Movies
Apollo 18
“If anything, ‘Apollo 18’ lacks creative intensity. It’s a very lazy attempt at bringing terror to the moon. In fact, it’s not even scary, unless of course you consider a sleeping dude opening his eyes and yelling into the camera “frightening”…”
Warning: Suggestive Spoilers
Dimension Films got their hands on NASA’s leaked declassified video footage from their Apollo 18 mission, which to the public was previously “canceled”. While what was being kept from the American people will definitely shock and cause panic, the footage itself isn’t all that frightening.
Featuring unknown and uncredited actors, Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego directs the latest found footage genre film that takes the audience 238,854 miles from Earth to the dark side of the moon where “something” is alive.
The film introduced three NASA astronauts who are pulled from their family’s backyard BBQ to go on a top-secret mission. They’re to go to the moon and set up some devices that will help America defend against Russia and other potential attacks. Little do they know that they’re actually there for another purpose.
Apollo 18 unfolds a bit like Ridley Scott’s classic Alien or James Cameron’s Aliens as the audience is taken on a fish-out-of-water sci-fi trip that results in clueless humans being used like sheep in the name of “science” (or money). But unlike the two aforementioned classics, Dimension’s found footage horror flick never pays off. Imagine if the Alien franchise was all about the little facehuggers and we never saw the actual Aliens – this is the crux of the problem behind Apollo 18 as it feels as if there’s no actual climax or big reveal. In all honesty, your imagination is probably about 100 time cooler than what you’ll see in theaters – and even more frustrating is that Apollo 18 is built around actual internet web conspiracies, ones that are way, way, way, wayyyyyyyyy more insane. Think about it: the filmmakers are taking the audience to a place only seen by a few men, and even more so they’re heading to the DARK SIDE of the moon, which is basically un-photographed and unexplored. There are no rules and no boundaries; it’s an empty canvass with an endless array of creative ideas that should range from finding alien-built structures to the moon itself being a giant, planet-sized alien base.
If anything, Apollo 18 lacks creative intensity. It’s a very lazy attempt at bringing terror to the moon. In fact, it’s not even scary, unless of course you consider a sleeping dude opening his eyes and yelling into the camera “frightening” (he does this twice, by the way). Unseasoned genre lovers may find entertainment in the slow burn, and may even experience goose bumps upon some reveals, but in all honesty their time could be better spent watch any of the Alien films.
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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