Movies
The Daisy Chain (V)
“This is a very European film, but only in the sense that it’s boring, dragging and slightly pretentious. Apart from very few scenes that work really well, this isn’t one that’ll have you avoiding small children in the street.”
Most of the time when people put the ”European Arthouse” stamp of approval on a horror-film, it simply means that you have some European film crew trying to make a Hollywood horror, but without the budget needed. Most of these films simply don’t have more in them than their American counterparts, and the badge of European pride in acting and sociological relevance is an illusion created for marketing purposes.
Case in point, Aisling Walsh’s The Daisy Chain, dares to differ. Like a female Polanski she has actually tried to fuse the low-key socio-drama with a supernatural horror-story. Not quite the success story, though.
After a slow start, the film moves on to a slow mid-section and sort-of culminates in a slow finale. It’s the story of a couple moving to the Irish coast after a family tragedy. They spend some time ogling the locals, who mostly could have been taken from Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs and find a fascinating specimen in a young girl named Daisy. Problem is Daisy’s Omen-vibe has made her unpopular with the locals, including her own family who occupy a cabin on the same cliff as our grieving family. Following the sudden, blazing demise of Daisy’s family, our protagonists take her in and from there on it’s a straight (but very slow, very low-key) line to helter-skelter.
Initially I was intrigued by the fact that almost no-one in the cast and crew had any previous credits that remotely resembled horror. Director Aisling Walsh is an award-winning socio-realist director who made a name for herself with Song for a Raggy Boy and female lead Samantha Morton has twice been Oscar-nominated. These are respected auteurs and artistes, and it should be interesting to see what they made of the classic demon-orphan kind of story. Not much, it turns out, as The Daisy Chain is mostly an ineffective nod towards Rosemary’s Baby, Don’t Look Now and the likes.
The awesome location, the wind-torn, wooden houses built almost on the cliffs of the Irish coast, is the one thing put to best use. Most of the outdoor scenes work well and create en eerie mood, but once we move indoor mood, tension and atmosphere are absent. The character of Daisy, with her alien eyes and squeaky voice isn’t scary and the imbecilic decision to have her keep saying “Play with me” is more annoying than moody. Judging from the trailer to Orphan, those guys had more luck with a girl that’s surprisingly similar to this one. The girl doesn’t work, Samantha Morton and Steve Mackintosh battle a flawed script, and most of the supporting cast don’t help either. It’s very obvious what the intentions have been, but as a mood piece Walsh simply isn’t up to the task. Sure the scenes of marital drama are overly realistic and the characters are of main concern, but on so many other occasions, the script fails and with it, the actors.
This is a very European film, but only in the sense that it’s boring, dragging and slightly pretentious. Apart from very few scenes that work really well, this isn’t one that’ll have you avoiding small children in the street.
The holiday weekend means a light week for new horror releases, but it does bring the return of Dark Castle Entertainment to select theaters. It’s being joined by 6 new horror movies.
Here’s all the new horror releasing June 29, 2026 – July 3, 2026!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
You wished for it. The highest-grossing horror movie of the year (so far), Curry Barker’s Obsession, arrived on Digital on June 30.
In Curry Barker’s theatrical debut Obsession, after breaking the mysterious One Wish Willow to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Michael Johnston (“Teen Wolf”), Inde Navarette (“Superman & Lois”), Cooper Tomlinson (“That’s a Bad Idea,” Milk & Serial), Megan Lawless (The Death That Awaits), and Emmy Award-nominee Andy Richter (“Conan,” Elf) star.
Based on a story by director James Kondelik (Behind The Walls) and a screenplay by Canadian writer Victor Rose, survival thriller Pitfall headed home to Digital on June 30. Family is murder in this Cineverse release.
In Pitfall, a young man becomes separated from his friends in the woods and plunges into a ten-foot pit lined with spikes, impaling his leg and leaving him helpless. As reality sinks in and his situation grows dire, he realizes the fall wasn’t an accident.
The film stars Richard Harmon (Final Destination: Bloodlines), Alexandra Essoe (The Pope’s Exorcist), and UFC champion Randy Couture (The Expendables) as the ruthless killer who stalks his prey in the woods. Marshall Williams (The Ice Road), Jordan Claire Robbins (The Umbrella Academy), and Matt Hamilton (Murder for Sale) also star.
The Amityville IP leans into Jaws with Amityville Shark House, just in time for the Fourth of July holiday too, as it released on Digital June 30.
Will Collazo Jr. (Amityville Thanksgiving) and Shawn C. Phillips (Amityville Karen) co-direct from a script they wrote with Julie Anne Prescott.
In the movie, after discovering an ominous shark idol hidden beneath the decaying floorboards, Richard unknowingly awakens an ancient and savage force. As the entity begins to merge with him, a quiet coastal town descends into blood-soaked chaos.
With each victim claimed, the monstrous predator grows stronger, fueling a cult’s belief that their dark god has been reborn. Now, the race is on to stop the carnage before evil consumes everything in its path.
Phillips and Prescott also star alongside Tasha Tacosa, Maritza Brikisak, Gigi Gustin (The Retaliators), Adam Marino, and Carl Solomon.
Available on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD as of June 30 is Jacked, directed by John Fucile from a script he co-wrote with Simon Fraser.
The synopsis: “Set in the summer of 1987, JACKED follows two small-town teenagers whose day at the lake turns into a fight for survival after their car breaks down and they encounter a violent stalker.”
Marla Jean Robison, Tom Koch, Anthony Cipriani, Wynn Reichert, Kam Perez and Bella Marie star.
Get ready to work up a killer sweat and maybe spill some blood with Slashercise, a workout meets slasher hybrid that arrived exclusively on Bloodstream on July 1.
Written and directed by Ama Lea (Deathcember), the retro-styled feature follows “a masked killer known only as Meathead as he stalks the fitness clubs of Los Angeles, turning workout sessions into blood-soaked nightmares. As the city’s top trainers are picked off one by one, a group of determined fitness fanatics must fight back before they become the next bodies on the mat.”
Vanessa Decker (Stiletto), John Bloom (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Spencer Charnas (Ice Nine Kills), Sarah French (Blind), Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet), Sarah Nicklin (V/H/S/Halloween), Diana Prince (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Jared Rivet (The Once and Future Smash), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Tiffany Shepis (Victor Crowley), and Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) star.
After a record-breaking box office run, A24 and director Kane Parsons’ feature debut is heading back to theaters with bonus footage. AMC Theatres is unleashing Backrooms: Everything Must Go Editiontoday, July 3.
In the film written by Will Soodik, the owner of Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire discovers a strange doorway in the basement of the furniture showroom. He sets out to explore the mysterious, liminal space, walking headfirst into a creepypasta nightmare.
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsvestar.
AMC describes this release as a “theatrically exclusive post-credit” with additional footage from Kane Parsons. Expect 16 minutes of bonus footage, with the new version clocking in at 2 hours and 6 minutes.
The Last Exorcism director Daniel Stamm and Dark Castle Entertainment are back with Lockbox, in select theaters July 3. It adapts Soren Narnia‘s Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop” by Emmy-winning playwright Justin Yoffe.
In Lockbox, “Seeking peace after her mother’s death, Ellen retreats to a rural town and takes in her severely traumatized cousin Winthrop. Their fragile domestic balance shatters when an erratic neighbor warns that Winthrop is dangerous. As strange phenomena escalate, Ellen must put everything on the line to defend Winthrop from a dangerous otherworldly entity determined to track him down.”
Lou Taylor Pucci (Touch Me, Evil Dead), Carla Gugino (The Haunting of Hill House, Gerald’s Game, The Fall of the House of Usher) and Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps, Backrooms) star.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by Lockbox.
Be careful who you let in. Carla Gugino and Lou Taylor Pucci star in Lockbox, only in select theaters this Friday. Get tickets.
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