Jim first solo short dives into Nick Frost’s terrifying taxi thriller ‘Black Cab’ on this week’s Streamin’ Demons, awarding it 4/5 Cthulhus. Discover why this nail-biting British horror deserves your attention. Spoiler-free review.
(4 / 5)
Black Cab review Transcript:
00:01.17
Jim Phoenix
Everyone Jim Phoenix here and today’s stream and demons. This is definitely not take 18. By the way, we are doing a small stream and demons. One of the solo shows. We’ve been teasing this for a while because sometimes brandic is at a convention. Sometimes I am. But those movies keep coming in. And for our solo stream and demons, we’re focusing only on what’s current. but We’re not doing deep dives and older films. This is the new and what is absolutely current.
00:32.66
Jim Phoenix
And do I have a surprise for a very first one? I’ve been sitting on this screener for some time now. And if you read the title, it’s not a surprise. Just read the title of the podcast you’re viewing, really. But we’re going to do Nick Frost’s Black Cab, a shutter original, all this nut and next demon demons.
01:05.19
Jim Phoenix
and We’re not going to play the entire thing. You know, I miss the banter I do. You know, there’s no one else to do that with me. mr Yeah. I know. During that banter, I’ll get Rise of the Drow, the collector’s edition. You can actually kill someone with from AAW games. Love it. Coming soon as a review, by the way. Spoiler alert, five out of five.
01:32.62
Jim Phoenix
Oh, wait, we’re back. Hey, kids, a year one. That’s actually day 11. Wow. I’m ripping off Letterman in my very first show. Good for me. All right. So today it’s just me. Don’t change. Don’t change. Don’t touch that dial. You do not touch that dial. I’ll use my sexy voice if I have to. But you were not going to touch that dial on our very first mini stream and demons. We’ve got black cab.
02:01.08
Jim Phoenix
with Nick Frost. It came out this year, it came out this month. What am I talking about? It came out a couple of days ago on Shutter. It’s a Shutter original and I’m gonna read off the IMDB. A couple who find their Jovio cab driver, diverse them into a remote haunted road, revealing disturbing motives and his true intentions. If you don’t understand that this is a Nick Frost movie, it’s horror and it’s really well done.
02:31.02
Jim Phoenix
This is written by Virginia Gilbert and IMDB gave it a little bit of a toss, which is weird. Usually ah myself and IMDB are kind of on the same spot on this. But here we go. I think I will give the IMDB the best review so far, apparently. It’s like I’m a taxicab driver, so I wanted to watch a movie, but I didn’t Google it first.
02:59.75
Jim Phoenix
if If you are a Tastic Cab driver and you’re like, oh, Black Cab, it must be about me. I don’t know. I can’t help you. I can’t help you. What I can help you right now is the setup and the premise for Black Cab is great. From the moment the picture actually starts to roll, the psychological drama starts.
03:25.99
Jim Phoenix
And it’s only an hour, 24 minutes. So it’s it’s actually a pretty tight movie. I will give you some spoiler free reviews because there’s something in act three that didn’t work for me. So I’m going to parse that out as a spoiler free review, because this is brand new. It’s on shutter. If you don’t have shutter and you’re a horror fan, why the hell don’t you have shutter? Honestly, if you have like five bucks, wherever much it is, don’t quote me at five bucks. No more. I have no idea how much shutter it costs anymore.
03:54.75
Jim Phoenix
And you got to spend it. Well, you’re going to spend it on like another Winnie a Pooh latte from Star Fox. No, you’re going to go to Shutter and you’re going to put the streamline and Joe Bob Briggs, whatever it’s going to be and get all this cool Shutter originals like Black Cab. This is worth it alone. Think about this. It’s like renting a movie, writing a movie once a month pays for your subscription at Shutter. Do it thus. Thank you, Shutter. Oh, wait, wait. They just texted me. OK, cool. The money’s in the bank.
04:24.24
Jim Phoenix
But for real, I don’t know what else I can say about this movie other than if you’re a Nick Frost fan, it’s all you need to know. And if you’re not, don’t read the IMDB. If if you’re not a Nick Frost fan, don’t read the IMDB. Go directly to Shutter and start watching it. It is a mix of practical and like spooky, spooky looks like Luba CGI. and But not enough to really throw you off. This story is not this big fantastical CGI ride. No pun intended. It’s scary because. You could probably feel parts of this being real. Meaning. The beginning where the abusive guy is the abusive guy, right? And of course, the controlling his his wife or soon to be a wife or a girlfriend.
05:19.28
Jim Phoenix
into getting one cab, they know ah the mail, I’m in the mail, stuff like that. That’s all gross. And I love how they did the dinner party because it feels real. It feels real and it sets up the characters really well. And you have a flashback prior to this.
05:38.18
Jim Phoenix
that will actually fit in when you watch the rest of the movie. So you have to piece a bit of it together. So maybe that’s why people didn’t really love too much of the editing because yeah, you do have to piece a bit of this together. It’s not hard. They kind of do it for you in the movie. I mean, if you can’t pay attention for more than. Kidding. Just paying making sure you’re paying attention. I’m paying attention. You’re paying attention. You know who else got to be paying attention?
06:07.49
Jim Phoenix
Wrong one. I should be paying attention. I want to say baby Yoda. Baby Yoda. I’ll just do it myself. So you you have this thing and you are getting into a cab after a bad night out. And it’s England or whatever city or small town or it’s an Uber driver or whatever it’s going to be. And the point is you’re trapped with a monster and you think the monster is your significant other. And they probably are a bit of a dick.
06:35.01
Jim Phoenix
But you realize that the cabbie, this is not spoiling the movie whatsoever. I mean, it’s actually in the damn log line. You know, is he mad or just plain evil? That’s actually the synopsis from Shutter. You see this and it’s really not quite stranger danger. Because we think cab drivers aren’t strangers to us. And yet we get in. We.
07:02.39
Jim Phoenix
don’t know their driving background. We don’t know who they are really. We know they’re providing a service and really the only thing that separates us from them is that small piece of plexiglass or if you’re in an Uber nothing whatsoever. So it preys on those fears of the familiar yet the unknown. And I think that does really well. And the acting, by the way, is phenomenal. There’s there’s no one, they’re like, oh, it’s a bad that’s a bad acting job. No, no one’s gonna say that if they attack the acting, they’re just wrong. I’m sorry. You’ve got, beyond Nick Frost alone, can carry this movie. And he doesn’t have to. That’s the cool thing about it. Nick Frost could carry this movie, but he doesn’t have to.
07:46.77
Jim Phoenix
You know, Chanel Carlson does a fantastic job as Ann. And you have people that you absolutely will hate in this movie. And Nick Frost ain’t one of them, really weird. it i Because he’s, you know, the antagonist for us.
08:03.06
Jim Phoenix
But this is where the story kind of gets convoluted. And this is where act three, I think. So I think, you know, act one is great. The setup’s awesome. They spring in the two. That’s amazing. I love it. I love the isolation. He’s taken people from the downtown city center all the way through like this isolated country. You know, we we know the fear of going out to the countryside because no one can hear you scream. Oh, that’s whatever. No one can hear you scream in the countryside either. Trust me.
08:31.44
Jim Phoenix
like
08:35.75
Jim Phoenix
We have the psychological happen. And we start seeing a little bit why Nick Frost’s character is doing what he does. And you’re almost sympathetic for a while. You start sympathizing with the bad guy. Because you realize if you were in his situation, would you do anything differently? Would you do anything differently? And it’s not like he’s just doing this on a whim.
09:06.18
Jim Phoenix
there’s actually something compelling him to do this a pretty decent reason. And if you take away the supernatural part of it all, bring it down. I’m not going to spoil the movie, but bring out the supernatural and bring it down to the very human elements, the very human elements. If this was you in a Nick Frost situation with things happening that you could rationally explain. So not supernatural. So a rational explanation.
09:37.59
Jim Phoenix
And that’s really hard to say without giving it away. And you had the decision to make someone else like pay for it, would you? How how far are you gonna protect your own world versus someone else’s? At what point do you just go eff it? At what point do you become that monster?
10:05.59
Jim Phoenix
And I think each of us has to answer that ourselves. And I think Black Cab poses the question beautifully. It really does. Because if you’re like me, you actually start thinking like, man, I don’t think I’ll do the anything differently. you know So you have the acting great, the writing, the premise is great. The premise and the premise is great, right?
10:29.38
Jim Phoenix
You have the setup is fine, the act one is smooth, act two goes well, act three, it derails. Notice, I didn’t say derails and cars the car crash and burns up in flame. I just said it derails, and I don’t know if this is editing, I don’t know if this is part of the writing at the end, I don’t have the script in front of me. Although that’ll be pretty damn interesting. I don’t know, but something happened where the audience has to fill in a significant gap.
10:59.57
Jim Phoenix
And it’s like, well, what the actual fuck? Oh, by the way, I swear on this one anyway, motherfuckers. So I don’t. Think that works for the ending. Which is what some people are. are Also, this is one thing I will agree with and with IMDB. They give an eye for incomplete, like one guy is giving an eye for incomplete, the cabbie, the cab guy.
11:25.25
Jim Phoenix
And you’re like, well, you’re right. It’s and I don’t I think that’s too a little too harsh to say it’s incomplete, but it’s not an incomplete movie. I think just something happened in Act three. That we’re not exactly sure about. We’re not exactly fine with. It’s just.
11:47.08
Jim Phoenix
you know, like the the set designs, the ambience, the music, everything is great. It’s just, damn, act three just kind of like derails it, it does. But I could be wrong, and maybe this dude on IMDB who I’m not, Red Robin 62, oh my God, there’s a bunch of numbers, fuck it. Red Robin’s also could be wrong, who knows? We might be wrong.
12:13.30
Jim Phoenix
Maybe we’t not ah one way to find out, hour 24, it’s worth it. Cthulhu rating, you already know it, four out of five. Four out of five kafoolos, if the act three landed, it’ll be a 4.5 and easily a sequel-able movie, depending on who lives and who doesn’t. like though I think the premise is sequel-able, without giving it away, right? I think this could be ah along the lines of ah Woman in Black, Purge, stuff like that. It could you it could be sequel-able to the part where it’s franchisable.
12:51.10
Jim Phoenix
but act three really need to work. and I don’t know what I’m wrong. So four out of five, I’m not gonna drop down on 3.5 because it’s just the the acting and the rest of the story don’t deserve to get lower than four. And that’s it, oh my God, that’s it. A 13 minute streaming demons, holy crow.
13:10.49
Jim Phoenix
All right, next up, we’ve got more. we he He never left. We’ve got some stuff, another video coming out, another movie review. And if you like this format, let me know. We can do a few more of them. Basically, this is just the box and I taking me some time to breathe and movies keep coming in. So if you like this one, let us know. If you hate this one, go fuck yourself. All that and more in the next stream of demons. Wait, what? Hit it.
13:40.96
Jim Phoenix
Meow, meow, meow. And we really are going to start reviewing games, video reviews, which means Jim’s going to be very awkward in them. This game is brilliant, by the way. Rides of Drow. Five out of five.
14:03.00
Jim Phoenix
Meow, meow, meow, meow.
14:09.97
Jim Phoenix
Do we have to listen to the entire thing? I guess so.
14:20.11
Jim Phoenix
Do you hear, Kat? Yeah, motherfucker.
Smile 2, a psychological supernatural horror, released in October 2024 just in time for Halloween, sees director Parker Finn (Smile, Laura Hasn’t Slept) return with a sequel starring Naomi Scott (Aladdin) as pop star and recovering addict Skye Riley. While Smile 2 boasts a talented cast, it ultimately falls short of its predecessor, offering a familiar storyline with minor variations and a predictable finale. The film attempts to introduce a new method to combat the parasitic ‘Smile Entity’, but this addition fails to elevate the sequel beyond a pale imitation of its chilling predecessor.
The Plot.
Smile 2 begins shortly after the end of the original; just six days after Rose Cotter’s death. During a short interlude scene, we watch as the now cursed Joel attempts to pass the Smile Entity on by killing one criminal in front of another. The plan backfires spectacularly, inadvertently passing the curse onto an innocent bystander named Lewis Fregoli.
The film then shifts gears, introducing Skye Riley, a singer and performer making a triumphant return to the spotlight with a comeback tour after a tumultuous past. During a candid interview on the Drew Barrymore Show, Skye opens up about her struggles with addiction and the devastating loss of her boyfriend in a car accident. Her sobriety journey, however, faces a severe setback when she seeks pain relief from her old high school friend, the unwitting Lewis Fregoli. In a chilling turn of events, Lewis takes his own life while Skye watches, passing the Smile Entity onto her.
Unaware of her new cursed existence Skye gets on with rehearsing for her tour, but she begins to notice that strange things are happening. People are smiling at her in an unnatural way and she becomes the target of anonymous attacks and aggressions. When text messages begin to arrive from an unknown number, Skye decides to get some answers.
Highlights.
Let’s not beat about the bush. I found Smile 2 difficult to finish and was struggling at about the hour-and-a-half mark to stay awake. That being said it’s worth watching because everyone needs to see the 3-minute scene of the âsmilersâ chasing Skye through her apartment. This was possibly the creepiest thing Iâve seen on a screen. The buildup, the synchronicity of the movement of the actors and their positioning, the camera work, and the lighting. I have rewatched it several times and it doesnât get old. If you are only interested in watching this, fast forward to the 123-minute mark and get ready to be impressed.
Drawbacks.
Where do I start?
My primary concern with Smile 2 is its striking resemblance to its predecessor. The narrative follows a familiar pattern: an attractive woman fleeing a supernatural force, grappling with hallucinations, experiencing a mental health decline, and culminating in the revelation someone close to Skye was the Smiling Entity after all. This repetitive structure diminishes the film’s impact.
While the introduction of a new method for shedding the entity initially offered a glimmer of hope this concept wasn’t fully realized. It just served to add names to the line of people that the entity has infected in the past.
Furthermore, the film’s pacing suffers from excessive focus on Skye’s musical career. Scenes showcasing her stage rehearsals and music videos, while intended to establish her identity as a performer, feel unnecessary and detract from the narrative momentum. Yes, we understand sheâs a performer, you told us, you donât need to prove it. These scenes appear to artificially inflate the film’s runtime, suggesting a lack of confidence in the core story.
The Final Take.
Ultimately, Smile 2 fails to expand upon the established lore of the franchise. The film’s conclusion feels contrived, with a blatant setup for a third installment. Hopefully, if a ‘Smile 3’ is inevitable, the creative team will bring fresh ideas and avoid simply retreading familiar ground.
(2 / 5)
Both Cthulhu’s granted for that one scene.
Weâre back again with Goosebumps The Vanishing, episode two. A story too big for one episode, apparently.
Or, maybe this is just a nod to the fact that Stay Out Of The Basement was a two-part episode in the original 1995 show. Either way, after seeing this episode, we could have kept it to one.
The story
We begin this second episode with Anthony investigating the parasitic plant taking over his body. Rather than, I don’t know, going to the hospital, he’s decided to phone a colleague and send her some samples from the bulb he pulls out of his arm with a handheld garden trowel.
Meanwhile, Devin is having his own worries. He’s haunted by what he saw in the sewers. So, he gets CJ to go with him to investigate. What they find is more of the tendrils of the plant that dragged him down through the manhole last episode.
I sure would have liked to see more about that.
Instead, we see Devin pivot to flirting with a newly single Frankie. Because teenage hormones I guess.
Meanwhile, Trey is having a terrible day. First, his girlfriend leaves him. Then, Anthony breaks his car window.
Needing a way to deal with his frustration, Trey decides to break into the Brewers’ basement. There, he starts wrecking up the place. Until he meets the plant creature and has an unfortunate accident.
What worked
The big difference between this episode and the last is the increased gross-out factor. This episode had some straight-up cringy moments. From the tendrils waiving from Anthony’s arm to the whole goat he brings home to feed his new pet, this episode was skin-crawling gross in the best way possible.
The series is called Goosebumps, after all.
What didnât work
Unfortunately, that’s where my praise ends. This episode, unlike the last, just wasn’t that great.
To start with, there was a lot of unnecessary drama between characters who are not in danger of being eaten by a plant from the inside out.
I especially disliked the focus on the Frankie/Trey/Devin love triangle.
Now, I don’t hate it. This part of the story adds extra emotional depth to the show. We can see why Trey would be especially incensed by his girlfriend falling for the son of the neighbor he’s feuding with. But it would be more enjoyable if it wasn’t so cliche and dramatic.
I hate the way Trey tried to gaslight Frankie. It makes me dislike him when he should be a sympathetic character. I hate how whiny Devin is every time he talks to Frankie. And I hated the impassioned speech Frankie gives after Devin asks her why she was with Trey.
Listen, I understand what we’re going for here. Devin and Cece are not struggling financially. They’re doing alright, and their new friends here in Gravesend are not. We kind of got that without Frankie claiming that her socioeconomic status is why she’s dating a bully and gaslighter. It felt out of place. It felt like pandering. It certainly didn’t feel like something an eighteen-year-old would say. I hated it.
Finally, there was a moment near the end of the episode that irritated me. I don’t want to give too much detail because I wouldn’t dare ruin an R.L. Stine cliffhanger. But, well, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
I get that we’re watching a show about a carnivorous plant that is going to wreak havoc on this family and neighborhood. I understand the suspension of disbelief. Some might even say I am a little too generous with it. So I can buy into a teenager being absorbed by a plant and turned into a monstrous version of himself.
I canât buy into what happens at the end of this episode. It doesnât make sense with the rules established. It certainly doesnât make any sort of scientific or logical sense. It is a lazy moment meant to further the storyline but threatens the structural integrity of the season.
All in all, this wasn’t the best episode of Goosebumps. But it’s only the second episode. Honestly, the season has plenty of time to go either way.
(2.5 / 5)
So, this is a convoluted post, not going to lie. Because it’s Thriller Nite. And we have to kick it off with a link to Michael Jackson in homage, because he’s the bomb and Vincent Price is the master… (If the following video doesn’t load properly, you can get there from this link.)
The movie monsters always approach so slowly.
Their stiff joints arcing in jerky, erratic movements
While the camera pans to a wide-eyed scream.
It takes forever for them to catch their victims.
Their stiff joints arcing in jerky, erratic movements
As they awkwardly shamble towards their quarry â
It takes forever for them to catch their victims.
And yet no one ever seems to get away.
As they awkwardly shamble towards their quarry â
Scenes shift, plot thickens, minutes tick by endlesslyâŠ
And yet no one ever seems to get away.
Seriously, how long does it take to make a break for it?
Scenes shift, plot thickens, minutes tick by endlesslyâŠ
While the camera pans to a wide-eyed scream.
Seriously, how long does it take to make a break for it?
The movie monsters always approach so slowly.
So my father used to enjoy telling the story of Thriller Nite and how he’d scare his little sister, my aunt. One time they were watching the old Universal Studios Monsters version of The Mummy, and he pursued her at a snail’s pace down the hallway in Boris Karloff fashion. Both of them had drastically different versions of this tale, but essentially it was a true Thriller Nite moment. And the inspiration for this poem.
For more fun music video mayhem, check out She Wolf here on Haunted MTL. And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigelâs work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.
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