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Spoiler-Free Review: Oscillation (Jeonju International Film Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis In the house where a father and daughter live together, a heavy silence lingers, and an unbridgeable distance remains. The father toils at an inexplicable task, while the daughter goes through her days in a quiet routine. But soon, a strange change overtakes his body. Review Kenichi Ugana has earned the title of auteur. He has been crafting independent genre features and shorts since 2010 that range from bizarre shockers (Visitors; Extraneous Matter: Complete Edition; Love Will Tear Us Apart) to a heartwarming rom-com ode to filmmaking (I Fell In Love With A Z-Grade Director In Brooklyn), some decidedly more accessible than others. His latest film Oscillation looks at the strained relationship between a man (Haruki Itabashi) and his adult daughter (Reika Matsubara) and treads in both existential and body horror. The theme of distance and lack of connection runs throughout Oscillation. Not only do the father and daughter rarely speak, communicating through notes to each other almost

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jul 3, 2026

Halloween Set Horror Comedy ‘Hamilton House’ Sets World Premiere

What happens when you trade the upbeat, bright-eyed chaos of daytime TV producing (The Drew Barrymore Show) for the dark, gritty, and hilarious world of indie film? You get Jordan Rowe’s Hamilton House—a Halloween-set comedy that proves struggling actors are far more terrifying than actual ghosts. Backed by a heavy-hitting executive producing team including Mayan Lopez (NBC’s Lopez vs. Lopez) and Tommy and Annie Smith (the minds who helped bring you the gore-soaked phenomenon Terrifier 2), this project bridges the gap between laugh-out-loud comedy and genuine love for the spooky season. The Pitch Set against the backdrop of a crisp New York Autumn, Hamilton House follows a group of young, desperate actors cohabitating in the ultimate urban horror setup—a cramped NYC basement apartment. When the hopelessly optimistic Zach discovers that a legendary horror film director is moving in down the block, he sees his ticket out of retail jobs and background extra gigs. Zach convinces his girlfriend and their increasingly

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 23, 2026

Home Sweet Horror: Paranoid Thriller ‘Tender’ Nabs Closing Night Spot at Dances with Films

If you think your current financial situation is stressful, writer and director Adam Hoelzel is here to make you feel a whole lot better about your bank account. Hoelzel is proud to announce that his debut directorial feature, Tender. It will celebrate its World Premiere as the prestigious Closing Night Film of Dances With Films in LA on June 28th. While it is his directing debut, Hoelzel is no stranger to high-stakes tension. He penned the screenplay for the Daniel Radcliffe-led thriller Beast of Burden. A Psychological Nightmare Described as a slow-burning psychological nightmare, the film follows a married couple drowning in debt. They unexpectedly stumble upon what looks like absolute financial salvation right inside the walls of their own house. Unfortunately for them, their initial jubilation quickly curdles into a toxic obsession. As their desperate plan to escape financial ruin spirals out of control, it breeds an infectious wave of suspicion, paranoia, and total psychological collapse. Blending escalating dread

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 18, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: MARGINALIA and BURNT FLOWERS (GenreBlast 2025) 

MARGINALIA (U.S., 2025) Official synopsis: Summoned to Karnstein Abbey to serve as a mourner at the funeral of their recently deceased abbess, Sister Trista discovers a dark secret involving demons, witchcraft and killer rabbits. But Sister Trista has a secret of her own. Nunsploitation, a Hammer Films’ horror vibe, and the retro charm and surreal qualities of filmmaker Guy Maddin’s work: Writer/director/editor/cinematographer Mark Beal’s beautifully bizarre Marginalia has all this and more. This black-and-white supernatural feature will win cinephiles over with its atmosphere to spare, which includes impressive practical effects work, cool stop-motion creatures, and wonderful medieval set design, costumes, and illustrations. Composer Alexander Hellonious’s evocative score fits the proceedings perfectly. Beal kicks things off right away with one of the most imaginative demises you’re likely to see this year. The cast members do a fine job with their committed performances, led by Jessica Bell as Sister Trista. Beal does assured work at the helm, and as he did with

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 18, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Recluse (Tribeca Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis After being summoned back to her childhood home to care for her bedridden father, Joan must confront the unearthed demons of her family’s past and contend with the home’s dark, malevolent energy that is both unseen and, much to her horror, seen. Review Horror films involving protagonists working closely with sound are practically becoming a subgenre in the fright-fare field recently — Rabbit Trap and Undertone, for example. The latest entry is writer/director/composer Henry Chaisson’s Recluse, a gothic chiller drenched in dread. When will horror film protagonists learn not to return to their childhood homes when estranged parents suffer health issues or die? Hopefully never, if the resulting tales are as intriguing as Recluse. Joan (Sasha Frolova), a sound recordist in the film industry does just that when her father, acclaimed but highly troubled painter Lawrence (Xander Berkeley) —who evidently was no stranger to the dark arts — is badly burned in a fire. Housekeeper to the expansive

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 8, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Grind and Friday the 69th (Portland Horror Film Festival)

Grind Official synopsis This horror anthology tackles the modern work landscape through four timely perspectives – a woman caught in a pyramid scheme, a delivery driver, a content moderator and a crew trying to unionize at a very familiar coffee shop. Review Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, and Chelsea Stardust team up to codirect the workplace horror comedy anthology Grind (U.S., 2026). A mysterious packing warehouse, an online sales plan for leggings that comes with deadly consequences for not meeting sales quotas, a time loop that finds a food delivery gig worker in a huge mess, a content moderation job that features twisted images, and a corporate plot to overthrow unionizing baristas all feature in this scathing satire on the modern American economy and its effects on lower-level employees. Genre-film legend Barbara Crampton and comic actor Rob Huebel provide quality veteran performances as the head honchos behind evil empire DRGN. Many people will find the work situations uncomfortably highly relatable and

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 8, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Turn It Up! (Tribeca Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis An indie rock band struggling to make its mark finds a possible meal ticket in an infectious new guitar riff. Unfortunately, it’s also a cursed melody that just so happens to open a portal to another, much scarier dimension. Review Writer/director Sam Scott mashes up horror elements, weird science, and razor-sharp comedy in the Canadian feature Turn It Up!. The result is a fun, frenetic film that boasts some cool rock numbers to accompany its frenzied goings-on. Alternative rock group members AC (Justine Nelson), Berg (Jonathan Craig), Court (Gwenlyn Cumyn), and Russ (Xavier Lopez) are doing the unsigned band grind when a song that may or may not be called “The Odyssey” — depending on which member you talk to — catches the attention of famous manager Miss Vee (Liv Collins). She promises them their way to a big break, but this being a genre film, naturally she has ulterior motives. Scott delivers a nice twist on the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 8, 2026

Row Your Boat into a Nightmare: Watch the Trailer for ‘I Think About Killing You’

If you thought your high school gym teacher was tough, wait until you meet the coach in writer-director Ran Ran Wang’s thriller, I Think About Killing You. Rideback Rise has officially unveiled the intense new trailer for the short film. It is set to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Festivalthis week, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. It will screen as part of the “Shorts: Competitive Edge” block. Whiplash Meets American Psycho on the Water The film follows Dani, the fiercely dedicated captain of a Division One collegiate rowing team. Dani has a lot on her mind. There’s academics, perfect form, keeping time, and—oh yeah—constant, invasive fantasies about murdering her deeply abusive coach. When the coach pushes the team past the point of physical exhaustion. And straight into psychological torture. Dani is forced to make a choice. Pushed to the absolute brink of her sanity, she has to decide whether to keep rowing or to act on her darkest

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 6, 2026

‘Antlers’ Scribe Henry Chaisson Unleashing Nightmare Fuel ‘Recluse’ at Tribeca

If your ideal horror movie features a decaying mansion, an audio recorder, and an unhealthy dose of generational trauma, you are in luck. Henry Chaisson—the wonderfully twisted writer behind Antlers and Apple TV’s “Servant“—is officially making his feature directorial debut. He’s gearing up to serve us the gothic horror-thriller Recluse. Variety reports that mega-producer Steven Schneider has officially come on board as an executive producer via his acclaimed genre label, Spooky Pictures. Along with the announcement, a chilling new look at the film has been released, setting the stage for its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival next month. The Art of the Audio Jump Scare The narrative framework of Recluse sounds like a textbook recipe for a psychological breakdown. Joan (Sasha Frolova, The Empty Man) is a fiercely solitary audio engineer who spends her life hiding behind headphones. She’s our hero. She receives a sudden, ominous phone call from her ailing father. He’s an acclaimed, reclusive artist who,

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 5, 2026

Fantasia International Film Festival Unleashes Its Second Wave for 2026

Montréal’s Fantasia International Film Festival serves up an eye-popping amount of genre-film features with its second wave announcement for its 30th edition, scheduled for July 16 through August 2, 2026. Following is the official press announcement. The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 30th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 16 through August 2, 2026, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screenings and events at Montréal’s Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced in early July but in the meantime, Fantasia is excited to reveal a select second wave of its 2026 titles. CAPE FEAR IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE IN CHILLING APPLE TV ADAPTATION In this reimagining of CAPE FEAR, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Amy Adams, ARRIVAL, NIGHTBITCH) and Tom Bowden (Patrick Wilson, THE CONJURING, INSIDIOUS) when Max Cady (Javier Bardem, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 5, 2026

More from Film Festivals

Spoiler-Free Review: Oscillation (Jeonju International Film Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis In the house where a father and daughter live together, a heavy silence lingers, and an unbridgeable distance remains. The father toils at an inexplicable task, while the daughter goes through her days in a quiet routine. But soon, a strange change overtakes his body. Review Kenichi Ugana has earned the title of auteur. He has been crafting independent genre features and shorts since 2010 that range from bizarre shockers (Visitors; Extraneous Matter: Complete Edition; Love Will Tear Us Apart) to a heartwarming rom-com ode to filmmaking (I Fell In Love With A Z-Grade Director In Brooklyn), some decidedly more accessible than others. His latest film Oscillation looks at the strained relationship between a man (Haruki Itabashi) and his adult daughter (Reika Matsubara) and treads in both existential and body horror. The theme of distance and lack of connection runs throughout Oscillation. Not only do the father and daughter rarely speak, communicating through notes to each other almost

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jul 3, 2026

Halloween Set Horror Comedy ‘Hamilton House’ Sets World Premiere

What happens when you trade the upbeat, bright-eyed chaos of daytime TV producing (The Drew Barrymore Show) for the dark, gritty, and hilarious world of indie film? You get Jordan Rowe’s Hamilton House—a Halloween-set comedy that proves struggling actors are far more terrifying than actual ghosts. Backed by a heavy-hitting executive producing team including Mayan Lopez (NBC’s Lopez vs. Lopez) and Tommy and Annie Smith (the minds who helped bring you the gore-soaked phenomenon Terrifier 2), this project bridges the gap between laugh-out-loud comedy and genuine love for the spooky season. The Pitch Set against the backdrop of a crisp New York Autumn, Hamilton House follows a group of young, desperate actors cohabitating in the ultimate urban horror setup—a cramped NYC basement apartment. When the hopelessly optimistic Zach discovers that a legendary horror film director is moving in down the block, he sees his ticket out of retail jobs and background extra gigs. Zach convinces his girlfriend and their increasingly

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 23, 2026

Home Sweet Horror: Paranoid Thriller ‘Tender’ Nabs Closing Night Spot at Dances with Films

If you think your current financial situation is stressful, writer and director Adam Hoelzel is here to make you feel a whole lot better about your bank account. Hoelzel is proud to announce that his debut directorial feature, Tender. It will celebrate its World Premiere as the prestigious Closing Night Film of Dances With Films in LA on June 28th. While it is his directing debut, Hoelzel is no stranger to high-stakes tension. He penned the screenplay for the Daniel Radcliffe-led thriller Beast of Burden. A Psychological Nightmare Described as a slow-burning psychological nightmare, the film follows a married couple drowning in debt. They unexpectedly stumble upon what looks like absolute financial salvation right inside the walls of their own house. Unfortunately for them, their initial jubilation quickly curdles into a toxic obsession. As their desperate plan to escape financial ruin spirals out of control, it breeds an infectious wave of suspicion, paranoia, and total psychological collapse. Blending escalating dread

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 18, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: MARGINALIA and BURNT FLOWERS (GenreBlast 2025) 

MARGINALIA (U.S., 2025) Official synopsis: Summoned to Karnstein Abbey to serve as a mourner at the funeral of their recently deceased abbess, Sister Trista discovers a dark secret involving demons, witchcraft and killer rabbits. But Sister Trista has a secret of her own. Nunsploitation, a Hammer Films’ horror vibe, and the retro charm and surreal qualities of filmmaker Guy Maddin’s work: Writer/director/editor/cinematographer Mark Beal’s beautifully bizarre Marginalia has all this and more. This black-and-white supernatural feature will win cinephiles over with its atmosphere to spare, which includes impressive practical effects work, cool stop-motion creatures, and wonderful medieval set design, costumes, and illustrations. Composer Alexander Hellonious’s evocative score fits the proceedings perfectly. Beal kicks things off right away with one of the most imaginative demises you’re likely to see this year. The cast members do a fine job with their committed performances, led by Jessica Bell as Sister Trista. Beal does assured work at the helm, and as he did with

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 18, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Recluse (Tribeca Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis After being summoned back to her childhood home to care for her bedridden father, Joan must confront the unearthed demons of her family’s past and contend with the home’s dark, malevolent energy that is both unseen and, much to her horror, seen. Review Horror films involving protagonists working closely with sound are practically becoming a subgenre in the fright-fare field recently — Rabbit Trap and Undertone, for example. The latest entry is writer/director/composer Henry Chaisson’s Recluse, a gothic chiller drenched in dread. When will horror film protagonists learn not to return to their childhood homes when estranged parents suffer health issues or die? Hopefully never, if the resulting tales are as intriguing as Recluse. Joan (Sasha Frolova), a sound recordist in the film industry does just that when her father, acclaimed but highly troubled painter Lawrence (Xander Berkeley) —who evidently was no stranger to the dark arts — is badly burned in a fire. Housekeeper to the expansive

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 8, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Grind and Friday the 69th (Portland Horror Film Festival)

Grind Official synopsis This horror anthology tackles the modern work landscape through four timely perspectives – a woman caught in a pyramid scheme, a delivery driver, a content moderator and a crew trying to unionize at a very familiar coffee shop. Review Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, and Chelsea Stardust team up to codirect the workplace horror comedy anthology Grind (U.S., 2026). A mysterious packing warehouse, an online sales plan for leggings that comes with deadly consequences for not meeting sales quotas, a time loop that finds a food delivery gig worker in a huge mess, a content moderation job that features twisted images, and a corporate plot to overthrow unionizing baristas all feature in this scathing satire on the modern American economy and its effects on lower-level employees. Genre-film legend Barbara Crampton and comic actor Rob Huebel provide quality veteran performances as the head honchos behind evil empire DRGN. Many people will find the work situations uncomfortably highly relatable and

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 8, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Turn It Up! (Tribeca Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis An indie rock band struggling to make its mark finds a possible meal ticket in an infectious new guitar riff. Unfortunately, it’s also a cursed melody that just so happens to open a portal to another, much scarier dimension. Review Writer/director Sam Scott mashes up horror elements, weird science, and razor-sharp comedy in the Canadian feature Turn It Up!. The result is a fun, frenetic film that boasts some cool rock numbers to accompany its frenzied goings-on. Alternative rock group members AC (Justine Nelson), Berg (Jonathan Craig), Court (Gwenlyn Cumyn), and Russ (Xavier Lopez) are doing the unsigned band grind when a song that may or may not be called “The Odyssey” — depending on which member you talk to — catches the attention of famous manager Miss Vee (Liv Collins). She promises them their way to a big break, but this being a genre film, naturally she has ulterior motives. Scott delivers a nice twist on the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 8, 2026

Row Your Boat into a Nightmare: Watch the Trailer for ‘I Think About Killing You’

If you thought your high school gym teacher was tough, wait until you meet the coach in writer-director Ran Ran Wang’s thriller, I Think About Killing You. Rideback Rise has officially unveiled the intense new trailer for the short film. It is set to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Festivalthis week, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. It will screen as part of the “Shorts: Competitive Edge” block. Whiplash Meets American Psycho on the Water The film follows Dani, the fiercely dedicated captain of a Division One collegiate rowing team. Dani has a lot on her mind. There’s academics, perfect form, keeping time, and—oh yeah—constant, invasive fantasies about murdering her deeply abusive coach. When the coach pushes the team past the point of physical exhaustion. And straight into psychological torture. Dani is forced to make a choice. Pushed to the absolute brink of her sanity, she has to decide whether to keep rowing or to act on her darkest

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 6, 2026

‘Antlers’ Scribe Henry Chaisson Unleashing Nightmare Fuel ‘Recluse’ at Tribeca

If your ideal horror movie features a decaying mansion, an audio recorder, and an unhealthy dose of generational trauma, you are in luck. Henry Chaisson—the wonderfully twisted writer behind Antlers and Apple TV’s “Servant“—is officially making his feature directorial debut. He’s gearing up to serve us the gothic horror-thriller Recluse. Variety reports that mega-producer Steven Schneider has officially come on board as an executive producer via his acclaimed genre label, Spooky Pictures. Along with the announcement, a chilling new look at the film has been released, setting the stage for its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival next month. The Art of the Audio Jump Scare The narrative framework of Recluse sounds like a textbook recipe for a psychological breakdown. Joan (Sasha Frolova, The Empty Man) is a fiercely solitary audio engineer who spends her life hiding behind headphones. She’s our hero. She receives a sudden, ominous phone call from her ailing father. He’s an acclaimed, reclusive artist who,

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jun 5, 2026

Fantasia International Film Festival Unleashes Its Second Wave for 2026

Montréal’s Fantasia International Film Festival serves up an eye-popping amount of genre-film features with its second wave announcement for its 30th edition, scheduled for July 16 through August 2, 2026. Following is the official press announcement. The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 30th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 16 through August 2, 2026, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screenings and events at Montréal’s Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced in early July but in the meantime, Fantasia is excited to reveal a select second wave of its 2026 titles. CAPE FEAR IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE IN CHILLING APPLE TV ADAPTATION In this reimagining of CAPE FEAR, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Amy Adams, ARRIVAL, NIGHTBITCH) and Tom Bowden (Patrick Wilson, THE CONJURING, INSIDIOUS) when Max Cady (Javier Bardem, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 5, 2026
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