So I decided to see every movie that comes out in 2025 in wide release and rank them.
I define wide release as playing in 1,000 screens or more.
That’s where The Damned comes into play.
It only opened on 732 screens.
It didn’t do great making only $800,000 and opened in 13th place.
That’s a shame because this is an effective thriller.
The Damned takes place in a small fishing village in Iceland in the 1870’s.
A young widow (Odessa Young) now runs the fishing operations.
They see a foreign boat in the distance get trapped by rocks and then sink.
Because their own resources are so scarce, they don’t go out to help them.
Then bad things really start to happen.
If you loved The Thing or Alien, then you’ll like The Damned.
There is even an Alien homage of sorts early on.
I had only seen Young before in The Stand series on CBS.
That series (based on my favorite book) was horrendous but that wasn’t her fault.
Having this actually shot in Iceland also helps out a ton.
It also adds to the isolation aspect of what these characters are going through.
Similar to The Thing, there is nowhere to run when you are surrounded by snow and ice.
I give director and co-writer Thordur Parson credit for shooting this there.
I guess that means it’s also the worst.
Next week Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera opens wide.
We will see if that can knock The Damned off the top spot.
Grade: B-
2025 Movies
1.
