Movies
Side Sho (V)
“Although it’s not a particularly scary movie, it is fun to watch at times, and while the increasingly brutal tone isn’t sincere enough to be truly affecting, the change of pace in the latter half is enough to hold your attention.”
If you get a chance, flip through Marc Hartzman’s book, American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History’s Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers, for a quick reminder of just how intriguing sideshows and their accompanying freaks can really be. The thought of seeking out a long-forgotten roadside attraction comes with its own rush of queasy excitement, a temptation that vacationing father John Goodall (John David Hart; BELL WITCH: THE MOVIE) can’t resist.
After blowing his bonus check at Sea World, John is driving home with his family when a planned shortcut leads them to the middle of nowhere. After receiving directions from a matronly storekeeper sporting an overripe accent and a bevy of broad facial expressions, (think a female Fred Gwynne from PET SEMETERY after about a pound of crack), the family is led to Levon Gibbon’s Old Time Side Show, a decrepit roadside attraction featuring a museum of oddities. The Side Show is run by a crusty barker (J.R. Reynolds) who provides the family with a quick tour and then offers to show John some exhibits that aren’t so family friendly for an additional fee. John coughs up the extra dough to see the good shit, but he’s inexplicably spooked by the sight of fetuses in jars, so he takes the family and bolts as The Barker mocks his retreat (“Go ahead, cut n’ run, City Boy! But yer gonna miss the wall o’ titty pitchers!”).
The Goodalls don’t get far before their mini-van runs out of gas and they’re forced to shack up at a nearby cabin. The teenage daughter and her friend sneak out late at night to smoke a joint and get snatched by a vaguely depicted teenage-girl snatcher. Mom gets snatched moments later. Suddenly realizing that they’re dealing with an entire clan of hair-sniffing sideshow miscreants sporting rubbery latex facial deformities, John and his young son join forces to rescue the women and maybe kill a few freaks in the process, budget permitting.
The first half of SIDE SHO plays like a Disneyfied low-budget horror movie: father and son searching for hand-held weapons and high-fiving each other while the caged women get their breasts awkwardly fondled by The Barker’s cane, it’s like SADISTIC INBRED FAMILY ROBINSON or HONEY, I ALMOST GOT YOU RAPED BY A CARNIVAL BARKER. Cut out a few of the F-words and the single booby shot and the first 45 minutes bear a strong resemblance to an all-ages adventure film that strongly advocates familial unity and loyalty.
But SIDE SHO takes a darker route during its well-paced second half, drenching the kill scenes in heavier and heavier dollops of dime store gore. Although it’s not a particularly scary movie, it is fun to watch at times, and while the increasingly brutal tone isn’t sincere enough to be truly affecting, the change of pace in the latter half is enough to hold your attention. The movie didn’t feature any real-life sideshow freaks, however, which was a major disappointment. Stick around after the end credits for a totally cheesy stinger.
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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