CHAPTER 51 movie poster | ©2026 Cineverse

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Abigail Breslin, Allie Marie Evans, Colman Domingo, Charlotte Lawrence, Colin Paolo, Connor Paolo, Dylan Sprayberry, Emily Alyn Lind, Ivan Richardson, John Mocker, Logan Huffman, Mo Abhat, Olivia Wachsberger, Todd Mandel, Tyler Shields
Writer: Tyler Shields
Director: Tyler Shields
Distributor: Cineverse
Release Date: June 23, 2026 (theatrical, digital)

It’s hard to tell exactly what CHAPTER 51 is trying to do. Writer/director Tyler Shields seems to be going for a THIS IS SPINAL TAP mockumentary that mixes true crime and behind-the-scenes examination of the making of a film.

Then again, some of the specifics are so peculiar that we can’t tell if they’re meant as deadpan send-up or things that aren’t fully thought through. Conceptually, some of it is hilarious, but in practice, it seldom hits as actual comedy.

CHAPTER 51 begins with a trailer for DISSIDENT, which looks like a Hitchcockian thriller, billed in its advertising as “the most controversial film ever made.”

Former FBI agent/documentarian Thomas Scott (played by filmmaker Shields) tells us in voiceover, “Between 2018 and 2022, three actresses were murdered during production of the film DISSIDENT by an individual known as the Hollywood Killer. THK attempted a fourth murder on actress Audrey Evans [Allie Marie Evans], who escaped and went on to finish the film. The only evidence that exists is the footage that THK filmed, and outtakes from the film DISSIDENT. The case remains unsolved.”

We then get onscreen credits for various formats in which CHAPTER 51 was actually shot and in which DISSIDENT was ostensibly filmed: IMAX, Panavista, VistaVision, Kodak Super 8, 16MM, 35MM, and 65MM. The segments we see that are meant to be part of DISSIDENT are alternately in luminous black-and-white and radiant ‘50s-style saturated color.

We see DISSIDENT outtakes, the first labeled Day 954 (that’s one long film shoot).

Clips from the film include a sports car burning in the desert, interspersed with other images in various styles, silhouetted footage of a man dressed like a ‘50s detective lighting a cigarette for a tousle-haired femme fatale.

We then get narration from former FBI agent Thomas Scott (filmmaker Shields) in front of a murder board. He says he had the highest success rate, catching every serial killer he ever chased, except for one, THK, who became famous because of the “cinematic nature” of his crimes. “This is the strangest group of suspects I’ve ever seen.”

Thomas them: six-time Oscar winner Christopher Pace (Connor Paolo), the writer/director of the movie; Lawrence Hughes (Logan Huffman), “one of the most respected actors in the world”; Tedd Mankiewicz (Todd Mandel), “the most powerful manager in Hollywood”; former teen heartthrob Dustin Scott (Dylan Sprayberry); Melvin Asher (Mo Abhat), “the biggest box-office star ever.”

“And one of them,” Scott concludes, “could be responsible for the murder of three of the most famous actresses in history – Ava Bergman [Abigail Breslin], Barbara Ball [Olivia Wachsberger], and Greta Daniels [Charlotte Lawrence].”

We soon meet another suspect, original director of DISSIDENT Christopher Demy (Colman Domingo), who walked off the set because he couldn’t take the nonstop abuse from screenwriter Pace.

In real Hollywood, movie directors fire writers all the time. The reverse is almost never true, unless the writer is financing the film (which Pace is not) and/or an executive producer. Since no mention is made of this, it may be that this is an “it goes to eleven” aspect of CHAPTER 51, but it’s handled in a way that makes us scratch our heads rather than laugh.

This tonal ambiguity extends to much of the rest of the film. Investigator Scott solemnly puts DISSIDENT up there in influence with APOCALYPSE NOW and THE WIZARD OF OZ, but what we’re shown doesn’t make us suppose for an instant that this assessment may be correct. Even by parody standards, some of the character egomania is simultaneously overblown and over-familiar.

There are also details that don’t add up, such as Demy getting the main camera operator to keep shooting between takes even when Pace takes over. What does Demy hope to achieve with this, given that he’s not going to have access to the footage? And why does the killer, or killers, shoot the stalking and murders? For that matter, why don’t any of the performers have any personal security?

Domingo is topnotch as the unflappable Demy and Paolo is the epitome of a brat wunderkind as Pace.

In the multiple formats cinematic formats it employs, CHAPTER 51 looks great. However, as a comedy/whodunit, it either outsmarts itself or isn’t smart enough. Either way, it’s more puzzling than entertaining.

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