10 Year Reunion, Caddiness and Catfights

Wow!  The catfight at the end of this film will forever be scorched on your brain. But let's discuss the star of our film, Kacey Clarke (many of you may know her as Kacey Barnfield). She is one of the sultriest actresses of the past 50 years, and an actress you may not know of. I'll remind you.  She was the bikini clad teen in "Lake Placid 3" who was chased through a supermarket by a giant croc.  She was that babe in the British TV show "Downton Abbey." She was eaten and spit out by mutants in "Resident Evil: Afterlife." Who can forget her as the swimsuit clad trophy wife of Iggy Pop in "Blood Orange"? Then there's today's catfight heavy film, 2016's "10 Year Reunion," directed by Jake Helgren.

Five giggly and sultry teens about to graduate from high  school and leave the town of Harmony.  They even give each other cuddle-hugs....gag! They love one another and will be friends forever...or do they? Abby (Abigail Klein) devises a time capsule and each will write a secret confession to be opened in 10 years. Hours after the box is buried, Abby dies mysteriously. 10 years later the four sultry friends return to Harmony. Carly (Clarke) is the only one of them that did not know a coroner's report suggests Abby was murdered. Patty (Kayla Ewell) is now a babe lawyer. Erica (Anya Engel) is a congressman's wife. They are hosted by Rose (Jillian Nelson).  The reunion starts out sweet...then five minutes go by. Carly, finding out that Abby was poisoned 10 years ago is determined to find her killer.  Her three mates...they would prefer Carly not uncover the truth.

Secrets are revealed, but not the big one.  The revealed secrets suggest that all the friends had reason to murder Abby...even Carly. Enter a masked figure who is determined not to let the time capsule be found.  He, or she is so determined to keep the confessions in the time capsule secret that the gals begin meeting with gory demises.  One by one secrets are revealed.  Bloody secrets.  Carly puts herself in mortal danger by refusing to give up her quest for the truth.  Then...eventually...the catfight!  You won't believe such a masterful piece of cinema could have been choreographed, but anything with Miss Clarke in it will be such a beautiful thing.

The actresses in this film are sultry and play to the camera so well.  Like a good Giallo film, being beautiful may be their death knells. Is there a confession buried in the capsule that will reveal the killer? Will Carly be disfigured by hedge clippers or bloody shovels? You'll see.  Will Abby have anything to say about this from the grave?  For a movie that will throw sultry babes in mortal danger at you in mass, see "10 Year Reunion."

Secret Life of a Dominatrix, and the Accompanying Serial Killer

Secrets never stay secret. In a society that claims no interest in what someone does in his/her own bedroom, it is very transfixed on what he/she do in their own bedroom. Add whips, chains, bondage, gags, humiliation, and cross words and we absolutely care what someone does in their own bedroom.  Serial killers care...bless them. Hence our film today, 2024's Made for Tubi original, "Secret Life of a Dominatrix," directed by Gabby Revilla Lugo.

Book clubs. A bunch of bored women getting together to talk Jane Austen. After 10 minutes, they ain't talking Jane Austen...nope!  Bondage, and whipping has replaced the classics in this book club. May (Mariel Molina) is a sultry housewife who has secrets.  She has a hunk husband, Kurt (Andrew Biernat) who insists on occasional sex utilizing the missionary position exclusively. May, after all the BDSM talk wants more.  Her bestie, Gia (Kiley Casciano) and other mates convince her to go to an exclusive sex club where anything goes and you can be anyone you want. These places exist all over the place in the movies, where I live we have smoke shops and urgent care facilities. There, May meets dominatrix Anna (Ashley Dougherty). They take likings to one another and Anna teaches May to be a dominatrix...and she is not only loving it, but good at it.

Okay...here's where it gets dicey. A serial killer is stalking these sex clubs.  Soon, one of May's buddies is strangled in the parking lot of the club.  Even worse it is her new BDSM buddy Dee (Imani Vaughn-Jones). Even worse...May sees, from the other side of the club, her husband come into the club. As a dominatrix, May understands he has needs.  She goes home with a leather outfit, whips, handcuffs, chains, bondage ropes, and attitude.  Sadly, Kurt is not interested in her, still. More gals are murdered and May is now down a path that she can't come back from. Twists will occur which you will see a mile away, but because BDSM, whips, chains, handcuffs, and bondage ropes are included in this movie, we can forgive its predictability.

Will May use a stun-gun and force Kurt into being tied up and whipped?  Just who is this serial killer, and is it a male?  Will we possibly see a wild catfight between two kinky dominatrix'?  If you have not seen BDSM since that Charisma Carpenter film ("Bound"), see "Secret Life of a Dominatrix." 

Dark Nature, Needy Women and Their Demons

Okay, I get it. Women overcoming abusive men...yawn! Right, I get it...women trying to make it in a man's world and facing nothing but misogyny.  Yawn! Abused...yawn!  Okay, I admit I was cheering for the creature in this one.  You divorced men out there are going to look at this film a whole lot differently than the movie maker, Berkley Brady, intended.  Our film today is 2022's "Dark Nature."

Yep, Joy (Hannah Emily Anderson) is in a abusive relationship with a brute who hits her and kills her dog. The dog may have had it coming, that yappy beast. Six months after leaving the brute, Joy joins up with her best buddy Carmen (Madison Walsh). Yep!  They are going hiking through the wilderness. Go wilderness! Along is the whole traumatized-femme support group.  We won't like any of them. Carmen may have a thing for Joy. Tara (Helen Belay) went through something so awful, with a guy I bet, that no one can speak of it. Shaina (Roseanne Supernault) has PTSD from her tour in Afghanistan...go Taliban!  The encounter group therapist is the unimpressive Dr. Dunnley (Kyra Harper). They bicker. Dr Dunnley offers worthless counseling.  They hike.

A creature (Luke Moore) awaits.  The thing will attack and maim.  Joy sees her old boyfriend in the creature.  Dr. Dunnley will be shredded and eaten...yay!  Shaina will prove how worthless General Miley's troops were in Afghanistan.  Now Joy must act the hero but bravery is something not in her chemical make-up.  Carmen is the strong one but she gets taken by the cave dweller.  With Carmen and Tara still screaming for help, Joy does get brave and goes after them.

Will Joy grow some cajones and embark on a successful rescue mission? If Dr. Dunnley were not in 15 pieces, would Joy have still undertaken her rescue mission?  would a good man in the script made it a fair fight against the cave dwelling terror? Annoying but still a worthwhile watch.  If this film tells us anything it is that the Dr. Dunnleys' of the world need to be fed to cryptids.  See "Dark Nature," 'cause even cave cryptids deserve love.