Zane's take at the Cinema's

I can’t promise myself that I’ll do this every month, but I saw good number of movies in the month of January. Some of the ones I did we were expanded 2025 releases but for the majority they were brand new releases. There were a couple of new streaming movies that dropped last month. In summation, I saw a total of eleven new movies in January and it’s time I rank the ones I saw.

#11 RETURN TO SILENT HILL

We’re not even through the month of February and Return to Silent Hill is sitting high as the worst movie of the year. I had this conversation with my best friend after I saw it and I said “the new Silent Hill movie is so bad that I can’t even remember the name of the new Silent Hill movie.” Through and through, this movie looses you from the moment it starts. Maybe the biggest criticism this movie has is it’s really hard to grasp the very concept of fans of these games enjoying these movies. There’s been three Silent Dead movies and you could argue that the first one from 2006 is the most competently made one but it’s not like these movies glow with critics or the audience. If you were to ask me the Mount Rushmore of the worst horror movies, I’d go with Jaws the revenge, One Missed Call, Slender Man and now Return to Silent Hill. Bottom line, stay the heck away from it.

#10 IRON LUNG

It’s really hard to fully assess Iron Lung because there’s a bunch of factors that apply. First of all, Mark Fischbach (or more famously known as Markiplier) is one of the most famous YouTubers in the world and given where credit is due he knows how to make entertaining videos. Secondly, and this goes with the first thing mentioned, Markiplier is not a renowned filmmaker. The success of Iron Lung might open the doors digital creators to be taken seriously in the film industry but it’s to be noted that Iron Lung was made by a YouTuber. What Markiplier was able to accomplish on a conceptual level is pretty impressive. There’s a number of aspects in Iron Lung that work mainly from a sound and aesthetic point. But if you’ve watched his videos for a large period of time, it’s very difficult to separate that when watching him act. t’s a weak movie from a performance standpoint, but the direction and the passion Markiplier had for making this is really inspiring.

#9 MERCY

My review is already up for this movie and as much as I want to pretend like everyone else that this is the worst thing ever, it’s no where near as bad as some might suggest. Granted, this thing becomes a convoluted mess in the third act and it’s overall nature feels like a streaming release. But it’s a complete surpirse that Mercy wasn’t this hot piece of garbage that the marketing made it out to be. I think when 2026 comes to close and we look back at all the movies of the year, I think Mercy will fall under the category of “forgettable” rather than the worst movie of 2026.

#8 SHELTER

Love him or hate him, you know exactly what you’re going to get when Jason Statham has an action movie coming out. Unlike Liam Neeson who continued to get rustier with numerous of cookie-cutter action movies, Jason Statham is pushing 60 and he still hasn’t lost the edge. He’s eventually going to reach that point or people will just stop going entirely to see whatever movie he puts out. Well that day hasn’t come yet and Shelter delivers exactly what you would expect. Shelter is much slower than what Statham is more consistently known for. It’s much drier in tone and atmosphere and maybe it is hinting at the fact that Statham is getting older, even if his physicality says otherwise. There’s not a great deal of action but there are some great hand to hand combat sequences in this, which is never disappointing when Statham is kicking ass.

#7 WE BURY THE DEAD

We Bury the Dead is very different from your casual zombie movie. Just like how 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple was less focused on the zombie aspect but still executed the very concept of a zombie apocalypse well, We Bury the Dead takes the zombie apocalypse milieu and focuses more on grief, trauma and the devastating repercussions of this particular world. There’s always gonna be zombie moments in any zombie movie no matter what, but what director Zak Hilditch beautifully does is he offers a “what-if” scenario on capturing the ideas of innocence and beauty in an apocalyptic context. We Bury the Dead is a gorgeous looking movie that can still channel in the horror elements. If we’re not gonna get Daisy Ridley leading big tentpole movies, then having her in smaller films is what we’ll continue to get because she proves, once again, that she can carry a movie no matter the scale.

#6 GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION

You know what Greenland 2: Migration and Shelter both have in common? Not only did they both come out in January but they were both directed by Ric Roman Waugh. I’m sure there’s been a time where a director had two movies open in the same month but it’s hard to think of any recent examples. Nevertheless, Greenland 2 is very much on par with it’s predecessor and that’s a good thing. Where the first one was about a comet hitting the planet the sequel is about our characters living on Earth after all the devastation. The scope in Greenland 2 is much bigger and that is something it does better than the first film. Just like how Jason Statham naturally fits in an action movie, Gerard Butler fits well with the natural disaster movies.

#5 PRIMATE

It’s becoming really refreshing to see quality horror hit the multiplex in the month of January, which has generally been considered a dumping ground for many years. Primate is an interesting dilemma because circling around it was through the roof after making a great impressing at last years Fantastic Fest. We’ve had so many creature features with a more traditional animal being the monster but not a lot of them have a murderous and bloodthirsty ape named Ben. Primate is a gnarly creature feature that delivers the goods. It’s got gruesome kills, fantastic practical effects, characters that say and do dumb things, a tight runtime and a structure that gives you exactly what you want. Primate was never set up to win any Oscars, but it delivers excellent entertainment.

#4 THE WRECKING CREW

Talk about a movie that should’ve been released in theaters. The Wrecking Crew is your standard action flick. The tropes have been done just about a billion times and it’s narratively similar to any buddy cop movies that you could think of. That said, this movie is an unapologetic blast and it knows it. While Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista have worked together on the Dune movies and the Apple Tv+ show See, this is ultimately the first time they’re working side by side and their brother dynamic in The Wrecking Crew amps it up. The main reason why it’s a shame Amazon skipped theaters is that you can feel the rush of adrenaline and spectacle while watching this. The action is exciting and there was a real awe factor even watching it at home.

#3 THE RIP

The Rip is Netflix’s best original movie in years. It’s not on the level of quality like The Irishman, All Quiet on the Western Front, Marriage Story or several of their other prestigious projects but it’s a damn good one overall. Like The Wrecking Crew, this should have gone to theaters. Not only is it an edgy and heart pounding cop movie, it brings together life long friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on screen together. This is their ninth collaboration together and this is another wonderful addition to add to their body of work. The Rip is very reminiscent on movies like Heat, Serpico or Prince of the City, this movie firmly stands on its own. It’s performed well, the shootouts are staged viscerally and despite being on Netflix it looks spectacular. Netflix gets a lot of flack for their original movies and as they should because their track record isn’t great. But The Rip is a fantastic selection.

#2 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE

Where 28 Years Later brought us back into this world in new but familiar ways, The Bone Temple offers a different coating to this universe. Both films are on a similar level of quality but something about The Bone Temple I can’t stop thinking about. The ending of 28 Years Later definitely had a nuanced and emotional finale with Spike but in this follow up it’s heavily grounded and more emotional than it had any business being. Not only is this world explored more, but the performances from Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell are even better than they were before. There’s more room to play with, the exploration’s with their characters are deepened and their dynamic is showcased incredibly well. The ending of this movie might be one of the best endings of the year, depending how the rest of the year pans out.

#1 SEND HELP

I can’t promise you that Send Help will remain the best movie of the year because it’s way too early. But if the Oscar’s were to be held tomorrow I would nominate Send Help for everything. This movie is not a breath of fresh air for the horror genre because horror movies have been doing fine and will continue to thrive. It’s really a breath of fresh air to have Sam Raimi back making another horror movie with two big and talented actors. Send Help is the perfect amalgamation of Sam Raimi’s unique style of horror and slapstick comedy wrapped into one devilish movie. The love for Rachel McAdams always needs to be thing because she’s absolutely terrific in this and she’s the main reason why you go to see Send Help.