Movies
Halloween Cult Horror Movie ‘Self-Help’ from ‘Founders Day’ Director Gets New Trailer and Release Date
Filmmaker Erik Bloomquist (Founders Day, She Came From the Woods) is back with new horror movie Self-Help, and a brand new trailer gives a closer look at the Halloween setting, along with a seasonally appropriate release date.
Self-Help is set for a nationwide theatrical rollout on Halloween, October 31, with “Mischief Night Sneak Previews” on October 30. Expect a digital release in early 2026.
The film follows a college student as she infiltrates a dangerous self-actualization community after her mother becomes entangled with its enigmatic “anti-cult” leader.
Jake Weber (Medium, Dawn of the Dead), Landry Bender (Looking for Alaska, The Sitter), Madison Lintz (Bosch, The Walking Dead), and Amy Hargreaves (Homeland, 13 Reasons Why) star alongside Blaque Fowler (Halloween Ends), Erik Bloomquist (Founders Day), Adam Weppler (The Four Seasons), and Carol Cadby (Radium Girls).
Erik Bloomquist wrote the screenplay with his brother Carson Bloomquist (Founders Day, She Came from the Woods). The brothers produce for Mainframe alongside co-producers Amy Hargreaves, Landry Bender, Tyler LaValley, Jerry Daigle, William Kay, and Chris Woodward.
“Self-Help represents everything we love about horror: fearless storytelling, visceral gore, and disturbing imagery that stays with you long after the credits roll. We’re delighted to be bringing Erik and Carson’s next film to audiences across North America,” says distributor Cineverse.
Watch the new trailer below and add a new Halloween horror movie to your October watchlists.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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