The Minnesota Movie Digest: Issue No. 164

The Minnesota Movie Digest: The Ballad of Bugonia

Welcome to The Minnesota Movie Digest, the official newsletter from the Minnesota Film Critics Association (MNFCA)!

The MNFCA is a collective of individuals dedicated to celebrating and critically examining the art of film. In this recurring publication, we’ll share a selection of insightful film reviews, absorbing essays, and interviews with film professionals.

Each issue of The Minnesota Movie Digest features a diverse array of perspectives and content. Our members have shared their most recent work with us, covering the latest releases and revisiting classic films that dissect the craft of filmmaking. Explore the links below and get a front-row seat to critically examine the art of film.

Check out the MNFCA Members page to meet our all-star lineup.

And now… The Minnesota Movie Digest.

Eli Brau – Cinephile Corner

Eli has a few new pieces this week over on Cinephile Corner. In their movie reviews section, he has reviews for the following new releases:

HIM movie review

Ballad of a Small Player movie review

Blue Moon movie review

Hedda movie review

The Elixir movie review

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle movie review

Brian Eggert – Deep Focus Review

On Deep Focus Review, Brian reviewed the following titles:

Ballad of a Small Player
- Blue Moon
- Bugonia
- Hamnet
- The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
- Hedda
- If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
- It Was Just an Accident
- Queens of the Dead

Additionally, Brian continued his month-long look at postmodern vampire films, exclusively for his Patreon subscribers. He concluded the series with a review of Ridley Scott’s The Hunger (1983) and a new entry in his essay series, The Definitives, about Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire (1994).

Brian also appeared on KARE 11 on October 18 to recommend Black Phone 2, Frankenstein, and The Mastermind.

Hunter Friesen – The Cinema Dispatch

At The Cinema Dispatch, Hunter reviewed Is This Thing On?, It Was Just an Accident, Bugonia, Ballad of a Small Player, and Nouvelle Vague.

Kyle Goethe – Goat Film Reviews

We closed out Halloween in style over at GOAT Film Reviews, with the remaining days of this year’s 31 Days of Horror!

You can catch all 31 Days of Horror over at the site right now!

Jason Hemming – Cinema Recall

Sydney Sweeney does a great job in her performance as the first professional female boxer, but does the rest of it have a fighting chance? Video review of Christy.
Guillermo del Toro loves his monsters, and there is a lot to love about his adaptation of Frankenstein, but like the famous monster. This one could use a few more stitches. Written review of Frankenstein.
I was a recent guest on the Collateral Cinema podcast to discuss The Evil Dead with Beau, Ashley, and Robbie.
The horror comedy Happy Death Day gets covered time loop by time loop on It’s Time to Rewind, and here is one of my three guest appearances on that podcast.
Follow Cinema Recall on these <a href="https://linktr.ee/CinemaRecall?utm_source=linktree_profile_shareplatforms

Catherine Krummey – Veg Out Recipes

Catherine has a new review on The Feed: “One Battle After Another.” She also started this year’s FYC Friday series with quick thoughts on movies including “Sinners,” “Sorry, Baby,” “Come See Me in the Good Light,” and more (including a lot of 2025’s buzziest horror films). To celebrate Noirvember, she also finished her Noirvember Forever Letterboxd list, featuring all 450+ noir and neo-noir films she’s seen, ranked.