We’re getting into the end of summer, which usually means a wide variety of smaller films to look into. This roundup includes a horror sequel, a twisted take on a kids show, another horror flick, a family drama, a sci-fi horror movie, and a director’s cut of an older film. The following features reviews for Insidious: Out of the Further, Buddy, Blood Shine, Don’t Say Good Luck, The Last House, and The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn.
Insidious: Out of the Further: 7 out of 10
The Setup: Gemma (Amelia Eve) is a young mother who discovers she can travel into the Further, a purgatorial realm of lost souls. When something evil comes after her, she realizes she can bring what lives there back to the real world. Once the demons realize her power, our world becomes their playground.
Review: For the most part, I’ve enjoyed or at least appreciated what the Insidious franchise has had to offer. What began as a pseudo rip-off of Poltergeist evolved into a mix of ideas for a horror franchise that typically blends things going bump in the night (or whenever anyone falls asleep) and ghost hunting. The world of “The Further” has remained interesting not because of a convoluted set of rules that keep changing, but because it’s allowed for a variety of ways to delivering interesting visual alterations to turn everyday things into nightmares (the creativity in any one set piece in this series is far better than any of the lazy business delivering in Blumhouse’s Imaginary, as they never feel like someone borrowing someone else’s idea of what’s scary).
How all of this matters in the case of this later entry is both more emotionally satisfying than anticipated and fresh enough to suggest that either this series has plenty of life left in it, or it’s another win for the 6th entry in horror franchises (see: Jason Lives, Saw VI, The Curse of Chucky). Having potentially wrapped up the storyline involving Patrick Wilson’s character and his family, the Lamberts, moving to a new set of characters works pretty well insofar as I was really rooting against harm coming their way.
Writer/director Jacob Chase (Come Play) does a fine job delivering the scares, creatively deploying The Further, and introducing a new villain with plans that are both original to the series and a fun nod to fans overall. Perhaps this won’t feel as strong to those who clocked out on this franchise early, but as someone who’s felt the ups and downs, I was quite taken by how effective it all felt. I was happy revisiting The Further.
Where To Watch: Opening in theaters on August 21, 2026.
Buddy: 7 out of 10
The Setup: Remember BUDDY–the bright orange unicorn and star of that classic children’s television show who brought joy and life lessons into your living room? Inside the colorful world of “It’s Buddy!”, a group of children spend their days singing, dancing, and helping Buddy spread happiness. But when one child refuses to play along, Buddy is not pleased, and cracks begin to appear in this seemingly perfect world.
Review: Writer/director Casper Kelly has spent a good amount of time on the weirder side of Adult Swim programming. A random piece of work known as Too Many Cooks was a pretty terrific viral calling card. As a filmmaker, he further developed his twisted sense of humor in horror-comedies Yule Log and Yule Log 2. Many would see that once again in his “Fun Size” segment in V/H/S/Halloween. That brings us to Buddy, a twisted take on what really goes on in those 90s children’s shows featuring a big colorful mascot.
A lot of the fun comes from surprise and subversion, so I won’t go too far into it or even expand on who some of the notable stars in this film play. With that in mind, the right mindset will have you prepared for a pretty violent feature that may lean on shock humor but is still rife with clever bits, solid performances, and enough creative surprises to make it memorable. Even after the initial idea of seeing Buddy’s dark side wears off, I was still taken in by the scope of the film, the wrinkles in the plot, and what it builds toward. Perhaps there’s a limit to this kind of horror-themed joy, but Kelly’s approach continually makes me smile, which means plenty to me.
Where To Watch: Opening in theaters on August 27, 2026.
Blood Shine: 6 out of 10
The Setup: Clara (Emily Bennet) is a devout zealot who worships the light through solitary, sacred rituals in upstate New York. Brighton (David Call) is a troubled horror filmmaker who retreats upstate to complete his screenplay, only to encounter Clara and become entangled in her increasingly extreme spiritual practices. Convinced that her sadistic ceremonies will transform him into a god, she draws Brighton into a hallucinatory descent into faith, flesh, and the sublime.
Review: While things get off to the sort of start that hints at more to come, this is the sort of folk horror film that takes its time to really deliver on more than just spooky tension. Those perhaps not ready for the low-budget offerings of directors Bennet and Justin Brooks may become restless in waiting for the film to “get to the good stuff.” However, I found much of what was offered compelling enough, with the modern approach serving as a neat way to address its own tropes and throw off at least some expectations. Of course, once things click into gear, there are other aspects to appreciate, which hopefully satisfy those waiting for more than just an eerie atmosphere.
Where To Watch: Opening in select theaters, digital, and VOD on August 14, 2026.
Don’t Say Good Luck: 7 out of 10
The Setup: Sophie (Sunny Sandler) is a 16-year-old theater kid preparing for her leading role in her high school musical of Waitress when family drama overtakes the drama on stage because her mother (Melanie Lynskey) is dying of cancer.
Review: Happy Madison Productions has produced fewer than a handful of dramas over the years, though it has recently been paying attention to Sunny Sandler, giving her time to shine and showing that she has the potential to be a star even outside her dad’s production house. Don’t Say Good Luck is her best effort yet at portraying a teenager balancing school life with personal drama. What helps is that the film still has all the requisite elements of a Happy Madison Production (down to co-stars that include Steve Buscemi and Jon Lovitz), but it doesn’t push silly gags. Instead, the film is rooted in earnestness and knows how to hit the right emotional buttons in a story that may deal with a lot of cancer-drama tropes, but uses them in the right ways.
Director Julia Hart has made several female-led films I quite like. There’s the comedy-drama Miss Stevens about a teacher chaperoning some students (including a young Timothée Chalamet), the superhero drama Fast Color, the neo-noir I’m Your Woman, and these coming-of-age Disney movies Stargirl. I appreciate the down-to-earth quality in all her features, as it leads to naturalistic performances and standout scenes that never feel too showy. All of that is evident in Don’t Say Good Luck to the point that several of Sandler’s singing scenes feel authentic to the moment and not just an excuse to show off all of the young performer’s talents. And, naturally, Melanie Lynskey makes anything better. So yes, for a subject with built-in drama, this was a good effort.
Where To Watch: Now streaming on Netflix.
The Last House: 4 out of 10
The Setup: Inexplicable forces trap a family of four inside their house indefinitely. As both modern luxuries and life-or-death essentials run out, the family must learn to be resourceful to survive and outsmart whoever — or whatever — is keeping them trapped.
Review: It never really helps when the high concept of a film seems silly from the get-go. The Last House is nowhere close to a comedy either, so it’s not as though it’s banking on being appreciated for its silliness. No, instead we have a movie that feels a few years too late to be appreciated as a COVID metaphor, and instead settles for a thinly conceived look at the dramatic stakes of sheltering in place, before going full wacky by way of sci-fi aliens. Not at all helping is the constant rain, which only reminds me of the running gag in Bowfinger about the fake film Chubby Rain.
Points go to stars Wagner Moura and Greta Lee for doing their best to take this material seriously. They play a couple with enough believable chemistry to get us past the convenience of having both of them equipped well enough to keep their two children alive during this whole ordeal. Director Louis Leterrier isn’t exactly out of his depth here, but the script by Matthew Ribonson feels a few drafts away from at least being competent, let alone more compelling. As it stands, this movie sets up something right away and then manages to go nowhere fast for the next 100 minutes. I would have rather been with those in the first house that left.
Where To Watch: Now streaming on Netflix.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn: 4 out of 10
The Setup: In this newly released director’s cut, Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) are called back to duty by the FBI when a former, disgraced priest (Billy Connolly) claims to be receiving psychic visions of a kidnapped agent.
Review: Back in summer 2008, Fox released a monster-of-the-week X-Files movie that bombed with critics and audiences. Writer/director Chris Carter and star Duchovny blamed both The Dark Knight (released a week earlier) for not preparing audiences for something so cerebral and the fact that the film was edited down from its original R-rated version. Now we have the director’s cut released directly to streaming, and I can say this – I wasn’t a fan then, and I’m not a fan now.
Yes, the film is (actually) shorter than before and offers a bit more grisliness to the proceedings, but oddly removes most of the clarification on the relationship status between Mulder and Scully. That said, this is still the same boring mystery that is more interesting in theory than it is in execution. Even while contributing to the mythology of the series, 1998’s X-Files: Fight the Future managed to work on its own terms while offering big-screen thrills thanks to solid suspense and action work from director Rob Bowman. By contrast, Carter just doesn’t have it here as a director. Some moody moments work, and Connolly is effective enough given the role. However, it still ends up feeling like a muddled 2-episode story that offers little when it comes to the faith themes it sets up. Case closed.
Where To Watch: Now streaming on Hulu.
