Cape Fear (2026) - Episode 8

Los tiempos de Dios son Perfectos

Written by Alan Page Arriaga

Directed by Stephen Williams

Title translates to God's Timing is Perfect.

After Brandon planted suspicious medication at Max's house, he's taken into custody.

The following morning, Natalie takes a swim in the pool and finds a box containing Ray's body parts at the bottom.

When the police arrive and ask Tom if he owns any guns, he goes in the safe and realises that one has been fired.  But instead of doing the sensible thing, he foolishly gives them a different gun.

Max is released and prepares to open his restaurant named Melissa & Adam, and I never thought pointless subplot would go anywhere.

He tells Natalie that Tom and Anna killed Ray to frame him, but she smells bullshit.

As Natalie comes clean about the gun and her trip with Max, Tom is arrested for Ray's murder.

Noa alerts Anna about Max appearing on the news and it's confirmed that Brandon betrayed her.

What an asshole.

When Anna is put on the spot by Natalie about what Max did to her, Anna reveals she was experiencing blackouts at the time  when she was his lawyer, so isn't certain who daughter's father is. 

However, she dismisses that Max raped her.

Natalie pulls a gun on Max and shoots him in the stomach (but bullet misses all major organs).

She joins Neveah in prison.

At the hospital, Anna poses as Crystal and becomes enraged when Max reveals his motive to 'rip her family apart'.

Pulling up location data from one of Ray's iCloud photos, Anna takes a gun and heads for Bluff's Point.

Assessment

The blue touch paper for endgame has been lit and Crystal may be Anna's trump card.

Or not?

But I'm sure Tom, Neveah, Natalie and possibly Zack will also have a say.

Join me next time for penultimate episode.

The Odyssey (2026) - The scoop and digest

Christopher Nolan writes and directs possibly the last adaptation of Homer's epic poem.

Matt Damon - Odysseus

Tom Holland - Telemachus

Anne Hathaway - Penelope

Robert Pattinson - Antinous

Lupita Nyong'o - Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra

Samantha Morton - Circe

John Leguizamo - Eumaeus

Zendaya - Athena

Charlize Theron - Calypso

Benny Safdie - Agamemnon

Jon Bernthal - Menelaus

Himesh Patel - Eurylochus

Corey Hawkins - Polybus

Mia Goth - Melantho

Logan Marshall-Green - Melanthius

Elliot Page - Sinon

James Remar - Tiresias

Summary

Telemachus embarks on a perilous journey to find his father Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, as they both must defy the gods (kinda), monsters and treachery along the way.

Casting

Ignoring her other role, Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy and Elliot Page as Achilles¹ understandably raised eyebrows.

¹However, speculation turned out to be incorrect, as Sinon is reimagined as Odysseus's cousin.  He was a warrior from the Trojan War, but wasn't mentioned in source material.

Whatever, they suck, but at least we only have to suffer them for less than 10 minutes.

The rest are a mismatched bunch of Hollywood A-listers.

Trojan horse

Rather than left outside the gates of Troy, it is discovered half buried in sand and dragged up on the beach.

Yes I note reference to The Planet of the Apes, but redesign left me wheely confused.

Accents and dialogue

Contemporary colloquialisms and British outfit as Americans was offputting.

Damon yelling "Let's gooooo!" as he leads his men into battle didn't sit well and "Ten years on this fucking beach" in flashback after the fall of Troy is already a meme.

Draken Harald Harfagre

Odyssesus's boat is a modern reconstruction of a Viking longship.

Cool.  But film is set around 1200 BC, approximately 2000 years before transport existed (about 800 AD).

Costumes

Most look like Vikings, but why is Agamemnon Batman-esque?

Honour the dead

Three-hour journey on land and sea is not the masterpiece obscene hype suggests, but still an impressive piece of cinema.

Providing accuracy of Greek mythology is ignored you understand.

Sequence of Circe whispering chilling incantations and turning soldiers into pigs was awesome, especially how witch caresses and strokes heads.

Final act of Odyssesus putting Antinous to the sword kicked ass, but the sheer scale of Cyclops Polyphemus (even though he doesn't talk), is worth the admission fee alone.

I grew up with the genius of Ray Harryhausen, and 60-foot tall mechanical puppet (in collabroation with Bill Irwin), was not only fucking terrifying, but also the ultimate tribute to the great man.

Also, how fallen soldiers emerge from the ground, subsequently driving Odysseus and his men from Hades basically recreates the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts.

(Nods head in appreciation).

Cape Fear (2026) - Episode 7

Mongrel

Written by André and Maria Jacquemetton

Directed by Jon S. Baird

Immediately after last week, Tom heads over to Max's house, leaving Anna to babysit Neveah.

Tom repeatedly punches Max in the face and Zack literally stabs Tom in the back for hurting his 'father'.

Neveah is arrested and Max smiles at Anna as medical orderlies treat his wounds.

Ray is sent to find Max's stalker and Natalie learns that Tom is not her biological father.

At a psychiatric facility, it's revealed that Zach has been taking scopolamine to prevent nausea, vertigo and motion sickness, but over time, drug causes permanent psychosis.

So I guess that explains the toe thing?

Max returns Peanut Butter to Natalie and insists Neveah is obsessed with him.

Prior to taking a ride with Max (seemingly for the hell of it), Natalie hides a gun in her bag and Max injects a peach with a mysterious liquid.

By tracing a car licence plate to a woman called Val, Ray discovers Max's stalker is actually his sister Crystal.

Max goes looking for Crystal at his childhood home, where his abusive father Robert (Ron Perlman) more or less confirms he used to cage Max like a dog.

When they leave, Natalie eats the peach.

Ray breaks into a boat docked at Bluff's Point named Galilee and finds multiple photos of Max. 

After a brief chinwag, Ray clocks Natalie unconscious and Max shoots him dead.

In the aftermath, it's heavily implied that Max is Natalie's father.

Tom and Anna call the police on Max, as they earlier got Brandon to plant narcotics at his house.

Assessment

Less batshit than last week, but we learn more about Max's past and finally, who Juliette Lewis really is.

What will happen next in glorified soap opera?

Stay tuned.

Evil Dead Burn - The scoop and digest

The third in modern series and/or sixth overall is brought by Sébastien Vaniček and his Infested team.

Souheila Yacoub - Alice

Tandi Wright - Susan

Hunter Doohan - Joseph

Luciane Buchanan - Thya

Erroll Shand - Edgar

Maude Davey - Polly

George Pullar - Will

Tapiwa Soropa - Mike

Keanu Karim - Jared

Summary

At his family's lakehouse, Joseph Price listens to research recorded by his late grandfather Benjamin on the Necronomicon, and uncovers the Kandarian dagger (created by The Circle of the Wise Men), which can destroy Deadites.

His discovery attracts the attention of Jessica, who murders a pair of fishermen using fish hooks and literally boiling an area of the lake.

To recap, Jessica (now played by Greta van den Brink, not Anna-Maree Thomas), was the Deadite at the 'beginning' of Rise, which is actually one day after main event.

We smash cut to Joseph's brother Will, who after having an argument with his wife Alice, drunkenly drives away and crashes into Jessica.  Her severed head recites a passage from the Necronomicon and laughs as Will burns to death in the wreckage.

At Will's cremation, Will's father Edgar says goodbye in private, but corpse escapes the casket and burns him.

Back at the lakehouse, Alice finds the Necronomicon and utters "Kunda", "Astratta", "Montosse" and substitutes "Canda" for "Oh fuck this!"

But the damage is already done.

To your perfect family

There are two extra scenes, which I'll get to soon.

Brutality isn't worthy of the hype, but gore and sadism satisfied my filthy soul.

The scene which had to be shortened to get by the censors is Joseph smashing Thya's head in with a dishwasher door.

I've seen a lot worse.

While running time is never scary, Polly driving a fountain pen into Alice's eardrum was nasty.

Complete with burning house, climax is pretty much a replay of Evil Dead, but CG for Will is terrible.  More so, video game geeks (which I'm obviously not) should compare end boss to the final form of Lorenzo Belli from 2005 PS2 survival horror Haunting Ground.

Alice uses a jackhammer and the dagger to cook bastard's goose.

The mutt that Edgar stabs to death with a fork and later comes back as a Dogite is called Max, likely a nod to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Anyway, as promised.

Mid-credits

A legless Polly crawling on the road is approached by a motorist who gets scratched for being a good citizen.

Post-credits

Back at the crematorium, the manager leaves her child alone in the back office and we're shown two urns as yet unclaimed by loved ones.

First is labelled Christopher Leroy, which has nothing to do with franchise.  Name is a reference to José Garcia's character Christophe Leroy in co-writer Florent Bernard's 2024 feature debut Nous, les Leroy (We, the Leroys).

The other is Ellie Bixler, whose ghost in human form is reflected in a mirror.  Then as a Deadite, breaks the girl's neck stating: "Mommy's back!"

Okay, this makes no FUCKING sense.

Deadites are not ghosts and only possess physical hosts.

At the end of Rise, Ellie, fused with her children Danny, Bridget and neighbours, become the Marauder, and fed to a wood chipper by Bethie Boo.

So there's nothing to cremate, unless you count blood and meat as 'ashes'.

Going further, how did the crematorium acquire her remains?

(Rolls eyes).

Set in 1972, Evil Dead Wrath will serve as a prequel to The Evil Dead and due April 2028.

I'm already there.

Famous Paintings in Video Games - Final Stroke

Iconic series bows out on a maximum high.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Adoration of the Magi - Andrea Mantegna

The Crucifixion - Altbrecht Altdorfer

The Garden of Oriosto - Anselm Feuerbach

Claude Lorrain

Landscape with David at the Cave of Abdullam

Landscape with Apollo Guarding the Herds of Admetus

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Tower of Babel - Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward - Luke Fildes

The Bean Feast - Jan Steen

The Babylonian Marriage Market - Edwin Long

The Blind Fiddler - David Wilkie

Leda and the Swan in the Palace of Fesch Ajaccio - Paolo Veronese

Passage on the River Styx - Nicolas-Louis-François Gosse

The Temptation of St. Anthony (middle panel) - Hieronymus Bosch

A Special Pleader - Charles Burton Barber

The Hunting of Chevy Chase - Edwin Landseer

Antoine Wiertz

Hunger, Madness, Crime

The Premature Burial

Greeks and Trojans Fighting for the Body of Patroclus

Scratches

A Woman Bathing in a Stream - Rembrandt

Arnolfini Portrait - Jan van Eyck

Nessus Abducting Deianeira - Guido Reni

Portrait of Leo X - Raphael

Saturn Devouring His Son - Francisco Goya

The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Vegetation - Michelangelo 

The Crystal Ball - John William Waterhouse

The Favourite Poet - Lawrence Alma-Tadema

The Holy Children with a Shell - Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

The Reader - Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Venus Riding a Satyr - Dirk de Quade van Ravesteyn

Vulcan's Forge - Luca Giordano

Women of Algiers in Their Apartment - Eugène Delacroix

Caravaggio

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (detail)

The Sacrifice of Isaac (detail)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Dulle Griet

Portrait of an Old Woman

The Gloomy Day

The Land of Cockaigne 

Layers of Fear (2016)

For clarity, I'm ignoring 2023 remake of same name, which is also a sequel to Layers of Fear 2 (2019).

L-R: The Infenro (detail) - Herri met de Bles and Stormy Landscape - Rembrandt  

L-R: Portrait of Artillo Ariosti - Anthoni Schoonjans, Brigand Murdering a Woman - Francisco Goya and The Abduction of Ganymede - Rembrandt

Francisco Goya

Portrait of Tio Piquete

Saturn Devouring His Son

Witches' Sabbath

Miscellany

A Party Angling - George Morland

Christ's Descent into Hell (detail) - Hieronymus Bosch

Greyhound and Spaniel - John F. Herring Sr.

Judith Beheading Holofernes - Artemisia Gentileschi

Landscape with Tobit and the Angel - Salvator Rosa

Lotta di Putti - Guido Reni

Mrs Meigs at the Piano Organ - William Merritt Chase

Past and Present No. 1 - Misfortune - Augustus Egg

Portrait of a Dwarf - Juan van der Hamen

Portrait of a Man - Jan van Eyck

Portrait of Antonietta Gonzalez - Lavinia Fontana

Portrait of Francisco Pacheco - Diego Velázquez

Portrait of Jacob Tripp - Rembrandt

Portrait of Aubin Vouet - Simon Vouet

Self-Portrait (1638 version) - Peter Paul Rubens

Self-Portrait - Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 

Self-Portrait - Joshua Reynolds

Still Life with Fruit - Antonio de Pereda

The Abbey in Oakwood - Caspar David Friedrich

The Flaying of Marsyas - Titian

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (detail) - Caravaggio

The Nightmare (1781 version) - Henry Fuseli 

Women of Algiers in Their Apartment - Eugène Delacroix

The Council

Episode 1: The Mad Ones

Christ Crucified - Diego Velázquez

François I Receiving the Holy Family - Raphael

Hannibal Crossing the Alps - Nicolas Poussin

Jesus Expelling the Merchants from the Temple - Jacob Jordaens

Judith Beheading Holofernes - Artemisia Gentileschi

Louis XIV and Philip V - Adam Frans van der Meulen  

Moliere Dining with Louis XIV -Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Saint Jerome and the Angel - Simon Vouet

Saturn Devouring His Son - Francisco Goya

Talma as Nero in Britannicus by Racine - Eugène Delacroix

The Battle of Alexander at Issus - Altbrecht Altdorfer

The Blind Oedipus - Bénigne Gagneraux

The Last Supper - Leonardo da Vinci

Vercingetorix Throwing Down His Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar - Lionel Royer

Ixion - Jusepe de Ribera

The Last Judgment (right wing) - Hans Memling

The Massacre of the Innocents - Cornelius van Haarlem

Rembrandt

The Nightwatch

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp

Jean-Baptiste Regnault

Allegory of the Declaration of the Rights of Man

Liberty or Death

Peter Paul Rubens

Saturn Devouring His Son

The Fall of Phaeton

The Fall of the Damned

The Union of Earth and Water

Caravaggio

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas

The Inspiration of Saint Matthew

Conversion on the Way to Damascus (top) and Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (bottom)

Episode 2: Hide and Seek

George III - Allan Ramsay

George Washington - Robert Edge Pine

Queen Charlotte - Benjamin West

Tending Children at the Orphanage at Haarlem - Jan de Bray

The Collosus - Francisco Goya

The Ladies Waldegrave - Joshua Reynolds

The Nightmare (1781 version) - Henry Fuseli

David Teniers the Younger

Two versions of The Alchemist were chosen at random.

Guido Reni

Saint John

Saint Mark

Saint Matthew

Saint Paul

Episodes 3-5 gave culture the middle finger, which is pretty selfish if you ask me.

(Laughs).