Leviticus, Until Dawn, Wishmaster 4, Underworld: Awakening

We’ve got another batch of weird ones for you this week. We’ll open on “Leviticus,” and you’ll hear what we thought about that. “Until Dawn” takes us on a time-loop adventure, while “Wishmaster 4” brings an end to that franchise. And then there’s “Underworld: Awakening,” which takes that franchise in a whole new direction. And we’ve got a creepy short film this week as well. All this, plus the latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #59, for July 2026, is out now! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com Mainstream Films: 2026 Leviticus * Directed by: Adrian Chiarella * Written by: Adrian Chiarella * Stars: Stacy Clausen, Joe Bird, Mia Wasikowska * Run Time: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes * Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone Two teenagers run into trouble when a shapeshifting entity fixates on them. It’s not a happy movie, and it’s very slow-paced. But it’s got an interesting story, and it’s well made. The acting is excellent. Neither of us disliked it, but we were kind of meh. Spoilery Synopsis The lifeguard stays late after the pool closes to take a naughty shower. Something bad happens to her that we don’t see, but it involves lots of screaming and blood. Credits roll. Ryan and Naim play with a snake and break into an abandoned mill to vandalize it and hang out. It doesn’t take long before the two are fighting with each other– and then kissing. Ryan warns Naim later not to tell anyone about what happened. Later, both boys stare at each other as the church group sings. Some time later, the boys are back inside the mill making out again. Naim’s mother is highly religious and often drags him to church groups. They also know Hunter, who is Rob, the preacher’s son. Naim sees Hunter and Ryan kissing in the backyard and realizes he’s not exclusive. Naim tells Rob what he saw and things go badly for Hunter at home after that. Ryan and his family as well. The church does a whole big thing for the two gay boys to drive the sin out of them, and there’s quite an embarrassing crowd. The Deliverance Preacher says, “All your lust, indecency, and desire has to go now!” Both boys fall down in a seizure in the middle of the ritual, going into convulsions. Naim watches all this and is terrified, since it’s partly his fault. At school later, Ryan starts getting bullied. Ryan warns Naim that he has to stop. Naim follows Ryan to the skating rink, where Ryan acts like he’s not alone. Something invisible in the photo booth attacks Ryan and scratches him up good. Ryan tells Naim to just leave him alone, he thinks it was Naim that attacked him. Naim questions Hunter about what happened at the ritual. “Did it work?” After following Hunter, he finds that Hunter’s being followed by something invisible as well. He watches as Hunter is dragged away and killed that night. Naim goes to the police about what he saw; he thinks it’s going to kill Ryan next. The detective tells Naim’s mother everything, and it’s an awkward drive to the church where Rob and the Deliverance Preacher awaits him too. The men drag him inside and do the same ritual to him. Naim tells Ryan what happened, and then Ryan attacks him. Except Ryan was inside and didn’t do anything. “You saw it, didn’t you!” Izzie, Rob’s daughter, knows something. “It comes for you when you’re alone,” she explains about two girls. One, Marnie, died in the opening sequence, but the other one didn’t. The girl who lived, Jessica, hangs out all day and night at a hospital so she’s never alone. Ryan and Naim take the bus to see Jessica, who explains that the monster looks like the person you have a crush on and then it kills them. “Nothing can make it stop. Stay away from your friend, you’re only making it worse!” For a moment, Naim is alone, and he sees it coming for him as both Ryan and Hunter. On the bus ride home, the two kiss and make out, which they both know is only going to make it worse, but they can’t help themselves. Izzie takes the two boys to the Deliverance Preacher to “take it back,” but it’s a trap. A large group of trouble makers start to beat them up, but they steal Izzie’s car to escape. Unfortunately, Ryan learns who it was who told on him. Naim tries to tell his mother about the creature, but she doesn’t understand. He sees Ryan/The Creature several more times. It just about kills Naim, but Naim soon learns that it’s vulnerable to fire. Naim runs into the old mill, with Ryan not far behind. Naim sets the place on fire with the Ryan thing inside. Naim tells his mother the story, but she already knows. This was supposed to happen, and it can’t be undone. Ryan has apparently run away or otherwise disappeared. Naim goes to the bus stop and meets him there, where they leave the depressing town altogether sitting next to each other sharing music. Along the way, Naim sees “Ryan” standing beside the road. Brian’s Commentary “What if conversion therapy actually worked?” It’s about depressing characters in a depressing town going through depressing situations– fun! It’s a good concept and it’s got good acting and cinematography, but it’s very slowly paced. There’s also an inconclusive ending– did leaving town stop the problem? It seems unlikely, but we don’t know. It was… okay. A little on the dull side. Kevin’s Commentary It’s a very strange romance. With a sort of happy ending, and not a solid wrap up. The problem is going to continue, from the look of it. The two leads were great, as was the supporting cast. All the production values were very good. It wasn’t unpleasant to watch, but I thought it was a little too long and drawn out. 2025 Until Dawn * Directed by: David F. Sandberg * Written by: Gary Dauberman, Blair Butler * Stars: Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A’zion * Run Time: 1 Hour, 43 Minutes * Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone A group of friends gets trapped in a time loop house of horrors. All they have to do to escape is survive Until Dawn. It’s a variation on the Groundhog Day time loop scenario with a video game vibe. The movie is pretty well made, but there wasn’t a lot here we haven’t seen before. We both thought it was on the tedious side. It was just okay overall. Spoilery Synopsis We open on a woman crawling through a tiny tunnel, and there’s something nasty behind her. The evil clown catches up to her and kills her. “I can’t take it again!” Credits roll. Clover, Max, Nina, Megan, and Abe discuss what they are going to do for closure after they arrive. Clover’s sister, Melanie, went missing about a year ago, and they’re here to say goodbye. Megan’s a bit of a psychic, and she leads them all in a little ritual that almost gets them all run over in the street. The man inside the gas station says a lot of people go missing in Glore Valley, just up the road. After a very strange storm, they stop at a building that’s in the eye of the rainstorm, but that’s not really a thing. None of them have any cell signal, and the rain seems to be falling everywhere except where they are. The calendar inside the inn says it’s 1998. Abe finds a whole bulletin board full of “Missing” posters. The sun goes down, and the weird sundial clock on the wall turns itself over. Abe’s car suddenly comes to life just outside the rain circle. One thing quickly leads to another, and the clown shows up, cutting Abe in half. Max soon gets a knife in the face as well. Megan gets face-planted repeatedly, but then Clover stabs the clown in the back– to no effect. He kills her as well. Time resets, and suddenly, everyone is alive again. They all remember what happened. Now their photos are on Missing posters as well. “It has hold of us now,” Megan says. As the hourglass continues to run down, Megan says it feels different this time. She’s apparently possessed by the former victims of the place. “Don’t let it in,” she says before she dies. There’s a knock at the door, and Clover hears Melanie’s voice. There’s no one out there. Also, there’s an old house that wasn’t there before. Clover’s dragged into the old house, but the others are forced back in… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe