Phantoms (2026) by Van Manson

Director: Van Manson

Year: 2026

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Home Invasion

Plot:

Arriving at their family’s house, estranged siblings attempting to reconnect for a special anniversary instead learn that a stranger is following them around the house looking to torment them for their own perverse pleasures, and must rely on a local security guard to help them survive.

Review:

This was a generally abysmal genre effort without much going for it. Among the few positives on display here are from the final half when this one gets going and lets the invaders start to actually do some tormenting. While the first half is admirable in how it sets up the situation of them staying at the house and trying to reconnect, it’s not as action-packed as the second half, which focuses on the thugs trapping them in the house and beginning their mission to get inside. This is far more enjoyable and intriguing once they come together to start trapping the gang inside the house, preventing any escape, and setting up the twist reveal of what they’re doing there. It’s solid enough for this kind of style and keeps things moving along at a frantic enough clip.

Beyond that, though, there’s not much to this one that works. The fact that the majority of the film is spent on doing these banal, utterly bland interactions between the two, trying to get back in touch and coexist with living together while staying at the house, just causes the pacing to be so sluggish and uninteresting, with barely anything happening or setting off red flags about something going on. The fact that the interactions are used to highlight a series of useless intruders trying to carry out this bizarre plan that has little context behind it until the ending reveal just minutes before the ending, which is immensely lame and underwhelming anyway, so it all just serves as a rather weak motivation to accomplish something that means so little in the end scheme of things. Combined with the obvious low-budget limitations on display, these all manage to lower this one overall.

Overview: */5

A troubling and not that interesting home invasion feature, there are a lot of issues here that keep this one down from the few slight factors that make this somewhat enjoyable. Those with an interest in this kind of genre fare or who don’t mind the drawbacks will have anything to get out of this one, as most others out there should heed extreme caution, if not outright avoid it.