All through October, I’ll be posting reviews of the best of the best films in the horror genre released since October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024. As an added bonus, I’ll be adding a secondary review that may be somewhat related to the main review or slightly missed the countdown by inches. Follow along the countdown every day in October. Feel free to agree, disagree, or better yet, give me your own picks for your favorite horror movies of the year. Happy Halloween!

#29 – MILK & SERIAL (2024)
Released on August 8, 2024, and is streaming on Youtube from “that’s a bad idea!”
Directed/Written by Curry Barker.
Watch it here: https://youtu.be/pbzGQ1lszv4
A pair of YouTube pranksters Milk and Seven (played by writer/director Curry Barker and Cooper Tomlinson) try to prank each other for a birthday party with horrifying results.
Are the actors successfully acting like they aren’t acting?
Yes, since no one in the cast are recognizable, the film does have an air of legitimacy. Much of the dialog is natural and while occasionally things are said to move the plot along, most of the acting feels as if it isn’t rehearsed. The two leads, Barker and Tomlinson also have a likable back and forth between them and the sense that they are acting only shows up in the latter portion of the film as shit gets real.
Does the footage found seem authentic and untouched by additional production (which means there is no omniscient editor making multiple edits between cameras or an invisible orchestra providing music)?
Unfortunately, MILK & SERIAL has slight musical cues to suggest tone here and there. For me, this always takes away the feeling of authenticity. Even if those who survived the events that occur in the film edited this footage together from the various sources of media the film is made of, the addition of this music wouldn’t make any sense. The film is made up of footage from multiple cameras and flash back and forth between two different timelines from both Milk and Seven’s perspectives. But this was edited as such that it was never confusing. So I guess there is an omniscient editor putting this film together, but it never felt there was footage used that wasn’t captured by the two cameras. Therefore, it’s a technically tight film aside from the music, which is a technical manipulative cheat, in my found footage rule book.
Why don’t they just drop the camera and get the hell out of there?
The guys are YouTube influencers, always hoping to catch reactions to their pranks, so filming everything just seems second nature to them and part of the show as setting up the prank is all part of the process. Even when things get crazy, because one or both of the actors believe things to be a prank, filming everything is never seen as inappropriate.
Is there an up-nose BLAIR WITCH confessional or a REC-drag away from the camera?
There are confessionals of sorts from both leads as they tell the viewer about the prank they are setting up. So the up close confessional seems all part of the show. Thankfully, there are no REC dragaways. Nothing ruins a found footage movie than the tired and cliched final drag away shot. The final shot in MILK & SERIAL is pretty shocking, nevertheless.
Does anything actually happen? Is the lead in too long and the payoff too short?
The film runs at a brisk hour and two minutes. The plot moves along at a nice speed with all kinds of pranks, back stabbings, action, and plot twists going on. MILK & SERIAL is never ever boring.
Does the film add anything to the subgenre and is it worth watching?
This is a good one worth seeking out. While most of the time I hate films about influencers, Milk and Seven proved to be interesting to watch. The characters are engaging. The film has a great way of raising the stakes by the minute and does a wonderful job of revealing just enough information to make you anticipate the other shoe to drop and then adds a new twist or two to the story, making it a difficult movie to predict. Made for less than $800.00, this is an example of low budget, but high quality. As things spiral out of control as a result of these pranks, MILK & SERIAL ends up telling an interesting and surprisingly unique tale of how far is too far in terms of friendly pranks.
After watching MILK & SERIAL, I ended up checking out some of this comedy writing team’s other shorts and clips on their YouTube and Instagram pages called that’s a bad idea. These guys are both deeply demented and genuinely funny. It might not be your kind of humor, but it is mine. Reminiscent of I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE, THE KIDS IN THE HALL and THE WHITEST KIDS YOU KNOW, “that’s a bad idea” goes into some very wrong places and push the boundaries of good taste and PC values against the wall and have their perverse and merry way with them. If you’re looking for some very twisted humor, check out their YouTube page, which I’ve listed below, before the comments.

LOWLIFES (2024)
Released on April 11, 2024, and is streaming on Tubi as a Tubi Original!
Directed by Tesh Guttikonda, Mitch Oliver.
Written by Al Kaplan.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/BM-wQapkXrE
LOWLIFES begins like most horror movies do—a breathless guy races through the woods only to be met with the blade of an unseen killer. After that dude being taken care of quickly, we cut to a family of four, camping in what we can assume to be the same woods. This is an extremely typical family with the straight-laced patriarch Keith (Matthew Macaull) cooking up some barbecue, doting mom Kathleen (Elyse Levesque), rebellious teen Amy (Amanda Fix) and spunky youngster eager to gain Dad’s approval Jeffrey (Josh Zaharia). It’s not soon after the typicalness of this family is established and all the cliches are addressed that another cliché shows up in the form of a pair of hick locals, Vern (Richard Harmon) and Billy (Ben Sullivan) who are looking for their brother Melior, who we can assume is the dead guy from the beginning, but still have time to threaten the family with a little hillbilly hospitality. But soon after the cast is established, LOWLIFES switches gears and becomes a bit more unpredictable, breaking some cliches, and addressing some new ones, making what first felt like a city folk being terrorized by hillbillies tale into something completely different.
I don’t want to reveal the twist of LOWLIFES, though the reveal does come pretty early in the story. It does separate this film from the rest of the herd and makes it a bit more unpredictable as expectations are flopped, so while I kind of saw the twist coming, I still appreciated it when it indeed does happen. What transpires is a fairly gory and relentless little movie where the entire cast literally tears each other apart. The gore is not over the top, but there is a lot of death and blood to go around here.
I also felt the lead performers were great in their respective roles. Matthew Macaull has a Jake Gyllenhaal look to him that makes him look respectable one minute and out of control the next. But it is Amanda Fix’s Amy that goes through the most twists and turns here and she molds those emotions sharply. I also have to note an exceptional performance by Brenna Llewellyn, one of the local girls who shows a lot of grit in very physical performance. And it was interesting seeing Richard Harmon in a smaller role. Harmon often plays the creepy guy who is not David Dastmalchian, yet like Dastmalchian, Harmon seems to put a lot of thought and effort into every genre role he takes.
LOWLIFES turned out to be better than expected in terms of acting, plot twists, and all out production. It’s listed as a Tubi Original and while not all of those are good, this is one of the best ones I’ve seen so far. It’s a film that has unexpected bite to it that will make you flip and flop as to who you want to survive, if any of the cast at all. While the city slickers versus country folk battle has been done before, LOWLIFES delivers something a little different and I can appreciate that.

The Best in Horror Countdown 2023-2024
#31 – HERE FOR BLOOD (DESTROY ALL NEIGHBORS)
#30 – THANKSGIVING (THE SACRIFICE GAME)
#29 – MILK & SERIAL (LOWLIFES)