What I’ve Been Watching: Summer 2026

It’s been a long time since I did one of these jam posts about what I’ve been watching lately. It’s only the third one I’ve done, period. For some reason the thought of doing them overwhelms me. No surprise, everything overwhelms me, but in this case I think about all the words I’d have to type about all the media I’ve been consuming and my brain starts to cramp and I give up. Story of my life! But, hey! Today I’m forging ahead, brain cramps be damned! Here are some of the movies I’ve been watching over the last month or two. As usual, I’ve watched a lot of horror. Halloween is right around the corner, after all!

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026)

Ready or Not (2019) is easily one of my favorite horror movies of the last decade. In fact, I wrote about rewatching it the last time I did one of these posts! I also slobbered all over its sensational star Samara Weaving last year, declaring her my #1 Modern Scream Queen. I’ll watch her in anything, and Ready or Not is such a perfect role for her. She rules. In Samara we trust. So I was jacked for the sequel. Thankfully, it did not disappoint. Is it as good as the original? No. Did it even need to exist? Probably not. Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining romp that held my attention from start to finish, made me squirm during some grossout scenes and laugh out loud quite frequently, thanks to another cracking script and great acting by an all-star cast.

Even though I liked the sort of self-contained nature of the first film, the sequel does a good job expanding on the mythology of the Ready or Not world. Watching Samara’s beleaguered and battle-tested Grace MacCaullay fight her way through another gauntlet of satanic cult worshippers is always going to be time well spent in my book. And this time she has a great fighting partner in her estranged sister played by Kathryn Newton. All in all, a total blast.

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1994) is the last of the director’s “Apocalypse Trilogy,” following The Thing (1982) and Prince of Darkness (1987). While Carpenter’s most famous with general audiences for Halloween (1978), the three “apocalypse” films—which are linked by common themes of societal collapse and and disturbing Lovecraftian horror—might just be his magnum opus. I’m especially fond of The Thing and Prince of Darkness. It had been several years since I last saw In the Mouth of Madness, so when actor Sam Neill passed away recently (RIP to a wonderful actor and a seemingly even more wonderful human being) I decided now was a good time to revisit one of Neill’s signature horror performances (others include Possession (1981) and The Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981)).

The story of a cynical insurance investigator (Neill) and a smoking hot publishing editor (Julie Carmen) traveling to a quaint but creepy New England town to find the editor’s missing horror author Sutter Cane (“You can forget about Stephen King, Cane outsells them all!”), In the Mouth of Madness is exactly what the title says, a distrubingly surreal journey into utter madness. As he did with the two prior films in this loose “trilogy,” Carpenter crafts a complex and scary film that’ll stay lodged in your nightmares for a while. Neill was as solid as always here, and Carmen’s sexy editor has inspired countless fantasies in the decades since I first saw this film. Come for the trippy cosmic horror, stay for Julie Fucking Carmen!

The Lost Boys (1987)

What more can I say about this Gen X classic that hasn’t been said before? The Lost Boys (1987) is one of the beloved films of my generation’s collective youth. Several of my friends consider it their favorite movie of all time, while most of us Gen Xers have seen this ‘80s vampire flick so many times we’ve lost track, thanks largely to constant rotation on cable TV and frequent video rentals back in the day. While St. Elmo’s Fire (1985) is my absolute favorite Joel Schumacher film, probably followed by Falling Down (1993), The Lost Boys is not far behind them. I just love the mood and atmosphere Schumacher and crew establish in the fictional California beach town of Santa Carla. It’s always a spooky good time to hang out there.

Def by Temptation (1990)

Now this one is unique. Def by Temptation is a delightfully, deliriously weird little film. Written, produced, and directed by a guy named James Bond III who never made another film again, it’s the story of a sexy, Brooklyn succubus who preys on hapless black men. Bond III gave himself the starring role as a minister-in-training trying to fight temptation and whooo boy is he a terrible actor. Like, excruciatingly bad. Thankfully, everyone else in the cast does great work. A very funny Bill Nun (Do the Right Thing) and the always smooth Kadeem Hardison (Different World) nearly walk away with the movie. They don’t, but only because Cynthia Bond (no relation) as the succubus known only as Temptation does it instead. Holy hell is she a revelation. She is by far one of the sexiest villains in cinema history. I said what I said. Every move she makes, no matter how subtle, feels suffused with a palpable, pulsating sexual energy that bursts right through the screen and into your lap. She is a total smoke show, perfectly cast as a female demon who uses her sex appeal to lure unsuspecting men to their doom. She rips into the role with a sexual ferocity that will leave you begging for more. Sexual chocolate indeed.

As bad an actor as Bond III might be, the dude made one helluva good horror movie here. It came out during a renaissance era for black filmmakers, so I’m surprised it didn’t register more. It is a decidedly oddball, arthouse-style film though, so appealing to a larger audience probably wasn’t likely to happen. Still, these days it’s a hidden gem that really deserves more eyeballs on it. Just be prepared for your eyeballs (and other body parts) to get a workout every time Cynthia Bond seductively makes love to the camera. Yowza!

The Final Girls (2015)

For over a decade now, I’ve been hearing people rave about how “clever” this supposed homage to ‘80s slashers is. Of course I have remained completely skeptical, so I’ve never watched it. Until now. After finally caving, because it was there for free one boring evening (thanks, Tubi), I’m feeling quite vindicated about ignoring this movie for a decade. It’s not clever. It seems to want to be a horror-comedy but it’s not even remotely funny, and in fact it seems to have been made by people who have never actually seen an ‘80s slasher movie in their entire lives. I was suspicious of the praise all these years because it always comes from millennials and Gen Zers. Quite often, my hard-earned Gen X sensibilities don’t mesh with what the kids these days are raving about. This movie is yet another example. It’s a total dud. Don’t waste your time like I did.

Sleepaway Camp (1983), Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988), & Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989)

In an effort to cleanse my slasher-loving soul of the abysmal aftertaste of the failed summer camp slasher homage The Final Girls, I decided to watch some actual summer camp slashers from the decade of summer camp slashers, the ‘80s. The Sleepaway Camp series isn’t my favorite summer camp slasher series—that would have to be Friday the 13th—but it’s a lot of fun, and all three of these films are highly entertaining. The first contains one of the most notorious shock endings in horror history, while the final two (which were filmed back-to-back, five years after the original) lean heavily into parodic comedy, which was becoming the dominant tone of late-period slashers. It really suits the deliciously evil serial killer Angela Baker, as played magnificently by Pamela Springsteen (a teenaged Felissa Rose played Angela in the first film). Bruce’s little sister Pamela really shines in the increasingly over the top sequels. She’s a hoot, and so are these movies.

Dressed to Kill (1980)

As noted last month, reading Laurent Bouzereau’s excellent book The De Palma Decade: Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens made me want to revisit some of the masterful director’s work. Dressed to Kill is the only one I’ve made happen so far this summer, but I’m always rewatching De Palma’s movies, so I fully expect to be revisiting Scarface or Carrie very soon, to name only two of about a dozen or more of his movies that I rewatch frequently. Including Dressed to Kill in this jam post also allows us to once again turn a voyeuristic eye on the film’s lingerie-clad, potty-mouthed hooker with a heart of gold, Liz Blake, played by the always-sensational Nancy Allen.