The Devil’s Mouth

Vampire Owl: At least the devil is doing better than the humans these days, I think.

Vampire Bat: Maybe the devil should go to Earth and leave hell for the humans.

Vampire Owl: Isn’t it where most of the humans are going sooner or later?

Vampire Bat: I am expecting the angels of heaven to be very lonely.

Vampire Owl: Do you think that there will be space in hell for this many humans?

Vampire Bat: Hell is infinite and eternal, and with separate circles.

Vampire Owl: So, it is the same as what Dr. Frankenstein had discovered.

Vampire Bat: Mr. Frankenstein is a man of infinite circles of nonsense.

Vampire Owl: When did infinity start coming in circles of Frankenstein?

Vampire Bat: He has always needed them as he would be going to hell as a human too.

[Gets a paneer paratha and three cups of Darjeeling tea].

What is the movie about? :: Five friends from the United States, Sara (Kathryn Newton), Max (Lala Condor), Greg (Gavin Casalegno), Adrienne (Tommi Rose) and James (Nico Hiraga) are on a trip to South Asia, now visiting the beaches and going through underwater journeys in Thailand. As they are enjoying the open tropical waters off the coast, they do not realize that Sara is diving in the water, and as they ask for the boat to be moved to the land as Max feels that she is in the shower. Left alone, Sara is swarmed, and stung by aggressive jellyfish in all parts of her body, rescued later, but is left in pain. Max is supposed to be the one in control of the trip and also the one who said that everyone was aboard before the boat was taken forward, which leads to some tension, but Sara and Max are back together as best friends in no time. The friends are back together, and as they continue to feel that something is in the saltwater of ocean due to seeing dead fish and turtles cast ashore on beaches, they sign up for a guided swim through a fresh water remote cave system known as The Devil’s Mouth.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: This early incident leaving Sara as damsel in distress does manage to keep a rift between them right before they enter The Devil’s Mouth cave network, and despite Sara trying to keep up with the excited team against her pain and in spite of Max trying to tip the guide to take better care of her friend, there is some disagreement. While Sara asks for the easy way through the tunnel without that much of it submerged in water, Max who has always been the leader opts to go for the highly submerged red route, and Sara, despite her fears, agrees to the same. The team is led through a path which had its water level only somewhat come down from being fully submerged in a previous storm. They go through different caves which are interconnected through passages flooded with water, some of them even having salt water from the nearby ocean. But they soon find one of the divers who went before them dead, and within minutes finds themselves hunted by a shark which seems to have come in from the ocean during the flooding with nowhere to go as the tunnel lost its connection with the saltwater. Now, can they survive the creature sensing blood all around?

The defence of The Devil’s Mouth :: With the tide rising and oxygen levels dropping inside the cave system, the friends left on the isolated rock shelves where the shark cannot reach, do not find it to be a long-term option, but have nowhere to go in the maze-like chambers – this is perfectly shown here with each scene, and we have an environment which is so well created and maintained with danger all around the corner. The cave diving horror and shark survival are combined nicely here, as the subterranean setting makes it a different battle against the creature. The tight underwater struggles, internal disagreements, secrets and grievances within themselves, all add to the further tension here. The movie is also never really that long, and this length feels perfect for the total run-time. The signs of the same was established early enough, and that too in open water, with the attack of the jelly fish as much as being left alone in the middle of the sea – these are also basically the kind of horror which are scary enough even without huge fangs.

Positives and negatives :: The movie’s caves are among the best that you might ever see, and when you put a shark in there, it is just glorious. One then remembers that some fine foreshadowing has always been there, and all would lead to just disaster. The final moments when the protagonist lures the shark with herself as a bait is among the best of the movie, and when the characters try to escape from the shark at a ledge, and when they move through tight tunnels, we are all kept in the highest level of tension. We see that the situation places us in a world from where escape is almost impossible by logic with water all around, and the shark being able to thrive in both freshwater and saltwater settings. This also means that there is less visibility, and we can keep feeling the need to have more light around – keeping on looking at the darkness is not the best thing we can do around here. There is some repetition here and there with what the characters are doing, even though the same remains enjoyable.

The performers of the soul :: Here, we have Kathryn Newton once again doing what she does the best, and that is to survive against all odds, as she already did in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, and had managed to get out of that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania level which was rather lower in comparison to where she stands now as a grand scream queen in the making – she seems to be surviving everything in a convincing manner, and here, she remains a lovable character, and it is her for whom we keep rooting for, as she knew that something bad was going to happen all the time, and in her senses, tries to avoid the worst, even though she has to finally give in to her friends. She is the survivor whom we would all love to have, maybe in a sequel to The Shallows. She is one young actress who seems to be bringing a certain amount of completeness. Lana Condor whom we would best recognize from Alita: Battle Angel, Pretty Lethal and X-Men: Apocalypse, also comes up with a memorable role, and it is another work that we are going to remember here. Tommi Rose also has some work that we will remember. Nico Hiraga as James might be one selfish character which is done well. Then, Gavin Casalegno also comes up with the needed.

How it finishes :: It can be seen that the movie maintains a certain amount of balance around here with a shark attacking in a flooded cave with nowhere to go – the horror gets more of the strength here with the same, while tensions also run related to the past among the characters. We have already seen the sharks and friends running strong in 47 Meters Down, Deep Blue Sea, Killer Whale and more, but this one takes a divergent and interesting approach with the same. Anchored by strong performances from Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor, the movie also focuses on the deteriorating, toxic friendship and further focuses on the terrifying situation rather than the shark. The predictability does not push this aquatic survival flick that much down, as the tension never leaves us and the lovely leading character always have us rooting for us, with the empathy right there to be taken home. I would consider this to be a surprise charm as one of the best shark movies in some time, and its release on Amazon Prime Video has left the same accessible to more of us who choose OTT over the theatres.

Release date: 29 July 2026
Running time: 104 minutes
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Lana Condor, Gavin Casalegno, Nico Hiraga, Tommi Rose

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ready or Not 2

Vampire Owl: The thing about me is that I am always ready.

Vampire Bat: You were never really ready in your whole life.

Vampire Owl: I was never ready for human evil; that much, I am sure.

Vampire Bat: Human evil is exactly the same as pure evil as we know it.

Vampire Owl: Pure evil is what humans call what they do not understand.

Vampire Bat: It is exactly what they call each other when time comes.

Vampire Owl: The worst time of humans is considered their best time.

Vampire Bat: They are people of paradoxes and antitheses, aren’t they?

Vampire Owl: Their existence itself goes against their nature.

Vampire Bat: Hell has a special infinite place for them elevated above the eternal fire that burns even further.

[Gets a sweet porotta and three cups of Wayanad tea].

What is the movie about? :: Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) had married Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien), the estranged member of the successful Le Domas Family Games company. The other members of the Le Domases starting from his father Daniel Le Domas (Adam Brody) and mother Charity Le Domas (Elyse Levesque) had a deal with a devilish figure to highly improve the Le Domas fortune in exchange for going through a tradition. According to the same, at the midnight on their wedding day, she was asked to draw a game card from a puzzle box, and Grace had got the “Hide-and-Seek” card. She feels that it’s a harmless game, but then the Le Domases had started off hunting her with weapons. There was a violent fight in which she was never supposed to win with family having the weapons and full control of the house. But surprisingly, against all odds, she had ended up being alive during the dawn of next day while the family was wiped out as they failed to live up to the promise.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: After that success, Grace is taken to the hospital by the cops who arrive at the scene. She is handcuffed to the bed as the police does not believe anything that she says, and they feel that she might have brutally murdered everyone in the family and tried to get away with it when the cops arrived on the scene. They decide to keep her handcuffed and take her to the police station as she has a lot more explaining to do in prison. It is then that Grace’s estranged sister Faith MacCaullay (Kathryn Newton) arrives at the hospital as she got the information with her phone number being added in the mobile phone as the only emergency contact of Grace. The two sisters were separated for some time as Grace left her when Faith was only fifteen years old. When the cops try to take Grace to the police station, they are attacked by the members of the satanic group, but they are wiped out as they try to kill her outside the game. A group of members of the cult arrives to take Grace to their mansion to begin the next game with her, and they also take Faith with them.

And what more can happen here as many deaths seem to be certain? :: The two sisters wake up in a room of a giant mansion; both their arms and legs tied to chairs and their mouths gagged. There they find the twins Titus Danforth (Shawn Hatosy) and Ursula Danforth (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who represents the Danforth family after murdering their father upon his wish as he found himself too weak for another game – it was the most powerful family which held the high seat of the council which controlled most of the world, and now there was going to be a fight for the seat due to what she did. Grace would be set free and the four remaining families must kill her before dawn to acquire the high seat which would leave worldwide power to person who murders her. Grace refuses to participate, but when the families put the knife on Faith’s neck, she agrees, and both sisters are sedated and thrown into the middle of a golf course around the mansion, handcuffed to each other. Now it is to be seen if they can survive against this incoming attack from the heads of each family.

The defence of Ready or Not 2: Here I Come :: Samara Weaving feels like a perfect scream queen, and that return in the blood-soaked wedding dress is a stunner. The addition of Kathryn Newton as her sister in fighting, brings more fun and the chaotic survival partnership is more than just memorable – it is very much unlike her character in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which was not something to remember much. Kathryn shows that she is also the scream queen as much as an action star, and she also adds a lot of humour to the movie. The movie gets into action-comedy and horror-comedy mostly because of her interactions with her sister character and those around her. A movie with her fighting vampires, zombies or demons would be delightful whether it’s as a scream queen of horror or in a demon-hunter in action. The two sisters fighting together brings some fine scenes, and the final moments with the satanic terror is worth mentioning too. The whole atmosphere of the movie with huge mansion in the front and a hidden satanic world underneath creates an impact.

Positives and negatives :: The movie has that kind of a supporting cast who manages to come up with a fine job too. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy are just too good, while Elijah Wood and Maia Jae come up with moments to remember. The kills here are memorable, and even though we see a lot of blood around, the violence remains under control, and the splattering blood do not make it unbearable for a younger audience; a perfect example of how to keep creative carnage within the perfect limits. The movie could have had more villains around here with a bigger backstory, as this movie never feels too long with its content, and we are only looking for more and more as time progresses. The use of a demonic presence and the satanic cult create effective danger around there, as it is not just a few fighting families that the sisters need to escape from. Even if they get out of the yard, they cannot be sure what would happen next. The supernatural and the influential spread all around the world would have a lot to say about their plans being ruined. The movie could feel like some originality lost, and the final resolution would feel too easy. Some big scares could also come in here and there.

How it finishes :: Most of us never really had the chance to watch the first movie when it released in the theatres, as it never really graced us around here, but with the OTT option available, this one came to Jio Hotstar pretty much quickly. This one picks up right where the early movie left us. This one does a fine job in expanding the universe from a single terrifying family to a massive battle for global supremacy with many devil-worshipping elite dynasties hunting the woman in trouble and also her sister who almost becomes collateral damage in a world of chaos. It is indeed a highly entertaining sequel to a movie which was watched by a smaller number of people as it was a sleeper hit which never really managed many theatres, and the same can be said about this sequel in this part of the world too. A chaotic, bloody energy has been maintained here, and with two sisters fighting against all odds with influential families carrying weapons coming after them. This reminds one the movies like Breakdown Forest and The Hunt, and remains a true entertainer with a fine leading cast of two.

Release date: 20 March 2026
Running time: 108 minutes
Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Starring: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, Néstor Carbonell, David Cronenberg, Kevin Durand, Olivia Cheng, Varun Saranga, Dan Beirne, Nadeem Umar-Khitab, Masa Lizdek

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Quantumania

Vampire Owl: I am sure that we are going to have a Vampire Ant soon.

Vampire Bat: A vampire with the size of an ant is never going to work.

Vampire Owl: It might not be scary, but would be effective enough.

Vampire Bat: You are expecting to send them as spies?

Vampire Owl: They could actually be made bigger with science.

Vampire Bat: You are going for more scientific experiments?

Vampire Owl: Yes, experiments led by Doctor Frankenstein.

Vampire Bat: You are going with the pseudo-scientist again.

Vampire Owl: Do you know that Doctor Frankenstein got another degree?

Vampire Bat: You should understand at least now that he is fake.

[Gets a Kolkata Kathi Roll and three cups of green apple tea].

What is the movie about? :: Scott Lang a.k.a. Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is now living the happy and much appreciated popular life after teaming up with Avengers to defeat the villain who was going to kill half of the population on the planet. He is happy living with his girlfriend Hope van Dyne ak.a. Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) while his daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) has a strained relationship with him and remains a very irritating activist who listens to nobody. She also has a suit like her father, but is not able to use it appropriately. As Cassie meets Hope’s parents, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and reveals to them that she was trying to contact the Quantum Realm with a message through a special device. This leads to Janet panicking and almost switching off the device, only to have them all taken into the realm. They were separated in the process, with Hope, Janet and Hank on one side of the realm, and Scott and Cassie on the other.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Janet tries to find a solution with an old friend Lord Krylar (Bill Murray) who is now aligned with the new ruler of the Quantum Realm, known only as Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) who have enslaved the local population, torturing and killing them as he wished. The enslaved population is led by Jentorra (Katy O’Brian) through a revolution which stands no chance against the mighty conqueror and his army. Also hunting them is Darren Cross a.k.a. M.O.D.O.K (Corey Stoll) who has been transformed into a cyborg-mutant combination working as a super-soldier for Kang. It seems that Janet has a past with Kang, and it involves the long period of time that she spent there. Kang is revealed to be someone who is capable of conquering and destroying different timelines, thus changing the multiverse. He is caught in this world after his exile only because of Janet’s actions and will do anything to escape. But can he do that with his army or some foolishness of the teenage daughter of Ant-Man, or can Janet once again do what she did long ago?

The defence of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania :: The world here is really well created with some fine detail that never ceases to amaze us. You see the objects floating around in this world and are left mesmerized with them. It could manage to be better than different alien worlds and creatures shown in other movies which are more popular and revered as even bigger names. There are also some interesting creatures which are added well enough. We are always looking at the background details of the world and appreciate the same. The world has surely got a strong villain too, as this one will go on to impress further in later movies as it seems, with a setting for a sequel. The ending has the scenes during credit which assures even more. The family moments and the focus on rebellion are present – it means that there is the certainty of emotional moments and messages running right through. Some of the humour does work too, but not those idiotic ones which we could have lived without, as Marvel refuses to grow up too often.

The claws of flaw :: The movie maintains the irritating thankless child idea, and the new generation of characters seem to be as much irritating as the new group of superstars, none of them making an impact – it was evident with The Marvels, and nobody wishes to see such a ridiculous new generation being provided the superpowers. Captain Marvel was already too overpowered, and too without a kryptonite. But to add to that, the movie also ridiculously holds on to the strange past. The humour is also less effective, and silly enough for most of its run. The thankless kid would never be a thing of humour either. Some of the elements might have also been lost in relation to some series which have been going on, but we are the fans of cinema, and cannot be persuaded to watch such continuous series. Marvel needs to think about its audience in all parts of the world, and focus on what appeals to them rather than just trying to make things absurd with some foolish, childish characters introduced as children of earlier Avengers.

The performers of the soul :: Paul Rudd continues his good form as the one superhero character that we keep remembering with a funny side. He is good with the funny side, and there are no moments when he is not into the character. There are many superheroes who feels funny or family-oriented and this is both with a big heart – he rightly becomes the same with ease. Evangeline Lilly seems to have come up with a tired performance in comparison to Michelle Pfeiffer who seems to have only gaining in strength as years pass. Michael Douglas is there as the other ant-member, and this is already too big an ant-family to look out for. Then there is Kathryn Newton as ant-woman which becomes another unnecessary addition to make the family even bigger and seemingly ready to explode with too many ant-people around. She is mostly irritating as the daughter, but manages pretty well in the action sequences. The one who impresses the most in the action sequences is Katy O’Brian as Jentorra, without any touch of overdose – her scenes are realistic, and we do not feel that she is not the rebel who battles who fights her heart out. Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror is a powerful antagonist that never gives up, and we often connects with him so well as a king rather than the villain.

How it finishes :: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame forward in its on way, focusing on the shrunken subatomic world rather than the one that everyone knows well enough. It is a fine method when we think further about it, as there is not that much in the universe that we already know along with its miserable group of people. While doing the same, the movie has created a fantastic world which might feel better than traveling to another planet or dimension full of aliens – there are enough creatures and civilizations in there to keep us interested. The entertainment factor never goes out of fashion, even though we would have surely loved to have a lot of action. There would have been the chance for more, and the irritating dumb jokes could have been avoided to make the world more serious. Well, this does manage to be interesting enough with its content, and we know how well different universes can manage to make an impact.

Release date: 17th February 2023
Running time: 124 minutes
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, David Dastmalchian, Katy O’Brian, William Jackson Harper, Bill Murray, Michelle Pfeiffer, Corey Stoll, Michael Douglas

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.