VOD Catch-Up: Avalon Fast's "CAMP" is a Spooky, Entrancing Campfire Tale

by Joanna Sodeman-Taylor

If you’re anything like me, you walk away from the Oscars each year under an absolute fugue state against all new films. If it was made in the last decade, then no thank you! When it comes to 2026 features, I’ll be spending the summer doing what I do best: catching up on new releases I missed in theaters as soon as they hit VOD. So let’s start with a relatively deep cut, recommended by my good friend and one-time TFE contributor Patrick Gratton and available for rental in the US as of this past weekend.

CAMP is the second narrative feature from Avalon Fast, a Canadian writer/director/producer/editor/actress with a prolific repertoire of short films and a well-received debut in the form of 2022’s Honeycomb. Fast’s acting credits include roles in Alice Mao Mackay’s The Serpent’s Skin, Louise Weard’s Castration Movie Pt. i, and Jane Schoenbrun’s upcoming Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and her ambitions fit comfortably within this cadre of palpably queer, genre-bending directors. I’m automatically fascinated by any artist who describes their oeuvre as GIRL HORROR like Fast does, and CAMP’s uncanny, blossoming synthesis of aching grief and encroaching danger fits that description as easily as it defies it...

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In Case You Missed It: Hidden Gems from 2026’s First Half

by Eurocheese

THE INVITE

Taking a break from the summer heat in an air-conditioned theater or relaxing at home while catching the year’s cinematic highlights sounds divine, doesn’t it? While the first half of the year’s output in theaters wasn’t overly awards-friendly, here are a few treats you’ll be happy you sampled. Let’s avoid the obvious callouts for box office smashes and focus on the hidden gems. Let's start with two in theaters...

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Cannes: With "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma" Jane Schoenbrun doubles down on becoming a defining generational voice.

by Elisa Giudici

TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA. MUBI

By the time Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma premiered at Cannes, Jane Schoenbrun had already become something close to a generational folk hero for younger cinephiles. You could feel it inside the Debussy theater before the lights even went down: critics squeezed onto theater steps, festival attendees treating an Un Certain Regard opener like the hottest ticket on the Croisette, audiences buzzing less about Cannes prestige than about what the filmmaker behind I Saw the TV Glow might do next. And honestly, the excitement makes sense. Few filmmakers right now understand how media obsession functions emotionally for millennials and Gen Z quite like Schoenbrun does. Their work isn’t simply nostalgic. It treats pop culture, horror movies, forgotten VHS relics, fandom rituals, and half-ironic internet cinephilia as part of the architecture of identity itself...

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Almost There: Barbara Hershey in “Black Swan”

by Cláudio Alves

You may have noticed that, for the past couple of weeks, The Film Experience has been overtaken by one persistent question: Who should be the next Amy Madigan? We’ve done a team-wide vote and two readers’ polls, highlighting both men and women. At this point, you might be a tad tired of this business. On the other hand, your picks were a nice clue into what performers the readership might be thinking of and harkening for, write-up-wise. With that in mind, it feels like a good opportunity to revive the long-dormant Almost There series, where I go over performances that garnered some significant precursor support before fizzling out on Oscar nomination morning. They were close, but no cigar.

Case in point: Barbara Hershey, who scored high in both the Team Experience and The Film Experience readers' vote, and might have come close to a second Academy Award nomination for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan…

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Split Decision: "Weapons"

In the Split Decision series, our writers pair up and face off on an Oscar-nominated movie one loves and the other doesn't or has mixed feelings about. Tonight, JUAN CARLOS and NATHANIEL  discuss  Weapons.

WEAPONS © Warner Bros

JUAN CARLOS: Hi, Nathaniel! The last time we did a Split Decision together was for Killers of the Flower Moon. Also about the horrors of American society, but we're now faced with a different kind of horror.

Where do we start? People thought Weapons was just part of the boom that the genre is experiencing right now (never out of style, by the way). There was considerable fanfare since the director's previous work was the cult hit Barbarian back in 2021. And lo and behold, a surprise hit on all accounts. Personally, it took me a while to convince myself to watch the film. Not the biggest fan of watching horror in cinemas (weird, but I do love the experience of watching horror films with my mom at home). But the advanced praise on Amy Madigan was enough for me to go to the cinemas. I thought she was phenomenal and am personally rooting for her to win the Oscar (in a solid lineup for Supporting Actress) and the film itself... hmmm.

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