Movies
Camel Spiders (V)
“There’s a high body count and a hilarious airstrike at the climax, but all the sitting around, bad CGI spider attacks, and even worse CGI blood really wears down on you. The non-existent plot and bad acting are expected, but Camel Spiders has the same issues all of the more recent Corman films have: there’s nothing sensational or exploitative about them.”
Cheap killer animal movies are almost always silly, and if there’s one guy that can help throw together an enjoyable flick about desert spiders from the middle east who make their way stateside and lay siege to a small town in the middle of nowhere, it’s Roger Corman. But, like the other modern day films under the ‘Roger Corman Presents’ banner, Camel Spiders doesn’t feel like a Corman production; it’s lifeless, dull, and directed by Jim Wynorksi, who hasn’t made anything worth a damn since Chopping Mall.
That might seem a little harsh for a movie promising nothing but oversized spider carnage with its box art depiction of arachnids assaulting a guy’s head and a tagline which reads ‘They really get under your skin.’ Even keeping in mind that exploitation poster art usually exaggerates the film’s content tenfold, it’s really upsetting that spiders only get under someone’s skin once and that really nothing happens for about two-thirds of the movie – which is also a pretty regular occurrence in low-budget films, but expecting to be bored doesn’t really make things any less boring.
After a brief shootout between US Forces and terrorists, a pack of big spiders come out of nowhere and lay waste to the aggressors. Capt. Sturges (Brian Krause) orders the body of one of his men to be shipped back stateside, which the crafty spiders are hiding in. When the casket falls out of the back of a military truck driving through Anytown, USA, the spiders start attacking anything that moves. Camel Spiders then starts following two groups of people: Capt. Sturges and some townspeople who are trapped in a diner and then a factory, and a group of brainy kids who break into a house to take shelter. Better hope you don’t like the kids too much (you won’t, trust me), because the film abruptly stops following them in the third act. I’ll give Camel Spiders this much: at least it tries to mix up several different genres (siege, killer animal, war), even though I’d be hard-pressed to call it ‘successful.’
There’s a high body count and a hilarious airstrike at the climax, but all the sitting around, bad CGI spider attacks, and even worse CGI blood really wears down on you. The non-existent plot and bad acting are expected, but Camel Spiders has the same issues all of the more recent Corman films have: there’s nothing sensational or exploitative about them. He’s produced over 400 movies in his career, and has a tried and true formula – hell, there’s even one last explosion before the film ends – but Spiders leaves out the best ingredient: fun.
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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