3/15/26 — Christina Critiques

A whole month? I have neglected you all for that long? My heavens above. Between my eleven year old learning a new trick (sleepwalking) that turned into an ER visit at 3 a.m. and five staples in his head, to my chubby ass falling in a IHG parking lot and getting a sprained ankle to living on plastic furniture… I’ve been a little all over the place.

But never fear! I’m back with two amazing recommendations!

Enough jibber jabber, let’s get into them.

SICK FLICKS Volume 1

By: Mike Bracken

Release: 2/24/26

Page count: 272

KU: No        Hoopla: No

Synopsis: Bracken breaks down the most vile, insane, and goretastic foreign and domestic films whether easy to track down or the down right black market best of the best in order to educate those like me - the scared pussycats that refuse to look more than between my fingers while I whine.

First line: “If you were to ask the average horror or exploitation fan to name at least one film dealing with the taboo subject of necrophilia, invariably you’d get one of two responses - Jorg Buttgereit’s Nekromantik films, or the super Iame and artsy Kissed.”

Favorite line: “While Matsumura may not hit upon any universal truths in his films, the idea that all humans are garbage, and the people are born as half-formed corpses who truly reach their potential when they die certainly seems to have merit in some instances.”

Thoughts: One of my favorite non-fiction reads are the reference books that semi-spoil movies. “Wahhhhh, don’t spoil movies for me.” Some of us coughs me coughs have to read the Wikipedia pages so the jump scares and sexual violence are known well in advance. But Bracken is here to help!

Throughout the book, Bracken shows he is a movie nerd and that is so refreshing. Instead of a bunch of tidbits readers can find on Reddit pages, he breaks scenes down, references back and forth between directors and their filmographies, as well as adding relevant details that actually pique the readers interest.

But the most important part is he never once makes a reader, like myself, feel less than as a movie lover. We close the book (or ebook) with more knowledge and a way to feel included in conversations that we may have felt left out of.

I can’t recommend this one enough and I know it’s a Top Ten for 2026. PLUS - check out his YouTube channel to find more impressive content.

Rating: 10/5

Find it here: https://a.co/d/0iT12avN

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

By: Annie Proulx

Release: 12/2/05

Page count: 54

KU: No         Hoopla: Yes

Synopsis: Two cowboys find that love can’t always be perfect. Decades pass, children are born, and yet love can remain.

First line: “Ennis Del Mar wakes before five, wind rocking in the trailer, hissing in around the aluminum door and window frames.”

Favorite line: “Ennis wrote back, ‘you bet’, and gave the Riverton address.”

Thoughts: I have never seen the movie but at fifty-four pages I didn’t feel I would lose much and I only gained. A short yet hauntingly heart-breaking journey through forbidden love. Jack and Ennis show the reader unbridled passion and the sometimes upsetting need to hide parts of yourselves.

Rating: 4.5/5

Other recommendations: SHIPPING NEWS

Find it here: https://a.co/d/0cL2MFJj