News Horror Letterboxd Video Store’s Launch Lineup Includes One of 2025’s Best — and Hardest to Find — Horror Movies This will probably be your first (and maybe only) chance to see one of the best horror movies of 2025. By Matthew Byrd | Published on December 10, 2025 Photo: Letterboxd Video Store Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Letterboxd Video Store The new Letterboxd Video Store launched today, and its launch lineup includes one of the best horror movies of 2025 that you almost certainly haven’t seen. I know, I know. Another place online to rent videos? Is that what the world needs right now? That’s certainly debatable, though the Letterboxd Video Store has a few things going for it. Most notably, it’s run by Letterboxd (the website that we’re all trying to get people to talk to us about in real life), which means it’s curated by some of the finest film nerds on the internet. Part of that curation process involves the inclusion of special “shelves”: two, regularly rotating collections of movies largely intended to spotlight underseen films and even films that are otherwise unavailable (or difficult to find) elsewhere. For instance, the first two Letterboxd Video Store shelves are “Lost and Found” and “Unreleased Gems.” The former features movies that aren’t otherwise available in the regions the Letterboxd Video Store is releasing them, and the latter highlights what are referred to as “underseen underdogs with stellar community ratings.” The movies featured in both include Sore: A Wife From The Future (a romantic twist on the time loop concept from Indonesia), Poison (director Todd Haynes’ shocking sci-fi horror anthology), and Before We Vanish (a subversive take on the alien invasion genre). To be honest, I can’t vouch for every film in the early Letterboxd Video Store collection, nor can I say you should spend the $3.99 to $19.99 (!) it costs to rent them. However, there is one movie that I must highlight simply because this may be your first and best chance to see it: Director Alex Ullom’s 2025 horror movie It Ends. It Ends follows a group of friends who get together for what may be the last time before they part ways and enter (relative) adulthood. At one point, they decide to go on a brief road trip to get some food. The trip proves to be anything but brief, though, as they find themselves stuck on what seems to be an infinitely repeating road in the woods. Trapped and seemingly surrounded by forces they can hear just off in the distance, they try to keep it together as they inevitably argue over what (if anything) they can do about their surreal situation. It Ends is one of the rare pieces of Gen-Z horror media that seems to both speak directly to that generation while tying their anxieties into the worries of previous young adults and the broader supernatural story at play. In other words, it does an incredible job of operating as a clever and unnerving horror film while subtly giving you a lot to chew on in terms of its characters who are quite literally stuck in life and unsure if the road ahead will offer any relief. It Ends premiered at the 2025 South by Southwest festival, but hasn’t really been made available anywhere else. For that matter, there’s no indication it will be made available anywhere else outside of the Letterboxd Video Store. So, if anything in the above description piqued your interest, and you have the time, money, and desire required to give this new platform a shot, I’d certainly recommend checking it out. [end-mark] The post Letterboxd Video Store’s Launch Lineup Includes One of 2025’s Best — and Hardest to Find — Horror Movies appeared first on Reactor.

News Endless Night Agatha Christie’s Endless Night to Get Film Adaptation From The End of the F***ing World Director The 1967 novel was one of Christie’s last By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on December 10, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Jonathan Entwistle, whose previous credits include The End of the F***ing World, I Am Not Okay With This, and Hello, Tomorrow!, is set to direct a modern reimagining of Agatha Christie’s crime novel, Endless Night. According to Deadline, Studiocanal—the company behind Paddington in Peru and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy—is putting the production together, which already has a script from Emily Siegel. Deadline describes the movie as following “an ambitious twentysomething hustler who ends up entangled in a web of blame and deception after he becomes romantically involved with a volatile American heiress and her assistant.” That description matches up fairly well with the conceit in the 1967 novel, which Christie wrote in only six weeks, whereas her usual books took her between three to four months(!). The book, unsurprisingly, has been adapted previously, including in a 1972 film of the same name, and an Agatha Christie’s Marple adaptation that stayed close to the book while also adding in Christie’s Miss Marple, a popular character found in several of her other novels. The story has also recently been picked up for a television adaptation, with the BBC and BritBox International announcing in May 2025 that their next project would be Endless Night, led by Sarah Phelps (Dublin Murders). Entwistle’s project is still in its early days, so no news on casting or when it will make its way into production, much less premiere on a screen near you. [end-mark] The post Agatha Christie’s <i>Endless Night</i> to Get Film Adaptation From <i>The End of the F***ing World</i> Director appeared first on Reactor.

News Wonder Man Ben Kingsley Dodges The Mandarin Allegations in New Wonder Man Video The Disney+ series, Wonder Man, is set to premiere in January. By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on December 10, 2025 Photo courtesy of Marvel Television Comment 0 Share New Share Photo courtesy of Marvel Television We’re almost in a new year, which means that we’ll be getting some more Marvel Cinematic Universe shows heading to Disney+. One of those is the very meta Wonder Man, which stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams/Wonder Man and Ben Kingsley as the notorious actor Trevor Slattery. Here’s the synopsis for Wonder Man, in case you need a refresher: Aspiring Hollywood actor Simon Williams is struggling to get his career off the ground. During a chance meeting with Trevor Slattery, an actor whose biggest roles may be well behind him, Simon learns legendary director Von Kovak is remaking the superhero film Wonder Man. These two actors at opposite ends of their careers doggedly pursue life-changing roles in this film as audiences get a peek behind the curtain of the entertainment industry. The series, created by Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton and Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Hawkeye alum Andrew Guest, is finally getting its marketing rollout, starting with Kingsley as Trevor Slattery having a controversial appearance on a fictional podcast called Bad Actors, hosted by the non-fictional Ben Mankiewicz. The conceit is that he’s on press tour to promote the aforementioned superhero film Wonder Man (and not the Disney+ MCU series named Wonder Man, to be clear). In the clip, Slattery gets touchy when Mankiewicz keeps bringing up the actor’s role as The Mandarin, which he played in Iron Man 3. (Spoilers for Iron Man 3, but in the film Tony Stark and a bunch of other people thought The Mandarin was a real-life criminal warlord, only to find out that he was a washed-out actor hired to play the part.) Mankiewicz, being a determined podcaster, doesn’t stop bringing up The Mandarin, however, and Slattery throws down his headphones and leaves in a huff. You can watch the two-minute clip below, and catch the series when Wonder Man premieres on Disney+ on January 27, 2026. [end-mark] The post Ben Kingsley Dodges The Mandarin Allegations in New <i>Wonder Man</i> Video appeared first on Reactor.

Books book reviews You Will Not Remember This Review—qntm’s There Is No Anti-Memetics Division A novel to read—and not forget. By Sasha Bonkowsky | Published on December 10, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Ref.: U-11125 | Cat.: 1 Containment Protocol: U-11125 is kept on a bookshelf in vault Q1 in the Passive Containment Archive housed at UO Wyeleigh. Due to the large quantity of information receptacles and other text-based Unknowns, vault Q1 must be checked monthly for seepage or plagiarism. Organization staff of rank L or higher are free to select and examine U-11125 outside of these inspections, provided that their supervisor of rank I or higher provides written authorization through form 25.A(2) to do so. Although presented as fiction, U-11125 nevertheless contains variations on classified information about the Organization and its past missions—obtained through the aforementioned ‘seepage’ that defines book-type Unknowns—that staff are not pre-approved to know. Amnestic measures are permitted in the event these protocols are disregarded. Description: U-11125 takes the form of a slim novel. The cover depicts a heavy stone monolith, several stories in height, rising above a fog-covered forest composed of subtle greens, grey, and oranges. The title, in reflective silver text, reads “There Is No Anti-Memetics Division”; below that, U-11125 declares itself to be “A Novel By QNTM”. (note: Investigate? Possibly a propagating source of several Unknowns.) There Is No Anti-Memetics Division depicts an Organization much like our own, dedicated to protecting humanity from incursions, creatures, or phenomena acting outside of known science or reality. In recent years, especially with the rise of the Internet and ever more mass media phenomena, the Organization’s Memetics Division—tracking Unknowns with the power to self-replicate through culture and information—has grown rapidly. But that’s not where our protagonist, Marie Quinn, works. She heads the understaffed and struggling Anti-Memetics Division. It’s not the best working environment. Anti-memetics are ideas that cannot be spread, entities that consume and destroy information. They can make people forget them the moment they look away, corrupt and mutate any records. They can kill you by crushing your mind and then, once you’re dead, no one will ever remember you existed. Against that, what can the Division do? They’ve got special serums made to crystallize memories and make them more resistant to anti-memetic entities, records and vaults isolated from incursion so that field agents can be brought back to speed on whatever they’ve forgotten, but mostly they’ve got to rely on their own wisdom and bravery. Simon Lee is a new researcher at the Organization, who finds himself under attack in the cafeteria by an Unknown, U-7175: First, 7175 cuts its victims out of bystanders’ memories so they can’t help him, then slowly feeds on every bit of information in its victims’ brains until they collapse. Although panicked, Lee is able to escape to a basement lab, find the last testimonies of all those attacked (and killed) by 7175 previously, and defeat it using a hard drive as a weapon—an overload of information that burns 7175 to nothing. During his debriefing with Quinn, Lee learns that he’s done this all many times before. In fact, he’s been working in the Anti-Memetics Division for over ten years, even if he’ll never remember it. Quinn is blasé: People in the Division are as competent on Day One as they’ll ever be. The rest is just fine-tuning the meds. It’s a strange, static existence for the Division, existing in the eternal present. But, at the edges of their collective memory, something is going wrong. Something is trying to break through. Anti-memetic incursions are getting stronger, and every month the Division has fewer and fewer staff to deal with them. Readers of the book Unknown can track Quinn’s reports through the chapters: 200 staff, 90 staff, 30; but Quinn herself, recollections constantly rewritten, has no idea her people are being picked off. Written badly, There Is No Anti-Memetics Division could be deeply, deeply frustrating. The memory-erasing nature of its monsters mean the characters often have no idea what’s going on; crucial information is revealed, but before Quinn or Lee can act on it it’s wiped from their brains. “No!” you want to shout at them. “You were so close! Don’t turn away—don’t look away—don’t forget!” They do, in the end. Serums and training can only go so far. But they try. The key that keeps Anti-Memetics Division gripping, that makes you cheer and weep for these poor beleaguered civil servants, is that it’s not a book about people forgetting the enemies and making bad decisions. It’s a book about people under siege by a vast, literally unknowable alien force, constantly two steps behind, who are nevertheless skilled, clever, and determined enough to go—almost—toe-to-toe with it. We cheer the Division’s successes, rather than mourn its failures. There Is No Anti-Memetics Division isn’t alone as it tackles memory, minds, and individualism. A large strain of modern sci-fi is interested in the same, perhaps due to the rise of LLMs designed to remember everything but have no set personality. (note: if Unknowns are in cultural conversation with exterior media, does this mean the Passive Containment Archive is improperly sealed? Check with the Memetics Division.) There’s Severance, with its in/out memory partition, and then the hive minds of Pluribus, the Imperial Radch series, and Locklands, the latter of which are curious about what happens to people as they gain others’ memories, rather than have their own taken away. As your mind is altered—as it’s dissected or expanded—are you still the same person? Much of this sci-fi says no: Our personal experiences and feelings, and the way we carry them forwards, are what defines us. Mark Scout, with only memories from outside Lumon, is meaningfully different from Mark S. in wants, outlook, and morals; the emergent consciousness of Lockland’s hive mind, or the Radch’s ships, are something else than what’s put into them. Anti-Memetics Division, however, takes the opposite stance. “The first thing [an Unknown] did when it saw me,” Quinn explains to her reflection, “was eat everything I knew about the Division, and about it. If I had a plan, it ate the plan. But I’m still me. So I can come up with that plan again. It’s already right in front of me, I just need to see it. If I were me, what would my plan have been?” Being an agent of the Division relies on the fact that you’ll be the same person no matter your mind, that Unknowns can scoop out the memories but not the grooves they fill. Recommendations For Future Study: There Is No Anti-Memetics Division threads the needle to perfection of making readers care about its characters even as it unravels their minds and personalities; it’s a gripping, thrilling cosmic horror. Members of the Organization looking to advance their careers or discover the depths of the threats faced are well-advised to read it. Read it, and don’t forget it. [The preceding information is classified under the Organization’s Founding Charter, Article C, §10.8.] [end-mark] The post You Will Not Remember This Review—qntm’s <i>There Is No Anti-Memetics Division</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Excerpts Romantasy Read an Excerpt From Silver & Blood by Jessie Mihalik When a vicious beast begins attacking her fellow villagers, Riela reluctantly agrees to enter the forbidden forest and kill the monster… By Jessie Mihalik | Published on December 10, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Silver & Blood, a sexy new romantasy novel by Jessie Mihalik, out from Avon on January 27, 2026. When a vicious beast begins attacking her fellow villagers, Riela reluctantly agrees to enter the forbidden forest and kill the monster as she’s the only mage available—or so she thought.Untrained and barely armed, Riela is quickly overwhelmed when one beast turns into two. She fears her death is at hand until the unexpected arrival of a scarred, strikingly handsome man with gleaming moonlit magic changes her fate—and provides a rare opportunity to learn more about her own fickle power.After being rescued and healed from the beast’s poison, Riela awakens in a magical castle complete with a gorgeous library, a strange wolf, and the surly man who saved her life. She soon learns Garrick is both more powerful and far deadlier than a mere mortal mage—but thanks to a century-long curse, his powers are weakening.Trapped in his castle and surrounded by the treacherous woods, the spark of attraction between Riela and Garrick slowly ignites into fiery desire. But the more they discover about Riela’s magic, the more suspicious Garrick grows of her identity. As they unravel the secrets and lies connecting Riela’s past to Garrick’s, the tenuous threads of trust between them start to fray.Because Riela’s life—or her death—might be the key to regaining everything Garrick has lost. Chapter 1 After a full day of walking without any sign of the monster, the forest’s faux twilight had deepened into true darkness. The magical light I’d summoned did little to pierce the shadows, and being alone in the woods at night reminded me of so many of the fairy tales my father had read to me. Except I wasn’t a plucky princess or a brave knight, and if I got in over my head, a hero wasn’t going to show up and rescue me. But I also wasn’t on a quest to defeat a godlike mage or take down a dragon— I hoped— so perhaps I’d succeed all on my own. And in truth, the stories where the princesses rescued themselves were my favorites anyway. I was just starting to think about finding a safe place to rest for the night when the forest fell still and quiet around me. Even the droning insects stopped singing, leaving the woods draped in a hushed watchfulness that hinted at danger. I fed more magic into my light, then carefully drew my new dagger and fanned out my power, searching for the threat. The bright pool of silver magic I’d been tracking was still there, but now there was a much closer smudge of scarlet slowly stalking me. I’d been ignoring the smaller smudges of magic because they’d been ignoring me. I’d assumed they were prey rather than predators, but perhaps more than one monster haunted this part of the forest. That would be just my luck. A low, snarling growl vibrated through the trees, and I tensed for a fight. My knees trembled with nerves, but I spun to face the scarlet magic just as the smudge split in two. Bitter fear coated my tongue. One monster would’ve been difficult. Two were impossible. The first scarlet smudge circled to my right while the other remained in place. The beasts were trying to flank me. I turned with circling magic, but the glow of my light refused to pierce the clawing shadows. The dagger shook in my hand, and the smooth leather hilt felt dangerously slick. The sword would give me better reach, but it was heavy and clumsy. I was better off with a weapon I could wield, however poorly, than one I couldn’t. In order to survive, I needed to do as much damage as I could as quickly as possible. Buy the Book Silver & Blood Jessie Mihalik Buy Book Silver & Blood Jessie Mihalik Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget Then the first beast glided into view, and I silently laughed at my hubris. The monster was taller than my shoulders, with glowing red eyes and a body composed of tightly woven sanguine vines. Thorns sprouted from its form like fur, their sharp tips glistening with poison. A creature like this had never appeared in any of the books I’d read, and I had no idea how to safely defeat it. Even if my dagger could cut through the vines, I’d be torn to shreds by the thorns. I’d never used my magic offensively, but desperation was the best teacher, so I firmed my stance and tried to remember how it had felt when I’d diverted the flood to save the village. Mostly I remembered the pain. I’d hoped not to repeat that experience. My magic glowed stormy blue in my mind’s eye, and despite my intense desire for it to become a shield or a weapon or anything, it remained inert and uncooperative. Only the magical light floating above my head proved I had any power at all. I clutched the dagger’s hilt until the leather bit into my palm. I was going to have to fight without magic. Before I could decide on the best approach, the monster lunged with a sound like wind rustling through leaves. And it was fast— so fast. I darted sideways and my pack nearly overbalanced me, but I swung the dagger with fear-powered strength. The tip caught a vine on the beast’s side, spilling thick red sap and the scent of roses. The creature roared and spun with unnatural swiftness. I had no time to dodge. Brutal jaws clamped down on my left shoulder, and I shrieked in agony as I repeatedly plunged the dagger into the monster’s neck. Vines broke and thorns pierced my skin. Fiery heat streaked up my right arm. The creature shook its head, ripping deeper into my shoulder, and finally, finally, my magic spiked. The beast’s jaws unclamped on a pained whimper, and it lurched back. I stumbled after it. My left shoulder was an inferno matched only by the burning in my right arm, but I drove the dagger toward the beast’s head with grim resolve. It darted away and my dagger met only air. I cursed every fucking saint in existence, but especially Stas, the saint of chaos, fire, and poison. I didn’t even believe in the saints— or the sovereigns, for that matter— but my father had, and there was familiar comfort in cursing or thanking them as needed. Mostly cursing. And this beast seemed custom-made for Stas himself. I could barely feel the sticky, sap-covered hilt in my right hand, and the ground was starting to tilt— or I was. I needed to kill both monsters, and quickly, or I was going to fail. I refused to fail. Silver magic pulsed nearby, like moonlight on rippling water, and a low, husky sound curled up my spine, somewhere between a chuckle and a growl. It was a sound no human throat could produce, and it seemed to come from everywhere at once. The monster next to me turned to face the greater threat, and I used its distraction to drive my dagger deep into its side. I jerked the blade toward me and more vines snapped. The beast snarled and spun, taking my dagger with it. I snarled back, and tried to draw my sword, but my right arm refused to move far enough for the blade to clear the sheath. Moving my left arm was agony itself, but I jerked the sword free, then nearly dropped it. Spots danced in my vision, and the sword’s hilt was slick with my own blood, but at least I still had a weapon. I silently thanked the blacksmith for her kindness. The beast staggered and fell, its sides heaving, and thick, red sap leaked from the wounds I’d made. One down, but there was at least one more beast lurking somewhere in the trees, and I was fading fast. I hobbled toward the felled creature. Before I could close the distance and retrieve my dagger, a dark-haired man with a long, gleaming sword appeared between us. I jerked in surprise. Where had he come from? His moonlight aura marked him as a mage, but rather than magic, he used raw strength to bring his sword down on the beast with a forceful, two-handed swing. A wrenching sound like breaking wood cracked through the air, then the vine beast disintegrated into dust. My dagger dropped to the leaf-covered ground, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the mage. A mage, and a proper one from the look of his armor. Had another village somehow raised the funds to hire a mercenary to kill the beast? Mages were rare, and those few who had avoided the king’s summons commanded an incredible premium. My spirits lifted. Maybe I would survive this after all, and I could limp home and report our victory— assuming the fire climbing my arm was survivable and I didn’t bleed to death before I arrived. A furious snarl vibrated from the trees on our left and another vine beast leapt into the light. It assessed us with uncanny intelligence, then it lunged at me, correctly judging me to be the easier target. Scorching agony lit up my arms as I struggled to lift my sword. The beast cleared half the distance between us in a heartbeat, and I wasn’t going to be fast enough. The mage, however, was. I didn’t know how he’d closed the distance so quickly, but I was suddenly staring at his back. His heavy sword swung through the air with effortless ease, and no matter what the monster tried, it couldn’t get past him. The mage drove the beast back, and once they were nearly to the edge of the light, the mercenary brought his sword down on the creature with spectacular strength. Wood cracked and the monster split apart like a log on a chopping block. I stared in stunned disbelief for a moment before the beast disintegrated into dust. I kept staring, but the scene didn’t change, and now I was alone with an armed mage who had just chopped a dense vine beast into pieces. He turned toward me, and my magical light cast harsh shadows over his handsome face and silver eyes. That couldn’t be right. I blinked, trying to get my vision to clear, but it didn’t seem to help. It was all I could do to remain on my feet. Behind him, a wolflike black shadow slunk from the trees, and I raised my sword with a burning, unsteady grip. The wolf’s eyes flashed in the light, and its gaze pinned me in place as a low growl rumbled from its chest. This new monster was the size of a horse, with fur as dark as the shadows surrounding us. So much for making it home. The mage didn’t sheathe his weapon, nor did he turn to face the new threat. He watched me with a quiet stillness that sent shivers down my spine. The wolf circled to the left, forcing me to choose between tracking it or tracking the mage. I chose the wolf, but pivoting stole the last of my balance. I planted the sword tip in the ground and used it as a cane while I wavered in place, then when that didn’t help, I closed my eyes and locked my knees until the world stabilized. The fire in my arm had reached my chest, and breathing became my new priority. The mage would have to deal with the wolf without my help. When I looked up again, the mercenary was standing directly in front of me. I yelped and tried to jump away, but my body refused to obey. I tilted backward like a felled tree. The man wrapped firm fingers around my right arm and hauled me back upright. Dark eyebrows rose over guarded silver eyes. “Your energy would be better spent healing yourself.” He frowned as his gaze raked over my scratched and aching hand. “How many thorns pierced you?” “Don’t know how to heal,” I admitted, my voice rough. Breathing was definitely getting more difficult. “Don’t know how many thorns, either.” I laughed softly. “Too many, judging by the fire.” I stared at his glimmering eyes. “And the hallucinations. You’re much too pretty to be real— just like a fairy tale. Too bad this one is a tragedy.” Surprise crossed his face before he wiped it away. “I assure you I am real. I— ” “You should leave,” I said, interrupting him. If he was real, then I didn’t have time to be polite. “You killed this monster, but the forest is dangerous.” “I know.” There was something in his voice I couldn’t quite place, so I just nodded. “Good.” I turned to look for the wolf, but the man still held my arm. I tugged on it and hissed when agony seared through me, hotter than the fire in my veins. My knees went weak, and I fell against the mage’s leather-clad chest. I tried to right myself, because his armor was really nice and I was pretty sure I was bleeding on it, but my body was at its limit. “I’m from Kilish,” I mumbled. “Tell them the monster is dead, and so is Riela. Do me a favor and make me sound heroic enough for them to choke on their guilt.” I huffed out a bitter laugh that turned into a deep, racking cough. Once I’d caught my breath, as much as I could, I added, “You can have my sword and dagger as payment. I’m not going to be around much longer, so I won’t need them, and the blacksmith will understand.” The man sighed with quiet resignation, then moonlight magic rushed through me like a cool breeze, soothing the worst of my pain. “You’re not going to die.” “I’m pretty sure I am,” I disagreed. “If the poison doesn’t get me, the wolf will.” Something chuffed in the dark, and I struggled to lift my head. I could no longer feel the sword hilt in my hand, and although the mage’s power had soothed some of the pain, it hadn’t given me back the strength the poison had stolen. “Sleep,” the man commanded as his magic curled around me. Then, very quietly, he added, “You’re safe.” I fought to stay awake, to question him about monsters and magic and why his eyes glowed like silver, but heavy lethargy crashed through me and dragged me softly into moonlit dreams. Adapted from Silver & Blood by Jessie Mihalik, published by Avon Books. Copyright © 2025 by Jessie Mihalik. Reprinted courtesy of HarperCollinsPublishers. The post Read an Excerpt From <i>Silver & Blood</i> by Jessie Mihalik appeared first on Reactor.