Movies
‘Festival of the Living Dead’ Review – The Soska Sisters Channel George A. Romero in Tubi’s Sequel
From Children of the Living Dead to Zombi 2, the infamous copyright blunder that immediately placed Night of the Living Dead in the public domain means that unauthorized sequels to George A. Romero’s classic are a dime a dozen. However, despite these flicks usually being dismissed as cash-grabs attempting to ride the coattails of a better filmmaker, the fact is that every modern zombie movie is an inherent follow-up to the 1968 original in one way or another– the homemade sequels are simply more honest about it.
This is exactly why I was so interested in checking out Tubi’s low-budget love-letter to Romero, Festival of the Living Dead, as the film’s trailer revealed that the story wouldn’t be wasting time on re-introducing familiar zombie tropes and instead assumes that everyone (including the main characters) are aware of the events that went down on that fateful night back in ‘68. Plus, the film is helmed by the Twisted Twins themselves, Jen and Sylvia Soska, with that alone making the flick worth a watch in my book.
If you haven’t seen the trailer for yourself, Festival of the Living Dead follows Ashley Moore as Ash, the teenage granddaughter of Duane Jones’ character from NotLD, as she joins her jock boyfriend and his drug-addled buddies on a trip to a zombie-inspired music festival. Unfortunately, a crashed meteorite soon revives the undead infection of the original film, transforming what was meant to be a weekend of fun into a (not-so) living nightmare.
On paper, this sounds like a fun enough undead romp along the lines of Return of the Living Dead or even Gregg Bishop’s underrated Dance of the Dead, where a familiar Romero-inspired premise is relocated to a new setting with a unique cast of characters to keep things fresh. In practice, however, Festival ends up being a well-intentioned collection of clever ideas marred by a woefully inadequate budget and a clumsy narrative.
A spooky music festival becoming overrun by flesh-eating ghouls seems like a perfectly cheesy setup to a fun B-movie, but when the titular festival feels more like a backyard camp-out with a handful of your high school buddies (with the filmmakers even resorting to laughable CGI stand-ins as a way of padding out the wide shots), it becomes clear that the project lacks the resources necessary to tell a story on this scale.
Even the presentation is affected by the low production value, with some legitimately gnarly zombie makeup being sabotaged by lifeless photography and a (mostly) generic score. In fact, many of the flick’s establishing shots often feel suspiciously like stock footage, and that’s not even mentioning how the film’s connections to NotLD end up highlighting how Festival of the Living Dead refuses to engage with Romero’s evocative takes on race, mob mentality and consumerism – which is especially egregious when you consider that the movie takes place at an event that could easily incorporate these elements into the story.
The film flirts with some interesting ideas here and there, like how the events of Romero’s original are remembered as national tragedy (with the music festival actually having been established to honor victims of the infection), but the screenplay seems uninterested in exploring these story-beats in any meaningful way. From underdeveloped plot points about the impact of social media on teenage relationships to how some of the characters can’t afford tickets to such a gentrified event, there’s a frustrating amount of unfulfilled potential here.
I actually get the feeling that the original idea for Festival of the Living Dead was a much larger and more cohesive experience that ended up being painfully downsized due to the harsh realities of indie film production, with the end product being an undead husk of what was once a legitimately entertaining story.
Thankfully, the cast is surprisingly charming despite some shallow dialogue, with their rapport feeling quite natural throughout most of the film. There’s even a believable dose of tragedy when members of the group get inevitably eaten by zombies, an impressive feat considering that many of these characters are bona fide assholes. And while Moore makes for a likable lead, Camren Bicondova, Christian Rose and Shiloh O’Reilly are the real standouts here, and I wish that this unconventional trio had been the focus of the story instead of Ash’s new friend group.
Of course, a larger cast means that there are plenty of gruesome kills to go around, and I applaud the film’s use of practical gore effects even if the end result isn’t exactly comparable to something made by Greg Nicotero. Curiously enough, there’s a wide variety of zombie designs and behaviors here, with the movie featuring everything from freshly turned runners to Frankenstein-like creatures that ominously shamble around in search of victims.
And while this isn’t among their best work, the Soska Sisters do a stellar job of bringing energy to the screen here despite the project’s obvious limitations. I particularly appreciate their use of classic horror imagery (like undead hands clawing against windows while characters talk to each other) as well as the signature underground style present in both the film’s costume and set designs. Ultimately, I think there’s enough quality here to prove that the Canadian duo just needs a bigger budget in order to wow audiences with their patented brand of schlocky thrills.
If you can temper your expectations and avoid comparing it to other similar films, Festival of the Living Dead can make for an enjoyable 90 minutes – especially during the bonkers final act. It’s just a shame that the film couldn’t quite live up to it own lofty expectations; though I’d argue that not every zombie film needs to escape the shadow of Romero’s undead legacy.
Festival of the Living Dead is now streaming on Tubi.
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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