Movies
Original ‘Poltergeist’ Star Oliver Robins Directing Horror Film ‘Celebrity Crush’
As a child actor, Oliver Robins was tormented by a nightmarish clown doll in Poltergeist. Thirty-five years later, he’s all grown up and set to direct a horror film of his own!
We’ve just learned that Robins, who played Robbie Freeling in the original Poltergeist, will return to the horror world with Celebrity Crush, a new film he wrote and is set to produce, direct and star in. Robins will play a man, fittingly enough, who was a child actor in a (fictional) horror film about a killer clown back in the ’80s!
The film’s biggest fan, 29 year-old Hilary Lynessa, always knew she was going to meet and fall in love with Jonathan Blaklee, the star of B-horror movie Chain Face Clown (1985). For Hilary, Jonathan is the perfect soulmate. She has idolized him and the film ever since she can remember. Hilary has a collection of Chain Face Clown memorabilia that would impress even the most ardent fan. But, there is one item she has yet to attain… Jonathan Blaklee.
After meeting Jonathan at a horror convention, she imprisons the ex-child actor with the misguided hope Jonathan will one day fall in love with her.
“I’m very excited to have the opportunity to act again in this very dark thriller,” said Robins, who hasn’t appeared in a movie in over 30 years.
Alissa Schneider will co-star with Robins.
Celebrity Crush will be shot late July in St. Petersburg, Florida
Recent comments from producer Jason Blum suggested that a retool was in order when last year’s The Exorcist: Believer wasn’t as successful as Blumhouse and Universal hoped. That certainly seems to be the case, as Deadline reports tonight that Mike Flanagan is in talks to direct the next Exorcist movie.
Director David Gordon Green was initially on board to direct an entire trilogy of new movies in the franchise, with The Exorcist: Believer intended to be only the first film in that three-film sequel series. Originally set to hit theaters on April 18, 2025, sequel The Exorcist: Deceiver was delayed when Green left the project.
If talks come to fruition, Flanagan will take over, likely steering the franchise in a new direction.
The first film in the trilogy was released theatrically on October 13, 2023, with Leslie Odom Jr. starring alongside a returning Ellen Burstyn from the original classic.
In Believer, “Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) has raised their daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own.
“But when Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before.”
The final moments of The Exorcist: Believer brought Linda Blair’s Regan MacNeil back into the fold, seeming to suggest that the legacy character could return in future installments.
As for Flanagan, the horror filmmaker has Life of Chuck on the way. Flanagan previously helmed Stephen King adaptations Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game, and he’s also known for titles including Ouija: Origin of Evil and Oculus, along with the Netflix horror shows The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
Stay tuned for more as we learn it.
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