MONTH IN REVIEW: MARCH 2025

It's not always easy to keep track of the world of horror day-to-day. So here's a round up of what's happened last month and a glimpse of what we can expect in the coming weeks...

March was a rather sunny month here in the UK. And now the clocks have just changed and the days are longer it really feels as though summer isn’t too far away, which is all positive stuff if you ask us. It’s a bit of a shame that the horror films that were dished up last month weren’t quite the equivalent of a bright sunny Spring day though. More like a cloudy one with a heavy downpour at lunch, with some flashes of sun in the late afternoon.

Opus and In the Lost Lands are the cloud in this particular weather based analogy. The former is a rather muddled addition to the A24 catalogue. John Malkovich and Ayo Edebiri are good value but the film feels like some odd blend of The Menu and Midsommar, whilst being nowhere near as good as either of those. It’s ok but not one you’re likely to remember come the end of the year. In the Lost Lands are where the clouds turn a bit darker. It’s probably on a par with Monster Hunter, another film from director Paul W.S. Anderson and starring his wife Milla Jovovich. It’s messy and feels a bit like one of those cheap dark fantasy movies that were all the rage in the 80s. Jovovich and Bautista are both very watchable actors but here their chemistry just doesn’t really work. Both films have performed badly at the box office too.

The heavy rain comes in the form of a film called Bloody Axe Wound, which was released on Shudder in the middle of the month. I enjoyed this film about as much as I enjoy writing ‘negative’ reviews. Which is not very much at all. I do wonder if the ironic high concept slasher comedies are getting a bit stale now. Back in 2017, Happy Death Day felt fresh and inventive but eight years have passed. That’s quite a long time. I’d personally like to see some slashers that take themselves a bit more seriously. It’s a shame because on paper, the plot of Bloody Axe Wound had the potential to be quite fun. But the execution was poor.

Thankfully there was a bit of sun at the end though, with Blumhouse’s The Woman in the Yard and Shudder’s The Rule of Jenny Penn. The former, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, whilst not remarkable, was not the flop that some critics led everyone to believe it was. It’s fine and going to the cinema and watching a three star movie is not a waste of time. It had a decent opening weekend return at the box office too, so won’t go down as a financial disaster either. Our review of The Rule of Jenny Penn is being written as I type this and it’s without a doubt the best genre release of the month. The film sees Geoffrey Rush playing a stuffy judge who suffers a stroke and ends up in a care home. He soon comes up against John Lithgow, who plays a man who has been terrorising and preying upon his fellow residents for years - and who also permanently sports a creepy puppet on his hand. It’s both grim and darkly comic at the same time and although it’s a tad long and won’t be to everyone’s taste, it’s highly effective (and affecting).

Looking ahead to this month and there’s lots to look forward to - pretty much all of it at the cinema or on Shudder. We begin with Screamboat, which will only get a limited theatrical run. As with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, this is a horror version of a classic children's story - in this case, Disney’s Steamboat Willie (the first Mickey Mouse picture) and sees a giant genetically modified mouse go on a killing spree on a ferry. It’s probably going to be terrible but the mouse is at least played by David Howard Thornton (Art the Clown), so there’s always that.

Whilst only perhaps horror adjacent, British drama-thriller Restless is released at cinemas on the 4th. Anyone that’s had any issues with their neighbours will be able to relate to this - as it’s about a withdrawn caseworker whose life is turned upside down when raucous new residents move in next door. 825 Forest Road is also released on Shudder on the 4th. The storyline sounds a little familiar - after a tragedy, a family move home to start a new life but soon discover their new town has a dark secret. But it will be interesting to see how director Stephen Cognetti gets on away from his solid found footage Hell House LLC franchise.

On the 11th, Christopher Landon’s tense thriller Drop hits cinemas. If you haven’t seen the trailer, it’s about a widowed mother’s first date in years that goes horribly wrong when she starts receiving mysterious and threatening messages on her phone during dinner. If you have a yearning for some religious horror, then the 11th also sees the release of Shadow of God on Shudder, a  film about an exorcist who performs an unauthorised ritual on his own father. I mean, what could go wrong!?

Dead Mail, a film that has garnered some very positive early critical reviews is released on Shudder a week later. It’s an 80s set horror thriller with an analog feel that revolves around a blood-stained piece of mail that ends up on the desk of a county post-offices ‘dead letter’ investigator. This has got a real retro feel to it and is as eerie as it is bizarre. Perfect if you’re after something a little different. On the same day, Ryan Coogler’s first foray into the genre is also released. Starring Michael B. Jordan and Jack O’Connell, Sinners is set in the 1930s and sees troubled twin brothers return to their hometown for a new start, only to find something sinister is waiting to welcome them back…

We get another horror adaptation of a children’s classic on the 25th with The Ugly Stepsister, a sinister twist on the Cinderella story. The difference here is that this is actually meant to be rather good and a world apart from other recent knock offs. Also on the 25th, David F. Sandberg’s Until Dawn hits cinemas. It’s an adaptation of a popular video game of the same name and is about a group of friends trapped in a time loop where they are constantly being hunted and killed by mysterious creatures. The trailers look decent too. Irish folk-horror Frewaka also drops on Shudder on the same day. The film focuses on a eldercare worker who takes on a new placement in a remote Irish village but is haunted her past. Director Aislinn Clarke’s return to the genre after The Devil’s Doorway is highly anticipated

Smile 2 (15th) and Terrifier 3 (25th) will be released on Paramount+ this month too.

On the news front, let’s do a little bullet point round up shall we?

• Renny Harlin’s The Strangers: Chapter 2 will be released in cinemas in September. Let’s hope it’s a LOT better than the first.

• John Carpenter said that he’d love to direct again, under the right circumstances. We’re thinking the chances are slim as it’s been 15 years since he directed anything (and twice as long since he directed anything good)

• Netflix announced an 8 episode live-action Scooby Doo series that will go back to the first case that brought the gang together.

• Although Sarah Michelle Gellar will reprise her role in Hulu’s upcoming Buffy reboot, she will only be a regular guest star as the series will focus on a new slayer for a new generation.

• Christopher Golden novel Road of Bones will get the big screen treatment, with Sinister film makers Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill directing/writing.

  
  

March saw the release of a few interesting trailers. The Ritual looks like it could be ANOTHER generic exorcism movie but it stars Dan Stevens and Al Pacino, so is worth watching for that alone. Dangerous Animals (starring Jai Courtney) merges serial killer and shark sub-genres and looks suitably whacky whilst Bambi: The Reckoning is there for anyone who wants more classic-chilrens-story-gone-horrible fare. Honestly, this almost feels like its own little sub genre at this point.

So there you have it. In short, March wasn’t anything to shout about but April looks more bountiful. Enjoy!