Movies
Lance Henriksen Gives a Teen Superpowers in ‘The Unhealer’ from Shout! Studios [Trailer]
We tip our hats to Rue Morgue for the heads up that the super-powered supernatural thriller The Unhealer has been acquired by Shout! Studios, set for release sometime this year.
In the Martin Guigui-directed film, starring genre icon Lance Henriksen and Elijah Nelson…
“Kelly has a compulsive eating disorder called pica which has him bedridden. Doctors can’t help him. When Kelly’s single mom witnesses a faith healer perform a miracle, she hires him to lay hands on Kelly. The healing ritual ends in disaster but works, and even more surprising, Kelly gains supernatural powers; any pain inflicted on him is instead felt by his aggressor.
“His lifelong tormentors are out cruising one night when they find Kelly riding his bike. They cheer as they tailgate and terrify him until Kelly hits a pothole, and they run him over. As Kelly is crushed and dragged under the car, his powers transfer the injuries to the driver. His bullies blame Kelly for causing their friend’s death and concoct a prank to settle the score, but it goes deadly wrong and kills someone close to Kelly. Kelly’s rage takes him on a murderous revenge spree and the horror escalates.
“When his powers become uncontrollable, no one around Kelly is safe, not even the girl he loves.”
Natasha Henstridge and Adam Beach also star.
Find the trailer and poster art below.
Movies
‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts
In the wake of Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man back in 2020, Universal has been struggling to achieve further box office success with their Universal Monsters brand. Even in the early days of the pandemic, Invisible Man scared up $144 million at the worldwide box office, while last year’s Universal Monsters: Dracula movies The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield didn’t even approach that number when you COMBINE their individual box office hauls.
The horror-comedy Renfield came along first in April 2023, ending its run with just $26 million. The period piece Last Voyage of the Demeter ended its own run with a mere $21 million.
But Universal is trying again with their ballerina vampire movie Abigail this weekend, the latest bloodbath directed by the filmmakers known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).
Unlike Demeter and Renfield, the early reviews for Abigail are incredibly strong, with our own Meagan Navarro calling the film “savagely inventive in terms of its vampiric gore,” ultimately “offering a thrill ride with sharp, pointy teeth.” Read her full review here.
That early buzz – coupled with some excellent trailers – should drive Abigail to moderate box office success, the film already scaring up $1 million in Thursday previews last night. Variety notes that Abigail is currently on track to enjoy a $12 million – $15 million opening weekend, which would smash Renfield ($8 million) and Demeter’s ($6 million) opening weekends.
Working to Abigail‘s advantage is the film’s reported $28 million production budget, making it a more affordable box office bet for Universal than the two aforementioned movies.
Stay tuned for more box office reporting in the coming days.
In Abigail, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
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