Found footage horror isn't exactly starving for haunted house stories. In fact, Sundown arrives carrying many of the same narrative fingerprints that helped make Paranormal Activity a phenomenon years ago. Yet while the film rarely reinvents the formula, it succeeds where many of its contemporaries fail by grounding its supernatural scares in believable performances, genuine family conflict, and a surprisingly effective emotional core.
Read MoreThe Barn Part III: Bigger, Bloodier, and Further From Its Roots
I caught The Barn Part III at Houston Horror Film Festival 2026, and going in, I found myself in an interesting spot with the franchise. I absolutely adored the original The Barn, but I never connected with Part II the same way. Maybe that left me with lowered expectations, or maybe it simply made me more hopeful that Justin M. Seaman could recapture some of the magic that made the first film such a lovable slice of Halloween horror.
Read MoreIf Trees Could Talk Turns a True Crime Mystery Into a Human Portrait
For more than thirty years, the murders of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers have remained one of the most debated and emotionally charged cases in American true crime. Since the boys were found murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, in May of 1993, countless books, documentaries, televised specials, and online investigations have attempted to answer the same question: who killed the three boys in Robin Hood Hills? While films like Paradise Lost, West of Memphis, and Devil's Knot helped define public perception of the case, If Trees Could Talk takes a different approach.
Read MoreLooky-Loo: Part II - A Killer Sequel That Knows You're Watching
I caught Looky-Loo: Part II at the 2026 Houston Horror Film Festival, and while I enjoyed the first film well enough, voyeurism horror has never really been my bag. I've always appreciated what films in that space are trying to accomplish, but they rarely grab me the way they do some genre fans. That's exactly why this sequel came as such a pleasant surprise.
Read MoreDating Is the Apocalypse in Floating Carousel's Hilariously Twisted New York Odyssey
Modern dating has become one of cinema's favorite punching bags, but few films capture its specific absurdities quite like Delilah Napier and Lucy Powers' Floating Carousel. On the surface, it's a dark comedy about a collection of twenty-somethings stumbling through New York City's increasingly bizarre dating landscape. Underneath, it's a sharply observed portrait of loneliness, transactional relationships, and the strange social gray areas that define modern romance.
Read MoreBabystar: Growing Up in Public Is a Nightmare
Despite being marketed as a drama, Joscha Bongard's Babystar plays like a horror film in every sense of the word. There are no masked killers, supernatural threats, or sudden shocks lurking around corners, yet the film generates a constant sense of unease that never truly lets go. Its terror comes from something far more recognizable: a childhood sacrificed for content, a family dynamic warped by profit, and a teenager slowly realizing that the life she has been living was never really hers to begin with.
Read MoreDaphne Is Weird, Brutal, and Surprisingly Effective
At just over three minutes, including credits, Daphne has very little time to establish itself. Rather than rushing toward a scare, writer-director Ryan McGee, better known online as Caulkdraggin, spends almost all of that runtime creating a feeling that something is fundamentally wrong. The film opens through the eyes of Joshua as he speaks with Professor Caulkdraggin, who describes Daphne in glowing terms.
Read MoreCrack, Cash, and Chaos: Heat Score Is Pure Underground Mayhem
One of the biggest mistakes a movie like Heat Score could make would be pulling its punches. Thankfully, directors and brothers Robert and Devin Burkosky never even consider it. Part crime comedy, part exploitation throwback, and part fever dream tour through Edmonton's seedy underbelly, Heat Score feels like it landed somewhere between a Troma production and the wave of retro genre parodies that have become increasingly popular in recent years.
Read MoreWhen Healing Hurts: Archangel Delivers an Emotional Gut Punch
For more than a decade, filmmaker Sam Platizky and his team at Narrow Bridge Films have built a reputation through comedy, horror, and the occasional hybrid of the two. With Archangel, however, Platizky takes an unexpected turn into dramatic territory, delivering a deeply personal and emotionally grounded short film that feels less interested in spectacle than in something far more challenging: compassion.
Read MoreGuerrilla Metropolitana's Dariuss Is a Fever Dream You Survive, Not Watch
"The most important questions are the unanswered ones." Take a moment to let that sink in. Then forget everything you think you know about horror cinema and press play on Dariuss.
Read MoreData Not Drama Finds Heart Inside the Algorithm
For someone whose entire life exists online, Jenessa Miller spends much of Data Not Drama profoundly alone. Writer-director David Ramer's intimate sci-fi drama follows the influencer behind the wildly successful "Data Not Drama" brand, a woman who has built a career sharing herself with millions while carefully withholding the parts that matter most. What begins as a clever satire of content culture gradually evolves into something far more affecting: a story about loneliness, vulnerability, companionship, and the universal desire to be understood.
Read MoreIsabel Hagen Strikes a Perfect Note in On a String
There are funny movies, and then there are movies that catch you so completely off guard that you find yourself laughing harder than you have in months. On a String belongs firmly in that second category. Written, directed by, and starring Isabel Hagen, the Tribeca Best Screenplay winner follows a Juilliard-trained violist attempting to navigate New York's classical music scene while still living at home and trying to figure out what adulthood is supposed to look like.
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