sid's inner sanctum

May Movies

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy wasn’t originally on my watchlist, but I was such a fan of Evil Dead Rise (2023) that I was willing to venture out to see Cronin’s latest project. As a whole, the movie was pretty fun but a bit average — which isn’t always a bad thing; not every movie needs to be life-changing! In terms of the story itself, there wasn’t anything that differentiated this film from recent possession-centered horrors like Evil Dead Rise or The Exorcist: Believer (2023). The bulk of the creativity for this film seems to have gone to the body horror sequences, which were plentiful, amusing, and delightfully gross. While I’m pretty indifferent about this film, I am looking forward to Cronin’s next release, Evil Dead Burns, which comes out later this year.

You, Me & Tuscany ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

You, Me & Tuscany was a very cute, wholesome watch. I love a good rom-com, and was more than happy to support a Black love story that was showing in theaters as opposed to going straight to streaming. While this movie didn’t have much that made it stand out from other rom-coms, I appreciated that Anna (played by Halle Bailey) had a much more reasonable explanation for staying in a strange man’s villa than the trailer let on, even though I probably would’ve suspended belief and supported regardless of her reasoning.

Obsession ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Perhaps the biggest release of May 2026 was Obsession. If I can be completely honest, that movie scared me a little (and I watch horror movies pretty regularly.) The combination of Inde Navarrette’s breakout performance, mixed with the ingenious use of shadows and backlighting, plus the sense of dread evoked and increasingly heightened throughout the film had me repeatedly checking to see how much time was left before I could breathe again. Navarrette completely knocked it out of the park with her performance as Nikki Freeman and I’m already excited to hear what her next horror project will be. Navarrette seamlessly flowed back and forth between “Freaky Nikki” and the real Nikki, using jerky, unnatural movements and odd vocal intonations to create a strong physical differentiation between the two. As a debut horror film director, Curry Barker did a phenomenal job proving once again that horror and comedy are very closely linked. While I do have some minor complaints, starting with the fact that Bear didn’t suffer nearly enough for his actions, I firmly believe that most of the praise being heaped upon Obsession is pretty well deserved.

I Love Boosters ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

If you’re not a fan of horror (or even if you do love horror), I Love Boosters was a great May release that you’ve got to catch while it’s still in theaters. I had the opportunity to catch an early access viewing of the film and had so much fun. Before I dive in a bit more, I’d love to give a huge kudos to the genius I Love Boosters shopping tag keychain that was given out at the screening (see pictured above). I love a good marketing campaign and thought that was an adorable tie-in to the film.

I Love Boosters is a fun, wacky film that almost gives the vibe of a live-action Looney Tunes with a strong, timely social message. The entire cast comedic delivers performances that will literally make you laugh out loud on more than one occasion. If you’ve never seen a Boots Riley project, I would say to go in with the expectation that it’s going to be colorful, surreal, and a little weird in some parts but that you’re going to walk away interrogating capitalism, fast fashion, and how you participate in local and global class solidarity.

Backrooms ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Backrooms was at the very top of my watchlist going into the month. While it was a little different than I was expecting, I don’t think I would say that I was disappointed. The backrooms and liminal spaces as a whole are very fascinating to me, and I think there’s a lot of different directions that the narrative could’ve gone to extend the Youtube short films into a feature length movie. Going into Backrooms, I personally I expected the narrative to follow a group dynamic getting lost in the backrooms and trying to find their way out, almost like a Blair Witch Project-esque narrative. While that is partially what happens, the film is moreso a slow building psychological thriller focused on how the main character, Clark (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), uses his time in backrooms to interrogate how he navigates the real world. Again, a little off from what I was expecting, but still not a terrible direction to go.

Ultimately, I would say that the film is a true A24 production that leaves you with more questions than answers and overall stays true to Kane Parson’s original liminal space series (most likely because the 20-year old is the director and executive producer of the film.) With tons of other backroom layouts and lore still left to explore, on top of the box office success of the movie, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Backrooms sequel released before the end of the decade.

Missed opportunities

Unfortunately, my month was slammed with work and with so many new releases dropping I didn’t get a chance to catch everything I wanted to see. A few of the movies I missed include:

• Mārama: technically an April release, but I’m really sad I didn’t get a chance to catch this Māori gothic horror before it left theaters. I’ll definitely be waiting to see if I can catch it on streaming, if I don’t decide to just rent it.
• Mortal Kombat 2: I enjoyed the first Mortal Kombat (2021) and was interested to see how they continued to expand the franchise, especially with the introduction of Johnny Cage (played by Karl Urban) and Jade (played by Tati Gabrielle). I heard it wasn’t perfect but pretty fun!
• The Devil Wears Prada 2: this one was on my radar, but I’m always a little wary of sequels that are released years after the original. I really haven’t heard much about it since it’s released, so maybe being unable to catch it in theaters was time well saved?
• Hokum: I’ve heard good things about Hokum and the previews definitely made me jump a bit, but I wasn’t quite compelled to prioritize catching it in theaters.
• Is God Is: this is another movie where the trailers didn’t fully compel me, but I was still willing to support some of the cast members and producers that I really like, such as Tessa Thompson, Vivica A. Fox, Sterling K. Brown, Janelle Monae, and Erika Alexander. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the downtime I needed to catch it in theaters last month, but I may try to watch it sometime in June before it’s gone for good!
• Passenger: the teaser trailer for Passenger was really well done, but the trailers that came after were a little more iffy for me. Once the movie actually came out, reviews confirmed that Passengers had promise but was overall pretty lackluster. With my free time being extremely limited, I really wasn’t willing to see a movie that was just okay. I may wait to watch this one on streaming unless I’m really in need of something to do sometime in the next few weeks.

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I want to hear from you! If you were able to catch any of the movies mentioned above last month, or if there’s a movie I didn’t mention but you still were able to see, drop a comment below.

PS: You’re also more than welcome to follow me on Letterboxd. I’m not the greatest at keeping my movie log up to date but I am trying to get better at it!