Editorials
‘Archenemy’ and ‘Daniel Isn’t Real’ Take Place in Same Universe; Adam Egypt Mortimer Promises a “Vortex Trilogy”! [Exclusive]
Adam Egypt Mortimer saw the release of his action-thriller Archenemy in limited theaters and VOD platforms this past Friday through RLJE Films.
Eagle-eyed fans connected the dots and discovered that Archenemy may actually share the same universe as Mortimer’s previous film, the tripped-out psychological horror Daniel Isn’t Real.
Archenemy stars “True Blood’s” Joe Manganiello as a man who claims to be a hero from another dimension who fell through time and space to Earth, where he has no powers.
Bloody Disgusting caught up with Mortimer, who not only confirms that the two films share a universe, but that they’re the first two in his planned “Vortex Trilogy“.
“Clever viewers are noticing that Archenemy begins with the same cosmic vortex/void/wormhole that kicked off Daniel Isn’t Real. So here’s the deal with that,” reveals Mortimer who further explains, “These movies are little peepholes into bigger worlds.”
In Daniel Isn’t Real, a troubled college freshman suffers a violent family trauma that causes him to resurrect his charismatic childhood imaginary friend, Daniel (Patrick Schwarzenegger), to help him cope, not realizing how dangerous Daniel is.
“Daniel Isn’t Real resolved in a way where there could (and should) be more, and I’ve been thinking of stories where Daniel goes on to possess a new character. In fact, a deleted scene available on the home video release suggests a future role for Luke (played by Miles Robbins).
“So when I was writing Archenemy, a story about a multiverse, it hit me that these were in the same vast universe and I wanted to make sure to set that up,” he adds, teasing the third film in a trilogy. “It won’t be the next thing I do, but mark my words we are going to make a third movie in the Vortex Trilogy that will have Daniel return and force Max, in some form, to deal with it. A crisis on infinite vortices pulling together as many of the characters from both stories as we can fit for a true cosmic horror/cosmic action crossover hybrid!”
Here’s the trailer for Archenemy in which Manganiello plays a homeless alcoholic who is depressed that he’s trapped on Earth without his superpowers. Is he suffering from mental illness or was he truly our “Superman”? It hardly matters because Manganiello’s “Max Fist” may not be a superhero anymore, but he’s still determined to fulfill his destiny as a hero.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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