GET READY FOR YOUR MIND TO BE BLOWN…

In 2020, the McManus brothers came out with a film called The Block Island Sound that became a bit of an underground cult hit. I found it to be a compelling little mystery, that put this directing duo on my radar. Five years later they have returned with another highly original film, that improves upon that picture in every way and cements these brothers as independent cinema royalty in my book.

Redux Redux follows Irene, a mother who uses a mechanical box to travel to different parallel worlds. Her daughter was murdered by a serial killer years ago and she has made it her mission to travel to every alternate universe, to kill this man in every one. But, when she comes upon a girl who has been kidnapped by the killer; Irene is forced to change this perpetual cycle or else they both will be condemned for life.

IF YOU THOUGHT TRULY “ORIGINAL FILMS” WERE DEAD… THINK AGAIN.

I have spent the last five years reviewing films, covering hidden gems to try and share them with the rest of the world. There’s a lot of really shitty movies out there, especially in this new age of streaming; so when I find a truly special, original film that I know not many people have heard of, all I want to do is sing its praises to anyone who will listen. It doesn’t happen often, maybe a couple of times a year, but when one of those movies comes along… the pure joy I get from it, is what makes this career worth it. And I got that feeling with Redux Redux.

The McManus Brothers have crafted a film that is hitting on all cylinders. And it really proves that there are no limitations in independent cinema, only the ones that are put on by its creators. And this directing duo take their highly ambitious screenplay and with just a shoestring budget, make it look easy. There are some extremely insane ideas in their script, as this is a sci-fi film through and through, but it’s so grounded in this gritty realism that sometimes you forget you’re watching a film about multiverses.

ITS ACTION-PACKED, EXCEPTIONALLY PERFORMED…

I can’t think of a recent film that has put me on the edge of my seat as much as Redux Redux. The action scenes are pulse-pounding, the tension is palpable, and there are some extremely brutal moments that are shockingly violent. My eyes were glued to the screen from beginning to end, I never checked my phone or even looked at the time… I was locked in. I think it also helps that this movie has an air of mystery surrounding it and you just want to learn more. How does this parallel-universe hopping work? Is there a universe where Irene’s daughter wasn’t murdered? Where did the serial killer hide all of the bodies? There’s just so many layers to the plot, there’s no chance that you would want to look away.

I also have to shout-out the acting, which is way above what one normally expects from a film in this genre. Michaela McManus, sister to the writer/directors of the film, is exceptional as Irene. She is a no-nonsense bad-ass that fucks this guy up from universe to universe. But, she’s also a woman grappling with intense grief and depression, completely worn out by this world, no matter which one she is in. She handles all of the complexities to this character with ease. I genuinely cared for Irene, and without that care, this film would not have worked. Indie Darling Jim Cummings also from The Block Island Sound, as well as The Beta Test and The Last Stop in Yuba County, is an integral supporting player here and if he shows up in a film… you know, almost certainly, that it’s going to be a banger.

…AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING.

Lastly, Redux Redux is also surprisingly deep. It tackles the idea of what happens when a person loses their humanity, someone who has become completely numb to violence and closed themselves off to the rest of the world, in a way that is thoroughly thought-provoking. It leaves the audience with the sort of questions that make you ponder where you stand in your humanity. And any movie that can make you pause and take a good hard look on your insides… is a winner in my book.

THIS IS A RECOMMENDATION FOR ANY LOVER OF CINEMA…

The McManus brothers have crafted a mean, brutal, nail-biting action film that is wrapped in a horrific serial killer thriller and then wrapped up again in a heady, profound sci-fi drama. Redux Redux is a bold, original vision that is so confidently made, you know from the get-go you are in the hands of master storytellers. I have no idea how they pulled this movie off, but holy shit, did they do the damn thing. I 100% recommend Redux Redux to any lover of cinema. Period.

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2026/136 minutes/rated R (for “sexual content”)

Written and directed by Emerald Fennell

Produced by Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara and Margot Robbie

Starring: Margot Robbie, Charlotte Mellington, Jacob Elordi, Owen Cooper, Hong Chau, Vy Nguyen, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Ewan Mitchell

Cinematography by Linus Sandgren

Edited by Victoria Boydell

Score by Anthony Willis

Songs by Charli XCX

Production Companies: MRC, Lie Still and Lucky Chap Entertainment

Opening theatrically on February 12 courtesy of Warner Bros.

I only read “Wuthering Heights” once, in high school. I appreciated its cultural impact and continued popularity. However, regarding mid-1800s literary classics that blend gothic horror sensibilities with romantic melodrama, I honestly preferred Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. I say this only to note that I have no strong feelings about Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel that would leave me unduly vexed at a potentially “unfaithful” adaptation. “Wuthering Heights” is, as explicitly promised by the filmmakers, less a straight-up retelling than a glorified Elseworld. As a movie, or even an example of a singular filmmaker taking an oft-told tale and making it her own, it’s a pretty darn terrific romantic tragedy. Emerald Fennell has crafted a cinematically scrumptious and erotically flavored bodice-ripper of the highest order.

Opening on Thursday night courtesy of Warner Bros., this $85 million, R-rated, 2.25-hour melodrama is a passionate and unapologetically “problematic” epic that uses big bucks and Hollywood movie magic to make this small-scale drama feel like a 1950s biblical epic. It leads with its emotions and thinks with its feelings, diving headfirst into what is never presented as anything less than a doomed, impossible romance between two deeply flawed, traumatized young adults. I won’t pretend that this new movie is terribly outrageous compared to what used to be par for the course for big-budget, just-for-grownups Hollywood erotic dramas. However, it gleefully plays in the blood-and-thunder sandbox. It will likely scandalize (in a healthy way) the multiple generations not used to such unapologetic, adult-skewing, PLF-worthy cinema.

Writer/director Fennell’s latest offering focuses on the core “Catherine and Heathcliff” relationship, which is little different from, frankly, most filmed adaptations going back to William Wyler’s 1939 adaptation. Shel has crafted a (my words, not hers) spiritually faithful variation on how the book resonated with her when she first read it. That said, it is no less accurate to the respective text than Guillermo del Toro’s acclaimed and Oscar-nominated Frankenstein. Moreover, if I were a cynical sonuvabitch, and I currently am, I’d note that this latest incarnation, sans even a future-tense framing device, is constructed not unlike It Chapter One. Presuming fortune and glory, WB, Lucky Chap and MRC could justify a second film chronicling what happened after Manderley burned to the… sorry, wrong book.

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Whistle has some interesting concepts but it gets tripped up by trying to be too many things in a single film.

Right at the beginning I have to say this about Whistle: the film doesn’t hesitate to swing for the fences every chance it gets. I can admire a film that throws caution to the wind and just goes for it, but in the case of this particular film…it doesn’t quite work all the way through.

Whistle

Directed by: Corin Hardy

Starring: Dafne Keen, Sophie Nélisse, Sky Yang
Jhaleil Swaby, Ali Skovbye

Release Date: February 6, 2026

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Whistle presents itself as a horror film with a somewhat familiar premise: a group of misfit teens find themselves in possession of a cursed artifact that will cause their painful deaths. The bulk of the film is then spent figuring out how to stop this from happening. It’s a tried and true horror film trope and not a bad way to start a story.

In the case of Whistle, the cursed artifact in question is a genuinely unsettling Aztec Death Whistle. Anyone who blows this whistle, or hears it being blown, dies a terrible death not long afterward. This puts an interesting twist on the “cursed item” narrative as one does not need to actually use the Death Whistle to be cursed by it. It’s up to Chrys (Dafne Keen) and her newly formed friend group to figure out why the whistle does what it does and how can they stop it before they all die.

While the general premise of the film is sound, I was almost immediately distracted by how crowded the plot quickly became. This film combines story elements from, at minimum: supernatural horror, teen misfit at a new school, teenage rom-com, and several elements that feel eerily close to slasher horror.

That is a lot to squeeze into one film, and the problem is it’s fairly obvious where each plot element joins together. Instead of feeling like a single cohesive story, Whistle swings from “I’m a scary horror movie” to “Let’s have a break with some cheesy teenage romance” complete with a classic rock montage playing in the background, sometimes in the span of a few minutes. Individually, each scene is fairly put together and well-acted. But joined into the greater whole….let’s just say your mileage will vary as to how much you enjoy the final product.

Dafne Keen gives a good performance as Chrys, but whenever she’s opposite Sophie Nélisse (who plays Ellie), her performance becomes fantastic. Those two have great chemistry together and are easily one of my favorite things about the film. The rest of the main cast didn’t quite click as well, but it’s not entirely clear if they were meant to or not.

One of my favorite plot elements is why each death scene plays out the way it does. Each death is different and horrifically gruesome, and it turns out that’s by design. Instead of making gory scenes “just because,” Whistle actually takes the time to spell out why and how these things are happening. The internal story logic clicks just enough that it’s possible to get invested in the story despite the flaws. What initially seems random actually makes a twisted amount of sense.

In the end, while Whistle features a fairly interesting, if familiar, premise, the overall film suffers from trying to be too many things at once. The tonal shifts do the film no favors, and while it’s not hard to find something to enjoy in the story, it’s just not as good as it could have been.