Movies
‘Monitor’ SXSW Review – Technology is Terrifying in Supernatural Horror Movie
Though a baby monitor does, in fact, serve as the conduit for a rather effective scare in writing/directing duo Matt Black & Ryan Polly‘s feature debut, the title instead refers to the broad voyeuristic nature of our tech-addicted world. Monitor conjures a terrifying tulpa for the internet age, where a malicious entity can spread its violence as quickly as a doomscroller can swipe through their phone.
A content moderator finds herself on the front lines of evil in a throwback supernatural horror movie that wears its influences on its sleeves without sacrificing its voice or vision. That moderator is Maggie (Brittany O’Grady), a woman who’s taken it upon herself to sludge through the internet’s worst out of penance for her sister’s suicide. At the end of her workday, she flags a creepy but seemingly benign video for rejection, and it unwittingly unleashes an eerie entity that targets her entire team in its bid to spread.
Black & Polly adhere to a conventional horror formula with Monitor, the type of supernatural slasher in the vein of A Nightmare on Elm Street meets The Ring that feels comforting in its familiarity. I suspect that’s by design; a brilliant use of shadows in Monitor gives way to a striking image that brings long-armed Freddy Krueger to mind. It’s so cozy in this way that you can sniff out when the scares are coming.
But that horror familiarity is deceptive; Black & Polly’s foremost aim with their feature debut is to scare you silly, and they rise to the occasion pretty frequently throughout. Part of that is clever misdirection, and part of it is horror savvy. There are variations and a refusal to repeat the same scare tactics too often. Most of all, it’s the almost subtle but ingenious incorporation of tech. This filmmaking duo resists the urge to incorporate screenlife footage or overlay text messages on-screen, opting instead to filter what we see through Maggie and her co-workers’ eyes. Subtle pixelations become so much more alarming, like little tricks of the eye.
Tech plays a huge role here, as the violent tulpa takes advantage of just about anything. While that leaves the characters on screen in a deeply vulnerable state, adding to the tension, it’s a technically tricky demand to execute. Yet Black & Polly seamlessly integrate and make unnerving use of Ring door cameras, computers, security cameras, vehicle backup cameras, smartphones, FaceTime calls, and so much more. This approach, in a way, makes tech more of a practical effect, a smart scare engine.
The other key component to Monitor‘s success is a cast of characters we genuinely like. O’Grady is a natural Final Girl, both with her grit and altruistic heart. Gunner Willis delivers the right kind of earnest awe-shucks Nice Guy that injects stakes from the start. Even the morally dubious ones, like a less-than-by-the-code boss Isaac (Taz Skylar), become someone you don’t want to see fall to the entity tormenting them.
As suitably creepy as this demonic thing can be, particularly with his preternatural movements, its design makes it far less effective when static. In brief flashes, the Lights Out meets Marianne-like entity is freaky as hell, but it can also easily evoke Tim Burton when overexposed.
Black & Polly serve up a warm, stick-to-your-ribs comfort meal with Monitor, one that doesn’t forge new genre terrain necessarily but still wows with its strong execution and a satisfying ability to induce goosebumps.
Monitor made its world premiere at SXSW 2026. Release info TBD.
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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