Movies
Bronson (Sundance ’09)
“Steeped in a weirdly frustrating burlesque, BRONSON isn’t funny or amusing enough to be entertaining, but it’s not all that easy to take seriously, either…. Seriously, the Stephen Dorff fight scenes in FELON were better than anything on display in BRONSON.”
BRONSON is based on the true story of Britain’s most notorious criminal. Much like Andrew Dominik’s CHOPPER (2000), it’s an unlikable movie about an unlikable person, a criminal so violent and depraved he has spent 30 of the past 34 years in solitary confinement. Tom Hardy, a staple in British film and television, plays Charles Bronson as a cocky, reckless man who refuses to make excuses for his behavior.
Born Michael Peterson, he changes his name to Charles Bronson at the insistence of an eager fight promoter, and it isn’t long before his propensity for violence lands him a 7-year stretch in prison for robbing a post office. Bronson narrates portions of his story while sitting on a chair under a spotlight, speaking directly the audience. He says he thought prison would be a good opportunity to “sharpen my tools, hone my skills”, and all the flippant talk of beat-downs and stompings seems to indicate that a rollicking good prison action flick looms on the horizon. But BRONSON isn’t an action film, it’s an art film, and frankly, not a very good one.
At various points in his prison career, Bronson goes off for absolutely NO reason, beating up prison guards—sometimes (inexplicably) naked—or taking a hostage, which adds years on to his existing sentence. Bouncing from prison to prison, to a mental institution, and then back to prison again, Bronson embraces his empty lifestyle with complete abandon, never regretting a single choice he’s made, even as he spends most of his days alone in his tiny cell. Spending 90 minutes with a character who is smothered by his own self-assured misery doesn’t make for a very fun night at the movies.
Of course, there’s still the subject of the prison fight scenes to discuss. First, there aren’t that many of them. Second, what few fight scenes exist are so murky, grainy, and dark, that any choreography is rendered completely incomprehensible. And these aren’t the adrenalized fight scenes of UNDISPUTED or ROCKY III, these are art film fight scenes, like the kind you might find in GIRLFIGHT. Nothing to get excited about. Seriously, the Stephen Dorff fight scenes in FELON were better than anything on display in BRONSON.
Steeped in a weirdly frustrating burlesque, BRONSON isn’t funny or amusing enough to be entertaining, but it’s not all that easy to take seriously, either. What’s the point of the face paint? Or the scene where a bunch of mental patients dance to “It’s a Sin” by the Pet Shop Boys? What’s the point of any of it? I, for one, am not going to waste another second thinking about this ugly, unpleasant movie. You shouldn’t either.
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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