My latest streaming marathon was a triple feature of masked killer movies, so let’s get right into them.
THE LAKSMAN (2026)
The colors and the creeps are there, but while this haunted attraction horror movie’s IMDb description says it takes place on Halloween, there isn’t a pumpkin or trick or treater in sight. Even so, I really liked the woodsy slasher moments and the 68-minute runtime.
Surprisingly, what triggers the modern day slasher is an opening scene in which whities lynch a Black slave back in the day, with underdeveloped hints of some sort of occult work at play.
In modern times, a group of friends heads to a rural haunted attraction run by a bunch of rednecks. The woman who owns the place has just fired her Black employee for no good reason, so there isn’t much mystery here….
It’s just straight-up slashing, with numerous characters roaming around the woods instead of staying on the designated path. The killer is big and ominous, there’s great horror lighting and atmosphere, and there’s even some nice gore, making this a good one if you just need a quickie to satisfy your slasher thirst. Although, I was a bit disappointed in the climax.
KILLER RENTAL (2025)
This is a simple, straightforward slasher that suffers from a bit too much padding and doesn’t seem to find its voice until the last act.
It begins with a gory body reveal, as well as a chase scene when a house cleaner comes to tidy up a vacation rental property. While this isn’t a found footage flick, much of the events are presented through the lens of cameras placed around the house.
This is where things get confusing for a moment. We briefly meet a group of friends staying in the vacation house, but then…
We meet the actual focus of the movie—a group of what appear to be influencers. They head out on a road trip to Joshua Tree National Park, encounter a creepy clerk during a pit stop, reach the house the first group was in, and then do typical group of friends in a horror movie stuff, like hanging by the pool and playing truth or dare.
There are some good kills sprinkled throughout the movie, but things don’t really pick up until two of the girls make a discovery in the desert area around the house. While they’re doing that, one straight dude becomes very bi-curious with the bi guy in the movie, which leads to a kiss, landing this one on the does the gay guy die? page.
When the girls return to the house, there’s suddenly an injection of subtle humor that immediately made me like the characters for the first time. Before that, they were simply forgettable, so I kind of wish this tone had been implemented throughout the movie.
Killing and chase scenes kick in, making the second part of the film pretty enjoyable. There’s a little twist as well, plus we finally find out what the deal was with that first group of friends we saw only briefly at the beginning.
NAMELESS (2026)
Running only 66 minutes long, this is another one you watch if you want a quick fix of slasher kills…but it comes with a price. The kills don’t exactly come quick. This movie is overloaded with bad filler.
A group of friends stops at a diner, where a waitress, played by 80s adult star Ginger Lynn, tells them the story of the sack-headed killer Nameless….and how he got his name.
Then we meet a group of friends that comes to the desert to honor their dead friend who, it appears, was a travel tuber. We have to sit through them hanging out, drinking, babbling about what a great guy he was, listening to one friend play guitar, and walking around the desert rock formations. The one cool thing is that the great shooting location brings to mind The Hills Have Eyes.
Oh, there’s also a straight white trash lap dance scene.
As for Nameless, he’s pretty ominous, and his kills are violent and gory, but they mostly come right at the beginning and right at the end. Eventually, he removes his mask (Nameless goes maskless), and we get a motivation speech with a pretty basic twist.
