Three new movies this week, but a pair of classics to go along with it: “The Jester 2,” “The Man in the White Van,” and “Monster Island” are all out fresh this month, but “The Ghastly Love of Johnny X” (2012) and “Land of the Dead” (2005) are from a decade or two ago. * The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #48, is on sale now! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com Mainstream Films: 2025 The Jester 2 * Directed by: Colin KrawChuk * Written by: Colin KrawChuk * Stars: Michael Sheffield, Kaitlyn Trentham, * Run Time: 1 Hour, 27 Minutes * Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone The Jester is back, killing people like a magician and entertainer again, with a bit of a different look. There’s much more explanation in this sequel than the first movie, and we both thought that was a step in the right direction. We liked this one better than the first Jester. Spoilery Synopsis It’s a big Halloween party, and the guys mock each other for being afraid to talk to Ava. He goes over to her, but she’s more interested in Connor. That goes badly for Eric but suddenly, The Jester appears by crawling out of a box. He then peels his mask off like he’s molting, and we see that he’s got hair now and his face itself looks like the mask. The Jester makes Eric be the pinata, and that’s a mess. Credits roll. Max and Zoe talk about going out trick or treating, but mom says Max is getting a little too old for this stuff. Meanwhile, the Jester asks a guy on the street to pick a card, and then handcuffs him before ripping out his innards with a card trick. Max goes to a restaurant alone, and the jerky waiter recognizes her from school. The girls at the next table mock her, but then the Jester sits down across from Max, and at least he’s nice to her. He tries to do a trick with his cards, but she shows him card tricks aren’t going to fool her. When the guy she likes punctures her bicycle tire, she stops and cries. A trio of troublemakers are out pranking, and they run up against the Jester, who does his thing for them– except his magic no longer works. Instead, he just kills them the old-fashioned way- he attacks them with a knife. He’s lost his mojo and soon figures out that Max has it. Max goes to the magic shop and tells her friend there about her social problems. He’s really nice and cheers her up. When she leaves, the Jester is waiting for her. As she watches, he walks over to the mean group from earlier and “pantses” the guy, much to his embarrassment. Jester invites Max to go trick or treating with him. At the first house, Max does a magic trick for the woman inside, but then the Jester does a trick and kills the woman; his magic is back on again. Max runs away, terrified. They come across the remains of the party from the opening sequence, and Max shows him the Ouija board, which he can use to “talk” to her. He’s not going to kill her, he needs her. “You are just like me.” He says he’s a misunderstood entertainer until he met the Great Deceiver, who made him a deal. “I must trick four souls each Hallow’s Eve before a candle burns out.” Since she tricked him, that opens up a whole new rulebook; she has to do the tricks now. Max picks out one guy in the park; it’s the guy who was mean to her earlier. He’s pretty easy to hate, so she shows him a trick. He apologizes during the trick, but it’s too late by then, and the Jester takes over. Some police come over to question Max and the Jester, but suddenly, Max can’t speak either. Turns out, Max has called 911 on her phone. The police try to arrest the Jester, but that doesn’t go well for them. Max runs away and encounters a man on the street who offers to drive her to the police station. They hear about the previous deaths on the radio, but the guy in the car is very weird, weird in a pedophile kind of way. The Jester reappears and solves Max’s problem. Max has an asthma attack, so the Jester takes her to the fire station for help. The Jester then plays hide and seek with the firemen in the fire station. Max refuses to help him any further and goes home. Max’s mother is there waiting for her, and she’s surprisingly mean. She finds the Jester in her sister Zoe’s room; he’s already killed the mother, and now he wants Zoe too. He still needs her to do one more trick for a victim. Max chooses Darren, the waiter from earlier. When he gets off work, Max and the Jester are outside waiting for him. She pulls out her deck of cards and has second thoughts halfway through it. Turns out, she’s sleight-of-handed the Jester himself and performs a trick on him. Suddenly, his candle goes out and he bursts into flames. The magic shop owner shows up to help Max and Zoe. The police have the whole area covered. He finds that Max has taken the Jester’s hat, and she keeps babbling about “four tricks– four souls. Every year.” Sounds like it’s time for a yearly franchise! Brian’s Commentary The character of the Jester looked better in the previous film, with the full-head mask. This time around, he’s just got his face covered, and it’s not as effective. In the first film, he had more of a “street performer” look, but here, it seems he’s trying to look more scary. One complaint about the previous film was that nothing was explained, and we get everything explained in this one. It’s got a much stronger story, and the pacing is much better as well. I liked this one quite a bit more than the original. Kevin’s Commentary This one had all the magical murdering goodness of the first movie with a better script and story. Though I do agree that I preferred the Jester’s look in the first film, overall this was a better movie. If you liked the first time around, you should definitely see this one. 2025 The Man in the White Van * Directed by: Warren Skeels * Written by: Sharon Y. Cobb, Warren Skeels * Stars: Madison Wolfe, Brec Bassinger, Ali Larter, Sean Astin * Run Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes * Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone It’s well-made and based on a real crime situation, which makes it creepy on a fundamental level. But it is rather long and drawn out. It hops around in the early 70s, doing a great job of capturing the look and feel of the decade. The van driver chooses to fixate on one character, rather than just the random attacks, so there’s drama and supporting cast for us to care about. Spoilery Synopsis A woman gets into a car and drives away. It’s 1970, and we see a white van following her car. She pulls over, crying about something, and doesn’t see the man from the van until it’s too late. Credits roll. In 1975, Annie falls off her horse. She goes home, and her mother, Helen, freaks out and tells her to shave her legs. At dinner, her father, Richard, talks business. Margaret and Annie are very competitive sisters. It’s a very strict household. Back in 1971, we watch a woman go out for the evening. She’s immediately kidnapped by the man in the white van, who we never see. In 75 again, we watch as the family goes to church. As the preacher talks, we see that the man in the white van is still active out there and he follows the family car back to their home. In 1972, a woman comes out of a disco and first with a man who drives a white van, and he gives her a ride against her will before killing her with an ax. Annie likes the new boy at school, Mark Newsome. We see that Annie’s horse is upset by something outside, and when Annie goes out, she sees the van there. When she tells her mother and Margaret, they don’t believe her wild stories. She finally gets to talk to Mark, and they hit it off. On the way home, Annie and Patty see the van, but it’s only a telephone installer. Little brother Daniel keeps playing with his father’s rifle, which annoys everyone. Annie ends up showing him how to use it. 1973, and a woman at a motel leaves the pool and gets grabbed on the way to her room. Annie keeps seeing the strange man outside the house. One night, near Halloween, her parents go out for dinner and Annie sneaks away for her boyfriend, leaving Annie and Daniel alone. The van man comes around and terrifies them until they get the gun and shoot at the van. When Helen and Richard come home, the story comes out, and Margaret blames Annie for making it all up. Punishments are disbursed all around. In 1974, a girl takes her dog out for a walk and things go badly for her. This time, the killer shows the kidnapped girl to an older man who calls him son. Annie sees the guy outside again and gets Richard to go outside with his real gun. He shoots a possum in the trash can. Annie gets even more paranoid after that, actually going so far as to lock the front door! The three kids go to a drive-in, and once again, Margaret sneaks off to be with her boyfriend. Annie runs into Mark there, and he’s come with the school slut, Joanna, who is having a Halloween party in a few days. It’s Halloween, and Annie and Patty go to Joanna’s party. Margaret is actually nice and helps Annie get ready. Mark, it turns out, is more interested in Annie than Joanna, but they can’t stay very long. On the way home, on horseback, the two girls spot the van again, and this time it chases them. Annie falls off her horse and runs. It’s tense, but she eventually loses him. When she gets home to put her horse away, the man is there waiting for her. The man knocks her out and ties her up, but the horse, on the other hand, kicks the man and knocks him out. It’s a contest of who will recover first, but Annie eventually winds up in the back of that van. She opens the door and jumps out (nobody tried that before?). Annie runs home, and this time, Margaret sees the bad guy too. They do the cat-and-mouse things in and around the house. They hit the man with his own van just as the policeman arrives. One month later, both Annie and Margaret have
