2026’s Tubi FrightFest arrives with a gaggle of spooky delights. Don’t miss my full coverage for the festival after the jump!
Films
ANOTHER
Full review at the link.
THE BARN: PART III
Full review at the link.
BUDDY
Full review at the link.
FRESH MEAT
Full review at the link.
FULL MOON RISING: THE CHARLES BAND STORY
Full review at the link.
ITHAQUA
Ithaqua transforms the frozen Canadian wilderness into a breeding ground for monstrosities and paranoia as fur trader Cole (Luke Hemsworth) investigates a massacre at a remote Indigenous settlement. Atmospheric but laboriously slow in its first act, the film spends too long trudging through grim conversations and wintry landscapes before the long-awaited supernatural horror finally takes hold. Once the blood starts flowing, however, things improve considerably. Michael Pitt embraces the insanity, and a violent final stretch evolves into a full-blown Wendigo nightmare. There are flashes of an exciting survival-horror movie buried beneath the sluggish pacing, but Ithaqua takes too long to unleash them.
ODDITIES
Full review at the link.
SPIDER ISLAND
Poisonous spiders + a gaggle of vapid influencers + a manager who frankly does not give a flying fuck. That’s the recipe behind Spider Island, a low budget horror film that’s surprisingly dull for such a fun concept. There’s too little carnage and too much dialogue and story to create a compelling balance to the affair. Guessing who will survive is surprisingly easy, especially considering a hollow script spells everything out before it even happens. The deaths are nothing special either, seemingly dodging the campier possibilities. I was honestly pretty excited for this film. Eight Legged Freaks is among one of my favorite horror comedies of all time, and I adored the recent Infested. Many filmmakers just cannot spin the spider formula down to a science. With a little more effort, Spider Island could have been a blast, the kind of horror flick you toss on at a sleepover and giggle at endlessly. Instead, it’s an altogether forgettable experience: a spider web that you accidentally walk into in the middle of the night and brush away in annoyance.
For more information and to check out the full slate, head over to the fest’s official website.