"Vengeance" (2022):

This dark comedy wrapped in mystery is entirely B.J. Novak's film. Most will know him as Ryan Howard from the TV series "The Office," and he has also been a regular on "The Mindy Project," and "The Newsroom." Here, he writes, directs, and stars in the story of Ben, a podcaster from New York City who learns that a girl named Ty that he knew died in West Texas from a reported drug overdose. He heads south to investigate, and to try to determine what happened and why. As Ben begins to explore the people she knew, those who were friends, those who were relatives, and some who were not quite enemies, but not far from it, he finds that each person he encounters seems to have a motive that would have them benefit from the girl’s death. It becomes clear to him that her death was not an accident, but a case of murder. He also learns, as he asks more questions of more people, and digs with investigative journalistic zeal, that there seem to be those who do not want him looking at her past or her present, and the danger to Ben becomes more and more real the further into her life, her loves, and her business that he gets. From Blumhouse Productions, which did the "Paranormal Activity" and "The Purge" films, we get a strong cast that includes Ashton Kutcher and Issah Ray. Rated 14A.

Post Mortem (2020):

This Hungarian film was that country’s entry for the 2020 Oscars for Best Foreign film, and aside from its very creepy premise, has all the trappings of a significant big-screen movie with great visuals, great special effects, and believable characters. In 1918, all of Europe and much of the rest of the world was dealing with the impact of the First World War and with the Spanish Flu which killed millions. A soldier, Tomas (Viktor Klem) was hit by a bombardment, and near death, he was headed for the hereafter when he had a vision of Anna, a beautiful woman calling his name. Six months later, Tomas, now fully recovered, is using his skills as a wartime photographer to travel from village to village in Eastern Europe following the once-common practice of having living relatives photographed with their recently departed loved ones. It is winter, the ground is frozen, and as such, it is littered with dozens of dead bodies that cannot be buried because it is impossible to dig graves in the frost-gripped ground. But dead bodies are not the only thing that Tomas encounters. Clearly, there is ghostly activity ramping up as malevolent spirits walk among the living and the dead and Tomas uses his camera and its then-leading-edge technology, to determine what happens to the dead when they die. The answers are frightening and they take us on an unusual ride for a horror film. Rated 14A.

The Reef: Stalked (2022):

This is a follow-up of sorts to a movie from a dozen years ago called “The Reef” in which a Great White Shark attacked and capsized a sailboat off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, leaving the boat’s occupants to be picked off one-by-one as the behemoth circled them and attacked at will. Here there are no continuing characters, but the Great Barrier Reef remains as a part of the story. Nic (Australian actress Teressa Lane) has been through a terrible trauma after witnessing her sister’s brutal murder, and she suffers major PTSD and has difficulty getting through the day. Deciding to try to get past her grief a year later, Nic, her surviving sister, and two close friends choose an exotic diving excursion on a remote Pacific Island that promises to get them to a place where Nic can heal and get past the tragedy that has left her on shaky ground emotionally. While midway through their kayaking and diving adventure, the women are stalked by a Great White that is bent on their destruction. Kayaks are overturned and ripped apart and the shark seems to be everywhere at once. Only extraordinary teamwork and resourcefulness will help them to avoid certain destruction, and that forces Nic to get her act together or die. Rated 14A.

Lou (2022):

Allison Janney plays the title character here, a career vigilante who has put that life behind her, looking for a simpler and quieter existence, when the storm breaks loose, literally. A neighbour, a young mother (Jurnee Smollett of "True Blood"), approaches Lou and begs her to help find and free her kidnapped daughter in this dark action-thriller that some may see as a version of the Liam Neeson movie "Taken," with the male and female roles reversed, because here, Lou is one tough lady with a set of martial arts and weapons skills that could only come from a lifetime of serious conflict. Shot in Vancouver, we follow the action as a massive weather disturbance takes hold while the two women search for the missing girl, and along the way, reveal shocking details of each of their pasts. Produced by JJ Abrams' "Bad Robot" company, the film has had some limited release in theatres as Netflix has the worldwide distribution rights. Logan Marshall-Green ("Spider-Man Homecoming") and Ontario's Matt Craven ("X-Men First Class") also star. Rated 14A.

Day Shift (2022):

This film, based on actual events in WWII, was released by Warner Bros in the UK theatrically, and is being released by Netflix in North America. Colin Firth stars in this ingenious story of an espionage operation in 1943 that turned the tide of the war when a pair of British operatives used a combination of a corpse and false identity documents to deceive the Germans at a critical point when a huge build-up of troops was set to quash the allies. It tells the story of those who fight in the shadows, and whose true exploits are sometimes unknown and lost in the fog of war and the mirage of history. Rated 14A.