Movie Review - The Drama

Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 105 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie, Hailey Gates, Sydney Lemmon, Hannah Gross
 
Description: A happily-engaged couple (Robert Pattinsong, Zendaya) is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.
 
Review: “The Drama” is a film that will continue to haunt your mind long after the credits roll, though whether you’ll find that a pleasant experience is another matter.

Charlie and Emma are happily engaged, preparing for their wedding. But when Emma shares something about her past, the week before their wedding becomes a big challenge.

The film strikes a perfect balance on the fine line between a cinematic masterpiece and a pure test of the viewer’s endurance. The film is best described as a pitch-black comedy laced with extremely disturbing situations. The humor is so sharp and painful that laughter repeatedly gets stuck in your throat. The director and cast succeed in constantly confronting the audience with complex moral dilemmas, in which there is no clear moral winner to be identified. As a viewer, you’re forced to question your own ethical compass, which makes the themes incredibly powerful. At the same time, this is a very uncomfortable film to watch. The vicarious embarrassment, the underlying tension, and the moral decay creep so deeply under your skin that it feels suffocating at times.

There is especially one scene, that feels like an actual dumpster fire. And the longer it burns, the worst it gets. And you can’t watch it, but also can’t look away. If you have seen the movie, you know which scene I mean.

It’s an impressive piece of cinema, but the emotional toll is high. Precisely because of the intense, uncomfortable atmosphere, I’ll probably never watch this film again. It’s powerful experience that you absolutely must see, but one you’ll be glad to leave behind afterward.

Rating: 4/ 5

Book Review - We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Title: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Author: Shirley Jackson
Genre: Horror/ Classic
Published: 1962
 
Description: Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted for murdering the rest of the family, the world isn’t leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family.
 
Review: Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” is a masterful gothic novel. The story centers on eighteen-year-old Mary Katherine “Merricat” Blackwood, who lives in a large, secluded country house with her agoraphobic sister Constance and their ailing uncle Julian. Six years earlier, the rest of the Blackwood family was mysteriously poisoned with arsenic in the sugar bowl. Although Constance was acquitted, the nearby village still believes she is the culprit. The sisters live in total isolation, protected by Merricat’s magical rituals, until their money-hungry cousin Charles arrives and brutally shatters their fragile peace.
 
Jackson excels at creating an ominous, claustrophobic atmosphere. The psychological depth of Merricat as an unreliable narrator is fascinating; her childlike logic mixed with dark tendencies makes her both sympathetic and terrifying. The book is a sharp social critique of groupthink, exclusion, and the suffocating nature of family ties.
 
Without giving away exactly what happens, the plot twist is powerful. Jackson forces the reader to reevaluate everything that has been told up to that point. You realize how manipulative the build-up has been. It both feels like a shock yet like the only logical truth.  
 
It’s a bit of a slow burn, with a good pay-off.
 
Rating: 4/ 5

Book Review - Molka by Monika Kim

Title: Molka
Author: Monika Kim
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Published: 2026
 
Description: Dahye can’t believe her luck when she finds herself in a whirlwind romance with handsome, charismatic Hyukjoon, the heir to a multi-million dollar fortune.
 
But then a shocking revelation: the couple has been caught on a spycam amid Korea’s growing molka epidemic, and the video is all over the internet. When Hyukjoon flees the country to avoid the intense public scrutiny, Dahye is left to grapple with the ramifications on her own; and the demons from her childhood, long dormant, begin to surface.
 
Amid the chaos, she catches the attention of Junyoung, a nerdy, introverted IT tech at work. Junyoung harbors a dark secret: he has been spying on the women at work with his own hidden cameras. As Dahye’s life begins to unravel, she unknowingly becomes the sole target of Junyoung’s perverse obsession.
 
When the facts surrounding the invasion of her privacy come to light, Dahye is faced with the humiliating truth. Her pain and hurt turn to rage as she faces her past. Her desire for vengeance is insatiable, and she will not rest until the men who have wronged her have paid in blood…
 
Review: “Molka” by Monika Kim is an absolutely breathtaking psychological horror/ thriller that grips you from the very first page and never lets go.
 
We meet Dahye, who can’t believe she is dating the charming Hyukjoon. But when the two are secretly filmed in a hotel room in a compromising video, Hyukjoon disappears without a trace and Dahye has to deal with the aftermath on her own. With that, she has drawn the attention of one of her colleagues, Junyoung, who hid cameras in the women’s bathrooms to spy on them. Dahye’s hurt eventually turns into rage and she will take sweet revenge.
 
Kim delivers a literary masterpiece that is as terrifying as it is socially relevant, transforming the dark reality of the modern digital world into a harrowing reading experience. The way Kim builds psychological tension is nothing short of genius.
 
The real-world voyeurism is turned into a furious, razor-sharp interrogation of systematic misogyny and toxic masculinity. The novel functions as a grim embodiment of the online manosphere, incel culture, and the “boys will be boys” mindset that leaves women defenseless while protecting male perpetrators. Every single man in this book is terrible and the lack of redeeming male characters is driving the central themes of the narrative. The story eventually channels pure, unfiltered feminine rage.
 
The plot is full of unexpected twists, subtle clues, and a constant, palpable threat that gets under your skin. Kim’s writing style is cinematic, elegant, and hypnotic, making it impossible to put the book down. Its an urgent, chilling page-turner that forces you to reflect on the world we live in. This horror book deserves to be on all the best of 2026 lists and is an absolute must-read. Warning: these men will make you very angry.
 
Rating: 5/ 5

 

Book Review - Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Title: Evidence of the Affair
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Romance/ Fiction
Published: 2018
 
Description: A desperate young woman in Southern California sits down to write a letter to a man she’s never met, a choice that will forever change their lives.
 
The correspondence between Carrie Allsop and David Mayer reveals, piece by piece, the painful details of a devastating affair between their spouses. With each commiserating scratch of the pen, they confess their fears and bare their should. They share the bewilderment over how things went so wrong and come to wonder where to go from here.

Review: “Evidence of the Affair” by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a compelling and emotionally nuanced short story that sheds light on the complexity of infidelity in a unique way. The book tells the story entirely through letters between Carrie and David, two strangers who discover that their respective spouses are having an affair with each other. This epistolary format works surprisingly well; it makes the reader feel as if they’re secretly eavesdropping on their deepest secrets, pains, and growing bond.
 
In just eighty pages, Reid succeeds in creating characters who feel genuine and relatable. Their grief and anger are palpable, and the evolution of their correspondence keeps the tension constantly high. I really wished this was a full-length novel. Some emotional shifts could have used a little more breathing room.
 
Nevertheless, the ending of the book felt satisfying and the story leaves a lasting impression. Highly recommended for a quick read.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5

Book Review - Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer

Title: Trad Wife
Author: Saratoga Schaefer
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Published: 2026
 
Description: When Camille Deming isn’t cooking, cleaning, or homesteading in her picture-perfect country farmhouse, she’s posting about her tradwife lifestyle for her online followers. She takes inspiration from other tradwives on social media, aspiring to be like them, but Camille’s missing a key component: a baby. And contrary to what she posts online, things with her husband Graham have been strained. Pressured by her eager followers, Camille fears that without a baby, her relationship will suffer and her social media will never frow out of its infancy.
 
When Camille discovers a mysterious, decrepit well in the wheatfield behind her house, she makes a wish for a baby. Afterwards, she has unsettling experiences that she convinces herself are angelic in nature, and when she’s visited one night by a strange creature, her wish comes true.
 
Camille’s pregnancy announcement gets more engagement than anything she’s ever poster. So what if Graham’s reaction is lukewarm? Camille’s life is finally falling into place. Never mind that her pregnancy is developing freakishly rapidly and she’s suddenly craving raw meat. Being a tradition wife is worth it.
 
Review: With “Trad Wife”, author Saratoga Schaefer delivers an intriguing horror thriller that grips you from the very first page.
 
We meet Camille, a 24-year-old influencer who curates a perfect, submissive tradwife lifestyle online. Desperate for a baby to fix her failing marriage and boost her social media metrics, she makes a wish at a mysterious well and is visited by a demonic creature. When she gets pregnant, her life finally falls into place, instead the pregnant is developing faster than usual.
The book masterfully weaves the oppressive atmosphere of a seemingly perfect traditional life with an underlying, constant sense of menace. Schaefer builds the tension with care, making the urge to keep reading irresistible.
 
We dive into the world of tradwives and Schaefer paints a nuanced portrait of a woman who consciously chooses a hyper-traditional role, driven by a deep longing for peace, control, and clarity in an overwhelming world. Instead of the simplistic black-and-white thinking.
 
The greatest strength of this novel lies in the psychological depth of its characters. Shaefer writes with a sharp, observant pen. I found it hard to relate to Camille though, since my view of feminism, autonomy and happiness is so very different from hers. And Graham is insufferable. But the socially critical undertone is palpable throughout and compels.
 
This is an absolute must-read for anyone who loves psychological fiction with strong social relevance.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5

Movie Review - Obsession

Director: Curry Barker
Genre: Horror/ Romance
Runtime: 108 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter
 
Description: After breaking the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic (Michael Johnston) finds himself getting exactly what he asked for, but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
 
Review: Socially awkward Bear is in love with his childhood friend Nikki, but no matter how much he practices with his friends, he just can’t bring himself to ask her out. Even when she asks him point-black if he has feelings for her, he’s too scared.  But then Bear finds a so-called “one wish willow” in an occult store: a wish stick that grants him one wish. You can guess what happens next: out of frustration Bear breaks the stick and wishes that Nikki loves him more than anyone in the entire world.

At first glance, Bear’s solutions seems like every incel’s wet dream in the manosphere, where the prevailing idea is that women should be subservient to their men. But the saying, be careful what you wish for, exists for a reason. And the longer Bear and Nikki are “together”, the crazier, more unpredictable, and more obsessive her behavior becomes.

Bear is such a naïve fool that you almost overlook the fact that something isn’t quite right from the very beginning. Director Curry Barkers initially cleverly positions Bear as the protagonist in a rom-com, making you root for his success in love. Things get more interesting after the wish, when none of Nikki’s bizarre actions prompt Bear to take concrete action. Not even when his friends are seriously concerned about her mental health. Until Bear finally gets a taste of his own obsession and that true love suddenly isn’t that great anymore.

Barker added a delightfully devilish sense of humor. This is largely thanks to Inde Navarrette, who plays Nikki. This is one of the best lead roles in horror I have seen in the last years. It’s amazing how Navarrette walks a fine line between grotesque, humor and mental torture. Even in a finale, that is so unhinged, she never lets us forget for a moment just how deeply unsettling it all is.

Curry Barker, who started out as a content creator on YouTube, proofs with this horror film that he is a lot more than just an internet sensation. He created one of the best horror films in modern history with a very small budget. It’s not an easy watch, it’s very uncomfortable, but this film will haunt you for a very long time. And that's a good thing.

Rating: 5/ 5

Movie Review - Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Genre: Horror/ Comedy
Runtime: 108 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, Elijah Wood
 
Description: Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) battles old wounds with her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) while rival occult dynasties hunt them through a deadly contest that promises power, survival and betrayal before dawn.
 
Review: “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” is a louder and more grotesque sequel to the 2019 surprise hit. While the original has a small-scale, claustrophobic atmosphere, the second installments opts for more chaos, blood and action, complete with an excellent cast.

The film picks up exactly where “Ready or Not” left us. Grace has just survived her in-laws during a deadly game of hide and seek. With the house burned down, the police is questioning Grace, since there were also human remains found in the house. And the blood on her dress is not hers. While she is being escorted to the police station, she is being hunted again. This time her estranged sister Faith is with her, while rival occult dynasties will hunt them down in a deadly contest for the ultimate power.

Samara Weaving was already the highlight of the first film and there is no difference for the sequel. As the indestructible Grace you are constantly rooting for her and this is the ultimate “good-for-her” story.

The sequel is so unhinged, it’s very fast paced, brutally violent and very gory. If you loved the first movie, you will not automatically like this one. But if you loved the first and appreciated the dark humor from the first, and don’t mind adding gallons of blood and over-the-top action, you will definitely have a good time. But it’s missing the suspense and simple structure from the first installment, and that might be a reason you wouldn’t like it. For that reason I believe the first movie was better, but I highly enjoyed “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come”.

Rating: 3,5/ 5