Exclusives
‘Los Vampires’ Trailer Gives Deadly Twist on the Production of 1931’s Spanish ‘Dracula’ [Fantasia 2026]
The production of George Melford‘s 1931 Spanish Dracula sets the stage for murder in the period horror movie Los Vampires, and we’re exclusively premiering the trailer ahead of its festival debut.
Los Vampires will make its World Premiere at the 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival, which runs July 16 through August 2.
Watch the stunning new trailer below, which sees art imitate life horrifically, in the vein of Shadow of the Vampire.
The film is set in 1930 Hollywood, and follows as “a Spanish actor is cast in the night shoot of a soon-to-be-legendary vampire film, forced to imitate the English-speaking star who performs the same role by day. The two actors regularly meet at the transitory hours of their shoots, and a rivalry stirs between them. All the while, a string of murders are occurring on and around the soundstage.”
Note that the actor and star in the film’s premise aren’t named; Los Vampires is a “fantastical fictionalized account” of the making of Melford’s classic horror film, one that was shot overnight on the same sets as Tod Browning’s Dracula. That means that names have respectfully been altered.
Los Vampires is written and directed by Craig Mitchell (Komodo), who has lined up an impressive cast.
Lost actor Henry Ian Cusick and Spectre actor Thomas Kretschmann lead as uncanny surrogates for Carlos Villarías and Bela Lugosi.
Daniela Couso (Serial Beauty), Jefferson Mays (Inherent Vice), Oscar Nuñez (“The Office”), and Jorge Diaz (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones) round out the cast.
Fantasia describes the feature as “a meticulously designed, occult-tinged tribute to the dignity of performance… and a darkly imaginative, bittersweet love letter to old Hollywood – and the forgotten struggles that made it what it was.”
Stay tuned for more on Los Vampires, including premiere timing, as Fantasia gets underway next month.
A gnarly infection threatens to claw its way out of a moving camper in the first trailer for Shudder’s claustrophobic Hellcat.
The feature debut of writer/editor/director Brock Bodell, who previously edited the Fantasia title Ultrasound, makes its debut on Shudder on August 14.
In Hellcat, “Lena wakes up in a moving camper trailer with a horrifying wound. She’s warned by the driver that they have one hour to get to a doctor, or she’ll succumb to an unimaginably awful fate. As the pain sets in and reality begins to fray, who should really be afraid?”
Dakota Gorman (Natural Disasters) leads the cast that also includes Todd Terry (“Breaking Bad”), Liz Atwater (The Other People), Jordan Mullins (The Bikeriders), and James Austin Johnson (“Saturday Night Live”) in a voice role. Bodell also produces alongside Andrew Duensing and Nate Eggert.
Hellcat made its world premiere last summer at Fantasia. I wrote in my review, “Hellcat is a bit of a Trojan horror that defies easy classification, by design. Bodell’s sneaky debut feature is occasionally too sparse in its worldbuilding in its bid to preserve the mystery, but not enough to detract from the thrilling road thriller that transforms into a completely left-field type of horror we don’t get nearly enough of. The stripped-down tribute to a classic horror staple catches you off guard in more ways than one, marking Bodell as one to watch.”
In other words, there’s a lot more than meets the eye to Hellcat‘s simple infection setup, delivering plenty of surprises along its bumpy road of horrors.
Check out the trailer and poster below and add Hellcat to your watchlists asap.
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