For a change, I picked three from a streaming service that all delivered on the horror elements I crave, even if one of them had a more substantial plot and was going for an elevated story. Let’s get into them.
CONSUMED (2024)
This is a monster flick, but it’s also a metaphorical movie about how cancer attacks the very core of who we are and devours our existence, making us just a shell of who we used to be.
A straight couple goes on a hiking trip to celebrate the woman’s remission from cancer. Even so, she’s still struggling emotionally and having nightmarish, symbolic horror dreams about some sort of creature tearing her body apart.
Turns out there’s also a creature in the woods, and soon the couple is on the run from it and trying to find a place to hide.
They encounter horror king Devon Sawa, who is out in the woods hunting what he believes is a Wendigo that takes over people’s bodies by stealing their skin. This makes for some nasty epidermal effects.
There are plenty of close encounters with the creature and some good suspense, but this is a slow burn with lots of exposition and exploration as well. Not to mention, there’s quite a bit of symbolic imagery that starts to feel like overkill after a while in its effort to sprinkle visual horror throughout the movie.
Things really pick up in the final act when it’s time to come face to face with the creature. Great monster, great fight to the death. More than just a cheap thrills flick, this one is a nice balance of smart and scary.
MOUSEBOAT MASSACRE (2025)
It’s another killer Mickey Mouse movie, and what it lacks in storyline it makes up for in some fricking gnarly kills. By the time the mouse pulled out a cheese grater, my hubby bailed on our movie night and left me alone in the living room to the sounds of a victim shrieking in agony.
The plot is pretty silly. There’s this old cartoon video, and if you watch it, the cartoon mouse comes to life and goes on a killing spree.
Our main girl is a druggy. Her family and friends bring her to a secluded house for an intervention. They lock her in a room with the video, which was a favorite of hers when she was a child. So…she watches it. Let the mouseboat massacre begin.
There’s sex, boobs, tons of blood, and the mouse executing some excruciating kills that most often involve very slowly sawing off body parts with a sharp object.
The backstory of the tape is goofy (not that Goofy), and the final moment between the main girl and the mouse is not all that surprising if you’re a horror veteran. It’s also anticlimactic, but you should really just go into this one for the grisly kills.
WEREWOLF IN A WOMEN’S PRISON (2006)
Campy, sleazy sexploitation with a classic creature costume, tons of blood and an 80s VHS flick filter complete with tracking lines at the bottom? Sign me up for this trashy werewolf flick.
It opens strong with a couple having sex in a tent, and the dude getting mutilated by a werewolf. The woman gets attacked…
…and wakes up naked in a women’s prison having her snatch examined by a dominatrix. Oh yeah. This goes right for the 80s female prison movie vibe right from the start. I welcome all the sex and nudity, but I am bummed that none of the men get naked, especially the head warden, played by hottie Domiziano Arcangeli of the gay vampire flick The Brides of Sodom. He looks sexy as hell when submitting to the dominatrix, but he does it with his pants on. What the hell?
Anyway, there’s tons of misogynistic female exploitation, lesbian sex, and cat fights, but the movie doesn’t skimp on the werewolf action and practical effects gore either.
Our main girl is visited by her decaying boyfriend’s ghost, in true An American Werewolf in London fashion, and he informs her she’s cursed, will be turning into a werewolf, and needs to kill herself.
Instead, she falls for her pretty prison mate and ends up becoming her werewolf protector every time some nasty dude tries to abuse her.
There’s a whole lot of involuntary sex work going on in the prison, which leads to the warden throwing a big sex party that turns into a werewolf massacre for the final act.
It’s (im)pure sex and violence fun if you’re into that kind of blast from the VHS and cable past.
