Movies
‘Psychonaut’ Journeys to the Darkest Recesses of the Mind But Gets Lost On the Way Out [Review]
Psychonaut begins with a concise definition of its titular concept — a person who explores altered states of consciousness within the human mindscape — only to infinitely double-down on the idea’s most terrifying consequences. Yes, a psychonaut explores altered consciousness, but they’re also subjected to the many dangerous and destructive impulses that flood the human mind and strike when someone is at their most vulnerable. Psychonaut turns the brain into a labyrinthine house of horrors where escape isn’t as simple as just finding the door. What follows is a claustrophobic and alienating experience that’s as surreal as it is scary. It’s a compelling calling card for Dutch indie filmmaker Thijs Meuwese that highlights the atmospheric skills of a visionary genre storyteller, but occasionally feels too scatterbrained
Psychonaut is a meditation on mind-altering technology that infiltrates and violates memories. Maxime (Julia Batelaan) submits to an experimental treatment that has the potential to save the life of her girlfriend, Dylan (Yasmin Blake), by traveling to the center of her mind and retrieving an “essential memory.” This futuristic machinery is presented as a life-saving advent and privilege, yet it’s fraught with concerns and a volatile creator (Fiona Dourif). It’s a sci-fi concept that’s akin to the brain-plumbing madness that’s explored and deconstructed in recent horror films like Memory, Inc, Luz, Possessor, or even non-horror fare like Inception and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Psychonaut never reaches the same heights as the aforementioned movies. However, it sets itself apart from these other “mind machinery” horror films by banking on a powerful love story as its emotional core. The film features characters who are deeply empathetic, but it’s still not afraid to go for the jugular and recklessly tear through a fragile subconscious like it’s tissue paper. Unfortunately for Max and Dylan, shredded tissue paper would be easier to clean up than the mental remnants that their experimental expedition leaves behind.
The message is abundantly clear, but its execution is occasionally sloppy. It gets a lot of mileage out of how it tackles perception, hindsight, and the ways in which it reframes and blurs together old experiences into a lucid memory palace that’s on the cusp of collapse. Conflict comes in the form of trauma that’s manifested into actual physical antagonists that threaten Max’s mission as she trudges through her lover’s lobes for answers. Psychonaut aims to innovate, but it becomes an existentialist melodrama, slow-motion break-up, and visceral therapy that’s dressed up as a sci-fi horror film. That being said, it takes a pretty unexpected turn during its final act that helps elevate the film and make its shaggier themes become slightly more impressive.
Aesthetically speaking, Psychonaut is serviceable and it seems more concerned about its emotional and introspective story. However, there are some bright spots when it comes to the visuals. There’s some really evocative and creative use of light and shadow that makes a memorable impression. Psychonaut is presented almost entirely in black-and-white, which helps the few rare scenes that are in color truly pop. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s a very concise film that doesn’t overstay its welcome and that the credits are already rolling by the 85-minute mark.
Psychonaut often sticks the landing with its uncomfortable horror and science fiction setpieces, but the moments where the film tries to masquerade as a gritty crime thriller fall flat and feel unnatural. It struggles on this front and there are definitely moments where it spreads itself too thin and would benefit from a more focused perspective that understands where its talents lie. This erratic presentation style is certainly apt considering the subject matter, but it weakens the film’s impact and highlights some of the areas where Meuwese still needs to grow as a filmmaker.
There are some captivating concepts and haunting imagery present in Psychonaut, but the film’s inconsistent performances (outside of Fiona Dourif) become one of its biggest hurdles. There is some really heightened acting that doesn’t so much feel intentional as it does inexperienced. It results in a very pulpy dynamic that’s akin to something like Sin City, yet the desired effect here isn’t a cheap graphic novel that’s brought to life. These scenes, despite their striking black-and-white cinematography, drag down Psychonaut and hold it back from greatness. Thankfully, there’s still a lot of successful horror and rich ideas to pull from in this movie.
Psychonaut deserves credit for shooting for the moon, but its lofty ambitions cause the film to fall short and end up out of orbit. There’s unfortunately nothing here that hasn’t ostensibly been done before. It’s rather telling that in a horror/sci-fi film that boasts heady science and technology, it’s the character dynamics and raw emotions that leave the biggest impression. There’s a strong mother-daughter bond that leads to many of Psychonaut’s best material. There’s plenty to latch onto, just not enough for the movie to stick around and set up shop in the recesses of the audience’s minds.
Psychonaut premiered at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2024.
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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