Genre Blast Film Festival is easily one of my favorite times of the year as film critic. It has almost this returning to camp type vibe and it’s almost made for weird cinephiles like myself. During our Lost Media series, we are creating content that was thought to be lost for one reason or another. Including our thoughts on the twelve feature films that made up 2025’s edition of GenreBlast. We hope you enjoy.
(c) Mark Beal
Title: Marginalia
Synopsis: A nun hiding a terrible burden is brought to a new abbey.
General Thoughts: Marginalia is a bit of a mixed bag. The film is daring and experimental. Marginalia embodies itself as a slow-burn film. That’s honestly where the majority of my issues with the film lie. There is nothing outright wrong with a slow-burn approach to the storytelling. Not by any means. However, there have to be elements of the film that grip the audience during the slow-burn process. Unfortunately, this is where I felt Marginalia lacking the most. Eventually the film does give way to a stunning and truly surprising climax. Even when the story may feel lacking at times. The performances are still strong, the aesthetic is stunning, and the finale is worth the wait.
Rorschach Rating: 2.5 / 5
(C) Ricky Umberger
Title: The Man with the Black Umbrella
Synopsis: A found footage movie exploring the mysterious murder of a man’s sister.
General Thoughts: If you’ve listened to any episode of Abyss Gazing, then you know that I am not the found footage guy. I feel like it’s very rare to come across an impactful entry into the franchise. However, Ricky Umberger might have done so with The Man with the Black Umbrella. This movie is nothing short of gripping. Yes, it hits the normal genre tropes, but Umberger doesn’t reinvent the wheel of what can be done with the found footage genre. He does craft a story with fascinating lore and tension that makes this arguably one of the genre’s best finales in recent memory. The character design of our protagonist is haunting. The tension, I mentioned earlier, is masterfully woven. Proving that Man might be Umberger’s best work to date.
Rorschach Rating: 4/5
(C) Jeffery Garcia
Title: Meat Machine
Synopsis: A small town in Texas is on the verge of something deadly.
General Thoughts: I will be honest and up front first and say Meat Machine is one of the hardest movies I’ve ever had to review. I try my best to be as unbiased as possible. The latest offering from Jeffery Garcia is an acquired taste, to say the least. This movie was made for a very specific audience. Honestly, I don’t feel like I am that audience. I appreciate the boldness that Garcia brings to the story here. This movie is fearless and truly embraces its audience. It knows what it wants to be and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. Which in a way is very refreshing. However, I found this movie to be crude, unfunny, and just straight up messy. Garcia presents way too many storylines for a 90-minute movie. The acting is over the top, but again, it’s part of the movie’s aesthetic to its audience.
Rorschach Rating: 1 / 5
(C) Caddy Productions, End of the World Productions
Title: Tonight and Maybe Tomorrow
Synopsis: A man throws a party at the end of the world.
General Thoughts: Tonight and Maybe Tomorrow will no doubt be one of the hidden gems that 2025 has to offer. This movie is nothing shy of exceptional. It is a remarkable feature film debut from writer, director, and actor Michael Smallwood. Tonight manages to strip the normal apocalypse sci-fi tropes from the story and present a compelling character-driven story that also somehow masterfully manages to become a love story at the same time. The performances are incredible here. Especially from our two leads, Shivam Patel and Marissa Godinez. The duo have some of the best chemistry of a duo you will see this year. The movie is ambitious yet personal. It’s daringly beautiful both in the narrative sense and from a visual standpoint.
Rorschach Rating: 4.5 / 5
(C) Cranked Up Films
Title: Blood and Rust
Synopsis: A grieving son finds out his father was killed by vampires.
General Thoughts: I’m not normally one for vampire movies. I think I can probably count on one hand how many I actually like. Over the years, I just feel like they have been overplayed & it’s rare that one ever actually breaks the mold. While Blood and Rust doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel for vampire movies, it proves there is still some blood, pun intended, left in them. This movie has a surprising emotional core to it that you don’t typically come across in these types of movies. I think perhaps one thing that makes this film work as well as it does is the relationship between our unlikely leading duo, Morgan McLeod and Mark Kelly. McLeod and Kelly both give exceptional performances here. The chemistry is strong and lays a solid foundation. The vampires have an incredible design. It feels like a cross between a traditional vampire mixed with a zombie for a rather striking visual. Blood and Rust is certainly one of the better entries into the vampire genre we’ve gotten. It’s currently streaming for free right now on Tubi.
Rorschach Rating: 3.5 / 5
(C) Bandit Motion Pictures
Title: Gush
Synopsis: A writer unlocks her writer's block during an escape to a cabin.
General Thoughts: Gush feels very akin to David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, a bit in its delivery. The film does a marvelous job at showcasing the mental health impact of miscarriages as well. Ellie Church's turn as our protagonist, Sally, is nothing short of brilliant. The complexity and raw vulnerability she brings to this character is what elevates this film past just bringing your average erotic thriller. Church excels on all fronts for the emotional beats of this film. Delivering a surprising emotional core that you don't find in many other genre entries like Gush. The visuals are stunning here as well and definitely worth the mention. Gush is definitely one to go well, gush, about.
Rorschach Rating: 4/5
(C) Sugar Rot Productions
Title: Sugar Rot
Synopsis: A woman turns into ice cream as she becomes pregnant following an assault.
General Thoughts: Some movies are made with a very specific, and often times, niche audience. Sugar Rot is definitely a film that fits into that category. This is a film that rivals the grotesque visual natures of John Waters’ Pink Flamingos or even more recently Ryan Kruger’s Street Trash. The movie is an ASMR nightmare. As someone who struggles with ASMR as a concept in general—this was something that crawled under my skin. The film has some eye-popping women, and the use of color here is very vibrant. Allowing for a really unique experience. For better or worse, there isn’t really anything like Sugar Rot. The movie is home to passable acting with some pretty bad pacing. In the end, this movie I respected way more than I actually enjoyed. Its commentary on how we treat women's bodies is exceptionally clever. While it may be gross visually, Sugar Rot offers a lot in the grand scheme of its brilliant social commentary.
Rorschach Rating: 2.5 / 5
(C) Sam Gorman
Title: Inter-State
Synopsis: A startup company taps into interdimensional travel with consequences.
General Thoughts: Inter-State has to be one of the most unique genre films I’ve come into contact with this year. It’s an intimate science fiction film that marvelously makes the most of his budget. This is a remarkable feature film debut from writer-director Sam Gorman. Gorman weaves a story that is equal parts ambitious and the previously mentioned intimate. The film is nearly a single-shot location type of film and makes the most of everything we see. Aubrey Clyburn, Max Mooney, and Brandon Pettus are our core cast of characters. No performances here are lacking. That’s really one of the strongest suits about this movie. Probably the most impressive thing about this movie is how Gorman and his crew used their budget. This film is simple but effective.
Rorschach Rating: 4 / 5
(C) Izzy Lee
Title: House of Ashes
Synopsis: A woman navigates through grief in this supernatural thriller.
General Thoughts: House of Ashes has a splendid color palette to it with a remarkable performance from Fayna Sanchez. My biggest complaint about the movie, that I will get out of the way, is its pacing. There are definitely moments within the film where the film certainly drags just a bit. However, it’s a very minor complaint in the grand scheme of the film. Writer-director, Izzy Lee, beautifully navigates the double grief of our protagonist with efficiency. It almost feels as if this is an exercise in therapy. Whether that is the intention or not remains to be unseen, but there feels like there is a bit of vulnerability from both Sanchez on screen and Lee on writing duties. Lee weaves tension superbly here. The supernatural elements feel almost like an extension of Sanchez’s performance here as well.
Rorschach Rating: 3.5 / 5
(C) Octopunk Media
Title: First Draft: The Outcasts
Synopsis: A young director does a table reading of the first script she ever wrote.
General Thoughts: There really isn’t a film quite like First Draft: The Outcasts. It’s a beautifully delightful film that embraces its raw nostalgia in some rather surprising ways. As someone who has also revisited their art from childhood, this movie does some incredibly brave things in the way that it bares its soul. The story is surprisingly wholesome with some truly fantastic comedic moments. The chemistry among its core cast is exceptional. This is another surefire hit from Michelle Iannantuono.
Rorschach Rating: 4 / 5
(C) Michael Fausti
Title: Burnt Flowers
Synopsis: A missing persons case finds a connection to a 1960s serial killer.
General Thoughts: Dual timelines are one of the trickiest things to master when storytelling. The director needs to masterfully link two seemingly unrelated moments in history and create the course correction when history meets the present day or vice versa. For all my comic nerds out there, one example could be the second season of Arrow. The present-day Green Arrow is being haunted by Deathstroke. While their counterparts are forging their respective rivalries and alter egos in the past. Even for recent films, you can also make the argument for Everything Everywhere All At Once. Then, we enter Burnt Flowers, the latest offering from Micahel Fausti. The film has a very surface-level nature to it. It looks stunning with its cinematography, and the costuming is incredible. That, unfortunately, is where a large part of the film’s praise stops. The film becomes a bit too crowded throughout its 100-minute runtime. The scale of the story feels too grand for its medium. The story that Fausti is attempting to tell here feels better suited for a limited series. As a result, the story feels a bit bloated and underdeveloped in the same breath. The acting is strong here nonetheless. Especially from our lead in Amber Doig-Thorne. Burnt Flowers feels like the fire burned a little too long in the end.
Rorschach Rating: 1.5 / 5
Victims and Villains is written (and produced) by Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey and others. Music by Mallory Johnson and others. We do not own nor claim any rights. Buddy is property of Roadside Attractions and Saban Films. We do not own nor claim any rights.
You can now support us on Patreon. Help us get mental health resources into schools and get exclusive content at the same time. Click here to join today!