Movies
The Maid
A fair go at Asian horror for those who don’t normally delve into such waters…
As Night Watch was the first celluloid of the macabre to come from Russia, The Maid arrives with the distinction of being the first horror film to come out of Singapore – breaking some home country box-office records along the way. I’m not a big fan of what some call J-horror (Asian horror) – Ju-On, Ringu – any of it really. I don’t knock it, as I respect its place in horror cinema – I just don’t identify with it. However, after coming across The Maid‘s synopsis while browsing some lesser known titles, I became curious and decided to buck the trend and give this baby a shot.
18 year old Rosa arrives at Mr and Mrs Teo’s home in Singapore and assumes the maid position, in hopes of making some money in the big city. She intends to send the money home to her sick younger brother. A good girl, they accept her with warmth, introduce her to friends, and treat her like part of the family. With no delay, Rosa is taught about the Chinese seventh month, when angry spirits escape hell and walk among the living. There are certain ritual precautions that are taken – the offerings of burning money and leaving the ashes on the doorstep, along with food and other sacrificed gifts. Never look over your shoulder if you hear you name whispered on the street at night, and the like. Rosa, like every other young skeptic in the world, disregards the old superstitions, and unwittingly becomes a lure for some very unsettled ghosts and one restless spirit in particular.
Soon another young woman on the street catches Rosa’s eye. This stranger follows and watches closely from afar. Her name is Wati, and soon they sit on a bench and talk. She tells Rosa that she looks almost exactly like the maid before her – a young girl named Esther. She even wears her clothes. What’s going on? What started as a confusing whirlwind of previously senseless visions and hauntings starts to slowly come together and make sense. And its at this point that Wari tells Rosa to ask Mrs. Teo who Esther is. Unfortunately for Rosa, she does. Explanations to all the visions solidify, walls come crashing down, and all of this comes together and gels into a realistically creepy and satisfying climax.
Young Rosa is played innocently enough by Alessandra de Rossi (Hide & Seek). This young actress carried this film from beginning to end. Her look of naivety and curiosity just seemed natural and realistic. She was as pretty as she was professionally dramatic and sensitive in her performance. This isn’t some hard to watch, dry monotonous crap – Alessandra delivered the impression that this was all pretty much real and going on.
Lucas Jodoigne’s (Men in White, Hide & Seek) cinematography is vivid and eye catching, with odd angles and cultural scenery. Plot wise, what unravels is a familiar ghost story everyone can identify with. It is, however, partially guilty of tying in the typical J-horror long black hair, dark eyed, dead faced spectres, and the now stereotypical children, which has been seriously overplayed in films like The Grudge and anything remotely like it from Japan. Some of the jolts are surprising, others get monotonous and predictable, but the majority of it is weird and ghostly with screeching string sections and loud outbursts to try and make you jump.
Its really on the better half of decent. You don’t have to be an Asian horror buff or even a fan of foreign films to like this movie. In fact, Id recommend The Maid with confidence that many of you will find it worth the time it if you can get to the ending. Spoken in English while being subtitled, watching it makes it easier for the quickly-confused than a film like Night Watch. This added effort allows you to take your eyes off the words so you can soak in some of the interesting scenery and environment. Joe Ng puts together a grinding score with chilling sound effects. Very light on the gore and injury facet, director Kelvin Tong manages to weave a simple, well spun ghost story with The Maid that comes together before your eyes as an apparition would down the hall – in vague pieces at first, coming to form in the end.
The holiday weekend means a light week for new horror releases, but it does bring the return of Dark Castle Entertainment to select theaters. It’s being joined by 6 new horror movies.
Here’s all the new horror releasing June 29, 2026 – July 3, 2026!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
You wished for it. The highest-grossing horror movie of the year (so far), Curry Barker’s Obsession, arrived on Digital on June 30.
In Curry Barker’s theatrical debut Obsession, after breaking the mysterious One Wish Willow to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Michael Johnston (“Teen Wolf”), Inde Navarette (“Superman & Lois”), Cooper Tomlinson (“That’s a Bad Idea,” Milk & Serial), Megan Lawless (The Death That Awaits), and Emmy Award-nominee Andy Richter (“Conan,” Elf) star.
Based on a story by director James Kondelik (Behind The Walls) and a screenplay by Canadian writer Victor Rose, survival thriller Pitfall headed home to Digital on June 30. Family is murder in this Cineverse release.
In Pitfall, a young man becomes separated from his friends in the woods and plunges into a ten-foot pit lined with spikes, impaling his leg and leaving him helpless. As reality sinks in and his situation grows dire, he realizes the fall wasn’t an accident.
The film stars Richard Harmon (Final Destination: Bloodlines), Alexandra Essoe (The Pope’s Exorcist), and UFC champion Randy Couture (The Expendables) as the ruthless killer who stalks his prey in the woods. Marshall Williams (The Ice Road), Jordan Claire Robbins (The Umbrella Academy), and Matt Hamilton (Murder for Sale) also star.
The Amityville IP leans into Jaws with Amityville Shark House, just in time for the Fourth of July holiday too, as it released on Digital June 30.
Will Collazo Jr. (Amityville Thanksgiving) and Shawn C. Phillips (Amityville Karen) co-direct from a script they wrote with Julie Anne Prescott.
In the movie, after discovering an ominous shark idol hidden beneath the decaying floorboards, Richard unknowingly awakens an ancient and savage force. As the entity begins to merge with him, a quiet coastal town descends into blood-soaked chaos.
With each victim claimed, the monstrous predator grows stronger, fueling a cult’s belief that their dark god has been reborn. Now, the race is on to stop the carnage before evil consumes everything in its path.
Phillips and Prescott also star alongside Tasha Tacosa, Maritza Brikisak, Gigi Gustin (The Retaliators), Adam Marino, and Carl Solomon.
Available on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD as of June 30 is Jacked, directed by John Fucile from a script he co-wrote with Simon Fraser.
The synopsis: “Set in the summer of 1987, JACKED follows two small-town teenagers whose day at the lake turns into a fight for survival after their car breaks down and they encounter a violent stalker.”
Marla Jean Robison, Tom Koch, Anthony Cipriani, Wynn Reichert, Kam Perez and Bella Marie star.
Get ready to work up a killer sweat and maybe spill some blood with Slashercise, a workout meets slasher hybrid that arrived exclusively on Bloodstream on July 1.
Written and directed by Ama Lea (Deathcember), the retro-styled feature follows “a masked killer known only as Meathead as he stalks the fitness clubs of Los Angeles, turning workout sessions into blood-soaked nightmares. As the city’s top trainers are picked off one by one, a group of determined fitness fanatics must fight back before they become the next bodies on the mat.”
Vanessa Decker (Stiletto), John Bloom (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Spencer Charnas (Ice Nine Kills), Sarah French (Blind), Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet), Sarah Nicklin (V/H/S/Halloween), Diana Prince (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Jared Rivet (The Once and Future Smash), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Tiffany Shepis (Victor Crowley), and Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) star.
After a record-breaking box office run, A24 and director Kane Parsons’ feature debut is heading back to theaters with bonus footage. AMC Theatres is unleashing Backrooms: Everything Must Go Editiontoday, July 3.
In the film written by Will Soodik, the owner of Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire discovers a strange doorway in the basement of the furniture showroom. He sets out to explore the mysterious, liminal space, walking headfirst into a creepypasta nightmare.
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsvestar.
AMC describes this release as a “theatrically exclusive post-credit” with additional footage from Kane Parsons. Expect 16 minutes of bonus footage, with the new version clocking in at 2 hours and 6 minutes.
The Last Exorcism director Daniel Stamm and Dark Castle Entertainment are back with Lockbox, in select theaters July 3. It adapts Soren Narnia‘s Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop” by Emmy-winning playwright Justin Yoffe.
In Lockbox, “Seeking peace after her mother’s death, Ellen retreats to a rural town and takes in her severely traumatized cousin Winthrop. Their fragile domestic balance shatters when an erratic neighbor warns that Winthrop is dangerous. As strange phenomena escalate, Ellen must put everything on the line to defend Winthrop from a dangerous otherworldly entity determined to track him down.”
Lou Taylor Pucci (Touch Me, Evil Dead), Carla Gugino (The Haunting of Hill House, Gerald’s Game, The Fall of the House of Usher) and Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps, Backrooms) star.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by Lockbox.
Be careful who you let in. Carla Gugino and Lou Taylor Pucci star in Lockbox, only in select theaters this Friday. Get tickets.
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