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‘Relic’ Filmmakers Writing Japanese-Inspired Religious Horror

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One of the hottest horror films of the year is the Natalie Erika James-directed Relic, which came sizzling out of the Sundance Film Festival before it was acquired by IFC Midnight for release later this year. Bloody Disgusting’s Meagan Navarro called it a “bone-chilling and devastating depiction of dementia.

In a new interview with ScreenDaily, James reveals that she’s currently hard at work on her follow-up, a Japanese-inspired religious horror film that sounds like it could be soaked in occultism.

“I’m writing a new project with Christian [White] which is a Japanese folk horror, a la The Wicker Man and Rosemary’s Baby,” James tells the site. “It’s about motherhood, fear of motherhood, the loss of selfhood.

“We’re writing a second draft right now,” she adds, noting that they’re “working with the same producers who did Relic at Carver Films.”

The Japanese inspiration isn’t surprising as she tells the site that her love for horror came from an interesting connection to Ringu director Hideo Nakata.

“As a teen, I watched a lot of Asian horror. We had a family friend who used to be engaged to Hideo Nakata, who made Ring,” James reveals “She would always tell me stories about how Nakata’s horror was never just about something invading the home, it was really about externalised fears in the home. The beauty and emotion is just as important as the scares. That stuck with me.”

Relic was one of the most buzzed-about movies out of the Sundance Film Festival.

In the film, “When Edna (Robin Nevyn), the elderly and widowed matriarch of the family, goes missing, her daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) travel to their remote family home to find her. Soon after her return, they start to discover a sinister presence haunting the house and taking control of Edna.”

Emily Mortimer and Robyn Nevin appear in Relic by Natalie Erika James.

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

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‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ Adds “Chucky” Actor Teo Briones and More to Lead Cast

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Chucky Actor Teo Briones
Pictured: Teo Briones in "Chucky" Season Two

The Final Destination franchise is returning to life with Final Destination: Bloodlines. With filming now underway, THR reports that three actors have joined the lead cast, including “Chucky” actor Teo Briones.

Brec Bassinger (“Stargirl”) and Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game) join Teo Briones, who played Junior Wheeler in season two of “Chucky,” as the leads in the sixth installment of the horror franchise.

Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (Freaks) are directing the fresh installment that also includes Richard Harmon (“The 100”, Grave Encounters 2), Anna Lore, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones (The Book Of Boba Fett), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi Wan Kenobi), and Tinpo Lee (The Manor) among the cast.

Production is now underway in Vancouver.

What can we expect from the upcoming Final Destination 6? Speaking with Collider, franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick offered up an intriguing (and mysterious) tease last year.

“This film dives into the film in such a unique way that it attacks it from a different angle so you don’t feel like, ‘Oh, there’s an amazing setup and then there’s gonna be one wrinkle that can potentially save you all that you have to kind of make a moral choice about or do to solve it.’ There’s an expansion of the universe that – I’m being so careful,” Reddick teased.

Reddick continued, “It kind of unearths a whole deep layer to the story that kind of, yes, makes it really, really interesting.”

Final Destination: Bloodlines is written by Lori Evans Taylor (“Wicked Wicked Games”) and Guy Busick (Scream), with Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) producing.

Producers on the new movie for New Line Cinema also include Dianne McGunigle (Cop Car) as well as Final Destination producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

This will be the sixth installment in the hit franchise, and the first in over ten years. Each film centers on “Death” hunting down young friends who survive a mass casualty event.

The latest entry is expected in 2025, coinciding with the original film’s 25th anniversary.

 

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