Another year of movies another mixed bag result that proves that we are still in the age where a bad movie can’t get by on hype alone while good movies are not guaranteed to be money makers, either. But in the age of streaming, does box office even matter?

That said, the box office was down a bit overall compared to 2024 but we saw a more even spread amongst the top 10. Everything in the top 10 this year made $250M+ up from $190M for #10 last year. But this year Minecraft topped the list at $424M compared to Inside Out 2’s $600M+ haul last year. Neck and neck with Minecraft was the live action Lilo & Stitch remake at $423M. I am still not sure why Disney decided to redo all of these movies as live action instead of something more inventive (cough: $) but here is a quick open letter to Disney: You have all this Disney IP, you have The Muppets you are not using, do Muppet remakes of everything. I’d throw money at a Muppets’ Alice In Wonderland or Star Wars.

The rest of the top 5 were some predictable crowd-pleasers: Superman, Jurassic World: Rebirth, and Zootopia 2. Surprisingly, Wicked: For Good failed to crack the top 5 after being thought a probable shoe-in for highest grossing film of the year.

This year, we saw a lot of great things including Weapons, Keeper, Sinners, Together, Predator: Badlands, The Naked Gun, The Monkey, Toxic Avenger, One Battle After Another, The Long Walk, and more. Overall, a really strong year for movies. Like we have been asking for the last several years, we are finally seeing a lot of movies hit that feel like the filmmakers actually have control of their films, for better or worse. Great to break from superheroes.

Streaming had some gems again this year including some things that didn’t make a huge splash in the theater but got good reviews on Letterboxd, like: Frankenstein (2025), Mickey 17, K-Pop Demon Hunters, Bugonia, and Marty Supreme.

For best theater experiences this year, it had to be Tron: Ares and Predator: Badlands in the Dolby Cinema. Predator is a better movie but Tron was a better audio visual blast to the face, thx NIИ.

Overall, our consensus for favorite movie of 2025 was Weapons. Just a great movie that does what it intends to do. We talked about it to everyone and almost everybody had great things to say.

2026 is looking to be another stacked year as well. Prediction: Nolan’s Odyssey will be the one to beat.

Psst! Down here! If you are reading still, shout out to Cereal Offenders. You didn’t hear it from me but we are having pre-production meetings on Cereal Offenders 2… but don’t tell anyone yet, shhhhh!

2017 - PG-13 - 9/10 - Yet another Nolan masterpiece.

Dunkirk is told as 3 parallel stories: one is one week out, one is one day out, one is one hour out from the point in the 3rd act where all three stories converge in the same scene. As the stories entertwine, we once again see Nolan’s ability to juggle tension and parallel storylines and find a way to pay things off together perfectly. From moment one, Dunkirk tosses you into the fray and is the most tense and effective war movie since Saving Private Ryan, lack of blood allows this a PG-13 but be ready for intensity.

1951 - G - 10/10 - Creativity pouring out of your screen.

One of my favorite films of all time, it is hard to believe this movie is 75 years old and still filled with this much life. Alice in Wonderland is essentially the story of a girl who stumbles into the woods, eats the wrong mushrooms, and has trouble finding her way home through a maze of psychedelic encounters. In Disney’s reworked version, she is merely napping but that just gives them cover to go all in on her crazy trip. Really a road movie through color-drenched weirdness, it still feels amazingly creative and vibrant.

2025 - R - 8/10 - Nightmare fuel but Osgood Perkins, ymmv.

Osgood Perkins can’t seem to get out of his way with some people but for other people he seems to be hitting all the right notes. I think his divisiveness comes not from style vs substance but, instead, how far vibes can take you in a film. If aesthetic grabs you then what he builds is a sense of foreboding and a lot of visuals that stick with you, the parts of films that only seem to come to mind in a darkened house when you hesitate to flip off the last light switch before going to bed. Another Perkins film you can’t unsee.

2025 - R - 9/10 - A modern take on western / samurai classics.

The first half hour of this movie is a devisive ride, at times very politically opinionated at times oddly sexual but this is just the backdrop to set things in motion, once we move out of the extended prologue into our true Act 1, things start to settle in and then we realize everything has just been a tee-up for the character drama we are about to witness. Making good on several western and samurai tropes about lost relations, returning foes, revenge, and redemption, this is a great movie and wild ride.

Rolling right out of the holidays in to a new year, we here at Thrills Ville are keeping busy. We saw some friends over the holidays (check out the new Scary But Not That Scary with Carrie and Nick) and with that came some new merch as well. Including some Star Wars and Spawn rarities!

EXCITING!

Joe also just took an adventure into the wilds of the Toy Man Toy Fair to track down even more goodies you need. So don’t worry, after the holiday blitz, we are restocked!

REASSURING!

Check out inside as we run through our favorite movies from 2025 one last time and recap a few things that are going on and projects we are ramping up on, including a few more direct hints about something I have been barely hinting at.

INTRIGUING!

ALSO LATE BREAKING NEWS: We are throwing another birthday party for Joe at the shop! Low Water Mark For Ghosts are coming back for round 2! Don’t miss your chance to see an old-school in-store performance!

RADICAL!

Whew! What a year! Thrills Ville stayed busy.

Starting in January, we had Joe’s 45th Birthday party with a rocking live performance in store by Rebecca’s band Low Water Mark for Ghosts.

April we hit up the Wildey’s 2025 Short Film Fest with our friend Byron and took home the top prize in the community film category with his film Cereal Offenders starring Joe and co-directed by Adam!

Mid-year we went heads down and rolled out our Ebay store, Patreon, revamped newsletter section of the website, got the Cult Movie Club going in collaboration with the Edwardsville Public Library, started doing some new video formats for our YouTube channel, attended a few local toy fairs, and even more I am probably forgetting.

Then we restarted the newsletter (for good this time), had Jason and Michael roaming the streets for Halloween, and held our 2nd annual Black Metal Friday. Unfortunately the snow preempted Small Business Saturday but we rescheduled a day later.

This month we collaborated with the Edwardsville Public Library again as they re-launched their Anime Club into the Adult Animation Club.

We have also been discussing some big plans for something we can’t really talk about yet but, needless to say, we will drop details here when we have them. If we can pull it off, it will be epic.

For 2026, we are planning even more, stay tuned for details on Joe’s 46th birthday party bash!

Thanks for following us and being part of our journey, we couldn’t do this without the support of the community and we hope to keep pushing higher from here. Happy holidays and happy 2026 everyone! Our journey continues…

Running out of time? No where to turn? Don’t despair! We have that perfect last minute gift you are looking for, socks, shirts, toys, posters, artwork, stickers… You don’t have to settle for a candle. Well, unlees you want to pick up one of our amazing pillar candles like a Jeff Goldblum, Elvira, or the king of Christmas: Clark Griswald!

It is getting down the the wire and, last we checked, more and more items are throwing up the dreaded “Arrives after Christmas” warning on all your fave online stores. Come in and get the relief of a gift in your hand, no waiting on shipping!

We are open extra days on Monday 12/22 & Tuesday 12/23 from 10-7 then 10-2 on Christmas Eve 12/24. But if you wait to come in on 12/25, you are too late, we are closed, and that’s on you.

1974 - R (or Worse) - 7/10 - A Blueprint With Some Rough Edges.

Like The Burning, The Amityville Horror, or The Blair Witch Project this movie is a clear blueprint for a lot of holiday horror that came after. Trigger warning that one of the characters is getting unwanted perverted phone calls and the caller really goes there with the dialog. It is meant to make you uncomfortable and even being 50 years old, it still does its job. Everthing else in this movie is now seen as a by-the-books slasher but you can tell this is early in the genre and unique for blending in the Christmas vibes.

1996 - PG - 2/10 or 8/10 - A Good And Bad Holiday Classic.

This movie is a testament to the draw of Arnold throughout his career. By most measures, this movie is a mess, has moments that haven’t aged well, characters that are annoying, actors that can’t act, and all the rest of the problems. But then you get Arnold and Sinbad running through the city encountering absurd situations in persuit of a young Anakin Skywalker’s most desired toy: TurboMan. Strangely, it works. Just enough on the line to push Arnold and Sinbad to overact their hearts out. Bad but fun!

1988 - PG-13 - 8/10 - Bill Murray as Ebeneezer Scrooge, Say Less.

Drop Scrooge in the excessive 80s New York and you get Scrooged. Filled with biting satire and cynical snark that still hits. Bill Murray puts in a classic performance good enough you can’t really imagine it being anyone else in the role. The effects are effective enough here and the pace and directing never get in the way. What you get is what you want from Groundhog Day-era Bill Murray at the top of his game smashed up with a modernized (now 40 years ago but not jolly ole England) version of a classic.

2015 - PG-13 - 9/10 - The Other Big Red Guy Isn’t Nearly as Jolly.

The one criticism of this movie that I can get down with is that it doesn’t go further with the violence. Honestly, though, not sure why they didn’t just go there because the rest of the aesthetic, intensity, and feeling here deliver on the twisted story of Krampus. This movie is a great mix of horror, holiday, satire, camp, special effects, and amazing art direction. A lot of memorable visuals here and a lot of echoes of other holiday classics, this feels part twisted version of Christmas Vacation and part Joe Dante cranked to 11.

2023 - NR (Probably R) - 10/10 - Blueprint for badlands.
While watching Predator: Badlands it is hard not to see a comparison to Scavenger’s Reign. Without getting into spoilers, the tee-up for SR is that it is a breathtakingly detailed animated series about a spaceship’s crew who crash land on an unknown planet, are scattered, and need to find each other and their downed ship. As they make that trek, we are treated to a visual and artistic feast of the detailed creatures, plants, and interactions of the ecosystem of this strange world. Beautiful, fascinating, and epic.

2025 - PG-13 - 8/10 - What we were hoping this would be.
Why are so many movies afraid to fully transport us and dump us in unfamiliar and disorienting settings? Sure, you get your weird locations and aliens in superhero movies but it is always carefully grounded. From the jump, Badlands kicks you directly into the deep end. We are on a hostile planet, our protagonist is a species we have only known as an unstoppable killing machine, the only thing we see that is human is broken tech. Even without that grounding, relatable themes give this movie heart amidst the action. 

2025 - PG-13 - 8/10 - Where are more movies like this?

What is my review? It is my thoughts and feelings on how good this movie was but that’s not important now. (Hey, I tried.) I was definitely skeptical going into this, I think you have to be worried about anyone being able to step into Leslie Nielson’s shoes. Fortunately, I was surprised by how much I liked this movie. Throwing back to slapstick classics like Airplane, Hot Shots, and Austin Powers, this movie’s best jokes come from misdirection into absurdity or just flat out dumb humor. Now is the time for more of this.

For the second year in a row, we made the most of being a block off the parade route and scared up some serious Halloween week fun.

Starting the Saturday before with Trick or Treating on Main for the kiddos, we loved seeing all the families and costumes out. Minecraft’s Steve (looking a bit shorter than we expected) stopped by and didn’t hesitate to bust out the moves when we blasted Lava Chicken! 

Thanks to all who grabbed a photo Halloween parade night with Michael, Jason, Joe, Rebecca, and the crew! For more thrills and chills, see our full recap video on our YouTube channel!

2025 - R - 2/10 - Some buttons Aren’t pushed for a reason.

Easily the worst VHS, just when I thought they were hitting a stride. The wrap around is fine, the first segment starts off promising but then drags on and that becomes a theme here. There are a few moments that are good in the 2 hour runtime but it is all overshadowed by one segment that is not only long but also deals with some taboo subjects that are taboo for a reason. Taking all the wrong lessons from Terrifier and combining them with things that are better left implied than explored, hard pass.

2025 - PG-13 - 7/10 - A Nine Inch Nails fueled neon thrill ride.

This movie feels more like a theme park ride than a movie. Thanks mostly to the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack that grabs you and provides a driving force through even the slower parts of the movie, it feels like the movie never lets up. On top of that, the visuals and inventiveness of the art department flood every frame. Yes, there are flaws. No, I don’t know why Jared Leto is in this. Thankfully, none of that becomes enough of a distraction to take away from the brilliant way the synths and neon are woven together.

2025 - R - 9/10 - Suspense! Horror! Humor! Heart! Filmmaking!

In the running for my favorite movie of the year. I love how lean this movie is. It establishes a premise early on, reveals the plot from multiple angles, and sticks to that premise. Without getting into spoilers, the major plot point here is something that would be obvious but “hidden” in a lesser film. Here, it is out in the open and the central driving force of the plot. This no-frills approach keeps things from getting too messy, unfocused, or bogged down as things unfold. Oh, and that end is satisfying.

2023 - R - 8/10 - Punk rock filmmaking like it should be!

Wow. Yeah, this was a surprise. Went into it hoping that there would be some over-the-top Toxie fun but was prepared for this to have some rough edges. Instead, what we got was a movie that actually managed to have some heart and make Toxie a lovable character underneath the punk rock surface. This movie is also packed to the brim with a unique style and humor like classic Troma polished up. You can feel that they had a blast making this movie and it is a blast to watch. We need more big swings like this!