Movies
‘Dead by Daylight’ Horror Movie in the Works from Blumhouse and James Wan!
While we wait for Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, Variety reports today that Blumhouse is also bringing the video game Dead by Daylight to the big screen with a movie!
Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster are joining forces with Behaviour Interactive on the Dead by Daylight movie, set to be a “scary cinematic adaptation.”
The search for a writer and director is currently underway, Variety notes.
Launched in 2016, the popular Dead by Daylight is a multiplayer slasher video game that pits characters up against slasher maniacs both original and iconic to the world of horror.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to work with Jason Blum and James Wan, two giants of the horror film industry, to further expand the ‘Dead by Daylight’ universe,” said Stephen Mulrooney, executive vice president at Behaviour Interactive. “At Behaviour, our motto is to create unique moments, together, forever. Atomic Monster and Blumhouse are the ideal partners to craft ‘Dead by Daylight’s’ killer entrance onto the big screen.”
James Wan added in his own statement shared by Variety, “In ‘Dead by Daylight’ the Behaviour team has created a love letter to the world of horror, building an incredible environment teeming with atmosphere and terrifying villains — perfect for a scary cinematic adaptation. We’re big fans of the game at Atomic Monster, and are thrilled to be teaming up with Blumhouse to bring this frighteningly visceral world to the big screen.”
“We know there are so many fans of ‘Dead by Daylight’ out there and think it’s imperative we find someone who appreciates and loves the world as much as we do, to help us bring the game to the big screen,” said Blumhouse’s Jason Blum. “We know our partners at Behaviour and Atomic Monster will help us bring the best version of this game to life.”
Wan, Blum and Stephen Mulrooney are producers on the film. Behaviour Interactive’s Remi Racine; Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Judson Scott; Blumhouse’s Ryan Turek, and Striker Entertainment’s Russell Binder are executive producers.
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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