Movies
Chillerama (limited)
“As the experience that it currently is, I just can’t recommend ‘Chillerama’. I believe “I Was A Teenage Werebear” is 26 minutes long and I’d be willing to take another look if it were exactly that many minutes shorter. It still wouldn’t be my favorite movie of all time (or even my favorite of the talent involved), but it would become something I wouldn’t mind watching again over a few beers.”
Alright – a few words before I really get into things here. First of all, there’s a good amount of Adam Green and Joe Lynch’s work I really like. Hatchet, Frozen and Wrong Turn 2 included. I’m looking forward to Lynch’s Knights Of Badassdom and his Everly project sounds interesting as well. These guys are going to continue to grow as filmmakers and I’m excited to see where they go. So as much as it bums me out to write this review, I’m glad Chillerama is the one-off experiment that it seems to be. As far as Adam Rifkin goes, he has the best segment in the film. He had kind of fallen off my radar a bit and I’m glad to have him back on it.
Most importantly – the vignette I have the harshest criticism for is Tim Sullivan’s “I Was A Teenage Werebear.” It’s gay themed, and that is not at all the problem I have with it. The werewolf myth has always had a sexual metaphor component, so to use it in this context is perfectly appropriate. Especially when you consider the fact that werewolf films often feature a protagonist struggling to come to terms with the true self emerging from within – I actually feel that it’s an especially apt device for examining the process of emerging from the closet and coming to terms with one’s own sexuality. Unfortunately the piece is tone-deaf and inarticulate. I’m not anti-gay, I’m just anti-bad.
Chillerama starts off promisingly enough. The first segment of Joe Lynch’s “Zom-B-Movie” (which is a wraparound device that threads the story together thematically – and provides the film’s climax) plays out nicely with a wistful nostalgia for drive-in movies and a love of cinema. I was engaged and actually found myself having a surprising bit of sympathy for Richard Riehle’s Cecil Kaufman. A guy who’s lost his wife and is about to lose his drive-in theater. His main companion is his Orson Welles poster – the guy’s a relic and he knows it. It all works, at least initially.
From there we head into “Wadzilla”, a riff on 1950’s atomic monster movies which is actually kind of a blast. Adam Rifkin stars (in addition to writing/directing) as a decent guy with an extremely low sperm count. Ray Wise is great as his chain-smoking physician and the entire ensemble is more than able to carry the 1950’s camp tone throughout. I already had the image of a giant sperm attacking the Statue Of Liberty in my head and suspected this was going to be my least favorite segment – but it’s funny, gross, and good-natured. The story is well rounded and satisfying and it gets Chillerama off to a great start.
Then we head back into “Zom-B-Movie”. I’m still digging it. The different dynamics of the people in their cars at the drive-in still work. Cecil’s story still works. I bring this up because – since “Zom-B-Movie” keeps unfolding throughout Chillerama – I’m kind of wondering if I should be using it as the barometer for how the film works ‘pre’ and ‘post’ “Werebear”. Kind of like how you might define your life in terms of ‘pre’ and ‘post’ 9/11 or how your parents might talk about the way things were before Kennedy was assassinated.
“I Was A Teenage Werebear” is an unmitigated disaster. It’s inarticulate, incompetently shot, stupid and ugly. It is pure ego unleashed upon the screen with no filter. You know how sometimes you’re glad people like Paul Thomas Anderson don’t have anyone to hold them back? They either get their financing or they don’t – but if they do – they make their f*cking movie. This is the other side of the coin. It has a of couple interesting themes that it drives into the ground with such careless repetition that it feels like a toddler with OCD is shouting the same thing into your ear for almost half an hour. After she’s hit by a truck poor Gabby West is stuck playing the single worst recurring joke I have seen in recent memory. I single her out because she’s such a good sport about it and plays it with such commitment. Gabby, it does get better.
“Werebear’s” beach-party conclusion is so awfully staged I found myself zoning out. There is no sense of geography to any of the action and the way the villain of the piece gets his comeuppance is totally consistent with Sullivan’s primary interest – making a splash instead of making a film. Egregiously, it’s the longest segment in the film by a noticeable margin.
Then we head back into “Zom-B-Movie.” I’m no longer in the mood. The same characters in the same setting with the same story that I was enjoying well enough before. But now the air has totally been let out of the balloon. Everything seems flat. It’s extremely hard to tell if Lynch’s segment actually drops off in quality or if I’m just so beaten down by “Werebear” that I’ve lost the will to embrace celluloid. Chillerama was never intended to be a masterpiece but what was once tasty cinematic junk food has turned to ashes in my mouth.
There’s a brief uptick when we head into Adam Green’s “The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein.” Perhaps brought on by the fact that it’s in black & white and I no longer want anything to do with colors after “Werebear”. Joel David Moore and Kristina Klebe are funny as Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun and Kane Hodder is game as the Frankenstein monster, Meshugannah. But, fun as it is in places, it’s an intentionally slight effort. It’s the tamest piece of the film and I almost would have preferred to see it closer to the beginning of Chillerama so there was more of a sense of escalation. Green is a funny guy and the whole thing is well put together – but it’s too little too late.
Back to “Zom-B-Movie” – the film reaches its climax with Riehle’s Kaufman mobilizing our two young heroes to action. There’s a lot of cool zombie kills (I especially liked the bioluminescent bodily fluids spraying everywhere) and a lot of famous one-liners. The very last moment is a nice – and I think honest – shout out to what most people should be doing when faced with imminent death. I should have been laughing and cheering. I could have been laughing and cheering under other circumstances. But, instead, I was spent.
If I break it down, how does Chillerama stack up? I don’t know. Rifkin comes out aces. Green and Lynch’s pieces certainly have their moments but don’t live up to their prior works. Though again – I literally cannot tell how much context has to do with it in this case. You could show me John Carpenter’s The Thing after ‘Werebear” and I really don’t know what I would have to say about it.
As the experience that it currently is, I just can’t recommend Chillerama. I believe “I Was A Teenage Werebear” is 26 minutes long and I’d be willing to take another look if it were exactly that many minutes shorter. It still wouldn’t be my favorite movie of all time (or even my favorite of the talent involved), but it would become something I wouldn’t mind watching again over a few beers.
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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