God of Frogs (2026)

 

When the history of 2020s cinematic horror is written, there's going to need to be a fairly big section labelled 'ambitious and interesting ideas that lacked the budget and skill to really make them work'. GOD OF FROGS, which is getting a digital release from Miracle Media, is a case in point, offering an almost Lovecraftian concept of a frog worshipping community living among us but throwing a number of other interesting ideas and concepts into the mix as well.

The film is in four parts, each written and directed by different people, which is always a bit of a worrying sign suggesting a cobbling together of short films rather than a coherently thought through feature, although there are credits suggesting the project did have overall supervisors. The first part, 'Mother of All Frogs' is set in 1969 and introduces us to a hippy frog-worshipping cult, the frog in question being a large anthropoid amphibian that has to reproduce its kind with a willing human female.

Part 2, 'God of the Bog' is set in 1994 and tells the tale of a documentary film crew who set off into then swamps of Florida where they encounter normal frogs galore as well as something more monstrous. Part 3, 'Beelzebufo' is set in 2019 and suggests that big business is now planning to isolate the frog chemical hallucinogen introduced in the previous part and arrange for its mass manufacture. Unfortunately the man they go to for funding suffers a helicopter crash in Florida and ingests a bit too much froggy swamp water. Part 4 'Farm to Table' is set in 2044 with the mass industrial exploitation of frogs (I think) for their drug properties and involves a baby frog monster being saved by an industrial spy.

There's a lot going on in GOD OF FROGS but the underlying story of what's happening isn't always clear, so much so that you might need to watch it twice to work it out. Technical skills across the board are of the 'ultra low budget but in some cases promising' variety. The photography, especially in the first two stories, could have done with being more vivid rather than the horribly washed out palate we get, but the frog monster suit (and the baby frog monster in part four) are very well rendered. Even so it's a shame we get to see so much of them under bright lighting as a little subtlety here would have gone a long way to making things more effective. Still, if you're interested in modern ultra low-budget horror cinema you're definitely going to want to give GOD OF FROGS a look.

GOD OF FROGS is out on digital from Miracle Media on Monday 2nd March 2026

Anaconda (2025)

After its release in UK cinemas at the end of last year. Sony’s novel, metatextual reboot of its 1997 Luis Llosa-directed Jennifer Lopez and Jon Voight-starring ANACONDA is now available on digital platforms from Sony.

Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd) were childhood friends who dreamed of going to Hollywood and making movies, to the extent that they made their own monster opus ‘The Quatch’. While Griff went to LA and ended up as an actor in minor roles (“four episodes of SWAT”) Doug stayed at home where he became a wedding videographer, although he insists what he makes are “short films”.

It’s Doug’s birthday and as well as a VHS cassette of the long thought lost ‘The Quatch’ Griff has a proposal for him: Griff has recently acquired the rights to the film ANACONDA and wanted Doug to direct an ultra low budget remake in the Amazon with friends Claire (Thandiwe Newton) and Kenny (Steve Zahn). Despite getting a bank loan that’s even smaller than the minimal budget required off they go to the jungle where they meet up with a snake handler and his pet anaconda before travelling up the Amazon to make their magnum opus. But a number of surprises await them, not least that fact that Sony themselves are in the middle of making their own reboot. 

The basic idea behind ANACONDA 2025 is sound, the stars are appealing, and there are a number of in-jokes and a couple of laugh out loud moments. Overall, though, it feels a bit forced and just isn’t terribly funny, especially when you consider the talents involved. That said there are cameos to make you smile and a big explosive ending with an enormous CGI snake. If you want something to just pass the time this will do the trick if you’re not too demanding. 

At this point I would normally post a trailer but Sony have done another of their food tie-ins so instead I’ll leave you to decide if you want to watch the film and / or enjoy the Chicken Shop Big Bite meal, serving in restaurants across London:

ANACONDA is now available on Digital platforms from Sony 

Project Silence (2025)

The TRAIN TO BUSAN of Animal Attack Movies?

Well it's perhaps not quite that, but PROJECT SILENCE, which is getting a DVD, Blu-ray and (for those who like things sparkling and shiny) a 4K UHD release that looks excellent, is a rip-roaring Korean killer dogs on the loose picture that also handles the human element well. 

There's a huge pile-up on a suspension bridge during terrible fog and pretty soon the lanes both ways are closed. The main problem, however, is the subjects of Project Silence, a military research project gone wrong that has involved training big black bully breed dogs to attack assigned targets, those targets having been programmed into them via the chips inserted into their brains.

The lorry carrying them is in the crash. The dogs escape. Everything would still be okay but after the animals have been herded back into their container the helicopter crew sent in to lift it out (in terrible weather) find that one of the dogs has lost her chip and she attacks them. The cage is dropped back onto the road, the helicopter crashes, and the all the dogs end up viewing everyone on the bridge as targets. Oh, and the bridge is collapsing and at one end there's a tanker of poison gas that's leaking.

PROJECT SILENCE moves at a clip (it's only 95 minutes long) and handles its scenes of action, suspense, and catastrophic disaster well. Characters are well drawn and interact believably. Finally there are the dogs. Some reviews have complained that they look too CGI, but actually if you're a dog lover the effects sufficiently divorce you from thinking of them as real dogs that you can enjoy it too.

Altitude's disc release contains no extras, but you do get the option of either a Korean or English language track, with subtitles if you need them. 

PROJECT SILENCE is out on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD, and 4K UHD steelbook now

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

 

Arrow Films are releasing Renny Harlin's genetically modified sharks on the rampage movie in a brand new 4K restoration supervised by the director on both UHD and Blu-ray formats.

It's a film that has the benefits of a decent budget and some decent actors, Thomas Jane, Stellan Skarsgard and Samuel L Jackson among them. It also had a promising original idea by screenwriter Duncan Kennedy, whose inspiration for the script was apparently a recurring nightmare of being trapped in a passageway and being pursued by sharks who could read his mind. This came to him after he witnessed the remains of a shark attack victim washed up on the beach near his home. 

However, the finished film that is DEEP BLUE SEA translates that idea to the screen with mad scientist Saffron Burrows attempting to cure Alzheimer's disease by using a protein harvested from shark brains, and then slapping a bit of illegal genetic engineering in there for good measure. Of course what she's up to wouldn't be so bad except that a storm and an exploding helicopter turn the marine research facility where all this is happening into a disaster area, and the film becomes a bit like The Poseidon Adventure With Sharks before we get to the climax. 

LL Cool J is in this as a chef, apparently because Jackson's agent quite reasonably said that the role wasn't good enough for Mr Jackson, who then had another part specially created for him. Sadly he doesn't get to say that he's had enough of these motherfucking sharks in this motherfucking research facility but that's okay because anyone who watches the film these days will likely fill that in for him. It's also good to see at least one good old-fashioned exploitation film principal being exercised here, namely old-time producer Harry Alan Towers' rule that you must kill off the most expensive actors first.

Arrow's disc contains two new commentary tracks, one from screenwriter Kennedy and another, very enthusiastic, one from film writer Rebekah McKendry who discusses all things shark movie related. The 1999 archival commentary with Renny Harlin and Samuel L Jackson (recorded separately it sounds like) has also been ported over.

Other extras include a 25 minute interview with production designer William Sandell, and a 20 minute visual essay by Trace Thompson that does go rather over the top in its praise for the film and also gets rather too bogged down in theories of 'the monstrous feminine' for a film that's essentially just a bit of big budget daftness. 

Archival extras include a making of (15 minutes), a piece on the animatronic sharks (8 minutes) and eight minutes of deleted scenes with optional director commentary. As usual there's a trailer and an image gallery, and Arrow's limited edition set comes with a 60 page book featuring new writing on the film, a poster and some postcards. 

Renny Harlin's DEEP BLUE SEA is out from Arrow Films on 4KUHD and Blu-ray on Monday 17th March 2025

Orca - The Killer Whale (1977)

 

Studio Canal are releasing a gorgeous 4K restoration of Michael Anderson's ORCA on all disc formats, with the UHD getting the steelbook treatment as follows:

Newfoundland fisherman Nolan (Richard Harris) dreams of paying off his mortgage with the money he hopes to make capturing marine creatures which he can then sell to aquarium attractions. However, when he attempts to trap an orca things go horribly wrong. The whale is a pregnant female that spontaneously aborts and then dies, all of it witnessed by her life partner. 

It takes both the science of cetologist Rachel (Charlotte Rampling) and the superstitions of both native American Umilak (Will Sampson) and the local fishing community for Nolan to understand the whale has sworn vengeance on him and his crew and will stop at nothing until they are all dead. The only thing Nolan can do is chase the whale out into iceberg-filled waters for a final showdown.

Produced (by Dino De Laurentiis) in the wake of JAWS  with the intention being very much to capitalise on that film's success, it's perhaps unsurprising that the popular press of the day dismissed the film as a ripoff of the Spielberg film. However, while Jaws is a superlative example of a monster movie, Michael Anderson's Orca is a different beast altogether, and perhaps has more in common with Michael Winner's Death Wish (another film where a man goes after the people how destroyed his family) than a shark movie. 

It's far more of a downbeat affair as well. There's nothing of the camaraderie we see in JAWS. Instead Nolan is a man who knows he is journeying to his inevitable death, and as the film goes on it becomes progressively sadder and more doom-laden.

Studio Canal's 4K restoration is a thing of beauty, allowing DP Ted Moore's beautiful compositions of sea and land, and the shots of the orcas, to look their very best. Get the UHD disc if you can. Extras are limited to a 30 minute discussion of the film by French film journalist and director Phillipe Guedj, who offers background to the movie as well as his own interpretation of it. The disc also comes with four art cards. 

Michael Anderson's ORCA - KILLER WHALE is out from Studio Canal on DVD, Blu-ray and 4KUHD on Monday 2nd September 2024. 

It will be available to stream exclusively on STUDIOCANAL Presents on Amazon Prime and Apple TV from 1st March 2025

The Last Breath (2024)

 

"Unexpectedly Entertaining"

For enthusiasts of a certain kind of cinema there's plenty to be tickled by in THE LAST BREATH, a diving adventure movie (plus shark) that's just been released on Blu-ray and DVD by Signature in the UK.

In 1944 the USS Charlotte is sunk by a German torpedo just off the British Virgin Islands. Surviving navy officer Jimmy bobs around in the water for a bit and tries to save a colleague but ends up pulling the man's severed arm out of the water. His nonchalant response to this grisly discovery suggests such a thing may well have been an everyday occurrence for him. Who knows, perhaps it was.

The ship remains undiscovered for 60 years until, in the present day, Noah (Jack Parr) dives a few feet down from the boat of his friend Levi (the late Julian Sands) in just the right place and lo and behold, there it is. At the same time, four of his very broadly drawn caricatures of college friends turn up for a diving holiday. The obnoxious Wall Street one offers $50 000 for them to be taken down to the wreck. The one who acts like the comedy relief in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon has his mask and flippers fall off when he dives, while the overly sincere surgeon (more about her in a bit) turns out to be Noah's ex-girlfriend who left him due to his proposed slacker way of life.

Yes, there's a shark, but it takes a while to appear. Before it does we witness scenes and ideas lifted from Neil Marshall's THE DESCENT as well as TITANIC and THE ABYSS. In fact, while director Joachim Heden seems to want to emulate James Cameron, crappy dialogue like "Sharks don't have ears do they?" coupled with a terrible attempt at underwater surgery and the repeated demonstration of inaccurate diving techniques (thanks to Mrs Probert for that) ultimately mean this one is more like having Bruno Mattei, the director of such epics as CRUEL JAWS and SHOCKING DARK, back with us again.

All of this is to say that, approached in the right way, THE LAST BREATH is actually very entertaining, in an Italian early 1980s direct to VHS shark movie ripoff kind of way. There's even a final shot of New York where you can add your own bit about how zombies have entered the building. Here's the trailer:

THE LAST BREATH is out now on Blu-ray and DVD from Signature Entertainment

Sting (2024)

"The Spider From Mars?"

Following its recent UK cinema release, Kiah Roache-Turner's alien arachnid movie gets a digital home premiere courtesy of Studio Canal.

That's right - the spider in this film is an alien that's concealed with a meteorite that crashes at the start of the film. It's christened 'Sting' by little Charlotte (Alyla Browne) who discovers it inside a doll's house and takes its name from her copy of Tolkien's The Hobbit. So all those of you worrying because spiders are generally considered to bite rather than sting can now rest easy.

Spiders don't exhibit the capacity to grow at a phenomenal rate either, but this one certainly does after Charlotte has fed it a few cockroaches and her new pet has escaped to consume a parrot and a cat before moving onto bigger prey. 

STING is set in a gloomy, claustrophobic apartment block. The recent French spider horror INFESTED aka VERMINES had a similar setting but this is a lot more fun and with much more likeable characters. Roache-Turner was also responsible for the highly entertaining 2014 post-apocalypse film WYRMWOOD and the sense of playfulness with the subject matter is in evidence here. It takes a little while to get going but creature feature nuts and those who fancy seeing an apartment block of eccentric and curious characters getting attacked by an (eventually) enormous alien spider thing will find lots to enjoy. Here's the trailer:

KIAH ROACH-TURNER's STING is still playing in some UK cinemas, will be available to buy or rent on digital platforms on Monday 15th July, and gets its Blu-ray release on Monday 19th August 2024