Movies
Friday, December 12 – These 10 New Horror Movies Released This Week
The Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise returns to theaters this week and it’s joined by the feature debut of “Hannibal” creator Bryan Fuller, a sequel to a streaming success, and even the debut of a recent festival hit in a brand new digital video store launched by Letterboxd.
Here’s all the new horror released from December 8 – December 14, 2025!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
Director Kevin Lewis (Willy’s Wonderland starring Nicolas Cage) is back this week with Pig Hill, which Bloody Disgusting and Cineverse released onto digital outlets on Tuesday.
The chilling horror feature draws inspiration from a Pennsylvania urban legend involving the mysterious disappearance of local women. Watch the trailer for Pig Hill down below.
Pig Hill follows a young author who investigates the disappearance of local women in the community of Meadville, Pennsylvania, quickly becoming entwined in a strange local legend about the creatures that live on Pig Hill. The film is based on the Nancy Williams novel Pig.
The official synopsis is as follows: “Carrie has been fascinated by the local legend of the pig people of Pig Hill, revolting creatures who breed and cause havoc in the area. As the tenth woman goes missing, Carrie can’t stop thinking that there could be more to these stories.”
The film stars Shane West (A Walk To Remember, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Rainey Qualley (Ocean’s Eight, Mad Men), Shiloh Fernandez (Evil Dead, Red Riding Hood, Poker Face) and R.A. Mihailoff (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Hatchet II).
From Magnolia Pictures and director Lotfy Nathan, The Carpenter’s Son is now available on Digital at home. The horror film is described as “a meticulously crafted, genre-bending supernatural thriller packed with unshakeable images of the divine and demonic at war.”
Nicolas Cage stars alongside FKA twigs and Noah Jupe.
Inspired by the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the film tells the dark story of a family hiding out in Roman Egypt. Here’s the brand new official plot synopsis:
“A remote village in Roman-era Egypt explodes into spiritual warfare when a carpenter, his wife and their child are targeted by supernatural forces.
“Joseph (Nicolas Cage), Mary (FKA twigs) and their teenage son Jesus (Noah Jupe) have lived for years under threat, clinging to their faith and traditions. But a stopover in a small settlement unleashes growing chaos when a mysterious stranger (Isla Johnston) tries to entice young Jesus to abandon his devout father’s rules.
“With every pull of temptation, the boy is lured into a forbidden world, as a terrified Joseph realizes that a demonic power is at work. Violent, unnatural events inexplicably follow Jesus, and he begins to experience nightmarish visions of the future. Finally, he learns the fearsome truth about his new playmate, as well as the child’s real name: Satan.”
A dark new trip from director Osgood Perkins (Longlegs, The Monkey), the unnerving fairy tale nightmare Keeper is now available at home in the wake of its theatrical release.
The horror movie follows a couple as they escape for a romantic anniversary weekend at a secluded cabin. When Malcolm suddenly returns to the city, Liz finds herself isolated and in the presence of an unspeakable evil that unveils the cabin’s horrifying secrets.
Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”) and Rossif Sutherland (Possessor) star.
Nick Lepard (Dangerous Animals) wrote the screenplay.
Perkins is already in production on his next film, The Young People, for a planned 2026 release.
Letterboxd launched a digital film rental platform – dubbed Letterboxd Video Store – this week, and among its initial offerings is the horror film It Ends, which is exclusively available for digital rental through the Video Store before the festival hit even has U.S. distribution. You can rent it for $19.99 from now until January 9, when it will leave the service.
The film doesn’t even have a trailer yet, so you won’t find one below!
The genre-bending It Ends follows four recent college grads on a late-night food run who become trapped on an infinite highway with otherworldly terrors lurking beyond. Confined in their Jeep Cherokee, they must decide whether to accept their fate or attempt escape.
Writer-director Alex Ullom makes his feature debut on the project, which stars Mitchell Cole, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Phinehas Yoon.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her review out of SXSW, “It Ends captures a universal fear, that anxiety-inducing transition into full-blown adulthood where we’re all expected to become responsible contributors to society. It’s a lot of pressure with no clear guide. As such, it runs through every emotion that comes with that journey.”
Tubi released Tubi Original Hag today, a queer horror thriller that brings to mind quintessential obsession movies like Single White Female, The Gift, and One Hour Photo.
Ryan de Villiers and Jane de Wet (Slumber Party Massacre) star in the horror movie, which marks the feature debut of writer-director Sam Wineman (Deathcember).
“After a decade apart, Rowan (de Villiers) rents his spare room to Mag (de Wet) – a self-proclaimed “hag” – whose obsession with him grows into a life-or-death showdown.”
Adore Delano (“Drag Race”), Anja Taljaard, Matthew Vey, Darron Meyer, Frances Sholto-Douglas (Slumber Party Massacre), and Robyn Scott also star.
“For those who have been following my journey, you know how much this moment means to me,” Wineman shared on Instagram. “I’m so glad we get to celebrate it together.”
The Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise is back with a brand new movie from Bloody Disgusting, Cineverse and director Mike P. Nelson, and it’s now playing in theaters!
Watch the trailer for SNDN 2025 below and get your tickets now!
Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends) is Billy and Ruby Modine (Happy Death Day) is Pamela in director Mike P. Nelson’s (Wrong Turn, Sweet Revenge) Silent Night, Deadly Night, a brand new reimagining of the holiday horror classic that came down the chimney in 1984.
In this twisted reimagining of the holiday classic, “After witnessing his parents’ murder on Christmas Eve, Billy grows up to deliver an annual spree of holiday violence. This year, his mission collides with love, as a young woman challenges him to confront his darkness.”
The Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise kicked off with the original classic back in 1984, which entered the halls of horror infamy when parents protested the film’s depiction of a killer dressed in a Santa Claus suit. That film was followed by increasingly bizarre sequels in 1987, 1989, 1990, and 1991, as well as a remake in 2012 that was simply titled Silent Night.
The sequel to 2022’s Influencer, Influencers is now streaming only on Shudder.
Cassandra Naud returns to star in the brand new sequel.
Writer-director Kurtis David Harder is back at the helm, promising “breathtaking locations, shocking and bloodier kills, and a deeper dive into the many sides of CW’s character.”
Set in the sun-drenched countryside of southern France, CW lives a quiet, idyllic life with her girlfriend Diane, hiding a dark obsession with murder and stolen identities.
During an anniversary getaway, they cross paths with Charlotte, a bold, alluring influencer whose curiosity quickly turns intrusive.
When CW acts on a violent impulse, the consequences spiral out of control, and as Diane begins to suspect the truth, CW’s carefully constructed life threatens to collapse around her.
Emily Tennant, Georgina Campbell, Lisa Delamar, Jonathan Whitesell, Veronica Long, and Dylan Playfair round out the cast of Influencers.
Joe Lipsett wrote in his review out of Fantasia, “Influencers is a great sequel that takes the series in a fun, satirical, and often deliciously mean new direction.”
“Hannibal” creator Bryan Fuller re-teams with his Hannibal Lecter, Mads Mikkelsen, for Dust Bunny, a gateway horror movie that’s now playing only in theaters.
Fuller makes his feature directorial debut on the fantastical horror movie.
In the film, 10-year-old Aurora has a mysterious neighbor who kills real-life monsters. He’s a hit man for hire. So, when Aurora needs help killing the monster she believes ate her entire family, she procures his services.
Suspecting that her parents may have fallen victim to assassins gunning for him, Aurora’s neighbor guiltily takes the job. Now, to protect her, he’ll need to battle an onslaught of assassins — and accept that some monsters are real.
Mads Mikkelsen stars with Sophie Sloan, Sigourney Weaver, David Dastmalchian, Rebecca Henderson, and Sheila Atim.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her review out of TIFF, “Dust Bunny, guided by Fuller’s strong and distinct vision, easily stacks up against many of the formative gateway horror films of yesteryear. So much so that it feels all but destined for cult classic status.”
Psychological mystery thriller Visions is now available on VOD outlets.
Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) stars as Estelle, a brilliant airline captain who leads a perfect life with her renowned doctor husband, played by Mathieu Kassovitz (Amélie).
But something is about to change when Estelle falls in love with Ana, played by Marta Nieto (“Berlin”), and begins an intense affair.
Yann Gozlan (Black Box) directs from a script he co-wrote with Michel Fessler (March of the Penguins), Aurélie Valat, Jean-Baptiste Delafon, and Audrey Diwan (The Man with the Iron Heart). Amira Casar, Grégory Fitoussi (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), and Élodie Navarre star alongside Diane Kruger in the Hitchcockian suspense thriller.
An Oscar winner for his work on Star Trek (2010), makeup effects master Joel Harlow (Dracula 1992, Brainscan, Anaconda, X-Men, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Black Panther) has cooked up an anthology of EC Comics-style terror tales this holiday season in “Old Time Radio,” and the first two episodes are now streaming exclusively on Screambox!
Four horror shorts are part of the throwback “Old Time Radio” anthology from director and creator Joel Harlow, with the first two being released under the “Bloody Bites” umbrella today on Screambox and the second two being released on December 19.
Today also marked the Screambox release of one-hour documentary Old Time Radio: A Chronicle of Creativity, which dives into Harlow’s journey to bringing these tales to life.
Harlow tells Bloody Disgusting, “Old Time Radio was never meant to be just a series of shorts — it was a world I wanted to live in for a while. A place where the dead still have things to say, where horror is theatrical, handmade, and weird in all the right ways. I grew up loving the charm and menace of vintage radio dramas, the kind that relied on atmosphere, suggestion, and imagination — and I wanted to bring that feeling back, with characters and creatures built by hand.”
“Across the four completed shorts — OTR, Your Move, Dance With Me, and The Specter of Christmas — I’ve followed a small group of graveyard dwellers through games, ghost stories, holiday hauntings, and doomed courtships,” Harlow continues. “Riktus Grim, Edward Mise, and Mildred Price have become my own little rep company of the dead, returning again and again in slightly different forms — a little worse for wear each time.”
The Oscar winning makeup effects artist adds, “The series is built with practical effects, miniatures, rod puppets, old-school in-camera tricks — anything that felt authentic to the era and fun to do. That physicality is important to me. It’s not just about nostalgia; it’s about creating something tactile and strange and slightly off-center — like those old EC Comics or the broadcasts that used to bleed through when you turned the dial just right.”
The iconic line “If you build it, they will come” may have originally referred to a baseball field, but I’d argue that the record-breaking success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms is proof that the line could also refer to well-crafted movies about ideas that young cinemagoers actually care about.
Yet, despite being based on Parsons’ existing ARG/Webseries, the A24-produced film is more of a standalone tale exploring the personal implications of the titular rooms rather than a traditional examination of the hard sci-fi elements present in the source material.
This less lore-reliant approach was a genius move, as the resulting film ended up being equally accessible to both existing fans and newcomers alike. That’s not to say that Backrooms doesn’t engage with the existing mythology in new and interesting ways, however, as the film heavily expands on the Async Research Institute and the cryptobiology of the rooms themselves. With that in mind, I’m diving a little deeper into these connections in order to help fledgling Backrooms enthusiasts find their way around the yellow labyrinth.
As is to be expected from this kind of article, there are major spoilers ahead, so proceed at your own risk if you’ve yet to see the movie!
Who is Async Research Institute in the Backrooms Movie?
Backrooms. Courtesy of A24.
Of course, if we’re going to discuss the connections between the series and the film, a good place to start would be Async itself. The California-based Foundation plays a brief yet pivotal role in the film as outside observers that only really interfere with the main plot during the final act. While the Foundation is the main focus of the ARG, they’re mostly hinted at in the film.
Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Clark runs into several Async-built “anomaly lures” during his exploration of the liminal space (mostly in the form of human-shaped cut-outs accompanied by audio recordings inspired by the 1977 Voyager Golden Record), as well as surveillance cameras and evidence that at least one of their agents has become trapped in the rooms – though we’ll get to this last detail later.
It’s only towards the end of the flick that Foundation agents finally show up in their iconic yellow protection suits and “rescue” Renate Reinsve’s Mary by pulling her back to “reality” through a familiar portal, though it’s heavily implied that they might not be all that concerned with her well-being.
After all, long-time fans are aware that Async has been researching the “Complex” (their official name for the Backrooms phenomenon) since at least the late 1980s, with their Threshold experiments being based on a Low-Proximity Magnetic Distortion System prototype developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1982. Unfortunately, their experiments have likely resulted in hidden portals appearing more frequently in the outside world, which consequently leads to more people accidentally “no-clipping through reality”. And that’s not even mentioning the occasional earthquake caused by unstable Thresholds!
Where the Backrooms Fits in the Original ARG Timeline
Kane Parsons’ “The Backrooms” horor short
Though the film takes place in 1990, the ARG’s timeline actually begins in 1996, with the original found footage upload and the ensuing research sparked by the video serving as sequels to the A24 production. Not only that, but film’s Still Life monsters (“misremembered” versions of real people who wandered into the rooms) appear to be precursors to the Lifeform from the series.
In the original videos, it’s speculated that the humanoid predator inhabiting the Complex is the result of a novel strain of hay bacillus forming a human-shaped colony, though the addition of the Still Life mythology may very well mean that the mutated hay bacillus itself is a Still Life reproduction of an existing bacteria that somehow fell into the Complex.
The film also offers us an interesting clue into the history of the Foundation when Mark Duplass’ Phil talks about how the company used to work with MRI machines. This seemingly innocuous origin for the secretive organization implies that the Complex itself might be the result of some advanced form of neural imaging – as if the Threshold is somehow opening a portal to the universe’s -or even God’s- subconscious mind.
Who is Naren Warne and Why is He Important to Backrooms Lore?
Async researches in “Backrooms” web series
One of the more direct connections between the film and the series happens to be Avan Jogia’s Naren Warne, an unfortunate Async Institute scientist who shows up in the movie’s found footage prologue. A now-deleted Discord post by Kane Parsons himself suggests that Warne was originally a part of the Missing Persons survey team that discovered a dead body taken over by “mold” (the aforementioned hay bacillus).
At some point during the expedition, Naren appears to have been separated from the rest of the team and wound up wandering alone in the Backrooms. The film opens with the desperate scientist’s VHS footage as he records his attempts to contact his superiors and is ultimately chased down by an unseen Lifeform.
While this prologue mostly serves to establish that the Backrooms contain more than empty hallways, it’s fun to see Parsons include a trail of breadcrumbs leading back to the lo-fi source material even when working on such a high-profile production.
Naturally, there are other curious connections to be found here, such as a faithful recreation of the original photo that spawned the Backrooms creepypasta in the first place, as well as audio cues harkening back to the various TikTok musical trends that often accompany liminal horror content.
However, half the fun of engaging with lore-heavy material comes from discussing theories with fellow fans, so I’d like to invite readers to comment below with your own favorite additions to the lore/references to the ARG! Just be sure to watch out for suspicious-looking furniture salesmen – especially if they’re dressed up like a pirate.
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