Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: Widowed attorney Elliott Kintner and his teenage daughter, Ridley, are invited to stay the weekend at the estate of his boss, Odell Leopold, to discuss serving as the dying Leopold's board proxy at a pharmaceutical company. While driving through a nature preserve the Canadian Rockies and distracted by both his allergies and his phone, Elliott strikes a young unicorn and later brutally puts it out of its misery with a tire iron before putting it in his car so he can secretly bury it. When the creature comes back to life and is then killed by one of Leopold's employees, the group discovers its blood, and horn can cure all sorts of ailments ranging from acne to cancer. However, when a now-healed Leopold tries to financially capitalize on this, they suddenly find themselves terrorized by the unicorn's vengeful family. Who's in it? The movie stars Paul Rudd , Jenna Ortega , Will Poultier, Téa Leoni, Anthony Carrigan and Richard E. Grant. Review: I had heard of De...

Synopsis: Decades after avoiding a forced wedding to the demonic Betelgeuse, Lydia Deetz is a widowed mother of a teenager and famous host of a paranormal talk show. When she learns her father, Charles, has been killed in a shark attack, she, her stepmother, Delia, and her teenage daughter, Astrid, return to her former home in Winter River, Connecticut for the funeral and Lydia soon discovers Betelgeuse is still around and still seeking to marry her, this time to escape the soul-sucking ghost of his first wife, Delores. Who's in it? The movie stars Winona Ryder , Michael Keaton , Jenna Ortega , Catherine O'Hara and Willem Dafoe . Review: When I first learned they were going to release a sequel to Beetlejuice 36 years after it first came out, I had a lot of doubts about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and decided I wasn't going to risk my money watching it at the theater. My wife and I finally got around to watching it tonight, now that it is available on Netflix and, while I ...

Synopsis: In 1979, a group of young adults rent a Texas farmhouse from an elderly couple so they can make a porn movie. All is going well until the elderly wife, Pearl, becomes obsessed with one of the actresses to the point she's ready to murder. Who's in it? The movie stars Brittany Snow, Mia Goth , Jenna Ortega , Martin Henderson and Stephen Ure. Review: I came across this movie on Netflix a couple weeks ago but was unsure whether it would be worth watching. On one hand, I like slasher movies. On the other, this seemed like a movie that could easily just be a softcore porn film. I finally got around to watching it last night and while it proved to be the former, it also proved to be much more of the latter. Let's put it this way. If you want to watch a slasher movie, fast forward past the first hour or so. Otherwise, be ready to watch a lot of sex.  To be fair, once the movie does enter slasher mode, it is pretty good. Pearl (Goth) manages to be somewhat creepy with...

Synopsis: Seeking a fresh start after the latest round of murders in Woodsboro, Sam, Tara, Chad and Mindy move to New York. The move doesn't change anything, both because of the internet notoriety that followed Sam to the Big Apple and a fresh new Ghostface seeking to finish what the previous incarnations failed to do. Who's in it? The movie stars  Melissa Barrera ,  Jenna Ortega ,  Courteney Cox ,  Mason Gooding and  Dermot Mulroney .  Review: My wife and I recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary and my gift from her was two tickets to see this movie. We used them earlier today and I wasn't disappointed. Movie reboots often don't work out the way the filmmakers intended. But the Scream franchise has managed to do this in a way that I feel does work. There's a great new group of young actors in the lead roles with just enough reference to the original movies to connect them. This movie wasn't an exception. I think the thing I like most about mo...

Synopsis: Twenty-five years after Billy Loomis and Stu Macher committed a series of murders in Woodsboro, a copycat Ghostface emerges and begins attacking people who were related to the original crime. This includes Billy Loomis' illegitimate daughter, Sam, who convinces a retired Dewey Riley to help figure out who is behind it. Who's in it? The movie stars Melissa Barrera , David Arquette , Courteney Cox , Neve Campbell and Jenna Ortega. Review: As I've mentioned multiple times before, I am very selective about movies I pay to see at the theater. Basically, I have to think the film will be worth the $30+ for my wife and I to attend. When I first saw the trailer for this movie, it immediately became one of those films, not necessarily because I thought it would be better on the big screen as much as I didn't want to wait longer than I needed to see it. The first Scream film remains one of my favorite slasher movies and, when my wife and I started watching this movie...