the books and said “Wait, what about an entire film about Dracula’s butt monkey, Renfield?” and thus we get the absolutely glorious, sadly underseen, Renfield.

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September 29, 2023 leebutler Horror, Mystery, Review, Thriller

Saw X (2023) – Bloody Brilliant

IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Released: 28th September
Seen: 28th September

By the time a horror franchise hits the 10th film, it’s safe to say that things will be well off course. By the time Friday the 13th was 10 films deep, they sent Jason into space. By the time Halloween was 10 films deep, it was finishing up its first set of remakes. By the time Nightmare on Elm Street was 10 films deep… actually we don’t know because Nightmare never made it to 10 films, that’s how rare it is to make that many films in a horror franchise. So you can imagine the general nervous anticipation that was building up with the announcement of Saw X, a return to the original timeline of the franchise after the mild detours of Jigsaw and Spiral, which could’ve failed spectacularly but somehow it ended up being one of the best of the franchise.

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