I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the weekend’s best shows including the Apple TV series “Palm Royale” with Kristen Wiig and Carol Burnett, season four of “The Mayor of Kingstown” on Paramount+ and the Netflix series “The Abandons” with Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson.
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 14:14)
I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the weekend’s best movies in theatres. We have a look at the political drama “Ella McCay,” the kid-friendly horror of “Dust Bunny” and holiday horrors of “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 37:03)
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with guest anchor Natalie Johnson to talk about new movies in theatres including the political drama “Ella McCay,” the kid-friendly horror of “Dust Bunny” and holiday horrors of “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 14:30)
I join CP24 to talk about the political drama “Ella McCay,” the kid-friendly horror of “Dust Bunny” and holiday horrors of “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the political drama “Ella McCay,” the kid-friendly horror of “Dust Bunny” and holiday horrors of “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” for “Booze & Reviews!” This week I tell you about the movie “Silent Night, Deadly Night” and some festive cocktails to enjoy with the movie!
Click to HERE to listen to Shane and me talk about the influencer who was kicked out of a Lady Gaga concert, a hugh “Star Wars” auction, why In-And-Out Burger has changed their numbering system and the world’s first AI reality show!
Then, it’s “To shake, or not to shake; that is the question”! To hear the Booze & Reviews look at “Silent Night, Deadly Night” and some festive Christmas cocktails to get you into the holiday spirits click HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the political drama “Ella McCay,” the kid-friendly horror of “Dust Bunny” and holiday horrors of “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Dust Bunny,” a macabre midnight movie—but for kids—now playing in theatres, a ten-year-old (Sophie Sloan) hires her hit man neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen) to kill the monster she believes ate her foster family.
CAST: Mads Mikkelsen, Sophie Sloan, Sheila Atim, David Dastmalchian, Sigourney Weaver. Directed by Bryan Fuller.
REVIEW: “Dust Bunny” trusts that kids don’t have to be molly coddled, that they can handle some darker themes, particularly when they are presented with a great deal of offbeat humor.
The feature film debut of television showrunner Bryan Fuller, of “Pushing Daisies” and “Hannibal” fame, sees ten-year-old Aurora’s (Sophie Sloan) convinced there is a monster under her bed when it emerges and eats her foster parents.
“I’m wicked. It knows I’m wicked,” she says. “It ate my family because it knows I don’t deserve one.”
Ever resourceful, the youngster turns to the enigmatic man (Mads Mikkelsen) next door she believes is an assassin. Offering to pay him with money she stole from her church donation basket, she asks him to kill the beast.
“What makes you think I kill monsters?” he asks. “You seem like you’ve killed a lot of things,” she replies.
Trouble is, he thinks the monster is the result of Aurora’s overactive imagination. He’s convinced he was the target, and an assassin killed thew little girl’s folks by mistake.
Edgy and dark, “Dust Bunny” is the kind of children’s fairy tale you’d expect from the showrunner of “The Silence of the Lambs” spin-off “Hannibal.” Dr. Suess this ain’t. Imagine a mix of “Léon: The Professional” and “Goosebumps” and you’ll get the idea.
With a whimsical style reminiscent of “Delicatessen” and “Amélie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet by way of Tim Burton, Bryan Fuller infuses the story with maximalist, eye-catching design—like a taxidermy chicken lamp with a lightbulb protruding out of its rear and Sigourney Weaver’s high-heel pistols—and the fruits of Aurora’s anxieties and imagination. She protects herself from the sting of losing her family through fantasy, creating a world where a monster becomes a proxy for her pain.
That emotional undercurrent, plus the odd couple relationship between Aurora and the hitman, grounds the fantasy in relatable reality. Sloan and Mikkelsen have great chemistry, she’s all exuberance, he’s stoic but as they navigate the story their differences evaporate into understanding.
“Dust Bunny’s” bloodless body count—one that defies the conventions of kid’s entertainment—and mild scares leading up to a wild climatic showdown isn’t recommended for kids under eight, but as gateway horror goes, it’s inventive fun that should spark young imaginations.
SYNOPSIS: In “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” a new holiday slasher now playing in theatres, Billy Chapman (Rohan Campbell) becomes a Killer Santa after seeing his parents murdered by a man dressed as Jolly Old St. Nick. Have yourself a creepy little Christmas.
CAST: Rohan Campbell, Ruby Modine, David Lawrence Brown, David Tomlinson, and Mark Acheson. Written and directed by Mike P. Nelson.
REVIEW: For those with murder and mayhem on their Christmas list, “Silent Night, Deadly Night” is a naughty seasonal treat.
A loose remake of the controversial 1984 cult movie of the same name, this version begins at Christmas with young Billy left an orphan after a man dressed as Santa kills his parents.
Scarred for life, Billy (Rohan Campbell) grows up to become a drifter, moving from town to town working odd jobs during the day, and checking names off his naughty list by night. Every Christmas season, dressed as Santa—wearing the suit, he says, “flips a switch for me.”—and guided by a voice in his head, he uses an axe to dispatch people he deems as naughty, saving their blood as a souvenir in a gory advent calendar. “Santa’s gonna slay.”
When he lands in a new town, and gets a job at the local Christmas Shoppe, he not only finds plenty of new victims, but a chance at love with Pamela (Ruby Modine), a store clerk with anger issues. “She always was a pipe bomb,” says her father.
There are some vast differences between the violent 1984 Christmas exploitation flick and the 2025 version. The basic back story is the same, but this time around the narrative owes a debt to vigilante serial killer Dexter Morgan of Showtime’s “Dexter.” The voice that guides Billy to chop down his victims like he’s cutting down a Christmas Tree is essentially his “dark passenger,” and anti-hero Billy only kills bad people. So, maybe not the freshest fruitcake under the tree, but it doesn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.
In a throwback to the original film and other slashers of the 1980s, “Silent Night, Deadly Night” has loads of practical—i.e. non-CGI—kills that have a rough ‘n ready feel. Whether Billy is using an axe or a giant set of antlers to off his victims, the effects, often punctuated by the loud, dramatic score by Canadian trio Blitz//Berlin, hit the mark between gooey and occasionally goofy. For instance, Billy’s rampage through a neo-Nazi Christmas party—“I’m dreaming of a white power Christmas,” they say.—is violent, cathartic and yet also quite funny.
At a quick 95 gory minutes, “Silent Night, Deadly Night” is perhaps best suited for slasher fans or anyone who would pay to go see a movie called “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”
