Spooky season is here folks, but the real horror on display currently isn't a creepily disguised, knife-wielding maniac, or even the spirit of a nun. No, the real horror currently unfolding this month is the critical reception to Sony's Venom, the first in the studio's series of Spider-Man spin-offs that, however unnecessary they might be, shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.
Take a glance online, and a consensus regarding the film appears to have been built. Moviegoers have compared it to Catwoman (yes, that Catwoman), and have even dubbed it a "complete failure", but, having emerged from Venom today, one can't help but feel as though the negative response is slightly unjustified. It's not a spectacular film by any means, but it is entertaining, providing an enjoyable experience that, while unlikely to draw comparisons with the very best the superhero genre has to offer, is nowhere near as bad as its Rotten Tomatoes average would intimate.
There are plenty of things to like about Venom, and while it might not be the film fans had expected, it's one worth watching all the same - regardless of the reputation it's accrued online.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
