What I Watched in January 2025

I love it when a horror film is able to hide what it is doing from me long enough for me to start to be concerned that it doesn’t have an actual destination. Such is CUCKOO (2024) which bends its narrative into something I could not predict from the first half of the story. This might be off-putting for some but I found it an intriguing change of pace. The film begins with an American family arriving in the German Alps for the parents to begin a new job. Teenager Gretchen has been brought along by her father but she has a strained relationship with her step-mother and mute step-sister. The recent death of Gretchen’s mother hangs over her and this grief is clearly making the transition to her new surroundings very difficult. After taking a part time hotel clerk job offered by her father’s new employer, she gradually becomes aware that there are strange things happening in this isolated location. First is a lurking, cloaked person that seems to only come out of the woods at night and second is a creepy man that checks into the hotel. Gretchen begins to investigate the odd events she witnesses and folk horror and mad science rear their unlikely heads. The film has a great cast and a fascinating, oblique approach to its unfolding secrets that kept me curious the entire time. I suspect this won’t be everyone’s idea of a good time but I loved it. 

The List

DEPORTED (1950) – 7 (criminal is sent to Italy but will he reform)

NAKED EVIL (1966) – 6 (British tale of voodoo)

I HATE MY BODY (1974) – 7 (rewatch)

NAKED ALIBI (1954) – 8 (blistering noir)

WICKED (2024) – 7

RINGU (1998) – 8 (rewatch)

TERROR CREATURE FROM THE GRAVE (1965) – 7 (rewatch)

THE GENTLEMEN (2020) – 8 (rewatch)

KILLERS FROM SPACE (1954) – 3 (I thought I’d seen this boring sucker)

BEHIND THE MASK (1932) – 6 (chiller with Jack Holt and Karloff)

STAR TREK IV: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY (1991) – 9 (rewatch)

THE THREAT (1949) – 7 (tight B-noir tale)

KRAVEN (2024) – 5 (a lot works but it never becomes what it was trying to be)

CUCKOO (2024) – 8 (fascinating modern folk horror)

FAST CHARLIE (2023) – 6 (Brosnan is good but the story is mostly a retread)

MIND FIELD (1989) – 4 (muddled Canadian thriller)

REBEL RIDGE (2024) – 8 (excellent action film)

THE KEEP (1983) – 6 (rewatch on Blu)

THE BLACK DUKE (1963) – 7 (Cameron Mitchell as Cesare Borgia)

WOLF MAN (2025) – 4 (never really works)

FEMALE PRISONER: CAGED (1983) – 6 (good roman porno)

THE HOUSE AND THE BRAIN (1973) – 6 (ghost story TV movie)

THE EXECUTIONER (1974) – 7 (Sonny Chiba action film)

RINGU 2 (1999) – 6 (pretty good follow up)

TERROR OF THE RED MASK (1960) – 7 (Lex Barker adventure tale)

THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS (1989) – 6 (rewatch on Blu)

PRESENCE (2025) – 7 (Soderberg chiller)