Much digital ink has been spilled about the merits of YouTubers transitioning to feature film directors. Some happily welcome this newfound generation of talent with open arms, while others remain dubious of these untested creators, preferring they stay in their artistic lanes. To this writer’s mind, YouTube is merely a equal-opportunity platform for exhibiting work; had it existed in the 1960s, then surely names like Steven Spielberg or John Carpenter would have used it to upload their home movies and college films before moving on to the bigger, better things they are known for today. Sure, the output can be decidedly mixed, but for every Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks we get striking works like the Philippou Bros.’ Talk to Me and Bring Her Back. And no conversation about YouTubers would be complete without mention of two of 2026’s wildest success stories: Curry Barker’s Obsession and Kane Parsons’ Backrooms, which have not exceeded expectations so much as they’ve Koolaid Manned through the wall of cultural discourse, raking in millions at the box office and even factoring into Oscar conversations. Like them or not, they are here to stay.
Throwing his hat into the growing ring of such filmmakers is Alex Goyette, a YouTuber who began his career with something called AwesomenessTV in 2012, directing several popular videos for the channel. Goyette actually made his feature-length directorial debut in 2014 with Expelled, a little-seen teen comedy, but this year he graduates to theatrical horror with Breeder, his sophomore film. Carving out a unique space that folds in elements of Rob Reiner’s Misery, Kevin Smith’s Tusk, and Christopher Guest’s Best in Show, Breeder represents another win in the YouTuber-to-filmmaker pipeline, as Goyette crafts a thriller about a young man trapped in an increasingly hostile and uncomfortable situation, all while recognizing just how poisoned our world really is. Best of all, the films gifts actress Dot-Marie Jones a sizable role as the main villain, bumping her up from decades of regular bit parts to leading lady status in a characteristically formidable performance. She’s terrific, and precisely the shot in the arm that Breeder needs, while Goyette proves himself an adept conductor of tension with his first real step into the big leagues.
Jones plays Patti, a former “Best in Breed” dog show champion during her heyday in the early 1990s, now currently raising genetically-perfected poodles on her farm with her five daughters. (There is no husband or father to speak of). Patti’s shady operation is introduced in the film’s opening moments, where she lays out a suspiciously strict set of rules to a prospective buyer who’s arrived on her property. Meanwhile, Russell (Daniel Doheny) is a struggling college student whose research into gene modification could very well be the scientific breakthrough needed to save the world’s bee population. It’s a promising discovery, but the trouble is that Russell had to drop out of MIT before he could obtain his Ph.D. due to crippling amounts of debt, while future mother-in-law Cindy (Rochelle Greenwood) expresses doubt he’ll be able to provide as a husband to fiancée Haley (Tanaya Beatty). Just as the odds seem impossibly stacked against him, Patti suddenly enters Russell’s life, reaching out to him with the offer of a blank check to fund his research, should he visit her farm for dinner one evening. Seemingly left with no choice, Russell happily obliges, only to soon find himself caught in Patti’s web, where the eccentric dog breeder reveals she will be expecting more from Russell if he wants to see a cent of that money.
It’s hard out there for a college student. When we first meet Russell, he’s already $200,000 in the hole, feeling the crushing amount of disappointment and responsibility coming at him from all sides. So when Patti’s serendipitous message replete with generous cash offer seems almost too good to be true, viewers better believe it is. Upon his arrival to the farm, Russell is effectively made a prisoner in Patti’s home, with the promise that he can leave with his money on the condition that he does one thing: impregnate Ainsley (Maddie Phillips), one of Patti’s daughters. Naturally, Russell rebuffs this idea, but this opportunity would free him of his financial burden, and Ainsley also seems keen on helping him fake the results so she can make her escape as well. But when it comes time to doing the deed, Russell discovers that Patti is in no way messing around, with his trip to the farm turned into days of incarceration at gunpoint, cut off from the outside world at the behest of a madwoman.
Lord, does Jones ever eat up this role. With a film and television career spanning over 30 years, Jones is frequently cast as intimidating, Trunchbull-esque women, often played for comedic effect. This makes her ideal in the role of Patti, where she’s given free rein to bully around a pipsqueak like Russell, bulldozing his kindly demeanor with her hulking presence and no-nonsense pragmatism. It’s career-best work from Jones, and she’s matched nicely by Doheny, who demonstrates real vulnerability as his dire situation grows increasingly worse (the nude scenes are especially brave). Goyette weaponizes Jones to a perfect degree and gets a lot of mileage out of the central duo’s interactions, quick to knock down Russell any time he thinks he gains purchase, like a churchmouse getting blasted in a hurricane. But Breeder is not about a series of freakouts, and is rather an exercise in escalating tension, layering in new wrinkles to Russell’s captivity as Patti adapts to his maneuverings. Goyette overall orchestrates his wild premise admirably, though a late-inning swerve into the realm of child endangerment is all kinds of wrong, lending an unwelcome bad taste to a film that did not need any extra juice. Thankfully, he rebounds in a big way for the film’s ending, cutting out on a convincingly cynical note that drives the whole project home with punch. Breeder isn’t likely to illicit the same global response as the films of Goyette’s fellow 2026 YouTube brethren, but as a calling card, it makes for an undeniably promising, and idiosyncratic debut.
DIRECTOR: Alex Goyette; CAST: Daniel Doheny, Dot Marie Jones, Maddie Phillips, Tanaya Beatty, Paige McGarvin; DISTRIBUTOR: Independent Film Company/Shudder; IN THEATERS: October 28; RUNTIME: 1 hr.
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