Primate: Blu Ray Review

Cast: Johnny Seqouyah, Troy Kotsur, Jessica Alexnader, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng, Miguel Torres Umba
Director: Johannes Roberts

Primate sets out its stall in its opening moments.

As a vet walks into a chimp enclosure, he's guided to a darkened part of it where an unknown force awaits...

Johannes Roberts' creature horror mixes elements of horror and odd moments of comedy, but in truth, it's a lack of development in the human side of things which proves to be a minor flaw in a largely enjoyable but forgettable ride that leaves it feeling lesser than it could.

As Lucy (Johnny Seqouyah) returns to her Hawaii home after the death of her animal linguistics mother, family tensions are strained. Her deaf father (Troy Kotsur) is obsessed with his book career rather than his family; her sister is distant, and the family ape Ben (yes, really) is about to have a really bad day after a mongoose bite.

Coupled with the fact a group of friends are at their home for the holidays, things go south quickly when it's clear Ben (Umba) has rabies and turns on them all, trapping them and leaving them fighting for their lives...

As the carnage picks up, the director makes great fist of the fact that Ben can't communicate (outside of a device which at one point, he uses to taunt them with the word 'dead' being repeatedly said) and becomes a killing machine that's mute in the vein of the shape from Halloween. (In fact the soundtrack seems to channel that iconic score in parts.)

WIN TICKETS TO SEE PRIMATE AT THE MOVIES HERE

But as with some horror films, you're not here for the character development and while there are a few moments of the cast doing stupid things, the kills are particularly brutal and viciously executed - even though a lack of depth prevents you directly caring.

However, there's a commitment to the atmosphere and an impressive continuation of a killer that can't be reasoned with or stopped which makes Primate effective in the moment in cinema.

Embracing the horror genre tropes and a terrific scene from a deaf point of view that is chilling in its execution, Primate proves it's not just here to ape around with horror conventions - it's here to deliver some killer blows too.

Primate plays in the Terror-Fi Film Festival in Cheistchurch, before a New Zealand-wide release on January 22, 2026.

The Punisher: One Last Kill: Review

Cast: Jon Bernthal, Judith Light
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

To say there's a grittiness and bleak edges to the latest Marvel one-shot special is a major understatement.

With The Punisher's disappearance from the second series of the brilliant Daredevil: Born Again and upcoming reappearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, this 48-minute special forms a bridge between the two and shows Jon Bernthal's Frank as his absolute darkest - and lowest.

Having dispatched the Gnucci family who were responsible for his own family's demise, Frank finds himself holed up in a building block in Little Sicily, searching for a purpose, struggling with the ghosts of his former Marine colleagues and contemplating the ultimate sacrifice.

But when Ma Gnucci (Judith Light) appears on the scene threatening retribution, Frank's suddenly fighting for his life in an area that's been claimed as part of a power vacuum after his actions. With every mercenary on the block on his tail, it's only a matter of time before he has to make a choice about his own future.

It would be unfair to say that The Punisher: One Last Kill follows a very similar redemption arc - but in truth, that's what this special does for Frank, as he contemplates his own sense of purpose and self. With darkness swirling all around him, there's a brooding nature to the start of this that's intensely claustrophobic.

However, the show soon devolves into a take on The Raid's intense internal fight scenes before spilling out onto the streets in some truly blistering action sequences. This is a special one-off that has an exceptionally high body count and even has the tenacity to kill off a dog in a sickening way in its opening moments.

There's little character development here and while the opening scenes see Castle dealing with his demons, there's not much room for Bernthal to exault much acting muscle, other than screaming, powerlifting and also look lost. He does all of this well, but it's really in the intense action scenes that this comes alive in a blood-spattered way.

There are moments when you doubt the outcome and the meeting between the Punisher and Ma Gnucci's MCU debut is deftly handled given the run-time and the narrative arc.

All in all, The Punisher: One Last Kill has the kind of violent feel that's been lacking in the MCU - but with the added psychological twist that this is a man fighting back from the edge of his very soul, it's a solidly watchable and bleakly entertaining piece of TV.

The Punisher: One Last Kill is streaming on Disney+ on Wednesday, May 13.

Wuthering Heights: Blu Ray Review

Cast: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Shazad Latif
Director: Emerald Fennell

The long-awaited Wuthering Heights remake emerges onto the cinematic screen in a mixture of would-be Gothic grotesquerie and lust.

The 2026 version of the Emily Bronte classic opens with a dark screen, the sound of creaking and moaning bleeding from the speakers.

It’s meant to signify something seductive and illicit, but director Emerald Fennell’s penchant for misdirection here kicks in and the film lures you in, promising one thing and delivering another.

And yet, in many ways, as it takes on the tale of revenge-fuelled would-be lovers Cathy and Heathcliff, the overlong film follows a more traditional route than the time-swapping narrative and leans into the snark and dark humour among the pastel-filled fever dream that Fennell created with Promising Young Woman and Saltburn.

Early scenes focus on Heathcliff being brought into Wuthering Heights by Cathy’s monstrous father (Doc Martin’s Martin Clunes as you’ve never seen him) and their relationship developing as she gets to keep him like a pet.

Fast-forward a few years and Cathy, all petulance, pride and prissiness, is now grown-up (with Robbie inhabiting the wide-eyed role) and at a loss with her lot in life. Worried her father’s corraling and gambling has ruined them, and obsessed with the rich neighbours that have moved in, she heads to meet the Lintons, before injuring herself and unable to return for weeks.

When she does, she’s a changed woman, one who seems more hellbent on pursuing her awakening desires until a single moment separates her and Heathcliff for years…

“Wuthering Heights”, as Fennell has deemed it, captures the lusty confused desire of teenage years and sets it against the aesthetics that its director has become known for.

Vibrant colours burst out from the screen as Cathy herself blooms and a dollhouse motif that’s used throughout hints at her own frustrations in among the Gothic architecture and wind-swept landscapes of the wild moor on her doorstep.

And yet, in amongst the sumptuous visuals and thrillingly evocative score and solid performances, there’s little to grasp onto for emotional depth here. Whether it’s deliberate or not, not once does the tragedy of the piece feel like it’s come to the fore. Both Heathcliff and Cathy are monstrous and selfish in their own ways, their obsessions fuelled by a twisted revenge that only harms themselves, rather than those around them.

Lashings of humour outweigh the growing sense of toxic nastiness – particularly Alison Oliver’s Lady Isabelle, a girl lost and oblivious to the world around her, obsessed with dolls and crafting them from people’s actual hair.

In truth, “Wuthering Heights” could have lost maybe 20 minutes or so, and still have fit the director’s desires – but its sex-fuelled desire and longing still feels as relevant today as it did then – even if the film’s occasionally shallow take on the complexities of Bronte’s work is lost to a 21^st century audience.

Hayu relaunches as a full streaming service

Reality-based streaming service Hayu has relaunched in New Zealand as a full streaming service, it's been announced.

The service, which is primarily known for franchises such as Below Deck and Vaderpump Rules, as well as the Real Housewives series, will now also feature NBC Universal shows such as The Office and Parks and Recreation, as well as movies like Wicked: For Good and Bridget Jones.

Plus there will also be New Zealand exclusive content in the form of Hacks Series 4 and 5, which have not yet aired in the country.

Newly added content means there’s even more to goss about, with Hayu’s offering evolving beyond reality TV, offering extensive general entertainment and featuring premium, scripted titles from NBCUniversal. Starting from May 12 (and rolling out through the following weeks) the content line up includes: 

• First-run scripted drama TV series exclusive to Hayu: Hacks (S4 and 5), Prisoner, The Five Star Weekend, and Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy 
• Much-loved classic Universal Television comedies The Office, Parks and Recreation, Will and Grace and 30 Rock 
• Beloved NBCUniversal drama series Suits, House and Downton Abbey 
• Recent blockbuster Universal movies Jurassic World Rebirth, How to Train Your Dragon, Wicked: For Good, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and Prime Minister 
• Iconic Universal films from the Fast & Furious, Jurassic, Bourne, Mamma Mia, Fifty Shades of Grey, Pitch Perfect and Bridget Jones franchises, alongside classic hits Back to the Future, Jaws and E.T. The ExtraTerrestrial  

Still also super-serving reality fans, Hayu continues to bring subscribers every episode and every season of a broad selection of reality TV franchises, all in one place – and available to download and watch on the go – completely adfree. The majority of shows stream on the service the same day as the USA – including hit global franchises The Real Housewives, Below Deck and Vanderpump Rules, alongside fanfavourite titles such as Summer House  and Southern Charm. Hayu also offers exclusive access to fan-favourite reality shows only available on Hayu in New Zealand including Made in Chelsea, The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. 

Hayu is available in 45 markets on a full array of devices – mobile, tablet, connected TV, console and web. New Hayu subscribers can access the service for $10.99 per month. Hayu is available to existing subscribers at $9.99 a month for a limited time. T&Cs apply, content availability is subject to change. 

FIRST-RUN SCRIPTED DRAMA & COMEDY TV SERIES COMING TO HAYU

Hacks S4 and S5 

The Emmy®, Golden Globe® and Critics Choice Award-winning comedy series returns to follow the ever-evolving dynamics between legendary Las Vegas stand-up Deborah Vance (six-time Emmy® winner Jean Smart) and her talented young comedy writer Ava (three-time Emmy® nominee and Critics Choice Award winner Hannah Einbinder). In season 4, friction between Deborah and Ava mounts as the pair looks to make history with the launch of Deborah’s new late night show.  

In the aftermath of mistaken and unflattering news reports that she passed away, season 5 sees Deborah Vance and Ava return to Las Vegas more determined than ever to secure Deborah’s legacy as a comedian. 

Prisoner  

The series follows Amber Todd (Izuka Hoyle), a principled young prison transport officer tasked with escorting Tibor (Tahar Rahim), a trained killer and high-value inmate, to court to testify against his elite crime syndicate. When their convoy is brutally ambushed, she’s forced to put her life in his hands. As the sole survivors, handcuffed and on the run, they must race to reach their destination alive and on time. Along the way, their uneasy alliance is tested as the syndicate closes in. Trust becomes a weapon and their shackled survival a moral dilemma, forcing Amber to confront how far she’ll go to protect what matters most. Prisoner is created and written by acclaimed writer Matt Charman (Hostage, Bridge of Spies) and directed by BAFTA-winner Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders).  

The Five Star Weekend  

Hollis Shaw (Golden Globe-winning and Emmy Award-nominated actress Jennifer Garner, The Last Thing He Told Me, Alias), a famed cook and best-selling author known for her delicious recipes, impeccable taste, and warm demeanor, who suffers a devastating loss. Unable to move forward, the death starts to expose the cracks in Hollis’s picture-perfect life—her strained marriage, her complicated relationship with her daughter, and her growing pursuit of validation from her fans. In an effort to overcome grief and find herself again, Hollis gets the idea to host a weekend away at her house on Nantucket with three friends from different stages in her life: her childhood, her twenties, thirties, and one surprise fifth star. Set against a luxurious and coastal backdrop, the stars will mature in ways they could never imagine as boundaries are pushed and secrets are exposed.  

Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy  

From 1972-1978, 33 young men were kidnapped, murdered and buried in a crawl space beneath their killer's house. And no one was the wiser. Not for all those years. Why? He was charming and funny. Had a good, All-American job. Was a community leader. He even volunteered to entertain sick kids... while dressed as a clown. “Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy” peels back the twisted layers of Gacy’s life while weaving in heartrending stories of his victims; exploring the grief, guilt, and trauma of their families and friends; and exposing the systemic failures, missed opportunities and societal prejudices that fueled his reign of terror.

For more info and to sign up, visit Hayu.com.

Obsession: Movie Review

Cast: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Megan Lawless
Director: Curry Barker

Meshing together the Monkey's Paw idea, Companion's social commentary and ethos along with Pearl and Smile's unsettling edges proves to be extremely fertile ground for Milk & Serial director Curry Barker's fresh and bracing horror movie.

Bear (Johnston, Teen Wolf) is hopelessly in love with his co-worker Nikki (Navarrette, the film's MVP) - their long-term friendship dips into playful banter, finishing each other's sentences and crossing boundaries. But Bear's unable to tell Nikki how he feels, leading him to be permanently friend-zoned.

When she loses a necklace she adores, he seizes on the chance to buy her a gift, then confess his affection. But while shopping in an old antique store, he finds a "One Wish Willow" artefact which can grant the holder the wish of their dreams. After failing to reveal the depth of his adoration when Nikki directly asks him, he uses the artefact to wish she loved him as much as he does...

Trading in both dysfunctional romances and commentary on adoration and co-dependency in relationships, Obsession is a deeply unsettling movie that traffics as much horror from its uncomfortable moments as it possibly can muster.

It helps that Navarrette delivers a truly upsetting performance, one that wildly swings from outright adoration to utter incredulity as to what just happened with ease - and her screams in the moments of her character's swing are just stomach-curdling.

But it's Barker who makes the leap here from a 62-minute found footage short on YouTube to something that's genuinely distressing to behold. With the film's suspense dragged out as much as possible and the brutal jolts delivered with aplomb, Obsession becomes something devilishly nightmarish as it plays out. Drenched in the kind of muted aesthetic which was deployed in It Follows, the film delights in its dour darkness.

It's a film that plays with horrific extremes and does so with glee - and by keeping the cast list small, the shocks are even more upsetting than you'd expect - or hope - them to be. 

Along with the two power performances, Obsession is the horror film you'd least have imagined to leave you reeling - it's 2026's most twisted love story.

Rivals: Season 2: Review

Dame Jilly Cooper's bonkbuster returns for another round after its rip-roaring success back in 2024.

In this second series, there's no sign of the stakes letting up, either dramatically or in terms of what audiences expect when it comes to sex romps and passion within the fictional county of Rutshire.

Picking up after its cliffhanger which saw Lord Tony Baddingham (a cigar-chomping, scenery-chewing David Tennant) lying in a pool of his own blood after being hit across the head by a wronged colleague and MP Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) finally acting on his impulses for his colleague's daughter Taggie (Bella Maclean), there's a lot to get into in this unabashedly hedonistic 1980s set OTT drama which delights in its OTT nature.

Of the three episodes of season two which were made available for review, it's fair to say that the second time around, there's no compunction from the writers and the cast about embracing the absurdity of the setting and the drama's premise, with the latest high-production series feeling like a trashy soap at the high-end of its game.

It has to be said, those who were not fans of the first series won't find anything new to enjoy here, with more episodes and even more parochial fighting between the two groups fighting for a lucrative TV franchise as the incumbent Corinium (led by Baddingham) takes on the upstarts of Venturer.

At the heart of Rivals Season 2, there's a deliciousness of interplay between the main leads. You can't dispute that Tennant's having a ball playing the villain, and there's a level of malevolence this time that he just manages to pull back from being too cartoony. While Hassell and Turner (as former Baddingham employee Declan O'Hara) seem to be trying to elicit more sympathy this time around, there's a softness and more emotional resonance to their characters throughout.

And while Taggie continues to pine for Rupert (a thread that rapidly feels like it's losing its audience, thanks to its overplaying), the women on the periphery of this come more to the fore. From Emily Atack's TV host Sarah through to Lady Baddingham (Clare Rushbrook) and Declan's wife (Victoria Smurfit), the arcs are a little stronger and more enticing rather than just shoulder pads and lustful eye-candy.

It's perhaps here that among the 80s precision needle drops Rivals' second season feels like it's embracing its own DNA and expanding it out to cover all of the cast, as opposed to just some of the key players. 

Because of that, Rivals remains an evolution of its trashy, soapy UK premise - it's a riotously OTT romp that's watchable, yet highly disposable fare.

Rivals season two premieres on Disney+ on Friday, May 15.

Caterpillar: Movie Review

Cast: Marta Dusseldorp, Anais Shand, Lisa Harrow, Matt Whelan
Director: Chelsie Preston Crayford

Set in the 2000s in New Zealand's capital Wellington, director Chelsie Preston Crayford's first full-length feature is clearly a personal passion project.

It follows three generations of the same family - there's single mother Maxine (A Place To Call Home's Dusseldorp), who's struggling to finance a film she's been pursuing for years; her daughter Cassie, an aspiring actress (Shand, almost a double for Crayford's looks) and matriarch Huia (Harrow), who's on the cusp of dementia and is obsessed by Monarch butterflies and wants to go to Mexico to see them.

In terms of plot, Caterpillar is light on developments outside of the home, with Crayford fixing her gaze on the internal dynamics of an errant mother and her struggling daughter, and keen to explore the parallels of how her own life was affected by the relationship she had with her own grandmother.

As a result, Caterpillar feels almost insular in its execution and less coherent in terms of drama and narrative than perhaps it could do.

And yet, there's a radiant beauty in this movie that plays out with subtlety, restraint and great heart.

Shand's excellent as the daughter, struggling to get her mother's attention and trying to find her own place in the world. While Dusseldorp has perhaps the more thankless role in proceedings given the perceived gaps and conflict within the family, the moments she shares with the two other protagonists sees the somewhat stereotyped creative character, pursuing it all whatever the cost may be, elevated.

Harrow has perhaps the more wistful role as her Huia struggles with the implications of what's coming while trying to never burden the family. It's a very familiar role and route that she pursues, but the narrative restraint that's bestowed upon the arc adds much to the heft. 

Yet the film's narrative failings are overcome by Crayford's eye for moments that stay with you after the movie's finished.

Whether it's a near perfect final shot that will emotionally destroy those who invest or the revelation of what chaos a Post-It note causes, there are plenty of eye-catching scenes within this to lift it from a female gaze to a director who has an eye for beauty in front of the lens.

There's a quiet dignity in Caterpillar and even if the drama comes crashing in at around the one-hour mark, the work done by the quartet of women involved does much to make it powerfully evocative and its considerations universal, no matter how occasionally insular and singular it feels.