Movies
Coraline
“CORALINE is a visual splendor that is viscerally enhanced like no other film I have ever seen using 3D technology…Fans of stop-motion animation, Grimm’s fairy tales, and Hot Topic now have a new film to swoon over.”
I am surprised as shit to announce I have seen the best Dakota Fanning film likely ever to be made. I kid because I hate. But seriously, Henry Selick’s CORALINE is a fantastic achievement that has little to do with that little android’s involvement. Fans of stop-motion animation, Grimm’s fairy tales, and Hot Topic now have a new film to swoon over. Before we go any further I would just like to throw out there that if you can see this little gem in 3D—please do so before it’s too late.
First, don’t stroll into CORALINE with your NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS checklist ready for annoying comparison. Yes, both films are directed by the same talented dude (NEWS FLASH: Tim Burton didn’t direct either of these films), and have the same visual flair in their use of stop-motion storytelling, but they belong to be judged as completely separate entities. CORALINE isn’t a musical. It has a beautiful score, but no characters burst into song to help tell the story. This film is a marvelously inventive children’s horror movie. Think MONSTER HOUSE on acid. Sounds fun, eh?
We begin with little Coraline Jones who has just moved into a great big old house called the “Pink Palace” accompanied by her two absent-minded parents. It’s a bit of a strange arrangement because the Jones family only rents part of the house, and share the rest with at least three other quirky tenants. Up in the attic lives the hilariously limber Mr. Bobinsky (voiced by DEADWOOD’s Ian McShane) who spends his days doing gymnastics on the roof of the Pink Palace and ordering smelly exotic cheeses for his circus mice. In the basement we have the very plump and very weird Miss Spink and Miss Forcible who are a retired nightclub act. Both characters have a penchant for saltwater taffy and living… and sometimes dead… Scottish terriers. For the record, I would love living here.
But despite the awesome strangeness of her neighbors, Coraline hates her new digs. She also despises the fact that her parents are more interested in writing a book about gardening than they are in her. One day while forced to explore the very house she has come to loathe, she discovers a small doorway hidden behind the wallpaper of her living room. In a very BEING JOHN MALKOVICH/ALICE IN WONDERLAND moment, Coraline opens the door to find a tunnel leading to an alternate universe. If not for anything other than to just escape boredom, she decides to follow the tunnel and see what lies on the other side. What happens next is a series of creepy interactions between Coraline and her “other” parents that seem to embody everything Coraline wants out of her “real” parents. They’re happy, they listen to her, they cook awesome foods and desserts, they shower her with gifts and entertainment and love. The only problem is her “other” parents don’t have eyes.
While being completely enthralled with this film, I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that this is surely going to scare the shit out of kids. Good. It’s about time someone like Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman (wrote the book) don’t pander to the shorties and actually give them some visuals to remember. I found myself a few times in the climax of the film marveling at some of the disturbing imagery. Kudos to Selick for cementing himself as the master off stop-motion animation—he deserves the title. I almost wrote the guy off after hanging myself while watching MONKEYBONE. Here, Selick runs wild with creativity on familiar ground. Just stay here, Henry… you’re kind of awesome at it. Oh, and anyone who casts Dakota Fanning (even if it’s just voice work) and makes her bearable deserves a cookie.
CORALINE is a visual splendor that is viscerally enhanced like no other film I have ever seen using 3D technology. It’s not so much a FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 “oh look I’m playing with a yo-yo right into the camera!” 3D (which is awesome BTW), but more of a way to enrich the film’s storytelling. I am still trying to wrap my head around how goddamn inventive this movie is. Whether it’s the array of creative characters and their designs, to all of the nonsensical beauty contained in the “nightmare world”—CORALINE has more originality in any given scene than most films of recent memory. I loved how ghoulish the situations were, and the fact that all of the characters in the alternate universe have buttons in place of their eyes. It happily reminded me of some of the imagery from Stuart Gordon’s DOLLS. This is a beautiful, creepy little movie masquerading as a children’s film. Make no mistake, CORALINE is sure to scare the hell out of the kiddies and possibly give the parents some goosebumps as well. Don’t miss this.
This week’s new releases offer everything from giant monsters to Spielberg aliens to ass-kicking martial artists and even an ash-eating medical student. Do we have your interest?
Here’s all the new genre movies that released on Friday, June 12, 2026!
These aren’t all HORROR movies, but we want you to be aware of them all the same…
Norwegian creature feature Kraken is now available on Digital.
The film was also unleashed in select theaters. Check your local listings.
In the monster movie Kraken, “unnatural behavior in wild salmon, followed by inexplicable deaths in Norway’s deepest fjord, points to the mythical Kraken. The ancient, multi-armed monster has awakened, ready to crush everything that moves or makes a sound.”
Pål Øie (The Tunnel) directs Samuel Goldwyn Films’ Kraken from a script by Vilde Eide, Kjersti Jelen Rasmussen, and Natasha Arthur. Sara Khorami, Mikkel Bratt Silset, Øyvind Brandtzæg, Jenny Evensen, Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes, Jon Erik Myre, Hans Morten Hansen, Steinar Klouman Hallert, and Filip Bargee Ramberg star.
An all girls trip into the desert for escapism fun instead implodes in violence in the revenge thriller Find Your Friends, now streaming only on Shudder.
In the film, “Amber and her four best friends flee Los Angeles for a girls’ trip in Joshua Tree, only to find themselves unwelcome in a desert town simmering with quiet hostility. As isolation sets in and encounters with aggressive locals grow more threatening, festering resentments within the group begin to surface.
“What begins as fun and reckless escape spirals into a violent struggle for control and survival, as past wounds and present dangers collide in a night that turns their trip into a nightmare.”
Bella Thorne (The Babysitter), Chloe Cherry (“Euphoria”), Helena Howard (I Saw the TV Glow), Sophia Ali (Uncharted), Zion Moreno (“Gossip Girl”), and Chris Bauer (“True Blood”) star in the feature debut by writer/director Izabel Pakzad.
Steven Spielberg is more sure today than he was when he made Close Encounters and ET that aliens are very real, and with Disclosure Day, he aims to make you a believer too.
Okay so it’s not a horror movie, but the sci-fi blockbuster is now playing in theaters.
The vague synopsis for Disclosure Day reads: “If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to Disclosure Day.”
The film stars SAG winner and Oscar® nominee Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer, A Quiet Place), Emmy and Golden Globe winner Josh O’Connor (Challengers, The Crown), Oscar® winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, Kingsman franchise), Eve Hewson (Bad Sisters, The Perfect Couple) and two-time Oscar® nominee Colman Domingo (Sing Sing, Rustin).
Based on a story by Spielberg, the screenplay is by David Koepp, whose previous work with Spielberg includes the scripts for Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Combined, those films earned more than $3 billion worldwide. Koepp also wrote the script for Jurassic World Rebirth.
Steven Spielberg is of course no stranger to extraterrestrial encounters, directing two of the greatest alien movies of all time: Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 and E.T. in 1982. It’s an arena he returned to in 2005, directing an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.
Here in 2026, Steven Spielberg sees hope in the existence of aliens. He notes in the final trailer for Disclosure Day, “How will disclosure change us? I believe for the better.”
Another movie that’s not a horror movie but worth mentioning here is the violent martial arts revenge thriller The Furious, which is now playing in theaters from Lionsgate.
Xie Miao (The New Legend of Shaolin) and Joe Taslim (Mortal Kombat) star.
After his daughter is kidnapped by a criminal network and he receives no help from the corrupt police, Wang Wei sets out on a rampage to find her himself.
His only ally is Navin, a relentless journalist whose wife has mysteriously disappeared. Fueled by a furious vengeance, the unlikely duo ruthlessly fights against the kidnappers.
Kenji Tanigaki (Enter the Fat Dragon) directs from a script by Mak Tin Shu (Kung Fu Jungle), Lei Zhilong, Shum Kwan Sin (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In), and Frank Hui.
A disturbing weight loss craze involving human ashes opens up a haunting world of hurt for a young woman in Saccharine, which is now available on Digital outlets at home.
From writer/director Natalie Erika James (Relic, Apartment 7A), the Australian supernatural body horror film follows lovelorn medical student Hana, who becomes terrorized by a sinister force after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes.
Midori Francis (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Danielle Macdonald (Patti Cake$), and Madeleine Madden (“The Wheel of Time”) star in Natalie Erika James’ latest nightmare.
From directors Arturo Ambriz and Roy Ambriz, I Am Frankelda is billed as the first ever full length stop motion movie from Mexico, and it’s now streaming on Netflix.
The history-making stop-motion film is a dark fantasy set in a world of monsters.
Here’s the synopsis: “In 19th-century Mexico, Frankelda is a gifted writer whose dark tales are ignored and dismissed. Forced to suppress her voice, she refuses to give up, even as many try to silence her. But when she is thrust into her subconscious, the very monsters she created come to life.
“Guided by Herneval, a tormented prince trapped between dreams and nightmares, she must restore balance between fiction and reality before both realms collapse. Meanwhile, the sinister writer Procustes and his conspirators plot to seize control. As Frankelda and Herneval grow closer, their bond becomes both a strength and a curse.
“To rewrite their fate, she must confront a love that defies existence and reclaim her power as a storyteller—before dark forces consume her imagination and reveal horrors beyond her creation.”
The directors said in a joint statement, “As brothers, we grew up inventing worlds together, drawing, playing, imagining. Over time we understood that fictional characters were not only companions but guides. Sometimes they felt closer than the people around us. They provided us courage, wisdom, and solace. We believe fiction is not an escape from reality but a way of understanding it. A way of converting truth into palatable chunks. I Am Frankelda comes from a lifelong love of storytelling.”
Mireya Mendoza, Arturo Mercado Jr., and Luis Leonardo Suarez lead the voice cast.
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Mexico’s first stop-motion animated feature is a macabre beauty.” Meagan also notes in her review, “I Am Frankelda is a gothic fantasy feature whose boundless creativity is matched by its ambition.”
The lines of reality and delusion blur in Time of Death, now available on Digital.
Michael Kelly (“The Penguin,” Dawn of the Dead 2004) stars with Kevin Pollak (End of Days), Mena Suvari (Vampires of the Velvet Lounge), and Dennis Haysbert (Send Help).
In the horror-thriller, “When a prisoner vanishes without a trace, Detective Frank Morley (Michael Kelly) is sent to a decaying prison on the verge of shutdown. What begins as a routine investigation quickly spirals into a dangerous search for answers.”
Will Wernick (Escape Room 2017, Follow Me) directs from a script by Jason Rosen. They also produce alongside Kelly Delson, Jeff Delson, and Kyle David Crosby.
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