Don’t Move (2026): For Tonight’s Punishment… A Church Group Takes on a Giant Spider!
“Don’t Move” is directed by Maclain Nelson (Studio C, Show Offs) and stars Lyndsy Fonseca (The Young and the Restless, Kick-Ass), Russ (Trap, Little), Hunter King (Life in Pieces, The Young in the Restless), Joseph Lee Anderson (MacGruber, Young Rock), Tom Cavanagh (The Flash, Ed), and Rob Riggle (Holey Moley, The Hangover). This film is based on a book written by Darren Wearmouth and James Murray, also known as “Murr” from “Impractical Jokers.” In this movie, a church group has to fend off a giant spider while camping in the woods.
I do not watch a ton of television. Partially because I am so heavily invested in movies, but one of my major commitments on the small screen over the years has been “Impractical Jokers.” This show always gets a laugh out of me. Even the newer seasons without Joe have continued to deliver comedy goodness. One of the show’s stars, James Murray, on top of his success as a TV star, has found time to write books including “Awakened,” “You Better Watch Out,” and the one that inspired this movie, “Don’t Move.” When it comes to this movie, he is credited with writing and producing it.
For the record, while I own a copy of “Don’t Move,” I have yet to read it. But as someone who loves movies and is willing to support the world’s finest ferret look-a-like, I made it my duty to check out “Don’t Move” as soon as I possibly could.
Should you move as fast as you can to watch this movie? That’s… Complicated.
“Don’t Move” is not the greatest cinematic achievement of 2026, and I am pretty sure many, if not all the people working on the movie recognize this. No offense, but this ain’t “The Odyssey.” Although is it fun? Is it enjoyable? Sure.
“Don’t Move” is quite a departure from the material where a majority of James Murray’s fans know him. If you are looking for comedy, look elsewhere. There are not many laughs in “Don’t Move.” There may be one or two slight chuckles in the film, but this is a horror film first and foremost. If you like horror, this could be your jam. But then again, there are better horror movies released this year. Go watch “Obsession.” Go watch “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.” Go watch “Send Help.” This film is not bad, but it pales in comparison to those three.
“Don’t Move” is by no means the best movie of the year. Again, there are moments to appreciate, but I have seen better. Although the film does stand out in two particular ways. The beginning and the end. This works well in the film’s favor as it provides a brilliant hook for what’s to come and eventually ties everything up in an exciting bow.
The beginning is not completely perfect, but as a general concept, it sings. It also does a decent job when it comes to serving as compelling exposition. More than an hour later, the film brings forth an ending that is not only bone-chilling, but also jaw-dropping. I did not know this film was going to end the way it did. I was genuinely impressed with the final scene.
Going back to the beginning, this is where we meet the film’s star, Megan (Fonseca) who is dealing with the loss of her loved ones. The film does a great job at encapsulating the emotions of what she was going through following her inciting incident, and it is only supported by her solid performance. Fonseca does a good job as the lead.
Another thing I admired in the film is the sound mix. In horror, sound is almost more important than the visuals sometimes. There are a couple cliche sound effects you have heard in dozens of other horror projects that make their presence known here. But they are used rather effectively. One sound effect in particular left me shook. It was well-timed and utilized at an appropriate volume. Although I cannot say that was the case for every sound effect. This may be a personal annoyance I have with the film, but there is a repeated whistle sound effect that ends up being essential to the story. I have no problem with the sound effect itself, but every time I heard it up close it would hurt my ears. Granted, this may be more of a problem of having sensitive ears than anything else. Though if I were mixing the audio, I would pinch the whistle effect down just a hair.
Speaking of things I would change, the film does have a lot of problems. Yes, there are good things about it, but there are also a lot of bad things. It is a bit of a mishmash.
While the scenes either featuring or having to do with the spider are fun, part of me wishes we got a little more action with the spider. I think the moments featuring the spider makes for some of the better parts of the movie, and quite frankly, I am surprised it was not utilized more. I was somewhat underwhelmed with how little the creature was used.
This film focuses on a church group in the woods. For the record, I am not in a church group, so I cannot say I have much experience with the typical goings-on, but I am pretty sure that few church groups swear and take the Lord’s name in vain as often as these people. I understand that some of these instances are played out for comedic effect, but it threw me off seeing this group be such pottymouths. For the record, I have no problem with pottymouths. Bring on the filthy. But it was a little hard to buy this group given some of their vocabulary. Although I will say, one of the most hilarious things about this film is that one of the members of the group, Pastor Rizzo (Cavanaugh) at times comes off as a dead ringer of Ned Flanders from “The Simpsons.” He is so overly calm and almost unnecessarily welcoming regardless of the situation. He comes off as both a neighbor I would like to have but also maybe ask to back away if they get too close.
Another thing I did not like in this film is the visual effects. For instance, this movie has a ton of fire effects. Sometimes they look great, but at other times they look like they belong in the late 1990s. Another effect that threw me off was a giant waterfall. The water flow looked unnatural and too clean. It lacked an imperfect ruggedness. I can slightly forgive the film’s faults in terms of its visuals as it is made on the cheap compared to many others that came out this year, but the effects still looked odd at times.
This film is helmed by Maclain Nelson, who has directing experience, but not with feature films. Having seen this film, it is somewhat easy to tell that it is from a director who lacks such feature filmmaking experience. In fact, the film somewhat looks like a television show. If anything, the look of the film reminds me of, perhaps coincidentally, “Impractical Jokers: The Movie.” Although I thought that the film’s look worked as it was, for the most part, based in reality. I will not deny that there are times where “Don’t Move” has a cinematic touch. The opening scene at the carnival in particular looks great. But there are a couple scenes in the woods that look a little too real. Not necessarily cinematic if that makes any sense.
On a sidenote, “Don’t Move” packs in some Easter Eggs for “Impractical Jokers” fans. These barely affect my opinion of the film as a whole, but it was nice to see this film show some nods. For instance, James Murray is in this film as a carnival worker. As a bonus, his nametag reads “D. Chiggins,” which if you have watched “Impractical Jokers,” you would be familiar with that name. Brian Quinn is in this film too. I will not say more, I will let you see for yourself. There are more Easter Eggs, but it is not like the film has one every other minute like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” As far as I am concerned, that may as well be a positive.
In the end, “Don’t Move” is all right. It is a competently made creature feature, but in some ways, it could have been longer. Some of it felt surface level and lacking in personality. This is, thankfully, not the case with the entire film. Again, the ending is surprisingly amazing. I like the main character of the film, I think Lyndsy Fonseca does a good job portraying Megan. She was very much the film’s heart and soul. The film is by all means entertaining and makes for a fun hour and a half, but it does not do a whole ton to provide an oomph. Overall, this is not a bad time. I am going to give “Don’t Move” a 6/10.
“Don’t Move” will be available on VOD starting October 13th.
Thanks for reading this review! THIS MONDAY ON SCENE BEFORE, get for the 11th episode of Movie Requests, featuring special guest Rosario Dawson! Movie Requests is the Scene Before original series that sees yours truly taking film suggestions from celebrities. What do you think Dawson suggested? Well, she gives a hint in a brand new promo, which you can watch by clicking the video above! If you want to see the episode, you can follow Flicknerd.com or subscribe to my YouTube channel!
My next reviews are going to be for “The Uprising” and “Forgotten Island!” Stay tuned for those! If you want to see these reviews and more from Scene Before, follow the blog either with an email or WordPress account! Also, check out the official Facebook page! I want to know, did you see “Don’t Move?” What did you think about it? Or, did you read the “Don’t Move” book? How does this movie compare to that? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!
