Movies
Surveillance (V)
“Surveillance, a stylishly eccentric murder-mystery set in small town America… a movie that’s meant to be experienced rather than remembered.”
Jennifer Lynch, the daughter of director David Lynch, hasn’t helmed a movie since 1993’s Boxing Helena, a perverse and somewhat sickening story of erotic obsession. But even a 15-year absence from the director’s chair hasn’t diluted her knack for narrative craft, as proven with this year’s Surveillance, a stylishly eccentric murder-mystery set in small town America.
A pair of masked killers have left a trail of bloody murders across the state, and FBI agents Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond are called in to investigate the most recent slaying. Arriving at a rural police station, the agents are required to interview three witnesses who were present at the same roadside massacre: an 8-year-old girl, a pretty blonde junkie, and a sadistic cop. Their respective stories unfold Rashomon-style through deliberately paced flashbacks. The girl was enjoying a vacation with her family, the tweaking junkie was fleeing from a drug house with her equally tweaked boyfriend, and the sadistic cop was out on patrol with his equally sadistic partner (is that French Stewart?!?). Their disparate story lines brutally converge on a lonely country road.
Since the specifics of the roadside crime figure prominently into the plot, it’s best not to divulge any further details. Surveillance is a movie that thrives on the slow reveal. Yes, something awful occurred, and yes, it was gruesome, and yes, there is no doubt the audience desperately wants to know what the hell happened. From the first few peculiar moments we are completely hooked on Lynch’s brand of storytelling, and she twists her directorial fly rod back and forth, playing out slack and then reeling frantically, letting us squirm on the end of the line.
Some may complain that it’s far too easy to discern the big twist in the final reel. Perhaps. But simply seeing your destination in the distance doesn’t render the journey any less interesting. Bill Pullman puts in one of those singularly bizarre performances he tends to reserve for low-budget indies like Surveillance or Zero Effect, all exasperated mumbling and blank stares. Julia Ormond looks amazing these days. Michael Ironside, Hugh Dillon (Durham County), and ex-SNL cast member Cheri Oteri fluff out the cast list. Slick and sturdy, Surveillance is a movie that’s meant to be experienced rather than remembered.
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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