Who is Mark Kerr? That’s the primary question in “The Smashing Machine,” with the end of the picture describing the former fighter as a “pioneer” in the world of mixed martial arts during its early growth period with global audiences. This information is arguably best served at the front of the film, but writer/director Benny Safdie isn’t too attentive to information about Kerr’s history in the feature, which isn’t a bio-pic, but a snapshot of a particularly turbulent time in the fighter’s life. “The Smashing Machine” is light on details, but it carries fantastic mood on occasion, getting into the highs and lows of Kerr’s experience, giving Dwayne Johnson a real acting opportunity as he’s tasked to play a flawed, humbled person going through quite a bit with himself and others. “The Smashing Machine” isn’t always dramatically steady, as Safdie nudges the material into soap opera territory at times, but it stays compelling and periodically raw, really selling its mission to make Kerr a household name. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriter Joshua Friedlander has something devious in mind with “Bone Lake,” and perhaps cineastes have seen this type of twisted game before. The picture isn’t really a horror experience until the final act, more closely resembling a riff on Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games” for the majority of the feature, exploring tensions rising between two couples stuck in the same rental house for the weekend. Director Mercedes Bryce Morgan (“Spoonful of Sugar”) creates a good deal of screen tension, working to reinforce various violations of trust and woozy temptations while the writing hopes to pull viewers in closer as things go all kinds of wrong for the characters. “Bone Lake” doesn’t have originality on its side, but there’s some moviemaking hustle to appreciate, as Morgan generates an atmosphere of uneasy interactions and growing paranoia. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

We lost legendary director David Lynch this year, but his filmmaking spirit is sure to carry on for quite some time. His love of the unreal and heavy moods inhabits a most unusual picture in “Good Boy,” a micro-budgeted offering of eeriness from co-writer/director Ben Leonberg, who casts his dog, Indy, in the main role of a loyal pet finding his sanity tested when his owner holes up inside a cabin, dealing with life and medical issues the animal doesn’t understand. Leonberg doesn’t have much of a story, turning to atmosphere to carry the short feature (running just over 70 minutes), attempting to taffy pull a simple idea into a surreal examination of canine companionship and protection, told from Indy’s POV. There’s an interesting viewing experience to be had with “Good Boy,” but those hunting for direct chills and thrills might feel a bit disappointed with Leonberg’s approach here, which is more artful than intense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The “V/H/S/” franchise feels unstoppable at this point, with “V/H/S/Halloween” the fifth consecutive installment since 2021, and the eighth feature overall. That’s a lot of short films created by enthusiastic writers and directors, but now the franchise takes on Halloween frights for the first time, moving far away from the cosmic terror of 2024’s “V/H/S/Beyond.” There are six chapters in the new offering, and most seek to squeeze as much flavor as possible out of the spooky season, supplying tales of trick or treating gone wrong, while the rest look to get a little more hostile with their frights. As with all of these movies, the segments vary in quality, but “V/H/S/Halloween” has a real issue with tonal consistency, creating a rough viewing experience as the picture goes for silliness at times, also interested in detailing absolute viciousness, including the torture of children. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In October, Marc Maron is ending his podcast, “WTF,” after 16 years in production. It’s an impressive run, totaling over 1,600 episodes with many amazing guests, including President Barack Obama, Robin Williams, and a particularly contentious chat with comedian Gallagher. Maron helped to boost the visibility of the podcast format, and he delivered many deep conversations that played into his understanding of the world and deep rooted self-absorption, often making for a terrific listen. “Are We Good?” is a documentary that takes viewers back a few years, settling on a period of time when Maron was handling the particulars of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden loss of his partner, the marvelous (and profoundly missed) director Lynn Shelton. Director Steven Feinartz is there to capture his subject during sensitive years, striving to understand Maron the media personality and the guy trying to make sense of it all with his wit and impatience. “Are We Good?” remains a bit too leisurely at times, possibly reflecting Maron’s own speed, but Feinartz manages to get emotional and real with the subject, generating a fascinating depiction of grief and the management of pain through comedy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Scared Shitless” isn’t a title that’s likely to help this picture enjoy marketplace acceptance, but it’s an apt description of the viewing experience. Screenwriter Brandon Cohen and director Vivieno Caldinelli investigate the horrors of plumbing in the feature, creating a monster movie concerning a vicious creature lurking in apartment toilets and the two tradespersons setting out to end its violent wrath. It’s a Canadian production that doesn’t take itself too seriously, supplying a comedic vibe while securing many grisly visuals, putting talented creature FX artist Steven Kostanski (director of “Psycho Gorman” and “Frankie Freako”) to work dreaming up a vivid enemy for the production. Caldinelli keeps “Scared Shitless” short, mostly understanding the expiration date on this type of entertainment, and the offering remains highly amusing and appealingly gory, providing a low-budget celebration of bodily destruction and Canadian wit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Cillian Murphy hit a career peak in 2023, dazzling critics and audiences with his portrayal of “the father of the atomic bomb” in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” The feature was an enormous hit and eventually dominated awards season, including an Academy Award win for Murphy. He had the attention of Hollywood, likely finding himself in a professional position where he could have any role he wanted for his follow-up performance. However, Murphy walked away, boldly chasing his artistic interests instead of financial ones, teaming up with writer/director Tim Mielants for 2024’s little-seen “Small Things like These,” and they pair up again for “Steve,” which is another low-budget study of emotional instability. It’s a small-scale understanding of a nervous breakdown, putting Mielants to work getting under the skin of the characters, exploring a special level of agitation found on a particularly dark day. “Steve” is raw and periodically potent, finding Murphy excellent in a picture that finds him gasping for breath for 90 minutes as the helmer aims to bring a pressurized situation to life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Screenwriter Jack Stanley (“Lou,” “The Passenger”) examines the impossible reach of beauty standards and the anti-aging industry with “Shell,” which is more of a horror picture than a direct attack on the business of being perfect. The story follows a character who’s aged out of Hollywood casting, tempted into taking part in a special cult-like clinic that promises drastic results and a refreshed life. Of course, nothing goes as planned, and Stanley has some fun with the results, examining the draw of dubious science and the crush of self-esteem issues. Director Max Minghella attempts to keep the effort rolling along with strange encounters and discoveries, clearly embracing a chance to visit Cronenberg Country as bodily decay starts to creep into the central crisis. “Shell” isn’t a major viewing event, but it has a few ghoulish ideas and screen energy to share, going to a few crazy places for viewers interested in oddball endeavors. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Coyotes” is an animal attack picture from director Colin Minihan, who offered impressive genre work in his last two features, “What Keeps You Alive” and “It Stains the Sands Red.” He returns to horror in his latest, with screenwriters Nick Simon and Ted Daggerhart creating a nightmare situation for Los Angeles residents, pitting a collection of characters against the arrival of vicious coyotes who are no longer fearful of humans, determined to rule the neighborhood. It’s not an especially fresh idea (the script even offers a shout-out to Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”), and its a surprisingly muted take on terror from the production, which tries to be funny and serious while generally neglecting to create a fear factor from the premise. Technical and performance issues also manage to weaken the viewing experience, which only has a few select moments of tension while the rest of the offering seems generally confused about tone and pacing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Ned Crowley aims to get dark, real dark, with “Killing Faith.” It’s a western about death and despair, following characters saddled with incredible emotional pain and fears trying to cross America to find potential salvation that’s never going to come for them. Crowley favors heaviness, but he maintains a reasonably compelling study of perseverance and exploration in the feature, which offers a deliberately paced ride into Hell. “Killing Faith” doesn’t win on storytelling speed, as Crowley remains attentive to lengthy monologues and pregnant pauses, and dramatic and logical issues periodically arise. “Killing Faith” has a few limitations, but for those open to a slow journey into misery, the offering has its highlights, handling strange encounters with some skill, and performances work to support the helmer’s idiosyncratic vision for the picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2017, actor Daniel Day-Lewis left the business, presumably for good, finally following through on threats of retirement. And he exited his career on a high note, giving one of his finest performances in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread,” making sure viewers understood exactly what they were going to be missing. Day-Lewis was never a prolific actor, but he really did disappear, and now he’s back in “Anemone,” sharing a co-writing credit with his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, who makes his feature-length directorial debut with the effort. Perhaps a sense of fatherly duty pulled Day-Lewis back into the game, but at least he’s returned, once again bringing fiery intensity to his performance, which is chained to a mostly inert film. “Anemone” has its artistry and gut-rot emotion, but the helmer isn’t crafting a commanding endeavor, making the picture play like an extended acting exercise starring one of the best in the business. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The character of Parker is a creation from author Donald E. Westlake, who wrote about the rogue in over two dozen books, thoroughly covering his cold ways and criminal activity. Enter co-writer/director Shane Black, who doesn’t want to mess with a literary adaptation, creating a fresh tangle of trouble for Parker instead in “Play Dirty.” Remember Black? Cineastes love the filmmaker (box office returns clearly show audience indifference), but his last offering was 2018’s “The Predator,” which was a monumental creative and financial wipeout, kicking the helmer out of the industry for seven years. “Play Dirty” finds Black playing to his die-hard fans, supplying a familiar concoction of loquacious characters, profane dialogue, dead bodies, and a twisty story involving underworld complications. The feature isn’t a return to power for the helmer, but an attempt at an easy creative layup. However, at 125 minutes, the picture’s relentless cutesiness grows old in a hurry, and Black’s ways with casting and moviemaking technology leave much to be desired. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Strangers: Chapter 1.” Do you remember that movie? It was released in May 2024, part of a new revival of “The Strangers” brand name, which previously died after the limited box office take of 2018’s “The Strangers: Prey at Night.” Producers wanted more “Strangers” and in a hurry, shooting an entire trilogy of films at once, with initial plans to release them all within 12 months. Well, after the public largely ignored “Chapter 1,” such lofty exhibition dreams were dashed, and now, 16 months later, “The Strangers: Chapter 2” has finally been brought to screens, clinging to the hope that improvements can be made after the first installment failed to catch fire. Director Renny Harlin and screenwriters Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland actually don’t have anything to offer in the sequel, which doesn’t move what little story is present here forward, merely offering the same old chases involving the usual in masked killers. “Chapter 2” is a bore, and one that doesn’t do anything with hindsight, preferring to serve up lame chills as routine commands the viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com