YELLOW EYES (2026)

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Directed by Jesse Korman.
Written by Mickey Solis.
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trailer here!

Brad (Michael Kunicki) and his wife Julia (Nena Martins) inherit a house from an eccentric uncle Brad never knew. While cleaning up the attic, they stumble across a boarded-up room containing a statue that houses an evil demon that possesses Brad and forces Julia to seek out an exorcist to save her husband.

YELLOW EYES has a lot of great elements. It’s got a secret door mystery and some intriguing imagery in the statue and the effective yellow eyes that those possessed by the statue sport. It’s got solid acting and everything culminates into a crazy climax along with a surprisingly dark ending. It also tries hard to avoids a lot of possession tropes like tying someone to a bed and chanting bible verses at them. I think the film is compelling for the most part and would recommend it mildly for those who aren’t sick of possession movies.

The problem I had with YELLOW EYES is with the lead actor Michael Kunicki who plays Brad, who is the first possessed by the statue. He has this goofy, Tom Green vibe going on which made it hard for me to take him seriously. It’s no fault to the actor who does give his all for the part, but every time he tries to look mean or menacing, I just couldn’t believe it. The yellow eyes help, but it was hard to fear the guy short of him passing a microphone with poo on the end, dangerously close to my mouth.

Making up for all of that is actress Nina Martins who plays Brad’s beleaguered wife Julia. She has a whole Jill Schoelen vibe to her that I really liked. You know, the scream queen from THE STEPFATHER, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, and a ton of other 80’s horror? It helps that Martins is gorgeous. But I thought her performance that could have been riddled with horror cliches, really sold the desperation she was going through. This is her husband who is possessed and acting crazy. I know there are plenty of times Julia should have called the cops or just left, but out of love and devotion to her man, she stays and does all she can to help him. The fact that she’s a tiny little thing also ties into the fact that this movie avoids cliches because there’s no way Julia would be able to overpower the possessed Brad.

Not that I was looking for extreme perversity, but the possessed, especially Brad, tend to be all bark and no bite. While it is a callback to THE EXORCIST to portray the possessed with a filthy mouth, it feels like a tease for the possessed to threaten all this physical and sexual violence and then never have it really happen. Again, I don’t think I wanted to see Brad “fist fuck Julia’s corpse” but if you’re only going to show Brad violently eating a turkey and snarling loudly, don’t tease us with more depraved stuff and not deliver. Despite the potty talk, the violence is minimum and only barely suggested in YELLOW EYES.

Again, I didn’t hate this movie. It got better as it went on and I thought the climax was effective, but it’s these little nagging details—the goofiness of the lead and the all bark no bite threats, that made this possession flick just shy of great. Still, I’ll give it a mild recommend.