The Meaning of J

 Sputnik (2020)   Horror movies are such a derivative medium nowadays. We get a truckload of horror films each year that offer little to no originality whatsoever. These movies try to grab a familiar premise and add a few things to distinguish themselves but come off as derivative, predictable, and just downright unoriginal. However, along comes a film that takes a familiar concept and elements to rework them into a different movie. This film succeeds at putting its spin and turns out to be surprisingly good, with enough differences to avoid falling into the pitfalls of clichés, and stands out on its own to be its own thing.     Sputnik is one of the best horror films I have seen this year, perhaps the best one I've seen since Leigh Whannell's excellent reimagining of The Invisible Man . I give such a bold statement because I believe the horror season of 2020 so far has been an embarrassment. The offerings I've seen so far have been downright insulting, ranging ...

 Bite (2015)      Bite  is a 90-minute vomitorium of nauseating body horror, juxtaposed with insipid, pedestrian characters and supplemented with so-so acting performances. It's a movie that is more sickening than captivating, delivering a huge dose of bug-infested, body-transformation-reliant horror, instead of giving us an equal balance of gross-out scares and well-rounded characters. Its premise reminds me of another body horror film I had seen before, only that it's not on the same level of greatness as its flying insect antecedent. Nevertheless, the film delivers on its revolting scares, able to instill a sense of repugnance even in the most proficient of horror fans.        Bite is a body horror film directed, written, and produced by Chad Archibald ( The Heretics , I'll Take Your Dead ) and starring Elma Begovic as Casey, the film's protagonist. The plot follows Casey celebrating her bachelorette party in Costa Rica, with her two frien...