Movies
Kidnapped (limited/VOD)
“Kidnapped goes gratuitously dark in the final reel, exiting on a brutal note of sexual assault and bloody survival that’s excitedly executed, but almost predictable in its overkill. Vivas raises so much hell during the picture, the sucker punch conclusion is drowned out by all the noise, with a grand summation of malevolence crippled by artless anguish. Kidnapped endeavors to leave viewers a quivering mess by the time the end credits arrive (scored ironically with upbeat music), but all that’s truly valued from the picture is its hearty cinematographic achievement.”
The cold-blooded, gut-churning intensity of Michael Haneke cinema takes an unexpected voyage to Spain with Kidnapped, a technical humdinger of a horror film that devours its audience with all manner of depravity and brutality. Truthfully, the picture is punishment, often stumbling into superfluous rage, but there’s plenty of slick filmmaking mischief here to examine when the movie gets sloppy with harsh acts of shock value.
Freshly relocated into an idyllic home, Jamie (Fernando Cayo) and Marta (Ana Wagener) are ready to celebrate the new surroundings with a special dinner, while their daughter, Isa (Manuela Velles), is eager to sneak off to a party with her friends. All possible evening plans are cut short when a trio of masked home invaders storm into the dwelling, demanding credit card information and cash. Forcibly separated from his family and ordered to empty all local ATMs, Jamie is left alone with his captor, madly searching for a way to break free and rescue his loved ones. For Marta and Isa, the situation is much bleaker, with the women left alone in the company of a sexual predator, hoping someone from the neighborhood will hear their pleas.
In many ways, Kidnapped is essentially a loose remake of Haneke’s brainy slasher film, Funny Games, only lacking the grim sophistication of a sneaky moviemaking experiment. In place of cheeky artifice, director/co-writer Miguel Angel Vivas heads to a feral area of survival, ignoring the psychological nuance of captivity to charge full steam ahead as a deafening scream machine, transforming Kidnapped into a 80-minute-long routine of intimidation and punishment, with every last sob for help and mercy explored in full. The vocal intensity is exhausting, watching as the family is threatened with violence for the majority of the picture, with the invaders established as men on the prowl for a monetary reward, but also clearly interested in a few sadistic encounters along the way.
This prolonged fixation on suffering generates the desired pitch of repulsion (a genre necessity), but it also detracts from the basic suspense needs of the picture. The gimmick of Kidnapped is how the action is captured with extended takes, bashing the camera around the house as the family searches for a way to evade their captors. The concept is appealing, giving the hostility a creative feel of unpredictability, assembling a few bravura shots that deliver satisfying jolts. However, the visual achievement is drowned out by the unrelenting reminder of agony, a level of torment that comes across almost cartoonish at times, as though the actors were afraid their performances would get lost in the intricate shot construction. Vivas doesn’t portion out the fear with precision, he hoses down his film with distress, smashing the sinister illusion during a few critical moments.
Kidnapped goes gratuitously dark in the final reel, exiting on a brutal note of sexual assault and bloody survival that’s excitedly executed, but almost predictable in its overkill. Vivas raises so much hell during the picture, the sucker punch conclusion is drowned out by all the noise, with a grand summation of malevolence crippled by artless anguish. Kidnapped endeavors to leave viewers a quivering mess by the time the end credits arrive (scored ironically with upbeat music), but all that’s truly valued from the picture is its hearty cinematographic achievement.
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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