The eponymous monster from director George Pavlou’s 1988 creature feature flashes on screen at the 1:10 minute mark, in an energetic montage of action. That it’s the only image borrowed from another film ensures it stands out. What does it mean?

Rawhead Rex, written by Clive Barker based on his Books of Blood Vol. 3 short story, sees a pagan deity embark on a violent rampage when unwittingly awakened. The story’s 8-foot-tall, slender phallus version of the deity gets reinterpreted on screen as a sort of punk-rock bulked-out animalistic beast who rampages and murders his way through the rural area in ’80s rubber monster suit fashion. The exact type of heavy metal monster that feels suited to Slayground‘s death metal tone.

Also curious is that Rawhead Rex appears after scare-actor “Metal Mike” Graves (Cory Michael Smith) awakens with a jolt in what appears to be some strange ritual that sees Imogen Poots‘s character commanding of his writhing body: “Help us bring the light to the truth!” 

Whether Rawhead Rex is simply a unique visual representation hinting toward the lead character’s transformative arc or something supernatural at play remains to be seen, but our curiosity is piqued.

In Slayground, “Scare-actor “Metal Mike” Graves wakes up in a haunted attraction surrounded by the dead bodies of his co-workers with no memory of how they got there. As a state-wide manhunt closes in, he races to uncover the truth – even if the trail leads straight back to him.”

Described as a Halloween-set fugitive thriller, the newly titled Slayground stars Cory Michael Smith, Chase Sui Wonders, Sophie Wilde, James Badge Dale, Stanley Simons, Stephen Root, Chris Sullivan, Young Mazino, Imogen Poots, Matty Matheson, and Macon Blair.

Slayground features music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

The post Did You Catch the ‘Rawhead Rex’ Easter Egg in Jeremy Saulnier’s ‘Slayground’ Teaser? appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

There’s always a plethora of demos to go through every time Next Fest rolls around, but here’s a list of games to start with!

EL PASO ELSEWHERE 2

With El Paso Elsewhere, it felt like developer Strange Scaffold was targeting me specifically. The combination of Max Payne-esque gunplay and surreal monster hunting was right up my alley, presented with a gorgeous low-poly art style. On top of that, the narrative was a perfect combination of funny, strange, and oddly poignant, with a great voice performance by game director Xalavier Nelson Jr. Oh, and the game had a full rap album too. Even though it was a huge hit for the studio, I was extremely surprised (and delighted) when they announced a sequel was on the horizon.

The demo includes one level, which takes about 25 minutes to run through, and they immediately showed how they are going to take the base gameplay and iterate it meaningfully in the sequel. You still have a variety of weapons, including pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles, to use while you slow-motion dive through the air, but this time the main character, James Savage, has some vampiric powers at his disposal. This allows you to do a mid-air dive, giving you a bit more mobility than the original. It also changes the healing economy of the game to require you to use the instant-kill melee stakes to recover health from the blood of your enemies.

Based on the demo, the levels feel more elaborate, with a bigger footprint and more interesting set pieces, and more ranged enemies have been added to the mix, making for encounters that feel like epic gunfights. I would have been fine if El Paso Elsewhere 2 was just more of the same, but it seems like they are making smart iterations to the formula that will improve on the already solid base the original established.

DERELIKT

I’ve been getting into retro games lately, and one that’s close to the top of my list to try out is the PlayStation 1 Alien Resurrection game, which was notable for being one of the first console games to use the twin stick movement/aiming setup that’s the standard today. Playing the demo for DERELIKT, a PSX-style sci-fi horror first-person shooter, feels like the closest I can get to the Alien Resurrection game in the modern age. Combining elements of System Shock 2, Half-Life, and survival horror, you’re tasked with investigating what happened to a remote research station built into an asteroid orbiting Saturn.

A quick weaponless prologue introduces you to the world you’ll be diving into, giving you NPCs to talk to that slowly build the dread of the situation. The station is brought to life with a wonderfully pixelated, low-poly visual style; the game even opens with a fake PS1 bootup screen, creating a grimy tone that feels straight out of Alien. While they don’t have a ton of unique character traits at the moment, the NPCs all have something to say, slowly filling in pieces about strange symbols and a song heard in dreams that haunt the crew.

Once you get rolling, the game gives you weapons, which feel impactful to shoot, putting you up against enemies that would be at home in Half-Life. While you can definitely see the influences they are pulling from, there’s a lot of promise in the execution, making it feel like a world with its own identity.

DERELIKT launches November 13.

THERMOCLINE

I’m always interested when developers decide to make more traditional turn-based RPGs with horror settings. Parasite Eve is one of my favorite PlayStation classics, and Look Outside was my personal Game of the Year for 2025. Thermocline takes that concept to present a brutal world of survival against both the elements and strange creatures. As your character lands on the planet, she gives off a guttural scream of agony and collapses to her knees, overwhelmed by the bleakness of her situation.

Rendered in glorious pixel art, you’re dropped on a frigid corpse-planet (as the Steam page describes it) where you are immediately in danger of freezing to death. In addition to health, you also have a temperature to manage, which is constantly dropping unless you’re either in a warm space or using your limited fuel heater. In the 30-minute demo, I ran into another survivor, who did not seem to be in the best mental state, and tried to follow his guidance to get the facility back up and running.

Like other modern RPGs, you see the enemies in the world as you walk around, and it’s encouraged for you to sneak past them, as combat in the game is brutal. At least in the early portion of the game, you don’t have a ton of options aside from attack or escape, and the lethality makes it dangerous to get into any fight. I’m hoping the full game, which will be released for free, will add a few more layers to the combat, but so far I’m extremely impressed with the bleak and deadly mood the Thermocline creates.

Thermocline launches this winter.

WARHAMMER SURVIVORS

Aside from Vampire Survivors, I haven’t really kept up with the Bullet Heaven subgenre, but it’s mostly because the aesthetic of other games hasn’t really grabbed me in the way the original does. As someone who is always trying to get into the world of Warhammer, Warhammer Survivors is the first game of its type to pique my interest in a long time, and the demo showed a lot of promise. It’s the same formula and general visual style, but there are plenty of twists that make it feel more in line with the classic Warhammer vibe.

By this point, you know the drill with these games. You walk around as your attacks autofire on specific cooldowns, blasting your way through absurd hordes of enemies as your power scales to ridiculous levels. The key to success is not only killing enemies, but doubling back to pick up the XP that they drop to keep leveling up. It’s all the same in Warhammer Survivors, but it’s done with the aesthetics of either Warhammer 40K or Age of Sigmar. One of my favorite little additions to the formula was that markers on your screen will guide you to allies that are under siege by monsters, and freeing them will allow them to follow you around and assist you as you tear through creatures.

In a cute twist, the powerups and attacks are not only relevant to the lore of the world, but also are nods to the tabletop nature of the original game. In addition to boltguns and chainswords, you can also add exploding dice or Nuln Oil to your arsenal, which got a good chuckle out of me. The depth of these games reveals itself on the meta layer as you upgrade your stats and unlock new options, so I’m intrigued to check this out when it’s released to see what other wrinkles it adds.

Warhammer Survivors launches November 10.

SOMBRAS: NEGATIVE FRAMES

There’s something about taking photographs that always feels fun to do in video games. Maybe it’s because you’re always moving the game’s camera, but making it a mechanic just takes what you’re already doing and turns it into something that’s so satisfying in real life. Make it a film camera, and it feels doubly cool. Now add in ghosts to the mix, and you’re ready for a good time. Sombras: Negative Frames drops you in a dark mirror of a 2000s Japanese town as Japanese-Spanish student Shiomi, putting you in contact with shadow figures that walk the streets.

Gameplay-wise, it’s a pretty typical first-person narrative game, allowing you to explore and examine your environment, but the focus on photography gives it a unique hook. As you meet these shadows, they will have requests for pictures, sending you around your little pocket of this strange dimension to find the sights they are looking for to record them with your camera. In addition to collecting items around the world that tell you a bit about your history, you also receive text messages from an unknown sender with an unsettling tone. As you take and develop pictures, you’ll be able to spend your XP on upgrades to your camera, though they were limited in the demo. Despite a few jump scares, Sombras is more creepy than scary, giving you moody, rainswept alleyways that set the game’s tone.

It’s a neat gameplay loop that forces you to engage with the environment in a satisfying way, taking in the scenery at a leisurely pace, but there’s quite a bit of backtracking you do as you return to your home base to develop your photos before delivering them. That said, it’s not too big of a world you’re moving through, so it never feels too much like a chore, and in fact makes the walking feel a bit meditative. There wasn’t much hint of the story of the game so far, but based on the promises of the Steam page, I’m excited to see where it goes in the full release.

Sombras: Negative Frames launches December 3.

Have you run into any hidden horror gems from Steam Next Fest? Leave a comment below with your suggestion!

Steam Next Fest runs until October 26.

The post Steam Next Fest: 5 Must-Play Horror Demos for the Halloween Season appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Some of his movies were hits right out of the gate, but most took the longer path of becoming cult favorites over time. 1981’s Dead & Buried – co-written by O’Bannon and directed by Gary Sherman – is one of those latter titles, and while it was pummeled at the box office by Peter Hyams’ Outland, its creepy vibes, grisly Stan Winston effects, and dark sense of humor have continued to earn it fans in the decades since.

We recently passed the 45th anniversary of Dead & Buried, and that makes it the perfect choice for this week’s Commentary column, as I know readers love seeing me cover older films. Every time I scan and skim the comments, it seems to be what you’re clamoring for, so let’s get to it!

Now keep reading to see what I heard on the 2021 commentary for…

Dead & Buried (1981)

Commentators: Troy Howarth (film historian), Nathaniel Thompson (film historian)

1. They refer to the film as a “California Gothic,” and that’s a pretty great subgenre framing. Side note: it was filmed in California, but it’s meant to take place in Maine. I’d argue that something like Messiah of Evil is equally fitting of the term.

2. The score is by Joe Renzetti, who originally crafted it with suite transitions in the belief that it was getting released as a soundtrack album. The film tanked, unfortunately, so those plans were scuttled (although this release includes a soundtrack CD). He won an Academy Award for The Buddy Holly Story, and he also worked with John Carpenter on his 1979 TV film, Elvis. Carpenter had wanted to do that score himself, but ABC and producer Dick Clark nixed the idea. Renzetti’s working relationship with Carpenter on the film was a bit uncomfortable as a result.

3. Howarth points out Lisa Blount’s initial appearance and adds that she’s in two of his favorite cult classic horror films from the 1980s: this one and John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness. I can’t argue with his assessment, but there are varying degrees of fun to be had in her less memorable 80s genre fare too, including What Waits Below, Cut and Run, Annihilator, and Nightflyers.

4. The film was budgeted around five to six million dollars, and roughly half a million of that went to Stan Winston’s effects work. This leads them to their third John Carpenter mention when they add that Winston did some unheralded work on 1982’s The Thing.

5. Thompson recalls seeing the novelization on store shelves months before the film was released. The book, by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, is a terrific horror novelization as it does a great job exploring the story and fleshing out some of the film’s themes and characters. (My favorite horror novelization, though, remains The Funhouse by Dean Koontz.) Howarth adds that the choice to release the novel so early – it came out in 1980, and the film was released in 1981 – probably undercut the film marketing that was trying to build suspense around the story’s big twist.

6. The film was distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures, which allows for another mention of John Carpenter, as he was the independent studio’s biggest draw at the time with films like The Fog and Escape from New York.

7. Director Gary Sherman had an issue with the MPAA on this film, similar to what happened on his Poltergeist III later that decade, but it’s not the problem you’re expecting. Both movies were initially granted a PG rating, but that wasn’t what their respective distributors wanted to hear, meaning reshoots were called for to add in some bloody punctuation. Talking about Sherman allows for a welcome plug of the filmmaker’s feature debut, 1972’s Death Line, which is also available in a slick release from Blue Underground.

8. Thompson draws a connective theme between this and some of co-writer Dan O’Bannon’s other films, including Alien, Return of the Living Dead, and Total Recall. They all touch on what it means to be human and the idea of the expendability of humanity. Androids, the casual need for collateral damage, virtual replacements – O’Bannon frequently explored our value in the face of how easy it is to replace or eliminate us.

9. The unforgettable needle in the eyeball bit at 30:36 sees the pair bring up other examples of memorable eye violence, starting with Strange Behavior, which was released the same year and also featured a syringe into the eye. Others referenced include Zombie, Black Sunday, The New York Ripper, Halloween 2 (which allows for yet another John Carpenter mention, as he directed the bloody insert), The Beyond, and Luis Buñuel’s “Un Chien Andalou.”

10. They share an appreciation for the film’s lead, James Farentino, and mention that he also stars in another Blue Underground release, the fun sci-fi thriller The Final Countdown. Farentino’s horror output is fairly limited beyond Dead & Buried, with only a handful of titles including Violent Midnight and The Possessed.

11. The film – or, at least, the script rewrite by O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett – was originally much more tongue-in-cheek, but it was reshaped to be more pure of a horror movie. There are still some humorous moments here, of course, but its released version is a spooky, creepy, atmospheric delight.

12. The pair share an appreciation of Michael Pataki, who has a small role here as the cemetery worker. His work in the horror genre is fairly extensive and includes Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, The Baby, Graduation Day, Sweet Sixteen, The Return of Count Yorga, Grave of the Vampire, and more. Howarth expresses a particular love for 1977’s Zoltan: Hound of Dracula, which makes the film’s very small fanbase that I’m a part of one person bigger.

13. They draw an interesting comparison between Dobbs (Jack Albertson) and makeup effects artists on films. Dobbs says, as part of his motivation for restoring people to life as zombies (effectively), that it’s frustrating when he does such great work restoring their faces to presentable form only to then bury people in the ground where no one can see. Similarly, Howarth says, “the best effects work is typically the stuff that you don’t even notice.” One great example is the eye violence referenced in #9 above – you know it’s a dummy that gets the needle in its eye, but did you know it was a dummy in the previous shots, too? Kudos to you if you did.

14. This track is the fourth audio commentary for the film to be commissioned by Blue Underground. Their earlier releases on Blu-ray and DVD featured new (at the time) commentaries from Sherman, Shusett, actor Linda Turley, and cinematographer Steven Poster. This Howarth/Thompson commentary was newly recorded for the 4K release, and they tried not to duplicate what’s been said before.

Quotes Without Context

“He’d already played Buck who liked to, you know what, in Eaten Alive for Tobe Hooper.”

“In the 1980s, to put out a horror film with a PG rating, that was suicide.”

“There was something about eyeball violence in the air in 1981.”

“I don’t think he was ever happy with anything that he had a hand in.”

“I like films, personally, that don’t spell everything out and we don’t get into the big, expository reveal at the end.”

“Just because you’re accustomed to seeing a grainy, nasty-looking VHS growing up doesn’t mean that’s what that film is meant to look like.”

“If it’s two dead people having marital relations, is that still necrophilia?”

Keep up with more horror commentary breakdowns here.

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The new series from A24 follows single mother Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini) roughly eight years before she exacts revenge for the negligent death of her disabled son Jason (Callum Vinson). Though designed as a prequel to Sean S. Cunningham’s 1980 film Friday the 13th, episode titles nod to later installments.

Of the first season’s eight chapter titles, more than half use the subtitles of popular sequels. Part 2, Part III (gotta love those conflicting numerical conventions), A New Beginning, The New Blood, and The Final Chapter all honor the winding path of F13 lore. 

Set mostly in 1972, Crystal Lake chronicles the initial tragedy at the titular camp, and series creator Brad Caleb Kane has gone to remarkable lengths to recreate the look and feel of Cunningham’s original world.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

The Original Film Lives On

We see a roving hippie wander into town, mirroring the movements of Annie (Robbi Morgan), a would-be counselor turned victim. Grace (Gwendolyn Sundstrom), the only friend of a pre-murderous Jason, makes a long trek through the woods to an ominous structure, reminiscent of a path traveled in Friday the 13th Part 2.

A flashback shows the wide-eyed kids exploring what will eventually become known as “Jason’s Shack,” noticing ingredients for a moonshine still. This is possibly a sly reference to the 2024 video game The Curse of Camp Moonshine: Friday the 13th.

Kane’s first season concludes with a chilling recreation of the fireside tale Paul Holt (John Furey) uses to frighten his counselors-in-training. At a climactic moment in season one, Pamela dons a light blue cable-knit sweater identical to the one Betsy Palmer wears when she’s bested by the series’ first final girl, Alice (Adrienne King). Cardellini even recites some of Palmer’s infamous monologue as the delusional killer drifts in and out of reality. A redux of Harry Manfredini’s iconic score also features the cryptic “ki ki ki ma ma ma” sound effects that have become F13’s calling card.

Another sequence nods to the iconic ending of Cunningham’s film. Episode two begins with Kane’s Pamela serenely rowing a canoe out to the middle of Crystal Lake, hoping to finally locate her missing son. Sheriff Levon Brooks (William Catlett) pulls up in a police car, just like the officers who will later come to rescue Alice. But from shore, neither can protect these unsuspecting women from the rotting corpses that emerge from the lake. 

Perhaps even more exciting is a fun recreation of the opening kill. Cunnigham’s film begins with a group of counselors sitting around the fire and singing camp songs. When one song ends, Claudette (Debra S. Hayes) hands off the guitar she was playing and follows her boyfriend Barry (Willie Adams) up into the loft. As they start to kiss, an unseen figure surprises the young lovers by stabbing them to death in what we later learn is revenge for their neglectful role in Jason’s death.

Not only does Crystal Lake give us backstories for the irresponsible Barry (Phoenix Parnevik) and Claudette (Danielle Kotch), but we get to see this exciting scene recreated with impressive detail. Episode five features the ominous fireside singalong and the resulting double homicide, complete with a surprising killer reveal. Kane also nods to this disturbing cold open with his own title sequence design. As his Pamela desperately swims out to save her child, we see her come back up for air. Director Michael Lennox zooms in on the rictus of her harrowing scream before recreating Cunnigham’s broken glass title card. 

Familiar Franchise Faces Return to Crystal Lake

In addition to this nostalgic table setting, Kane’s series reunites us with familiar faces and locations from the original franchise. We get to spend time with “Crazy Ralph” (Nick Cordileone), a veteran who lives on the outskirts of town. We first meet this lurking harbinger as he warns us about Camp Crystal Lake.

“It’s got a death curse,” the older Ralph (Walt Gorney) shouts to Annie as she hitches a ride to her doom. But like the younger Pamela, Kane’s Ralph is surprisingly sympathetic. More than just a drunken kook, he’s been traumatized by his time at war and hallucinates dead bodies littered throughout the woods as a symptom of his PTSD. 

Kane builds out Ralph’s character in connection with the man’s original antagonist. In Cunningham’s version of events, the doomed counselors are warned about Ralph by a Crystal Lake cop known as Officer Dorf (Ron Millkie). Kane draws upon the comedy of this brief scene by introducing us to a younger Deputy Dorf (Cameron Scoggins) who is eager to please Sheriff Brooks. Kane’s bumbling Dorf and sensitive Ralph serve as secondary foils, and their strange feud becomes a red herring for a more mysterious killing spree. 

As we first meet John Christy (Brian J. Carter) and his wife Kay (Nancy Nagrant), we catch a fleeting glimpse of their son Steve (Dan Thompson). Fans of the 1980 film will remember an older Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer) and his neckerchief as he flirts with Alice while repairing the camp. When Kane’s Pamela realizes they mean to reopen the facility just one year after Jason’s death, she screams that she thought they were her friends, a fun nod to Palmer’s original introduction. When Alice first meets the surprising killer, Mrs. Voorhees insists that she can be trusted because she is “a friend of the Christys.” 

Sharp-eared viewers will notice a brief mention of an off-screen character named Noah Feldman, a nod to the actor Corey Feldman, who plays the young Tommy Jarvis in Joseph Zito’s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Kane’s Pamela also grows close to a woman named Trish, likely named for Tommy’s older sister Trish Jarvis, played by Kimberly Beck in the fan-favorite film. Hoping to escape town for a while, Pamela follows another friend to a self-help conference at a resort called Packanack Lodge, referencing Paul’s training camp for counselors in Friday the 13th Part 2. 

We’re also treated to a counselor promising “Crystal Lake memories” as campers eagerly run around, nodding to Daniel Farrands’s Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th. A brief mention of the late Dolly Parton is a timely reference to “Sail Away, Little Sparrow,” a country song that can be heard in the background of Cunningham’s film.

Harry Manfredini wrote the original tune when the studio could not afford to license one of Parton’s songs. Of course, we learn that this new iteration of Crystal Lake was founded by the fictional Lieutenant Hodder McKane, a name clearly meant to honor Kane Hodder, the most famous actor to don Jason’s iconic hockey mask. 

Homages to the Franchise’s Most Iconic Deaths

Other Easter eggs are more subtle, representing poignant moments from the landmark 1980 film. After a shocking cold open, we flash back to the last day of Jason’s life as Pamela works in the camp cafeteria. Noticing a snake hiding behind supplies, we watch her eye a nearby knife. But moments later, we see her release the creature unharmed from within a lidded pot. The next summer, Pamela will find a second snake but take a much more ruthless approach, chopping off its head with another blade.

Meant to show how tragedy has transformed the grieving mother, this pair of scenes also references one of the most upsetting moments in franchise history. Cunningham’s original film features a scene in which Alice finds a snake in her bunk. Calling the rest of the counselors in, they similarly hack the snake in two. However, unlike Friday the 13th, no animals were harmed in the making of Crystal Lake.

In another nearby kitchen, Sheriff Brooks stores grisly evidence in his fridge until the coroner’s office opens on Monday morning. His sister Brianna (Devin Kessler) discovers this bag — filled with mangled human remains — as she prepares to make him a cup of tea. This parallels the shocking demise of the franchise’s first final girl. After surviving her time at Crystal Lake, Alice is making her own cup of tea in an apartment far away from the doomed nature camp. Just moments before her own violent end, Alice finds Mrs. Voorhees’ decapitated head stuffed inside her own icebox.

Kane also recreates several iconic death sequences from later franchise installments. When a hippie wanders into Jason’s clutches, she finds herself caught in a bear trap just moments before a mysterious killer returns for his prey. This mirrors an upsetting early death in Marcus Nispel’s Friday the 13th remake, in which Richie (Ben Feldman) waits to die after becoming ensnared in a similar trap. The film’s survivors also manage to defeat Jason (Derek Mears) by wrapping a similar trap around the killer’s neck. 

During a drug-laden orgy scene, Pamela attacks a couple having sex on the ground, mirroring the gruesome deaths of Tina (Deborah Voorhees) and Eddie (John Robert Dixon) in Danny Steinmann’s Friday the 13th: A New Beginning — though there are several other mid-coital kills that occur throughout the slasher series.

Another of Kane’s violent mothers dies by falling face-first into an industrial fryer, closely resembling the death by liquid nitrogen in James Isaac’s Jason X. And the climactic murder of Jason’s long-lost father, finally introduced in Kane’s series, recreates the eye-popping crushed skull seen in Steve Miner’s Friday the 13th: Part III.

Baghead Jason and Other Visual Callbacks

In addition to these grisly homages, Kane leans into a familiar visual motif. Fans of Jason lore know that the brutish killer doesn’t don his iconic hockey mask until the third film. In the second, he wears a burlap sack to hide his face, a creature design commonly known as Baghead Jason. Pamela finds herself haunted by images of this menacing silhouette twice in Kane’s eight-episode arc.

After her first major machete kill, she attempts to keep blood from spilling onto her floor by wrapping the victim’s head in a plastic bag. But blood pours out of the severe scalp wound, quickly obscuring any facial features. Even worse, this bag-headed victim sits back up, blindly stumbling in for another attack. When the bag tears open, a torrent of blood pours onto the screaming woman’s face. 

In an expository flashback that sets up this kill, we watch a younger Pamela frantically search for Jason after breaking into Project Argonaut, a shadowy project referencing the Jason of Greek mythology. Within this torturous facility, she finds several children trapped in machines that look like massive iron lungs. One unfortunate son has his face obscured completely by a thick, black bag and can only scream when Pamela tries to help.  

Crystal Lake Gives Spin on Jason’s Classic Origin

Not only does this introduce Project Argonaut mastermind Elias Wittering (Hamish Linklater) as Jason’s father, but his devious program explains the killer’s own unsinkable legacy. Hoping to develop human resistance to a nuclear threat, Elias has been infusing his son with superior strength. Thanks to these torturous tests, Jason has become nearly impossible to kill.

What’s more, each moment of physical trauma simply causes the child to grow bigger and stronger. Not only does this explain how Jason has continued to revive through twelve films, but we now know how he survive drowning in Crystal Lake to begin with. 

In addition to this fascinating franchise lore, Jason fans will most likely be moved by a bittersweet explanation for Jason’s ability to thrive in the woods. Hoping to comfort her outcast son, Pamela has been taking the boy on extensive camping trips and teaching him outdoor survival skills. Shortly before his apparent death, we watch the child tear into a box full of camping gear, including a thick outdoor survival guide.

But it’s another gift he finds in the box that will become his signature weapon. Finally feeling powerful, a young and naive Jason raises his brand new machete, declaring that “the woods are mine!” Pamela will echo this statement in the first season’s poignant finale, after mother and son have been transformed into the bloodthirsty killers we’ve come to love.

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So although Scooby functions fine without Halloween, there’s always something extra special whenever the holiday is featured. The creators must agree, too, because they tend to go all-out for the occasion.

The following is a guide to Halloween’s appearances in the Scooby-Doo universe. Sometimes All Hallows’ Eve plays a big role in the story, and other times it’s just there in the background. Either way, you’re sure to get your fill of Halloween with these Scooby selections.

The Scooby-Doo Show – “The Headless Horseman of Halloween”

From The Scooby-Doo Show is this unmistakably Halloween-themed episode. Mystery Inc. was partying it up at Crane Mansion when all of a sudden, one of the costumed guests turned out to be the bona fide Headless Horseman. Or so everyone thought. This episode also features Scooby’s cousin Scooby-Dum.

The Scooby-Doo Show – “To Switch a Witch”

Had it been up to them, Shaggy and Scooby would have spent this Halloween trick-or-treating. Instead, they had to deal with old witch Milissa Wilcox. Making the group’s visit to Salem, Massachusetts more confusing is the fact that this legendary witch resembles their friend, Arlene Wilcox.

The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries – “A Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle”

What began as The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show eventually became The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries. And after only solving mysteries with Scooby, Shaggy, Scrappy-Doo and Daphne, we finally got to see Fred and Velma again. At that point, those two had been absent from the franchise for several years. What’s also notable about the episode “A Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle”, apart from Fred and Velma’s return, is the existence of the supernatural; here it’s real, seeing as how Dracula and his wife, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Gill-man, and the Invisible Man all make appearances. Even so, someone in a mask can be found causing mischief at this monster mash.

Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

“It’s Halloween all year long at that old Grimwood place!” says one character in the TV-movie Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. That boy wasn’t exaggerating, either; each year the students and staff at Miss Grimwood’s Finishing School for Girls work their way up to the big open house party on Halloween. This year is going to be different, though, because a wicked witch named Revolta is out to get the Grimwood Girls. For more of Sibella, Tanis and those other ghoulish gals, be sure to check out their guest appearance in “Monster Party”, the Halloween episode of OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes.

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo – “Ghost Who’s Coming to Dinner”

One of the best cases of “babyfication” has to be A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. It retained the spirit of the original cartoons while adding its own memorable signature. And after the ups and downs of the franchise so far, this entry was a good reset. The Halloween episode “Ghost Who’s Coming to Dinner” also has a significant instance of ghosts being legit in SD. However, that Mr. Boo isn’t the real threat here; a phony pirate specter called Boobeard is up to no good.

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost

While this movie’s inclusion here is debatable, there’s no denying how Halloweenish Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost both feels and looks. The presence of a monster turkey also makes it fine for Thanksgiving, but generally speaking, the autumnal aesthetic of this straight-to-video movie makes it perfect for all of Fall. In this follow-up to Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, the Scoobies find supernatural trouble when they visit a horror author’s New England hometown. On top of a local hoax is the very real legend of a persecuted witch.

The Scooby-Doo Project

Of all the opportunistic parodies that followed The Blair Witch Project, 1999’s The Scooby-Doo Project is by far the most fun and inventive. Originally aired on Cartoon Network, this Halloween special debuted in chunks in the midst of a SD marathon. It was a winning combination of humor, mixed media, and depending on your age, genuine frights.

Night of the Living Doo

For the super SD fans out there, they may want to squeeze in this parody that aired on Halloween Night in 2001. Shown in segments during another of Cartoon Network’s Scooby marathons, Night of the Living Doo plays out like a classic team-up episode. The special guests here are Mark Hamill, Gary Coleman, David Cross and the swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

What’s New, Scooby-Doo? – “A Scooby-Doo Halloween”

Another mystery has been solved just in time for Halloween. Yet there’s no rest for Mystery Inc. once they reach Velma’s relatives in Banning Junction; ghostly scarecrows are intent on ruining the festivities. This special Halloween episode also features Paul Stanley of the band KISS.

Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King

Halloween is hard to miss in Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King, the first SD production to not have either William Hanna or Joseph Barbera involved in some way. Here, Scooby and the others land themselves in otherworldly danger after crossing paths with a power-hungry magician and venturing into that realm overseen by the Goblin King.

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated – “Escape from Mystery Manor”

The real mystery of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is how it didn’t have a proper Halloween episode. To be fair, Crystal Cove had a non-stop parade of masked miscreants. Who there had time to think about Halloween? At any rate, there is “Escape from Mystery Manor”; this episode opens with a flashback set on Halloween. Jumping back to the present day, the Scoobs become trapped in Darrow Mansion while investigating what happened to the original Mystery Incorporated.

Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow

Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow is perfect for fans who can’t quite fit a full-length SD movie into their busy schedule. This STV special is the length of a standard TV episode, and it’s self-contained. On Halloween in Cobb Corners, the gang solves the mystery of a sinister scarecrow who haunts the corn maze.

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! – “Halloween”

The unique art style of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! can be jarring, especially if you’re used to Hanna-Barbera’s classic designs. On the other hand, this is one of the funnier SD shows. You’re always able to get in and out of an episode with no effort, although you may just end up wanting to stay for more laughs. The episode “Halloween” finds the gang hunting for the witch who scared Fred as a child. And according to adult Fred, masks make it impossible to solve mysteries on Halloween.

Scoob!

Scoob! was an unsuccessful attempt to start a cinematic universe for Hanna-Barbera properties. On top of that, none of the previous voice actors, apart from Frank Welker as Scooby, were cast. What that said, you may find delight in the front half of this big-screen movie, particularly those scenes before everything went off course. The younger Mystery Inc. coming together to solve their first case on Halloween is so precious. It’s too bad we didn’t get the chance to see Scoob! Holiday Haunt, a planned prequel that sounds more like traditional SD.

Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!

Crossovers and stunt casting are par for the course in Scooby-Doo. So when Elvira (voiced by the real Cassandra Peterson), Bill Nye and The Scarecrow from DC Comics showed up in Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!, fans didn’t bat an eye. Yet what helps this haunted holiday movie succeed isn’t just the guest stars; it’s the commitment to the concept. Who knew a Mad Max: Fury Road-style SD movie would actually work?

Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!

The character designs of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? made their movie debut in Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! They’re in line with the original cartoons, while also adding more dynamic movements and expressive faces. The plot of this Halloween-set feature, though, is not a thing like old-school SD. No, Mystery Inc. are battling their doppelgängers after taking down the sartorial mastermind behind many of their greatest villains.

Velma – “This Halloween Needs to Be More Special!”

There is perhaps no property in the Scooby-Doo franchise that is more divisive than Velma. Loathed, in many cases. And by the time this Halloween special had come around, most had already forgotten about this bizarre show. So unless you were already invested in the story, or just really like Saweetie, watching what turned out to be the series finale is totally optional. Tuning in now, with nary a clue as to what happened before, will also have you asking why Velma is suddenly a ghost.

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Standing next to him is Don Mancini, creator of the Child’s Play franchise. While both are lifelong Constant Readers — and Mancini frequently cites Brian De Palma’s Carrie as his favorite horror film — Fuller’s connection to the source material runs a bit deeper than pure fandom. 

By now we all know Carrie’s tragic story. The high school outcast is relentlessly bullied by her popular classmates and religious mother, Margaret. When she gets her first period after gym, Carrie becomes the obsession of mean girl Chris Hargensen and her more empathetic friend Sue Snell, who tries to make amends by asking her boyfriend to take Carrie to prom. But Chris has a more sinister plan in mind.

Arranging for Carrie to be elected Prom Queen, Chris “coronates” her by emptying a bucket of pig’s blood over her head. Only then do her fellow prom-goers learn that Carrie has the power to move objects with her mind. Unleashing her telekinetic rage, the bloody Prom Queen sets fire to the gym and half the town. Upon returning home, she kills her mother in self-defense, then succumbs to the strain of her psychic gifts. 

The 1974 novel was a modest success and launched King’s legendary career. But the name Carrie White became ubiquitous two years later with the release of De Palma’s masterful adaptation. The horrific story has since woven its way through modern culture, familiar to horror fans and normies alike. In 2002, Bryan Fuller penned a remake of King’s source material, attempting to modernize and expand the relatively slim story. 

Bryan Fuller Already Tried to Change Carrie’s Fate

Directed by David Carson, Fuller’s Carrie is a more or less faithful retelling, with Angela Bettis starring as the doomed Prom Queen. Patricia Clarkson co-stars as Margaret White in a subdued performance that sharply contrasts with Piper Laurie’s iconic villainess. Fuller also includes the novel’s semi-epistolary format and frames the story with police interviews, conducted by Detective John Mulcahey (David Keith). However, Fuller’s script concludes with a shocking twist. 

When Carrie returns from the Prom Night disaster, she takes a bath in her ruined gown. Feigning compassion, her vicious mother pushes her head under the water, attempting to murder her child for her “sinful” behavior. With the last bit of her strength, Carrie uses her powers to slowly stop her mother’s heart, leaving Margaret dead on the bathroom floor.

Thankfully, Sue (Kandyse McClure) discovers the dying teen and delivers mouth to mouth resuscitation. She assists Carrie in faking her death and hiding from authorities. The adaptation ends with Sue driving Carrie to Florida, where she will disguise her identity and start a new life.  

The TV Series That Never Happened

Fuller’s teleplay was originally designed to launch a continuing series in the Carrie world. Slated as a two-part television event for NBC, Fuller explained in a 2006 interview with CBR that “the network wanted a movie-of-the-week and the studio needed more money so they said they wouldn’t let them do a movie-of-the-week, but they would let them do a backdoor pilot.” Faced with this “daunting” editorial task, Fuller considered transferring the Prom Queen’s powers to Sue or following another telekinetic girl. He ultimately rejected these ideas in favor of allowing Carrie to survive.

In 2002, the writer explained to Fangoria, “One of the things we all felt really bad about was that you have this woman who is victimized her entire life and then, the moment things start to come through for her, she is victimized again. And then she becomes a murderer, and you kill her. That just seemed really cruel.” 

While Carrie devotees would no doubt agree, a psychic connection with Sue would have been an interesting move, particularly considering Carrie’s literary end. After completing her mission of bloody revenge, Carrie collapses under the cardiac strain. Sue uses her own intuition to track the Prom Queen down and finds her barely clinging to life. As she dies, Carrie telepathically searches Sue’s mind for involvement in the pig’s blood prank, ultimately deciding that she is innocent. Sue then experiences Carrie’s death as the “signal” of her consciousness flickers out. She must now continue on with this horrifying preview of what awaits her in the afterlife. 

Rather than killing Carrie off, Fuller planned to unite the teen survivors. A subsequent series would likely see Sue and Carrie travel the country trying to help other psychic outcasts while Carrie wrestled with the weight of her guilt. We may have gotten a Monster of the Week format similar to the structure of The X-Files. By centering young women, the story could also have mirrored the trajectory and tone of the CW’s Supernatural, which would premiere just three years later. David Keith would no doubt have reprised his role as Detective Mulchaey while Jasmine Guy may have joined the cast as a paranormal investigator. The celebrated actress filmed a handful of scenes for the original mini-series that were ultimately left on the cutting room floor. 

But alas, a Carrie series was not to be. Though the television event boasted strong viewership, critics were ultimately underwhelmed, taking issue with the admittedly cheap special effects. Though Fuller had outlined a second episode, the project eventually fell apart. Fuller explains, “I don’t think the network ever intended to do a series; they were just playing the studio. But we jumped through all the hoops and had all the elements in play for a series with Carrie on the road with Sue and what would happen in the wake of Prom Night.” 

This loss feels like a missed opportunity, especially considering Fuller’s success with another iconic horror text. In 2013, he built on Thomas Harris’ Hannibal trilogy to reimagine horror’s most famous cannibal. The gruesomely gorgeous Hannibal follows FBI agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) as he matches wits with Dr. Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), expanding Harris’ celebrated novels into a successful three-season run. In 2021, he announced a similar project which would adapt Christine, King’s 1983 novel about a killer car. While certainly exciting for Constant Readers, that project also seems to have fallen apart. 

Mike Flanagan’s Carrie Echoes Fuller’s Vision

Now thirteen years later, Flanagan may have revived Fuller’s original idea — and celebrated by inviting the horror icon to prom. The director’s new eight-part series for Amazon Prime also concludes with Carrie (Summer H. Howell) heading into the larger world. In the weeks leading up to the Prom Night disaster, she has befriended a fellow outcast named Emaline (Thalia Dudek) who has her own set of powerful gifts.

She not only helps Carrie hone her TK skills, but takes charge moments after the pig’s blood falls, while the Prom Queen is too stunned to retaliate. Emaline takes Carrie’s powers on a murderous spree, and the girls dance in the flames that consume the town. But Emaline is felled by a mysterious attacker, and Carrie is once again left on her own. 

Returning home, she seeks comfort from her mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan), who helps to clean the blood from her skin. But as mother and daughter pray for forgiveness, Margaret tries to murder her child, hoping to protect the world from a power she does not understand. Mirroring De Palma’s shocking conclusion, Carrie pulls the house down on both of their heads.

But like Fuller’s Sue, Emaline arrives just in time. She pulls Carrie out of the rubble and drives her away. Flanagan’s series also ends with two girls on the road, albeit with an entirely different threat to escape. 

A Bigger Stephen King Universe?

Throughout the series, we’ve caught glimpses of a mysterious woman named Adelaide (Kate Siegel) who leads a group of similarly powerful women, including a woman named Caitlin (Delainey Hayles) who senses Carrie each time she uses her gifts. Adelaide’s psychic soldiers arrive at prom determined to protect Carrie from a maternal assassin.

Fearing Carrie’s telekinesis, Margaret has reached out to a woman named Amanda (Katee Sackhoff) who works with another shadowy group to rid the world of these magical girls. On the road, Emaline refuses to tell Carrie where they are headed, worried that Adelaide and her partners will invade her mind and use this knowledge to track them both down. 

Though we don’t know much about Adelaide’s intentions, there may be a clue hidden in Fuller’s adaptation. Detective Mulchaey, the investigator on Carrie’s trail, is played by none other than David Keith. The veteran actor has starred in a number of genre films, but Constant Readers know him best as Andy McGee.

In Mark L. Lester’s 1984 adaptation of King’s Firestarter, he plays the father of Charlie McGee, a little girl gifted with pyrokinesis. Thanks to a government agency known as The Shop, Andy has developed the power of mental domination. Referred to as “the push,” he can mentally emphasize chosen words and convince his targets to obey his commands. Adelaide demonstrates similar traits as she also interviews survivors of the Prom Night tragedy. 

Ordinarily we could chalk these similarities up to narrative coincidence or claim that great minds often think alike. However, Fuller’s presence — and cinematic demise — at Flanagan’s 2026 Prom bears closer consideration. Is the newest Carrie adaptor tipping his hand and previewing a plan for installments to come?

Will Fuller be involved in Flanagan’s proposed three-season arc? Perhaps we will get to revisit what might have been and finally catch a glimpse of Fuller’s intended vision.

The post Bryan Fuller Returns to Prom: That Unexpected ‘Carrie’ Cameo Explained appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In fact, it’s something of a small miracle that the film’s mascot became a horror icon at all. Originally meant to be the protagonist of an animated school project that Dougherty created at NYU back in 1996, the live-action incarnation of Sam somehow climbed his way to the top of horror’s Mount Rushmore despite only having a single feature-length film under his belt.

Against all odds, the diminutive Soul of Halloween currently inhabits the same space as other genre giants like Freddy, Jason, and even Michael Myers. Sam costumes can be found in Halloween-adjacent shops everywhere, and don’t even get me started on the collectible figures (of which I personally own several).

If you ask me, a big part of this success is due to Sam’s appearances outside of Trick ‘r Treat, as both genre fans and Dougherty himself recognized the character’s potential as an ambassador for spooky season as a whole. That’s how word-of-mouth led to Sam becoming a seasonal licensing giant without the need for a studio-backed marketing budget. However, out of Sam’s many surprise appearances over the years, my personal favorite has to be the series of spooky shorts produced by the now-defunct FearNet back during the early 2010s.

With Sam undergoing a long-awaited renaissance through Dougherty’s ongoing multimedia project Sam: The Soul of Halloween, which aims to provide fans with a plethora of new shorts, artistic collaborations and merchandise, I think now is the perfect time to revisit some of the extra-cinematic appearances that helped to keep Sam alive in the public consciousness.

For starters, I think it’s worth explaining the concept of FearNet to some of our younger readers, as Comcast’s horror-focused network was something of a unique creature even back when it was new. Originally a cable TV channel launched in Halloween 2010, FearNet would almost immediately complement its analog programming with an accompanying website that streamed trailers, shorts, and even feature-length films.

This was years before the rise of streaming services as we know them today, which is why I’d argue that modern horror-centric networks like Screambox and Shudder actually owe a lot to FearNet’s pioneering use of viral marketing campaigns meant to engage with online genre fans. Of course, one of their most memorable campaigns had the company partner with Michael Dougherty in order to turn Trick ‘r Treat into the channel’s main attraction during spooky season.

Starting in October of 2011, FearNet would begin to air Trick ‘r Treat on loop, accompanied by pop-up trivia for a 24-hour period every Halloween. This seasonal marathon would ultimately help to cement the film as a holiday tradition that horror fans could look forward to every single year.

As a part of this deal, FearNet hired Dougherty to produce a series of atmospheric shorts that they could air throughout the year in anticipation of the Halloween event. Many of these shorts were written and directed by Dougherty himself, which is why I consider them to be an official part of the Trick ‘r Treat canon, though a few of them were helmed by other genre veterans like Dougherty’s frequent collaborator, Zach Shields.

From tongue-in-cheek videos about delusional dads celebrating Father’s Day with mannequins to Easter dinners from hell, not to mention the final batch of interconnected yarns reminding viewers to adhere to the rules of Halloween, these shorts ended up becoming just as beloved as the 24-Hour Trick ‘r Treat marathon itself. It may seem like an alien concept to folks who never experienced what entertainment was like before the rise of algorithm-based online advertising, but I swear that these promotional shorts felt more like tiny passion projects than corporate-mandated ads. Just take a look at this behind-the-scenes video if you don’t believe me:

And while horror fans were (and still are) disappointed with Lionsgate’s reluctance to greenlight a proper sequel to Dougherty’s film, it was still cool to see the character live on in other media as the marathon introduced this world to more horror fans with each passing year – at least until the untimely demise of FearNet in 2014.

My personal favorite of these yarns is probably Making Friends, where a lonely boy creates a Frankenstein-like companion as Sam encourages him from the sidelines, though I’m also partial to the melancholy vibes of The Day After, a rare piece of Halloween-related media that accurately captures the grief that comes with saying goodbye to the costumes and decorations for another year. And on a side note, the shorts also introduced me to the incredibly underrated Oregon-based dark electronic band Chromatics, with their Dagger Moon single becoming something of a spooky earworm that I looked forward to hearing in these shorts every year.

Despite the impeccable atmosphere and the sheer novelty of seeing Sam in live action again, I recognize that these shorts were mostly simple mood pieces. That being said, I appreciate how much work went into making them feel like a legitimate part of the Trick ‘r Treat universe. There are plenty of ideas here that could easily inspire full segments of a hypothetical Trick ‘r Treat sequel, and none of these micro-productions felt like made-for-TV bastardizations of the source material.

In a just world, we’d be on our fourth or fifth Trick ‘r Treat sequel at this point, but even if we never see a proper cinematic follow-up to Dougherty’s autumnal opus, FearNet’s Trick ‘r Treat shorts will always be there to remind us that not even development hell can kill the spirit of Halloween. And with Dougherty promising even more Sam-centric stories this year (including a 4K Remaster of Season’s Greetings), there’s never been a better time to be a fan of Trick ‘r Treat.

Now if you excuse me, I’m going to cozy up to my Sam plush and rewatch all of these shorts for the thousandth time.

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Born to deeply religious Lebanese immigrants, Blatty grew up in relative poverty before enrolling in Georgetown University and briefly joining the Air Force. This eventually led to the young man becoming a Beirut-based agent of the United States Information Agency, a now-defunct branch of the government focused on promoting American propaganda overseas, as he attempted to come to terms with his Middle Eastern heritage.

It was also there that Blatty discovered his talents as a writer, a realization that gave rise to an absurd publicity stunt where the author would return to America pretending to be a Saudi Arabian Prince in an effort to promote his stories. This plan resulted in his being invited to a game show hosted by comedian Groucho Marx, with the winnings from said show allowing the up-and-coming storyteller to quit his day job and focus on writing books full-time.

This was all a decade before Blatty published The Exorcist.

I bring this up because it takes a very special kind of filmmaker to properly empathize with the wild ideas cooked up by such a unique writer, ideas like how the universe itself is collectively Lucifer and evolution is his/our way of returning to God after falling from grace. That’s why I have faith in Mike Flanagan’s upcoming The Exorcist: Martyrs, as the modern-day master of horror has already proven himself to be comfortable around scary stories centered on theological discussion.

A Fangoria interview with the filmmaker has also made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of recycling the success of William Friedkin’s “untouchable” 1973 adaptation of The Exorcist. Instead, Flanagan’s new movie appears to be engaging with the criminally underrated sequel The Exorcist III, a fascinating horror flick directed by William Peter Blatty himself as he attempted to adapt his much denser novel Legion to the big screen.

According to SyFy Wire, Flanagan plans on doing a lot more than merely reference Blatty’s supernatural murder mystery. Soon after the release of the trailer for Martyrs, which already features similar themes of serial killings tied to Satanism just like in Legion, eagle-eyed horror fans noticed that Scarlett Johansson’s detective character appears to have a framed photo of actor George C. Scott in her home, on the shelf behind her son. Scott previously played Lieutenant William Kinderman in The Exorcist III back in 1990, taking over for Lee J. Cobb, who played the same character in Friedkin’s original film.

Not only that, but the trailer also features a couple of shots where Johannson’s Detective Miller wears a nametag branded with “Kinderman”.  Naturally, this has led to tons of speculation that Johannson’s character is in fact Lieutenant Kinderman’s daughter, with Martyrs being a direct sequel to The Exorcist III rather than yet another extension of Regan’s saga.

While Flanagan has yet to comment on these direct ties to the 1990 threequel, I think it’s safe to say that Martyrs will likely tackle the same faith-based themes of coming to terms with the existence of evil and how serial killers might tie into “God’s Plan”. Of course, we’ll only know for sure when the movie comes out next year.

The Exorcist: Martyrs is set to release on March 12, 2027.

The post ‘The Exorcist: Martyrs’ Trailer Hints at a Surprising Connection to ‘The Exorcist III’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In many ways, King’s debut novel Carrie could be seen as the springboard for this sprawling multiverse. Readers follow the titular misfit teen as she’s relentlessly bullied by her popular classmates and abused by her ultra-religious mother, Margaret.

After a horrific prom night prank, Carrie unleashes the full force of her telekinetic powers, setting fire to the gym and causing her classmates to burn to death. Sparking a path of destruction as she walks home, Carrie then seeks comfort from Margaret, who returns the favor by sticking a knife in her daughter’s back. Carrie gently stops her mother’s heart, then seeks out those responsible for the prank. After completing her revenge, the exhausted queen dies under the exertion of her psychic spree.

King uses a semi-epistolary format to tell the story, alternating intimate scenes of high school life with transcriptions from the government’s White Commission and expert writing on the so-called TK phenomenon. We learn that the telekinetic gene is carried through the female line, only popping up every few generations. Carrie’s own grandmother may have possessed the trait and passed it down to her female descendants. After the carnage in Chamberlain, Maine, a haunting epilogue introduces an infant girl in the US South with the ability to dangle her toys in midair. 

The Psychic Girls Who Connect King’s Horror Stories

While Carrie is the first of King’s metaphysical girls, she certainly would not be the last. In Doctor Sleep, King’s 2013 sequel to The Shining, an adult Danny Torrance uses telepathy to connect with a tween named Abra Stone, who’s “shining” may be even stronger than his own. Constant Readers also suspect that Ellie Creed of Pet Sematary fame may have a small level of precognition due to harrowing predictions of her mother’s fate. 

But over the course of his long career, King’s most powerful little girl is undeniably Firestarter‘s Charlie McGee. The product of two psychically talented parents, whose own powers were engineered by a shadowy agency known as the Shop, Charlie is born with the ability to light fires with her mind. Along with TK abilities and precognition, experts believe that her pyrokinesis may one day be strong enough to split the very planet in two. 

When news first broke that Flanagan’s new Carrie adaptation would build on King’s literary coda and feature a network of similarly powerful girls, Constant Readers began to speculate. Would we reunite with Charlie, Abra, or Ellie Creed? Perhaps the series would dovetail with The Institute, King’s 2019 novel in which a handful of psychic children are kidnapped and forced to serve as telepathic assassins. 

Or maybe Flanagan would introduce the Breakers, another group of “shining” kids. In later novels of King’s Dark Tower series, these Breakers are similarly held hostage and forced to channel their collective energy to tear down the last remaining beams which hold together the multiverse. Considering Flanagan is currently working on an adaptation of The Dark Tower for Amazon, the latter seemed like a distinct possibility. But the constant King collaborator throws a curveball and takes this burgeoning matriarchy in an entirely new direction. 

Mike Flanagan Introduces a Secret Society of Telekinetic Women

We eventually learn that the woman who first sensed Carrie (Summer H. Howell) from afar is named Caitlin (Delainey Hayles). Though details are scant, she appears to live in a lavish house with other similarly magical women. The first episode ends with Caitlin sensing Carrie, then rushing to update a woman sitting at an ornate desk. Credited as Adelaide (Kate Siegel), she appears to be the leader of this mysterious group and is eventually revealed to be the director of interviews filmed in the aftermath of the prom night tragedy.  

Beginning with the second episode, Flanagan drops hints about this extensive world. The cryptic Adelaide details an alternate version of the urban legend in which a mother somehow finds the strength to lift a car by herself to save her son. She posits that this distraught woman located latent telekinesis in the midst of her panic. Each subsequent episode begins with another vignette exploring the history of metaphysical manifestation. While some are positive portraits of remarkable women, others are outright horror stories. We watch girls levitate to escape horrific environments or gouge out their own eyes to stop hellish visions. Joan of Arc may have displayed similar powers as did women who were accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. 

Adelaide reminds us that women have historically been villainized for traits (both supernatural or otherwise) that would make them threatening to powerful men. But it’s not always agents of the patriarchy who target these psychically gifted girls. The penultimate episode introduces a single mother named Amanda (Katee Sackhoff) who fears her daughter’s mysterious gift. Woken up by the crying child in the middle of the night, Amanda chases visions of her daughter all over the house, eventually finding the child asleep in her bed. Amanda clings to her daughter and sobs with relief, simultaneously frightened of a trait she does not understand. 

Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) becomes similarly fearful of Carrie’s telekinetic powers when the teen begins flaunting them all over the house. Searching for answers on internet message boards, she finds a sympathetic ear in Amanda, and the two mothers meet in a local cafe. Though Margaret is simply looking for advice, she quickly realizes that her new friend has more sinister motivations. 

The Rival Group Hunting Psychic Children

Amanda belongs to a different organization of like-minded mothers dedicated to protecting the world from their powerful girls. When Margaret asks her what to do, Amanda offers to take the problem out of her hands. Explaining the need to ambush Carrie, she outlines a plan to kill Margaret’s child. This horrific strategy is presented as a gift to soften the impact of infanticide. Horrified, Margaret flees the coffee shop, but the damage has already been done. Amanda now knows about Carrie’s existence and will likely attempt to end the girl’s life. 

As Carrie first discovers her burgeoning gifts, she meets a fellow outcast named Emaline (Thalia Dudek). The sardonic teen catches Carrie at vulnerable moments and helps her learn to control her mind. But we eventually come to a devastating realization. When secret recordings of their conversation are posted online, Carrie watches herself argue with an empty room. Adelaide will inform us that Emaline is an astral projector, capable of transporting her consciousness across the world while physically remaining far away. 

These three female forces come to a head on the night of Carrie’s ruination. Shortly before the prom queen is crowned, Caitlin arrives at the dance with Sable (Cassandra Naud) and Maeve (Ruth Codd) while Amanda lurks in another corner. When she advances on the oblivious teen, Sable uses her own telekinetic powers to ward her off. We can assume that Amanda is there to take Carrie out while Caitlin and her friends have come to prom to save the girl’s life. 

But it’s Emaline who reaches her first. As Carrie stares in horror at the body of her friend and date, we see Emaline offer to take control. In a detailed interview, Sue (Siena Agudong) describes a shadow that grows behind the stunned prom queen, suddenly exploding in a wave of invisible force. This nods to the title of an in-world academic text called The Shadow Exploded, which provides a critical analysis of the prom night disaster. Seemingly possessing Carrie’s body, Emaline begins destroying the high school, then spreads her revenge to the larger town. 

Without Emaline’s mental buffer, Carrie is devastated by the night’s events. She walks home alone and looks for sympathy from her mother. Margaret is at first compassionate, gently wiping the blood from her daughter’s skin. But moments later, the shaken mother prepares to take Amanda’s advice. Preemptively asking for her daughter’s forgiveness, Margaret jams a knitting needle into Carrie’s ear. Thankfully, the teen’s powers reflexively kick in, and Margaret is thrown across the room. As she approaches Carrie with a knife in her hand, the horrified daughter uses her gifts to bring the house down on both of their heads. 

Could Adelaide Be Charlie McGee or Someone Even More Dangerous?

While this devastating conclusion somewhat mirrors King’s novel and Brian De Palma’s 1976 adaptation, Flanagan makes several important changes. In the early morning aftermath, we see Emaline pull her out of the rubble. Margaret lies buried under heavy debris, frantically using her own meager telekinesis to hold the wreckage just inches away from her own body. A flashback to Margaret’s childhood shows that she once used this power to sharply move a decorative cross, but interpreted the anomaly as a sign from God. While King suggests that Carrie’s grandmother must have had the TK gene, he gives no such gifts to Margaret herself. 

In the final episode’s denouement, we learn that Margaret has survived the night but has no knowledge of Carrie’s whereabouts. Interviewed by Adelaide, she demands answers and vows to follow her daughter to the ends of the Earth. But Margaret also reluctantly admits that she will not be able to locate and control her own sliver of psychic strength. Satisfied, Adelaide responds by gradually slowing down, then stopping the mother’s heart. This unnerving scene is directly pulled from King’s novel, though the literary killer is Carrie herself. However, Flanagan’s disturbing twist casts a shadow over Adelaide’s organization. 

We’re left to wonder who this powerful woman is and how she would benefit from Margaret’s death. Based on a simple handful of scenes, we assume Adelaide leads a well-funded organization dedicated to protecting magical girls. But she callously kills the distraught mother and instructs her assistants to cover it up. This scene brings to mind the sinister Rose the Hat, also introduced in Doctor Sleep. A psychic vampire, she and her clan roam the country in unremarkable motor homes, locating and feeding on “shining” kids. 

Or maybe this is a grown-up Charlie McGee, evading the Shop with an alias. The girl we meet in King’s 1980 novel is adamantly opposed to using her gifts, wary of hurting anyone else. But perhaps after surviving the story’s fiery conclusion, she’s adopted a more pragmatic attitude. Adelaide also demonstrates skill at mental domination, a power wielded by Charlie’s father.

In the wake of the Shop’s experiment, Andy develops a talent he calls “the push.” By internally emphasizing chosen words, he can persuade his targets to bend to his will, either acting in unusual ways or minutely interrogating their memory. We see Adelaide also emphasizing her commands when she questions a handful of prom night survivors. 

But again, Emaline becomes the story’s wild card. Likely Amanda’s astral-projecting daughter, she drags Carrie from the wreckage of her house, then tends to her wounds and helps her escape. The finale concludes with the two in Emaline’s car driving down an unmarked road. She refuses to tell the shocked prom queen where they are going, worried that someone may be monitoring Carrie’s thoughts. While certainly hiding from Amanda and her band of assassins, Emaline is also probably protecting Carrie from Caitlin’s mental tracking skills. But where is Emaline taking her? Is she headed towards another group of “shining” teens or will the two girls attempt to survive on their own?

Flanagan’s proposed Carrie seasons 2 and 3 will certainly center this nebulous question as Carrie finds her place in this shadowy world. Only time will tell if subsequent chapters will build on King’s connected universe or spin off in an entirely new direction.

The post How Mike Flanagan’s ‘Carrie’ Rewrites And Expands Stephen King’s Shared Universe appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

However, not every slasher stops at having a disguised killer picking off teens in the woods. A lot of them have been known to color outside the lines. Yes, their loglines indeed stay small, but the execution is now enhanced in some way.

The following ten movies do more with the basic slasher concept, as well as come up with something memorable.

The Wraith (1986)

While not explicitly billed as horror, Mike Marvin‘s cult flick The Wraith has things in common with slashers. Here, the vengeful driver of a Dodge M4S is targeting a gang of drag-racing bullies. The same people responsible for one guy’s death. In the end, The Wraith more than deserves its action-fantasy label, but you also can’t deny its horror inclinations.

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

The Nightmare on Elm Street movies are already a great example of going beyond the readily available slasher blueprint, but for the franchise’s seventh installment, Wes Craven uprooted everything you knew about Freddy Krueger. The meta approach in New Nightmare made Freddy (Robert Englund) a fictional character who starts to manifest in the real world. He then stalks the actress Heather Langenkamp, her family, and those around her. The beginnings of Scream could be sensed in this unique Elm Street entry.

Final Destination (2000)

Something as simple as making the killer invisible is partly why James Wong‘s Final Destination felt so fresh back then. And after delivering corporeal villains for so long, the genre handed us a new kind of executioner. The personification of death in this franchise, which is constantly fixing any errors in its grand design, can’t be detected by the human eye. Sure, a menacing mortician (Tony Todd) provides help for those now caught on Death’s to-kill list, but as each Final Destination movie revealed, there was actually no escaping the inevitable.

Jason X (2001)

The Friday the 13th movies went high concept early on, after resurrecting Jason Voorhees as an unstoppable, undead killer. No longer was the story grounded in reality; the series later added out-there elements, such as a Carrie copycat and body-hopping. Yet it was James Isaac‘s Jason X that pushed the Friday films, albeit briefly, into a different genre. The traits of schlocky science fiction were poured into this futuristic story, one where that iconic Crystal Lake monster goes on a killing spree aboard a spaceship. We also can’t forget the massive upgrades in arsenal and armaments Jason received here.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

One’s mileage with meta-horror will vary. Some love that wink to the audience, whereas others want a movie to play things straight. And after the first slasher revival, we eventually saw the genre dialing back the self-awareness. At least for a bit. Then came Scott Glosserman‘s Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, which was cinematic proof that postmodern horror could still work. Now let’s just hope that the sequel sees the light of day.

Triangle (2009)

Christopher Smith‘s Triangle is neither the first nor the last slasher to play around with time. In this movie, though, time is all the characters have now, after they become trapped on an old ocean liner with a mysterious killer. Melissa George and her castmates have stumbled into a temporal anomaly while out at sea; it’s an unmatched tale of Sisyphean, aquatic dread. Ultimately, there’s no concrete explanation for all the weird goings-on, making the movie something of a headscratcher. Even so, the overall experience outweighs the need for answers.

The Final Girls (2015)

Todd Strauss-Schulson‘s The Final Girls forever changed how we hear Kim Carnes’ song “Bette Davis Eyes”. It was also a stellar stab at blending comedy, drama, and, of course, horror. The scares are scarce, but you’d be right to feel moved by certain moments between the characters. In this movie, a grieving young woman (Taissa Farmiga) is transported into the universe of an ’80s slasher movie; it’s the same one her late mother (Malin Akerman) starred in all those years ago. So although the main character is reunited with her mother, it’s not really her. Their encounter is then interrupted by the diegetic movie’s antagonist, a Jason Voorhees knockoff named Billy Murphy.

Happy Death Day (2017)

Christopher Landon‘s Happy Death Day works for both die-hard horror fans and horror newbies. Even those who don’t like the genre may be won over. It’s true that this PG-13 slasher dramedy doesn’t have the freedom to be exceptionally gory like its contemporaries, but what Happy Death Day lacks in viscera it makes up for in personality. Much of this is found in Jessica Rothe‘s character, an ill-fated time looper. Rothe also returned in Happy Death Day 2U, the sequel that dials up the first movie’s sci-fi element.

Freaky (2020)

It was because of Happy Death Day that we began to see more genre-bending teen horror. One of the more favorable examples is Freaky, which is also directed by Christopher Landon. In this horror twist on Freaky Friday, Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn‘s characters, respectively a high schooler and a middle-aged serial killer, end up switching bodies. The swap then leads to some rather great turns by the movie’s two leads.

The Last Kiss (2026)

Movies like It’s a Wonderful Knife, Time Cut and Totally Killer led to a time-travel slasher overkill. In Yoko Okumura‘s The Last Kiss, though, Mckenna Grace‘s character channels the psychic protagonist of Eyes of Laura Mars. A traumatic experience has made the final girl here not only scared to live her life, she’s also now seeing the deaths of anyone she kisses. More specifically, the potential victims of a masked killer. The Last Kiss offers yet another fine horror performance from Grace, as well as some laughs and tender moments.

The post 10 High-Concept Slashers That Took the Genre Beyond The Basic Formula appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Boys often registered for vocational programs like woodworking or automotive repair while girls were likely to take typing or home economics. Unless you were on the college track, which was not a necessity to land a good job. 

Adult intervention was minimal. Before the heyday of stranger danger or helicopter parents, teenagers enjoyed wide-ranging autonomy. Students walked home from school unsupervised, and hazing was an accepted part of the social hierarchy. Parents and teachers generally adopted a survival-of-the-fittest mentality and assumed teenagers would find their own way through adolescent strife. 

Perhaps this is why the bullying seen in King’s debut novel feels like a relic of its time. We first meet Carrie White as she’s mocked by teachers and students alike and notice graffiti that reads, “Carrie White eats shit.” An outcast practically since birth, the shy girl doesn’t have a single friend and desperately tries to fly under the radar of her more popular classmates. The only daughter of strict fundamentalist Margaret White, she’s been raised in an ultra-religious household and prevented from keeping up with modern trends.  

The Internet Turns Carrie’s Humiliation Into Public Spectacle

Though her ostracization is hardly new, the situation escalates near the end of Carrie’s senior year. When she gets her first period while showering after gym, the sheltered girl genuinely believes she is bleeding to death. Led by the popular Chris Hargensen, Carrie’s classmates begin pelting her with tampons and pads while chanting at her to “plug it up.” As punishment for this despicable prank, Chris faces suspension and refusal of her prom tickets. Along with her greaser boyfriend Billy Nolan, she retaliates by arranging for Carrie to be elected Prom Queen before dumping a bucket of pig’s blood on her head. 

In the five decades since its publication, the Carrie story has become ubiquitous. She’s mentioned in connection with every school dance, and the image of a prom queen drenched in blood might be featured on a Mount Rushmore of horror villains. But it’s admittedly difficult to imagine this story happening today. With anti-bullying practices now a standard part of high school life, a student like King’s Chris would likely have been expelled long ago, and attempts would be made to protect Carrie from her abusive mother.

But writer/director Mike Flanagan has updated the story for 2026, putting a modern spin on its most upsetting elements. Rather than old-school cruelty from Chris (Alison Thornton) and her friends, most of the torment Carrie (Summer H. Howell) endures takes place on social media, thus expanding the scope of her humiliation far beyond those who happen to witness it live.

In the 1974 version of the story, Carie’s shower room shame exists in a fairly closed loop. News of her period panic may circle through the Ewen High halls, but it’s ultimately forgotten in a couple of days. It’s Chris who will not let it go, largely because she faces punishment. But Flanagan’s version spirals out of control. Feigning an attempt to help, his Chris drags Carrie under a running shower, then orders her stunned classmates to “help out” by tossing a handful of tampons and pads.

When Everyone Becomes Part of the Mob

While certainly traumatic, what happens next is arguably worse. As Carrie sobs on the shower stall floor, Chris and her friends pull out their phones and begin recording the girl’s misery. This moment is now documented for all time and could potentially be viewed by the entire world. 

As Chris’s own life begins to crumble, she takes her rage out on the naive girl. She creates an Instagram account called @carriered_ and uses a screenshot of Carrie’s face as the profile picture. Though initially private, “@carriered_” quickly gains hundreds of followers. Chris begins snapping pics of her fellow classmates and uploading them to the anonymous account. She adds horrific captions designed to maximize humiliation, targeting students for their appearance, hygiene, and sexuality. 

Photographed without their consent, students find themselves viciously mocked for existing in public. The ripple effects are instantaneous. Hallway fights become a constant occurrence as secrets are revealed and trust is broken. Some students are pulled from school while others are outed to their conservative parents. When a teacher is accused of dating his students, news quickly spreads throughout the town. After weeks of relentless harassment, Mr. Peist (Rahul Kohli) dies by suicide, leaving notes that reveal a disturbing history of pedophilia and predation.

Now that smartphones have become ubiquitous, Gen Xers and Elder Millennials frequently thank our higher powers that our adolescent mistakes have been lost to time. Younger generations are becoming more savvy about what they post, aware that a damaging internet footprint can follow a person for the rest of their lives. While we are reckoning with the emotional effects of Instagram, particularly considering teenage users, Flanagan highlights a more nebulous fear, one without an easy answer. 

Victims of “@carriered_” are not being teased for their own posts, but for pictures taken without their consent. They have no control over what images are uploaded to the anonymous account or the devastating captions that focus the cruelty. Each time they show their face, they risk becoming the next victim, publicly shamed for eating a large sandwich or wiping their nose in the hallway. Even worse, these candid photos could become a popular meme, infinitely reposted with fresh captions and used as a joke by millions of strangers. 

Though “@carriered_” is anonymous, other students begin sending Chris their own submissions. In a disciplinary meeting, she reports that half the school has been sending her pictures, using her account as a consequence-free platform to express the cruelty they wouldn’t dare say out loud. Perhaps they are hoping to take the heat off of themselves, or, like Chris, are expressing their misplaced rage. It’s a fascinating update of the shower room scene. Again, Chris has become the ringleader, her overt cruelty providing cover for the mob to attack. 

One of the more devastating elements of Flanagan’s series adaptation is the utter helplessness of the adults. Principal Grayle (Matthew Lillard) is well aware of the account, but there’s little he and the faculty can actually do. Though pictures are being taken on school grounds, social media itself is a gray area. He cannot yet prove who is running “@carriered_” and must filter through a barrage of accusations.

It’s only when Chris’s best friend Sue (Siena Agudong) captures her recorded confession that the teen finally faces punishment. But still, she refuses to take the account down, citing her right to free speech. Grayle’s only repercussion is to expel the girl, hoping to kill the snake by removing its head. But while administrators try to control the fallout, another social media villain emerges.

Margaret White Learns to Weaponize Social Media 

When Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) discovers Chris’ account, she vows to fight fire with fire. Frustrated with Grayle’s ineffectiveness, the angry mother begins a smear campaign. She wanders the halls of Ewen High, whispering to everyone she passes that Chris is the creator of “@carriered_”. She again names Chris at a PTO meeting and creates her own rival account essentially dedicated to doxxing the teen. While King’s Margaret and Chris never meet, it’s fascinating to watch these two female villains go head to head, using similar tactics to punish the other, with Carrie helplessly caught in between.  

Flanagan’s Margaret is perhaps the most terrifying element of the show. A conspiracy theorist and extreme conservative, she outright hates the rest of the world and has raised Carrie solely on the White property. It’s not until her husband’s death that the world even knows of her daughter’s existence. Forced to support herself by working at a big box store, Margaret openly shames women for buying vibrators while accusing mothers of poisoning their kids. She invents racist accusations about her young manager and calls her neighbor’s daughter a whore. In an echo of King’s religious fanatic, Flanagan’s Margaret clearly longs for a day when she and Carrie can retreat from the world and go back to their life of extreme isolation. 

But Margaret soon gets a taste for blood when she discovers the power of social media. Determined to take Chris down, she creates a rival account called @realmaggiered — an interesting nod to another destructive Twitter account — and begins publicly shaming the teenager while begging her followers to join her crusade. In the wake of Mr. Peist’s shocking death, “@carriered_” receives national coverage, and Margaret begins sending information to local journalists, gravitating towards those who give her favorable coverage. 

She leaks the time and place of a private mediation in which Grayle hopes to reach a peaceful resolution. A dangerous mob forms outside the school with protestors chanting “Death to Hargensen!” Others defend the teen as a free speech vigilante, citing the fact that she accidentally exposed a pedophile. When Chris seems poised to apologize, Margaret twists the tenterhooks. She deliberately misinterprets an attempt at reconciliation and subtly shames Chris using her mother’s own words. The smirk on Margaret’s face when Chris doubles down tells us exactly who the self-righteous mother truly is. She has stopped caring about her daughter’s pain and has become addicted to the validation social media provides. 

Unfortunately, we all know where this story ends. Chris orchestrates Carrie’s Prom Night victory, then dumps a bucket of blood on her head, intending to create content that will surely go viral. Carrie practically explodes with telekinetic rage and winds up destroying half of the town. Seeking well-deserved revenge, she crushes Chris in her boyfriend’s car after finally receiving an apology. Following a tender moment back at home, Margaret tries to murder her daughter, wary of the girl’s unpredictable powers. But Carrie fights back and destroys the house, leaving her mother on the brink of death. 

While King’s nightmarish story of bullying has become part of American iconography, the themes Flanagan introduces are arguably more frightening. After all, Carrie may have gotten her fiery revenge, but we are still living in a world dominated by people like Margaret and Chris. This nihilistic series presents no hope for a peaceful solution.

Carrie’s prom may be over, but our social media nightmare is still burning out of control.

The post How Mike Flanagan Updates Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’ For The Social Media Age [Spoilers] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

There’s a recurring argument often used in the defense of artificial intelligence that claims that the rise of generative AI is actually the first step towards the complete democratization of art. According to a certain kind of tech enthusiast, these emerging technologies will finally allow disabled and underprivileged folks with artistic aspirations to usher in a new era of creative freedom unbound by the limitations involved in actually having to develop a skill set in order to make something “beautiful”.

As any real artist will tell you, this is obviously a ridiculous notion, as there exists no limitation that can keep a human being from creating at least some form of meaningful art. Not only that, but aesthetic perfection has never been a requirement for creating great artwork. For instance, AI grifters love to talk about how their cheap imitations of Blockbuster cinematography will soon replace the film industry, but if the horror genre has proven anything over the years, it’s that great stories can be told without the need for Hollywood visuals, just think of lo-fi classics like 28 Days Later and even The Blair Witch Project.

The Children Under the House is a found footage experience completely made up of static drawings and narration from a single character, this minimalist scary movie contains all the supernatural thrills of a Conjuringverse flick without any of the associated costs and one of the most criminally underappreciated horror movies in recent memory.

Before he was posting eerie kids’ drawings on Catalanotto’s YouTube channel, Vintage Eight, the Louisiana-based Catalanotto was already a hardworking filmmaker with credits dating all the way back to the mid-2000s. This industry experience is actually what inspired the writer-director to start working on smaller online projects that he could develop without the need for a complete cast and crew or even a traditional budget.

The Children Under the House wasn’t even the director’s first attempt at analog horror, nor would it be his last. This 2022 project only stood out because Catalanotto decided to turn a recurring horror trope into the main attraction of an epistolary ghost story. Naturally, the trope in question is that of crude children’s drawings that scary movies traditionally use to illustrate the horrific forces besieging our protagonists without actually showing them to us via special effects.

While the project was initially conceived as a serialized web series, the scale of the story grew once Catalanotto realized the narrative potential of such an evocative format. Not only that, but fan reactions encouraged him to expand the scope of the project even further. Of course, the sheer amount of artwork required to bring this feature-length ghost story to life meant that Catalanotto eventually resorted to recruiting outside help from fellow horror enthusiasts, though his most important collaborator ended up being his wife, Mary Nguyen Catalanotto.

In the finished project, which was initially released as eleven episodes on YouTube before being compiled into a feature film, we follow a collection of mysterious recordings left behind by child therapist Doctor Julia Luu (Mary Nguyen Catalanotto). The footage mainly consists of strange drawings made in crayon accompanied by Doctor Luu’s audio recordings commenting on the strange case of Jess Daniels. A young girl who became mute after encountering something in the basement of her new home, Jess communicates with her therapist through crude scribbles and limited text. Over the course of Jess’ treatment, Doctor Luu slowly uncovers a supernatural mystery involving the young girl’s “imaginary friends” and the dark history behind the house that refuses to let her go.

As I mentioned before, using children’s drawings to depict disturbing creatures and horrific events is nothing new, with the idea having been successfully implemented in everything from Insidious to Orphan, but the minimalist nature of Catalanotto’s film keeps viewers trapped in a warped perspective of reality. Each new “imaginary” friend comes with the horrifying realization that what Jess is seeing is infinitely worse than what’s actually making it onto the screen, and her simple doodles inspire mental imagery that’s much more upsetting than anything that could ever be achieved through traditional special effects.

Catalanotto’s approach to the ghost story behind these images doesn’t exactly reinvent the genre wheel, and veteran horror fans will likely see the ending coming from a mile away despite the novel presentation, but there’s enough care put into the development of both Jess and her Doctor as believable characters that we start to accept them as ordinary people dealing with an extraordinary situation.

Sure, there are small blunders like Jess’ overly-adult grasp of the English language and certain convenient plot points that feel like Catalanotto wrote himself into a corner, but the presentation really makes it feel like you’re watching and listening to something genuinely forbidden. Hell, despite the crayon-based visuals, I’d argue that The Children Under the House boasts some of the most unsettling monster designs of the 2020s – it just so happens that you’re helping to design these creatures as you interpret Jess’ drawings.

From the disturbing montage revealing the true identity of Jess’ colorful friends to the realization that the real horror of the story is far from supernatural, the film plays out as a classic Creepypasta brought to life. You just have to be willing to play along and engage with the material on its own terms for the story to be effective.

This is also why The Children Under the House works just as well in other formats, with the film, web-series and book versions of the story all counting on you to uncover the mystery alongside Doctor Luu (though I’m partial to the movie because of Mary Nguyen’s deadpan narration and its surprising adherence to the classic three-act structure). Of course, it’s the fact that this level of narrative connection can be achieved through crayons and diary entries that makes Catalanotto’s opus such a poignant reminder of the power of human creativity, regardless of the available resources.

The Vintage Eight channel has gone on to post more snalog horror experiments (as well as a handful of interesting essays about genre cinema), but none of these projects have been quite as ambitious as The Children Under the House. That being said, I think it’s just a matter of time before Catalanotto resurfaces with another feature-length fright-fest, though I’ll be even more excited to see it if Hollywood decides to give him a proper budget this time around.

In the meantime, The Children Under the House is currently streaming for free on Tubi and YouTube, with a graphic novelization also available on Amazon.

The post ‘The Children Under the House’ Is Analog Horror At Its Most Creative appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

From the second its hapless protagonist, Aidan Lynch, opens up the Genesis Configuration — and inadvertently summons the Cenobites to whisk his girlfriend away for an eternity of torment — the game doesn’t once relent.

To give you a fighting chance at surviving against this title’s hordes of pain-worshiping zealots, towering gimps, winged dominatrices, and flayed psychopaths, we’ve pulled together a quick guide of helpful tips for beginners. Some of these are things that we worked out for ourselves over the course of a playthrough, some are mere suggestions based on our own personal experiences, and some relate to secrets that the game doesn’t even tell you about.

But they’ll all give you an edge when it comes to facing off against the legions of hell.

Wait Until The Last Minute to Heal

This one might require you to unlearn a deeply entrenched Pavlovian response, but you don’t need to use up recovery items in Hellraiser: Revival unless there’s no other choice. You may be accustomed to frivolously healing every time you so much as scrape your knee in Resident Evil or Silent Hill, yet that instinct won’t serve you too well here. In fact, it’s actually a bit of an extravagance when you consider just how many crafting resources it takes to craft a simple bandage.

Even when your vitals are in the worrisome amber region, you can usually refrain from applying a dressing. That’s because there will often be smarter, more economical alternatives nearby for replenishing your vigour.

For instance, you could perform a takedown finisher on a moribund enemy (not only rewarding you with HP, but also topping up the “Suffering” meter that powers your Genesis Configuration abilities) or you could just chow down on some food. Leftovers are abundant in the game’s many orgy dens and BDSM sex clubs — got to have a good spread at those kinds of functions— and if you root around in any given trash can, you’re likely to find a half-eaten apple or a strangely phallic sausage (the consumption of which is apparently Aiden’s equivalent to Popeye guzzling spinach).

We just shudder to think about how many times we wasted a full health-pack after an encounter, only to then stumble across a lavish banquet in the next room that could have sustained us. Because, trust us, you’re much better off holding onto the proper medical supplies here until you truly, desperately need them.

Horde Lockpicks 

Another item that you can never have too many of is the good old lockpick! Granting you access to the storage cupboards scattered around the world of Hellraiser: Revival, these handy little tools are absolutely indispensable but also quite fragile. Apply too much pressure at the wrong angle, and you can wear them out fast, leaving you completely unable to access certain containers.

That’s an issue that could really bite you in the ass later! Sometimes breaking into a cupboard will only yield crafting resources and ammo that can be easily acquired elsewhere. Yet other lockers harbour more beneficial prizes, including rare weapon upgrades and extra inventory pouches.

You really don’t want to miss out on either of these, so it’s best to just stock up on lockpicks at every available opportunity. Even if it means choosing to buy them over shotgun shells when you next visit Zora the merchant.

Complete Optional Puzzles 

Speaking of which, you’re gonna want to make the most of your shopping sprees in Hellraiser: Revival, as you can never know when the next opportunity for a bit of retail therapy will arise.

Zora periodically refreshes her inventory with new guns, new upgrades, new crafting recipes, and other tantalizing merchandise, so you don’t want to come up short when that shiny magnum finally arrives in stock. As such, it’s best to get scrounging early and build up your cash reserves pronto.

Though it might seem counterintuitive for a horror title, where judicious use of resources is often paramount, we’d recommend going out of your way to kill every Scarlet Church cultist you come across. They tend to drop coin purses upon death and, hey, any ammo that you do expend on them can be claimed right back with the fiscal earnings.

You’ll also need to keep your eyes peeled for hidden, optional puzzles dotted throughout the nao. These don’t always stand out from the grotesque furnishings and non-interactive decorations that clutter up the levels, and the game never explicitly tells you about them either. But they’ll reward you with valuable treasures should you manage to locate and complete them.

Case in point, there’s a recurring one involving a monolithic piece of (literal) body art — fashioned by the Scarlet Church’s deranged prophet, Bruno — that provides clues to help you track down fleshy pustules in the nearby area. If you manage to destroy all of these growths, then you’ll be showered with coins upon your return to the gory column. Enough to make a high-roller purchase from Zora.

Don’t Buy Every Upgrade

As for what you should be buying from the merchant, that’ll obviously depend on your whims as a customer. We’ve already stressed that lockpicks are worth a thousand times their weight in gold here, but you’re naturally going to want to own every firearm you can get your hands on.

There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and we’d encourage you to build up a formidable arsenal. What we would advise, however, is that you be extremely selective when tuning up these weapons.

Certain upgrades are unalloyed positives, like the one that gives added kick to the pistol’s firepower or the one that mitigates the double-barrel’s recoil. Others are perhaps not worth shelling out for.

In particular, it’d behove you to make sure that you’re not purchasing mutually exclusive attachments for the same gun. For instance, you can’t have the scope and hollow-point upgrades equipped for the magnum at the same time, nor is it possible to have the extended magazine fitted to the assault rifle alongside the extra bullet penetration mod. In those instances, you’ll have to make a decision about which is going to complement your playstyle best, because there’s no point whatsoever in having both.

Again, you’d be better off spending the money on precious, precious lockpicks.

Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is now available for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series, and the Nintendo Switch 2.

The post ‘Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival’ Beginner’s Guide – 4 Essential Tips To Survive Hell appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Rarely does he mention Chamberlain, Maine, or those touched by the dreaded “Black Prom.” Carrie exists in a fairly closed loop, a singular nightmare of telekinesis gone wrong. 

By now we all know the story of Carrie White. Continuously bullied for most of her life, the quiet teen’s rage finally explodes after a prank sees her elected Prom Queen then “crowned” with a bucket of pig’s blood. Drenched in the disgusting liquid, Carrie responds by using her powers to destroy the school’s gymnasium, killing most of the senior class. Her rage then spreads throughout the small town as she walks home to confront her abusive mother, Margaret. 

Fifty years after Brian De Palma first brought Carrie to the screen, Mike Flanagan has reimagined the harrowing story, updating it for the modern age. In eight episodes, the writer/director substitutes social media for 70s-era bullying while exploring the ecosystem of a 21st-century high school. While much of this modern iteration differs from its source material, Flanagan does follow King’s lead in avoiding major Easter eggs. However, there are a few cheeky references hidden within the teenage angst, some that nod to King himself and others that point to the wider genre. 

Mike Flanagan Regulars Return For Carrie

After eight films and five miniseries, Flanagan has built a crew of faithful collaborators, those adept at capturing his signature blend of empathy and terror. One of these familiar faces is Samantha Sloyan, who stars in Carrie as Margaret White. In 2016, the veteran actress made a brief appearance in Flanagan’s third feature, Hush, as an ill-fated neighbor to the film’s tormented heroine. In the last decade, she has starred in many of Flanagan’s genre projects, including memorable roles in The Haunting of Hill House, The Life of Chuck, and The Fall of the House of Usher.

But perhaps her most powerful performance is as the villainous Bev Keane in the 2021 miniseries Midnight Mass. A devout catholic, Bev dooms her tiny island congregation by blindly following a careless priest. In many ways, Bev could be seen as a precursor to Sloyan’s Margaret White. Both women hide their close-minded cruelty behind a thin veil of good intentions. 

While Carrie’s teen cast are newcomers to the director’s cinematic universe, Michael Trucco, Katee Sackhoff, Rahul Kohli, and Ruth Codd are Flanagan regulars, appearing in a number of projects from Oculus and The Midnight Club to The Fall of the House of Usher and The Haunting of Bly Manor. The show’s most exciting casting is Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle. The seasoned Scream King first collaborated with Flanagan for a brief but memorable role in his 2024 tearjerker (and King adaptation) The Life of Chuck.

This casting feels particularly exciting considering Lillard’s breakout role as Stu Macher in Wes Craven’s meta-slasher Scream. Remembering that Stu kills his own principal, it’s particularly exciting to see Lillard play Grayle as a compassionate if toothless administrator.  

Careful listeners may also recognize the voice of Flanagan’s most trusted collaborator. Mirroring the novel’s semi-epistolary structure, an unseen narrator can be heard previewing prom night’s destructive arc while detailing historical examples of the TK phenomenon. In episode eight, this voice is revealed to be Kate Siegel, Flanagan’s wife and frequent creative partner. Siegel plays a silent yet terrifying ghost in Flanagan’s sophomore film Oculus before going on to star in Hush. Also credited as a co-writer, the couple mapped out the largely dialogue-free film by blocking scenes in their own home.

Since then, Siegel has been featured in most of Flanagan’s projects with surprising appearances in Gerald’s Game and The Haunting of Bly Manor and an emotional turn in Midnight Mass. Should Carrie continue in future seasons, it’s likely Siegel will lead the adult cast. 

Stephen King Character Referenecs and Adaptation Veterans Hidden Throughout 

Other characters reunite us with alumni from additional King adaptations. Heather Graham adds a bit of rationality to the story’s chaos as the estranged mother of bully Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton). While not particularly known for horror, Graham appeared as troubled survivor Rita Blakemoor in the 2020 adaptation of King’s The Stand. Though desperate to save her flailing daughter, Mrs. Hargensen has recently left her husband John (Trucco) and moved in with another man.

Gil Bellows plays Chris’ would-be stepfather three decades after his shocking appearance in Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption. As Tommy, he arrives at the titular prison with proof that Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is innocent. 

Several other names found throughout the series may be familiar to Constant Readers. The social worker who first helps Carrie register for school is named Ms. Piper, honoring the late Piper Laurie who terrified audiences with her operatic performance as Margaret White in De Palma’s 1976 adaptation.

Flanagan’s Carrie (Summer H. Howell) is also assisted by Officer Irving (Jason Tremblay) and Officer Katt (Camille Atebe), nodding to Amy Irving and William Katt, De Palma’s original Tommy and Sue. We also see that as Carrie is exploring her powers, she unknowingly causes a bunch of mailboxes to open on their own, one of them labeled Robinson. Though they do not appear in the series, perhaps this is the home of Jerome Robinson or his sister Barbara, recurring characters in King’s Hodges Trilogy and subsequent Holly novels. 

Arguably most exciting is a younger Snell sibling named Tabby (Ashley Cartwright). This familiar nickname references King’s own wife, Tabitha, a fellow writer and savior of Carrie herself. King has candidly admitted to throwing out his first draft of the 1974 novel, daunted by the story’s spiraling length and complex female characters. It was Tabitha who found the pages in the wastebasket, dusted them off, and started to read. She became interested in the burgeoning story and urged her husband to continue writing, promising to help him write this heavily female world.

The rest is history! Carrie would spark King’s breakout success and the beginning of an unparalleled career. 

Mike Flanagan’s Hidden Callbacks to His Own Films and De Palma’s Carrie

Other landmarks in Flanagan’s Chamberlain, Maine reference his own cinematic world and additional King collaborators. As Carrie walks down Maine Street, we see her pass the Hush Day Spa, nodding to Flanagan’s 2016 home invasion film. Months later, Carrie dances amidst the flames of her destruction in front of the tiny town’s movie theater. The marquee advertises a film festival honoring De Palma titled Retrospective in 35 MM. The doors are flanked by classic posters from the director’s impressive career, highlighting Blow Out and Dressed to Kill. The blood Chris pours on Carrie’s head comes from Sombra Pig Farm, referencing the sinister Sombra Corporation, a conglomerate headed by the Crimson King.

Alongside the Ewen High seniors, a pair of surprising chaperones can be found in the crowd on prom night. Bryan Fuller may now be known for Hannibal, but before reimagining the iconic cannibal, he rebooted King’s original source material. In 2002, Fuller penned David Carson’s Carrie, a two-part special for NBC starring Angela Bettis and Patricia Clarkson. Flanagan’s own version mirrors the writer/director’s shocking conclusion, which sees Carrie escape the fiery prom and drive off into the wider world.

Known for creating the Child’s Play franchise, Don Mancini has no official ties to the King universe, but is a champion of the author’s work. He frequently names Carrie as his favorite film and took inspiration from King’s catalogue when creating Chucky season 3. 

Well before Carrie destroys the gym, another fun Easter egg can be found lining its walls. As Chris and her friends run endless line drills — punishment for their locker room prank — we notice a trio of banners commemorating Ewen High’s successful basketball run throughout the 1970s. It seems the team won the state championship in 1973, ‘75, and ‘77. Missing are the years 1974 (the year King’s Carrie was first published) and 1976 (the year De Palma’s film premiered). Considering the high school burns down in both versions, a basketball championship would be highly unlikely. 

Stephen King Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed

Other references are deeper cuts and thematic nods to King’s catalogue. Episode one sees Carrie experience her first active shooter drill, an unfortunately common occurrence in modern high schools. However, they were virtually unheard of in 1977 when King — writing as Richard Bachman — published the novel Rage. The story follows a troubled teen named Charlie Decker who uses a firearm to hold his class hostage.

While King’s story in no way glorifies Charlie’s actions, copies of the disturbing novel were found in the possession of several subsequent school shooters. After a Kentucky assailant was found with Rage in his locker, King decided to pull it from publication. He would go on to write about this decision in his 2013 essay “Guns.” However, this plotline feels like Flanagan’s own statement on the heartbreaking topic. Shocked by Carrie’s experience, Margaret rushes into the principal’s office and questions this disturbing practice. Though she will emerge as the story’s central antagonist, in this moment she makes a good point.

Much of Margaret’s story is informed by the death of her husband Ralph White (Tahmoh Penikett). Though deceased before Carrie’s birth in the source material, Flanagan begins the series with his death, which leads to the discovery of his daughter’s existence. While grieving this tremendous loss, Carrie begins seeing visions of her late father, often lurking in the shadows of her darkened room.

These visions resemble another shadowy figure in Flanagan’s filmography. His 2017 adaptation Gerald’s Game sees the story’s heroine tormented by the Moonlight Man (Carel Struycken), a monstrous figure who watches the trapped woman from the corner of her own bedroom. Helplessly handcuffed to the bed, Jessie (Carla Gugino) cannot tell whether he is an actual intruder or a harbinger of her approaching death. Ralph serves a similar function here. Are these visions remnants of a troubled relationship or a warning of the horrors to come? 

In a similar moment of foreshadowing, Chris and her new blended family discuss the second half of her senior year, referring to the spring semester as “back half.” While possibly a casual term, “back half” brings to mind another group of King’s powerful kids. The 2019 novel The Institute, and Jack Bender’s series adaptation, see a group of children with psychic powers kidnapped by a covert government agency. Held in a cruel hybrid of hospital and prison, the kids are eventually taken to the ward known as Back Half, where unthinkable torture truly begins. Chris seems to be entering a similar stage of pain, and the “back half” of her own senior year will conclude with a grisly burst of telekinesis. 

Could These Easter Eggs Set Up ‘Carrie’ Season 2?

Frustrated with her crumbling life, Chris takes her rage out on Carrie and Margaret. Along with her delinquent boyfriend Billy (Arthur Conti), she breaks into the White’s house intending to turn picture frames upside down, break small objects, and spit in their mugs. An expert in this type of misdemeanor, Billy first attacks a knick knack shelf. He redirects an elephant figurine but ignores the tiny bird to its right.

This tense moment will likely remind King devotees of a terrifying sequence in Rob Reiner’s Misery. Having escaped his guest room prison, writer Paul Sheldon (James Caan) wheels himself around the deserted parlor of his captor Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), inadvertently knocking over a ceramic penguin. It’s this telltale bird that alerts Annie to Paul’s subterfuge, leading to the film’s notorious Hobbling scene. 

In addition to Carrie’s supernatural gifts, Flanagan introduces us to a wider network of telekinetic girls. In her aforementioned narration, Siegel mentions a young woman gifted with pyrokinesis, the ability to start fires with her mind. Constant Readers will no doubt be reminded of Charlie McGee, the protagonist of King’s 1980 novel Firestarter.

Clearly the leader of this shadowy collective, Seigel’s character demonstrates powers of mental domination previously wielded by Charlie’s father. Could Siegel be playing another survivor of The Shop, the government agency responsible for Charlie’s gifts? Should Carrie return for season two, this strange coda promises additional connections to King’s larger world and most memorable characters. 

The post Every Stephen King, Mike Flanagan, and Horror Easter Egg Hidden in Prime Video’s ‘Carrie’ Series, Explained [Spoilers] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The usual suspects in terrifying water scenarios, such as sharks and crocodiles, don’t apply here. No, this curation is for those certain creatures that defy logic and, in a few cases, time and place.

Cinema offers a great number of aquatic monsters, but in keeping with the series Below, the ten following specimens hail from the small screen.

The Swamp Monster from Kolchak: The Night Stalker

Easing us into the watery horrors is “The Spanish Moss Murders”,  a sort of kindertrauma for a certain generation. The namesake of Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974–1975), an investigative reporter who chased the supernatural, once encountered the moss-covered, Cajun boogeyman called Père Malfait. Said to be a dweller of the Louisiana swamps, this legend has been relocated to some big city sewers, all while it still preys on the impure. Now, sewers aren’t typically the first place that comes to mind in discussions of aquatic horror, but surely we can make an exception this time.

The Pool Corpse from Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Again, we’re a bit away from the greater depths of water, but hey, pools can be scary for some folks. Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1992–1996, 1999–2000) gave its young audience good reason to fear the deep end. In “The Tale of the Dead Man’s Float”, Midnight Society member Stig (Codie Wilbee) told of a school pool inhabited by a ghastly, zombie-like spirit. Back then, this was nightmare fuel for the youngins.

Big Blue from The X-Files

Major spoiler for those who have somehow escaped the cultural phenomenon that is The X-Files (1993–2002, 2016–2018), but the cryptid called Big Blue, from the episode “Quagmire”, was supposedly nothing more than a voracious alligator on the loose. However, the show didn’t let us leave without at least giving us a shot of the real Nessie or Ogopogo-like creature dwelling in Heuvelmans Lake. It’s the perfect ending for this fan-favorite monster-of-the-week episode.

The Sea Monster from Baywatch Nights

The X-Files‘ popularity urged some other shows to also cash in on the horror craze. This included Baywatch spin-off Baywatch Nights (1995–1997) taking on the supernatural in its second (and final) season. After David Hasselhoff‘s character dealt with more grounded criminal matters, he became an investigator of the weird and unexplained. This included a gelatinous sea creature in the episode “The Rig”. It’s not often you see a series take such a hard turn in genre, but in all frankness, that decision was for the best. It’s just too bad we didn’t get more of these horror outings from Mitch Buchannon and his very own Scooby Gang.

The Shark-Human Hybrid from Creature

The sharkman in Creature, a 1998 TV miniseries based on Peter Benchley‘s novel White Shark, wasn’t born from nature. No, this amphibious terror is the work of bad science. While the monster doesn’t show up on screen nearly as much as you would like, and the whole production is a bit overlong, there’s no denying the quality of Stan Winston‘s work. And this wasn’t the only Benchley adaptation to show up on TV; The Beast aired two years earlier, also as a miniseries.

The Mosasaur from Primeval

With the Doctor Who revival doing so well at BBC, ITV came up with its own time-related sci-fi show. Enter Primeval (2007–2011), a drama about displaced dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Time anomalies have randomly opened up around the world, and through them come these ancient beasts. One of which was a mosasaur, a type of marine reptile that you’d never want to meet during a swim. Generally, this series boasted a lot of water-based animals, even those from the future. In the Canadian spin-off, Primeval: New World, a different cast of anomaly hunters battled the Sisiutl, a.k.a. a giant, semi-aquatic snake called the Titanoboa.

Gobblewonker from Gravity Falls

In a cartoon like Gravity Falls (2012–2016), there’s no need to debunk legends like Gobblewonker; the show’s whole premise is built around the idea that the unreal is real. However, you’re led to think this lake monster is bogus, on account of it being a robotic replica piloted by Old Man McGucket. So it would seem that Dipper, Mabel and Soos’ effort to get a cash prize-winning photo of the creature of Gravity Falls Lake was all for nothing. Truth is, they shouldn’t have given up so easily, as the end of this episode reveals the actual Gobblewonker.

The Monster from Cryptid

It all started with a bang in Cryptid (2020)—literally. In the first installment of this Swedish young-adult series, a high schooler spontaneously explodes all over the place (and his peers). This gory incident then sets up a Scandi-story of grief, folk horror, and most importantly, the enigmatic monster residing in a local lake. The town of Odensfors appears peaceful, but something in its history is now causing teens to suddenly die in gruesome fashion.

Champ from Creepshow

Just when it seems like Nessie is the only mythical water monster to get any attention nowadays, the Creepshow series (2019–2023) delivered a solid depiction of Champ (or Champy) of Lake Champlain. At first, that famous American cryptid is only in the background of this ’80s-set, Joe Hill-inspired segment; the monster’s carcass washed ashore, and its human discoverers now fight over it. What they all fail to realize, though, is that these creatures don’t tend to exist alone.

The Sea Hag from Widow’s Bay

Finishing things off is the Sea Hag, that most creepy water entity from the acclaimed series Widow’s Bay (2026–). Yes, she falls more into the spectral category of aquatic frights, but that doesn’t make the Sea Hag any less intimidating. The episode “The Inaugural Swim” is also a stellar example of how to blend comedy and horror, plus it’s just a great vehicle for Matthew Rhys‘ talents as an actor.

The post Horror Below The Waves: 10 Memorable Aquatic Monsters From Television appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The staging was abstract, the choreography overwrought, the songs were sometimes brilliant, sometimes deeply lacking. It was confusing for anyone unfamiliar with Stephen King’s novel or the Brian DePalma film, unrelatable to most people who had ever experienced high school, and the material was a confounding candidate to musicalize. To its fans, it was campy (in the positive sense) and undeniably entertaining in the way Ed Wood movies and midnight showings of Reefer Madness are.

For those on both ends of the love/hate spectrum, it was without a doubt a show that was simply unbelievable.

The staging, inspired by Greek tragedy, began with a Physical Education class with students in white leotards and togas, followed by a locker room scene with suspended panels apparently standing in for showers. At the end of the first act, the first hint of Carrie’s telekinetic powers appears out of nowhere as she, hands apparently aflame, pins her mother behind a wall of fire. The prom sequence culminates with Billy pouring a small bucket of red liquid over Carrie’s head. She is then lifted into the air on a white hydraulic platform and “laser beams shoot out over the audience,” according to writer Ken Mandelbaum, before the roof descends, apparently crushing all but Carrie.

The show ends with a massive white staircase that Margaret White descends—in a cocktail dress. She then pulls out a knife and stabs Carrie, who touches her mother, causing her to suddenly drop dead.

The producers hoped for good reviews. They did not get them. They hoped a young, MTV-oriented audience would find the show. They didn’t. Carrie was a fiasco, and there was no saving it. “It was the most expensive flop in Broadway history,” Mandelbaum wrote, “losing the $8 million which had been contributed by British and West German investors.” The history of Carrie involves several major players, almost all of them with a great deal of success and experience going for them. So, the question is, how did it all go so wrong?

Why Carrie Seemed Like the Perfect Musical

The long road of Carrie: The Musical began with writer Lawrence D. Cohen, who had written the screenplay for the very successful film adaptation directed by Brian DePalma, and his partner Michael Gore, best known for his work on the music for the film Fame (1980). Soon after the success of Fame, the two were looking for a project to make into a stage musical. The two attended a performance of Lulu, an opera that originally premiered in 1937 shortly after the death of its composer, Alban Berg. The unusual and complicated story involves a woman who is ultimately murdered by Jack the Ripper and is scored with the atonal music that Berg was known for.

Upon leaving the theater, Gore said, “If Alban Berg were alive, he’d probably do Carrie as a musical.” At first the two laughed at the thought, but the idea stuck with them. Cohen began to realize that the relationship between Carrie and her mother Margaret White was quite theatrical, even operatic. The other element, the high school setting, was a natural fit and had been wildly successful in stage and film musicals including West Side Story, Grease, and of course Fame.

Also, horror musicals were not unprecedented. The Rocky Horror Picture Show had been a massive underground stage hit in London, and the movie was becoming a phenomenon by the early 80s. Little Shop of Horrors was about to open off-Broadway to great success. Just a couple of years earlier, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street had not only been a huge hit but had won the Tony for Best Musical.

So, Cohen and Gore contacted Stephen King, who responded, “If they can make a musical out of the dictator of Argentina [Evita], why not?” The two set to work right away, Cohen on the book and Gore on the songs. They soon added a third collaborator, Dean Pitchford, who had also worked on some of the music for Fame and had written the screenplay for the film Footloose (1984).

In August of 1984, they mounted a workshop production of the first act to drum up interest in the project. In this version, the show stuck to the grounded nature of both King’s novel and the DePalma film. It was a story of teenagers, a mother and daughter, and high school rivalries in a real-world setting with a supernatural element added to stir the pot and raise the stakes. This version maintained much of the dialogue that Cohen had included in his screenplay, with the songs forwarding the story and underlining the themes.

The workshop was well received, and it was soon announced that Carrie: The Musical would open on Broadway in the fall of 1986 and be produced by Barry and Fran Weissler and Fred Zollo. Cohen spoke highly of these creatively invigorating early years, saying, “We all had a lot of fun writing it and bringing it to life.” Unfortunately, this version of Carrie was not to be, as the finances could not be raised for it.

When Carrie Lost Its Way

A few years after this version of the project fell through, West German producer Friedrich Kurz took up Carrie and arranged for it to be produced with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which had been looking for another musical property after its success with Les Misérables. The artistic director of the RSC, Terry Hands, expressed great interest in the project and was attached as director. Cohen later expressed that this moment ended up sealing the fate of Carrie. Years before, the attachment of Brian DePalma did something similar for the movie, leading to its success. Unfortunately, the attachment of Hands turned out to be “far less felicitous,” to use Cohen’s rather diplomatic phrasing.

Hands’ attachment to the project was not without warrant. He had directed a complicated musical, Poppy, for the RSC to some success, including winning Best Musical from the Society of West End Theaters. Cohen believes that the problem had more to do with Carrie being a uniquely American piece. Being British, the high school politics and the prom setting were aspects that Hands did not seem to fully grasp, and he opted for a sparse, abstract reworking of the material. He also cut much of the dialogue, transforming Carrie from a musical play to a through-sung, borderline operetta, more like Les Misérables.

Carrie: The Musical played for a three-week engagement in Stratford upon Avon in the winter of 1988, and the reviews were dreadful. Many of the British critics were incensed that government funds were being used by the RSC for “a Broadway tryout.” Barbara Cook, who played Margaret White in this production, thought the whole idea of musicalizing Carrie was bizarre, but took the role after hearing some of the music. “I was still wary of it because of the subject matter. But Terry’s vision of the material intrigued me.”

Unfortunately, she also found much of the production inept and expressed that no one seemed to know how to fix it. Because of all this and a mishap with the set on opening night that nearly decapitated her, Cook left the production after the Stratford run.

The Broadway Run That Became Legend

The show then moved to Broadway for the fateful final nail in its coffin, with a score reorchestrated by Harold Wheeler, who had also worked on Dreamgirls. In a twist of fate, Betty Buckley, who had starred as the gym teacher Miss Collins in the 1976 film, was cast as Margaret White. The production ran for 21 previews and 5 performances, ironically to mostly sold-out crowds, at the Virginia Theater. The reviews were even worse than they had been in England. The New York Times eviscerated the show, as did most critics, with the exception of Clive Barnes of the New York Post, who gave it a full-throated rave.

Audience reactions were varied to the point of schizophrenia. Buckley described the reception at their first preview on April 28, 1988. At the end of the performance, “it’s a blackout, and the whole audience in the whole place starts to boo.” It was an experience she had never had before, but she urged her costar, the young Linzie Hateley, to continue as planned to the bows. When the lights came up, the entire audience turned on a dime from boos to a house-wide standing ovation. This seems to have been the reception throughout the run. Tickets for the previews became the hottest ticket in town as Carrie: The Musical had to be seen to be believed.

The ultimate demise of the show came down to one thing. According to Cohen, “bottom line…there was no money. The producer had run through it all and fled in the middle of the night, and we were done.” Carrie would soon enter the annals of the most legendary of all Broadway flops and become a cautionary tale for all who sought to bring unconventional subject matter to the musical stage. It even provided the title for Ken Mandelbaum’s chronicle of the most notorious failures in Broadway history: Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops.

So, imagine my surprise when, thirty years after this monumental failure, I got a call from the musical director for the theater department at a large local college asking if I would like to play guitar for their production of Carrie: The Musical. As I remember it, I audibly guffawed. But as it turns out, a lot had happened with Carrie in the last thirty years.

The Musical’s Unexpected Resurrection

After the demise of Carrie on Broadway, Cohen, Gore, and Pitchford went on to other things. Still, they all felt there was a good show somewhere in the rubble. They received multiple requests over the years to restage the show but did not take up any of the offers because they felt the writing itself, both book and music, could be better. According to Cohen:

“So, it took about two decades, and the three of us went back to work on it thinking that there were a lot of high schools, colleges, and regional theaters that would probably want to do Carrie…we pulled it apart from top to bottom and rewrote 60-70 percent of the show.”

From my experience with this reworked version, it also appears that they very much returned to the spirit of the workshop version. It is once again a musical play rather than an operetta-like show. The sets are grounded in reality, the situations reflect the struggles of relatable teenagers, and the interaction between Carrie and Margaret is complex and moving. In addition, the supernatural element is organic and believable to the world of the story and introduced slowly throughout the first act, as in the novel and film.

After the revision, Carrie went on to an off-Broadway production, which ran significantly longer than its Broadway counterpart, and spawned a very successful cast album. Since this run, it has been revised further, honing it into one of the most popular shows for high school, college, and regional theater productions of recent memory. Eventually, award-winning stagings were mounted in Los Angeles and London, where it won Best Off-West End Production, on top of selling out night after night.

The show as it now exists is beautifully written both in script and songs, funny, relatable, and even quite moving. During my own experience with Carrie, the ending never failed to bring tears to my eyes. Reflecting on the whole experience, Cohen referred to the iconic ending of the DePalma film. “Sort of like Carrie’s hand from the grave, it’s had a real happy ending. A real resurrection which is great.”

Few musicals have ever received such a second life. Its ultimate success is a testament to the power of the story and the vision of its creators, who pressed on against all odds to make their version of Carrie the best it could possibly be. That tenacity is not unlike the character of Carrie herself, who continues to return again and again, shocking us with a bloody hand reaching up out of the rubble.

The post They’re All Going to Laugh At You: The Death and Surprising Resurrection of ‘Carrie: The Musical’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Fortunately, horror publishers big and small have come prepared for this moment, with dozens of new releases hitting throughout the month. 

So, to get you in that Halloween mood, here are 20 horror books we can’t wait to read this month, from long-awaited sequels to novellas, debuts, and more.

Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw (October 6)

Cassandra Khaw is one of the finest prose stylists in all of genre fiction, capable of casting complete spells with single sentences. In Find Me Where It Ends, Khaw explores what happens when a woman whose ancestors were stalked by spectral black dogs leading up to their death wakes up one day to find a black dog of her own waiting by the door. This is a haunting, must-read novella from one of the best in the game right now. 

Other Worlds Than These by Stephen King and Peter Straub (October 6)

The much-anticipated, long-promised third novel in the series that began with The Talisman and continued with Black House is finally here. Peter Straub is sadly no longer with us, so Stephen King is taking the lead on this one, and based on the title alone, we can expect close ties to his personal fictional cosmology. What awaits in this one? I can’t wait to find out. 

Quaint Folk by Bitter Karella (October 6)

Bitter Karella‘s Moonflow remains one of my favorite horror novels of the last couple of years, and now she’s back with a satirical folk horror journey that you shouldn’t miss. Quaint Folk follows Jessica, a woman with a past who’s just trying to have a quiet family life, and thinks she may have found it on a remote island called Hasenhurst. But the more Jessica tries to settle into her new life, the more she finds that the islanders’ folk tales hint at a shocking reality. Karella’s fiction is simultaneously horrifying and hilarious, truly bonkers stuff in the best way, so this is a must-read for me.

Look What the Cat Dragged In by Jason Rekulak (October 13)

Jason Rekulak is best-known for his complex thrillers and horror novels like Hidden Pictures. With Look What the Cat Dragged In, he takes another horror turn with a high-concept that sounds like his most daring yet. The hook is simple: Penny, a cartoonist from Philly, takes on cat sitting duties for a feline named Godfrey. Easy enough, except that things seem to happen when Godfrey is around, and suddenly Penny’s art takes on a much, much darker tone. What’s going on, and what does the cat have to do with it? I’m excited to find out.

Monstera by Delilah S. Dawson (October 13)

A young woman moves into a Savannah apartment, eager to finally be free after years of oppressive family life, and realizes her downstairs neighbor has cultivated a garden of immense proportions. Saskia, the neighbor, is everything Lucy is not, but a bond quickly forms over their shared love of plants and the many ways that Saskia could introduce Lucy to the wider world. But Saskia has a secret, and Lucy’s about to find that she and her new friend have become more than just neighbors. A blend of romance and horror at a very single-sitting-friendly novella length, this one feels like a must-have for fans of sapphic horror and botanical horror alike.

Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova (October 13)

It’s been 20 years since Elizabeth Kostova’s breakthrough Dracula novel The Historian, and now she’s back with a sequel. Following the son of the historian from the first book, Mystery Play is another globe-hopping, mystery-laden journey through old libraries, stately homes, and secrets, this time focused on Gilded Age actors with a tie to a business manager and writer named Bram Stoker. I got a very early look at this one, and if you loved The Historian, you absolutely won’t want to miss this.

Off the Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones (October 13)

Modern horror master Stephen Graham Jones returns to the world of one of his most enduring novels with this sequel to The Only Good Indians. It’s been five years, and survivor Nathan “Nate” Yellow Tail is once again in a tight spot. In an effort to save his best friend, he takes on a road trip into the heart of darkness as a means of restoring balance to his world, unaware of what awaits him on the road. I was lucky enough to read this one early, and it’s as good as you’d hope it is, and then some. Read an excerpt here.

Phantom Limb by Brian Evenson (October 13)

Brian Evenson is a true original, a storyteller of astonishing clarity capable of conjuring some of the most frightening images you’ll ever find in a book. Though he’s best known for his short stories, Evenson has ventured into novel-length territory with books like Last Days, and now he’s back with a sequel to that tale of a detective infiltrating an amputation cult. This time, having survived the events of the last book, Evenson’s detective must face offshoots of the same cult he just escaped, and risk being seduced into their number once again. I’m so excited to see how Evenson continues to unspool this narrative.

Unspeakable Things by Elizabeth Hand (October 13)

Few modern horror authors have a grasp of the Gothic like Elizabeth Hand‘s, and this fall she’ll prove it with her latest book. Set in England in the 1920s, Unspeakable Things follows an unlikely sapphic romance between Tamsin and her tutor, Olivia, as the couple is drawn into the world of a wealthy eccentric whose home is a haven for the more free-spirited outcasts of English society. But in ducking the darkness they fled to this house to escape, Tamsin and Olivia have simply opened a door to something darker. Sounds like a must-read to me! 

Penitents by Madeline Blondeau (October 13)

Set in the Pacific Northwest, Penitents follows Ginger, a queer woman escaping the drama of her relationship for a little while, who gets into a one-night stand gone horribly wrong. Hunted by a former sheriff who dabbles in both human trafficking and snuff filmmaking, Ginger and her girlfriends are caught up in a life-or-death struggle across one horrifying weekend. This book is described as a “trans tribute to New French Extremity cinema and ’70s grindhouse horror,” which is an instant lure for me.

The Exodontists by Drew Huff (October 13)

Drew Huff is a rising star horror author you need to know about, and this fall he’s got a book that sounds too bonkers to pass up. Set in a previously abandoned retail space, The Exodontists follows the title creatures, immortal monsters who run a black market dental practice and have an obsession with teeth, as they find their den taken over by a Spirit Halloween. Yes, a Spirit Halloween store has encroached on the monsters’ territory, and if they’re going to survive, they have to contend with an employee they accidentally converted first. I cannot wait to see how this one unfolds.

Happy Hour by Gemma Amor (October 20)

The Killer VHS series of books overseen by Shortwave Publishing is an endlessly entertaining string of quick reads, all packing found footage and nostalgia elements to catapult readers back to the VHS era. For the ninth book in the series, Shortwave has enlisted Gemma Amor to tell the story of a mysterious bar in 1990s London, where the owner keeps tab on everyone and makes anyone who can’t follow the rules vanish. These books are fun, ferocious, lightning-fast reads, so if you’re looking for a rad way to spend a Saturday night in October, pick this one up.

Tatratea by Alex Woodroe (October 20)

Though she’s perhaps best-known as an editor at the always-excellent Tenebrous Press, Alex Woodroe is also a wonderful novelist in her own right. Now, her third book is here, and it sounds like her most ambitious yet. Set in and around the title home, an abandoned manor in Romania, the book follows Errata, a researcher sent to Tatratea to uncover what crashed there, what signals it’s sending to drive the whole world mad, and why the local flora has reacted in such a startling way to this intrusion. Trapped on the manor’s grounds with only a few pieces of equipment, Errata has to solve the mystery, or give in to madness. If you haven’t read Woodroe’s previous novels and you want some gripping eco-horror, this is a great place to start.

The Turning of Sally-Mae by Nuzo Onoh (October 20)

Nuzo Onoh is one of the most exciting voices in modern genre fiction, and this fall she’s dropping a book which promises a heady blend of Western and African horror. The Turning of Sally-Mae follows the title character who, after an assault from a pair of Texas ranchers leaves her pregnant, joins a missionary voyage to Africa. There, she finds the babies inside her at the center of an occult battle, as a pair of African gods battle it out for their fate. The blend of cultures alone is enough to get me interested, and I’m excited to see where this battle goes.

Needlemouth by K-Ming Chang (October 20)

Hell of a title, right? But what really got me interested in Needlemouth, aside from K-Ming Chang‘s success with books like Bestiary, was this: The title refers not to a creature with a mouth full of needles, but a creature with “a mouth the size of a needle-tip.” This creature, a starving demon/ghost, sets itself on three cousins as they spend a lazy summer at their grandmother’s house, jolting them out of their complacency and into an impossible, horrifying realm where they must reckon with their family’s past and feed a creature who’s lost all sources of sustenance. I’m hooked.

When The Night Comes Knocking by Katherine Daniel (October 20)

Sometimes you come across a premise so elegantly simple that you just have to read the book and see how the author finds their way through it, and When the Night Comes Knocking is that kind of book for me. The setup is simple: Semi-estranged siblings take a drive through Appalachia together, stop at a convenience store, and find themselves trapped by a monster lurking outside. But what does the monster want, and which of the store’s customers has it? Jane and Thomas have to find out, and they have to find a way to come together again if they want to survive. I’m so excited to check out this debut.

From The Library of Jurgen Leitner by Premee Mohamed and Jonathan Sims (October 27)

Jonathan Sims, creator of the celebrated horror podcast The Magnus Archives, joins forces with genre novelist extraordinaire Premee Mohamed for this prequel journey into the heart of The Magnus Archives. As the title suggests, the book follows a pair of researchers installed at the titular library as they work to uncover strange secrets. Fans of the podcast will know that Leitner’s library long ago met a mysterious fate, and this book drills down into exactly what happened, making it a must-read for fans of the show and perhaps a new jumping-on point for fans-in-training.

Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun (October 27)

One night in 2009, two teenagers record the end of the analog era, documenting the moment digital TV becomes the new normal. Believing they’ll simply capture a moment in media history, what they find instead is a vast conspiracy pointing to some kind of other realm lurking in the TV static, a journey that will tie them to decades of strange occurrences and visions of another world. I was lucky enough to read Public Access Afterworld early, and if you love the way Jane Schoenbrun‘s films probe nostalgia and pop culture obsessions, you absolutely won’t want to miss this epic, beautifully strange novel. 

Savage Lake by Nick Medina (October 27)

Here’s another classic horror scenario for you: A mother and son, Nell and Oscar, head out to the old family cabin to fix it up and sell it, only to find an old evil waiting for them. Sounds great already, right? That’s only the beginning of Savage Lake, the latest novel from rising horror star Nick Medina. The lake in question holds plenty of dark secrets, so when Nell and Oscar arrive, they soon find things happening that they can’t really explain. As a horror fan, Oscar dives into the mysteries, but soon finds that his mother’s behavior is more than a withdrawal, and if he’s not careful, he’ll get pulled into whatever’s transforming her, too. Medina novels are always a treat, so make sure this one’s on your list.

She Isn’t Herself Tonight by Hailey Piper (October 27)

Hailey Piper’s already released one must-read new horror novel this year with This Movie Doesn’t End The Way We Want, and now she’s back with another, very different journey into fear. She Isn’t Herself Tonight follows Rabbit, a woman recently dumped by her boyfriend at a very precarious point in her life, triggering paranoia, transformation, and more. The twist? Rabbit is expecting the aliens who abducted her when she was younger to return for her 30th birthday, and she hasn’t heard from them yet. It’s such a specific mix of horror and sci-fi elements, and I’m excited to see what Piper does with it.

The post Sequels, Monsters, and More: The 20 Most Anticipated Horror Books of October 2026 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The classic Carrie has led to a number of similar yet unrelated movies. Sometimes that resemblance is obvious; sometimes it’s overtaken by other elements in the story.

The following ten movies are just a sample of the many Carrie “copycats” out there, none of which include the official remake, sequel, and TV adaptations.

The Spell (1977)

There’s no doubt that Lee Philips‘ NBC TV movie The Spell was made to capitalize on Carrie. That said, it’s actually a rather solid knockoff, albeit one with fewer special effects and more melodrama. In this story, a teen (Susan Myers) with supernatural powers attacks her tormentors and family, including that frustrated matriarch played by Lee Grant. The Spell has no explosive set-pieces, but the ending is certainly not lacking in intensity.

The Fury (1978)

It being the ’70s, there was a great deal of interest in ESP and the unknown. Even so, having De Palma and Amy Irving in a movie like The Fury is bound to make people think it’s a blatant Carrie clone. Apart from the fact that the young characters have psychokinetic abilities, though, these two De Palma flicks have little in common. Here, Irving uses her burgeoning powers to help Kirk Douglas locate his missing son (Andrew Stevens), another gifted person. Unfortunately, the latter has been manipulated by bad people, and there may be no helping him. The Fury, an adaptation of John Farris‘ novel of the same name, is wild and well deserving of its numerous fans.

The Initiation of Sarah (1978)

A month before The Fury hit theaters, the ABC network aired a TV-movie called The Initiation of Sarah. Directed by Robert Day, this college-set story centers on two siblings (Kay Lenz, Morgan Brittany) who become separated after they join different sororities. One of the sisters, however, has supernatural powers. And soon she must use them to stop her evil house mother (Shelley Winters) and all of her followers. Co-star Morgan Fairchild would later have a less sinister role in the 2006 remake.

Jennifer (1978)

As you can see, 1978 was a big year for these kinds of stories. In Jennifer‘s defense, though, the protagonist possesses a more unique ability than telekinesis. In Brice Mack‘s movie, the namesake (Lisa Pelikan) is a scholarship kid from Appalachia, so of course that makes her a target for the snooty and cruel queen bee on campus. Unfortunately for that mean girl and others, Jennifer has power over snakes. Tread carefully, ophiophobes, for this movie uses real serpents.

Laserblast (1978)

It wasn’t just the men who got to have superpowered vengeance in ’78. Michael Rae‘s cult movie Laserblast trades innate psychokinetic abilities for an external weapon. In this instance, a dejected young man (Kim Milford) discovers an alien laser cannon in the desert. The main character starts using said device, and it changes his mind and body. Oh, and hot on his trail are some stop motion-animated extraterrestrials hoping to recover the gun.

Evilspeak (1981)

In Evilspeak, the formula is, once again, tweaked enough that accusations of copying aren’t immediate. Nonetheless, Eric Weston‘s movie is along the same lines, despite the character channeling Satan via a computer, as opposed to having a supernatural gift himself. A young Clint Howard is that victimized cadet whose screen time and conjuring lead to his bullies’ demises. You wouldn’t be wrong to smell some Satanic Panic in this movie, too.

Firestarter (1984)

Before Stranger Things, there was Firestarter. The original novel was King exploring psychic phenomena again, except this time there was more emphasis on the whys and hows of one child’s pyrokinesis. Mark L. Lester‘s film adaptation also taps into the political paranoia of the era, and uses shady government in place of adolescent harassers. Here, Drew Barrymore‘s character is pushed into a burning rage by those feds who have hounded her and caused her family pain. If you can’t get enough Firestarter, you can always watch the sequel miniseries, Firestarter: Rekindled, or the not-so-hot 2022 remake starring Zac Efron.

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

John Carl Buechler‘s Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood is often dubbed “Carrie versus Jason” by fans. It’s also quite unusual, even by Friday standards. However, rather than having Lar Park Lincoln‘s proxy for Carrie White go ballistic on her human abusers, she turns the table on that hockey-masked killer we all know and love. In this fresh spin on the Final Girl, a telekinetic gives Jason Voorhees a good lashing before he’s finally sentenced to the bottom of Crystal Lake.

Crossfire (2000)

While you would think Shūsuke Kaneko‘s ’90s Gamera trilogy was enough to make Toho realize he’s a good fit for their Godzilla franchise, it was apparently this movie that caught the studio’s attention. Crossfire (or Pyrokinesis), also from Toho, didn’t do well at the box office, but its positive reception was all it took for Kaneko to land Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. In this movie, one based on two novels by Miyuki Miyabe, a pyro (Akiko Yada) unleashes her fiery anger after someone close to her is murdered, and the authorities do next to nothing about the guilty party.

Chronicle (2012)

Last up is Josh Trank‘s Chronicle, a found-footage sci-fi movie that definitely has its fans. It’s been compared more to Akira than Carrie, but the fact that Dane DeHaan‘s character lets his newly gained telekinetic powers go to his head and he hurts those around him makes it seem all right to call this a blend of the two aforementioned movies. Now, whether or not we ever get that sequel remains unknown.

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In the latest season of Ryan Murphy’s Monster series, a young Lizzie Borden (Ella Beatty) becomes fascinated with the historical villain, enchanted by her cruelty and confidence. But this is not the first fictionalized recounting of Báthory’s story. Over the years, many genre creators have reimagined the Blood Countess as a vain and sadistic torturer and a vision of internalized misogyny.

The true story of this legendary serial killer is still shrouded in mystery, with many details lost to time. Of course, the facts of her abnormal life have been recorded by unreliable men who benefitted from her monstrosity. 

The History Behind the Blood Countess

In 1560, Erzsébet Báthory was born into an aristocratic Hungarian family with connections to Transylvanian royalty. At the age of eleven, she was betrothed to Count Ferenc Nadasdy, whom she married when she was just fifteen. He was known to be a sadistic man and may have taught his wife to brutally torture their household servants, which was unfortunately accepted at the time. Two years after this political marriage, Erzsébet began ruling Castle Csejte alone while Nadasdy fought continual wars. Widowed at the age of forty-four, her husband’s death seems to have destabilized the aging Countess and sparked a relentless reign of terror.

Though always a cruel mistress, Erzsébet began extensively torturing young girls, usually between the ages of ten and fourteen. According to witnesses, Erzsébet and a trusted circle of senior staff would crush the hands of servant girls or cut their fingers off with shears. After brutal beatings, she would submerge her victims in freezing water or use pliers to pull out large chunks of their flesh. Perhaps most disturbing, she would starve these young women then force them to drink urine or eat cooked pieces of their own skin.

In 1609, Erzsébet opened a finishing school for wealthy young women, having run out of victims in neighboring towns. After a few weeks, every one of her students had mysteriously died, and dogs began unearthing bodies shallowly buried on the castle grounds. The disappearance of these aristocratic daughters attracted the attention of Hungary’s king, and Erzsébet was accused of torture and murder. While her noble status kept her away from the executioner, the Countess was walled up in the tower of Castle Csejte until her death in 1614.

Countess Dracula (1971)

The first well-known cinematic version of this story is Peter Sasdy’s Countess Dracula. Alongside the 1897 publication of Stoker’s novel, rumors began to coalesce about Erzsébet’s vampiric tendencies. The admitted torturer was fond of biting her victims and known to rub human blood along her lips, though this was probably a treatment for “falling sickness,” which would today be called epilepsy. Sasdy leans into vampire lore with the film’s ominous tagline: “The more she drinks, the prettier she gets. The prettier she gets, the thirstier she gets.” 

However, Sasdy’s Countess Elisabeth (Ingrid Pitt) is a different sort of predator. In the wake of her husband’s death, the cruel mistress begins bathing in blood when she discovers its healing properties. But this is far from a hopeful remedy. After sponging the substance onto her skin, Elisabeth sheds her wrinkles and hag-like warts. She completely transforms into a voluptuous blonde and begins impersonating her own teenage daughter. Each time the spell wears away, Elisabeth becomes more monstrous. She must feed this gruesome habit with a continual stream of virginal women to maintain her youthful alter ego. 

Though a charming Hammer Horror film, Countess Dracula explores destructive vanity while fetishizing virginity. When Elisabeth murders a sex worker, she finds that the resulting blood has no effect and begins targeting ostensibly virtuous girls. Desperate to maintain the power beauty grants, Elisabeth turns her rage on younger women instead of the men responsible for her oppression. She eventually winds up a withered crone, imprisoned and taunted as Countess Dracula. 

Daughters of Darkness (1971)

The same year, another iteration of the Blood Countess would emerge as a more empowering antihero. Set in modern-day Belgium, Harry Kümel’s Daughters of Darkness follows a glamorous woman named Elizabeth (Delphine Seyrig) and her much younger secretary Ilona (Andrea Rau) as they vacation in the off-season of a seaside town. The seductive women hit it off with the hotel’s only other guests, a newlywed couple named Stefan (John Karlen) and Valerie (Danielle Ouimet). Meanwhile, a mysterious killer is murdering young women and leaving their bodies drained of blood.  

When the hotel’s old clerk remembers the seemingly ageless Elizabeth from decades ago, we discover that she is the real Countess Báthory, kept alive for centuries on a steady diet of virgin blood. Kümel also blends vampiric legend, presenting Ilona as a female familiar to the powerful huntress. But his Elizabeth serves as a liberator of sorts, luring Valerie away from her increasingly abusive husband. Though we know she is killing innocent women and likely planning to seduce the young bride into servitude, Stefan emerges as the story’s true villain, a violent man who deserves his fate. 

When the ancient vampire meets a sunny end, we’re left on a strange note of empowerment. An unsettling coda shows Valerie speaking with Elizabeth’s voice as she befriends another attractive couple. Rather than a monstrous hag stealing the lifeblood of virgins, this Elizabeth is an enchanting woman who presents unhappy wives with a lavish alternative to heteronormative suffering. 

Stay Alive (2006)

Though William Brent Bell’s cult favorite features an admittedly reductive history, the Countess Bathory (Maria Kalinina) of Stay Alive accurately reflects Erzsébet’s place in modern culture. The film’s title references a video game in which players must traverse the dangerous Gerouge Plantation, the Countess’s legendary home and final resting place. The game begins with an incantation that must be read aloud by Hutch (Jon Foster) and his friends. The “prayer’s” final line, “let the blood of many cleanse me, preserving beauty eternal,” nods to legend while unleashing the Countess’ violent ghost, allowing her to target victims in the real world. 

Elizabeth’s video game avatar resembles a female Count Dracula with a blood-red dress and stiff high collar topped with jet-black hair severely swept back from her face. Pinprick eyes gleam from cavernous sockets as she hunts her victims in a horse-drawn carriage. The plantation is filled with undead girls, victims of the Countess’ finishing school. She seldom appears in reflective surfaces — terrified of seeing her aging face — and her spirit can be trapped by driving three nails into her body, reminiscent of a stake driven through the heart. 

Though dangerous to all who play her game, Countess Bathory specifically targets beautiful young women, stringing them up by their feet to drain their blood. Mirroring historical fact, Bell’s Countess was sentenced to isolation and walled up in her tower to die in obscurity. Perhaps this is why she’s wreaking havoc once again. A final scene shows that though Hutch has destroyed Countess Bathory’s ghost, the game has become a viral sensation, only bolstered by its underground appeal. With each repetition of its opening “prayer,” Elizabeth’s spirit will become more powerful. 

Hostel Part II (2007)

When news broke that Eli Roth’s Hostel: Part II would center on three female victims, more sensitive fans feared misogyny and exploitation. But the 2007 sequel is a surprisingly feminist story of complex morality and empowerment. This nuance can be seen in the film’s most disturbing sequence, a ritualistic murder based on the Countess Báthory legend. 

When three young art students take a weekend trip to Slovakia, Lorna (Heather Matarazzo) becomes smitten with a dashing local. But her moonlit date goes dreadfully wrong and the coed winds up in the clutches of the Elite Hunting Club, a shadowy organization that facilitates torture. Lorna and her friends are kidnapped and auctioned off to ultra-wealthy bidders from around the world who pay millions for the pleasure of causing their deaths. 

We rejoin Lorna hanging nude and bound, above an ornate stone spa. As she desperately tries to free herself, a gorgeous woman walks into the room. Also nude except for expensive jewelry and heels, this mysterious woman lies in a candlelit tub and caresses a pair of sharp scythes. Lorna screams and begs for release as the woman slices open her skin, luxuriating in the rain of blood pouring over her body and into her mouth. 

This brief but memorable scene eliminates one of the story’s main cast while providing a harbinger for horrors to come. But otherwise it serves as a standalone vignette. The woman identified in the credits as Mrs. Bathory (Monika Malácová) does not utter a word of dialogue, and we do not see her again after this horrific scene. But she exists to show the spectrum of horrors women must face in a patriarchal world.

Mrs. Bathory is demure and sophisticated, particularly when compared to Todd (Richard Burgi) and Stuart (Roger Bart), the men who purchase Lorna’s friends. A study in toxic masculinity, these abhorrent men both purchase their victims to live out a misogynistic fantasy. Todd longs to symbolically punish beautiful women while Stuart wants to murder a proxy for his headstrong wife. Yet Mrs. Bathory’s actions are arguably more disturbing. Though she never states a clear motive, we assume she wants to bathe in Lorna’s blood and absorb her youthful vitality, maintaining the privilege beauty guarantees in a system run by toxic men. 

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story (2026)

The fourth season of Ryan Murphy’s Monster similarly paints the broad strokes of Erzsébet’s story, reworking facts to fit a feminist agenda. Young and impressionable, Lizzie becomes obsessed with the myth when her household servant Bridget (Vicky Krieps) introduces her to more worldly literature. This Elizabeth (also Krieps) is a severely stylish French queen obsessed with bathing in virgin blood. Aided by a clan of violent young women she calls her Furies, Elizabeth rounds up girls from the surrounding countryside and slaughters them in a basement torture chamber, specifically built with drains in the floor. 

Alongside this horrific practice, creator Ian Brennan gives Elizabeth a sympathetic backstory. As a teen, his Elizabeth was sexually assaulted and gave birth to the resulting child. Just moments after the baby is placed in her arms, we watch as a midwife whisks the tiny girl away and drowns her in a bowl of water. Years after her attacker’s death, Elizabeth rounds up his teenage daughters and gets her revenge by draining their blood. Though rewritten through a feminist lens, this does fit the real Countess Báthory’s pattern of punishing women for the cruelty of men. 

Like the rest of the series, Brennan plays fast and loose with historical facts. We do know that at thirteen, Erzsébet gave birth to an illegitimate child, who was subsequently passed to a local woman, though we do not know the infant’s fate. Historian Kimberly Craft believes this may have been a youthful indiscretion and that claims of rape were embellished to protect Erzsébet’s betrothal to Nadasdy. However, we also believe that her wealthy fiancé was an extremely sadistic man. Rumor has it that the illegitimate child’s young father was castrated before his execution, an ironic punishment for deflowering Nadasdy’s intended bride and a dehumanized addition to his estate. While we cannot prove what actually happened, the truth may align more with Brennan’s rageful retelling.  

Elizabeth Báthory’s Legacy

In the 1980s, historians began to reexamine Erzsébet’s life. Perhaps she wasn’t a serial killer but a vulnerable woman turned into a monster by men who benefited from her public demise. The Countess (2009) and Bathory: Countess of Blood (2008) are relatively fact-based biopics which take drastically different views of her villainy. Other interpretations like Mama Dracula (1980) and Chastity Bites (2013) use Erzsébet’s life as a springboard to examine our disturbing fascination with virginity, while Ulrike Ottinger’s The Blood Countess film takes a comedic approach, casting Isabelle Huppert as the iconic vampiress. 

But it is worth remembering that Erzsébet was once a real woman with a complex legacy. Was she a prolific serial killer or a powerful ruler framed for all time by greedy and jealous men? Though we will never know exactly what happened in Castle Csejte, the truth is likely somewhere in between. Probably a victim of abuse herself, Erzsébet lived at an extremely dangerous time in which women were treated as property. Powerless to combat this dehumanizing system, she turned her rage on other women and delighted in their suffering. 

But contrary to her story’s most scandalous detail, Erzsébet probably didn’t bathe in blood. Reports of this disturbing practice did not emerge until nearly a century after her death and likely have more to do with her convenient last name than with any documented fact. However, this myth has come to define her legacy, transforming a historical figure into the female face of patriarchal violence. Desperate to maintain her place in a toxic system, the Elizabeth Bathory we’ve come to know is a monstrous warning to aging women, reminding us to step aside for younger women or risk becoming a monster ourselves.

The post The Bloody Legacy of Elizabeth Báthory, Horror’s Original Female Monster appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

With MIXTAPE inviting musical giants like GWAR, RZA, and even Ghost’s Tobias Forge to apply their chaotic skills to a visual medium, today I’d like to highlight five memorable musical performances found in horror films!

For the purposes of this list, I’ll only be including in-universe concerts and private shows that the characters themselves can actually hear – which means that we won’t be featuring extra-diegetic needle drops that only the audience can enjoy.

That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite musical performances if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.

With that out of the way, onto the list!

5. Sammi’s Return – Trick or Treat (1986)

Charles Martin Smith’s original Trick or Treat may have been overshadowed by Michael Dougherty’s similarly titled film from 2007, but this nostalgic rock ‘n roll nightmare is even more entertaining now than it was back in the ’80s. Not only does the flick boast the feature film debut of Ozzy Osbourne, with additional cameos by giants like Gene Simmons, but it’s also one hell of a fun ghost story.

During one of the film’s most memorable scenes, the undead spirit of fictional musician Sammi Curr violently replaces the lead singer of “The Kickers” and begins to unleash rock ‘n roll vengeance upon a horde of unwitting teenagers attending a Halloween dance. The pyrotechnics may have gotten out of control, but this is certainly one musical performance that the surviving genre fans will never forget!

4. “I’m a Hex Girl” – Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost (1999)

When it comes to ’90s kids and their most popular cartoon crushes, I’m pretty sure that the Hex Girls are somewhere at the top of the list. That’s why I feel no shame in admitting that I was obsessed with this witchy trio back when I was a budding young horror fan.

While the fictional goth rock band plays several bangers throughout Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost, it’s really their surprisingly well-animated introduction scene that was forever burned into my eyes and ears – and that’s why their performance of “I’m a Hex Girl” makes it onto this list.

3. Beef’s “Life at Last” – Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

A post-modern pastiche of Faust, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Phantom of the Opera, Brian DePalma’s cult classic Phantom of the Paradise is a deeply weird horror musical with plenty of memorable set pieces. However, one of my personal favorite moments in the flick happens when the glam rocker Beef (played by the late, great Gerrit Graham) is forced to sing the Phantom’s music despite being warned not to.

Naturally, what follows is an appropriately over-the-top performance culminating in a shocking finale where Beef is electrocuted onstage by a vengeful Phantom. The best part is that the smoked Beef is immediately replaced by Jessica Harper’s character and the audience simply goes along for the ride.

2. Blind Mag’s Final Show – Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

Darren Lynn Bousman’s gothic opus is basically one gigantic sequence of incredible musical performances, but only one of these is a literal show experienced by the characters themselves. That would be the climactic performance by Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman) towards the end of the film – the central event that ties the whole story together as our protagonists converge in and around the Opera House.

From Brightman’s breathtaking rendition of “Chromaggia” to her character’s grisly defiance as she removes her own eyes in front of the audience in order to escape her debt to the Largo family, this entire scene is a meticulously crafted exercise in operatic excess.

1. Juke Joint Dance – Sinners (2025)

No matter what you think about the rest of Ryan Coogler’s vampiric period piece, you’ll likely never forget the moment when the film finally leaves conventional reality behind as Sammie Moore’s music begins to conjure surreal visions of black culture from beyond the limits of time and space.

Not only does this musical sequence serve a narrative function, with the supernatural aspects of Sammie’s talents attracting the Remmick and his bloodthirsty cohorts to the Smokestack Twins’ club, but it also provides us with a visual representation of the script’s themes. The song itself, “I Lied to You” (followed by “Magic What We Do”), is also a banger, and that’s why the scene takes the number one spot.

The post 5 of the Most Memorable Music Performances in Horror appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

I’m on record—on this very website—ranking Eli Craig’s backward backwoods sorta-slasher the #2 horror-comedy of the 2010s, so color me ashamed to miss the release of Nam Dong-hyup’s Handsome Guys. It’s a rare international reversal; for once, the English-Language film is the source. Almost always, my horror remake examinations are about “Americanization” and the Hollywood-slopification of popular overseas scary movies—but Handsome Guys flips the script. We get to study a South Korean remake approach and compare its methods to what we’re served in domestic theaters.

Would Dong-hyup fall into the same copy-and-paste pitfalls of too many stateside remakes, or pridefully drench his Tucker & Dale 2.0 in South Korean horror signatures?

The Approach

Credit Craig and co-writer Morgan Jurgenson with inventing the one-of-a-kind brilliance of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. It’s an experience that can’t be replicated, so Dong-hyup doesn’t try. There’s something unshakably American about Tucker and Dale’s run-in with doofus teenagers who keep offing themselves because they believe the worst. Handsome Guys utilizes the same setup and keeps the accidental deaths, but introduces a demonic, supernatural element that redefines overall motivations. The film is a different flavor of horror-comedy, spiced by South Korea’s spiritual traditions.

Kang Jae-pil (Lee Sung-min) and Park Sang-goo (Lee Hee-joon) are jolly brothers on their way to close the deal on a new property. What they don’t know is that the Western-style cabin hides a secret. American missionary Father Baker performed exorcisms in the basement on a stone seal with magical powers; in his last battle, he imprisoned Baphomet. As long as Jae-pil and Sang-goo don’t first sacrifice a goat on the property and then sacrifice human souls, they should be fine! But after the duo saves Kim Mi-na (Gong Seung-yeon), bringing her back home to rest, an aspiring, hard-partying golfer and his idiot friends botch a rescue mission, Tucker & Dale’ing themselves in the process—much to Baphomet’s pleasure.

It’s a clever tweak on Tucker & Dale vs. Evil that stays canon with “death cult” humor, yet smells minty-fresh. Jae-pil and Sang-goo are cheerier, and while the whole sad-sad routine of hillbillies versus cityfolk remains, the third act’s launch into Evil Dead Lite confrontations allows them to be more heroic. Where Tucker & Dale vs. Evil arguably gets weaker as the gimmick stretches thinner (still damn good, of course), Handsome Guys deals with Baphomet’s milky-eyed minions, possessions, and an actual malevolent goat prancing around causing havoc. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is lightning in a bottle; a horror-comedy that defies the odds and would be a doozy to pull off again—so Dong-hyup smartly says, “I’ll do it my way.”

Does It Work?

The concept works gangbusters. It’s no longer random acts of stupid violence with a lovable yet hokey love-story finish (said with adoration). Handsome Guys takes a slapstick horror blueprint and goes a few steps further, sneaking monster movie frights into a violent parade of unfortunate fatalities. It’s not as gory as Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, but the graphic imagery isn’t missed. There’s an affable warmth to Handsome Guys that’s brought on by stereotyped yokels having to battle legitimate underworld foes, because the film never wants to be the next Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum or A Tale of Two Sisters. Dong-hyup favors comedy over horror, but understands how to execute silly-billy laughs in an out-of-control genre scenario.

Handsome Guys passes the “justification” test with flying colors. It does what I’d wish so many other remakes would even attempt—stand on its own. Craig’s original is darker, slathered in blood, and has a harsher edge. Dong-hyup’s remix is brighter, exaggerates its jokes, and barely tries to sell its title characters as grungy Deliverance types who’d hack kids to bits in the woods. They try to uglify Lee Hee-joon at the beginning, as he wallows in his appearance, but the South Korean heartthrob eventually just gets to be his hunky self. It’s more about our dumbstruck heroes as unlucky fixer-uppers, who have to contend with contortionist creatures and the no-good farm animal who punches its way out of a shallow grave. And yet, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil fans will feel comfortably at home.

To be clear, I enjoy Tucker & Dale vs. Evil more because I’m a lover of extreme practical effects and strewn body parts in my horror flicks. But as a companion watch, Handsome Guys proudly asserts itself as this multiverse alternative, aka the South Korean version. Dong-hyup doesn’t ditch the wood chipper, the loose column, or other keynote features of Craig’s hilarious tongue-in-cheek massacre. Instead, he Improv 101’s Craig and Jurgenson screenplay by saying, “Yes, and?” Yes, two innocent nitwits nurse a pretty lady while her friends think she’s in danger; they start dying … and then Baphomet tries to unlock the gates of hell 66 years and 6 months after his last failure. There’s no arrogance to Dong-hyup’s differentiation; Handsome Guys only cares about entertaining audiences.

The Result

Sung-min and Hee-joon carve their own legacy; they’re not Tucker and Dale, again. The character arcs are similar, yet both actors bring very different energies. Sang-go is precious in his Mr. Mom getup, with his little booty-shake dance after inserting his “House Cleaning Mix,” winning Mi-na over. It’s not that Craig ever plays Tucker & Dale vs. Evil straight, but Handsome Guys is even goofier, and the unserious yucks are delightful. That’s a testament to both Sung-min and Hee-joon, playing bargain-rate demon slayers and naive protectors of their humble woodland abode.

Handsome Guys becomes an acquired taste, given that Dong-hyup isn’t trying to claim believability. Mi-na’s capture alone is boneheaded and spoofy, as she jolts awake only to sprint BACK into “danger” and bonker herself unconscious … again. Either you’re going to love or hate the very Sam Raimi bit of Jason (Kim Do-hoon) having to fight the black-furred Baphomet goat in the front seat of his van (it’s hilarious, c’mon). Dong-hyup isn’t a gore-forward director—made evident as killshots avoid graphic brutality on-screen—which emphasizes the moronic musings of everymen caught in a situation of life, death, and more death.

Thankfully, Baphomet’s climactic siege against Jae-pil and Sang-goo’s cabin has enough moxie to boost the horror ratio of Handsome Guys’ equation. Dong-hyup lets the action speak for itself, as cowards try to muster a wee tingle of heroism in the face of Baphomet’s horned, undead soldiers. It’s not just Jae-pil and Sang-goo; whoever’s left standing tries to prevent a worldwide hellmouth apocalypse. Those stakes aren’t squandered, even though there’s still an emphasis on what chuckles can be mined from a small band of merry commoners trying to thwart Baphomet and his freaks off leashes. It’s hardly an action-horror spectacle, but it shows how a remake-and-original combo can be so tethered, yet still boast individuality as their climaxes build toward equally worthwhile payoffs.

The Lesson

To no shock, South Korea understands what’s valuable in a remake. It’s not Jae-pil & Sang-goo vs. Evil. Dong-hyup’s Handsome Guys has its own voice, mission, and motivations. If you want to watch Tucker & Dale vs. Evil as Craig intended, you can. This one’s got ties to Satan, a Shiba Inu in overalls, and a cutie-patootie attitude before the bodies start dropping. Dong-hyup stays true to South Korea’s brand of horror-comedies, because bleaker American sensibilities wouldn’t translate as well. Handsome Guys never apologizes for being itself, and it shouldn’t.

So what did we learn?

• Yet again, for the billionth time, remakes can promote creative originality in the right filmmaker’s hands.
• Remakes should embrace regional calling cards, the easiest way to inspire differentiation.
• The best horror movies shouldn’t become shot-for-shot remakes; they should be reworked and imagined anew.
• Most movies are made better by an evil goat attack scene.

For the record, the only place to find Handsome Guys (right now) is on Tubi, but be warned—the English dub is AWFUL. One of the worst dubs I’ve ever seen, only watched because there’s no other option (subtitles always). Of course, the dub doesn’t detract from the film’s ideas or cinematic accomplishments. Handsome Guys still won me over. Although I wonder how much more I would have liked it without the awful line readings from emotionless robots posing as humans in a voiceover booth.

The post The South Korean ‘Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil’ Remake Gets It Right appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

It only made sense for a box-office hit like Anaconda to then have a sequel. Yes, it took some time for those in charge to put more super-sized danger noodles in our eyeballs, but nevertheless, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) happened. More surprisingly was the fact that this follow-up premiered in theaters, as opposed to on cable or on video. Until the 2025 reboot slid into view, this was the last time the franchise touched the big screen.

Anacondas was originally envisioned as a creature-run-amok story set in New Orleans. When that novel idea proved too expensive, though, this stand-alone sequel returned to the jungle, albeit a location where you normally don’t find these kinds of snakes in the wild. Using Fiji as Borneo, the movie revealed a thriving population of green anacondas living in Southeast Asia. Like most things here, you just have to go with the flow and not ask too many questions.

In addition to all the anacondas, Borneo’s jungle hides a rare flower that acts as a literal cure-all. The Perrinia immortalis is a floral fountain of youth that proves challenging to both find and procure. The Blood Orchid, if it even still exists, blooms for just a mere sixth months before slipping into dormancy for seven years. Hence the urgency of one New York pharmaceutical company and the general unreadiness of its would-be expeditioners. Not among these six suits and researchers is anyone I would wager is a big Survivor type on the weekends. These muscles are for show, not for fighting snakes.

Thus the need for an action man like Bill Johnson. Here, Johnny Messner plays that toughly handsome expat and jack of all trades whose expertise is necessary to survive the wilds of Borneo. First it’s his sinking rustbucket of a ship that’s suddenly headed straight for a waterfall, then it’s an opportunistic crocodile in need of taming. Before long, Mr. Johnson is all that stands between these American urbanites and some of the most agile snakes to ever slither across the screen.

By the time Anacondas was in the works, Jennifer Lopez’s star had exponentially risen. Casting her in the sequel would have been too expensive, joked director Dwight H. Little. In Lopez’s place were actors whose faces don’t ring a bell to general audiences, although the unmistakably Southern KaDee Strickland would become a wee bit more recognizable after her appearance in The Grudge (2004). Co-star Matthew Marsden, whose character here turns out to be a real snake in the grass, went on to star in actioners, as well as the revenge-horror movie Tamara.

Flanking the ostensible survivors, plus the human villain in waiting, are Eugene Byrd as the comic relief, Nicholas Gonzalez as yet another admirer of Strickland’s part, Salli Richardson-Whitfield as a danger-prone fish out of water, and Morris Chestnut as the exec who spearheaded this journey gone awry. As if the cast wasn’t already large (and attractive) enough, Johnson’s partner is played by Karl Yune.

The second Anaconda was first announced in 2000, but obviously it took some extra time to haul that monster out of the water. Regardless of the changes in staff and the rewrites, there was always one goal in mind; the snake had to be bigger. Much bigger. The emphasis there, including any action related to the snake, apparently didn’t leave too much room for the human characters. Paper thin as they are, though, they are never devoid of personality. What they lacked in star power, they made up for in presence.

After some waiting, we do finally see one of the namesakes in serpentine action. That reveal sends a jolt up the audience’s spine, but the admittedly dated CGI also causes major cringing. Even back then it looked crummy as hell. However, there was a need for speed with the new specimens, and according to visual effects supervisor Dale Dugid, digital was the only way to achieve that. Actual anacondas, by the way, are not anywhere as quick and nimble as the ones found in movies, and they certainly don’t pop out like Piranha Plants.

In the making of the sequel, real green anacondas were deemed too “bizarre and comical” in the face. Take a second to look up one of these snakes, and you’ll likely agree. That less-than-intimidating expression of theirs prompted the first two Anaconda movies to give these creatures facelifts. The ‘97 model is indeed more menacing than its natural counterpart, yet there’s still something goofy about it. Then in the sequel, creature illustrator Warren Beaton totally overhauled the ‘condas so that they would look almost draconian. On paper that’s fine, but the final product is held back by the crude digital execution.

Looking past the questionable VFX, the sequel at least made the smart decision to maintain a steady pace; it never quite offends us with any substantial lulls in the story. The constantly growing presence of the snakes after the first act, along with the characters running around like headless chickens, amounts to some vacuous entertainment. The movie plays things seriously without also taking itself too seriously.

All these years later, Anacondas still plays as an amusing B-movie. Its cultural impact is far less than that of the original flick, and the effects aren’t anything to brag about, but it’s a quick and brainless shot of snake horror that saves you from digging into the absolute dregs of the franchise.

Trust me, things got a whole lot worse after this movie.

The post The Strange Legacy of ‘Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid’, the Last Big-Screen Snake Movie Before the Reboot appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

New to Tubi October Horror Films

Evil Dead (2013)

• Premise: Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of the Necronomicon leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods.
• Why Watch It? Opinions vary on whether Fede Alvarez‘s 2013 reboot is to blame for the grim and nihilistic bent that recent Evil Dead films have taken, but there’s no denying that the Jane Levy-fronted entry goes hard. From the blood rain climax to the moment that Mia slices her tongue with a boxcutter, this blood-soaked film is not for the faint of heart. That means that it’s also easy to miss the underlying story about addiction, the struggle to get clean, and the need for found family and sibling support. Maybe that’s understandable given that the character work is hidden amidst some truly gnarly horror shit going down in cabin?
• Streaming: October 1

The Exorcism Of Emily Rose (2005)

• Premise: A lawyer (Laura Linney) takes on a negligent homicide case involving a priest (Tom Wilkinson) who performed an exorcism on a young girl (Jennifer Carpenter).
• Why Watch It? Before he blew up with the Sinister and The Black Phone films, Scott Derrickson was cutting his teeth making “better than they need to be” thrillers like this. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a curiosity: it’s much more of a legal thriller than a religious/paranormal film, though the movie has a devoted following thanks to its cast (which includes Shohreh Aghdashloo, Colm Feore, and Campbell Scott), a stunning break-out performance by future Dexter star Carpenter, and Derrickson’s slick work behind the camera. It’s not high art, but Emily Rose is a solid bet. In fact, if the movie has a drawback, it’s a nearly two hour runtime. Ouch!
• Streaming: October 1

Fright Night (2011)

• Premise: When a new neighbor moves in next door, a young man (Anton Yelchin) discovers that the strange neighbor is an ancient vampire who preys on the community.
• Why Watch It?  I’ll never fully forgive Buffy writer Marti Noxon and original helmer Tom Holland for de-gaying the remake of one of the 80s big three queer vampire films (the other two are The Hunger and The Lost Boys, obviously). Setting aside that qualm, Fright Night 2011 is a lot of fun. It doesn’t hurt that the cast is outstanding: Yelchin (RIP) is a solid Charlie and he’s joined by Toni Collette as his mom, Imogen Poots as love interest Amy, and Dave Franco as best friend Mark (admittedly he’s barely present). But let’s be honest: if you’re watching this, it’s likely for David Tennant (cosplaying in leather as a knock-off Chris Angel) and a devastatingly attractive Colin Farrell as antagonist vampire Jerry. Overall Fright Night is a bit slight, but as far as 21st century remakes go, this once has aged surprisingly well.
• Streaming: October 1

Gretel & Hansel (2020)

• Premise: In a distant land, two siblings, Hansel (Samuel J. Leakey) and Gretel (Sophia Lillis), wander through the woods in search of food and work. When a mysterious lady (Alice Kirge) offers them a way out, they accept without thinking about the consequences.
• Why Watch It? Before he broke the box office with Longlegs, Oz Perkins was known for two things: his famous father and making “vibe” movies. Gretel & Hansel definitely falls into the latter category: it uses a well-known fairytale as its narrative foundation, but the visual look of the film is lush and textured (the golds and reds are perfect for autumn!). Oh, right, and Kirge is <chef’s kiss> perfect as the witch; it’s seriously genius level casting.
• Streaming: October 1

Heretic (2024)

• Premise: Two young Mormon women (Sophie Thatcher & Chloe East) are drawn into a game of cat-and-mouse in the house of a strange man (Hugh Grant).
• Why Watch It?  Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writer/director pair behind this film, are famous for their high concept films. In addition to 2019’s underrated Haunt (a perennial fave around this time of year), they wrote the screenplay for A Quiet Place 1 & 2, as well as Adam Brody’s silly dinosaur movie 65 (a solid guilty pleasure). Heretic may be their most sophisticated film because it’s almost like a play: a three-handed wherein Thatcher, East and Grant debate religion, philosophy, and…board games? Make it a double bill with Barbarian and stay out of the basement!
• Streaming: October 1

The Human Centipede (2009) / The Human Centipede II (2011) / The Human Centipede III (2015)

• Premise:
  • First Sequence: A mad scientist (Dieter Laser) kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others’ rectums.
  • Full Sequence: Inspired by the fictional Dr. Heiter, disturbed loner Martin (Laurence R. Harvey) dreams of creating a 12-person centipede and sets out to realize his sick fantasy.
  • Final Sequence: Taking inspiration from The Human Centipede films, the warden of a notorious and troubled prison (Laser again) looks to create a 500-person human centipede as a solution to his problems.

• Why Watch Them? I won’t pretend that these films are everyone’s cup of tea. For a lot of folks, these are either one and done or none and done. But if you’re looking for schlocky exploitation films where the title is exactly what you get, then Tubi has you covered. The Human Centipede films are ridiculous; they’re offensive; and they’re often garishly made. Credit to Tom Six for stumbling on to an utterly ridiculous premise and then driving it into the ground in just three movies. We’ll always have those internet memes, though!
• Streaming: October 1 

Late Night with the Devil (2023)

• Premise:A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.
• Why Watch It?  A brilliant play on real time/live TV event concept (see also: Ghostwatch), this low budget Australian film finally broke David Dastmalchian out of character actor jail and into leading man territory. It’s also got several great set pieces (my favorite is the hypnosis/worms bit).
• Streaming: October 1

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

• Premise:Four young friends bound by a tragic accident are reunited when they find themselves being stalked by a hook-wielding maniac in their small seaside town.
• Why Watch It?  If you feel like this list was missing some quality slasher content, then rest assured that there’s at least one notable 1990s hack and slash making its Tubi debut this month. IKWYDLS is the not-at-all-faithful adaptation of Lois Duncan‘s YA thriller in which a group of kids commit vehicular manslaughter, cover up the crime, then pay the price the following year. Starring a WB-worthy foursome in SMG, Freddie Prince Jr, J. Love Hew, and Ryan Philippe, this Kevin Williamson film was derided as a Scream knock-off at the time. And so what if it is?! It’s a damn good time and features arguably the best chase scene in contemporary horror movie history.
• Streaming: October 1

Mr. Crocket (2024)

• Premise: A mother (Jerrika Hinton) embarks on a perilous quest to rescue her son (Ayden Gavin) from a demonic children’s show host who is kidnapping kids.
• Why Watch It? If the recent success of Buddy is any proof, horror audiences love a homicidal children’s show entertainer. Mr. Crocket quietly went under the radar back in 2024 when it debuted on Hulu, but it’s worth checking out for Elvis Nolasco‘s performance as the titular character, in addition to offering a nearly all Black take on the horrific concept.
• Streaming: October 1

X (2022) / Pearl (2022) / Maxxxine (2024)

• Premise:
  • X: In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in a rural Texas farm, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the crew find themselves fighting for their lives.
  • Pearl: In 1918, a young woman on the brink of madness pursues stardom in a desperate attempt to escape the drudgery, isolation, and lovelessness of life on her parents’ farm.
  • Maxxxine: In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.

• Why Watch Them? Ti West‘s X trilogy being available to stream in its entirety is the marathon we’ve been waiting for since we found out about Pearl and Maxxxine. What’s fun about the trilogy, aside from Mia Goth‘s outrageously entertaining trio of performances, is how each film has its ardent defenders. As a franchise, there are ups and downs, but the X films truly offer something for everyone depending on what you’re into. Why not settle in and make it a Goth night?
• Streaming: October 1

October Tubi Originals

R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead 2 (2026)

• Premise: Inspired by R.L. Stine’s beloved The Haunting Hour, R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead 2 follows Sam (Bean Reid) and Becka (Adeline Lo) as they race to stop a new Pumpkinhead curse from claiming the entire town of Redhaven. Read my review of the first entry here.
• Streaming: October 9

Bite Size Terror (2026)

• Premise: From executive producer Peter Rice and GJMD Studio, Bite Size Terror is an anthology of ten short-form horror stories that explores every corner of the genre — from the supernatural and occult to body horror, dark comedy, monsters, and the macabre.
• Streaming: October 11

Psycho Side Chick (2026)

• Premise: After being dumped by her married lover, a crazed woman fights to win him back and will get rid of anyone who stands in her way.
• Streaming: October 16

One Night Stand (2026)

• Premise: When a married man sleeps with a calculated serial killer, he must fight for his family’s survival before she obliterates everything he loves.
• Streaming: October 30

What’s your favorite from the list above? Will you check out the new Originals? Sound off in the comments below.

The post The Best Horror Movies Streaming on Tubi [October 2026] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Hokum got a bit lost amid 2026’s big genre success stories like Obsession and Backrooms, but it’s a film that arguably works even better in the comfort of your own dark living room. The unsettling tale of a dickish writer visiting a haunted Irish inn was recently released to home video with some engaging behind-the-scenes extras and an equally informative commentary track with McCarthy.

Now keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary for…

Hokum (2026)

Commentator: Damian McCarthy (writer/director)

1. The initial script he turned into producers “wasn’t very good,” but helpful notes on tightening up the story made it both better and more marketable.

2. Spooky Pictures was the first production house to come onboard the film, and McCarthy was pleased to discover that they have offices in Abu Dhabi because it made finding and accessing a desert location for the film’s bookends incredibly easy.

3. The conquistador is played by Austin Amelio, and McCarthy just loved his face after seeing him in The Walking Dead. “It’s not historically accurate,” to have an American in the role, but it works because the character is essentially Ohm Bauman’s (Adam Scott) stand-in for his father.

4. The intercut shots of Ohm during the desert opening were pickups as test audiences were confused and thought it was a prologue rather than simply the story that Ohm is writing.

5. “The skull of such a beast would mean hope” is glimpsed being written by Ohm in the opening, and McCarthy wants people to hold onto that and realize that the film’s ending with the shot of the goat skull “signifies hope and that things are going to be okay.”

6. The magazine cover at 7:24 offers a tribute to assistant director Jim Corr, who died between filming and post-production. The middle story at the bottom of the page says “Jim Corr: The Life of a Legend.”

7. The film’s inn is actually a private residence that the production design team refitted. Interior shots are a mix of the house’s actual insides and a soundstage while the basement scenes were filmed in the basement of Castlefreke in West Cork. Every time he says the name I only hear Castle Freak, and honestly, it makes it seem even creepier.

8. The dead goat at 9:48 is fake and originally had an animatronic head with a lolling tongue, but “it was very strange stuff, and we just got rid of it.”

9. “That’s every usable frame of those two kids,” he says regarding the two-second glimpse we see at 10:38 of the boys being told a story by the old man. It’s a slight exaggeration as we see a couple more very quick glimpses of them shortly after.

10. The creepy little kiddie figurines were made by Paul McDonnell. Getting them to look just right “was one of the trickiest things in the film.” He also designed the wooden man in Oddity.

11. The desk bell on the counter is the same one from Oddity. “I bought that bell years ago at an antique shop,” he says. “I just liked it.”

12. The desk clerk is played by Peter Coonan, and he’s a sweaty, fumbling mess by design. McCarthy told the actor that Tony Goldwyn’s character in Ghost was his primary reference. He’s a villain, but there’s not a single cool thing about him. “Even when the mask slips and we realize that this guy’s horrible, you don’t suddenly become cool.”

13. The bunny from McCarthy’s first film, Caveat, makes a cameo at 18:02, and the actors holding it actually play the couple who kill each other in that film. “So I guess this takes place before Caveat.”

14. He’d been watching a lot of Gene Hackman movies while writing Hokum, so he originally had the character of Ohm dressed similarly to Popeye Doyle right down to the pork pie hat. “I think it was Adam’s only real note, he was like “how married are you to that pork pie hat?’” McCarthy cut it from the script.

15. We get two quick examples in succession of beats that McCarthy felt were great in the moment but soon realized were just too unnecessary. First, Alby (Will O’Connell) the bellboy looking into the darkness behind the gate at 22:32 originally ended with the witch suddenly appearing right up next to him. Seemed like a good scare, but McCarthy realized that he was showing too much of her too early. Second, when the bellboy is talking to an obviously perturbed and uninterested Ohm, the writer originally said that asking him about writing was like asking Sisyphus about his boulder. “I thought it was very clever, and I seem smart,” but Scott wisely pointed out that him saying that would essentially be an invitation to Alby to keep the conversation going.

16. The book in Ohm’s hand at 35:43 is written by D. Odello, which is a nod to the character of Darcy Odello in Oddity. She’s a witch interested in occult items, so McCarthy thought “wouldn’t it be cool if she maybe wrote a book at some stage.” He adds that “nobody cares,” but he enjoys tying his films together in various ways. I care, Mr. McCarthy. I care.

17. The shot of Jerry (David Wilmot) at 40:51 came about because McCarthy had just seen the trailer for Longlegs and loved the image of Nicolas Cage’s character in an odd pose. “It’s a little bit of a steal,” but he wanted his characters to find a physicality at times and this felt like inspiration.

18. McCarthy offers up some advice for hopeful horror filmmakers, and it boils down to a need to watch all kinds of films, not just horror. He says taking note of angles, lighting, mirrors, and more gives you a bigger inventory of images and views that you can weaponize to make something scary.

19. The dumbwaiter isn’t real, and the shaft is actually a horizontal construction. Camera angles, flipped images, and performers “acting against gravity” help complete the illusion.

20. The chair at 55:04 is McCarthy’s equivalent to Sam Raimi’s 1973 Oldsmobile. “It became the central prop in Caveat, and again it was used in the antique shop in Oddity,” and now it’s here in his third feature, too.

21. McCarthy knows his writing is on point when he himself gets a little creeped out by it and starts glancing over his shoulder. He thinks it’s a mistake to try and write something strictly to scare someone else, adding “it has to scare you first.”

22. The shot at 57:54 features a ghostly woman over Ohm’s shoulder, and it originally had a music stinger to accentuate it. McCarthy, though, like too few horror directors, realized that “there’s something so much creepier about the audience having to find her.”

23. “The timing of” the scare at 59:53 – Ohm walks through a doorway and the ghost woman is right on his heels – was incredibly tricky. Early versions moved too fast or held too long on him, but McCarthy and editor Brian Philip Davis played around and discovered that adjusting things even by a single frame or two sometimes determined whether or not it was scary.

24. McCarthy maintains a strict uncertainty as to whether there are actually supernatural events at foot in the inn – he believes there are, but he wants it to feel vague and explainable either way until the ending. One example is the shot of Ohm watching the creepy Jack character on TV reading his childhood letter. He’s seeing it, but when we see him watching, the reflection in his glasses is just static.

25. The cut to Ohm sitting at the table at 1:02:33 is a little nod to Ash (Bruce Campbell) doing the same in Evil Dead II between moments of terror. McCarthy does it again when Ohm takes a seat in the basement and plays the tape recorder of someone’s very frightened voice.

26. “I don’t think I’ve ever gone over filming,” he says, but that changed while filming the basement scenes here. They only had two days at the castle location, and he ended up going a half hour over their scheduled time.

27. The tunnel lights go out at 1:11:00, but early cuts left them on allowing viewers to see the witch as she walked down the corridor towards Ohm’s POV. It just didn’t work for McCarthy, though, as “it had the feeling of Darth Vader walking down a brightly lit hall.” It wasn’t until late in the edit that he decided to shut off the lights and have only the sounds of her approach in the darkness.

28. The full bathtub was added to the room because McCarthy realized that Ohm would otherwise end the film looking like not much had happened to him. Dunking him in the dirty water ensured that wouldn’t happen.

29. One criticism I have of the entire sequence with Ohm stuck in the honeymoon suite and Jerry outside is that Ohm never breaks the goddamn window to get Jerry’s attention. McCarthy mentions that early drafts had him doing just that, albeit with the convoluted inclusion of a bottle with a note inside, but he cut it as he couldn’t make it work in the scene. “There was no kind of room to lean into sound design or score to build any tension.”

30. McCarthy’s script originally ended with Ohm stuck in the dumbwaiter and writing his final thoughts on his laptop. “It felt bleak,” he says, adding that there are brilliantly made horror films with downer endings, and he rarely goes back to watch them. “Oh that’s excellent, I never want to see it again.”

31. The film ends on the hopeful note of the goat skull and the redemption of this “father” and “son” stand-ins, and McCarthy chose a cover of the hymn “I’m Going Home” by Cork Sacred Harp Singers. His goal was a “very joyous, positive, upbeat feeling to the end of the movie.”

32. He’s a fan of filmmaker commentaries, and he hopes his is even a little bit educational for people looking to make their own movies.

Quotes Without Context

“This is very rushed.”

“Make it Michael Mann-inspired.”

“Crews are always much happier with you when you’re decisive.”

“There was a time that I was the only fan of this scene.”

“You’d be surprised how tricky it is for some actors to act startled.”

“I like the kind of real basic horror – ‘there’s something behind you.’”

“Maybe the film just ends here like a downbeat episode of The Twilight Zone.”

Keep up with more horror commentary breakdowns here.

The post 32 Things We Learned from Damian McCarthy’s ‘Hokum’ Commentary appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Different people come to soulslikes for different things, whether it’s the tense and challenging combat or the mysterious worldbuilding, and this game does a great job of trying to cater to all those audiences.

Players are the Forsaken, journeying through a dying world trying to reforge the Loom of Fate, either to help rebuild the broken land or put it out of its misery. After waking up on the beaches of Saltcrag, your party heads out on a quest to defeat the gods themselves before approaching the Great Foundation. It took me a while of reading the book to figure out exactly what sets Doomspiral’s brand of dark fantasy apart, but the basic premise strikes a good balance between giving you a plot hook while also leaving room for the players to discover the world through play.

Character creation is relatively simple, especially for a game that ends up being this crunchy. There’s a table of 36 starting backgrounds, and a roll of 2D6 will determine the first and second digits of the number to pick off the list. Each of these backgrounds has a brief descriptor, giving you an evocative hint of the game’s lore, along with starting values for all seven of your stats. You’ll also get starter equipment and abilities to help define what your character can do, along with a choice of a memento that can add a little flavor to who your Forsaken was.

You might begin the game as a Prophet of Tar-Valam, wielding a Herald’s Spear and a Sacred Psalm of protection, or maybe a Swamp Hunter, whose Skinning Knife and Chain-Link Net make him an ideal trapper for all things that lurk in Miremount. It perfectly simulates picking your starting class in Elden Ring, but also allows you to improve the character as you see fit, leveling up with Thread collected from enemies and customizing your playstyle as you collect more weapons and abilities.

Stamina and Position Create Tense, Tactical Combat

If you are attracted to soulslikes because you are a build sicko who likes to tinker around and find different ways to play, the combat in Doomspiral might be for you. There’s a lot more going on in this game than other TTRPGs I usually play, but the rich system really simulates the risk-reward nature of their video game inspirations. Two of the biggest concepts that support this in the game are stamina and position, which both have big effects on what you can do on your turn.

You will have a pool of stamina dice when you enter combat, and those will all start as Ready. Based on what you are doing during your turn, you will roll a certain number of those D6s to determine the success of your action, then move them into the exhausted pool. At the end of each turn, you’ll regain a certain number of stamina dice based on your armor’s weight class. These dice are also used when rolling reactions to attacks, like dodging, parrying, or blocking, so making sure you’re not left high and dry without any dice in your Ready pool is key to making it out of a fight. It’s a really clever system to mimic that feeling of the back and forth dance of going all out and backing off to catch your breath.

You don’t fight on a grid in Doomspiral, as you would with many other tactical combat games, but you instead have the abstract concept of Position. This represents how well you control the space and how advantageous your position is compared to the enemy. It’s both a resource to be spent and an indicator of being in the same space as another character. Certain position values, which can go up to 12, can have obstacles that affect your character, and repositioning within battle is crucial to winning. Certain actions cost position, representing your character using their situational advantage to gain the upper hand. It’s another clever wrinkle that doesn’t require you to measure out range squares or look at lines of sight on a battlefield, boiling complex ideas of the fighting space into a single number.

The Different Types of Ancient Powers

There’s a huge list of consumable items that can aid you in battle, each with its own utility. These also have great little item descriptions that again make you feel like you’re opening up the menu in Dark Souls and reading about something new you just acquired. Many times, these items are about inflicting one of the many statuses on you or the enemy, which change the flow of combat.

There are five different types of abilities laid out in the Ancient Powers section of the book, all for the players to learn throughout their journey. Arts of War, which cost position, are martial actions about using your weapons and shields to gain advantage in battle. Geomancies, which can be cast a certain number of times and have an intelligence requirement, fall into many different magic categories, from attacks to defensive actions. Forbidden Names of Flame are powerful attack spells, but have negative conditions that will happen to you if your roll doesn’t meet certain conditions. Sacred Psalms are holy spells that are powered by your Faith stat for a wide variety of effects. Finally, Decoction Recipes are alchemical potions that are prepared when you rest at a Tether, the game’s version of bonfires.

It’s honestly a lot of options at your fingertips, which can feel a bit overwhelming if you’re not used to this type of complexity in your tabletop RPGs. Since abilities are locked to stats and not classes, anything you find or learn while exploring could possibly be incorporated into your build. The amount of options can feel like both a blessing and a curse at times, so make sure this is something your group is interested in before diving in. Either way, it does a great job of translating the mechanical depth of the video game into tabletop form, without relying on the more ‘classic’ framework of Dungeons & Dragons-style combat.

Why Death Isn’t a Punishment in Doomspiral

Death isn’t the end in Doomspiral. Just like in a Dark Souls game, if a player character dies, they will find themselves respawned at the last Tether they rested at. Resting at a Tether will also heal you and reset the enemies, allowing for things to remain challenging throughout as you progress. The respawning is nice, allowing the game to feel difficult without being punishing, but again this is something you want to make sure your players are into.

If they are looking for a soulslike tabletop game, then I’m guessing they are, but most traditional TTRPGs work best when the players feel the threat of death looming without ever actually running up against it.

To challenge your players, there’s a wide array of enemies included in the book, which range from dangerous knights to strange creatures. GMs have some of the heavy lifting taken off of their shoulders by the way they run these enemies, as each of them has a move table included. At the start of each round, the GM rolls a pool of move dice, and the results will dictate what the particular enemy can do that round. This gives them a mix of actions, reactions, and stances that change from round to round, taking away a lot of the burden of trying to optimally pick what attack the creature should do at any time.

There are some really great Dark Souls-style weird guys in here, like the horrific Ghoul Star or the Unflame Lamplighter, making Doomsprial’s combat feel more flavorful than your standard goblins and orcs.

Doomspiral is available to purchase digitally from Soul Muppet Publishing.

Follow along for more Tabletop Terror, highlighting roleplaying games new and old. 

The post ‘Doomspiral’ Brings Dark Soulslike Combat to the Tabletop in an Ambitious RPG appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

With spooky season finally upon us, I’ve decided to celebrate by coming up with a list highlighting five of the most memorable Halloween costumes in horror movies for Spirit Halloween 2026 inspiration! From stylish slashers to oblivious children, there have been plenty of unforgettable getups in scary movies over the years, and I think it’s worth looking back at some of the classics.

For the purposes of this list,  Halloween costume is an outfit specifically worn in the spirit of the season, so no masked slasher outfits that are only meant to conceal the killer’s identity. That being said, this is obviously far from a definitive collection of all the coolest Halloween costumes ever put to film, so don’t forget to comment below with your own seasonal favorites if you think a particularly memorable one was overlooked.

With that out of the way, onto the list!

5. Run, Rabbit, Run! – House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

We all know that the Firefly family takes Halloween very seriously, but the celebration doesn’t stop with the family members themselves. Not only do they force guests to wear masks during their traditional Halloween dinner, but these victims are later forced to don cutesy animal costumes before being hunted down by the family like human livestock.

In Rob Zombie’s original film, Jennifer Jostwyn’s Mary is eventually forced to wear a comfy-looking white rabbit suit as she attempts to escape her demented captors during the flick’s infamous “Run, Rabbit, Run” sequence. This idiosyncratic outfit is accompanied by creepy imagery and an unforgettable soundtrack, and that’s why horror fans won’t be forgetting the costume any time soon.

That being said, I’d also like to give a shout-out to Baby Firefly’s iconic “Showtime” outfit from her surreal musical performance earlier in the evening.

4. Jesus Man – Satan’s Little Helper (2004)

Satan’s Little Helper is one of the most underrated slashers of the 2000s, with the horror-comedy somehow managing to capture the spirit of the season without breaking the bank with over-the-top costumes and decoration. Yet, despite the movie mostly focusing on dark humor and satirical jabs at desensitization to violence among children, there is one moment in the movie that actually disturbs me (if only because I was raised in a very religious family).

Towards the end of the flick, Satan Man swaps costumes in order to fool his next victims and his budding apprentice. One of these costumes happens to be an uncanny Jesus outfit complete with an expressionless mask. The visual here is eerie (not to mention blasphemous) enough, but the silence beneath the mask and the mean-spirited trickery behind the plan make this scene much spookier than anything that came before.

That’s why the Jesus Man costume makes it onto the list – though I’m also a fan of Dougie’s silly little devil suit.

3. Vampire Kid – Trick ‘r Treat (2007)

There are plenty of memorable costumes in Michael Dougherty’s beloved tribute to the Halloween season, and while I’m a huge fan of Anna Paquin’s ironic Red Riding Hood getup and even Sam’s homemade sackcloth suit, the one image that always comes to mind when I think of the film’s eerie costume designs has to be that one kid dressed as Dracula from the Halloween School Bus Massacre segment.

From the child’s awkward demeanor to the uncanny nature of his cheap mask and cape, this costume is already freaky even before the so-called “Vampire Kid” shows up again at the end of the movie as a rotting revenant hellbent on punishing Brian Cox for his crimes.

Here’s a fun fact: the Vampire Kid was brought to life by none other than Richard Harmon, the very same actor who would later go on to play the fan-favorite Erik Campbell in Final Destination: Bloodlines!

2. The Sheet Ghost – Halloween (1978)

One might argue that Michael Myers’ standard getup is already something of a Halloween costume since The Shape/Boogeyman can be interpreted to be using the William Shatner mask to disguise himself as a human being. However, the iconic mask and overalls are practically the character’s second skin at this point, and that’s why I’d like to highlight one of the legendary killer’s other memorable outfits.

During a particularly memorable scene in John Carpenter’s original movie, Myers sneaks up on P.J. Soles’ character by dressing up as a sheet ghost and wearing glasses belonging to the now-deceased Bob (John Michael Graham), thereby tricking the poor girl into thinking that her boyfriend is merely playing a mean-spirited prank on her. Not only does this scene turn one of the silliest and most low-effort Halloween costumes ever into a seriously terrifying visual, but it also proves that Michael has a dark sense of humor.

Of course, if you don’t agree with this one, there’s always the cheerful clown costume worn by Myers at the beginning of the film!

1. The Silver Shamrock Masks – Halloween III (1982)

I know it sounds like a cop-out to include three different costumes in the number one spot, but the fact is that I simply can’t choose between the Silver Shamrock designs first introduced in Tommy Lee Wallace’s divisive Halloween III: Season of the Witch. While the flick was originally criticized for its lack of Michael Myers, time has been very kind to what many genre enthusiasts now consider to be the definitive movie about All Hallow’s Eve itself.

In fact, I’d argue that the flick’s unique take on the Witch, Pumpkin, and Skeleton costumes is one of the most iconic uses of Halloween imagery ever put to film, especially when combined with the movie’s absurd take on Celtic mythology and the inherent dangers of the season.

Regardless, the Silver Shamrock theme song is so catchy that I’d still buy one of these iconic masks even if I knew they would later turn my brain into a gory pile of bugs.

Head to Spirit Halloween to assemble a costume inspired by this list and beyond. Find your local Spirit Halloween today!

The post Five Memorable Halloween Costumes in Horror Movies appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

That’s why found footage is such a fascinating genre, as it’s a technique that requires relinquishing so many of these artificial tools in favor of authenticity. As a found footage enthusiast myself, I’ve long come to the conclusion that, while shooting in this format is almost always cheaper than investing in studio lighting and shot-reverse-shots, it’s also invariably a lot harder – at least if you’re doing it right.

I recently found myself thinking about these inherent difficulties of the genre when I had the pleasure of watching Robbie Banfitch’s sophomore feature, the criminally underseen Tinsman Road. A deceptively simple “home movie”, this lo-fi experiment had me fascinated by how masterfully Banfitch wielded a remarkably limited toolset. It’s a masterclass in cinematic minimalism.

Robbie Banfitch first rose to notoriety back in 2022 with the release of his divisive debut film The Outwaters. A surreal examination of the power of suggestion within found footage, this weird little movie had just as many fans calling it a masterpiece as it did detractors accusing it of being one of the worst films ever made. Though I personally didn’t connect with The Outwaters, even I could see the potential behind some of Robbie’s creative decisions, and that’s why I eventually decided to give Tinsman Road a chance.

This second film was a much more intimate project that began production immediately after The Outwaters as an attempt to decompress after a comparatively larger and more scripted endeavor. That’s why Tinsman Road has more in common with a personal video diary than a traditional horror movie. As its story suggests, the film was shot on location in New Jersey as Banfitch briefly returned to his roots, with nearly the entire production relying on existing locations and non-actors. In fact, out of the twelve cast members, a whopping nine of them are related to the director, with his own mother giving a standout performance.

Of course, the film’s nature as a 2000s-set period piece means that there’s still some level of simulation going on here. Not only is the entire thing shot on standard-definition mini-DV tapes, but the story also forgoes smartphones and online resources that could have made its characters’ lives a little easier. While these elements obviously enhance the flick’s atmosphere, I’m of the opinion that this nostalgic approach is also meant to engage with the story’s themes of coming home and dealing with the past – which is arguably what the director did in real life when he set out to make a DIY movie in his hometown.

In the finished film, which had its festival premiere in March of 2025, we follow Banfitch himself as “Robbie Lyle”, a young filmmaker who moves back in with his grieving mother (Leslie Ann Banfitch) years after the mysterious disappearance of his musically inclined sister Noelle. When Leslie reveals that she has been feeling Noelle’s ghostly presence around the house, Robbie decides to shoot a documentary meant to process the family’s loss and find out what really happened to his sister. Unfortunately, Robbie’s home movie ends up unearthing more than he bargained for as the locals catch wind of his little project.

At first glance, this may seem like a standard ghost story where paranormal activity leads to Robbie finding his long-lost sister, but Tinsman Road does things a bit differently than your standard found footage narrative. By insisting on realistic depictions of grief and family trauma, Banfitch has crafted an incredibly moody (not to mention believable) character study that rewards viewer patience.

It’s actually easy to mistake the film for being completely devoid of narrative depth if you don’t pay close attention to certain details. Much like real life, a lot of essential information here is conveyed through implied dialogue and subtle clues, and much of what you absorb only really pays off during the final twenty minutes or so of the experience. While this indirect approach might have come off as frustrating in another production, the DIY qualities of Tinsman Road make it feel like you’re actually engaging with a real mystery as you attempt to understand what’s really going on beneath the surface.

The only caveat is that getting to that satisfying final act requires a non-trivial amount of commitment from the viewer. Even as a huge fan of the experience, I still think that Banfitch could have left an additional 15 minutes behind on the cutting room floor, and your own mileage may vary depending on how much depressing family drama you’re willing to deal with before we get to the actual horror.

A friend of mine actually described the experience as “what if The Blair Witch Project contained an hour of Heather moping about her family life before finally heading into the woods?” While this is a rather mean-spirited comparison, especially since the family issues are the entire point of Banfitch’s film, it’s not that far from the truth.

That being said, while Tinsman Road is more of a somber mood piece than a traditional scary movie, it does manage to touch on some of the same elements that made films like The Blair Witch Project so successful in the first place – elements that many of that film’s imitators have failed to reproduce over the years.

To put it simply, as far as found footage is concerned, the best way to simulate something is usually to just do it for real. From actually inhabiting a certain time and place to making use of interesting-looking townsfolk, found footage movies work better when real life is allowed to interfere with the script. That’s why it’s so easy to fall down Tinsman Road’s rabbit hole and accept these events as reality. And the deeper you go, the more you’ll find curious details like how the flick’s “Shades of Death” Road is a real paranormal hotspot frequently visited by investigators (don’t even get me started on real vanishings in the backwoods of New Jersey).

I won’t get into spoilers, but connecting the dots between Noelle’s eerie music/homemade album art and the details behind her disappearance is a deeply satisfying process that results in the same kind of chill you get when researching a disturbing topic online and slowly realizing that the truth is much stranger than you originally imagined.

At the end of the day, Tinsman Road is a decidedly slow burn that won’t appeal to every kind of horror fan, but I appreciate how it allows viewers to flex their own investigative muscles as they inhabit a brooding rendition of the mid-2000s. And if you agree to play by the film’s rules, I think you’ll also find that this is one of the most underrated Found Footage experiences in years.

However, if you do decide to embark on this investigation, please keep in mind that it’s always a bad idea to hike alone in New Jersey.

The post ‘Tinsman Road’ Is Minimalist Found Footage Horror Done Right appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Speaking of enduring, several elements of the series have stuck around and endeared themselves to fans, practically necessitating that Konami (or whomever is developing) to hit on said points when it comes to new titles. The upcoming Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse certainly continues that trend. The result has made the series one of Konami’s most successful and well-known franchises.

But just what are these elements, you ask? Well, let’s talk about ‘em. Now obviously, there are a lot of entries in the series, and this article would be the length of a deli truck if it went into exhaustive detail. So we’ll try to be a little selective this time around.

Gameplay That Rewards Patience and Precision

From the very start, Castlevania grabbed players’ attention with its sidescrolling action. For one, we were gifted the unusual weapon of the Vampire Killer whip, which set the game apart from other early Nintendo titles, which sported guns, fireballs, and hand-to-hand combat. That made Castlevania stand out from the crowd back in 1986. Making things even more interesting was that the whip could be upgraded, increasing its length and damage. Speaking of damage, your attack wasn’t immediate. You had a wind-up animation to take into consideration when attacking, meaning you had to time your whip hits with enemy movement and projectiles in order to land a hit, but also counterattack (since you could snuff out enemy projectiles).

You can’t forget the subweapons mechanic, either. They have their own quirks that would have you learning how to use them properly. Mastering the arc of the axe, throwing out the boomerang to be able to hit foes in front of you and behind you, and so on. Of course, there’s also the business of saving your hearts in order to be able to use the subweapons at the appropriate time, not to mention taking care not to accidentally pick up another subweapon to replace the one you already have. Again, timing and patience when attacking are paramount. As is finding the shot multipliers, since being restricted to one subweapon being thrown at a time can hamper your abilities as well.

Then there’s Simon’s movement, which at first glance is rather stiff in the early games. Jumping was also something you needed to consider, since you couldn’t adjust your arc in the air once you committed. Couple that with timing your whip to hit candles and airborne enemies, and it took practice and skill. Mistakes resulted in the infamous knockback when hit, which could lead you to being hit right into pits. The result was a risk-and-reward system that can frustrate, but taking the time to master it would result in something so satisfying to play.

Later on, subsequent entries attempted to make your movement a little less restrictive, while adding in new strategies. Super Castlevania IV allowed you to whip in eight directions, while Bloodlines had you swinging as Morris or vaulting with Lecarde’s spear, for example.

Once the series switched to 3D and Metroidvania styles of gameplay, you still had aspects of the early titles and their gameplay carrying forward, albeit with some tweaks. While you didn’t always have a whip, you still had to time your shots with the weapon you were holding to make sure you again weren’t knocked about by foes. And again, later installments did do away with the subweapon limitations, but you still had to conserve subweapon energy for when you really needed it.

Subsequent entries in the series added new mechanics such as magic attacks and the like that made subweapons take a back seat, or freed up your movement, but aspects of those early titles still stuck around, providing a bit of method to the early madness.

Gothic Graphics That Stand the Test of Time

Castlevania has almost always pushed the graphical capabilities on any platform its games have appeared on. Once again, outside of Nintendo, third-party developers struggled with mastering the NES hardware early on. Konami was able to cram quite a bit of detail into the very first game, and only added to that with the sequels.

Once the Super Nintendo rolled around, Konami pulled out all the stops with Super Castlevania IV. The rotating room and rotating cylindrical passage in Stage IV immediately come to mind for many fans, but even in the first stage, there are little details as you make your way through the castle gate. The courtyard fence rising up from the ground with the vines that intertwine them, the horses in the background as you venture through the stable, and so on.