Movies
Return of the Living Dead
“Return of the Living Dead is a carbon-frozen image of American life in late summer 1986, a film of a very specific time and place… Like Night of the Creeps or Fright Night, it’s pure, unadulterated entertainment, the way nature intended.”
Return of the Living Dead (1986) remains a vital part of horror movie history. Released in an incredible four week period that also saw Fright Night and Re-Animator hit theaters, it’s the belated result of a messy post-Night of the Living Dead divorce between co-creators John Russo and George Romero. Romero continued his zombie legacy with Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, while Russo answered back by selling his title rights to producer Tom Fox in exchange for a story credit.
Fox bravely handed the writing and directing duties over to Dan O’Bannon, a screenwriter (Alien, Dead & Buried) with no directing experience. The resulting film is a gleeful rock ‘n’ roll mockery of everything Romero’s franchise holds dear––in O’Bannon’s film, zombies drop jaw and mug for the camera, zombies slip around in wet graves for humorous effect, some zombies even qualify for a CB handle (“Send…more…paramedics!”) Despite any incidental blasphemy committed against Romero’s zombie legend, the party-hardy vibe helped Return rise to a respectable showing at the box office, especially for a horror comedy released in the middle of August.
O’Bannon’s multi-faceted narrative is awfully ambitious for a no-budget 80s horror comedy. It introduces almost a dozen different characters within the first few minutes and regularly changes perspectives. The action begins with Frank (James Karen), a veteran employee at Uneeda Medical Supply, giving new employee Freddy the guided tour. After showing off their supply of human skeletons and half-dogs, Frank coerces him into the basement (“Let me ask you a question: did you ever see that movie, Night of the Living Dead?”) to gaze at an Army canister full of 2-4-5 Trioxin, a deadly gas that turns both the living and the dead into brain-craving zombies. It goes without saying that Frank and Freddy manage to spray themselves with gas before the opening credits can even get warmed up.
Meanwhile, Freddy’s girlfriend Tina is cruising around Uneeda with a pack of spiky-haired punks that includes a frequently nude Linea Quigley. Tina’s waiting for Freddy to get off work, but in the meantime the gang kills time at the old cemetery––the boys drink and lament, Linea Quigley strips.
Back over at Uneeda, an infected Frank and Freddy confront their boss Burt (Clu Gulager), pickaxe a zombified medical cadaver that comes alive in the storage freezer, and hacksaw the corpse into decent-sized chunks. Ernie (Don Calfa), the owner of the crematorium next door, is skeptical when the trio shows up on his doorstep with writhing Hefty bags full of “rabid weasels”, but he reluctantly agrees to let them use his furnace for disposal. The resulting ash from the crematorium mingles with the rain clouds over Uneeda Medical Supply and creates what could be the first ever case of zombie acid rain.
Return of the Living Dead is a carbon-frozen image of American life in late summer 1986, a film of a very specific time and place. Aliens discovering this film in 2011 would almost certainly dismiss our planet as too stupid to approach. It’s a movie that hasn’t aged particularly well, with some goofily over-the-top performances and inconsistent gore effects. But this is one of those rare films that has everything horror fans hold dear to the genre: blood, boobs, humor, camp, the whole package. It’s devoted fans are legion, and for good reason. Like Night of the Creeps or Fright Night, it’s pure, unadulterated entertainment, the way nature intended.
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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