Wuchakk

A teen girl's mother has inherited the home of a dead outcast kid, nicknamed Popeye. She and her friends go there to renovate it into a haunted house attraction. Unfortunately, when the fog rolls in, so does Popeye.

"Popeye's Revenge" (2025) was the first of three low-budget horror flicks to take advantage of the character entering the public domain; the other two would debut 5-7 weeks later, namely "Popeye the Slayer Man" and "Shiver Me Timbers." This one was produced by the same company that released the Poohverse movies in the last couple of years, such as "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" and its sequel.

While it has a different director and writers, it's cut from the same cloth and is pretty much cookie cutter. For instance, it opens with the same sketch illustrations to tell the backstory and, later, there's a hot tub sequence with the most alluring female in the cast buying the farm.

Still, it is entertaining to have Popeye as the antagonist and there's no eye-rolling wokeness to be found. In addition, the filmmaking is proficient for low-budget fare and the no-name cast rises to the challenge. Meanwhile, the scenic mountain landscapes are a plus. As for the feminine cast, redhead Atlanta Moreno stands out as Sky, but there's also Eva Ray as Cherry and Danielle Ronald as Donna, amongst one or two others, like blonde Karolina Ugrenyuk as Kathy, who smacks of haughtiness.

Regrettably, I didn't find the story as compelling as other low-budget cabin-in-the-woods flicks, such as "Lurking Woods," "The Lake on Clinton Road" and "Crazy Lake" (all from a decade ago). Nevertheless, if you're in the mood for cabin-in-the-woods horror, this fills the bill in a run-of-the-mill way. I can't compare it with the two contemporaneous Popeye flicks, however, since I have yet to see them.

It runs 1 hour, 19 minutes, and was shot in England and Scotland (more specific locations are elusive).

GRADE: B-/C+

A writer of romantic adventure in Manhattan (Turner) goes to Columbia to save her sister, who's been kidnapped by shady cousins (Danny DeVito and Zack Norman). She meets an exotic bird smuggler (Douglas) who helps her evade a corrupt colonel (Alfonso Arau) and his military police.

"Romancing the Stone" (1984) came in the wake of the success of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." It's an entertaining flick that effectively walks the balance beam between serious adventure and fun storytelling. Unfortunately, it jumps the shark at the midway point with the drug lord's carefree, happy attitude as he helps Joan & Jack escape Col. Zolo & his military goons while barely evading deadly machine gun fire. Why so gleeful when they could all die at any moment? Why so merry when he's now targeted as an enemy of the state and they will seize his nice hacienda? Let's just say, he'll never be able to go home again.

It's bad writing, which is a shame because the flick was amusingly thrilling up to that point. Then it became eye-rolling and boring.

Nevertheless, the locations are great, the interplay between Turner and Douglas is entertaining, and there are a lot of (shallow) thrills. Too bad practically the entire second half makes it forgettable fluff. A sequel followed the next year, "The Jewel of the Nile."

It runs 1 hour, 45 minutes, and was shot in Snow Canyon, Utah (the opening); New York City; and everything else in areas near Mexico City or east of there, specifically Veracruz (the old stone fort), Huasca de Ocampo, Xalapa, El Arenal, Tonaya, Xico, Barraca Grande, and the Valle de Silencio; interiors were done in the studio in Mexico City.

GRADE: B-/C+

A year after the massacre at 100 Acre Wood, Winnie is in hiding with his friends and dealing with vigilantes. They decide to take the fight to the nearby village of Ashdown, where Christopher Robin lives, along with his parents and young sister.

The writer/director of "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II" (2024) had ten times the money to work with compared to his first film (which made a huge profit because it only cost $100,000 to make), so it's no surprise that this film is superior on a technical level. I also liked how everything is explained concerning Winnie, Piglet, Owl and Tigger. The latter two make their debut here and Owl's depiction is creepily excellent, not to mention utterly brutal. Tigger isn't revealed until the last act and comes across as wandering off the set of "The Island of Dr. Moreau."

Tallulah Evans plays Christopher's potential girlfriend, Lexy, and stands out in the female department. Meanwhile Karolina Ugrenyuk is notable as the Bunny Rave Girl in the last act. Creator Rhys Frake-Waterfield still needs to learn how to shoot women, although he does okay.

It runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in Ashdown Forest, which is 50 miles south of London in the north section of East Sussex. An overhead shot of Dedham is used (to represent the hamlet of Ashdown), which is located 70 miles northeast of London. The hospital sequences were done at the hospital in Hemel Hempstead, which is northwest of London.

GRADE: B-