Camp Oleander
A 14-minute film that trusts its audience to sit with dread.
What you need to know before watching
Camp Oleander is a 2026 short film — just 14 minutes long — about two girls at summer camp whose growing closeness becomes dangerous once the camp's true rituals reveal themselves. Written and directed by Alyssa Aldaz, it's shot on 35mm film, which gives it a tactile, lived-in quality that makes the horror land harder. The cast includes Blanche Baker (with decades of screen work behind her), Ava Capri, and Isabelle Poloner.
Here's the thing: this isn't a film that explains itself. It shows you a transformation happening — one designed by the camp, enforced by its authority figures, and resisted by Parker and Laura's connection. If you want everything spelled out, you'll be frustrated. If you can sit with ambiguity and let dread accumulate, it'll stay with you.
Where to watch: Camp Oleander is available on MUBI and tracks across major OTT platforms. Movie OTT's where-to-watch widget updates in real time as streaming rights shift, so that's your best bet for current availability.
Why Aldaz shot it on 35mm — and why that matters
Most short films go digital. Cheaper. Faster. Easier. Aldaz didn't. She shot Camp Oleander on 4-perf 250D 35mm stock, which is the kind of choice that signals something: this director knows what she's doing, and she's willing to spend time and money to get the aesthetic exactly right.
The grain softens everything. Makes the camp feel both beautiful and sinister at the same time. That's not an accident. When the camera lingers on a cabin or a moment of physical closeness between Parker and Laura, you can't quite tell if what you're watching is threatening or intimate. The film seems to be asking: why should you have to choose?
This matters because short-form horror traditionally relies on sharp cuts and clarity — you need to scare people fast. Aldaz does the opposite. She lets unease build through texture. Through what's not being said. Through the spaces between the girls and the adults watching them.
The performances that make this work
What strikes me most is how little Blanche Baker has to do to be unsettling. She occupies a register that's neither purely menacing nor sympathetic — she's somewhere in between, which is infinitely more interesting than a straightforward villain. In a 14-minute film, every scene has to pull triple duty, and Baker understands that. A glance. A pause. The way she registers something the girls do. That's enough.
Ava Capri and Isabelle Poloner handle the emotional pivot points with a naturalism that doesn't feel performed. Their dynamic as Parker and Laura — the glances that linger too long, the physical closeness that gets registered and possibly hunted — is the emotional spine of the entire piece. They're not overplaying anything. It's all restraint, which makes it more effective.
Look — the camp-horror subgenre has quietly resurrected itself over the past few years. Girls' summer camps carry specific cultural weight around female adolescence, conformity, and institutional control. Movie OTT has been tracking the short-film thriller category closely, and Aldaz's take on this mythology feels distinctly her own. She's not leaning on nostalgia or familiar tropes. She's using them as camouflage for something darker.
Who should actually watch this
This is built for viewers who don't need everything explained. If you're drawn to short-form work that treats its audience as adults — that lets dread accumulate without rushing to clarify what's happening — then this is 14 minutes that will linger longer than most features. Fans of folk-horror aesthetics, coming-of-age thrillers, and analog filmmaking will find specific things to love here.
It's not for everyone. There's ambiguity. There's discomfort. But it's a confident, unsettling piece of filmmaking from a director worth watching.
Where to stream it right now
Camp Oleander is currently available on MUBI, which specializes in exactly this kind of short-form and arthouse work. It's also tracking across other major OTT platforms — your easiest move is checking the where-to-watch widget at the top of this page, which pulls live availability across services. Short films shift between platforms faster than features do, so if MUBI doesn't have it in your region, Movie OTT will tell you where else it's streaming without making you check five different apps.
Frequently asked questions
How long is it? 14 minutes. Short enough to watch before bed. Long enough to stay with you afterward.
Do I need to watch anything else first? No. It's standalone.
Is it family-friendly? Not for kids. The themes involve teenage sexuality, institutional coercion, and psychological unease. It's not graphic, but it's not comforting either.
Who's in it? Blanche Baker (you've seen her in dozens of films and TV shows over the past 40 years), Ava Capri, and Isabelle Poloner. Baker's the name recognition; Capri and Poloner carry the emotional weight.
Is it based on a true story? No. It's original work by Aldaz, drawing on the broader mythology of the girls' camp as a site of transformation and hidden danger rather than any real event.
Where can I find more from this director? Alyssa Aldaz has been working in short-form drama and thriller spaces. This is the project that's getting the most attention right now. If her approach clicks for you, it's worth keeping tabs on what she does next.