I always found it a bit funny when Hollywood churns out movies that have similar plots to compete against each other. Back in the 90s Armageddon dueled the same year with Deep Impact, when disaster films were all the rage. 2024 had the same situation, though not in the form of big blockbusters, but this time in the form of two horror films about nuns and strange pregnancies taking place within the confines of the convent. The prequel to The Omen was better than I had anticipated, and when Immaculate was released, I just never got around to seeing it … at least until now. While The First Omen is a slow burn that actually pairs well with the first film, Immaculate I feel is the more bloody and popcorn-friendly romp that I feel fits into the sub-genre of nunsploitation (something I wouldn’t object to seeing more of).  So is this film worth congregating in front of the television for 90 minutes, or is this a hard pass in a year that seems to flourish with quality horror films, but not much of anything else?

Cecilia (Sweeney) is travelling from the States to live in Italy, where she is going to take her vows to the church. She’s been devout to her faith ever since she survived falling through the ice and nearly drowning. We don’t really get much more about her life back in the States, and that’s fine. The film does a good job of quickly establishing who Cecilia is. She’s sweet but naïve; you know, basically catnip for those with bad intentions in a horror film. The first friend Cecilia makes at the convent is ironically a nun with a bad-girl streak who joined the church more out of convenience than out of faith. Of course there are other members of the church. Most are just used to be ominous figures, but mostly the focus is on Cecilia and the main priest at the convent, Father Sal Tedeschi (Alvaro Morte).

With it being December this is when all the critics and groups start to announce their picks for best films of the year. This year has been a bit of a lackluster year in my opinion, but there have been a few gems that have managed to surprise me. A Real Pain, the directorial and writing debut for Jesse Eisenberg, is one of those few gems that crackles with great dialog and impressive cinematography, but most importantly is anchored by the performances of its two leads, played by Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin. On a surface level, this is a story about two cousins going on vacation together, but really it’s about two young men struggling with their own pain. You’d think a film like this would be a drag or even a chore to sit through, but instead it is engaging and heartfelt throughout and has moments that will have you laughing and crying.

After the passing of their grandmother, Benji (Culkin) and David (Eisenberg) are cousins who decide to take a trip to Poland not just to reconnect, but to see their grandmother’s homeland and get a glimpse into what her life was like during the Holocaust. Right from the get-go we see that Benji and David are a bit of an odd couple, Benji is prone to emotional outbursts and a bit of a free spirit, while David is more timid and serious. As for the tour the boys have signed up for, it’s with a group of four other travelers who have made the pilgrimage, each with their own personal reasons. What I wasn’t expecting is how the other travelers integrate into the story and are more than just background characters, but are there for the journey and help the cousins in their own way.

It’s that time of the year again when critics start to makes their lists of the top films they’ve seen since January. Personally, this year has been a bit lackluster when it comes to “great” films, but there have been a lot of fun films to come out this year. To be even more specific, the horror genre has kind of taken off the year in my opinion. Now, while Sting may not be the best horror film of the year, it is a lot of fun.  Every year there’s that fun movie that comes along that flies under the radar, but I feel is great. Cocaine Bear and Violent Night immediately come to mind. Sting, at least in my humble opinion, is what going to the cinema is all about. It’s not high art, but instead it’s pure escapism, and it’s just a fun way to shut your brain off for 90 minutes while a giant alien spider wreaks havoc on a New York apartment. Is it the most original concept? No, but it has just enough scares and blood to make arachnophobes squirm in their seats.

Sting is a film that I feel could have been made in the heyday of Amblin films, when Spielberg was behind films like Poltergeist and Gremlins, and I’d almost put it on that level if the plot wasn’t so familiar. The film takes place within an apartment complex in Brooklyn after an alien spider egg crashes through a window and Charlotte (Alyla Browne), a young girl with a rebellious streak as well as a talent for comic book art, finds the baby spider and calls it Sting. The film spends a good portion with her family: Ethan (Ryan Corr), her stepdad who happens to be a comic book artist while also working as a part-time super in the complex; then there is her mom, Heather (Penelope Mitchell) and her newborn brother. A good portion of the film revolves around Ethan struggling to juggle his work life as well as adjust to becoming a family man, and we see the stress that he is going through. As for Charlotte, she finds sanctuary in her room and enjoys spending time with her new pet and slowly starts to realize that Sting is no typical spider.

As a horror fan, 2024 has easily been one of the best years for horror releases in a long time. It’s not just that we’ve gotten several horror releases this year, but the quality and the diversity of the genre has kept the year fresh. Cuckoo is one of the better horror films of the year. It sadly got overlooked at the box office, but it’s one of those films that for those who have seen it, I feel it leaves an impression, because aside from taking familiar tropes, it manages to feel fresh but also has a WTF factor that seems harder to come by these days. In my opinion, Cuckoo is a film that works better knowing as little as you can about it. Going in blind definitely puts you firmly in place to enjoy the film’s ambiguity, and when it starts to go into some strange directions, just go with it. The film may seem a bit odd and confusing as it progresses, but that’s the fun of it.

Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) is the film’s protagonist; she’s a precocious American teenager who is stuck going on vacation with her father, Luis (Martin Csokas), along with his new wife (Jessica Henwick) and their mute daughter, Alma (Mila Lieu). The vacation is to a remote resort in the Bavarian Alps. It’s a beautiful setting, though you’ll have to allow for the slightest bit of suspension of disbelief that a fully equipped hospital is nearby. Now this sort of makes sense as the film plays on, but it’s really just a way to keep the narrative going. The resort is run by Herr Konig (Dan Stevens), and he has invited Luis to the resort with hopes of them working together on creating a new project … though from the moment Gretchen meets Konig, she knows not to trust him, but it takes a bit to find out if she’s right or not.