Movies
Jason Blum-Tyler Perry Psychological Thriller ‘Strung’ Debuts on Peacock in June
Originally announced back in 2021 as Help, Jason Blum and Tyler Perry‘s first co-production is now titled Strung — and it’s coming soon.
Variety has learned that the psychological thriller will stream June 26 on Peacock following its premiere as the opening film at Miami Beach’s American Black Film Festival on May 27.
It’s directed by Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) and written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“) stars as a gifted violinist whose prestigious new role as a music tutor for an enigmatic, elite family spirals into a psychological battle for her safety and sanity.
Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), and Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”) round out the cast.
Hailing from Peachtree & Vine and Blumhouse, in association with Blackmaled Productions, the film is produced by Perry, Blum, Lee, Tim Palen, and Dominique Telson. Executive producers include McElroy, Philip Waley, Shaun S. Sutton, and Giselle Johnson-Morris.
“As we celebrate 30 years of the American Black Film Festival, having Malcolm D. Lee return with his latest project, Strung, feels especially right for this moment,” said ABFF producer Nicole Friday. “Malcolm has been part of the ABFF journey, and his return under our ‘Homecoming’ theme feels truly full circle.”
Stay tuned for the Strung trailer as its release draws nearer.
Chloe Bailey in ‘Strung.’ Photo by Ilze Kitshoff/Courtesy of Peacock.
It’s been eight years since Ari Aster came onto the scene and helped usher in a new wave of horror with Hereditary, one of the rare horror movies from the past ten years that still seems to come up in conversation every single week. And it’s back in the conversation this week, with Ari Aster revealing at an event that he’s already written a prequel to Hereditary!
Ari Aster was on hand at the American Cinematheque for Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair last week, a Los Angeles festival that screened all of Aster’s movies to date. The website Gold Derby reports that Aster revealed the Hereditary prequel script during a Q&A at the event, and you can watch the full Q&A conversation below for confirmation on the website’s report.
“I wrote a prequel to this,” Aster told the crowd, referring to Hereditary. “It never feels like the right time to do it. It’s a prequel, not a sequel so I don’t know where this goes.”
Would a potential Hereditary prequel dig deeper into the mythology of demon king Paimon? Unfortunately, Aster provides no further details on his prequel approach at this time.
Aster said of Hereditary during the same Q&A, “I was just trying to make a really good horror movie.” I think most horror fans would agree that he more than accomplished that goal, and the past eight years have proven that Hereditary is an enduring classic of its generation.
We celebrated the fifth anniversary of Hereditary here on BD back in 2023.
Ron Breton wrote, “Hereditary offers a similar emotional resonance to this new generation of horror – my generation of horror– as movie-goers in the seventies when they first saw Exorcist. Much like Aster’s film, we see the incomprehensible evil wear the face of a young girl; the victim of a raw deal she had no say in, as it tears a family to its core. Sure, both films offer so many terrifying visuals that can make the hair stand up on anyone’s neck – but it also depicts intense relationships and emotions that are tangible. Real. Familiar.”
“In that familiarity lies the uncanny, ready to rear its ugly head and force us to confront thoughts and horrors laying dormant and clawing at our psyche,” Breton continued his 5th anniversary celebration of Hereditary. “And it doesn’t matter if it’s been five or fifty years. These horrors are always there, as we become pawns in its horrible, hopeless machine.”
Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Ann Dowd, and Milly Shapiro star in Hereditary. In the film, “A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.”
That’s putting it mildly, eh?!
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