I wrote this essay about The Great Pumpkin roughly a billion years ago, but it's still one of my favorites. 🎃 reactormag.com/celebrating-...

For those of you who feel left out of Spooky Season every year, I've done my best to find quality documentaries about horror movies that are not, in themselves, horrific, and probably won't scare you. Probably.

It's possible that I spent too much time on this essay about the Superhero Industrial Complex's attempt to cope with the terrible realities of 2025—but this piece is my favorite thing I've written this year. reactormag.com/what-can-sup...

Congratulations to Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me), recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for Rakesfall! Chandrasekera's book was chosen by authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.

Be warned/enticed: I spend half of this review going off about The Black Phone 2's deeply weird theological implications.

I loved Good Boy! (Both the movie, and the Good Boy himself.) In order to serve your moviegoing needs, I have written a review that works its way from “no spoilers at all” to “but does the dog die???” to “oops all spoilers!”, because I want every dog-and-horror-loving one of you to see it.

You know what's great? Getting to publish an essay as insightful and heartening as this exploration of Serenity, the information economy, and sustainable change from @thenerdypriest.bsky.social. reactormag.com/serenity-and...

I can't say it was always fun to review a choppy show about a near-future capitalist hellscape—but I CAN say that I would die for a certain eyeball alien. OPTIPUS 4-EVA. Here are a few of my thoughts on the finale of Alien: Earth! reactormag.com/tv-review-al...

Neo Sora's fervent, anti-fascist dystopian film Happyend is finally out in the US, and @leahschnelbach.bsky.social recommends seeing it while you can: #HappyEnd reactormag.com/movie-review...

Locked room! Crime-solving priest! Andrew Scott as a mystery author who's involved somehow! This is all my favorite things in one movie!

Speaking as both a former janitor and a current film critic, Macon Blair's update on The Toxic Avenger is a delightful time at the movies. reactormag.com/movie-review...

watched the first episode of Alien: Earth and couldn't believe when this literally happened

I'm writing weekly reviews of Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth for @reactorsff.bsky.social, and I don't know what mystical elixir was added to horror creators' water this year, but once again I find myself saying: holy shit! reactormag.com/tv-review-al...

Are you, like me, still thinking about Weapons (2025)? reactormag.com/why-i-cant-s...

Holy SHIT I love Weapons. I love the structure, the humor, the gore, Alden Ehrenreich's mustache, every single second of Benedict Wong, the gallons of vodka, the use of George Harrison, all of it. I've summed up my love in as non-spoiler a manner as possible. reactormag.com/movie-review...

The more I think about Murderbot the more I find to love, and I express my love through essays. reactormag.com/the-joys-of-...

Murderbot has been a bright spot in this thresher of a year—and the more I’ve thought about it, the more a certain prickly augmented human has stolen my heart. Who wants to join me for a few thousand words on Dr. Gurathin and the horrors of capitalism? reactormag.com/i-didnt-expe...

Superman is an action movie, a comedy, and also a horror movie, because a journalist types a massive exposé straight into the CMS and hits publish while on some kind of janky spaceship mobile hotspot

ITS OFFICIAL. MURDERBOT SEASON TWO. #Murderbot reactormag.com/murderbot-ha...

wow wow wow

I watch a lot of horror, and given my love of all things Irish, you can imagine my delight at finding a rich vein of terrifying films from the Emerald Isle. I rounded up 15 of my faves, with tentacle monsters, vampires, FOLK DARKNESS, and religious trauma galore: reactormag.com/15-irish-hor...

What world are we in that I've spent more time thinking about the latest sequel to 28 Days Later than the new Wes Anderson movie??? (Which I also loved, but Wes doesn't have full frontal quasi-zombie nudity in his. You win this round, Danny Boyle.) reactormag.com/28-years-lat...

Thanks so much again to Leah for working with me on this--including working in Pope Francis' death when it occurred midway through the process

Absolute joy to work with Zack Budryk (@gonebabygone.bsky.social) on this dive into the dark theological heart of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock. There may come a day when I tire of Complicated Catholicism Feelings, but it is not this day. reactormag.com/an-anti-hero...

I didn’t expect a folk horror with a title like All You Need Is Death to be one of the most life-affirming experiences I’ve had this year—but I loved spending a few thousand words trying to write about why. reactormag.com/all-you-need...

My only real complaint about Ballerina is that, given the chronology, I think Dog should have been a guest at The Continental when Eve Macarro briefly checks in. GIVE US MORE DOG. reactormag.com/ballerina-fr...

I didn’t know I needed this video of Jonathan Groff singing his heart out, standing over Keanu Reeves and leaning down to caress him but I did???????

In conclusion

excited to make this film my entire personality come december www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRqU...

CHOOSE WISELY. or actually choose any of us, every movie on these lists is amazing? I am goddamn lucky to work among such excellent and admirable hobbits

Featuring a wonderful turn from the icon Tony Todd.

Come to Reactor for genre news, stay for obscure information about high-end ink pens

This isn't an "essay" so much as "a wrestling match with my surprisingly complicated feelings about Thunderbolts*" – but I'm happy I got to spend more time with Yelena. reactormag.com/thunderbolts...

“The pope will be from Chicago” sounds like an 1880s Republican’s dire prediction for if we don’t stop Irish immigration

So we got... deep-dish Pizzaballa

white smoke pours from the Sistine Chapel

Genuinely delighted to report that I enjoyed Thunderbolts*! I never expected a Marvel character to namecheck Søren Kierkegaard, but we live in interesting times. reactormag.com/thunderbolts...

I love Sinners for many reasons, not least among them the excuse to whimsically skedaddle into my latest obsession, traditional Irish music. reactormag.com/lets-talk-ab...

Real journalism is Ryan Coogler talking about aspect ratios for Sinners!! reactormag.com/sinners-dire...

Counter-argument: You should use Sinners to springboard yourself into some other Black American horror like the following

SINNERS is an extraordinary fantastic lens through which to process (African-) American history. Aside from RING SHOUT by @pdjeliclark.bsky.social, also check out this extraordinary novelette by Kai Ashante Wilson, "The Devil in America." reactormag.com/the-devil-in...

There's a scene in Ryan Coogler's Sinners that made me cry with joy. Not exactly what I was expecting from a subversive vampire movie, but I'll take it. reactormag.com/movie-review...

Everyone hit PAUSE on Sanctuary Moon!!! The first trailer for Murderbot is HERE!! #murderbot #themurderbotdiaries reactormag.com/murderbot-ad...

Almost two years later I am still quite bothered about this and I feel like it's only getting worse. Critics especially: Why are you using the language of capitalism and economics to talk about the art with which you engage?

Thank you, writers of this week's Daredevil episodes, for bringing Yusuf Khan back to my TV, and for giving me the opportunity to talk about St. Ivo of Kermartin, patron saint of lawyers. reactormag.com/daredevil-bo...

Do it, Marvel you cowards

What's this? I actually woke up happy and excited to write about Daredevil: Born Again?

Ok, this is the last one

"It is a story about many things, but perhaps, ultimately, a story about getting the catharsis we are due." @use-theforce-em.bsky.social reviews Bong Joon-ho's Mickey 17, a movie that's just as good as we were hoping for: reactormag.com/mickey-17-of...

I very much wanted to love Daredevil: Born Again! And, well. I guess liking some of it is better than nothing? reactormag.com/daredevil-bo...