By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated 15 seconds ago

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a new chapter for everyone’s favorite web-head. In addition to a plot that teams him up with everyone from Bruce Banner to the Punisher, Tom Holland’s Spidey finally has a new director calling the shots. While his previous three films were directed by Jon Watts, this latest adventure is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. He’s a known quantity, having previously directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Still, it’s a big leap from Shang-Chi to Marvel’s most popular hero, and many fans are understandably nervous about whether Cretton can stick the landing.

If you’re similarly skeptical, you might be reassured by the latest update from the director. In a recent interview with Time Magazine, he discussed that one of his biggest goals with Brand New Day was to capture as much of the action on-camera via practical stunts rather than adding things later via special effects. Honestly, it’s a great approach to capturing the sheer physicality of Spider-Man, which can be downright hypnotic if done right. Even more importantly, it’s an approach that can fix Marvel’s biggest problem: ruining cool moments with some of the worst CGI known to man.

Making Everything Feel More Real

In a recent interview with Time, Destin Daniel Cretton opened up about his creative approach to Spider-Man: Brand New Day. This included frequently asking Tom Holland to do things that “seemed impossible” and “felt almost ridiculous” to ask for. Without complaint, the Spider-Man actor would always pull off the stunt. This pleasantly surprised Cretton, who had made his own moves to ensure the film had killer onscreen action. “We brought a lot of our stunt team from Shang-Chi onto the project,” he said. “The goal was to try to get as much in camera as we possibly could.”

Why was this approach so important to Cretton, though? “One of the draws to doing this Spider-Man movie was that we are seeing Spider-Man go back to basics. We’re seeing a street-level Spider-Man, and we wanted that to be across the board,” he said. “We kept talking about this idea of a ‘grounded movie.’ We were taking that mentality into the stunts, into the action design, to see Spider-Man doing things that feel almost possible and not to rely as heavily on VFX.”

Bad CGI? Marvel Can Do This All Day

This is an excellent way to handle Spider-Man, a character who historically protects a single city rather than the entire world. Grounded stunts play into the idea that Brand New Day will have the hero fighting without the benefit of any fancy technology from Tony Stark. Capturing Tom Holland doing killer stunts on his own instead of sprucing everything up with special effects is a great way to emphasize the physicality of the role and of Spider-Man. It’s also an awesome way of fixing Marvel’s biggest mistake: namely, ruining otherwise great movies with crappy effects!

The most infamous example of this is Bruce Banner in the Hulkbuster armor from Avengers: Infinity War. It’s a nearly perfect Marvel movie (exceeded only by Endgame), but it’s impossible to think about this film without remembering Mark Ruffalo’s head just floating above that armor like something out of a bad video game cutscene. Similarly, the first Black Panther (which is an absolute masterpiece of worldbuilding) is marred by a fight between BP and Killmonger that transforms the movie into a fighting game with crappy CGI. Thor: Love and Thunder featured a floating head effect that was so bad it had to be fixed before the Disney+ release.

The list goes on, including a bad cartoon-looking version of Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok and some genuinely WTF transformation sequences in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Destin Daniel Cretton is addressing this issue head-on by embracing practical stunts and eschewing fancy VFX or crappy CGI whenever possible. Considering that this movie might earn closer to $2 billion than $1 billion, future franchise films are likely to follow the director’s lead in search of their own success. In this way, Cretton may do something even Spider-Man couldn’t do: save Marvel from ruining its own films with effects as cheap as they are ugly! 

Mystery might just be the greatest book genre, like, ever. But whoever thinks it’s easy to just sit down, write a book, and make it thrilling, entertaining, and totally make sense from start to finish hasn’t tried writing at all. Mystery writers are some of the most ingenious (if not a tad eccentric) artists out there because there’s something truly brilliant about a mystery novel that can hook us from sentence one and never let go.

The mystery novels where every chapter hides a clue, where every clue matters, and where the payoff is so good that you immediately want to flip back to page one and find all the hidden elements of the puzzle are rare, but they exist. They especially hide among the classics, and these eight don’t just belong on a shelf; they should be in your hands right about now, preferably with a drink of choice and a free afternoon. Here are the classic mystery books that are perfect from the first page to the last.

‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (1841)

Image via Vintage Classics

Edgar Allan Poe is often considered the pioneer of the horror/mystery genre; if not the inventor, he’s definitely one of the earliest examples of writers who had the ability to transport readers and give them the absolute creeps while setting up a clever, somewhat tragic whodunit. Even when it comes to fictional detectives, before The Murders in the Rue Morgue, there weren’t any, really; there definitely was no Sherlock Holmes, no Hercule Poirot, and no Sam Spade. Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin was the prototype for every brilliant, eccentric sleuth who followed.

In The Murders in the Rue Morgue, two women are found brutally murdered in a locked room in Paris, and the police are baffled. However, Detective Dupin, using nothing but his formidable powers of observation and deduction, pieces together a solution that is as shocking as it is logical. Rue Morgue is a short story, so you can read it in a single sitting, but its influence is massive: the locked-room mystery, the armchair detective, and the final reveal presented before the reasoning that leads to it. The prose may be a bit dense by modern standards, and Poe did love his lengthy philosophical digressions, but if you want to understand where every mystery novel you’ve ever loved came from, Rue Morgue is where you start.

‘The Turn of the Screw’ (1898)

Image via Penguin Random House

When we talk about The Turn of the Screw, questions arise: Is it a ghost story? Is it a psychological thriller? Is it a fever dream about a woman slowly losing her grip on reality? Is it a mystery about a family lineage? The answers, though, are simple—Henry James‘ gothic novella is all of the above, and this ambiguity and all-encompassing nature are exactly what makes it so gripping. The Turn of the Screw is probably one of the most adapted mystery novels, including film, theater, and television, with the most acclaimed version being The Haunting of Bly Manor by Mike Flanagan.

The Turn of the Screw follows a young governess who is hired to care for two orphaned children at a remote English estate called Bly. She soon becomes convinced that the grounds are haunted by the ghosts of two former servants, but here’s the thing: you never quite know if the ghosts are real or if the governess is an unreliable narrator projecting her own anxieties onto innocent children. What makes The Turn of the Screw a perfect book is precisely that—it doesn’t give a straight answer at all. It’s a mystery that invites you to become the detective, parsing every sentence for clues about what’s actually happening. It’s unsettling, beautifully written, and unforgettable. And if you read it once and think you’ve figured it out, read it again; you probably haven’t.

‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ (1902)

Image via George Newnes Ltd

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a Sherlock Holmes novel that pretty much everyone knows about, even if they’ve never read it. There is, of course, a perfectly good reason for that: the book is a masterpiece. Arthur Conan Doyle masterfully balances supernatural dread with Holmes’ insistence on logic and evidence. Watson, who narrates most of the story, is at his most competent and engaging, and Holmes’s eventual solution is as satisfying as they come. It’s the book that brought Holmes back from the dead (literally—Doyle had killed him off in a previous story), and thank goodness for that. Some detectives just can’t be killed.

Set on the fog-shrouded moors of Dartmoor, The Hound of the Baskervilles follows Holmes and Watson as they investigate the death of Sir Charles Baskerville, who apparently died of a heart attack while fleeing from a gigantic, supernatural hound. The legend says a demonic dog has haunted the Baskerville family since the English Civil War, and now Sir Charles’ heir, Sir Henry, may be next. The novel is a perfect blend of gothic atmosphere and classic puzzle-box detective work, but its strength is almost always in the rapport between Holmes and Watson, including the moments of deduction that would impress anyone. There are many Sherlock Holmes stories out there, but The Hound of the Baskervilles is universally beloved.

‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ (1955)

Image via Coward-McCann

Patricia Highsmith‘s The Talented Mr. Ripley is the rare mystery that doesn’t care who committed the crime—because, well, you not only already know who the culprit is, but you’re also rooting for him. Highsmith skillfully takes us into the mind of a man utterly indifferent to evil, and somehow, impossibly, we can’t look away. The Talented Mr. Ripley is a novel about envy, identity, and the terrifying lengths we’ll go to become someone else—to live the life of another, at any cost. With this novel, Highsmith introduced one of literature’s greatest antiheroes, later writing four sequels with Tom Ripley as the protagonist (known as the Ripliad). People nowadays know this story because of the same-name film adaptation starring Matt Damon.

Tom Ripley is a young man scraping by in New York through small-time cons. When a wealthy shipping magnate, Herbert Greenleaf, hires him to travel to Italy and convince his wayward son, Dickie Greenleaf, to return home, Ripley sees an opportunity. He befriends Dickie and grows obsessed with his lavish lifestyle, so much so that his obsession takes a final extreme (let’s try without spoilers, unless you’ve seen the adaptations). Though less of a mystery and more of a psychological thriller, Talented Mr. Ripley turns the mystery genre inside out, presenting it as a setup for understanding Ripley’s psyche (the true mystery). If you’ve only seen the Matt Damon film (or the Netflix miniseries Ripley, starring Andrew Scott), do yourself a favor and read the book, too. It’s mind-blowing.

‘The Maltese Falcon’ (1930)

Image via Alfred A. Knopf

Advertisement

Dashiell Hammett‘s most famous novel, The Maltese Falcon, is the godfather of hard-boiled detective fiction—it’s what we call a lean, mean, well-oiled machine; it’s also utterly devoid of sentimentality, and yet it provokes sentiment in the reader with every line of beautifully crafted dialogue. Hammett essentially invented the noir detective mystery genre, and his influence can still be found everywhere, from the first noir films starring Humphrey Bogart (who also starred in the film version of the novel) to the most recent Nicolas Cage-led Spider-Noir. Hammett’s style and influence can be found in every cynical private eye, double-cross, and femme fatale.

The Maltese Falcon follows private detective Sam Spade, who is hired by a beautiful woman to follow a man named Floyd Thursby. His agency partner takes the first shift and ends up dead, and soon Spade is caught in a web of murder, betrayal, and a desperate search for a gilded statuette of a falcon that everyone seems willing to kill for. The novel is told entirely in external third-person; there are no internal thoughts and no feelings on display, just what characters say and do, making The Maltese Falcon a sharp mystery that forces you to pay attention to every gesture and word. It’s a quick but incredibly entertaining read that (re)set the standard in the hard-boiled detective genre.

‘Rebecca’ (1938)

Image via Hachette

Advertisement

Daphne du Maurier‘s gothic mystery masterpiece, Rebecca, begins with one of the most famous opening lines in literature: “Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” While it’s easy to claim you’ll be hooked from the first line, it’s actually true with Rebecca. Du Maurier’s most famous novel is a true page-turner because of how she sets up the story, where her writing takes us, and how she incorporates her own life into the mystery. Rebecca has never gone out of print, selling millions of copies. Of course, film fans remember that Alfred Hitchcock famously adapted Rebecca into an Oscar-winning film in 1940, but the book is where the true magic lives, and it’s as gripping today as it was in 1938.

Rebecca follows an unnamed young woman (and narrator) who marries the wealthy widower Maxim de Winter and moves to his grand estate, Manderley. But she soon discovers that the memory of his first wife, Rebecca, haunts every corner of the house and most notably the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, who seems determined to remind the narrator of it. She leaves an entire wing of the estate intact in Rebecca’s honor and makes sure to undermine the narrator at every step, making her unreliable and isolated. The story is a slow-burning psychological mystery/thriller that builds to an interesting, emotional revelation; it’s a story about identity and jealousy, and it’s, by du Maurier’s own admittance, somewhat inspired by her own life and relationship.

‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ (1926)

Image via HarperCollins

Advertisement

While Murder on the Orient Express may be Agatha Christie‘s most famous novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is her greatest achievement and quite possibly the greatest mystery novel ever written. It’s so perfectly constructed that the British Crime Writers’ Association voted it the best crime novel of all time in 2013, when they celebrated their 60th anniversary. It’s another novel Christie herself sorted among her personal favorites. It’s quite the typical setup for a Poirot mystery, but it’s still, even a century later, the gold standard of the genre.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is set in a quiet English village, where a wealthy widower named Roger Ackroyd is stabbed to death in his study. The local doctor, as well as the story’s narrator, James Sheppard, assists the now-retired detective Hercule Poirot in finding Ackroyd’s killer. The suspects are numerous, the motives are plentiful, and the clues are persistent, but the solution is so audacious and brilliant that it changed the genre forever. I know what you might be wondering, and no, knowing the ending doesn’t ruin the book; in fact, it makes it even better, because you can observe just how precisely Christie plants every clue and red herring. If you must read only one mystery book in your life, make it The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

‘Murder on the Orient Express’ (1934)

Advertisement

Half of the novels on this list were written by women (two by the same author), which is a source of pride for many female mystery fans. Highsmith, du Maurier, and Agatha Christie in particular influenced the psychological mystery/thriller genre in literature in numerous ways. If you believe that women can only write romances, romantic fantasy, or smut, you’re mistaken. The true monarch of mystery and detective novels is, in fact, a queen, and her name is Agatha Christie. Murder on the Orient Express is a masterpiece of detective fiction, but it’s much more than just a whodunit. It is a meditation on justice, revenge, and the limits of the law that shows how vengeance consumes a person. Christie herself rated this novel as one of her favorites.

Murder on the Orient Express follows Hercule Poirot, the world’s greatest detective, as he is traveling on the luxurious Orient Express when a passenger is found stabbed to death in his compartment. The train is stranded in a snowdrift, and the killer is still on board. Poirot has a finite number of suspects and a finite amount of time to solve the mystery, and the solution is one of the most shocking and morally complex in crime fiction. The plotting is immaculate, the characters are vivid, and Poirot is at his most brilliant; Orient Express is the kind of book that makes you want to flip back to the beginning as soon as you finish.

Big Brother is on a countdown until the live feeds switch on tonight after BB Unlocked. No matter what market you’re in, the feeds come on at 9 pm EST after the 8 pm EST Unlocked episode. Once feeds are up, we’ll see the nominations.

We know Chuk Anyanwu, Rome Seymour and Jason de Puy are safe as winners of the three time tripping safety comps. And every scrap of evidence points to Dee Valladares as the new Head of Household, even though casual viewers won’t see her unless they tune into Unlocked tonight.

Be sure to stick around until the end for an update on a showmance from BB27 that had many fans freaked the heck out. Let’s talk about the premiere and the fallout. So, just to be clear, I said grain of salt on the Mallory Aurichio stuff and she didn’t win safety. The leaked info was correct about multiple safety comps, but wrong about who won what. So, as I said, grain of salt on leaks.

And then, on premiere night, after Angela Murray and Rick Devens, in walked Rachel Reilly and I knew immediately it was a fake out. First, she had a hard time missing her girls playing last summer. Second, having her back to back seasons would be a terrible choice by production. Third, it was clear it was all tongue in cheek from how she carried herself. The future floaters might have freaked, but I didn’t.

Big Brother: The Vets and HOH Competition

I knew the moment she walked in, what was what. Using Rachel as a fake out was odd and the velociraptor thing was over the top. The dinosaur throwing Rachel into a lava pit was campy and cringe. And that was on top of Enzo Palumbo’s godawful bad acting in the safety comp. Honestly, it was rough.

The saucy little minx playing 80s Angela did a pretty good job though. But I don’t get the cliffhanger and fuss acting like Dee is a reality icon. Don’t get it twisted – I am a fan of hers. But if you’re not in the Venn diagram intersection of Big Brother and Survivor, it’s going to be like – who is that? What’s the big deal?

I can see that much fuss for like a Boston Rob, sure. Or Mike White, creator of The White Lotus and Survivor alum. But if you’re doubting it’s Dee Valladares – don’t. The date Julie Chen Moonves is time traveling to is Dec 20, 2023 – that’s the date Dee won Survivor 45. Also, when she walks in as houseguest number 17, for the record, that’ll make 15 single houseguests – only Devens and Angela are married. I’m expecting shenanigans and goings on in the dark on live feeds. Just saying.

So, the three vets, Angela, Dee and Devens were the only ones to play HOH – we’ll see the comp on Sunday’s CBS episode – but every indication is Dee won it. There’s no surprise there – Devens is more of an idol finder than a comp winner. And Angela was never a comp queen.

I’m guessing production assumes the vets will shield each other from nomination at least for week one. And speaking of live feeds, we’re told they would start right after Unlocked, 9 PM EST, 8 PM Central. But if you look at the launch time, it’s 30 minutes later than what was promised. So, we’ll see if we get them a half hour later which the countdown indicates.

Big Brother: Pre-Game Boot and Early Winner Predictions

Also, some he-said / he-said action on pre-game booted Levi Banks. He insisted that he decided not to play BB28. Levi posted on social that he voluntarily pulled himself because he realized it was not the right fit for him personally. He called it one of the hardest decisions of his life. Meanwhile, CBS said he ran his mouth and got tossed. Last second exits are pretty rare. In BB25, Joseph Abdin got in as an alternate. BB21 reportedly had several alternates pulled in for various reasons. I think BB13 and BB18 also had a houseguest pulled. One for personal reasons and one medical.

Also, the BB28 finale is on October 1st and I was looking at early odds. Polymarket has Ashley Trail as the top choice to win. Several other polls have Haley Thogmartin as a top contender. Meanwhile, Dee and her Survivor counterpart Devens are also ranking in some polls.

And before we get into the BB27 showmance update, something funny about Rick Devens – if you guys don’t watch Survivor, trust me, you’re going to like him. He’s witty. Four years ago, he posted this tweet mocking Big Brother. It said Julie Chen in all her interviews when she’s asked did, she see what happened on the live feeds, and Julie says – I don’t watch that trash. Obviously, that’s not what Julie really said – it’s just Devens being funny. I hope he lasts a while in BB28.

Big Brother 27: Rylie and Katherine’s Showmance Update

And now the creeper update on Rylie Jeffries and Katherine Woodman. Remember the showmance from BB27 that had her family reaching out here in the comments section saying they were worried. Fans were worried. Rylie was controlling, gaslighting, giving all the red flags and ick. Telling Katherine they would be together, she had no choice. Rylie told her what houseguests she couldn’t talk to and was honestly so appalling on the live feeds but given a golden edit on the episodes for the casuals. Yet Katherine dated him anyway post-BB27. And it lasted six months. Then, it came out that she split from Rylie over lifestyle clashes and the strain caused by his personal life.

Her BB27 bestie Lauren Domingue posted a video of her and Katherine skipping down a snowy street. The caption was – what life sounds like when you and your bestie are single in New York. Katherine dumped Rylie in February of this year and sources said a big factor was that Rylie was way more into her than she was with him.

That was obvious from day one in the Big Brother 27 house. Katherine also said in an interview style chat with Ashley Hollis that she felt guilty for the amount of hate Rylie was getting post-season and so Katherine stayed with him longer than she should’ve. I mean honestly, even one date was longer than should’ve but it’s her life.

BB27 Alum Rylie Boasting BoomBall

As for the controversy over Rylie missing the birth of a child while in BB27, he claimed he’d been told he was not the father of the child. Then, post-eviction, told an interviewer there would be a paternity test to confirm. No word after that. Rylie is still in the public eye now, but in a new way. He’s playing BoomBall which is like baseball on steroids. The teams are co-ed and it looks wild. I’ve seen go-karts on the field. A flaming circle of fire and Rylie’s shtick is to come out on a horse and do a backflip off it.

Of interest is Rylie’s a longtime baseball player who played all through high school. His BoomBall team is the Chaos Crew. And Zach Cornell, who’s still tight with Rylie, is also playing BoomBall but for the Lucky Llamas. I’d never heard of BoomBall before researching the Rylie update and now I’m dying to see it in person.

One last thing, Katherine and Lauren just posted a TikTok joking about a Netflix documentary on what happened to their showmances. I’ll update you on Zach and Lauren’s volatile split next time. And we’ll be back with an update once nominations are locked in. Get ready – Unlocked has fan voting elements you don’t want to miss and you’ll get the confirmation that Dee’s in the game, in place of Rachel the lava queen.

Finding a dress that’s both flattering and comfortable isn’t always easy, but I’ve found that wrap dresses rarely disappoint. With an adjustable waist tie, a wrap dress instantly creates shape while camouflaging a belly pooch.

As a shopping writer, I was able to source 19 styles worth adding to your closet, including a breezy floral wrap dress and an office-ready wrap dress. Whether you’re shopping for vacations, weddings or everyday wear, every wrap dress I pulled comes in under $50.

Tummy-Control Wrap Dresses That Hide a Belly Pooch

1. Our Favorite: Between the adjustable tie, flutter sleeves and flowy ruffle hem, this floral midi dress is the kind of dress that helps me feel confident the moment I put it on.

2. Sunset Style: Warm evenings call for this vibrant wrap dress. I’d pair it with a woven clutch and espadrilles for a resort-inspired look.

3. Classic Pick: Few prints have stood the test of time quite like a polka-dot midi dress. The wrap silhouette makes it flattering enough for work events and dinner dates alike.

4. Pretty Pick: Blue and red florals never go out of style, especially on a ruffled wrap dress. The adjustable tie lets you tailor the fit for all-day comfort.

5. Feel-Good Fit: Slipping into a flowy wrap dress is one of the easiest ways to feel instantly confident. The stretchy smocked waist defines the midsection without tugging or squeezing.

Related: 17 Flattering Summer Wrap Dresses That Instantly Snatch Your Waist

Some dresses just hang there, and other flowy options completely transform your shape. Wrap dresses fall into the second category, thanks to their waist-defining ties, flattering V-necks and draped silhouettes that naturally create an hourglass look without feeling restrictive. They’re basically the ultimate summer confidence boost when you want to feel comfortable but still look […]

Advertisement

6. Wear Everywhere: If I could only pack one floral wrap dress for a weekend trip, this would be it. It works just as well sightseeing as it does for dinner afterward.

7. French Girl-Style: A polka-dot wrap dress never goes out of style. I’d wear it with ballet flats or ankle boots depending on the season. 

8. Dreamy Pick: There’s something so romantic about this watercolor floral dress. The wrap silhouette keeps it timelessly chic.

9. Mediterranean Mood: Every time I see a striped wrap maxi dress, I immediately think of the Greek islands. The wrap-style waist and vertical stripes create an effortlessly flattering silhouette.

10. Ladylike Look: Polka dots instantly make this wrap maxi dress feel polished and feminine. I’d keep the accessories simple and let the classic print do all the talking.

11. Textured Touch: It’s the subtle details that make this swiss-dot wrap dress stand out. The tie waist creates beautiful definition, while the textured fabric gives it a boutique feel.

12. Office-Ready: Nothing beats a draped wrap dress when I want to feel confident. The side tie naturally defines the waist, while the ruching softly skims over the midsection.

13. Designer Feel: Looking at this checked wrap dress instantly reminds me of something you’d find in a luxury boutique. The structured print gives it a rich, elevated feel.

14. Figure Flatterer: Finding a striped wrap dress that creates shape without clinging is always a win. The adjustable waist and elongating stripes create a beautifully balanced fit.

15. Everyday Essential: The tie waist on this striped mini dress creates shape, while the pockets make it even more practical for everyday wear. It’s one of those grab-and-go staples I’d buy in every color.

16. Instant Slimming: Whenever I want a sleek silhouette, I gravitate toward a black wrap dress. The gathered waist creates definition, while the draped fabric glides over the tummy.

17. Farmer’s Market: I’d happily spend a Saturday in this green wrap mini dress with a coffee in one hand and fresh flowers in the other. It’s equal parts comfortable and cute.

18. Forever Favorite: I never regret adding a Swiss dot maxi dress to my closet. Between the flattering silhouette and timeless navy shade, it never feels dated.

19. Summer Wedding: RSVP season practically calls for a ruffled wrap midi dress. It has all the elegance of a cocktail dress with the comfort of an everyday wrap silhouette.

UsNow Summer Sale Alert: These Chic Fashion Finds are over 30% off – Plus Free Shipping

Welcome to summer with our biggest sale of the year. This summer’s chicest dresses, tops and swimsuits are all over 30% + free shipping. Inventory is limited so hurry before they’re gone.

Shop the UsNow Summer Sale –>

The late Sam Neill radiated warmth and a quiet authority that made him a perfect grounding point for audiences. In many sci-fi and thriller films, however, he would often turn this on its head to frightening effect, with unforgettable horror roles that transformed potentially schlocky material into genre classics. With Neill’s sudden death on July 13 at age 78, the world has lost not only a legendary screen presence, but a quiet horror icon who deserves recognition alongside the greats.

While much of his mainstream praise came for roles in dramas like The Piano and his charmingly gruff paleontologist in Jurassic Park, Neill was a force of nature when it came to horror. He even played the Antichrist himself in 1981’s The Omen III: The Final Conflict, coldly ordering the murder of dozens of newborns. Through a number of unforgettable roles in the genre since the 1980s, Neill proved that quiet dignity and a capacity for menace kept in reserve could be even more frightening than histrionics and make-up effects.

1981’s Horrifying ‘Possession’ Is His Most Fearless Role

Image via Gaumont Distribution

Polish art house director Andrzej Żuławski‘s 1981 film Possession was one of the original “video nasties” and remains a harrowing watch to this day. Much of the credit for this went to star Isabelle Adjani‘s legendarily unhinged performance, but a young Sam Neill, in one of his very first roles, not only held his own but matched her energy in the horror classic.

As a jealous, increasingly unhinged spy watching his wife disappear into madness amid the paranoia of Cold War-era West Germany, Neill’s cuckolded husband initially appears to be a cipher-like straight man to Adjani’s manic energy. However, he brilliantly modulates his character’s descent from quiet despair to paranoia to sweaty, bug-eyed madness and self-mutilation, proving a load-bearing part of the film. Neill’s eyes alone portray a soulful, bottomless sadness one moment and a complete surrender to insanity later, in the kind of fearless performance that was shocking for a young actor so early in his career. Even 45 years later, Possession remains a difficult film for many to get through, between its domestic violence and surreal, psychosexual gore. Adjani’s justifiably lauded performance often gets most of the credit — but Neill’s masterful work is equally responsible for its horrible, creeping power.

Horror Let Neill Weaponize His Natural Charm

In both Paul W. S. Anderson‘s Event Horizon and John Carpenter‘s In the Mouth of Madness, Neill starts out as a sort of everyman character similar to his iconic Jurassic Park role, serving as an audience surrogate ready to face down the horrors waiting in the rest of the film. Neill masterfully weaponized that natural charisma and audience familiarity, however, to intensify his characters’ descent into madness or capacity for pure evil.

As Dr. Weir in the Ridley Scott and Clive Barker-inspired Event Horizon, Neill starts off as a grieving scientist haunted by visions of his wife, but soon is consumed by the malevolent energy of a lost spaceship itself. Although the shot has been meme-ified to death today, the slow reveal of Neill’s Weir grinning maniacally after gouging out his own eyes was a downright traumatic moment for audiences who had been watching him in Jurassic Park just three years earlier.

Neill also turned some of the cheese in Phillip Eisner’s script into two of the most iconic lines in ’90s horror through the sheer power and gravity of his delivery: “You can’t leave — she won’t let you” and “Where we’re going, you won’t need eyes to see.”

As an insurance investigator in Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, Neill affected a perfectly seen-it-all attitude, remaining skeptical of the Lovecraftian nightmares springing up around him in the town of Hobb’s End until it’s too late. Neill’s cynical performance is the perfect counterpoint to the murderous, tentacled old women and dog-eating children Carpenter populates the town with, and once he’s institutionalized, Neill goes all in on the titular madness. Disturbing as the film’s meta-conclusion is, there’s a maniacal thrill to watching Neill stuff his face with popcorn while watching a version of himself on a movie screen and cackling as the apocalypse descends on the world around him.

Neill’s charisma and talents went far beyond what was evinced in his most popular roles. If there’s any justice in the world, he’ll be equally remembered for the magic and madness he brought to the horror genre.

Advertisement

Event Horizon

Advertisement

Release Date

August 15, 1997

Runtime

95 minutes

Advertisement

Director

Paul W. S. Anderson

Advertisement

Writers

Andrew Kevin Walker, Philip Eisner

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Even with the year still getting prominent releases week after week, 2026 has already been an exceptional year when it comes to filmmaking of all genres and styles. From massive high-budget blockbusters like Project Hail Mary to exceptional low-budget hits like Obsession, the year has continuously found ways to deliver outstanding cinematic experiences one after another. However, the year isn’t only defined by its most popular of successes, as there are also a number of amazing hidden gems released during the year.

Working outside of the traditional blockbuster or streaming avenues of marketing and release, many of these great films largely rely on word of mouth from critics and audiences in order to gain notoriety and success. While these films may be in a state of complete obscurity for general audiences nowadays, one can hope that after months of success and praise, more people can place these films on their own personal best-of-2026 lists where they truly belong.

9

‘Saccharine’

Image via Sundance

Abstract psychological horror has been a prominent trend in recent years, not just in the biggest horror blockbusters but also in the array of horror hidden gems of the 2020s. Taking it a step further with themes of body dysmorphia and the mental toxicity inherent to diet culture and eating disorders is Saccharine, which acts as the psychological horror response to rising interest in quick weight loss drugs. The dynamic body horror story brings together its elements with enough fun camerawork and paranormal concepts to make for an exceptionally impactful time.

The film follows a medical student who, on her quest to lose weight, ends up succumbing to an obscure weight-loss craze involving eating literal human ashes. While it seems to have great success at first, she begins to be in over her head when the ghost of the person she’s eating begins haunting her, forcing her to eat more and more food and eating away at her body.

8

‘Jinsei’

Jinsei is a passionate and deeply personal feat of animation from its opening scene to the very end, telling a man’s 100-year life story as his life evolves and changes between struggles, friendships, betrayals, and worldwide fame. Almost entirely brought to life by director, writer, and sole animator Ryuya Suzuki, Jinsei is a glorious example of perseverance and dedication within the craft of animation. With so many different eras and styles that it tackles, the lofty film experience is at the very least worthy of respect for its craft.

While the hand-drawn style of animation may seem strange at first, its overwhelming sense of character and charm quickly wins over the audience. As the story changes and evolves throughout different styles and genres, it reaches a point of enlightened reflection upon the intricacies of life in its many changes. The film is everything one would want out of a wild, unrestrained passion project, being a massively ambitious artistic vision that consistently delivers.

7

‘Power Ballad’

Image via Lionsgate

Few filmmakers understand the emotionally charged power that music can hold in the cinematic medium quite like John Carney, whose career, including the likes of Sing Street and Begin Again, has made amazing emotional strides thanks to the deeply personal power of music. Power Ballad is simply his latest exceptional music-based comedy that makes use of his magical understanding of music. With charming comedy and compelling characters, Power Ballad is the year’s best cinematic music experience so far.

The outstanding musical sees the unlikely meeting of Rick (Paul Rudd), a past-his-prime wedding singer, and Danny (Nick Jonas), a fading boy-band star looking to kickstart his solo career. The duo ends up having a great night of playing music and writing songs together, yet things go awry weeks later when Danny ends up stealing one of Rick’s songs and turning it into the biggest song in the world.

6

‘Mile End Kicks’

A quirky, feel-good rom-com full of personality and charm as it brings to life a distinct era and culture not too long ago, Mile End Kicks is one of many great Canadian films released in 2026. The film sees Euphoria star Barbie Ferreira as a young music critic moving to Montreal as inspiration so that she can write a book on Alanis Morissette‘s Jagged Little Pill. However, her plans quickly get complicated when she ends up being romantically involved with two members of an indie band that she begins covering, becoming their publicist in the process.

There’s a genuine earnestness to the characters and their chemistry that makes Mile End Kicks an exceptionally fluid and uncompromising rom-com experience. It cuts to the heart of the dumb decisions of young 20-somethings looking to throw caution to the wind, follow their dreams, and make as many friends as they make mistakes. Ferreria absolutely brings it for a killer lead performance, but the two male leads, Devon Bostick and Stanley Simons, also do a great job.

5

‘Rose of Nevada’

Image via TIFF

It’s easy for a time travel movie to largely focus on the hard science and intricacies of its concept, although Rose of Nevada is much more interested in how this concept can be utilized for themes of collective trauma and the living beating heart of a community. The film sees a mysterious boat returning to a fishing village 30 years after initially vanishing. When two young men (George MacKay and Callum Turner) join the crew looking for money, they end up being transported back in time and mistaken for the original crew.

With an intricate premise at its center, it would certainly be easy for Rose of Nevada to take a more traditional approach in terms of logic akin to other sci-fi films. However, the brilliance of Rose of Nevada instead comes from its psychological examination of these characters now thrust into this situation, how they adapt to taking over the roles and lives of people of the past, and losing touch with their original time. It’s a soft sci-fi masterpiece that will assuredly grow into a classic once more people witness its greatness.

4

‘Faces of Death’

Image via IFC

Releasing 36 years after the previous entry of the cult classic horror franchise, as well as being the only film that isn’t a documentary, 2026’s Faces of Death instead builds off of the exploitative nature of the original films to comment on desensitization in the social media era. Especially considering that the original film was little more than a shocking display of real-life death and gore that was banned in many countries, this takes a much more insightful and layered approach to the concept with both a fun execution and an important message at its core.

The film follows a website content moderator tasked with removing overly violent and sexual videos from a social media platform, as she soon comes across a series of videos recreating the death scenes from the classic Faces of Death films. While initially debating with herself whether these recreations are real or not, she soon goes down a rabbit hole once they go viral, looking to take down the serial killer responsible. It’s a perfect mix of intelligent storytelling and gnarly and gory kills that makes it one of the year’s best slashers as well as feeling tailor-made for the social media era.

3

‘Buffet Infinity’

Analog horror has been bigger than ever in recent years, from prominent original feature films like Skinamarink to one of the biggest analog horror series, Backrooms, becoming a massive blockbuster success. However, Buffet Infinity is arguably one of the most unique approaches to analog horror to date, adding in a heaping dose of comedy and working exceptionally well in the feature-length format. The film acts as a collection of cheap, locally produced TV commercials, telling a story of a mysterious new buffet business growing more successful, taking over competition, and with a sinister conspiracy unfolding all the while.

Buffet Infinity’s greatest strength is from its fundamental understanding of the inherent absurdity and silliness of analog horror, utilizing the abstract nature of the horror subgenre for comedy and lighthearted fun. However, its lighter moments don’t take away from when the film decides to go all in on horror and thrills, as it starts off subtly before growing to all-encompassing dread and destruction. It’s a wild swing for the fences in all the best ways and is easily one of 2026’s most creatively distinct experiences yet.

2

‘The Furious’

Image via Lionsgate Entertainment

A high-energy Hong Kong action film that doesn’t hold back in terms of the ruthlessness and catharsis of its action sequences, The Furious is easily the year’s best action movie and one of the most stylishly entertaining action experiences in years. The film sees Xie Miao as a mute man fighting to save his daughter after she has been kidnapped by a local trafficking ring, taking down anyone and everyone who stands in his way. He soon ends up teaming with a journalist (Joe Taslim) who is on his own quest of revenge, as his wife went missing while investigating this trafficking ring.

It harkens back to films like The Raid in terms of its over-the-top brutality and satisfaction in its action, with the film oftentimes going to absolute extremes and constantly leaving the audience in awe of its craft. When so many of the year’s other prominent action films are quick to rely on large CGI setpieces and pre-existing properties, The Furious is a great reminder that satisfying, top-of-the-line action is all it takes to create a masterpiece action thriller.

1

‘Blue Heron’

Sophy Romvari‘s powerful story of perseverance and grief’s continuous conversations with memory is one whose mastery speaks for itself while watching the film. Blue Heron is the type of masterpiece that easily could have become a major award-winning icon if released during the fall months, but seems doomed to be little more than a cult classic loved to death by die-hard film fans, never scratching past the surface of popularity. However, the sense of deep personal connection in every frame of the film simply wouldn’t be possible without this smaller scale and underground energy that the film exudes.

The film follows the memories of Sasha, the young daughter of a Hungarian immigrant family who relocate to Vancouver Island and deal with the increasingly dangerous behavioural issues of their oldest son, Jeremy (Edik Beddoes). It’s one thing to simply tell a story of a painful family experience, but the brilliance of Blue Heron is how it plays with the rose-tinted nature of memory, and how we often blind ourselves to the truth of painful situations to make for more uplifting memories. Similarly to one of 2020s other dramatic masterpieces about memory, Aftersun, Blue Heron only gets better and better upon rewatch and is an emotional tour de force from beginning to end.

Advertisement

Blue Heron

Advertisement

Release Date

March 21, 2026

Advertisement

Runtime

91 minutes

Director

Advertisement

Sophy Romvari

Writers

Sophy Romvari

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement