Editorials
Stay Home, Watch Horror: 5 Urban Legend Horror Movies to Stream This Week
With Candyman now out in theaters, the titular boogeyman is back in the horror spotlight. While the Candyman legend was born of tragedy (and a Clive Barker tale), it shares commonality with another widely popular urban legend, Bloody Mary. With either, staring into a mirror while chanting their name summons them to you, bringing your doom along with them. It’s the precise type of thing that makes urban legends excellent fodder for horror movies.
So, this week’s “Stay Home, Watch Horror” streaming picks center around urban legends; some adapted from actual myths and some that make up their own. All bring the horror fun.
Here’s where you can stream them this week…
Kandisha – Shudder
Teen friends uncover the word “Kandisha” beneath peeling wall coverings while out graffitiing. It’s the name of a vengeful Moroccan spirit who slays men when summoned by saying her name aloud five times. When one of the teens gets assaulted by her ex, she calls for Kandisha, unleashing a violent curse that will claim the lives of all men around them unless they can stop it. This supernatural slasher may not offer anything new, but it does keep you entertained thanks to its characters, a fantastic looking entity, and some bone-crushing, ultra-violent deaths. Emphasis on the ultra-violence; this slasher entity is ruthless.
Madman – Pluto TV, Tubi
This 1981 slasher drew inspiration from the New York urban legend of Cropsey but shifted gears upon learning about The Burning’s competing production. Thus, the legend of Madman Marz was born. A campfire tale and song opens this slasher, which explains that Madman Marz chopped up his family with an ax, and invoking his name will cause the killer to come for you. Guess what happens when a cocky camper tries to test the tale by calling for Madman Marz? A bloodbath ensues, as it should.
Triangle – Kanopy, Peacock, Pluto TV, Roku, Tubi, Vudu
Melissa George (The Amityville Horror, Turistas) stars as Jess, a frazzled single mother, invited along on a yachting trip for the day. A sudden storm causes the boat to capsize, forcing the passengers to seek refuge on a passing ocean liner. The ship is eerily vacant, save for a burlap masked shooter intent on picking them off. Déjà vu sets in big time, adding layers to this twisty tale that keeps you guessing. Writer/Director Christopher Smith (Black Death, Severance) pulls from the Bermuda Triangle, and the Greek myth of Sisyphus for his ocean liner-set slasher turned claustrophobic time loop tale.
Absentia – AMC+, Shudder, Tubi
When creating his eerie supernatural tale, writer/director Mike Flanagan drew inspiration from a few urban myths about tunnels and trolls. Flanagan mainstay Katie Parker stars as Callie, a recovering addict who comes to stay with her pregnant sister, Tricia (Courtney Bell). Tricia’s finally ready to accept that her missing husband is dead, but then Callie encounters a strange man in an empty tunnel, shocked that she can see him. It’s the beginning of a series of strange events stemming from the tunnel, including a supernatural bargain Callie unwittingly strikes. Leave it to Flanagan to use urban legend as a haunting and unsettling exploration of grief.
The Wretched – Hulu
Teenager Ben (John-Paul Howard) is still adapting to his parents’ recent split, making a summer visit with his dad in a small coastal town a bit strained and awkward. Then Ben notices something extraordinary happening next door; something evil has taken over the skin of a woman, and it’s preying on local children. Too bad no one believes Ben. Written/directed by Brett and Drew T. Pierce (Deadheads), The Wretched blends Rear Window with urban legend, creating a gruesome witch that borrows from Boo Hag and Black Annis folklore.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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