All Hallows’ Eve
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■ James WanJames Wan is an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for creating Saw (2004), Insidious (2010), and The Conjuring Universe (2013).
Insidious: Out of the Further (2026)
The latest installment of the Insidious series, called Out of the Further, will be coming out on Bluray and DVD on December 1, 2026, but you can currently rent it on streaming servicers, such as Amazon. This is the supernatural horror franchise that James Wan created, back in 2010, when the first Insidious movie came out.
I thought the first film was pretty scary, but as the sequels (Chapter 2 and Red Door) and prequels (Chapter 3 and The Last Key) came out, I just thought every other movie was completely unnecessary.
If you’ve never seen a Insidious film, it’s about these characters with the ability to enter into the land of the dead. In this universe, there is a place called “the Further” which spirits inhabits. In the first film, we’re introduced to a child that is trapped in the Further, so they got a psychic woman named Elise to help bring the child back to the living world.
I really didn’t think we needed a second film, considering that one of the main character, Elise… well let’s just say she wasn’t coming back.
Yet, every film after, Elise is one of the central character. In Out of the Further, she has a huge role in explaining what is happening to the mother who has the power to bring things back from the Further. This is new (I think) to the universe. While previously we see characters going into the Further… this may be the first time that characters have the power to bring back spirits into the real world.
I thought Out of the Further was fine. Not really sure why we needed another film in this universe… but it does expand a little. I think my biggest problem is the main villain of Out of the Further. When we first meet him, it’s all mysterious and you’re not sure what kind of creature we’re dealing with… but as the movie started to explain his backstory, I just thought he was so dumb. Why did these crazy people follow this guy?
The three dead family, at first, was scary. Again, as you see more and more of them, they became more like comedy trio.
If you like the Insidious films, sure add Out of the Further on your playlist… but for everyone else, see this if you have nothing going on. It’s not really a stand-alone film, so you’ll need to brush up on The Red Door, and the first film, to get all the references to the The Red Door, and what’s behind it.
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■ V/H/SThe latest found footage horror series V/H/S is back with V/H/S Halloween. This is the eighth installment, and as someone who has seen all the VHS series, I can’t honestly tell you which ones are good. They’re pretty much all the same: random little stories with VHS special effects.
V/H/S/Mixtape (2026)
My favorite V/H/S entry is so far, last year’s V/H/S Halloween (2025). This year, the theme is Mixtape … so there’s a bit of music and 80s cassettes. The glue that holds Mixtape together was GWAR.
If you don’t know what V/H/S is, it’s a found footage horror anthology, that started in 2012. There are various writers and directors, putting together very short little stories for the collection. Some stories are great, some are lame, some are technical wonders, while some are just unwatchable… that’s just the nature of an anthology.
I hate to say it, but this year’s Mixtape is the worst of all the V/H/S movies that I’ve seen. It’s super cheesy, it is trying to be too funny (I didn’t laugh), it’s over-the-top gore whore. I just didn’t like any of the stories or the overall tone.
My least favorite in Mixtape is that stupid music video. I think it would have been better if it was strictly a black & white, old timey, no dialogue or audio. That music (with the drummer and everything) was just awful, I had to skip it to the next story.
The only section that I liked was the Claymation/animation story. It’s freaky, and it looks amazing, the way the animation works. It does come off like a music video, but at least the music played to the Claymation.
I also like the evil puppet show. It’s vaguely creepy. Any fun, happy puppet show is pretty scary.
The last story went on a little too long. It’s about a musician, who is following a demonic formula of murdering people to create a hit song. It’s really a showcase to show off gore effects. The ending was kind of dumb, especially because the windup to get to the punchline took so long.
If you like metal, GWAR, and cheesy, not-to-be-taken-so-seriously horror, check out V/H/S/Mixtape. For me, this is just another forgettable V/H/S, indistinguishable from any of the other V/H/S releases.
