Movies
TV: Who’s Directing ‘The Walking Dead’ Season Premiere?
AMC revealed today that Gwyneth Horder-Payton (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Fringe,” “The Shield”) is directing the season premiere of this falls’ return of The Walking Dead.
In the below interview Horder-Payton talks about her affinity for horror, old-lady zombies, and her most memorable moment on “The Walking Dead” set. New “Dispatches From the Set” are released every week throughout the production.
The project is set among a group of zombie survivors of an apocalypse who are led by a police officer, Rick Grimes (Lincoln), in search of a safe place to live. The second season will consist of a 13-episode arc and will premiere this Fall on AMC.
Q: We’ve heard a lot about a highway snarled with traffic. What was it like to choreograph that?
A: It was a challenge. There were so many vignettes within the pileup — all these connected bits, people under the cars who had to see certain people under other cars. I already had a plan — and then we did a model — but then to do it on the site, you still have to make sure you could get under the cars and pick the right cars to get under. You can’t get under most cars, so it was like a combination of suburban soccer mom cars and redneck trucks.
Q: You directed Episode 3 of Season 1, which predominately took place at the survivor camp. How did this compare?
A: That was a director’s dream. I was up there with a total of 18 actors who couldn’t go to their trailers because it took too long, so basically we’re up there with a semi-air-conditioned RV which is sort of not really working. So, people were just out there sitting and panting and sweating. After five days, this Stockholm syndrome set in and they felt very dependent on me. It was a great bonding experience. It was also a major character episode, where you found out who people were and what the relationships were between each other. For this episode, it felt like there was almost no dialogue. There was a lot of creeping around… But, I still had 11 actors who go around as one bunch, so it’s this interesting little pipe tribe. It’s like who goes first and then who goes next and why?
Q: You also directed one of the scarier episodes of AMC’s The Killing — Episode 3, “El Diablo.” What makes you so adept at horror?
A: I don’t know why that is. It’s really weird. As a child, I did only read Edgar Allen Poe, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, but that’s not really horror. I wouldn’t have thought that I would go necessarily in this direction. I guess it’s the humans getting caught in extreme situations and seeing how they react. I certainly like dark, and I don’t mind being in an atmosphere where I’m surrounded by chewed up bodies. I have a great picture of a zombie from last night. It’s a very old lady sitting there all chewed up and in between takes, she was knitting. It looked like “Whistler’s Mother” as a zombie.
Q: Does anything freak you out?
A: People behaving badly freaks me out. People not acting in good form, that does freak me out. But these people don’t do that. I think that usually people are always trying to do a good job. Every once in a while, though, there’s something else going on…
Q: What was the most memorable moment on-set?
A: Hmm, we went through several driving RV scenes. There was a small group of crew members in the back of the RV, Andy’s driving and he’s a very good driver, but he is going fast away from the exploding CDC and he has to make a hard right turn, and we’re all in the back and the scene back there is just absolutely absurd: Everything is just flying. The boom guy comes literally flying six feet through the air and lands on the script supervisor. [Laughs]
Q: What has The Walking Dead taught you about surviving the apocalypse?
A: What we discovered is that when you suddenly find yourself a member of a very small tribe who can’t wander very far, the notions of public and private change. People have to give moments of privacy to people even though they’re sitting five feet away. So you have Lori and Rick who want to have a private moment, but can’t walk away so they have a private moment within a group.
Q: Do you get the same feeling on set?
A: Now, that’s interesting. The social structure of set life has nothing to do with post-zombie apocalypse. But people are thrown together to make a movie or make a TV show. As a director, I’m thrown in there and I work with these people intensely for seven or eight days, and you tell these people secrets the first day that you wouldn’t tell even some of your friends. It happens. You have to bond immediately in order to get through this thing. And then, it’s over and as director it’s very painful because you leave and you may never see them again.
This week’s big new horror release is of course Evil Dead Burn in theaters later in the week, but you don’t have to wait until this weekend to inject fresh nightmares into your eyeballs.
Five brand new horror movies have already released at home this week.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Tuesday, July 7, 2026!
Director André Øvredal’s (The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, The Last Voyage of the Demeter) new movie Passenger is now available on Digital at home.
Here’s the synopsis for Passenger: “A few weeks into their van life adventure, a young couple witnesses a horrific accident that leaves the driver dead. Soon they’re being pursued by a demonic stalker who’s impossible to outrun and follows them wherever they go.”
André Øvredal told Bloody Disgusting in an exclusive chat, “It’s a road movie, which is what I really fell in love with. It’s totally unique for me as a horror movie. Bridging the road movie with a haunting, essentially, on the road. I think it’s the scariest movie I’ve made.”
The cast includes Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, Melissa Leo, Tony Doupe, Bonni Dichone, Devielle Johnson, Jessica Cruz, Miles Fowler, and Alan Trong.
The screenplay is written by Zachary Donohue (The Den) and T.W. Burgess (Mister Howl). Former Warner Bros production executive Walter Hamada, who steered the Conjuring and It franchises, is producing via his 18hz as part of his first-look deal with Paramount. It screenwriter Gary Dauberman is also producing via Coin Operated.
Supernatural horror, psychological suspense, and an eye-catching creature take center stage in The Leaching, now available on Digital from Dark Star Pictures and Uncork’d Entertainment.
“After waking up in a grave on her father’s isolated forest property with no idea of who she is or how she got there, Vivian must use her limited memory to piece together the nightmarish truth, all the while being tormented by the undead, a giant leech monster, and her ‘father.’
“Over the next few days, she will uncover the framework of a truly nefarious supernatural scheme, but will it be too late?”
The Leaching is written and directed by Evan Showalter (Ante Mortem, Bad Music Terry).
“The Leaching is an exploration of faith, the loss of self, and the monsters (literally) that emerge when people surrender themselves to something greater than they can understand,” says Showalter. “It’s an isolating horror film that plays with a very uncomfortable question.”
A film student finds herself trapped in a giallo nightmare in lo-fi horror movie City Wide Fever, which is now streaming exclusively on the Midnight Pulp streaming service.
The meta horror movie is from debut writer/director Josh Heaps.
In City Wide Fever, “Sam, a young film student, discovers a USB detailing the life and career of forgotten Italian horror director Saturnino Barresi.
“As she begins to investigate his mysterious disappearance, Sam finds herself pulled into a violent conspiracy eerily similar to those of the films she adores.”
Diletta Guglielmi, Angelica Kim, and Nancy Kimball star with Onur Tukel (Summer of Blood), Larry Fessenden (You’re Next), Carolyn Farina, and comedian Ian Fidance.
Paul Lê wrote in his review for Bloody Disgusting, “This isn’t just a case of throwback filmmaking that’s been achieved with contemporary technology; the director used era-authentic equipment to help create this striking and nostalgic piece of modern horror. The end result is a movie… teeming with enough verve and style to make it feel fresh.”
A Gen Z slasher that pays homage to ’90s teen slasher movies, You’re Dead to Me is now available on Digital outlets at home courtesy of distributor Dark Star Pictures.
In the slasher film, “Three high school seniors skip prom for a secluded weekend party free from parents, school, and responsibility, but their escape turns terrifying when they learn one of their classmates has been brutally murdered.”
Denise Richards (Valentine) stars alongside Siena Agudong (Sidelined: The QB and Me, Sidelined 2: Intercepted), Jessica Belkin (“Baywatch” ), Ella Anderson (“Henry Danger,” Song Sung Blue), and Conor Husting (“Boo, Bitch”, Hollywood Stargirl).
The film was directed by Juan Pablo Arias Munoz.
You’re Dead to Me was co-written by Sarah Howard and Terry Castle, the daughter of the legendary producer and filmmaker William Castle (House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler).
Steven Quale (Into the Storm, Final Destination 5) directed the supernatural thriller Black Box, which has now taken flight on Digital outlets courtesy of Aura Entertainment.
The film is based on the short film The Vessel, and an original screenplay from horror writer Stephen Susco (The Grudge, The Grudge 2, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Hell Fest).
Black Box (Flight 298) follows the supernatural events surrounding Vero Airlines 298 from New Orleans to Seattle.
Tom Brittney, Holly Leena White, Betsy Blue English, Dane Whyte O’Hara, Kaja Chan, Asa Ali, Boadicea Ricketts, Ceallach Spellman, Georgina Leonidas, Molly Belle Wright, Hanneke Talbot, Danny Mack, and Weronika Rosati star in Black Box.
Hammerstone Studios’ Alex Lebovici (Barbarian, Boy Kills World) and Jon Oakes (Drive, The Guilty) will produce alongside Capstone’s Christian Mercuri and David Haring (Bill & Ted Face the Music), Warren Zide (The Final Destination, American Pie), and Susco. Ruzanna Kegeyan and Roman Viaris of Capstone, and Clark Baker (Vessel) will executive produce.
What happened to Flight 298? Find out on Digital outlets now.
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