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Holy Night: Demon Hunters (2025) Review – Like Korean Exorcist But Flunks At Horror

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Holy hell! I started streaming ‘Holy Night: Demon Hunters’ expecting something fun, if not scary, but got served a familiar lazy rehash of the very many ‘Exorcist’-style movies that already clutter the horror space. But yes, if you’re up for a not-too-serious exorcist retelling, with a little bit of action, and some extra demons thrown in for effect, go ahead stream this.

Directed by Lim Dae-hee, ‘Holy Night: Demon Hunters’ (거룩한 밤: 데몬 헌터스) stars Ma Dong-seok, Seohyun, and Lee David as a trio of ‘Demon Hunters’, running a shady yet legit agency to help out people in supernatural troubles.

Dong-seok plays Ba Woo, the boss and muscle of the team, Seuhyun is polyglot exorcist Sharon, while Lee David plays their videographer Gimgun, recording each of their hunts for record and reference. When the team is approached by Dr. Jung-won (Kyung Soo-jin) to help her possessed sister Eun-seo (Jung Ji-so), she is surprisingly turned down due to her connection with a priest who referred her to them.

Quick flashbacks offer glimpses into Ba Woo’s dark past and connection to the priest, seemingly to add emotional depth to his character, but it doesn’t quite land. And of course, Ba Woo and his team eventually take on Eun-seo’s case, and her exorcism drags on for nearly three-quarters of the ‘Holy Night: Demon Hunters’ runtime.

To Jung Ji-so’s credit, she’s phenomenal as the possessed, tormented young woman, seamlessly shifting between a helpless, terrified victim and the ruthless, manipulative demon lurking inside her. Kyu Soo-jin too is compelling as the doctor, confounded out of her wits over the unscientific condition plaguing her baby sister.

Unfortunately, the absence of atmospheric tension, paired with bland background music and uninspired writing, turns what could’ve been standout performances into forgettable ones. So, yes, for a action-horror film, ‘Holy Night: Demon Hunters’ fails to deliver any chills or truly terrifying moments. And despite decent effects, the runtime is bloated with “spooky” sequences that come off more weird than frightening.

Ma Dong-seok, Seohyun, and Lee David make a promising start as the Demon Hunters, but their dynamic could’ve used more humor to liven things up, since the horror bits don’t do their job. Even Ma Dong-seok’s usual crowd-pleasing fight sequences lack the punch this time around.

Veteran horror fans may find this offering disappointingly mild. Yet, for those simply seeking a straightforward exorcism tale featuring a cunning demon and a tormented young girl, it might be a decent one-time watch.

Rating: 5 on 10. Holy Night: Demon Hunters is on Prime Video.

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‘When the Tides Held the Moon’ Book Review – Love in a Fish Tank

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Reading ‘When the Tides Held the Moon’ by Venessa Vida Kelley unlocked a forgotten childhood memory of an old film about a mermaid in a circus, but that was a horror movie, and this is a gay romantic-fantasy, but also in a circus-like setting.

Set in New York 1910s, ‘When the Tides Held the Moon’ tells the story of a Puerto Rican blacksmith who falls in love with a gorgeous blue mer-napped merman, ironically, the very one he once helped capture to be displayed as an “oddity” at a Coney Island amusement park.

Protagonist Benigno Caldera, known as Benny, is introduced as an orphan who travels to America in search of a better life, fulfilling a promise he made to his beloved late aunt. A struggling blacksmith by trade, Benny’s life changes when he builds a water tank and catches the attention of a showman named Morgan, the man who commissioned it, who then invites him to join his crew. First task: kidnapping a mythical merman to add to Morgan’s “Menagerie of Human Oddities.”

The best thing about ‘When the Tides Held the Moon’ are the few illustrations by author Venessa Vida Kelley, delicately scattered across the chapters. The beautiful pencil illustrations breathe life into the story, putting faces to the many names on the page. I almost feel like maybe ‘When the Tides Held the Moon’ would’ve worked better as a graphic novel. Maybe.

Illustrations from “When the tides held the Moon”

While the plot itself is fascinating, the growing romance between Benny and the merman he names Rio leans more toward Stockholm syndrome than love. Benny is the only one who shows Rio any kindness, while Morgan tries to train him like an animal, and the other performers grow increasingly insecure, worrying about their futures once the merman act makes its debut.

‘When the Tides Held the Moon’ alternates between Benny and Rio’s perspective, and the writing style gets a little more poetic when the merman is pouring out his heart. Rio feels like a mythical demi-god, elegant, emotional, and tragically gorgeous, stuck in the filthy world of men. Benny, meanwhile, is as ordinary as they come: a struggling immigrant with ‘bad lungs’, constantly mocked and pushed around. All the other performers in Morgan’s menagerie are also a ragtag group of curious immigrants, although none of them are particularly memorable.

Watching Rio unhappy in the elaborate fish tank, Benny can’t help but see himself in the merman’s misery, drawing a poetic parallel about being trapped in a cruel, unfamiliar world. But let’s be honest, being the guy who feeds the prisoner and cleans his cage isn’t exactly the same as being the prisoner. Ironically, the more romantically entangled Benny becomes with Rio, the less inclined he is to free him, because doing so would mean losing him.

What doesn’t quite land is how quickly the furious merman softens toward Benny – this is a guy who’s lost his home, family, and freedom, yet somehow one blacksmith smile later, he’s swooning. Midway through the book, the author finally drops the detail that Benny’s also very handsome but just riddled with low self-esteem. Ah, of course, that explains everything. Two hot guys fall for each other? Sure, obviously. Sold.

The climactic chapters feel overdrawn and chaotic. Author Venessa Vida Kelley pours considerable effort into describing the daring “free Rio” mission that Benny finally sets in motion, but despite the detail, it comes across as a bit of an overkill. Regardless, she also adds an interesting little twist that makes the romance between the primary characters a lot more believable than before. And what’s nice about the twist is the fact that’s its foreshadowed well through little hints and doesn’t just pop out of the blue.

Overall, ‘When the Tides Held the Moon’ is an easy to follow romantic-fantasy, and if the plot sounds interesting to you, give it a read.

Rating: 3 on 5.

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Strange Darling (2023) Review: Hook-Up, Hunt, Kill

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

This is a spoiler-free review of ‘Strange Darling’

When is a good time to ask someone if they’re a serial killer? Probably never, you figure out a way to get away from them as quietly as you can, unless you are an investigating officer and the suspect is in handcuffs at a secure facility. But the 2023 horror-thriller ‘Stranger Darling’ opens with a black-and-white shot of a man smoking in his car, while the voice of a lady asks him ‘Are you a serial killer?’. The very first dialogue of the story.

Written and directed by JT Mollner, the film stars Willa Fitzgerald, simply credited as “The Lady,” opposite Kyle Gallner as “The Demon.” The story traces how their one-night stand spirals into a nightmare, leading to a trail of blood, death, and gruesome chaos. A brutal cat-and-mouse chase unfolds as these characters drag down unsuspecting bystanders in their deadly drama.

Told through a non-linear narrative, ‘Strange Darling’ initially comes across as a standard serial-killer flick, with problematic plot-points, where a deranged man is hunting his terrified victim. The deceptively familiar plot tests viewer patience in the first half, but the film shifts gears towards a thrilling, horrifying climax, where a far more twisted truth finally unravels.

The cinematography evokes a neo-noir mood, with deliberate artistic choices that make certain moments pop, like a gripping sequence of Willa Fitzgerald’s character sprinting through the woods, panic etched across her face, her crimson shirt and pants blazing against the lush green backdrop. Hardly ideal colors for hiding in the wild, but they make for striking imagery.

At just one hour and thirty-seven minutes, ‘Strange Darling’ keeps things tight, leaving little room for deep character development. Then again, who really needs an elaborate backstory for a psychotic killer? Both Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner deliver strong performances, though Willa has the tougher role, and much of the film’s pull depends on how willing the viewer is to stick with her through the madness. I thought she was fantastic, even though I disliked The Lady from the very first minutes, which is kind of the point.

Some moments in ‘Strange Darling’ echo the unsettling atmosphere of ‘He Went That Way‘, the Zachary Quinto–Jacob Elordi film that also follows a serial killer and released in the same year. The difference? While ‘Strange Darling’ only claims to be inspired by real events, ‘He Went That Way‘ actually is.

Brimming with blood and violence, the film turns slightly predictable once it shows its cards, but it’s still a gritty, unsettling ride for horror-thriller fans. I’ve sat through plenty of horror stories unfazed, but this one had me flinching way more with its relentless bloodshed.

Rating: 7 on 10. Watch ‘Strange Darling’ on Prime Video.

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Naked Gun (2025) Review: Poker-Faced Liam Neeson Fires Off the Gags

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Seventy-something Liam Neeson rocking a Britney Spears “…Baby One More Time”–style outfit, clutching a giant lolly, and brawling with bank robbers, tell me you saw that coming in ‘The Naked Gun’, because I didn’t.

Directed by Akiva Schaffer, who shares the writing credits with Dan Gregor, and Doug Mand, this spoof-y film is led by a serious, deadpan Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr, a police officer that sounds like James Bond, but acts as if Mr. Bean was thrown into a cop movie. Seriously, Liam Neeson needs a gun salute for portraying a dumb-as-hell character with dead seriousness.

And believe it or not, this parody actually has a plot: after Frank rules a man’s death as suicide, the victim’s sister Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), a crime-fiction writer shows up at his office claiming it was murder and possibly related to a mysterious bank robbery case Frank is working on. Danny Huston plays the evil rich baddie Richard Cane, that both Frank and Beth start looking into.

Liam Neeson in ‘The Naked Gun’

The opening minutes of ‘The Naked Gun‘ are outrageously funny: Frank shapeshifts, takes down hordes of men, and even munches on a gun. Mission: Impossible, who? But the momentum soon falters, the background score turns flat, and I found myself hitting pause to do something else. Still, the sheer absurdity had me in stitches, so I gave it another shot and watched till the end. While the pacing never fully recovers, the film packs in enough laugh-out-loud moments to stay entertaining.

Some of the satirical digs at action movies are genuinely rib-tickling, especially the running gag where Frank and his junior colleague Ed (Paul Walter Hauser) are constantly handed a cup of coffee. Even mid-car driving, a random hand passes Frank a cup, as if Wednesday’s Thing decided to take up coffee delivery.

In the second-half, ‘The Naked Gun’ decides to mock Hallmark style Christmas romances when Beth and Frank decide to a little vacation before they can nail her brother’s murderer. And damn, that sequence was funnily bizarre. Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson make an unexpectedly fun pair, her comic-timing almost as earnest as his.

Thankfully, ‘The Naked Gun’ doesn’t overload itself with pop-culture references, and the few that appear aren’t exactly fresh or buzzy. At one point, Frank complains he’s still upset about the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident, only for Ed to remind him, “That was 20 years ago!” Sure, the joke will whizz past younger audiences, but mercifully, those references are few.

If you enjoy parody flicks like ‘Pink Panther’ and ‘Scary Movies’, you should give this film a shot too.

Rating: 6.5 on 10. You can rent ‘The Naked Gun’ on Prime Video.

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Shine: Military Brat Dhevi’s Victory Was Written On The Wall

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece and contains major spoilers for ‘Shine‘

It’s rare for a Thai drama centered on gay romances to feature a female character who isn’t sidelined or unlikeable, so for an actress to hold her own in a world of men is a feat. In the 2025 series ‘Shine’, set in 1969 Thailand, Kob Pimolrat Pisolyabutr does exactly that as Dhevi, the wife of high-ranking military official Krailert (Son Yuke Songpaisan). The twist? Krailert is in the closet, forced into marriage by Dhevi’s powerful father. At first, we’re led to believe Dhevi has no idea about her husband’s sexuality.

Since ‘Shine’ wrapped, many fans have voiced disappointment that Krailert didn’t get his “happy ending.” But let’s be real, two gay couples riding off into rainbows in 1969 would’ve been a stretch. In fact, even the reconciliation of the main protagonists Trin (Apo Nattawin Wattanagitiphat) and Thnawa (Mile Phakphum Romsaithong) in picture-perfect Paris already felt too good to be true. By contrast, the final twist involving Dhevi was far more believable, wickedly clever, and made Krailert’s tragic fate feel inevitable from the start.

For much of the series, Krailert comes across as a cheating, deceitful husband, sneaking around with his lover Naran (Euro Yotsawat Tawapee), a reporter. When a flashback reveals how Krailert’s military boss, and future father-in-law, made his actor boyfriend “disappear” before forcing him to marry Dhevi, the arrangement felt chilling but not implausible. Women have long been pushed into loveless matches for political or social gains, and on paper Krailert looked ideal: tall, handsome, accomplished, and rising in rank.

Dhevi and Krailert in ‘Shine‘

As the episodes unfold, sympathy builds for both Krailert and Dhevi. He’s trapped in a society that refuses to recognize queer love, while she’s stuck in a marriage without affection. Kob Pimolrat Pisolyabutr plays Dhevi with quiet grace, the dutiful wife waiting for her husband’s return, and the affectionate aunt to main protagonist Trin (Apo Nattawin Wattanagitiphat).

Even when shown romantic attention by Krailert’s junior officer, Dhevi never strays. She clings to the hope of starting a family with her husband, while Krailert’s passion for Naran keeps growing. He begins to dream of escaping to America with Naran, leaving his suffocating double life behind.

In the show’s climactic episodes, when Krailert becomes embroiled in a military scandal, it’s Dhevi’s quick thinking that helps him clear his name. But when she uncovers his plan to abandon her, she finally reveals her own truth: she orchestrated the marriage. She was in love with Krailert all along, and possibly pressured her father into making it happen. Now, she demands he live up to the role of husband and threatens to make Naran disappear, just like his former boyfriend.

Faced with no good options, Krailert is forced to choose between losing Naran forever or resigning himself to Dhevi’s control. ‘Shine’ ends with Dhevi victorious, pregnant with Krailert’s child, while Krailert remains trapped in the closet, doomed to a life of repression.

Dhevi emerges as a chilling portrait of obsession: a powerful, selfish military daughter who sees Krailert not as a partner, but as a possession. Her love is ruthless, consuming, and unwavering, even in the face of his disinterest.

In the end, Krailert’s story Shine is less about forbidden love and more about the brutal compromises forced by power, family, and societal expectation. Krailert’s tragedy lies in being denied his truth, while Dhevi’s triumph is painted in shades of cruelty and obsession.

It’s not an end everybody would be happy with, but it’s a pretty solid end.

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Diary of a Ditched Girl Review: 7 Chapters of Terrible Dates & Sisterhood

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

This show is is officially rated TV-MA (Mature Audience)

Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous quote needs to be tweaked to: hell is trying to date other people. And ‘Diary of a Ditched Girl’ does an entertaining job of displaying the ruthless rigors of romancing in the times of dating apps. Too bad protagonist Amanda isn’t too likable (I was rooting for the sister) even though the actor playing her is fantastic. In the immortal words of Taylor Swift, Amanda’s catch-phrase should be “it’s me, hi, I am the problem”.

Based on the Swedish novel Halva Malmö består av killar som dumpat mig (translation: Half of Malmö Is Made of Guys Who Have Dumped Me) by Amanda Romare, the seven-episode Netflix series ‘Diary of a Ditched Girl’ opens opens on an unsettling yet darkly funny note. Protagonist Amanda (Carla Sehn) is flashed by a man while jogging at a park, but instead of panicking, she unnerves him by stepping closer. Later, she recounts the incident to her sister Adina (Moah Madsen) and mother Monika (Ingela Olsson), confessing that it had been so long since she’d seen a man’s private parts that the encounter felt more bizarrely thrilling than frightening. It’s almost comically tragic.

The rest of ‘Diary of a Ditched Girl’ follows 31-year-old Amanda, single for 12 years, stumbling through relationships with men who are “just not that into her,” while making one questionable choice after another. At times, she feels more like a desperate 17-year-old with rock-bottom self-esteem, although other times her courage to ‘put herself out there’ is admirable.

But just when you begin warming up to her, she shows an undesirable side, like barely pulling her weight at work, and constantly dumping responsibilities on her sister Adina, who also happens to be her colleague at a family-run event and design company. For most of the series, I assumed Adina was the elder sibling, only to later learn Amanda is actually the first-born.

Take, for example, the bartender (an admittedly charming Adam Dahlström) Amanda hooks up with after knowing him for just one night. Amanda convinces herself it’s love, despite the glaring warnings: he was in a cult, admits to have dabbled with hard drugs, and is still friends with the neighborhood junkies. If that isn’t a parade of red flags rolled out on a red carpet, I don’t know what is. But okay, that’s the part of the process: hump a lot of acidic frogs, before an edible prince comes along. And the creators of ‘Diary of a Ditched Girl’ don’t hold back on the sex scenes, so the show is laden with several explicit moments between the sheets.

Even though ‘Diary of a Ditched Girl’ is steered by a protagonist most would not root for, lead actor Carla Sehn is terrific in the role. Carla makes Amanda’s vulnerabilities painfully relatable, especially in moments where she hides hurt behind laughter. Midway through, a date devolves into a degrading sexual experience, Amanda plays along and later spins it into a wild story for her friends, but her tears betray the truth. It’s her sister who realizes: beneath the jokes, each disastrous fling leaves Amanda a little more broken.

Which leads one to Moah Madsen’s portrayal of Amanda’s sister Adina in ‘Diary of a Ditched Girl’, who shines at the supportive sibling, although not without her own demons. Adina is in a content live-in relationship with boyfriend Filip (Isac Calmroth), but struggles with severe OCD, not the sitcom variety where a spotless apartment is the punchline, but the paralyzing kind, where leaving the house means checking three times or more to ensure nothing’s plugged in, nothing’s left on, and nothing’s about to burst into flames. Even with her crippling disorder, Adina always steps up for Amanda whenever there’s a crisis, something that can’t always be said of their other sister.

A smaller subplot in ‘Diary of a Ditched Girl’ explores Amanda and Adina’s strained bond with their distant father (Torkel Petersson), a barely-there parent who only appears when it suits him. Amanda suspects his lack of affection warped her understanding of love, while their hippie mother Monika (Ingela Olsson) prefers to chalk up her daughter’s romantic failures to the whims of the ‘cosmos’.

At its core, ‘Diary of a Ditched Girl’ is about Amanda’s quest for Mr. Right, though the candidates who cross her path are anything but. Then again, Amanda hardly helps her case, on one date, she’s flat-out unbearable, giggling over the phone with another man while her companion sits ignored at the table. And then she is left wonder why the dude ditches her far too quickly. (Cue Taylor Swift: “It’s you, Amanda, you’re the problem.”)

The climactic episode gives Amanda an ‘almost happy ending’, she is on the cusp of a serious relationship with a half-decent guy. However, Amanda being Amanda, has already ruined things for herself behind the guy’s back. Will she be ditched again? The series leaves viewers with a cliffhanger! Watch the show if you’re in the mood to watch someone fail miserably at navigating men, dating apps, and relationships.

Rating: 6 on 10. Watch ‘Diary of a Ditched Girl’ on Netflix.

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‘Psycho Killer’ Trailer: Georgina Campbell Faces Satanic Symbols & an Insane Murderer

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“It hasn’t even been 48 hours since you buried your husband,” a chilling male voice declares in the opening moments of the ‘Psycho Killer‘ trailer.

The line is set against a thumping score that mimics a racing heartbeat, while the camera lingers on a distraught woman (Georgina Campbell), widowed and visibly shaken. The screen quickly cuts to a crimson curtain, parting just enough to tease the silhouette of a masked figure. It’s a fleeting but terrifying glimpse, almost certainly the killer.

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The trailer for ‘Psycho Killer’ keeps its cards close. We learn only that the protagonist is a Kansas patrol officer, forced to watch her husband’s brutal murder play out before her eyes. From there, the footage spirals into a dark blur of quick cuts, gritty chases, satanic symbols (yes, even the inverted cross), and eerie headlines flashing across newspaper clippings: “Satanic Panic: Real Life Devil Murders” and “In Search of a Deranged Killer.”

Georgina Campbell in Psycho Killer

This is the kind of trailer horror fans crave: tight, unnerving, and not spoiling half the plot. Instead, it builds a sinister mood and leaves you wanting more. The final shot is a neon command splashed across the screen, daring audiences to: Enter the Mind of a Psycho Killer.

Opening in theaters February 20, 2026, the film stars Georgina Campbell and James Preston Rogers in a road-trip-turned-nightmare directed by Gavin Polone. A haunting slice of horror-thriller, it promises to be just as twisted as the title suggests.

Watch the trailer on YouTube, it’s also embedded below.

Gen V Season 2 Episode 5 Review: Trouble for ‘Meat Puppets’

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“The plan is crazy and I hate it… but I love you guys more.”

Plan A for Team Marie (Jaz Sinclair) was to expose Dean Cypher (Hamish Linklater) as a non-Supe, but when that backfired spectacularly, the Gen V crew were left reeling from the fallout of crossing the wrong man. Now, they’re forced to launch a ‘Mission Impossible’-style Plan B: rescuing a friend who’s made to take the fall for their actions.

Quick Recap of Gen V Season 2 Episode 4:

Dean Cypher corners Marie and Jordan (played alternately by London Thor and Derek Li), blackmailing them into a sensationalized duel, hilariously marketed as “Gender Bender vs. Blood Bender”, to crown God-U’s new number one. Desperate for leverage, they turn to Cate (Maddie Phillips) for help. So, Cate and Jordan break into Cypher’s home and uncover a hidden chamber containing a hyperbaric pod with a frail old man inside (possibly Godolkin himself, though his identity remains a mystery). Meanwhile, Marie trains under Cypher, honing her powers and discovering a new technique. In the process, she realizes he doesn’t have Compound V in his system, concluding he must be powerless.

Emboldened, the group devises a plan: Cate will secretly record Cypher admitting he’s human. With Emma’s (Lizze Broadway) help, along with Harper (Jessica Clement) and Ally (Georgie Murphy), they smuggle a recording device into his quarters. But just when their plan seems airtight, the ‘Gen V’ episode drops a shocking twist, Cypher does have powers. He hijacks Jordan’s body and forces Marie into a brutal showdown during the staged match.

Titled “The Kids Are Not All Right,” Episode 5 of Gen V Season 2 opens with a one-month-old flashback featuring Dean Cypher alongside a Supe first introduced in The Boys Season 4. As I’ve mentioned before, watching ‘The Boys‘ is almost essential to fully grasp what’s happening this season, since both shows share the same universe and timeline.

In the present timeline, Marie wins the match against Jordan and makes headlines, but there’s no real glory in the victory. Instead, everyone is left shaken by Dean Cypher’s powers and his unnerving ability to know everything. To make matters worse, the Dean punishes Cate, prompting Marie to persuade Jordan and Emma to help rescue her. This episode, then, zeroes in on their attempts to strategize and pull off a threadbare plan to save Cate. Which goes terribly wrong pretty quickly.

Sam Riordan (Asa Germann), who was mostly absent in the previous episode, pays a visit to his parents in this chapter of ‘Gen V‘, resulting in some of the season’s most nerve-jangling moments. With his volatile minds, bizarre hallucinations, long-standing hatred toward his parents, and crazy super powers, most scenes with him feel like they could erupt in violence at any second. Brownie points to Asa Germann for pulling off a performance that gives off a chilling, junior-Homelander kind of menace.

An intriguing revelation about Sam surfaces in this chapter, hinting it could either sharpen his control over his powers, or push him further off balance. With Dean Cypher relentlessly driving every student past their breaking point, his ultimate plan remains unclear. Yet, by testing Marie too hard, he may have signed his own death sentence. Hamish Linklater is consistently proving to be a formidable villain for this season as the evil new dean.

The final minute of this ‘Gen V’ episode sees Marie wielding her abilities in a fierce, unpredictable new way, leaving her and everyone nearby reeling. It’s left ambiguous whether this chaotic display was her own breakthrough or a trap carefully staged by Cypher, who openly calls the supes his “meat puppets.” Despite a few uneven beats, the episode delivers solid tension and spectacle.

Stream ‘Gen V’ on Prime Video.

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‘The Vision Vol. 1: Little Worse Than A Man’ Review

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“In late September, with the leaves just beginning to hint at the fall to come, the Visions of Virginia moved into their house at 616 Hickory Branch Lane, Arlington, VA, 21301.”

Volume one of The Vision: Little Worse Than A Man by Tom King (writer), Gabriel Hernández Walta (artist), and Jordie Bellaire (colorist) follows comic-book hero Vision, a member of the Avengers, as he tries to live like an ‘ordinary’ human by creating a Synthezoid wife, Virginia, and twin children, Viv and Vin. But because they aren’t really human, the existential crises faced by Vision’s family carry far more dangerous consequences than when a “normal” person begins to question their place in the world.

While I wasn’t sure what to expect from this volume of ‘The Vision’…. it was definitely not the dark, depressing, tragic mess it serves up. The happy family of Synthezoids featured in the cover is pure deception. Which is fine, covers are allowed to be deceptive, but the comic was overtly wordy. The rare pages with fewer words stood out best courtesy the artwork.

Vision and Family on the Cover

So, yes, the artwork is quite fantastic, although unlike the illustrations in the cover, the characters have creepier eyes: stark white eyelids, surrounded by thick kohl-black lines, making them seem more ghostly than android. This of-course lends the comic a horror-tinged atmosphere, foreshadowing its dark themes, even if the first few pages show them receiving cookies from their neighbors and the kids getting friendly with other kids. The prejudice, fear, and hate the invite from the humans, is a core theme of the comic.

“For a moment, as she listened to her family argue and laugh, Virginia felt content. She belonged here. They belonged here. Everything in the end would be good. This moment lasted 1.72 seconds.”

This is a paradoxical story, where even though the primary characters are Synthezoidas, their daily battles are quite human-like. For instance, Virginia almost feels like a ‘regular’ housewife, yes, she has special powers, but her mental health is mostly in tatters through the tale, she feels ignored by her husband (usually busy fighting with the Avengers), is lonely, lost, and depressed.

The twins – Viv and Vin – on the other hands are childlike in their nature, enjoying debating and playing with each other. Unfortunately, the twins’ high-school life is quickly cut-short by a shocking turn of events, depriving readers of a section that could’ve been truly fun. For a Marvel comic, this tale thrives on its strange family drama, with just a little sprinkling of action, violence, and deaths. It seems the Vision’s dreams of living an ordinary life might mean doomsday for earth.

Virginia stands out in this volume, struggling to fulfill her role as the ‘mother’, and keeping her family safe from outsiders. Although, the second-half of the volume starts to have glaring plot holes. But right from the start, we as readers are expected to suspends most logic in order to enjoy this bizarre tale of a family of androids fitting into a suburban American life.

Rating: 3 on 5. The Vision is also on Kindle Unlimited.

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People We Meet On Vacation Trailer: Friends, Feelings, and Fun Escapes

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“Oh no we’re just friends. Platonic… travel… companions…”

Netflix has unveiled the official teaser-trailer for People We Meet On Vacation, based on the best-selling novel by Emily Henry.

From the first glimpse, the film follows two long-time friends who share a yearly tradition of vacationing together. There’s the free-spirited Poppy (Emily Bader), who thrives on adventure, and Alex (Tom Blyth), the reserved, nerdy type, the kind of guy who’d happily bring a book to the beach. Cute, right?

Their trips have always been about friendship, but after a pause in their annual tradition, the trailer hints that the two might finally confront the not-so-platonic feelings simmering between them.

Emily Bader in People We Meet On Vacation (Netflix)

The setup may feel familiar. It’s not worlds apart from the 2025 film The Map That Leads to You, which revolved around strangers falling in love while traveling. The difference here is the friends-to-lovers trope, though both films share the clash of free-spirited versus restrained personalities at their core.

Whether People We Meet On Vacation manages to stand out from the sea of “vacation romance” stories will depend on how much depth it adds to this well-trodden formula. The good news? The cast is stacked, with Sarah Catherine Hook, Lucien Laviscount, Jameela Jamil, and Lukas Gage joining the leads.

People We Meet On Vacation hits Netflix on January 9.