Movies
[BD Review] ‘The Collection’ Is A Bigger And Sillier Sequel That Still Manages To Be Fun
While I didn’t fall in love with The Collection, there’s something admirable about its ambition to not be more of the same. Its increased scope and willingness to stray from the beats of its predecessor, The Collector, indicate that co-writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (the latter of whom also directed) have an actual creative engagement with the material. So if the good news is that they’re not treading the same ground as the first film, the bad news is that – depending on what you’re looking to get out of the experience – it may not work as well.
I rarely play the “depending what you’re looking to get out of the experience” card. After all, what you want is a good horror movie, right? The Collection is certainly entertaining enough to qualify in that regard. But if you’re looking for something with the tension, intimacy, character, relative subtlety and nuance of The Collector… you might be in for a surprise. I’m not the first one to make the Alien vs. Aliens comparison, but I think it’s an apt analogy that breaks down the fundamental differences between the two films. While The Collection has plenty of scares, traps and gore it’s almost an action movie at heart, complete with hired mercenaries subbing in for the colonial marines of Aliens. Another key similarity is that Arkin (Josh Stewart), who we last saw being slammed into a red trunk at the end of The Collector, makes an early escape only to be pressured into playing the Ripley role by leading the mercs back into the lair of The Collector – a world that only he knows.
Why are they heading into said lair? To rescue Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick), the daughter of a wealthy man with the means to hire his own security detail to retrieve her. She’s kidnapped in spectacular fashion during a the film’s particularly inspired opening sequence. Gone is the slow burn of The Collector‘s first 30 minutes, this sequel hits the ground running. If I had to guess, I’d say that around 80 people die in the exhilarating opening 15 minutes of the new film. From the opening titles on up to the aforementioned bloodbath, The Collection demonstrates an impressive swagger – but it has difficulty sustaining it.
A lot of that difficulty stems from the fact that we don’t care as much about the characters this time around. Arkin seems to have lost some dimensionality (which sort of makes sense given his predicament) and the mercenaries are almost flat-out anonymous, relying solely on smart casting to make an impact. When I spoke to Melton and Dunstan earlier this week, they conceded that with an 82 minute run time it’s nearly impossible to allow for Aliens style introductions to our “soldiers.” So there’s a conscious trade-off here in which The Collection sacrifices some potential investment in its secondary characters for sheer momentum.
And, for the most part, that trade-off works. The movie flies by with an impressive amount of carnage to behold. The Collector’s lair makes for a menacing, intricate and surprisingly beautiful setting. The statuesque displays of his prior victims are interesting and artful (even if I’m not sure how storing them in water could at all preserve them). Even additions that are tonal missteps that clash with the first film’s relative practicality, such as a captive/submissive pixie dream girl who would feel more at home in The People Under The Stairs, keep us alert (if not scratching our heads).
If you’re a fan of The Collector, I would advise you to see The Collection with the knowledge that you’re revisiting elements of the original within the context of a new genre. If you’ve never seen The Collector, that’s fine. The new film works well enough on its own intentionally silly terms.
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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