Movies
Monster From Bikini Beach (V)
“Think THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA and you’ve got a solid idea of what MONSTER FROM BIKINI BEACH is trying to accomplish. A good mix of wooden acting, SCOOBY-DOO-esque monster chases, bad production value and even worse dialogue, it’s got everything you’d expect from a so-bad-its-good movie…”
Since I began writing for B-D a year and a half ago, starting with a review of the immortal classic GHOST RIDER, I’ve been looking for the next great bad movie. A lot of the low-budget films I watch try going for camp, to varying degrees, but end up falling short for one main reason: they just don’t get it. Anyone can watch a trashy cult film of yesteryear and pick the parts people really like to use in their own films. But it takes a real fan, someone who feels a fervent love for ineptness and accidental greatness, to understand why those sequences work and in what context they could still function in to truly pay homage to their favorite bad movies. I’m here to tell you that, finally, I’ve found a modern film that lives up to those standards and its name is MONSTER FROM BIKINI BEACH.
Stephanie Hyden stars as Raquel Vanvanderzander, Cameroville’s fledgling anchorwoman, who stumbles upon the scene of a human mutilation. Joining forces with her old schoolmate, the intrepid tabloid photojournalist Archie Barclay (Galen Howard), the two set out to follow the trail of mangled bodies and figure out who or what is causing the ever-rising body count in their city. Despite having evidence of a mutant, man-eating catfish on the loose, corrupt cop Sammy Payday (Stephen Vargo) doesn’t pay any mind to the reunited friends, instead turning his attention to getting paid off by club owners and gangsters, making sure his main squeeze Boom-Boom (Laura Stahl) makes the finals in the Midnight Go-Go-A-Thon and finally making that big score which will give him enough money for a fresh start. Unfortunately for Cameroville but fortunately for us, the monster has an insatiable lust for bikini-clad women and knows exactly when the grand opening of the Bikini Beach Tiki Room is, giving us a climax with blood, boobs and a paper-maché monster.
While watching MFBB, I couldn’t help but think this is what would’ve happened if Russ Meyer did his own take on HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (which, coincidentally, was the film producer/cinematographer Christy Savage screened to raise money for MFBB) and then called up H.G. Lewis for the gore effects. The psychedelic take on the beach party movies of the 50s feels exactly like what Meyer would’ve given us, had he taken AIP up on their offer during his heyday. In fact, the Meyer homages start in the first 5 minutes of the movie when Boom-Boom makes her first appearance, a nice little nod to Varla’s nickname for Billie in FASTER PUSSYCAT KILL KILL, which is arguably the King of the Nudies’ best film.
The most curious aspect of the film is, of course, the monster. The design comes off as campy and made on a shoestring budget, hearkening back to the glory days of the radioactive-era monster films. Those creatures managed to scare theatre goers despite their appearance merely for the obscuring shots and other instances of creative cinematography, which DP Savage uses to her advantage on more than one occasion. The only time the small budget rears its ugly head unsatisfactorily is during Payday’s narration sequences, where the sloppy ADR makes the scenes almost inaudible. Luckily, they’re very few and far between.
Think THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA and you’ve got a solid idea of what MONSTER FROM BIKINI BEACH is trying to accomplish. A good mix of wooden acting, SCOOBY-DOO-esque monster chases, bad production value and even worse dialogue, it’s got everything you’d expect from a so-bad-its-good movie, especially one made by a production company called Trash Film Orgy. It’s not the next TROLL 2 or anything, but it’s certainly a solid effort in enjoyably bad film making.
This week’s new releases offer everything from giant monsters to Spielberg aliens to ass-kicking martial artists and even an ash-eating medical student. Do we have your interest?
Here’s all the new genre movies that released on Friday, June 12, 2026!
These aren’t all HORROR movies, but we want you to be aware of them all the same…
Norwegian creature feature Kraken is now available on Digital.
The film was also unleashed in select theaters. Check your local listings.
In the monster movie Kraken, “unnatural behavior in wild salmon, followed by inexplicable deaths in Norway’s deepest fjord, points to the mythical Kraken. The ancient, multi-armed monster has awakened, ready to crush everything that moves or makes a sound.”
Pål Øie (The Tunnel) directs Samuel Goldwyn Films’ Kraken from a script by Vilde Eide, Kjersti Jelen Rasmussen, and Natasha Arthur. Sara Khorami, Mikkel Bratt Silset, Øyvind Brandtzæg, Jenny Evensen, Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes, Jon Erik Myre, Hans Morten Hansen, Steinar Klouman Hallert, and Filip Bargee Ramberg star.
An all girls trip into the desert for escapism fun instead implodes in violence in the revenge thriller Find Your Friends, now streaming only on Shudder.
In the film, “Amber and her four best friends flee Los Angeles for a girls’ trip in Joshua Tree, only to find themselves unwelcome in a desert town simmering with quiet hostility. As isolation sets in and encounters with aggressive locals grow more threatening, festering resentments within the group begin to surface.
“What begins as fun and reckless escape spirals into a violent struggle for control and survival, as past wounds and present dangers collide in a night that turns their trip into a nightmare.”
Bella Thorne (The Babysitter), Chloe Cherry (“Euphoria”), Helena Howard (I Saw the TV Glow), Sophia Ali (Uncharted), Zion Moreno (“Gossip Girl”), and Chris Bauer (“True Blood”) star in the feature debut by writer/director Izabel Pakzad.
Steven Spielberg is more sure today than he was when he made Close Encounters and ET that aliens are very real, and with Disclosure Day, he aims to make you a believer too.
Okay so it’s not a horror movie, but the sci-fi blockbuster is now playing in theaters.
The vague synopsis for Disclosure Day reads: “If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to Disclosure Day.”
The film stars SAG winner and Oscar® nominee Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer, A Quiet Place), Emmy and Golden Globe winner Josh O’Connor (Challengers, The Crown), Oscar® winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, Kingsman franchise), Eve Hewson (Bad Sisters, The Perfect Couple) and two-time Oscar® nominee Colman Domingo (Sing Sing, Rustin).
Based on a story by Spielberg, the screenplay is by David Koepp, whose previous work with Spielberg includes the scripts for Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Combined, those films earned more than $3 billion worldwide. Koepp also wrote the script for Jurassic World Rebirth.
Steven Spielberg is of course no stranger to extraterrestrial encounters, directing two of the greatest alien movies of all time: Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 and E.T. in 1982. It’s an arena he returned to in 2005, directing an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.
Here in 2026, Steven Spielberg sees hope in the existence of aliens. He notes in the final trailer for Disclosure Day, “How will disclosure change us? I believe for the better.”
Another movie that’s not a horror movie but worth mentioning here is the violent martial arts revenge thriller The Furious, which is now playing in theaters from Lionsgate.
Xie Miao (The New Legend of Shaolin) and Joe Taslim (Mortal Kombat) star.
After his daughter is kidnapped by a criminal network and he receives no help from the corrupt police, Wang Wei sets out on a rampage to find her himself.
His only ally is Navin, a relentless journalist whose wife has mysteriously disappeared. Fueled by a furious vengeance, the unlikely duo ruthlessly fights against the kidnappers.
Kenji Tanigaki (Enter the Fat Dragon) directs from a script by Mak Tin Shu (Kung Fu Jungle), Lei Zhilong, Shum Kwan Sin (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In), and Frank Hui.
A disturbing weight loss craze involving human ashes opens up a haunting world of hurt for a young woman in Saccharine, which is now available on Digital outlets at home.
From writer/director Natalie Erika James (Relic, Apartment 7A), the Australian supernatural body horror film follows lovelorn medical student Hana, who becomes terrorized by a sinister force after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes.
Midori Francis (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Danielle Macdonald (Patti Cake$), and Madeleine Madden (“The Wheel of Time”) star in Natalie Erika James’ latest nightmare.
From directors Arturo Ambriz and Roy Ambriz, I Am Frankelda is billed as the first ever full length stop motion movie from Mexico, and it’s now streaming on Netflix.
The history-making stop-motion film is a dark fantasy set in a world of monsters.
Here’s the synopsis: “In 19th-century Mexico, Frankelda is a gifted writer whose dark tales are ignored and dismissed. Forced to suppress her voice, she refuses to give up, even as many try to silence her. But when she is thrust into her subconscious, the very monsters she created come to life.
“Guided by Herneval, a tormented prince trapped between dreams and nightmares, she must restore balance between fiction and reality before both realms collapse. Meanwhile, the sinister writer Procustes and his conspirators plot to seize control. As Frankelda and Herneval grow closer, their bond becomes both a strength and a curse.
“To rewrite their fate, she must confront a love that defies existence and reclaim her power as a storyteller—before dark forces consume her imagination and reveal horrors beyond her creation.”
The directors said in a joint statement, “As brothers, we grew up inventing worlds together, drawing, playing, imagining. Over time we understood that fictional characters were not only companions but guides. Sometimes they felt closer than the people around us. They provided us courage, wisdom, and solace. We believe fiction is not an escape from reality but a way of understanding it. A way of converting truth into palatable chunks. I Am Frankelda comes from a lifelong love of storytelling.”
Mireya Mendoza, Arturo Mercado Jr., and Luis Leonardo Suarez lead the voice cast.
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Mexico’s first stop-motion animated feature is a macabre beauty.” Meagan also notes in her review, “I Am Frankelda is a gothic fantasy feature whose boundless creativity is matched by its ambition.”
The lines of reality and delusion blur in Time of Death, now available on Digital.
Michael Kelly (“The Penguin,” Dawn of the Dead 2004) stars with Kevin Pollak (End of Days), Mena Suvari (Vampires of the Velvet Lounge), and Dennis Haysbert (Send Help).
In the horror-thriller, “When a prisoner vanishes without a trace, Detective Frank Morley (Michael Kelly) is sent to a decaying prison on the verge of shutdown. What begins as a routine investigation quickly spirals into a dangerous search for answers.”
Will Wernick (Escape Room 2017, Follow Me) directs from a script by Jason Rosen. They also produce alongside Kelly Delson, Jeff Delson, and Kyle David Crosby.
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