Favorite First-Time Watches of May 2026
As everyone knows, my favorite thing to do is recommend movies. Bonus if it’s a movie you haven’t heard of. So, once a month, I recommend a handful of movies I watched last month that I recommend you check out.
Death Game (1977) – Peter S. Traynor
George is home alone for the weekend while his wife is out of town. Two women appear at his doorstep, claiming to be lost and needing a ride to a party. George is then seduced and tormented for the next couple of days by the two women.
Eli Roth remade this film back in the 2010s, Knock Knock. This is far superior in the fact that, at times, it works as a silent film. Sondra Locke and Colleen Camp are having a ton of fun in their respective roles. There is not much plot beyond what I laid out above, but it’s compelling throughout, one for the sickos!
Hokum (2026) – Damian McCarthy
Adam Scott plays an asshole writer who goes to stay at a secluded hotel in Ireland to scatter his parents’ ashes. There, he learns a tale about a witch who haunts the grounds. It’s then that he is forced to confront the demons of his past.
I’ve never loved a Damian McCarthy movie. His first two films have incredible scares, but his stories lack a kind of substance. With Hokum, he crafts a better story, still not trench deep, but more than just a veil story made for scares. He still has a talent for frights, as this film gave me some of the best scares of 2026 so far.
The Lost City of Z (2016) – James Gray
Based on the non-fiction book by David Grann about Percy Fawcett, a British explorer who went missing with his son in the Amazon Rainforest while searching for the Lost City of Gold. Starring Charlie Hunnam as Percy, Tom Holland as his son, and Robert Pattinson in a supporting role.
The last James Gray film I needed to watch, until Paper Tiger comes out later this year. He’s not a household name like Nolan, but maybe he should be? His films are intimate character studies, whether it follows a man living with his parents in Brighton Beach in contemporary times, or a British explorer in the 1900s.
The Lost City of Z is a lush film with great performances. I only regret not catching this during its original theatrical run.
Obsession (2026) – Curry Barker
A “Monkey’s Paw” type tale. When Bear makes a wish with a “one wish willow” that the girl he has a crush on, Nikki, loves him more than anything in the world, he gets more than he bargained for. Be careful what you wish for.
2026 seems to be a changing of the guard. I think we’re witnessing a moment in Hollywood like the early 90s and Indie Cinema. YouTubers and content creators are getting their shots at the big time and capitalizing.
Curry Barker with Obsession, Kane Parsons with Backrooms, and Mark Fischbach with Iron Lung. The YouTuber-to-Feature Filmmaker seems to be the new pipeline, like making a low-budget film and taking it to Sundance in the early 90s.
As to Obsession, Curry Barker crafted one of the most unsettling theater-going experiences I’ve had. Some incredibly unnerving moments in this film. All thanks to Inde Navarrette’s star-making performance. Truly should be in the awards conversations all year.
Backrooms (2026) – Kane Parsons
Wasn’t sure if I should just put Obsession and Backrooms together or separate entries. As I wrote above, Curry and Kane are coming from the same class. A class like Soderbergh and Tarantino did in the early 90s. We are watching the beginning of the new crop of filmmakers who will be running Hollywood.
After the financial and critical success of Obsession and Backrooms, Kane and Curry will no doubt they’ll be the “belles of the ball” in a bidding war for their next films.
Backrooms is based on Kane’s YouTube series, which he made after teaching himself the special effects software Blender. After the viral success, James Wan gave Kane a chance to make a feature-length version.
Kane did not disappoint, talking about the film would spoil it in a way. I’d only seen two of his Backroom shorts on YouTube, but the film doesn’t require you to come with any prior knowledge. In fact, maybe it’s best watched going in blind.
Mommy (2014) – Xavier Dolan
A widowed Mother must take her violent son back home after he is kicked out of an institution for fighting and starting a fire. She struggles to care for him until a neighbor steps in to help and tutor him, bringing hope to both Mother and Son.
I’ve seen scenes from this film out of context on Instagram. Scenes that people praise but have a film-101 air about them. However, within the context of the film, they work incredibly well.
Xavier plays with aspect ratios that could come off as annoying, but they are actually used to show the inner thoughts of its characters. Xavier also has a pitch-perfect use of music; the “Wonderwall” sequence is exceptional.
