Movies
Open Graves (V)
Open Graves was dead on arrival. It’s a heartless rehash of various other films, but poorly executed. Not even the sight of Eliza Dushku can pull this movie out of the ground. The producers dug their own grave when they gave the green to the project before the screenplay was ready – and for that the movie deserves to be buried alive.
Arriving on DVD February 24th from Lionsgate Home Entertainment is Álvaro de Armiñán’s embarrassing Open Graves, a Jumanji-esque horror film that’s plagued with horrid acting, lame kills and shoddy CGI.
Eliza Dushku (Wrong Turn) and Mike Bogel (Cloverfild) star in the film that follows an international group of young surfers (super lame) that come into possession of an ancient artifact, Mamba, an old board game made from the skin and bones of a witch executed during the Spanish Inquisition (ohhhh creepy). At a drunken party one night, they casually decide to play (why wouldn’t you?). It’s all fun and games until they find out that their fates are sealed when they loses. Only the winner can set things right.
One of the first shocks of the film features a nail being pried off, a shot they show over and over again. When a movie opens with such ludicrousness, it’s impossible that anything worthwhile will follow. The FX are shoddy (the black mamba snack is hilarious) and ill conceived; they’re unoriginal, uninspiring and lackluster.
Conceived by Bruce and Roderick Taylor, the screenplay attempts to bring something new to the table, but ends up falling into cliché patterns (yes, the end is the most obvious conclusion possible). The characters are underdeveloped and the way the story unfolds is idiotic. The entire movie should have taken place over the course of one night, instead of breaking from the game play. It’s as if we watch a bunch of dolts playing a board game, then sit back and wait for them all to die, one by one, in yawn-inducing fashion.
What really kills the movie is the generic editing and crappy cinematography. The film looks cheap and lazy, right down to the camerawork by Álvaro de Armiñán. There’s nothing happening in the story, nor visually to keep the audience engaged.
Open Graves was dead on arrival. It’s a heartless rehash of various other films, but poorly executed. Not even the sight of Eliza Dushku can pull this movie out of the ground. The producers dug their own grave when they gave the green to the project before the screenplay was ready – and for that the movie deserves to be buried alive.
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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