Psychological horror-thriller The Troll will celebrate its world premiere at the 34th Raindance Film Festival on 20th June.

Selected as part of the festival’s Official Selection, the film’s Director and star Brianna Lee has also received a nomination for Best Performance in a Debut Feature.

Killa B, a TikTok superstar, thrives on the adoration of millions – until a single cruel comment cuts too deep. Obsession takes hold as she tracks down the anonymous troll, infiltrating his life and destabilising his family. Her descent culminates in a confrontation that lays bare the psychological toll of life in the spotlight.

The Troll stars Brianna Lee (The Professional, A Sea Cliff Story), Katy Frame (Men in Black 3, What Now?), Greg Saridakis, Alena Acker (And Just Like That, Law & Order), Matthew Eyre (Slow Down), Richard Mark Jordan (Tires, The Chair Company), Jake Lesh (The Camper, Made of Stars) and Dominick Cost (Tomorrow’s Bandits).

World Premiere at Raindance 2026: 20th June

Short Synopsis: A TikTok megastar spirals after one cruel comment, stalking her troll in a descent that blurs fame, obsession, and revenge.

Producer/Writer/Director: Brianna Lee

Cast: Brianna Lee, Katy Frame, Greg Saridakis, Alena Acker, Matthew Eyre, Richard Mark Jordan, Jake Lesh, Dominick Cost

Run Time: 67 mins

Cert: TBC

Cranked Up Films has announced the official US release of Alex Noyer’s folk horror Love Is the Monster on Prime Video June 23. The film made its world premiere at the 2025 Screamfest Film Festival and went on to screen at Morbido and Night Visions. Madeline Zima (Californication, Twin Peaks: The Return) and Leonardo Nam (Westworld, Descendants: The Rise of Red) headline as a troubled couple who heads to Finland for a transformative retreat where they fall prey to a malevolent ancient goddess of love.

Love Is the Monster is Noyer’s second feature film, following the horror film Sound of Violence starring Jasmin Savoy Brown, and the first he produced in his native Finland on local mythology. Noyer co-wrote the script with his Sound of Violence collaborator Hannu Aukia and Blair Bathory, and Laurence Gendron joins Noyer and Aukia as a producer.

Zima and Nam are joined in their disastrous onscreen adventure by Kimberly Sue-Murray (The Boys), Moe Jeudy-Lamour (Ted Lasso), Kristina Tonteri-Young (Warrior Nun), Milla Puolakanaho (Attack on Helsinki), and Sheila McCarthy (Women Talking).

Beginning June 23, audiences across the United States will be able to rent or own Love Is the Monster exclusively on Prime Video.

As Love Is the Monster prepares to lure audiences, Noyer said in a statement, “Releasing Love Is the Monster during Finnish midsummer couldn’t be more fitting, as it’s when our story unfolds. While a real trip to Finland is far less eventful, our devious goddess Lempo is ready to welcome audiences.”

Following their marriage being rocked by infidelity, Ana and Justin attend an exclusive couples retreat in Finland, under the golden rays of the summer’s midnight sun. They join other international couples to experience the transformative teachings of the shaman and healer, Tiina, inspired by the ancient Finnish goddess of love and fertility, Lempo. Despite her doubts and some ominous first experiences, Ana gives the retreat a chance, but the thrill is quickly replaced by a battle for survival, as the influence of the divinity and the pagan rituals turn deadly. Couples’ problems lead to calamity, while Ana learns about the peculiar role she unwittingly plays in Tiina’s plans.

Spooky singer and paranormal expert Brocarde is in possession of a haunted vintage Download Dog mascot and fears it could become the next Annabelle.

The eerie relic, a snarling, wide-toothed two-inch-tall Download Dog toy dating back to 2015, was discovered in a box hidden in Brocarde’s basement. Since unearthing the creepy collectable, the self-proclaimed ghost whisperer claims she has been plagued by terrifying paranormal activity.

Brocarde says she has suffered vivid nightmares, freezing cold spells and mysterious movement of objects around her home. Most chillingly, she claims the haunted mascot has even been seen moving across rooms on its own, particularly when heavy metal music is playing.

The Duchess of Darkness is now conducting a full paranormal investigation into the sinister toy and plans to lock it inside a protective box before taking it on a UK tour, eventually returning it to what she believes is its spiritual home, Download Festival.

In 2024, paranormal investigator Brocarde was invited on-site to conduct a ghost hunt at Download Festival before fans entered the arena. During the investigation at Donington Park, she claims she made contact with spirits dating back to the 18th century.

“I was excited to do a ghost hunt at Download Festival, the site has a huge amount of history, from rock music, to motor racing, I picked up on two ghosts from the Georgian era who used to live near the site. One a man, named George, a pompous fox-hunting fanatic who was surely lingering around to mosh to Busted! He kept parading in front of the stage on horseback with his pack of angry hounds. The other his wife ‘The woman in White’ in her long 18th century gown seemed slightly more disgruntled, perhaps she’s concerned that her regalia will get trashed in the pit, she certainly wasn’t dressed to rock! It will be amazing if anyone else spots them! The Download Festival is definitely haunted!” Brocarde says.

Brocarde believes she may have unknowingly brought a spirit attachment home from Donington Park, which then attached itself to the vintage mascot. She is now determined to uncover the truth behind the haunted Download Dog.

“The phenomena of haunted objects has always fascinated me, I’ve done a lot of research into it. Many psychics believe that spirits can form an attachment to an object and that object can become“haunted”. Objects like dolls, clowns, and toys are particularly common as they have a human like form and make great vessels for spirit communication,” Brocarde explains.

“I’m fascinated to find out more about what’s up haunting this dog, it seems a bit of a wild heart, perhaps it’s demonic, perhaps it just wants to head-bang, only time will tell. I want to take it to the road and see if anyone else picks up on his energy.” Brocarde continues, “Maybe I have the next Annabelle on my hands, or maybe it’s barks worse than its bite.”

Brocarde will be at Download Festival XXIII this week…Stay tuned for her freaky findings!

Brocarde first made headlines after marrying, and later divorcing, the ghost of a Victorian soldier named Edwardo. Once a sceptic, she says her life changed forever after experiencing a terrifying haunting that convinced her ghosts were real.

Her paranormal romance with Edwardo led her down the aisle on Halloween 2022 before eventually ending in exorcism just six months later.

A spooky singer-songwriter, fashion designer, ghost whisperer and paranormal investigator, Brocarde has built a dark fantasy world blending haunting aesthetics with theatrical rock music and horror-inspired fashion.

Described as a one-woman horror story, Brocarde combines gothic storytelling with explosive visuals and emotionally charged lyrics. Her style has been compared to a collision between Edgar Allan Poe and Sylvia Plath, infused with twisted fairytale energy and Addams Family-inspired darkness.

Brocarde burst onto the music scene in 2019 with her debut single “Last Supper”, a sinister fairy tale featuring biblical imagery and an army of pigs. The release earned her praise from Planet Rock Magazine, which named her “One to Watch”, while Kerrang!, Planet Rock and BBC Introducing all supported her music.

Since then, she has attracted praise from rock royalty, including Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale, who described her as an “electrifying, creative new artist” and called her music “powerful stuff!”

Her follow-up single, “Love Me ’Til I’m Beautiful”, featured drums by KoRn’s Ray Luzier, who praised Brocarde’s unique vocal style and theatrical songwriting.

Brocarde has openly spoken about using songwriting as an emotional escape throughout her life. As a teenager, she struggled to fit in and would hide in the woods at school to write poems and lyrics. Today, she still uses creativity as an outlet for her darkest thoughts and emotions.

Her paranormal experiences intensified when she claims she was visited by Edwardo, the ghost of a Victorian soldier, during a stormy night. After a whirlwind romance, the pair married in a bizarre Halloween ceremony featured on ITV’s This Morning and Say Yes To The Dress with Tan France.

However, the marriage quickly descended into chaos. After seeking help from a spiritual medium, Brocarde eventually hired an exorcist to banish Edwardo forever. Their supernatural split inspired her menacing divorce anthem “Just Another Anthem”.

Following the breakup, Brocarde appeared on Channel 4’s First Dates and later admitted it took a long time to break Edwardo’s spiritual attachment to her.

Now fully immersed in the paranormal world, Brocarde travels internationally investigating haunted hotspots and conducting ghost hunts in some of the world’s most terrifying locations. She claims to have encountered malevolent spirits, murderous ghosts and even covens of witches while studying the supernatural.

In 2024, she returned to Download Festival for a late-night ghost hunt on the Avalanche Stage, where she says she encountered head-banging spirits waiting to watch Busted perform.

Her worlds of horror and heavy metal collided in 2024. Fresh from the Download Festival Ghost Hunt, Brocarde travelled to Germany to conduct a séance in honour of Motörhead legend Lemmy at Wacken Open Air. During festival season, she also interviewed some of the world’s biggest rock bands and hosted interviews from the black carpet at the Metal Hammer Awards in Berlin.

June 5, 2026 marked the launch of Brocarde’s long-awaited debut album, Good Attendance At Sunday School. Ten years in the making, the record promises to tell the emotional and haunting story of the experiences that shaped the woman behind the darkness.

Brocarde’s latest single “Seven Sins” featuring Ray Luzier from KoRn dropped May 15th and the Official Music Video premiered that day at BraveWords!

Social media sensation, Brocarde has garnered:
184K followers Instagram
37.8K followers on TikTok
21.7K subscribers on YouTube

After decades of government denial, the truth behind UAP – aka UFOs – may finally be on the horizon. In an age of high profile whistleblowers and congressional hearings, many who have watched the UFO topic wonder if this, at long last, is the true Disclosure Era. First on the ground, director Seth Breedlove and his team, Shannon LeGro, Micah Hanks, and Aaron Deese, take audiences beyond the clickbait of recent revelations to the stories that have lived in the shadows of space for decades. Filmed in 2026 amidst a new wave of government declassification, On the Trail of UFOs: The Disclosure Era provides a highly contemporary and up-to-date exploration.

On the Trail of UFOs: The Disclosure Era will launch on exclusively on Youtube, BeaconTV, and Fawsome on June 21, 2026 with its premiere episode. Episodes will continue to release on these platforms monthly. A physical release will be available towards the end of 2026.

On the Trail of UFOs: The Disclosure Era was made possible by backers of the 2026 Small Town Monsters Kickstarter campaign.

On the Trail of UFOs: The Disclosure Era is a brand new investigative series which looks beyond the headlines and sensationalism to strike at the truth of a phenomenon that stretches back more than a century. The series continues the journey which began in 2019’s On the Trail of UFOs. Shannon LeGro, along with Micah Hanks, Seth Breedlove and Aaron Deese, travels across the country to secretive government facilities, historical sighting locations, and to places where every day people have glimpsed strange things in the sky. Long time researchers weigh in as the investigation hones in on the voices which are increasingly being lost in the modern day; the eyewitnesses.

Creator(s) – Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman, It: Chapter Two), Andy Muschietti (Mama, It), and Barbara Muschietti (Mama, They Will Kill You)
Starring – Taylour Paige (The Toxic Avenger, Brothers), Jovan Adepo (Overlord, Watchmen), and Stephen Rider (Daredevil, Luke Cage)
Release Date – 2025
Rating – 3/5

I’ve read a lot of Stephen King’s work over the years. His novels and short stories, along with Goosebumps, was one of the reasons I fell in love with the horror genre. He’s a titan in the horror and literary worlds but I would be lying if I said I was an expert in his work. Sure, I’ve read a lot of his work and watched many adaptations over the years but I can’t verify how close these adaptations are to their source material. What I can say is that a lot of his written work and their adaptations are a lot of fun.

Sometime back I was sent word that IT, specifically Andy Muschietti’s two films starring Bill Skarsgard, was getting the television treatment. I didn’t follow it closely but I knew I would eventually be checking it out. Fast forward to a few weeks back and I was lucky enough to get the blu release sent over for review. I wasn’t able to get to it right away but made time for it as soon as I could.

**Spoiler Alert** The series takes place in the town of Derry in 1962 where a young boy went missing. Several months later three more were brutally murdered in a theater where only one girl survives. One of the theater’s employees, a black single father, is arrested for the murder. His daughter, the lone survivor, and two other students start looking further into the missing student and the blood soaked history that Derry shares where they uncover the truth about Pennywise. **spoiler alert**

I know I paraphrased a lot with the show but it throws a lot at us without over doing it. It did take some time to gain some traction with me and it wasn’t until episode 3 or 4 that I actually started getting into it but once I did I was really hooked.

The acting in this is great for the most part. Some of the characters are very unlikable and it’s not because they were written that way. The cast is really dedicated to their role and deliver some seriously impressive performances especially from the young cast. As the series progresses we have some intense performances that shows why everyone was cast in their respective roles.

The story for this season serves as a prequel of sorts to It and It: Chapter Two. We get a lot of insight into some of the previous feeding cycles of Pennywise along with why he took on the appearance of the clown. We also get a lot of social commentary from the early 60s mixed in with the character development. It’s very well written and works well but my biggest issue with the show was how long it took to get going. The first three or so episodes could have been condensed to give the viewer more to grab onto.

Finally, this series doesn’t hold back with the visual effects. I know practical effects can be pricy especially when you have a show with eight episodes However, a good deal of the visual effects look like shit. They are very noticeable which was good for a laugh the first few times but they do become eye rolling as the show moves on. Overall, It: Welcome to Derry Season 1 was a great continuation of what the 2017 film and it’s sequel established. While I can’t remember exactly how accurate those films are to the written work, I can safely say that I enjoy it very much. I do hope we have a season 2 eventually but until then I highly recommend checking out season 1.

Husband-and-wife filmmaking duo Sashia Dumont and Paul Robinson have taken home the coveted Best Horror Short award for their film The Resonance at the Astoria Film Festival. The festival, which took place at the iconic Kaufman Astoria Studio in New York, drew a crowd of industry professionals, indie film enthusiasts, and genre fans.

The AFF Jury highly praised The Resonance, commending it as “excellence in horror storytelling”.

The Resonance follows the story of respected psychologist Sloan Campbell. When she inherits her predecessor’s last known session tapes before his untimely demise, she discovers a dark and unsettling pattern. As she delves deeper into the center of his final case, a sinister force threatens to blur the line between modern medicine and religion. Will her pursuit for the truth force her to tow a fine line between science and the supernatural, or will she become the next victim of… the resonance.

“We are incredibly honored to receive this recognition,” said co-director and writer Sashia Dumont. “Towing the line between the psychological and the supernatural gave us a chance to explore how far the human mind can bend under the weight of the unknown.

“Marketing Campaign Prize

As part of their Best Horror Short win, Dumont and Robinson have secured a free professional press and marketing campaign. This award is sponsored by Marketing Macabre, a premier public relations and marketing firm specializing in the horror and independent film genres.

“We are thrilled to partner with Marketing Macabre,” said director and cinematographer Paul Robinson. “Having their team behind The Resonance is the perfect next step to get this film in front of a much wider audience.”

For more information on The Resonance, or to follow its festival run, please visit https://sen3productions.com/films/the-resonance/

Author Alex Grass is set to push the boundaries of contemporary horror this summer with the highly anticipated July 15, 2026 release of Infernal Tramps. Early reviews from industry authorities and award-winning genre authors are already hailing the book as an uncompromising, poetic, and unapologetically strange masterclass in psychological and body horror.

Infernal Tramps explores recognizable human anxieties—including medical debt, toxic relationships, and class resentment—and twists them into terrifying new dimensions. In “The EP Implant,” Grass lampoons the plastic surgery industry through a wealthy protagonist whose app-controlled cosmetic enhancement suffers a horrifying post-surgery malfunction. In “Odd Egg,” a relatable woman returns home to find a stranger with an egg-shaped head and long, bumpy fingers waiting on her porch, kicking off a progressively agonizing downward spiral.

Whether tracking a child witnessing a traumatizing event inside a family funeral home in “Ever Shall They Feed,” or delivering quick bursts of graphic dread via bite-sized flash fiction, Grass utilizes a rare lyrical elegance. His prose shifts effortlessly from poetic descriptions of decay to darkly evocative, raw metaphors that satisfy hardcore horror enthusiasts while remaining deeply grounded in character-driven narrative.

Infernal Tramps will be available globally in multiple formats on July 15, 2026.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Infernal-Tramps-Tales-Weird-Terror-ebook/dp/B0GSN4BX4Y
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249709542-infernal-tramps
IG: https://www.instagram.com/infernaltramps/

What a perfect and awfully silly way to start summer!

Mirth Inkorporated recently debuted Beach Bro Bloodbath, a horror-comedy with bits of cop-drama, practical special effects and tons of overt sexuality. In this 80s styled slasher, a masked – I mean, gloved – serial killer is laying waste to the beautiful waters of Virginia Beach. Someone has to take the summer killer crown away from I Know What You Did Last Summer, and filmmaker Jeff Tarkenton appears to be just that guy.

Beach Bro Bloodbath is written and directed by Jeff Tarkenton. It features cinematography and editing by Hunter Chapman. Cast members include Nick Alexander, Dariel Clark, Kasim Ruffin, Philip Augustus Mckeon, Eva Larainne, Dave Norton, Nick Delorenzo, Allie Willwerth and Matt Smith. Props to the cast and crew for fitting four unique death sequences into a 16 minute short film.

Even though I have no idea what they were talking about half the time, I have nothing but good things to say about Beach Bro Bloodbath. The acting isn’t half bad, and the script features a handful of funny one-liners. There’s a lot of long, lingering shots to marinate in the madness and people get killed on the beach in broad daylight with vacationers either not caring or not noticing.

And it definitely gets the award for best use of a beach umbrella.

Watch it below on YouTube!

From Haiti to Hollywood, Bedward’s doc unearths the buried origins of the zombie genre and opens theatrically this fall

Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Maya Annik Bedward’s documentary Black Zombie, which made its World Premiere at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival. The doc traces the origin and evolution of zombies from Haitian spiritual traditions to fixtures of Hollywood horror, examining the cinematic and historical context and reclaiming their deeper cultural significance as powerful symbols of survival and resistance. Black Zombie will be released theatrically by Kino Lorber this fall followed by a digital, educational, and home video release.

Black Zombie digs beneath the blood-soaked spectacle of modern horror to uncover the zombie’s buried and unsettling origins. Long before it became associated with flesh-eating ghouls, the zombie was a living metaphor for slavery: not a monster, but the ultimate victim of colonial power. A symbol of stolen agency was recast as an object of fear, while Black spiritual traditions were distorted, sensationalized, and erased. Director Maya Annik Bedward traces the evolution of the zombie from colonial Haiti to contemporary Hollywood, reconsidering iconic films like White Zombie, Night of the Living Dead, and The Serpent and the Rainbow alongside archival footage, vérité scenes, and interviews with cultural historians, artists, and genre legends including Yves-Grégory Francois, Mambo Labelle Déesse, Slash, Tom Savini, and Zandashé Brown. Part cultural reckoning, part horror remix, Black Zombie exposes how a figure born from enslavement, spiritual belief, and resistance was transformed into one of pop culture’s most profitable monsters.

The deal for Black Zombie was negotiated by Kino Lorber VP of Acquisitions Karoliina Dwyer and Bill Straus of Bridge Independent.

“I’m thrilled to partner with Kino Lorber on the release of Black Zombie,” said director Maya Annik Bedward. “The film explores the power of images to shape our understanding of history, culture, and race, making it especially meaningful to work with a distributor so deeply engaged with cinema’s past and present. Their passion for films that challenge, illuminate, and expand our understanding of the world makes them an ideal partner for bringing this story to audiences across the U.S.”

“The zombie is one of the most iconic images in cinema, and you’ll never look at them the same after watching Black Zombie,” said Dwyer. “Maya Annik Bedward has crafted a fascinating, deeply researched documentary that unearths the long buried Haitian origins of the genre, interrogating colonial, political, and Hollywood history to powerful and illuminating effect. We’re so proud to bring this documentary to U.S. audiences this fall.”

Black Zombie is written and directed by Maya Annik Bedward. The film is produced by Bedward, Hannah Donegan, and Kate Fraser and executive produced by Jennifer Holness, Michael Paszt, Andrew Thomas Hunt, James Fler, and Slash.

Industrial metal band, LUCID DEMENTIA has unleashed the first video from their newest album, Hexery.

“Witches Hat” presents a dark spell of inspiration put together on a low budget in an experiment to see what would happen if the band filmed an occult crime and called it a music video.

The song “Witches Hat” at its core is about how one should not touch a woman without her consent. LUCID DEMENTIA is a dark thing that does more than bumps in the night. So the music and lyrics are intricately woven to tell a story about what should happen to a soul that would break this rule.

The video tells a tale in 3 parts:
The dirty man’s hand reaches out, strokes, grabs a flower and squeezes it until it bleeds, then releases the flower and retreats. A witch then casts a spell by manipulating different objects on a table. Finally, a person is trapped in a room with the band with only a camera that has a tiny pin hole light.

The band performs the song in the pitch black darkness as if in a dreamy nightmare. The trapped person is entranced by the band and cannot stop peering at them as they perform the song. The video remains, but why the trapped person? Maybe there are clues within the other songs of the album, Hexery.

Follow and stream LUCID DEMENTIA here:
https://luciddementia.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5f8jk9Ao947Gi7S2ozusmn
https://www.facebook.com/luciddementiamusic
https://www.instagram.com/lucid_dementia_official/