Oh come on, you knew it was coming. Despite being a film that made just about every possible misstep they could take, had actually managed to accomplish something very few films do. Because did you know that today’s film actually won an Academy Award? Well that ‘aint the half of it’ as we’ve got gifted rodents, a trailer the world wasn’t supposed to see, and so much licensed music it’ll make your head spin. All on top of a script that was written in just 6 weeks! Today we’re talking about David Ayer’s…or well…maybe we shouldn’t identify it as that since he’s been pretty adamant that this isn’t his cut so…today on DC Revisited we’re covering Warner Brother’s Suicide Squad.

One key thing to remember when looking at the development of Suicide Squad, is that Warner still had faith in Snyder’s vision for the DC Cinematic Universe. This was before Batman v Superman brought in less money than Warner had hoped, and critics lambasted the film for being too dark. So this film was being developed with the same dark and gritty mindset that came with both Man of Steel and its sequel.

The film was originally announced in 2009 but there wasn’t any real movement on the project until it was revealed again in 2014. But the biggest issue with this was that not only was it announced, but it was given a release date! So production had to move swiftly. They were off to the races when David Ayer boarded the project in early 2015 as writer and director. Ayer had just finished work on the WW2 epic Fury starring Brad Pitt and had a lot of buzz behind his name. The only problem was that he wrote the script in 6 weeks and, given the complicated nature of bringing together so many different characters, that seems like an astronomically low amount of time. But Warner had a release date to hit and so the production trucked on.

They had to now assemble their squad of…suiciders? Okay that doesn’t work but oh well. I tried. Ryan Gosling, Tom Hardy, Margot Robbie and Will Smith were all initially offered roles in the film. While Gosling turned them down and Hardy would eventually have scheduling conflicts, Robbie and Smith both accepted.

Heath Ledger had made such an impression with his Joker, that many wondered if they’d ever attempt another live-action version. Everyone would simply be compared to Ledger and Nicholson and already start out with quite an unfair disadvantage. But even still, The Joker was too iconic to keep in the shadows for long. Everyone’s heard the stories of Jared Leto‘s Joker, but for the uninitiated: Buzz was quite positive when Leto was first announced as the Clown Prince of Crime. That changed rather quickly when the first image of his iteration released and it all came crashing down like a tattoo that said…damaged. These tattoos were Ayer’s way of modernizing the character. Leto has cited David Bowie as an influence on his version as well. Jared stayed in character on set, even sending his castmates rather odd gifts, with the ultimate being the rodent he gifted his on-screen love interest…

Margot Robbie may have been the most obvious choice to play Harley Quinn out there, with her almost perfectly embodying the fan favorite’s look. Even if absolutely everything about the film sucked, the fact that we got Robbie’s Harley Quinn is an absolute miracle because she’s a breath of fresh air. We even get a brief glimpse at Joker torturing Harleen Quinzell, which leads to her joining his side.

Will Smith was cast in the film before the character he’d portray had even been decided. The studio just knew they wanted Smith and his charisma. This is obviously well before his…controversy [SLAP!]. Funnily enough, Smith actually turned down the chance to reprise his role of Captain Steven Hiller, in the Independence Day sequel in order to be in this film. Ultimately, he took up the mantle of Deadshot, liking that the character’s motivation is trying to do right by his daughter.

Joel Kinnaman was cast as Rick Flag, the man who has to corral all the supervillains and keep them up to task. This was actually the role that Tom Hardy was originally cast in before leaving. Playing his love interest June Moone, and also shockingly the big bad Enchantress, was Cara Delevingne. Mostly known as a model, this served as her first major role. The Australian loudmouth Captain Boomerang had Jai Courtney cast in the role. Despite being criminally underutilized, he looks to be having an absolute blast.

Despite being under 50 pounds of makeup, and featuring a lot of stuntwork, it would have made sense to just go with a stuntman for the role of Killer Croc. Instead, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje took on the part.  It should be noted that this makeup job was actually good enough to win an Academy Award. Wait, you didn’t think the movie won an award for its writing did you?

The rest of the squad was rounded out with Adam Beach as Slipknot, Jay Hernandez as Diablo and Karen Fukuhara as Kitana. If you think I’m not properly giving them their time then you’d be correct but that’s because the movie itself doesn’t really give them much time either.  Scott Eastwood also appeared in a brief role but he’s hardly relevant to anything going on. David Harbour shows up as a government suit, but this was before he’d blown up as Sheriff Hopper on Stranger Things. And I just have to highlight Ike Barinholtz, who portrays a slimey prison guard. This guy is just hilarious.

Finally in a role we’d come to know quite well, Viola Davis was cast as Amanda Waller. Since she’s the one that controls the Supervillains, there had to be someone with proper gravitas to match and it’s hard to imagine anyone else pulling it off quite with the flare that Davis manages. Ben Affleck also reprised his role as Batman, showing up in the film a lot more than you would expect, including a midcredits scene that would help set up the Justice League. Speaking of that team, Ezra Miller also shows up as The Flash in a brief scene to capture Captain Boomerang.

When it comes to the story of Suicide Squad…I’m going to struggle even making sense of this. So we’ve got Amanda Waller, she’s putting together a group of Supervillains to protect us against massive threats, now that Superman is dead. Why she immediately jumps to bad guys and not, say, Aquaman or Wonder Woman is anyone’s guess. But these bad guys are recruited because Cara Delevingne has awakened an ancient evil and wants to destroy the world with her ancient brother. And then there’s the Joker who pops up here or there because he really wants to save Harley…even though he doesn’t really care much about her. It’s a wonder why this film failed so spectacularly…

Filming on Suicide Squad started in Toronto, Canada in April of 2015 and finally wrapped up in August of the same year. Despite the turmoil that would come, the initial filming was uneventful, despite being extremely rushed. Ayer was still able to shoot his dark, dystopic film. If anything, they seemed to be accomplishing their goals, despite their extremely limited lack of time. But that’s when it all came crashing down.

Before the movie was even cut together, footage was assembled for the 2015 San Diego Comic Con by the company Trailer Park. While this was not intended to be seen outside of Hall H, cam videos leaked online, forcing Warner to release a full HD version of the footage. And people went absolutely nuts. This looked to be an absolute blast, with the look of the characters being absolutely perfect.

The biggest issue with this footage getting out and causing such buzz was it didn’t properly represent Ayers movie. Ayers film was dark and gritty, not the fun time at the cinema that the trailer made it out to be. So execs grew increasingly nervous as the buzz increased. John Gilroy originally started as the film’s editor but he left the project in early 2016. Lee Smith was then brought in to cut the film but still not tonally change the film. This cut was approximately 143 minutes long, featured no licensed music and had a tone more akin to that of Black Hawk Down. This is where things continue to circle the drain.

Following the release of Batman v Superman, Warner Brothers were starting to feel the heat for what they perceived as failures. With their Cinematic universe running concurrently with Marvel’s, the box office receipts showed a clear winner and Warner was hoping to tighten up the race. With Zack Snyder at the helm, the DC films had taken on a rather dark and gritty texture with every frame, character and story. Conversely, Marvel was able to bring a bit of levity to their films, while still doing massive world-destroying levels of stakes. Hoping to right the ship, they felt that humor and fun was the key to their success.

Still not entirely confident in Ayers version or their newly edited, lighter version, the studio held screenings of both versions in Northern California. The only issue was that both tested nearly identical. With no clear winner, the studio decided massive reshoots would be done in order to satisfy audiences. 

Famed comic writer and now DC Exec Geoff Johns wrote what would become the Suicide Squad reshoots. The main purpose was to lighten the film up. These were anything but minor, totalling nearly $22 Million just for the reshoots alone. They were also able to get Zack Snyder to shoot a brief cameo for the Flash during the filming of Justice League. As expected, these reshoots cobbled together a story that made it even less cohesive and did strange things like introducing the same character three different times. Even still, this is the version that Warner ultimately decided to release, as it had, had the best test screenings of the bunch.

Ayer’s former collaborator Steven Price was brought in to score the film and his score was described as wonderfully moody. But unfortunately, very little of it made it past the cutting room floor, with licensed pop music being used mostly instead. 

Suicide Squad released in the United States on August 5th, 2016 and brought in $133,682,248 on its opening weekend. But like Batman v Superman before it, the movie didn’t have the legs that Warner wanted, earning $746 Million worldwide. And while those numbers would be great for most studios, Warner has always had high expectations for their superhero films and needed $800 Million to break even. And the reaction to the film certainly hasn’t helped.

Earning a measly 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film was widely derided from critics and audiences alike, with the critical consensus being that it: “boasts a talented cast and a little more humor than previous DCEU efforts, but they aren’t enough to save the disappointing end result from a muddled plot, thinly written characters, and choppy directing.” 

But almost making a billion dollars at the box office is nothing to scoff at so, despite their disappointment, they greenlit a sequel with Ayer returning, as well as Gotham City Sirens, which was supposed to be about the women of DC like Harley and Poison Ivy. Unfortunately, neither of those came to fruition in the forms they started as, but would become Birds of Prey and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.

An Extended Cut of the film was released on Home Video and this added nearly 13 minutes of additional footage. While there was a lot of hope that this would help make the film less disjointed, it consists mostly of the same scenes, only extended with a few lines of dialogue. The basic structure of the film largely stayed in place. Though we do get more of Leto’s Joker and a little bit more character development.

In recent years, with the release of the Snyder Cut, which we’ll touch on all in due time, there has been a movement to get the Ayer Cut released. [#ReleasetheAyerCut] Much like Snyder, Ayer was hoping to be able to recut the film and release it on HBO Max. However, with the Snyder Cut not exactly producing a ton of money for the studio, a new cut of a much less popular film, with a much less fervent fanbase, made the prospect seem unlikely. Which is too bad as Ayer has repeatedly said that the theatrical version is not his own. One of the only ways to see a bit of Ayer’s vision is the novelization from Marv Wolfman. 

The cast of Suicide Squad has been quite busy in the world of comic book films. While many of these actors reprised their roles in future movies, some also popped up in others. Jared Leto became Morbius, which somehow became an even bigger meme than Suicide Squad. David Harbour would go onto portray both Hellboy as well as Red Guardian in Black Widow. Karen Fukuhara would show up in the phenomenal Amazon show, The Boys as Kimiko. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje by this time had already shown up as Kurse in Thor: The Dark World, where he was also under a ton of makeup.

The Suicide Squad just seems to be a property that will always be the source of controversy: From this film, to the underperforming reboot just a few years later, all the way to the recent game that had to be delayed a full year due to the negative reaction to its gameplay. This has proven to be a tough IP to get right. Whether we ever see the Ayer Cut is anyone’s guess, but the film we were left with leaves far too much on the table.

Fast X has landed in theaters and we wondered what the best car films were. Find out what we came up with as we put the petal to the metal!

I​f the Fast and Furious series has taught us anything, it’s that there is nothing more important than family. Not really. It has demonstrated that there is nothing cooler than a movie with fast cars. The rev of the engine, the sound of it tearing down a stretch of asphalt, and the shot of the cool car flying past the camera. That is what the series has taught us. With the recent release of Fast X, we see that there is still a lot of life left in movies about the need for speed. What are some of the best car movies to get your engine revving?

O​kay, so maybe this one isn’t so much about fast cars as it is about falling in love with your car. Not as much as Titane, but the love story is still there. Arnie finds himself obsessed with rebuilding an old car he bought but soon learns that the car may be taking revenge on those who cross him. This John Carpenter classic is a great film that shows a lot of car action, even if it’s not about going fast. Worth a watch for anyone that loves a good-looking car.

T​he Mad Max series would become more of a post-apocalyptic action series, but initially, it started out as a world that was on the brink of collapse. An Australian police officer is trying to keep the peace, but Max decides to take revenge when a violent motorcycle gang violently kills his partner. The film is filled with crazy car chases, and Max’s Interceptor quickly becomes a classic film car. This film’s stunts alone make it worth the watch, as Australian stunt performers had a crazy reputation back then. Check out Not Quite Hollywood to learn how Australia made some fantastic action films.

M​ade during Nic Cage’s late 90s action run, this film was built around the idea of fast cars and big action scenes. This film is a remake of a 1974 film but brought to it the high-octane intensity we had been seeing out of Michael Bay films of the era. Memphis Raines (Cage) is brought back into the world of stealing cars when his younger brother (Giovanni Ribisi) gets caught up with a crime lord. Now he must steal 50 cars in one night to erase his debt. The film is star-studded, with Angelina Jolie, Timothy Olyphant, Robert Duvall, and Scott Caan co-starring.

The original Michael Caine version had some great car chases using some Mimi Coopers, which was unheard of at the time. Charlie (Caine) gets out of prison and finds that his friend tried to pull a high-risk job under the watchful eye of the Italian mafia. Now he has to take the job over, and he hopes to be able to bring Turin to a standstill as his crew escapes with a large amount of gold. This was remade in the early 2000s with Mark Wahlberg, but it doesn’t reach the action heights that this original does for car chases. Worth seeking out.

Nothing says action in the 2000s like Jason Statham. The Transporter series helped put him on the map. Frank (Statham) is a retired military officer who offers his transportation services for a price. He adheres to a strict set of rules to keep himself safe. When he breaks one of his rules and looks at what he is transporting, he finds a young girl kidnapped. Now he has to figure out what to do with the girl and decide if he will deliver her to the intended destination. The main character has an amazing set of driving skills, and it helps turn this film into a fast-paced action film that uses the car as a weapon.

K​owalski works for a car delivery service. He makes a bet that he can get from Colorado to San Francisco in 15 hours. On his trip, he meets all sorts of characters, including some police officers and a motorcycle gang that end up in a high-speed chase. He has to shake all of them and make it to his destination on time while driving a 1970 White Dodge Challenger. The film is a lot of fun while being an excellent chase film. Quentin Tarantino was a big fan of it, so the classic car made its way into . . .

T​arantino’s half of Grindhouse is this great car film where the subject is used as an instrument of murder. A former stuntman, affectionally named Stuntman Mike, uses his car to murder those that he sets his sights on. The first is a group of young girls trying to have a fun night out. The film’s second half has Stuntman Mike looking at a group of women working on a local film shoot. They go to look at a car for sale that is the same as the one from Vanishing Point. Once they take it out for a test drive, Mike sets out to strike. He quickly finds himself in over his head as they fight back.

E​dgar Wright wanted to put out his own entry into the fast car genre and have his own spin on it. We’re introduced to Baby, a driver for a local crime lord. Different teams are assembled for various jobs, but Baby is always the getaway driver. We quickly find that he has amazing driving skills. Due to tinnitus, he constantly listens to music to keep from focusing on the ringing in his ears. A lot of the action scenes are edited perfectly to different music tracks so that the driving and music meld together seamlessly.

R​yan Gosling plays the mysterious Driver. He works as a mechanic in a garage and is a stuntman on occasion. On the side, he takes jobs being a getaway driver. Outside of all this, he tries to keep to himself and have as few attachments as possible. He becomes interested in his neighbor, who is raising a son by herself. Just as they get closer, her husband is released from jail. He tries to help him but is pulled into a situation that will bring him into a confrontation with the mafia. The driving scenes here are great, and mixed in with some of the great visuals from Nicolas Winding Refn; it makes this a must-watch film.

M​ade during filmgoers’ obsession with the trucker lifestyle, this film stars Burt Reynolds and Sally Field. Two friends accept a job driving a truckload of beer across state lines. Everything seems fine until Bandit(Reynolds) picks up a hitchhiker (Field). She ran out on her wedding to the local sheriff’s son. When he finds out where she is, a car chase ensues, and Bandit has to elude the police while helping his partner get the truckload of beer to their destination. Trans-Ams were already cool, but his movie helped make them into legendary status.

W​hat do you think are some of the best car films? Let us know in the comments.

The Little Mermaid came in under the century mark with a $95.5 million 3-day haul, however that number is expected to grow to around $117 million for its 4-day debut.

Updated With Mondays Numbers:

As expected, families took the extended weekend to spread out their trip to the theater, resulting in The Little Mermaid pulling in an estimated $117.5 million 4-day gross, making it the fifth highest grossing Memorial Day weekend opening of all time. Fast X grew to $28.6 million moving the franchise past the $7 Billion mark, making it the fifth highest grossing franchise of all time while Guardians Vol. 3 added another $6 million to its weekend take. The remainder of the films all saw increases of roughly $2-3 million. With stiff competition in the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see the types of legs some of these films have. Check out the chart at the bottom of the page for updated numbers on all ten films.

Original Post:

Disney’s live action remake of their 1989 classic The Little Mermaid easily claimed the top spot this weekend with a reported $95.5 million 3-day take. While that number comes in shy of our $110 million prediction, it is to note that with this being a holiday weekend in the States, that number is actually meant to grow to around $117 million by the end of Monday as families didn’t feel rushed to get to the theater. That is good news for a film that is garnering decent, if not overwhelmingly positive, reviews (including a 6/10 from our own Chris Bumbray.) The real question will be how it plays over the coming weeks. It isn’t like a Super Mario Bros. Movie that has had the family market place to itself for several weeks and reaped the rewards, The Little Mermaid will face stiff competition in the coming weeks from Sony’s Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse next week followed by Transformers, Flash and even Disney’s own Elemental. With that said, and the fact that the film seems to have under-performed outside North America, it will be interesting to see if this film ultimately hits those billion dollar highs of other Disney live action remakes. With a reported $250 million budget, it will need to.

The good news is that audiences seem to be loving the film as it has garnered an A cinemascore and a 95% audience score. My personal thoughts on the film are that Halle Bailey absolutely nailed the lead role of Ariel while the visuals were quite excellent with this being one of the best 3D conversions I have seen on a Disney live action remake. It not just had tremendous depth, but also some really good pop outs with scenes of Flounder floating there literally right in your face. Hopefully Disney will continue its newly rekindled interest in releasing 3D Blu ray’s when this hits home video as it would most certainly be a demonstration level disc. 

Were you invited to the Family Barbecue? If so, you know that Fast X came in second place with an estimated $23.02 million, representing a sizable 66% drop from its already soft opening. However, those drops are fairly typical for this franchise as The Fast and the Furious films seem to be about as front loaded as comic book films tend to be. This drop actually represents the second biggest drop for the franchise at the domestic box office after 2021’s F9: The Fast Saga. Of course this film is playing the exact opposite game of The Little Mermaid as its overseas numbers are pretty solid which will hopefully propel this reportedly $340 million budgeted film into profitability. To put that into perspective, Avatar: The Way of Water reportedly cost between $350 and $400 million to make and needed to hit $2 billion worldwide to be considered profitable, which it did, because its Avatar! As much as I enjoy The Fast and the Furious films, they aren’t Avatar! Also keep in mind, with some of that budget, James Cameron filmed a lot of the next installment in that franchise, I haven’t heard any such claim about Fast X’s budget being used for the next (and supposed final) chapter. I know The Fast and The Furious has been Universal’s biggest franchise, but whoever greenlit a $340 million budget for this one may be out of a job when all is said and done.

Third place belongs to Chris Pratt as he saves our planet with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 continuing its solid run at the box office with another $19.9 million added to its $299.4 million domestic total. We talk a lot about Comic Book Movie fatigue, but let’s be honest, it’s bad comic book movie fatigue. Guardians 3 proves that when you make a film in that genre that feels fresh yet with that familiarity you have come to expect, audiences will show up. Unfortunately, it looks like the next film in the MCU (The Marvels) will not continue this upward trajectory for the franchise, but hopefully I am wrong and it was just a really horrible looking trailer. 

Fourth place belongs to Chris Pratt as he saves the mushroom kingdom with The Super Mario Bros. Movie continuing its monstrous run with an additional $6.2 million added to its massive $558.8 million domestic take. With more family options available in the coming weeks, and the film already on Digital and slated to hit physical media in early June, we can expect this one to start its slide out of the top five after two months, and let the sequel talk begin!

Counter-programming was big this weekend with four new offerings aimed at mostly all different audiences. Fans of stand up comedy had their pick of two films based on routines by immensely popular comedians with the winner being Bert Kresicher’s The Machine with an estimated $4.9 million while Sebastian Maniscalco’s About My Father fell slightly behind it with $4.2 million. I wonder if the Robert DeNiro starring About My Father will have better legs as it plays directly into a Father’s Day vibe that is still a few weeks away (June 18th for those of you that still need to buy a card.)

Gerard Butler was back on the big screen this weekend with Kandahar, the film didn’t pull in the best reviews(with the exception being the 7/10 from our own Chris Bumbray) and that translated to a pretty horrid $2.4 million opening weekend, about $8 million less than his previous big screen effort, January’s Plane which was actually a really solid action film. I have not yet had the chance to see Kandahar but have rarely been let down by Butler when he is in action star mode. Perhaps this one will see some solid returns when it hits the home video market.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was back on the big screen with the film You Hurt My Feelings, re-teaming with her Enough Said director Nicole Holofcener. The film was a massive hit at this years Sundance Film Festival where A24 picked up distribution rights, giving it a fairly modest release of just over 900 screens, translating to a $1.3 million debut. Modest numbers, but with solid reviews (95% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 7/10 from our own Chris Bumbray) this one could be the perfect antidote to all those big screen summer popcorn films. 

Ninth place belongs to Evil Dead Rise with an additional$1.05 million.  The film has been an excellent continuation of the long running franchise in both the quality of the movie and the longevity it has had at the box office. The top ten is rounded out with the octogenarian sequel Book Club: The Next Chapter with a reported $920,000, which represents a pretty hefty 69% decline from last week.

Did you hit theaters this Memorial Day weekend? If so, let us know your thoughts on what you saw and don’t forget to check out our weekly poll where we ask: What is your Favorite Live Action Disney Remake?

Arrow in the Head has compiled a list of the Best Horror Movies on Max Right Now! From Dusk Till Dawn, The Exorcist, The Menu, and more.

The streaming service formerly known as HBO Max been in the headlines a lot lately. The service merged with Discovery+, removed a bunch of titles, and changed their name, dropping the “HBO”. They’re simply known as Max now, but their deep catalog of horror films are still up and active on the service. So we have put together a list of the Best Horror Movies on Max Right Now, but as always, you never know when movies will come and go, so if there’s anything on this list you’re dying to see, don’t wait – check it out now!

THE MENU (2022)

The most recent movie on this list, The Menu had a good run at theatres but has been getting even more attention now that it’s streaming. The story follows a couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) to a restaurant on a private island, where a celebrity chef (Ralph Fiennes) and his team have come up with a very unique tasting menu. And some of their guests might not survive the night. Directed by Mark Mylod, The Menu is a clever satire of pretentious chefs, cooking shows, and foodies that will keep you guessing as to what the next course is going to bring. And while there are plenty of fancy foods on display, it will leave most meat-eating viewers craving a classic cheeseburger.

THE EXORCIST (1973)

You definitely can’t go wrong by watching one of the most popular, highly respected horror films ever made. Directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty (based on Blatty’s novel), The Exorcist has been scaring the hell out of people for nearly fifty nears now, and this story of a single mother trying to find someone who can help her possessed daughter is so well-crafted that it racked up Oscar nominations in the categories of Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actress (Ellen Burstyn), Best Supporting Actress (Linda Blair), Best Supporting Actor (Jason Miller), Best Art Direction, Best Editing, and Best Picture. It won Oscars in the Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay categories. So check it out on Max and marvel at it.

TUSK (2014)

Some people love Tusk. Some people hate it. Some people would tell you not to even attempt to watch it. But in our book, any movie about a man capturing another man and surgically transforming in a walrus creature demands to be seen at least once. (And if you love it after that one viewing, keep watching it again and again.) Written and directed by Kevin Smith, this twisted tale features terrific performances from Michael Parks, Justin Long, Genesis Rodriguez, and Haley Joel Osment – and a really bizarre performance from Johnny Depp. For a horror movie based on a hoax roommate ad and a comedic conversation on a podcast, Tusk is actually pretty awesome. And that walrus creature is an unforgettable sight.

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a bit divisive, as some fans couldn’t go along with crazy comedic approach Tobe Hooper took to the sequel to his 1974 classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre… but for me, this is one of the most brilliant, gleefully entertaining sequels ever made. Out to avenge characters from the first film, a former lawman teams with a female radio DJ to track Leatherface and his family down to their new lair, set up in the bowels of an old theme park. Leatherface falls for the DJ and experiences a cleverly written case of unrequited love while their co-stars chew the scenery and compete to see who go can further over-the-top.

CHILD’S PLAY (1988)

People have mocked slasher icon Chucky for his small stature over the years and some of his sequels have leaned further into comedy than horror, but when you go back and watch the 1988 film Child’s Play and see how director Tom Holland and screenwriter Don Mancini (with script revisions from Holland and John Lafia) first introduced the character, it’s no surprise he has stuck around as a genre icon. Holland made this killer doll, inhabited by the soul of a serial killer, come off as a real threat, a slasher who can take people down just as well as killers many times his size.

JENNIFER’S BODY (2009)

Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman really won me over when they decided to follow up their Best Picture-nominated first collaboration Juno (which did earn Cody an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay) with the horror movie Jennifer’s Body. Directed by Karyn Kusama, scripted by Cody, and produced by Reitman, the movie stars Megan Fox as Jennifer, a high schooler who becomes a man-eating demonic creature when a rock band tries to make her a virgin sacrifice to Satan, not realizing she isn’t a virgin. Now it’s up to her best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) to stop Jennifer’s killing spree. Jennifer’s Body was underappreciated at the time of its release, but thankfully has been gaining in popularity as the years have gone by.

PREDATOR (1987)

Some may argue that John McTiernan’s Predator doesn’t belong on a horror list, but I’m easy-going when it comes to categorizing films and feel that Predator deserves a spot on this list because it’s basically a slasher movie where the victims just happen to be heavily armed. An alien creature has come to Earth specifically to hunt humans and collect their skulls, and as its chosen prey we have a group of badass mercenaries – brought to life by a great cast led by Arnold Schwarzenegger – who are on a mission in a jungle, complete with explosions and a lot of gunfire. The alien Predator picks off the mercenaries one-by-one, and at times even dispatches them with blades like a proper slasher.

THE BLOB (1958)

With a budget of $100,000 and a batch of red-colored silicone gel, director Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr. (who really wanted to be making religious-themed movies) unexpectedly gifted the genre with one of its most iconic creatures. Some viewers may scoff at the sight of The Blob, as this mass of gel doesn’t exactly look scary as it rolls around and consumes people, but this film still holds a lot of entertainment value, and it’s quite charming. Plus it offers the chance to watch future A-lister Steve McQueen, in his first starring role and looking too old to play a teenager like he does here, try to save a small town from a seemingly unstoppable creature. The fun begins as soon as the movie starts and that unforgettable theme song kicks in.

GREMLINS (1984)

A Steven Spielberg production, this one was directed by Joe Dante, who had previously directed Piranha, Spielberg’s favorite Jaws knock-off. The story begins when Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) receives Gizmo, an adorable little creature called a mogwai, for Christmas. Unfortunately, there are very strict rules about taking care of a mogwai and Billy is a lousy pet owner, so soon an army of maniacal gremlins have sprouted from Gizmo and start wreaking havoc in small town America. Gremlins is a nice blend of creepy creature moments and silly comedy, making it one of the best options to show a youngster who is just starting to get into the horror genre. You can actually have a major Gremlins marathon on Max, as they also have the sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch and the animated prequel series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai.

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (1996)

In 1988, FX artist Robert Kurtzman hired an unknown writer named Quentin Tarantino to turn his treatment From Dusk Till Dawn into a screenplay. It was the first time Tarantino was ever paid to write something. Less than ten years later, with an Oscar in hand, Tarantino decided to team up with director Robert Rodriguez to bring From Dusk Till Dawn to the screen, and this collaboration resulted in one of my all-time favorite movies. The first half plays like a straightforward crime thriller, following criminal brothers (George Clooney and Tarantino) on the run as they take a family (Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Ernest Liu) hostage to help them get into Mexico. The brothers are supposed to meet some associates at a strip club called the Titty Twister – but once they reach the club, “all hell breaks loose” (as Tarantino’s script said) and the film switches genre gears, becoming an action-packed horror movie. It’s incredibly entertaining, with awesome characters battling some very strange and freaky creatures of the night.

Are these some of the best horror movies on Max in your opinion? Sound off below with any you think we forgot!

Martin Scorsese has announced that he’s about to make another movie about Jesus, following his own Last Temptation of Christ.

Many of you might be too young to remember just how controversial Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ was when it hit theaters in 1988. Nowadays, controversy is described more as people getting upset on Twitter, but in ’88, the film was met with mass protests, TV evangelists saying Scorsese was going to hell and even a terrorist attack on a French movie theater that was showing the film. My how things have changed, with Scorsese announcing during a post-Cannes tour of Italy that, following a meeting with Pope Francis, he will be making a movie about Jesus. As reported by Variety, Scorsese stated: “I have responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus.” Scorsese then suggested that he was about to “start making it.”

While Scorsese has often made films that deal with faith, such as his recent Silence, it’s worth noting that Last Temptation of Christ is something of a masterpiece. Based on the book by Nikos Kazantzakis, the movie generated controversy due to its depiction of Jesus (played by Willem Dafoe) struggling with various forms of temptation – including sexual. While it was slammed as blasphemous by some, those who actually saw the film recognized it as one of the classic films about faith, and the controversy around it has subsided over the years.

Given the reception to Last Temptation, It would be interesting to see how Scorsese would approach a film about Jesus all these years later. He didn’t make clear exactly what kind of film it would be, and Scorsese might aim to create a more unconventional religious movie that perhaps complements his own Last Temptation rather than replaces it. Whatever the case, Scorsese’s movies are always an event, and if he feels moved to re-engage with his faith through cinema at this point in his career, I’m all for it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first streaming series is a by-the-numbers effort that fails to do much with the spy genre.

Plot: A CIA Operative on the verge of retirement discovers a family secret. Forced to go back into the field for one last job, the series tackles universal family dynamics set against a global backdrop of spies, action and humor.

Review: Over the six decades of his acting career, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in comedies, dramas, action movies, and horror flicks, but until now, he has not starred in a television series. With streaming services now as robust as any movie studio, the biggest names in Hollywood have headlined their own small-screen shows. Schwarzenegger’s Netflix series FUBAR tries to replicate the best elements of the iconic actor’s filmography by blending action and humor with some new blood in the form of Top Gun: Maverick star Monica Barbaro. FUBAR aims high but feels barely more than a network television spy series that could have been so much better considering the talent involved. Sure, there is fun to be had with this series, but it is not like the Schwarzenegger projects of old, which found the muscle-bound icon battling bad guys physically instead of as part of a crew.

Watching the eight-episode first season of FUBAR, I could not shake how much this feels like an unofficial sequel to True Lies. If not for the mediocre CBS reboot that was recently canceled, FUBAR could have been repurposed as a continuation of Harry Tasker’s adventures saving the world. Here, Schwarzenegger plays Luke Brunner, a forty-year veteran of the CIA. Approaching retirement, Luke hopes to rekindle his relationship with his ex-wife Tally (Fabiana Udenio) and spend more time with his kids, including daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro). When he is pulled back into action to retrieve an undercover agent spying on kingpin Boro (Gabriel Luna), Luke discovers the agent is none other than Emma. Through the first episode of FUBAR, the father, and daughter contend with having lied to each other for years but work well as a team. From the second episode onward, FUBAR follows a traditional buddy cop format, with Luke and Emma embracing each other’s skills as agents while becoming closer as a family.

As the series progresses, the plot centers around Luke and his team, which includes Emma, Barry, Rooo (Fortune Feimster), Aldon (Travis Van Winkle), and NSA liaison Tina (Aparna Brielle). Each episode follows the team undertaking missions to stop Boro from using a nuclear device while also encountering standalone missions that connect to the main goal. Along the way, Luke and Emma are counseled by CIA psychologist Dr. Louis Pfeffer (Scott Thompson) and deal with their personal relationships. Emma tries to balance her work life with her romantic relationship with Carter (Jay Baruchel), while Luke tries to come to terms with his ex-wife’s relationship with Donnie (Andy Buckley). All the while, Boro is searching for the two people he blames for the downfall of his plans, and they all begin to overlap and collide. The missions mainly focus on Emma and Luke learning to trust each other’s instincts, which both help them on their individual mission and reflect on their personal lives.

FUBAR is structured so that each episode ends on a cliffhanger, which is resolved at the start of the subsequent chapter. Each episode showcases a fair amount of action, whether gunfights, fistfights, out-of-control trains, or even trying to escape nuclear detonations. With Arnold Schwarzenegger still pretty mobile at age 75, the action is mostly relegated to Monica Barbaro, who holds her own well in the sequences. Still, the action feels pretty small compared to what we usually see in a Schwarzenegger production. Arnold has done a lot of movies in his career, but FUBAR feels like it may be the most dialogue-heavy effort the actor has ever made. This is also more of a comedy than I anticipated, with a reliance on generational humor, sexual jokes, and many references, including some well-placed jokes involving Schwarzenegger’s films Twins and Predator. Hearing Arnold joke about “choppers” and Danny DeVito made me smile, even if some people may find them a bit forced.

Series creator and showrunner Nick Santora (Reacher) follows the formula of television espionage series without raising the bar. There have been so many spy series in recent years, and the scale of this series feels smaller compared to many of them. Despite being set around the globe, the action is often relegated to warehouses and indoor sets. It begins to feel a bit rote as the formula becomes more and more visible as each episode rolls by. The series directors (Phil Abraham, Steven A. Adelson, Holly Dale, and Stephen Surjik) are experienced television helmers and never really imbue the series with any scale. Still, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s charm as a leading man still comes through, and he is funnier than he has been in a long time. Monica Barbaro is up to playing more than just Arnold’s daughter. At the same time, Gabriel Luna makes for a menacing villain, even if his motivations begin to feel whiny after a while. But, whether it be the repetitiveness of the series or the imbalance between the action and humor, FUBAR feels underwhelming.

I will always be a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I definitely found myself warming to his performance in this series more than I have in most of his films over the last decade. While FUBAR has some of the strongest comedy that Schwarzenegger has done in a long time, the action and formulaic structure of the series does not harm the overall quality of the series. I groaned through the leaden style of the premiere episode and enjoyed the subsequent episodes more, but halfway through the season, FUBAR began to live up to its title. The finale teases the potential for future seasons of the show, but it would have to deviate from the first season’s structure and try something more dynamic to make it worth my time. FUBAR boasts a solid cast who are all well-suited for their roles, but they could do with a bit more originality in the story they are trying to tell.

FUBAR premieres on May 25th on Netflix.

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If you watched the Succession finale you might be wondering if Jeremy Strong actually drank the “meal fit for a king”. We have the answer .

If you watched last night’s Succession finale, and you know some of the behind-the-scenes gossip revolving around Jeremy Strong’s method acting, during the sequence where Kendall drinks Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman’s (Kieran Culkin) “meal fit for a king” one question probably popped into your head. Did Jeremy Strong acting drink that disgusting concoction? It turns out that HBO no doubt knew fans would be wondering this as Strong himself confirmed that yes, he did, in fact, drink it during a series finale post-mortem on the official show podcast. As excerpted by Deadline, Strong confirmed, “Yeah, I did drink it, yeah.”

The “meal fit for a king” consisted of milk, bread crusts, Tabasco sauce, raw eggs, pickle juice, cocoa powder and Shiv’s – or rather Sarah Snook’s- spit. “We did it only a few times, and then I went outside and retched and jumped in the ocean and washed it off my hair,” Strong said.

Throughout the show, people have sometimes taken Strong to task for his extreme commitment to his craft – aka method acting – with even former co-star Brian Cox calling it “f*king annoying.” But, as Strong himself put it, “I wouldn’t know how not to drink it,” but he did admit it was disgusting.

As a long-time Succession fan, and without going into spoilers for those who haven’t seen it yet, I’ll say this: Succession‘s finale is one of the all-time greats. It ends the show in an unexpected but perhaps inevitable way, given exactly who the show is about, and it will no doubt stand as one of the greatest shows of all time.

What did you think of the Succession finale? Let us know in the comments!