Still trying to figure out the ridiculous ending to Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man (2026)? We are breaking down the convoluted cemetery twist, the real identity of the town priest, and exactly why Jonathan Smiley targeted the Mayfair family. Read our full explanation for this thoroughly awful splatter mess.
Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man (2026) is an utterly soulless splatter flick that completely wastes a fun premise. Completely bogged down by repetitive gore, a charmless villain, and very clumsy use of generative AI, this is a massive step backwards from Thanksgiving. Save your money and skip this derivative mess.
In this opinion article, I discuss why I think Eli Roth’s use of AI in his latest movie is a terrible sign of things to come in the horror industry. The wave is just beginning and it is only going to get worse.
Director Hanna Bergholm returns with Nightborn (2026), a fantasy horror that trades the usual heavy handed misery of postpartum movies for dark comedy and absurdity. While the premise is highly derivative and the relentless baby crying will absolutely test your patience, stellar acting from Seidi Haarla and Rupert Grint keeps things highly entertaining. It is a surprisingly fun, campy B-movie that leans hard into its ancient folklore roots.
Black Box (2026) starts out as a messy airplane disaster movie before taking a wild turn into Lovecraftian survival horror at 30,000 feet. Despite some truly terrible camera work and questionable CGI, this Prime Video creature feature delivers a surprisingly fun, claustrophobic ride with a high body count. If you can survive the rough first twenty minutes, it is well worth a watch.
Catch up on all the horror headlines in our early August 2026 roundup. Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man faces brutal walkouts and AI accusations during early previews, Chris Carter announces an R-rated director’s cut of The X-Files: I Want to Believe for Hulu, and Jane Schoenbrun’s elevated slasher Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma earns rave critical reviews.
We are diving deep into the murky waters of Jeff Wadlow’s The Devil’s Mouth (2026) to explain that crushing ending. How exactly is a massive bull shark surviving in a freshwater cave system? And how does Sara’s incredibly toxic friendship with Max lead to catastrophe? Read our full breakdown of this thoroughly disappointing creature feature.
We are breaking down the ending of Kate Dolan’s sci-fi B-movie Soulm8te (2026). Why did Sara spiral from a helpful android companion into a limb-snapping stalker? It turns out that trying to code the perfect, submissive yet independent woman creates an impossible paradox. Read our full explanation of the bittersweet climax and what that creepy epilogue actually means.
Director Kate Dolan heads into the M3GAN universe with Soulm8te (2026), a campy sci-fi thriller about a grieving widower who buys a companion android and stupidly disables her safety protocols. While it lacks the razor-sharp script and slick presentation of something like Companion, Lily Sullivan delivers a fun, uncanny performance as the limb-snapping AI. Go in expecting 1950s-style robot cheese rather than serious eroticism and you will have a good time.
Amazon Prime’s The Devil’s Mouth (2026) traps a talented Kathryn Newton in a painfully dull, PG-13 cave shark thriller. With barely ten minutes of actual aquatic action stretched across a bloated runtime, you will spend most of this movie watching unlikable characters clinging to wet rocks in the dark. Skip this bloodless slog unless you are a die hard Newton fan.
Taking a spin on the Tubi roulette wheel brings us to Velvicide (2026), a micro-budget psychological horror that punches way above its weight. While it suffers from a padded runtime and laughable props like a googly-eyed villain mask, an absolutely stellar lead performance from Gea Rose Henry makes this a character study worth your time. If you like intimate indie horror, check it out.
Catch up on all the horror news in our late July 2026 roundup. The Conjuring franchise officially heads back to the 1940s with a newly announced prequel, Evil Dead Burn sets a rapid VOD release date, and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell splits theatrical audiences down the middle.