Exclusives
Darren Bousman Heads Into ‘The Barrens,’ Sells ‘Mother’s Day’!
It’s been a pretty busy week for genre director Darren Lynn Bousman, who is currently in Austin, Texas giving Fantastic Fest attendees a sneak peak at his latest outing, Mother’s Day, which we’re told has just been sold for a 2011 theatrical release (details inside)! After just announcing that’s he’s writing and directing a religious horror thriller marked 11 11 11 (details here), we learned that the director of Saw II-IV and Repo! The Genetic Opera also sold The Barrens, an original screenplay based on a true story. Get the skinny inside.
Bloody Disgusting has learned that Darren Lynn Bousman and the Genre Company are reteaming on THE BARRENS, with Richard Saperstein and Brian Witten producing through the Genre Company.
Bousman sold the original script, with plot details being kept under wraps.
“I got into the industry by writing,” Bousman tells Bloody Disgusting reflecting back on his early screenplay that was eventually turned into SAW II. “It’s great to be able to go back and create something original. Writing has always been a passion, so to be able to write something KNOWING how I will direct it is liberating.”
While Bousman figures out what project to direct next, his modern day spin on MOTHER’S DAY has just been sold for theatrical release in 2011.
“Yes, MOTHER’S DAY has finally found a home,” Bousman tells us exclusively. “Nothing in Hollywood ever moves as fast as you want – but the wait was worth it.” He adds, “We found a company who gets the movie, and how to reach the audience.” Two very important aspects of getting a movie to the right audience.
MOTHER’S DAY, penned by Scott Milam, follows three brothers on the run from the law that head for home, only to discover that their mother (played by the ever-so-awesome Rebecca De Mornay) lost the house in a foreclosure. Mother ingeniously orchestrates her sons’ escape, teaching the house’s new owners and their guests a few lessons along the way.
Jaime King, Deborah Ann Woll, Briana Evigan, Alexa Vega, Shawn Ashmore, Matt O’Leary, Lyriq Bent, Lisa Marcos, Patrick Flueger, AJ Cook, J. LaRose, and Warren Kole all star.
Exclusives
Katharine Isabelle Battles Cosmic Horror in Exclusive ‘Junction Row’ Teaser Trailer [Fantasia 2026]
Among Fantasia 2026‘s massive final wave of programming this morning is Raven Banner’s Lovecraftian creature feature Junction Row, starring Canadian horror icon Katharine Isabelle, and we’re exclusively unveiling the teaser trailer.
Junction Row will celebrate its World Premiere at Fantasia on July 28.
Watch a housing compound fall under siege from Lovecraftian creatures more dangerous than drug dealers in the trailer below.
Junction Row follows “Juno, a recovering addict who leaves a fringe housing compound for a better life, leaving her beloved Ruby behind. When she learns that Ruby has gone missing, Juno returns, only to find Junction Row has become a hotbed of criminal activity, but she encounters much more than menacing drug dealers on her mission to find Ruby.”
Isabelle stars as Juno, with Natalie Brown (FX’s The Strain) as Ruby.
The creature feature marks the feature debut by director Ashlea Wessel, who has directed festival-favorite shorts like 2018’s “Tick” and 2020’s “Weirdo”.
Wessel co-writes Junction Row with Clown in a Cornfield author Adam Cesare and Matt Serafini.
Katharine Isabelle is coming off a brief appearance in Kane Parsons’ Backrooms, and more recently appeared in holiday horror It’s a Wonderful Knife. The horror icon is arguably best known for her turn as the eponymous werewolf in Ginger Snaps and for her roles in American Mary and Freddy vs Jason.
Fantasia teases that Junction Row tells “a story where the fear of the unknown isn’t confined to what lies above, but what waits beneath.”
Stay tuned for more from Fantasia as the festival gets underway later this month.