“Whistle” offers a return to the business of horror as it was in the 1990s, when the success of “Scream” created a push to make fright pictures with young actors and goofy premises, hoping to attract teen audiences with junky endeavors. Screenwriter Owen Egerton (“Blood Fest,” “Mercy Black”) sticks with the basics for the feature, which pits high schoolers against the terrible wrath of a Mayan death whistle, battling the mysterious power of evil forces looking to send them to an early grave. Director Corin Hardy (who scored a financial success with 2018’s “The Nun,” but certainly not a creative one) is in charge of generating a nightmare with the material, and while there’s blood and a few freak-outs, “Whistle” isn’t all that intense of a genre offering. The helmer can’t get performances where they need to be, and Egerton’s writing veers into the ridiculous one too many times, hoping to coast on the appeal of retro entertainment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Four years ago, director Sophie Hyde received an enormous amount of attention for her feature, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.” While the film was very small in scale, it landed points on aging and sexuality, boosted by fine performances. Hyde returns with “Jimpa,” which also hopes to maintain intimacy with its characters as they absorb life’s challenges, aiming to examine family ties and personal feelings with a semi-autobiographical approach from screenwriters Hyde and Mattew Cormack. “Jimpa” intends to become a deeply felt tale of parental complication and adolescent exploration, and Hyde provides a mostly involving study of people working to communicate their feelings and assess their emotions. The picture also has Olivia Coleman and John Lithgow in starring roles, which greatly aids Hyde in her quest to deliver dimensional performances covering all kinds of human experiences. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The Kinnane Brothers have turned filmmaking into a family affair. The credits for “Solo Mio” are loaded with Kinnanes, as Charles and Daniel take directing duties, John and Patrick write the script (joined by Kevin James), Peter edits the picture, and Brendan, Jeffrey, and William serve as producers. The helmers previously worked with James on the 2022 underdog football comedy “Home Team,” but now they’re looking to do something a bit different with the star, putting him in command of his own romantic comedy, and one that carries incredibly heavy psychological issues it would take three movies to fully sort through. “Solo Mio” aims to be sweet and sensitive, tracking a man’s journey through sadness when he’s left at the altar. It’s the kind of story that seems teed up for James’s usual comedic shtick, but the endeavor makes a push to give the lead a chance to display his softer side in a feature that just barely gets by on thespian charm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Underdog cinema has seen its share of baseball, basketball, and football offerings. “The Roaring Game” hopes to delight audiences with its use of curling to help inspire a tale of losers aspiring to become winners through the trials of heated competition. It’s an unusual sport, but the feature isn’t anything new, with writer/director Tom DeNucci (who previously made the excretable “Johnny & Clyde”) trying to summon the spirits of the Farrelly Brothers for this comedy about the formation of a curling team and the heartache of its best player. The production goes big to land jokes, but nothing really develops in “The Roaring Game,” which is built with cliches and overacting, making for a long sit. Even the ways of curling can’t really save the picture, which spends too much time away from the ice to really celebrate the sport. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The unfortunately titled “F Valentine’s Day” is written by Steven Bencich. He’s had a strange career, spending most of his time in the world of animation, contributing screenplays for endeavors such as “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” “Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time,” and “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning.” Bencich is even credited on 2005’s “Chicken Little” and 2003’s “Brother Bear.” Perhaps he was in the mood to try something different, but actual effort is in limited supply in his latest offering, with “F Valentine’s Day” basically a Hallmark Channel production attempting to have an edgy sense of humor about relationships and honesty. Director Mark Gantt is no help, delivering a thoroughly vanilla viewing experience that intends to charm with Greek locations and lively performances. The picture fails to reach even modest expectations for fun, becoming a bummer to sit through, kind of like…well, “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.” Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are a lot of bizarre things one will encounter while watching “Relationship Goals,” but I simply assumed the weirdest sight in the movie would be Cliff “Method Man” Smith in a Hallmark Channel-style romantic comedy. A member of the rap collective Wu Tang Clan, Smith has been acting for decades now, mostly sticking with roles that play up his tough hip-hop credentials. In his latest, he’s the hunk of the picture, tasked with portraying shirtless softness in a screenplay (credited to Michael Elliot, Cory Tynan, and Laura Lekkos) that’s as basic as can be. However, what’s especially odd about “Relationship Goals” isn’t Smith’s career redirection, but the very genesis of the feature, which aims to transform a standard tale of warring lovebirds into a celebration of pastor Michael Todd and his self-help books. The endeavor tries to have heart and soul, but the only feeling viewers might feel is ickiness as the offering is nothing more than a grotesque commercial for a megachurch mogul. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The development and creation of Disneyland is no secret. There’s been plenty of media devoted to the topic, exploring the details of Walt Disney’s seemingly insane dream of creating an entire theme park, and giving himself one year to do it. “Disneyland Handcrafted” is a documentary about the construction of the park, but director Leslie Iwerks (“The Imagineering Story,” “Superpowered: The DC Story,” and “100 Years of Warner Bros.”) comes armed with something many books, television shows, video essays, and newspaper articles don’t have: access to the archives. Iwerks maintains the presence of Imagineers and employees through audio interviews, but the big selling point of “Disneyland Handcrafted” is the presentation of never-before-seen footage from the building of the Anaheim, California project, as Walt was careful to make sure the whole shebang was documented in many ways. For Disneyana types, the movie is an engrossing opportunity to enjoy a nearly 3D-like viewing experience of pure labor. For the rest, Iwerks makes sure to celebrate the creative and physical drive of a massive undertaking, making for a riveting sit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Gore Verbinski hasn’t made a movie in a decade. He once developed a fanbase with quirky offerings (“Mousehunt”) and scary happenings (“The Ring”), and exploded into mainstream success with the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” features. Sustaining this career momentum was difficult for Verbinski, who hit a wall with 2013’s bloated take on “The Lone Ranger,” and a 2016 return to horror, “A Cure for Wellness,” was basically ignored by the public. The helmer returns with “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,” which is a blend of bigness, silliness, and terror, taking command of an ambitious script by Matthew Robinson (“Love and Monsters,” “Dora and the Lost City of Gold”) that tackles the zombification of our phone-based world, following an assortment of characters as they scramble to save humanity. It’s a darkly comedic take on doomsday, allowing Verbinski room to play with tone and intensity as he oversees an unusual time travel/apocalyptic crisis of confusion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Jason Statham likes to work. And he’s been cranking out movies for quite some time now, with wildly different results. He’s achieved success with his more ridiculous endeavors, including 2024’s “The Beekeeper” (a sequel is coming next year), but he’s certainly not working to stretch as an actor, walking in Charles Bronson’s footprints with actioners that strictly favor his growly voice and physical intimidation, sticking with a one-man-army formula. The latest addition to his filmography is “Shelter,” which looks to pull out a slightly more emotional side of Statham, who portrays a man of solitude suddenly in charge of protecting a girl who needs his help. The screenplay by Ward Perry isn’t an original concoction of spy games and blunt force trauma, but the picture retains some decent roughness, and director Ric Roman Waugh (who was just in theaters with “Greenland 2: Migration”) keeps the usual business of violence and survival decently compelling. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Angel Manuel Soto showed a bit of spirit with his previous endeavors, guiding “Charm City Kings” and “Blue Beetle” to at least some creative success. He has a lot more trouble with “The Wrecking Crew,” tasked with realizing Jonathan Tropper’s (“The Adam Project”) apparent tribute to buddy action comedies of the 1980s. It’s not a sophisticated offering of character interactions and criminal happenings, going lunkheaded instead with a messy display of relationships and sleuthing. It has a prime location in Hawaii, but Soto commits to overkill to make it through the effort, serving up a loud and dismally written streaming distraction, investing in the non-chemistry between leads Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa, who, try as they might, can’t conquer the overall weakness of ideas Tropper is recycling here. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Worldbreaker” plays like an adaptation of a novel that’s missing its first and last three chapters. Screenwriter Joshua Rollins (“Infinite Storm”) throws viewers into the middle of a study of global ruin, rebellion, and survival, creating a semi-sci-fi look at a creature invasion story. However, big moments with CGI threats are limited to only a few sequences, with the rest of the material devoted to parental protection as the tale follows a father desperately trying to prepare his teen daughter for fight for her life. Director Brad Anderson offers some interesting visual ideas with the film, but he’s not particularly concerned with keeping viewers involved in the unfolding drama, with so much of “Worldbreaker” playing unfinished, or perhaps severely edited down. There’s no real introduction and very little resolution, keeping the offering at a distance, despite heavy emotions in play at times. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Islands” is an unusual film. It’s a mystery in many ways, but it’s also a character study, tracking the days of a washed-up tennis player dealing with the dullness of his life while employed as an instructor for a resort in the Canary Islands. There’s a lot going on with the characters, but co-writer/director Jan-Ole Gerster isn’t interested in raising the dramatic speed limit on the endeavor, trying to remain as slow-burn as possible, allowing viewers to clearly study the story and character reactions. The feature isn’t commanding in a traditional way, despite teasing a few Hitchcockian elements, but it succeeds as something to explore, as Gerster uses his gorgeous locations to help pull viewers into the central situation, and details are present for those with the patience to hunt for them. “Islands” sneaks up on the audience, and while there’s no grand escalation, there are dramatic textures to feel around for, helping to stay involved in a fairly leisurely crisis. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Marketing efforts for “Grizzly Night” are hoping to sell the picture as a frightening viewing experience, playing up the size of a bear threat and all the horrors to come. Screenwriters Katrina Mathewson and Tanner Bean turn to history to inspire their nature-run-amok tale, dramatizing the night of a grizzly bear attack in 1967, where a collection of Montana campers were tasked with investigation and evasion as a pair of hulking creatures arrived ready to kill whatever was in front of them. It’s a chilling story of humankind’s folly, eventually inspiring major changes in how to deal with bear-based encounters, but “Grizzly Night” isn’t a pulse-pounding chiller. It’s more of a disaster movie from the 1970s, with director Burke Doeren keeping things weirdly mild as a large collection of characters manage an emergency situation, often without necessary cinematic urgency. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s hard to believe it’s been 17 years since the release of director Sam Raimi’s last horror film, the incredible “Drag Me to Hell.” The maestro of genre endeavors hasn’t worked too hard since then, overseeing two blockbuster Disney productions (2013’s “Oz The Great and Powerful” and 2022’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”), but clearly he’s been itching to make some big screen trouble once again. “Send Help” isn’t another “Drag Me to Hell,” but it’s relatively close, getting Raimi back to the business of torturous experiences and unusual power plays with a tale concerning two survivors of a plane crash stuck with each other on a deserted island. Raimi-isms aren’t dialed up to 11, but he retains tremendous fondness for deliciously macabre events, and he’s gifted a phenomenal performance from Rachel McAdams, who delivers nuanced, commanding work to help the offering reach unexpected emotions as it details the unraveling of two characters in the middle of nowhere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2006, co-writer/director Christophe Gans took his fandom of the video game “Silent Hill” and attempted to translate the console event to the big screen. The film wasn’t impressive, but it did deliver some compellingly ghoulish visuals while it tried to find drama in an exploratory gaming experience. Gans wasn’t around for the 2012 sequel, “Silent Hill: Revelation,” which was a disaster. Perhaps emboldened to right a perceived wrong, Gans stages a comeback for “Return to Silent Hill,” looking to master a reboot of the series, taking primary inspiration from the “Silent Hill 2” video game. Gans (who was last seen with 2014’s “Beauty and the Beast”) seems primed to deliver a refreshed nightmare experience with the sequel, but clunkiness, pokiness, and limited thespian might work to bring down the picture. The helmer hopes to conjure a horror show with some heart, but all “Return to Silent Hill” delivers is a good reason to play the game instead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com