Movie Review: Hive (2026)

hive movie review — Sasha (Xochitl Gomez) in *Hive*. Photo: Tubi

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There is an extensive rogue gallery of unusual horror movie villains. Awhile back I published a list of the weirdest antagonists. Hive, the latest horror production from Tubi, features one of the most offbeat villains I’ve ever seen.

Sasha (Xochitl Gomez) is an ambitious young woman from a working class family. She wants to go to medical school at Winscott, a prestigious nearby university, but her family lacks the means to pay for her tuition.

She accepts a babysitter job for the daughter of a snobby wealthy woman, Camille (Tanya van Graan). Camille is a Winscott alum. She tells Sasha that she’ll use connections to get her a scholarship if she does a great job babysitting her pesky daughter, Zaley (Victoria Firsova).

This seems like a dream opportunity, but it quickly turns into a harrowing experience. Zaley convinces Sasha to take her to a nearby playground to find her lost doll.

Sasha discovers that babysitters have been mysteriously vanishing from the playground. She notices that she’s the only adult in the area even though there are children playing everywhere.

Where are the parents? The kids sometimes lapse into a zombie-like trance, which they snap in and out of without being aware of what is happening.

The sinister entity that lurks underneath the playground controls the children through a hive mind (hence the movie’s title). After someone close to them becomes a victim, Sasha and her older brother Marco (Aaron Dominguez) try to repel an evil force that’s using Caucasian kids against minority babysitters and nannies.

The adults in the wealthy neighborhood are oblivious to the situation. Babysitters and nannies are expendable and easily replaced, right?

Gomez and Dominguez have natural chemistry, which helps keep this movie reasonably engaging. It’s made with a fair amount of style, with bright cinematography and camera angles that veer back and forth in a style akin to found footage movies.

This is the third Tubi original horror movie I’ve reviewed, after R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead and Match. It’s the best of the three, although that’s not a particularly high bar to clear.

None of these movies are even remotely scary. R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead is a kids movie, but the other two attempt to be serious and disturbing. Sasha is certainly more likeable than the brainless and hapless protagonist in Match, but Hive still doesn’t supply any real chills.

I like Xochitl Gomez. The 19-year-old has a solid screen presence and I wouldn’t be surprised if she becomes a bigger star in the future. She also has the distinction of being a Latina horror movie lead in an American film. That’s still relatively rare.

Along with the obvious themes of racism and class struggle, I also wonder if the “hive mind” is an allegory for the effects of social media on young children. Are parents who don’t limit their child’s use of these platforms turning them into mindless zombies who can’t think for themselves?

Hive‘s themes are handled more incisively in films like Get Out and Weapons. If you liked those movies, this is still worth a watch – especially on a free streaming service.