Table of Contents
Welcome to today’s daily horror digest! My double-feature of reviews today features a slasher that I really enjoyed, and a serial killer movie that was okay. Take a look at those below, and keep reading for daily news and trivia!
Movies of the Day
What Lives Here
Star Rating: 3.5 out of 5
I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did! What Lives Here is a straightforward, back-to-basics style of slasher movie. It’s about a junk removal crew who take a multi-day job at a mansion out of town. The house has a dark history of murder, but they don’t know that until later. A mix-up at their motel forces them to spend the night at the house, but they’re not the only ones staying there. As each member of the crew becomes isolated in the mansion for various reasons, they become a target for an extremely violent resident who’s been living there for years.
I enjoyed What Lives Here a ton. The story is basic, with the majority of the action being simple and plot-driven. There are lots of kills throughout the movie, and most of them are quite bloody. The special effects are done on a micro budget, but that adds to their charm. They look really good for the budget, and the violence of each one adds to its on-screen impact. Besides, the house itself is all the production value the movie needs. It’s an amazing location for a slasher like this.
Some viewers might want more story, but I like that things were kept fairly basic. There is a significant amount of downtime between the opening scene and the next bit of gore (it’s about a 45 minute gap), but that time is spent getting to know the characters. The cast is good, and their interactions are all amusing. I appreciated the time spent with them, because when the killing starts for real it comes at a rapid pace. As a huge fan of the classic slasher formula, sometimes all I want is a slasher that hits all the expected beats with fun and sincerity. What Lives Here is exactly that kind of slasher, and I kind of love it. Rent it on Prime Video!
Kill Giggles
Star Rating: 2.5 out of 5
The main character in Kill Giggles, Tommy, isn’t crazy. At least, that’s what he tells us. Tommy just hates clowns. He hates them so much that he wants to kill every clown in the world. We see a few of his kills, but once he meets Eden, his stance on clown murder starts to soften. Not for long though. Not even love can keep Tommy from killing, but it might only be a loved one who can stop him.
Kill Giggles isn’t bad, but it lacks focus. Tommy and Eden are both treated like lead characters at different times. Sure, it’s completely possible to make that work, but here it just feels like we’re leaving a character behind when the other takes over. Also, the tone hovers in a strange middle ground between funny, dramatic, and violently disturbing. None of those tones are given a strong emphasis, so the movie ends up lightly touching all of them in a not-so effective way. Focusing on one lead character and one dominant tone would have helped immensely. There are a couple fun low-budget kills scenes, and the idea of the story is good. It’s just not enough to make Kill Giggles much more than mildly diverting. Kill Giggles is on Prime Video as a digital rental.
In the News
- Mortal Kombat II has been removed from its October 24th, 2025 release date. It will now come out on May 15th, 2026.
- Gavin Casalegno, Nico Hiraga, Tommi Rose, and Tayme Thapthimthong have been cast in The Devil’s Mouth, a movie about people trapped inside an underwater cave system with a bull shark. (Deadline)
- Screamboat is heading to Peacock on September 12th.
Birthdays
Marin Ireland was born on August 30th, 1979. You might recognize Marin from TV shows like The Umbrella Academy (2020-2022), Justified: City Primeval (2023), or Y: The Last Man (2021). In horror, she’s had memorable roles in movies including Birth/Rebirth (2023), The Boogeyman (2023), The Empty Man (2020), and The Dark and the Wicked (2020). She will also appear in the upcoming Peacock series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy.
Also born on August 30th, in 1949, is Brian Yuzna. Brian is a filmmaker who works primarily in horror. As a director his films include Society (1989), Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993), The Dentist (1996), Faust (2000), and more. He’s also produced many horror films such as Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), Dolls (1986), and Dagon (2001).
Events on This Day
Child’s Play 3 was released in theaters on August 30th, 1991. Despite being released less than a year after Child’s Play 2, there is an eight year gap between the stories. Child’s Play 3 takes place in 1998, and it follows the now 16-year-old Andy Barclay in a military school. Chucky still wants a human body, so he follows Andy. This time though, since Chucky has technically been remade, he discovers that he doesn’t need Andy to perform a soul transference. He needs the first person who found out his real identity in this new body, a young cadet by the name of Tyler.
Cannibal! The Musical had its first general release on August 30th, 1996. It was originally completed and shown under its original title, Alferd Packer: The Musical, in 1993, but it didn’t get distribution until Troma picked it up in 1996. The film was written and directed by Trey Parker (who also starred as Packer), and his South Park partner Matt Stone co-starred in and produced the film. Once Parker and Stone got famous for South Park, Cannibal! The Musical really started to take off as a cult film.
