Movies
Fede Alvarez Explains Why He’s No Longer Directing a ‘Labyrinth’ Sequel [Exclusive]
Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez has a handful of upcoming projects in the works, including a new take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that he’s producing and a zombie film for Lionsgate that’s currently titled 16 States. But one project Alvarez won’t be directing is the sequel to 1986’s Labyrinth that he had recently been attached to.
It was announced back in 2017 that Fede Alvarez would be directing a follow-up to the classic Jim Henson-directed Labyrinth, which was said to be “a direct continuation of the first movie… [set] many years later.” Alas, Alvarez reveals in a new chat with Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew Podcast that just went up this week, he has since stepped away from that project.
“It’s so hard to decide what’s worth your time. And what’s worth the attention of the audience. Labyrinth was something I was going to do at some point, but then I stepped down,” Alvarez reveals. “I just felt…when people have a preconceived notion of what something should be, it’s very hard to succeed – to surprise them. They’re just expecting the same thing again. So I just decided I didn’t want to do things as a director that people knew already what it was. Or have a preconceived notion of how it should look on the screen. So Labyrinth would be something that people would judge that way, so I decided not to do it.”
Providing more insight into where his head is at right now, Alvarez noted a bit earlier in the interview, “My last movie (The Girl in the Spider’s Web) was me going to make a movie for the studio for the first time, like from inside. There were some things that I enjoyed and some things I didn’t about that. I’ve since wanted to just make the movies that really matter to me.”
That brings us to Lionsgate’s 16 States, which Alvarez is setting up as his next film. He teases to the Boo Crew, “You’ll be surprised. It’s a very cool take on the zombie movie.”
You can listen to the entire Boo Crew podcast with Fede Alvarez below.
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Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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