Filmmaker Jordan Downey‘s The Cycle has been making the rounds on the festival circuit, with many of the reactions being an appreciation of entering the movie without preconceived notions. While we want to maintain that experience for you, we can say that the overall tone of the narrative starts in one place and evolves into something entirely different.

Speaking with Bloody Disgusting about developing the pacing of the script, Downey explained, “Most of the time spent in the script is how [and] when we reveal something, because the theory was that you want to get the audience right up to that breaking point of, ‘Where is this movie going? Do I want to turn it off? Do I want to leave the theater?’ Whatever that experience is you’re having, and right then, you do the shift.”

“There’s no book on ‘here’s how you do it’ or some formula, it was just having people read the script and watching cuts of the movie, and we messed around a lot with the edit and how much to pull out,” Downey noted. “It’s just trial and error, honestly, and really a lot of just trying to think about as massive horror fans and cinephiles ourselves, where would I start to pick up on things? What weird stuff do I need to see that just gives me a plethora of options so that I’m not being fooled specifically in that, ‘Oh, that’s not what’s really happening.’ It’s more just, ‘I don’t know what’s happening because it could be this, this, this, this, but then there’s a corpse, but the corpse caught on fire. Where is this going?’ And then it just all hopefully comes together.”

In the movie, when the body of a man missing for 36 years is discovered at the scene of a horrific crime, it’s up to his estranged daughter to unravel his dark past.

The Cycle stars Deborah Ann Woll and Jeffrey Donovan, with the pair reflecting on their experience of discovering the many layers of the narrative.

“[Downey] must have told me in his prologue what it was going to be, but I think it wouldn’t have mattered either way because I was in by page 30. The script was so good and the mystery was so good and the character was so good that, whether it had a twist or not … wouldn’t have changed my mind,” Woll recalled. “I am a big fan of movies that shift genre. I always talk about The Descent as one of my favorite horror movies, and I like that you start off thinking, ‘Oh, this is a survivalist movie. Oh, no, wait, this is a psychological horror movie. Oh, no, wait, this is a straight-up creature feature. And it’s fun that it shifts you that way.”

She added, “So I think, more as an artist, as a storyteller, I read it and I went, ‘Okay, great. This is really smart,’ the way that this is convincing you wholly that this is one type of movie and that it will subvert your expectations.”

Donovan, meanwhile, had a different reaction. He pointed out how the script included a character installing a retinal scanner, and while this might seem like a minute detail, it implied a much bigger world.

“I will say that one of the things that when I first read it, which is a small, very small detail in the script, that actually I put down the script at that point and told my agent, ‘I want to meet Jordan,’ was when the [character] … he starts scanning his eye,” the actor expressed. “I went, ‘Wow, that is cool, because that says so many different things … It just worked on so many levels, but it was only a third of a page. It just said, ‘Access denied, access denied, access granted.’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ For some reason, that was a big surprise to me in a wonderful way.”

Woll plays a forensic anthropologist whose journey starts when she is analyzing a dead body for clues. The actor did plenty of research into the role and the actual experiences of forensic scientists.

“For me, it’s the magic trick. It’s the magic trick that is forensic anthropology, that you read these accounts in the several books that I read where they’ll find the tip of a pinky bone and be able to tell you everything about this person and their past, and it looks like magic, but it’s not,” Woll pointed out of what her research helped her with the most. “It’s based on years of deduction and research and education. And that was important to me, was that when we watch Meg do her work, that it feels a little bit like a magic trick, that she is seeing things that no one else is going to see, and that ultimately this is a power for good that she has.”

Downey, who co-wrote the movie with Kevin Stewart, says that The X-Files was a major influence on the overall tone, approaching the potentially otherworldly elements clinically. He cited that favorite installments in the series were episodes like “Home” and “Humbug,” and a major inspiration was a behind-the-scenes photo from the set of the movie sequel The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which featured a monstrous creature that never appeared in the film.

The filmmaker confirmed that The Cycle exists in a similar world to The X-Files and that there could be even more bizarre occurrences out there.

“I think it is in that same X-Files space that there can be aliens, there can be vampires, there can be ghouls, ghosts, hauntings, whatever, but it’s not common enough for everyday people to have those experiences,” Downey detailed. “I see it as in that same world, especially because we have a character in our movie that, at the end of the film, you see the research that he’s done, and there are a lot of hints that he has expanded into some strange spaces that exist in the depths of the internet.”

Be sure to watch the full interviews at the bottom of the page.

The Cycle lands on Shudder on October 23.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post How ‘The Cycle’ Became the Year’s Biggest Genre-Bending Surprise [INTERVIEW] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

These figures are merely a handful of the impressive voices in genre storytelling that have come through the doors of Glass Eye Pix over the years, which was created by Larry Fessenden. Proving just how deep the history of the studio is, Glass Eye Pix Palooza-Con is set to celebrate 40 years of the studio. The one-day-only celebration of the studio will be happening on November 7 at Ideal Glass Studio in New York City. The event coincides with the end of Optic Nerve: A Tribute to Glass Eye Pix at Manhattan’s IFC Center, which runs from October 28 through November 3.

Per press release, “Glass Eye Pix is proud to announce the first-ever Glass Eye Pix Palooza-Con (aka GEP-CON), a one-day-only brick-and-mortar store located in the heart of Manhattan — celebrating 40 years of Larry Fessenden’s iconic NYC production company. The convention / party / pop-up store happens in conjunction with the IFC Center’s Optic Nerve screening series, which celebrates 40 years of Glass Eye Pix, featuring select work by Ti West, Jim Mickle, and Glenn McQuaid, as well as Larry Fessenden’s acclaimed Monster Quadrilogy.

“GEP-CON will take place at Ideal Glass Studios, located at 9 West 8th Street, from noon until 11:00PM on November 7th. The store will feature mountains of Glass Eye Pix films, including Blu-Rays and 4K discs from Vinegar Syndrome and Dark Sky Films, hard-to-find VHS tapes, and other assorted rarities. Also for sale will be Blu-Rays from the new Glass Eye Pix video label, featuring early work by Ti West, James Felix McKenney, and Graham Reznick.

“Glass Eye Pix Palooza-Con will feature curated displays of costumes and props from GEP films going back to the 1990s. The event’s walls will feature posters chronicling Glass Eye’s decades-long journey, dating all the way back to Fessenden’s time in the late 1980s, chronicling East Village performance artist and stuntman David Leslie (aka The Impact Addict).

“In addition to films, GEP-CON will sell brand new t-shirts and handcrafted Wendigo figurines sculpted by James Felix McKenney. Also available are CDs and vinyl editions of various scores, Fessenden’s pub rock band Just Desserts, and other rarities. A back catalog of Glass Eye Comix will be purchasable, alongside the debut of The Damned and the Dangerous, a thrilling new one-shot graphic novel from Glenn McQuaid and Ted Geoghegan, illustrated by the legendary Brahm Revel.

“Proving it’s far more than simply a pop-up event, a number of eye-catching digital displays throughout Glass Eye Pix Palooza-Con will feature mini-documentaries, rare behind-the-scenes footage, creepy Christmas films, sizzle reels, shorts, and rare features in the auditorium section of the venue. Attending, signing, and yes, even working the register at GEP-CON will be a litany of Glass Eye founders, filmmakers, alumni, and extended family members.

“As evening descends upon the space, GEP-CON will shift focus to live events, including a performance of a brand-new episode of Glenn McQuaid and Larry Fessenden’s celebrated audio drama series, Tales from Beyond the Pale, featuring a cast of special guests. Music and additional acts will follow, and the evening will end with a rousing birthday celebration of the Glass Eye Pix legacy.”

You can check out Glass Eye Pix Palooza-Con at Ideal Glass Studio in New York City on November 7.

Will you be checking out the event? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Glass Eye Pix Palooza-Con to Celebrate the Seminal Indie Production Studio appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Homesick centers on Dr. Abby Morrison (Suvari), “a compassionate physician whose carefully built life conceals a secret she has never shared with her husband. With their daughter away at college, Abby and husband Gordy (Arquette) are settling into life as empty nesters when the arrival of a mysterious young woman (Shouse) shatters their sense of safety.

“As an unsettling encounter spirals into a nightmare, the couple must fight to protect each other in a home they can no longer trust.“

Todd Slavkin (“Coven Academy“, “Shadowhunters“) is directing from a script written with longtime writing and producing partner Darren Swimmer. 

Arquette is currently on tour with Scream for its 30th anniversary and stars in The Night Driver, which made its premiere recently at Screamfest. Suvari has also been keeping busy in the horror sphere. The actress currently appears in season 13 of “American Horror Story” and recently wrapped production on the psychological horror Kill Me Now.

The post Empty Nester Horror ‘Homesick’ To Star David Arquette, Mena Suvari, Belle Shouse & Alberto Rosende appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Still, Scott somehow keeps moving forward and releasing impressive adventures, including this year’s The Dog Stars. The movie hit theaters in August and is now set for a home video release, coming to Digital on October 27 and then hitting 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 1.

Set in a world where survival is instinct, but humanity is a choice, The Dog Stars follows Hig (Jacob Elordi), a young pilot who, alongside military survivalist Bangley (Josh Brolin), has carved out an efficient but isolated homestead in a brutal post-apocalyptic world. When a mysterious radio transmission breaks through their solitude, Hig is compelled to venture into the unknown in search of the hope, connection and humanity he still believes exists.

Boasting a stellar ensemble cast including Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney, and Benedict Wong, The Dog Stars will arrive in stunning 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range (HDR), a wider color spectrum and immersive audio, delivering the ultimate home-viewing experience. Audiences will have a chance to set out into the world beyond with exclusive bonus content offering a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, along with never-before-seen deleted scenes.

Special features on the upcoming release include the following:

• The Making of The Dog Stars: Get an intimate look behind the scenes of the film.
• Deleted Scenes: Check out these scenes that didn’t make the final cut.
  • Jasper’s Funeral
  • Hig Mourns
  • Welcome Dinner
  • Roaches’ Warning
  • Hig & Cima
  • A Conversation With Pops
  • Airport Alternate Exit

The movie landed in theaters with a relatively underwhelming reception. The Dog Stars only sits at 41% positive reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, and also had a disappointing performance at the box office. There are a number of reasons why the movie might not have found a wide audience, but with movies like Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey still scoring huge numbers at theaters for months, along with smaller titles like Coyote vs. Acme earning rave reviews, there seemed to be too much competition for Dog Stars to find its audience.

Perhaps the movie’s release on home video will help it find a larger following.

Will you be checking out The Dog Stars? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Ridley Scott’s Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Thriller ‘The Dog Stars’ Hits Digital Next Week appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Reeves would star alongside Ma Dong-seok (Train to Busan), also known as Don Lee, who starred in the original Korean film from director Lee Won-tae and will reprise his role in the remake. There’s no word at this time on who Reeves would play in this remake.

In the original movie, “a police officer and a crime boss reluctantly team up to track down a serial killer. With each having their own motives, double-crosses and cat-and-mouse games ensue, along with a heaping helping of police versus criminals and gang versus gang action.”

The South Korean thriller was loosely inspired by real-life South Korean serial killer cases from the mid-2000s, and starred Don Lee as the titular gangster in this serial killer thriller equation. It debuted in the “Midnight Screenings” section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, and screened at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Eric Pearson (Thunderbolts*, Fantastic Four: First Steps) wrote the latest script, based on previous drafts by Shay Hatten (Resident Evil) and Brian Helgeland (A Knight’s Tale, L.A. Confidential).

Wan is also producing via his Blumhouse-Atomic Monster banner. Blumhouse-Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Jason Blum will also produce. Don Lee, Sylvester Stallone, D. Matt Geller, Chris S. Lee, Jang Won-seok, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura are also on board to produce.

This will mark the first film directed by James Wan since the Aquaman sequel back in 2023.

The post Keanu Reeves In Talks To Star In James Wan’s ‘The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil’ Remake appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Part of what makes Art’s legacy so impressive is how well-known he has become without the backing of a major film studio. The first Terrifier gained a significant following thanks to its availability on streaming services, allowing Terrifier 2 to earn a limited theatrical release, which led to Terrifier 3 earning an even wider theatrical release. Still, the movies’ status as cult classics is largely a testament to their home video availability.

Luckily, whether you’ve seen the movies before or just wanted to see what the hype is all about, all three installments in the Terrifier trilogy are headed to theaters in time for Halloween. Presented by the video game Dead by Daylight, Terrifier screens in select theaters on October 29, Terrifier 2 screens on October 30, and Terrifier 3 screens on October 31.

With the first two movies in the franchise taking place on Halloween night, there’s no better time to head out to the theater to see David Howard Thornton‘s performance as Art up on the big screen. Terrifier 3, however, is set around Christmas, so while you might not be eager to think about winter holidays on October 31, it does make a good installment to use to transition towards other holidays.

Seeing the movies on the big screen isn’t the only way to embrace Art this month, as he is also running rampant at Universal Studios Hollywood for Halloween Horror Nights. The franchise is honored with this year’s “Terror Tram starring Art the Clown,” which Universal describes, “Art the Clown arrives on the Backlot with his bloody bag of presents in tow. But when he realizes he’s too early for Christmas, he hijacks the Terror Tram for his own ho-ho-horrific holiday tradition.”

Terrifier 4 is also on the way, which will be set around New Year’s Eve. At this time, the fourth film in the series doesn’t yet have an official release date.

Will you be checking out the movies on the big screen? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Entire ‘Terrifier’ Trilogy Returning to Theaters for Halloween appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Director/Co-Writer Luca Bercovici and Levy previously reclaimed the domestic rights to their 1984 cult classic film, with plans to develop a new trilogy for a new generation of fans.

In 2024, producer/writer Theo Lemasters shared that two of the scripts for this planned trilogy are already complete, with the third one halfway complete. “We are shopping it now and hoping to film in late Summer/Early Fall,” writer/producer Lemasters said at the time of publication.

According to Brain Mutant, who uncovered public federal court filings (Case No. 2:25-cv-11481), Lemasters filed a lawsuit against Levy in the Central District of California in 2025, stalling all reboot plans. 

That seems to have changed as of this month, with the lawsuit reaching a settlement that will allow Ghoulies to move forward: “On October 5, the defense counsel filed the official Notice of Settlement. The following day, October 6, District Judge Fernando M. Olguin issued the Order Dismissing Action.“

The team is ready to get the project back on track immediately once the legal hurdle is officially cleared.

Levy told the outlet, “We have an incredible reboot script. Cannot get financing until the legal issue is settled. Once the legal issue is settled, we will begin production on Ghoulies 2027.”

That he refers to the reboot as Ghoulies 2027 suggests they may be targeting a 2027 release as well, though it’s too early to determine just yet.

There are big plans in place for Ghoulies, too, as the creative team previously teased expanding the Ghoulies universe beyond the silver screen with a book series, figures, apparel, and collectibles for every devotee of the delightfully demonic Ghoulies.

The 1985 horror-comedy from producer Charles Band’s (Puppet Master, Subspecies) Empire Pictures is directed by Luca Bercovici (Rockula) from a script he co-wrote with producer Jefery Levy.

It follows a young man, Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis), and his girlfriend inheriting an ancestral home, where his Satanic father happens to be buried, and becoming possessed by power and the ability to summon tiny demons. Hargitay played the role of Donna, a friend to the couple who doesn’t fare well against the tiny creatures.

Star Mariska Hargitay recently explained to the Emmy audience that she got her start in Ghoulies, “where a monster pops out of a toilet.”

The post ‘Ghoulies’ Reboot For New Generation Eyes 2027 Production appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the new survival thriller Above the Below, we get a new spin on a seemingly familiar premise, as astronauts crash land in an ocean. The first trailer for the movie has been released, which you can see below. Above the Below hits theaters on December 4.

Lionsgate describes the movie, “After three astronauts survive a disaster in space, their unscheduled crash-landing leaves them trapped in the crushing depths of the ocean with no contact with mission control and oxygen rapidly running out. In a race against time where every breath could be their last, the crew faces impossible choices, mounting odds, and new dangers in this pulse-pounding story about what we do when faced with the greatest stakes imaginable.”

Idris Elba co-directs with Martin Owen and stars in this survival-thriller alongside Caitlin FitzGerald and Hero Fiennes Tiffin. Elizabeth Morris, Matthew Mitchell, and Vicki Sargent wrote the screenplay.

In a world that grows increasingly fixated on finding ways to cut corners, especially when it comes to visual effects, Elba previously explained how many elements of the new movie were done practically.

“I’m very excited to show people that I can hold my breath for four minutes. Joking aside (I can hold my breath for that long), but you know, this film was very practical,” Elba explained of the movie to Collider. “We did a lot of the things in this film. We did build the spacecraft, we submerged it in water, we shot a lot of it underwater. There’s a real practicality to this film that adds to the claustrophobia and the thriller aspect of it. So I’m really excited for people to literally go on that journey with us, from space to the ocean, and be entertained, be thrilled, and be claustrophobic.”

Above the Below lands in theaters on December 4.

Are you looking forward to the new thriller? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Above the Below’: Idris Elba Is in Over His Head in Trailer for Survival Thriller appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Future Me is based on the viral Reddit short story by Daria Vasileva, originally published in the “NoSleep” subreddit, the online community dedicated to user-generated horror fiction. The story follows “a man who receives a deeply unsettling email from his past self via the ‘FutureMe’ website, a message that draws him down a terrifying and increasingly surreal rabbit hole.”

The film will be written and directed by husband and wife filmmaking duo Joseph and Vanessa Winter, whose critically acclaimed debut feature Deadstream premiered at SXSW before being acquired by Shudder. Their follow-up was the fan-favorite segment “To Hell and Back” in found footage horror anthology film V/H/S/99.

Their latest project is Amityville, a radical new imagining of the Amityville Horror franchise with Adam Hendricks & Greg Gilreath of Divide/Conquer and Raphael Margules & J.D. Lifshitz.

Future Me will be produced by Majd Nassif (MERCY, Locked) for Longevity Pictures, alongside Steven Schneider (The Long Walk, Strange Darling, Late Night with the Devil) and Roy Lee (Weapons, Barbarian, It) for Spooky Pictures. Image Nation Studios’ Ben Ross (Watcher, Late Night with the Devil) and Longevity Pictures’ Aysel Lyatifova (MERCY, Six Till Midnight) will executive produce.

Majd Nassif, President of Longevity Pictures, said “Spooky Pictures and Image Nation Studios have built an incredible track record for championing high-concept, creator-driven horror storytelling, so expanding our partnership felt like a natural next step, particularly at a time when there is a proven market appetite and openness for fresh concepts and emerging creative voices. After the success of Backrooms, the potential of internet lore as fertile ground for adaptation has become undeniable – so we’re excited to be bringing Future Me to life with a team which shares our passion for original and punchy genre projects. It’s a story that has already captured the imagination of audiences online, and Joseph and Vanessa are the ideal pair to take it to the big screen.”

“Longevity Pictures brings exactly the kind of creative flair and commercial instinct that we champion so we’re thrilled to be building a slate together that combines killer storytelling with strong commercial appeal. Horror filmmaking is firing on all cylinders right now, with both audiences and critics embracing fresh concepts and emerging creative voices, making this the ideal time to bring more genre films to audiences worldwide. Future Me is exactly the kind of project we’re looking to get behind – a chilling premise with a passionate existing fanbase, and with Joseph and Vanessa Winter on board, it has all the makings of a standout horror film,” added Spooky Pictures’ Steven Schneider and Image Nation Studios’ Ben Ross.

Stay tuned for more on Future Me and the upcoming slate in the partnership between Longevity, Spooky Pictures, and Image Nation as it arrives.

The post ‘Deadstream’ Directors Joseph and Vanessa Winter To Helm Reddit/NoSleep Horror Movie ‘Future Me’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Riehle was born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, with his first on-screen role being in the John Wayne-starring Western Rooster Cogburn. While you might not have known the actor by name, you undeniably know him from his many memorable roles across all genres.

One of his more famous roles was in Office Space as Tom Smykowski, whose great invention would help his coworkers “jump” to conclusions. Other well-known roles include Bridesmaids, the TV show Grounded for Life, and multiple depictions of Santa Claus across a number of titles. His immediately recognizable mustache often meant laughs were about to follow, though he also had more dramatic turns with appearances in movies like Glory and The Fugitive.

Horror fans, though, likely remember him from his collaborations with filmmakers like Adam Green and Rob Zombie. Riehle starred in Green’s Hatchet and the anthology movie Chillerama, which featured directors Green, Joe Lynch, Adam Rifkin, and Tim Sullivan. He also appeared in Zombie’s Halloween II and 3 from Hell, with other genre appearances including Texas Chainsaw 3D, Fear Inc., and The Invisible Raptor.

The statement from Riehle’s reps continued, “A remarkable actor whose career in theater, film, and television spanned nearly five decades and more than 400 projects, Richard leaves behind an extraordinary legacy. Beyond his immense talent, he will be remembered for his genuine goodness, boundless kindness, and unwavering generosity, particularly toward emerging actors and filmmakers, whom he encouraged and supported at every opportunity. Our industry has lost an exceptional talent, and our community has lost a truly wonderful man. We ask that his family’s privacy be respected during this difficult time.”

Our thoughts go out to the actor’s family and friends in this difficult time.

The post ‘Hatchet’ and ‘Chillerama’ Star Richard Riehle Passes Away at 78 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Along with the trailer, we finally also have plot details for Slayground. This mystery-thriller nightmare begins on the night of October 24 with a mass casualty event at a haunted attraction…

Here’s the synopsis: “Scare-actor “Metal Mike” Graves wakes up in a haunted attraction surrounded by the dead bodies of his co-workers with no memory of how they got there. As a state-wide manhunt closes in, he races to uncover the truth – even if the trail leads straight back to him.”

Slayground arrives in theaters January 29, 2027. Watch the official trailer below.

Described as a Halloween-set fugitive thriller, the newly titled Slayground stars Cory Michael Smith, Chase Sui Wonders, Sophie Wilde, James Badge Dale, Stanley Simons, Stephen Root, Chris Sullivan, Young Mazino, Imogen Poots, Matty Matheson, and Macon Blair.

Slayground features music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Jeremy Saulnier directs from his own script, with A24 producing and releasing Slayground.

The post ‘Slayground’ Trailer – Jeremy Saulnier’s Halloween Movie Begins With a Haunted Attraction Massacre appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Luckily, there’s plenty more from the series on the way, as Apple TV has already confirmed we’ll be getting a second season of the series. As we wait for new episodes, key figures from the show have other projects on the horizon, such as Kingston Rumi Southwick.

The actor stars in Henry’s Ebb, written and directed by Thomas Mendolia in his feature debut. Also starring in the movie are Banks Repeta (The Black Phone), Ashley Shelton, Will Holland, Rebecca Koon, and Austin Willard. A first look at the movie has been released, which you can see above.

In the movie, Henry likes his best friend Ebb for his fearless attitude. Ebb likes Henry for his innocence, which makes sense, because Henry created him. Henry spent most of his life with Ebb, the imaginary friend who helped him survive a tumultuous childhood shaped by an early departure by his father, the death of his grandmother, and a single mother trying to hold everything together.

But Ebb is not an ordinary imaginary friend. Protective, manipulative, and fiercely loyal, Ebb has always guided Henry’s decisions, sometimes in ways that feel less like friendship and more like control. When Henry runs away in search of the father he barely remembers, Ebb comes along, pushing the boy deeper into a journey that begins as an adventure and slowly becomes something much darker.

As the two boys travel through the quiet backroads of the American South, their bond begins to fracture. The closer Henry gets to the life he hopes might exist for him, the more Ebb fights to keep things the way they’ve always been. Because Ebb was never meant to help Henry grow up. He was meant to keep Henry safe, no matter the cost. In the spirit of Stand By Me and Mud, but with haunting psychological elements, Henry’s Ebb is a haunting coming-of-age story about the things we create to survive childhood, and the moment we realize they may be the very things preventing us from growing up.

The movie has special significance for Mendolia, as it was inspired by his experience growing up in Elkin, North Carolina, which is also where the movie was filmed. He shared of the experiences, “Elkin exists in my mind as both magical and painful, and that duality felt essential to the story. I wrote it around real locations from my memory, and knew that shooting here was crucial. Henry moves through a world that is full of wonder, but also shaped by the complicated lives of the adults around him. Setting the film there allowed those two feelings to coexist in the same space.”

Stay tuned for updates on the film’s official release. The film will debut at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in November. 

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Widow’s Bay’ Star’s New Psychological Horror Releases First Look appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Take, for example, Clayface. The new movie is based on an iconic Batman villain, and while a movie like Joker proved that R-rated DC movies could be major hits and The Batman proved that audiences were interested in darker storylines, the new movie is the franchise’s darkest story yet. Director James Watkins is no stranger to unsettling subject matter, having directed Eden Lake and the recent Speak No Evil remake, but this movie tapped into another side of his skills.

“Within the Clayface universe, and, of course, there have been so many iterations — Basil Karlo, Mud Pack — but obviously, the Matt Hagen story, and that’s what [writer] Mike Flanagan initially locked on to,” Watkins recently explained to Bloody Disgusting of the project’s origins.” “There’s various iterations of that story, both in the comic books and in the animated series. That was the key thing, this notion of an actor. But within that, I didn’t want it to be inside baseball, too inside Hollywood. So it was very important for me.”

He continued, “We worked with Mike’s script and then Hossein Amini, and we worked to really make sure that it was very clear that Matt’s character, he comes from nowhere, and he’s really worked really hard to be where he is. So it’s not about vanity or anything like that. It’s a very relatable thing for me. It’s a guy that’s really worked hard, and he gets it ripped away. So he’s lost his livelihood, he’s lost his reputation, and he’s lost his identity, and I think those are very relatable things.”

Given his horror background, Watkins wasn’t afraid to lean into body-horror classics, as he revealed, “David Cronenberg’s The Fly is a massive influence on me in this movie. The notion of taking a story about a man that turns into a fly, and making it incredibly relatable, incredibly grounded, the science grounded, the relationship, the brilliant performances of that movie, the heartbreak of that movie. Those things were things that I was trying to aspire to.”

In the movie, Matt Hagen’s meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.

Superhero movies are known for their special effects, but rather than showing individuals soaring through the air or dodging explosions, the Clayface team leaned into practical effects that could then be amplified through CGI.

When reflecting on making the movie and favorite special effects, star Tom Rhys Harries highlighted a sequence in which he underwent a procedure that caused him to hack up something nasty, noting, ” I quite like the… it’s really funny, those little flesh balls.”

Costar Naomi Ackie enthusiastically echoed those remarks, adding, “There’s a scene where he’s changing, and he has to spit out these little flesh balls. What were they? They were like gelatin, little blood balls. They looked disgusting, mate, but it was very funny watching you have to spit them out, take after take.”

Watkins’ favorite sequence, though, involved massive amounts of coordination of a large ensemble as opposed to flesh balls.

“There’s a sequence towards the end, downstairs in the nightclub, which was a real challenge to figure out. There’s an awful lot of moving parts to that sequence and elements,” the filmmaker recalled. “Bigger budget movies would have had a lot of weeks to shoot it. We shot it in days. There was an intensity … I work incredibly quickly, but it was just the point of view — that scene could be really confusing, but trying to keep it clear, and the build, and the shifts in tone, and the dark glee of that scene, I suppose. I’m trying to deliver on that, and that was something I worked quite hard on.”

One thing about Clayface that is quite unique is just how far Hagen goes in his quest for revenge. The movie begs the question: was Matt always this ruthless or was he fundamentally altered through this experiment?

“I think that is for audiences to decipher and decide,” Harries shared about his take on the character. “I like to think that we’ve all got a lightness and a darkness within us and it’s how you circumnavigate that.”

Similarly, Ackie’s character moved forward on human trials before the formula was ready. The actor reflected on her character’s trajectory, “I actually think that they’re quite similar people. It’s sods law that those people find each other in this situation, but I do think that her ambition is such that she would have found another way [to experiment]. There was no way … I feel like, where you meet Caitlin in the film, there’s no way she’s giving up. She would have found another [subject]. Even if she was going to do it to herself, I think she would have. They’re both willing to roll the dice, aren’t they?”

Clayface is a totally standalone experience, but given how he is famously connected to Batman, this could just be the beginning of the character’s big-screen legacy.

Looking to the future, Watkins confessed, “I haven’t looked at all beyond this single story. I thought it was a brilliant step, and it was one of the things that appealed to me, was the standalone nature of this story. You can come to this story, you don’t have to have a deep knowledge of the lore, or the background, or any of these things. I like the fact that anyone can come in, buy a ticket, see this movie, and understand it on its own merits.”

As far as who he might be interested in seeing Matt face off against, even as an audience member, Watkins noted, “I mean, crikey, there are so many. What’s so brilliant about Clayface is that he can become — he could turn into Superman or Batman, or pretend to be any of those people, which is a really teasing prospect.”

Clayface hits theaters on October 23.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Clayface’ Cast & Crew on Spitting Up “Flesh Balls” and Being Influenced by ‘The Fly’ [INTERVIEW] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

When Jennifer’s Body was first released, it suffered from a poor marketing campaign, which largely was directed at young men, only for women to fully embrace the narrative in the years since it was first unleashed. The movie has since earned a veritable cult following, which is only one reason to be excited for a new installment, but the returns of Fox, as well as director Karyn Kusama and writer Diablo Cody and potentially star Amanda Seyfried, means a worthy reunion of all of the key figures.

During a recent appearance on the Petticoat Revolution podcast, Cody teased her approach to the sequel, while explaining how Jennifer is a sympathetic character who was as much a victim as other figures in the original movie.

“Jennifer is a sympathetic character for me, before and after the transformation,” Cody explained. “I mean, she is very isolated, she’s very lonely, she’s very insecure. Everybody remembers Jennifer when she’s like, ‘I am a god,’ or when she’s at her most radiant and at her most powerful. But people forget about these moments in the movie where she’s like a shell of herself, she’s just exsanguinated almost. And to me, Megan played both of those sides of Jennifer so well.”

She continued, “And one fun thing — I can’t talk about it too much — but you know we’re doing a sequel to this movie, like imminently, and I felt like in the new movie, I was able to explore even more about why Jennifer is sympathetic and what she’s been through. And there is absolutely, to me, a loneliness and a poignancy to that character that people don’t always recognize.”

When the movie was originally released, Fox was hot off of her success with Transformers, with the marketing campaign leaning into the superficial sex appeal of Fox’s character. The movie, though, was about Jennifer becoming possessed by a demon as she ate her male classmates, preventing it from appealing to the demographic it was being marketed towards.

Luckily, time has been kind to the movie and it has been fully embraced by new and longtime horror fans for the darkly comedic horror movie that it is, allowing the sequel to move forward.

Jennifer’s Body 2 doesn’t yet have a release date.

Are you looking forward to the movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Jennifer’s Body 2’ Will Explore a More “Sympathetic” Side of Megan Fox’s Demon appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Luckily for Netflix subscribers, you’ll be able to check out Obsession when it hits the streamer on November 17. Whether you’ve already seen it and want to revisit its horrors or if you’ve somehow managed to avoid the movie as it took over pop culture, Obsession‘s arrival on Netflix is sure to give it another surge of popularity.

This isn’t the only exciting debut on the horizon for fans of the film, as breakout star Inde Navarrette is set to host Saturday Night Live on October 31. While this isn’t the first time the show has debuted a live episode on Halloween night, it doesn’t always embrace the world of horror with its host selection, with Navarrette’s appearance likely seeing horror fans tuning in to see how she does in the world of comedy. The episode’s musical guest will be Gracie Abrams.

Interestingly, the movie’s debut on Netflix is something a long time in the making. Barker confirmed last month that, before Focus Features acquired the movie, Netflix was potentially interested in releasing it as one of their originals. Its availability worldwide on streaming may have made it an even bigger sensation, though it wouldn’t have been such a massive box-office hit.

The nature of Obsession partnered with its tremendous success has seen a lot of people wondering if we could ever get a follow-up installment. Just earlier this month, Navarrette confirmed she’d be interested in reprising her role, while also admitting that her character likely suffered a depressing fate.

“I would totally be open to doing a sequel. Are you kidding me? Who am I to say no?” Navarrette confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. “And what is she doing afterwards? I think the non-pretty answer, which I think is more important to give sometimes than kind of just giggling through answers, is she’s starting a grief process.”

She continued, “When things happen that are completely out of our control, like losing a loved one, losing a parent, losing autonomy, having an experience that wasn’t your fault, it’s very difficult to understand anything. She’s just starting the grief process.”

The only drawback to the popularity of Obsession, though, is how busy it has made everyone involved with it. Navarrette has signed on to play Rogue for the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s take on the X-Men, co-star Michael Johnston is currently filming The Mummy: Book of the Dead, and Barker is working on his next movie, Anything But Ghosts, and is attached to a new take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Obsession hits Netflix on November 17.

Are you looking forward to the movie’s arrival on the streamer? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Obsession’ Finally Coming to Netflix in November appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Based on the Daniel Kraus novel of the same name, Brian Duffield‘s Whalefall delivers exactly that: Austin Abrams plays a man who, while out in the ocean, is swallowed by a sperm whale. Not only does his character have to figure out where he is and how to potentially escape, he also is running out of air and has to compensate for just how deep a whale can dive and how he might be able to get back to the ocean’s surface.

Whalefall landed in theaters this weekend and, despite positive reviews, only took in a reported $8 million at the domestic office and $9.5 million internationally for a $17.5 million total. With a reported budget of $60 million, the number falls a bit short of some previous projections. It’s difficult to deduce why the movie may have had a softer opening than expected, especially given its relatively strong 71% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

One thing we do know, however, is that there isn’t a direct correlation between critical reviews and box-office performance. Earlier this month, The Other Mommy earned some of the year’s worst reviews for a wide-release horror title, only for the movie to open to $27.5 million domestically. Making that number more surprising is that it sits at only 17% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s possible that, with it being October, audiences are mainly interested in seeing more conventional tales of terror. The idea of being swallowed by a whale and having to fight for survival is understandably anxiety-inducing, though its ocean-bound terror puts it closer to the realm of something like The Shallows or another water-bound survival adventure. In that sense, opening so late in the year could have deterred viewers who were seeking supernatural stories or were revisiting classic titles.

Abrams likely isn’t sweating the underwhelming box office, as he scored a major hit last month with Resident Evil. Despite the fact that we’ve seen a number of entries in that franchise land in theaters and perform relatively well despite poor reviews, the Zach Cregger movie shattered all expectations both critically and financially.

Whalefall is in theaters now.

What did you think of the movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Whalefall’ Debuts to $8 Million at the U.S. Box Office appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

With Romero’s name being synonymous with “zombies,” it’s all the more fascinating that the filmmaker’s narratives somehow keep coming back to life. 1975’s The Amusement Park, for example, had vanished for more than 40 years and was only finally recovered and released in 2017. The filmmaker’s first movie, Expostulations, has similarly finally been restored and will be screened in a one-night-only event accompanied by a live score.

The George A. Romero Foundation (GARF) and Music Director Christian Kriegeskotte today announced the world premiere of George A. Romero’s “A Night at the Symphony,” an all-new symphonic concert experience celebrating the life, career, and creative legacy of the filmmaker known as the “Godfather of Horror.” Presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and performed live by the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, the one-night-only world premiere will include a host of surprise guests and take place March 26, 2027 at 7:30 p.m. at the Byham Theater, 101 6th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, in the Cultural District. This is the same venue (then known as The Fulton) where Romero premiered Night of the Living Dead in 1968.

“A Night at the Symphony” begins with music that inspired Romero, including his childhood experience seeing a film adaptation of Jacques Offenbach‘s Tales of Hoffmann, before moving through newly orchestrated music from Romero’s films. The crown jewel of the evening is a complete, exclusive screening of Romero’s “lost” 1962 debut short film, Expostulations, with a new orchestral score commissioned by the George A. Romero Foundation and composed by Kriegeskotte. It will be performed live-to-picture by the orchestra.

For decades, Expostulations was believed lost with its elements thought to have been destroyed in a basement flood. The rediscovery of surviving 16mm footage restored an important missing chapter in Romero’s development, revealing an emerging filmmaker already using Pittsburgh’s streets, buildings, and neighborhoods as expressive settings for the personal, social, and political ideas that would later define his work. Expostulations is a remarkable time capsule of color film footage of Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District and surrounding areas captured in the early 1960s and featuring a majority cast of local African-American actors. The George A. Romero Foundation has preserved and restored the surviving material with help from people closely connected to Romero’s life and career.

“At first I thought it would be fun simply to reimagine the music from some of Romero’s most notable films for live orchestra,” Kriegeskotte, creator and music director of the program, shared in a statement. “I started out as a studio orchestra musician in Hollywood, and having seen the ongoing popularity of movies like Star Wars and Harry Potter in symphonic spaces I wanted to turn the spotlight toward less recognized heroes of indie cinema whose films helped shape my own creative imagination. I only discovered later that Romero’s inspiration to become a filmmaker came from the film adaptation of an opera, and a natural throughline began to emerge, revealing unrealized projects and lesser-known collaborations that felt perfectly at home in the concert hall. When the GARF asked me to write an original score to accompany Expostulations, I knew we had a remarkable program on our hands.”

The concert opens with Kriegeskotte’s original overture, Beyond the Living Dead, a theme and variations inspired by the first 10 notes heard in Night of the Living Dead. Guests will also hear music from Romero’s most celebrated films like John Harrison’s iconic synth score from Day of the Dead (performed in part on Harrison’s original Prophet-5 synthesizer), Donald Rubinstein’s lush music from Martin and Knightriders, music from Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and others. All are expanded and reimagined for the full symphony orchestra.

“My dad was relentlessly curious, and his imagination was never confined to a single genre, medium, or moment in his career,” says Tina Romero, Acting President of the George A. Romero Foundation. “‘A Night at the Symphony’ gives audiences access to parts of that creative journey that are rarely seen together. Dad loved music and had a huge collection of movie scores on vinyl. He absolutely would have loved this project. To premiere it in Pittsburgh, in the very theater where Night of the Living Dead was introduced to audiences nearly six decades ago, makes the evening especially meaningful.”

All net revenue generated by the world premiere and future bookings of “A Night at the Symphony” will benefit the ongoing work of the George A. Romero Foundation, the event’s executive producer. Foundation initiatives include scholarships and fellowships for the next generation of horror creatives, restoration and preservation of Romero’s work, support for the growing horror archive at the University of Pittsburgh’s Hillman Library, and efforts to establish an endowment to name the university’s new Horror Studies Center the George A. Romero Horror Studies Center.

For tickets and additional information, visit https://trustarts.org/production/108672.

The post George A. Romero’s Long-Lost First Movie to Finally Screen at One-Night-Only Event appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Instead, the filmmaker leaned into the thriller realm for titles like Hold the Dark and Rebel Ridge. Both of these movies were thrilling enough in their own right, but still weren’t full-blown genre films like some fans had hoped. Luckily, the director’s upcoming Slayground looks like it will fully lean into the world of terror, which just scored a new poster.

A24 debuted the new poster, which you can see below, that also came with the reveal that the movie will hit theaters on January 29, 2027. We’ve only gotten a few teasers of the movie up to this point, and tomorrow we’re set to get a full trailer.

There’s little information regarding official plot details, but what we do know is that Slayground is a horror movie that is centered around a haunted house attraction. The movie is also reportedly set on Halloween, so even though we’re still a few weeks out from October 31, knowing that January will bring back the Halloween vibes early is something to look forward to.

Starring in Slayground are Imogen Poots (Green Room), James Badge Dale (The Empty Man), Matty Matheson (The Bear), Cory Michael Smith (Saturday Night), Chase Sui Wonders (I Know What You Did Last Summer), Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me), Young Mazino (The Last of Us), and Stephen Root (Widow’s Bay).

There’s a long history of horror movies set around seemingly lighthearted haunted houses, only for the terror to go farther than any characters could have imagined. While there’s ’80s classics like The Funhouse and Ghoulies II, we’ve seen a recent surge in the concept with things like Hell House LLC, Haunt, The Houses October Built, and Hell Fest. Few formulas are as tried and true in the horror world than putting characters in what seems like a lighthearted yet thrilling setting, only to fully unleash deadly chaos.

Based on what we know about Slayground, Saulnier could be releasing the defining haunted-house horror movie of the decade.

Stay tuned for the new Slayground trailer before the movie hits theaters on January 29, 2027.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Slayground’ Poster Reveals January Release Date for A24’s Haunted House Horror appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

So although Scooby functions fine without Halloween, there’s always something extra special whenever the holiday is featured. The creators must agree, too, because they tend to go all-out for the occasion.

The following is a guide to Halloween’s appearances in the Scooby-Doo universe. Sometimes All Hallows’ Eve plays a big role in the story, and other times it’s just there in the background. Either way, you’re sure to get your fill of Halloween with these Scooby selections.

The Scooby-Doo Show – “The Headless Horseman of Halloween”

From The Scooby-Doo Show is this unmistakably Halloween-themed episode. Mystery Inc. was partying it up at Crane Mansion when all of a sudden, one of the costumed guests turned out to be the bona fide Headless Horseman. Or so everyone thought. This episode also features Scooby’s cousin Scooby-Dum.

The Scooby-Doo Show – “To Switch a Witch”

Had it been up to them, Shaggy and Scooby would have spent this Halloween trick-or-treating. Instead, they had to deal with old witch Milissa Wilcox. Making the group’s visit to Salem, Massachusetts more confusing is the fact that this legendary witch resembles their friend, Arlene Wilcox.

The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries – “A Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle”

What began as The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show eventually became The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries. And after only solving mysteries with Scooby, Shaggy, Scrappy-Doo and Daphne, we finally got to see Fred and Velma again. At that point, those two had been absent from the franchise for several years. What’s also notable about the episode “A Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle”, apart from Fred and Velma’s return, is the existence of the supernatural; here it’s real, seeing as how Dracula and his wife, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Gill-man, and the Invisible Man all make appearances. Even so, someone in a mask can be found causing mischief at this monster mash.

Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

“It’s Halloween all year long at that old Grimwood place!” says one character in the TV-movie Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. That boy wasn’t exaggerating, either; each year the students and staff at Miss Grimwood’s Finishing School for Girls work their way up to the big open house party on Halloween. This year is going to be different, though, because a wicked witch named Revolta is out to get the Grimwood Girls. For more of Sibella, Tanis and those other ghoulish gals, be sure to check out their guest appearance in “Monster Party”, the Halloween episode of OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes.

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo – “Ghost Who’s Coming to Dinner”

One of the best cases of “babyfication” has to be A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. It retained the spirit of the original cartoons while adding its own memorable signature. And after the ups and downs of the franchise so far, this entry was a good reset. The Halloween episode “Ghost Who’s Coming to Dinner” also has a significant instance of ghosts being legit in SD. However, that Mr. Boo isn’t the real threat here; a phony pirate specter called Boobeard is up to no good.

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost

While this movie’s inclusion here is debatable, there’s no denying how Halloweenish Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost both feels and looks. The presence of a monster turkey also makes it fine for Thanksgiving, but generally speaking, the autumnal aesthetic of this straight-to-video movie makes it perfect for all of Fall. In this follow-up to Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, the Scoobies find supernatural trouble when they visit a horror author’s New England hometown. On top of a local hoax is the very real legend of a persecuted witch.

The Scooby-Doo Project

Of all the opportunistic parodies that followed The Blair Witch Project, 1999’s The Scooby-Doo Project is by far the most fun and inventive. Originally aired on Cartoon Network, this Halloween special debuted in chunks in the midst of a SD marathon. It was a winning combination of humor, mixed media, and depending on your age, genuine frights.

Night of the Living Doo

For the super SD fans out there, they may want to squeeze in this parody that aired on Halloween Night in 2001. Shown in segments during another of Cartoon Network’s Scooby marathons, Night of the Living Doo plays out like a classic team-up episode. The special guests here are Mark Hamill, Gary Coleman, David Cross and the swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

What’s New, Scooby-Doo? – “A Scooby-Doo Halloween”

Another mystery has been solved just in time for Halloween. Yet there’s no rest for Mystery Inc. once they reach Velma’s relatives in Banning Junction; ghostly scarecrows are intent on ruining the festivities. This special Halloween episode also features Paul Stanley of the band KISS.

Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King

Halloween is hard to miss in Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King, the first SD production to not have either William Hanna or Joseph Barbera involved in some way. Here, Scooby and the others land themselves in otherworldly danger after crossing paths with a power-hungry magician and venturing into that realm overseen by the Goblin King.

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated – “Escape from Mystery Manor”

The real mystery of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is how it didn’t have a proper Halloween episode. To be fair, Crystal Cove had a non-stop parade of masked miscreants. Who there had time to think about Halloween? At any rate, there is “Escape from Mystery Manor”; this episode opens with a flashback set on Halloween. Jumping back to the present day, the Scoobs become trapped in Darrow Mansion while investigating what happened to the original Mystery Incorporated.

Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow

Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow is perfect for fans who can’t quite fit a full-length SD movie into their busy schedule. This STV special is the length of a standard TV episode, and it’s self-contained. On Halloween in Cobb Corners, the gang solves the mystery of a sinister scarecrow who haunts the corn maze.

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! – “Halloween”

The unique art style of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! can be jarring, especially if you’re used to Hanna-Barbera’s classic designs. On the other hand, this is one of the funnier SD shows. You’re always able to get in and out of an episode with no effort, although you may just end up wanting to stay for more laughs. The episode “Halloween” finds the gang hunting for the witch who scared Fred as a child. And according to adult Fred, masks make it impossible to solve mysteries on Halloween.

Scoob!

Scoob! was an unsuccessful attempt to start a cinematic universe for Hanna-Barbera properties. On top of that, none of the previous voice actors, apart from Frank Welker as Scooby, were cast. What that said, you may find delight in the front half of this big-screen movie, particularly those scenes before everything went off course. The younger Mystery Inc. coming together to solve their first case on Halloween is so precious. It’s too bad we didn’t get the chance to see Scoob! Holiday Haunt, a planned prequel that sounds more like traditional SD.

Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!

Crossovers and stunt casting are par for the course in Scooby-Doo. So when Elvira (voiced by the real Cassandra Peterson), Bill Nye and The Scarecrow from DC Comics showed up in Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!, fans didn’t bat an eye. Yet what helps this haunted holiday movie succeed isn’t just the guest stars; it’s the commitment to the concept. Who knew a Mad Max: Fury Road-style SD movie would actually work?

Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!

The character designs of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? made their movie debut in Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! They’re in line with the original cartoons, while also adding more dynamic movements and expressive faces. The plot of this Halloween-set feature, though, is not a thing like old-school SD. No, Mystery Inc. are battling their doppelgängers after taking down the sartorial mastermind behind many of their greatest villains.

Velma – “This Halloween Needs to Be More Special!”

There is perhaps no property in the Scooby-Doo franchise that is more divisive than Velma. Loathed, in many cases. And by the time this Halloween special had come around, most had already forgotten about this bizarre show. So unless you were already invested in the story, or just really like Saweetie, watching what turned out to be the series finale is totally optional. Tuning in now, with nary a clue as to what happened before, will also have you asking why Velma is suddenly a ghost.

The post Scooby-Dooby-Boo! – A ‘Scooby-Doo’ Halloween Watch Guide appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Over the course of his career, Fessenden has produced nearly 100 movies while directing more than two dozen, while also finding time to appear on screen as well. Titles like Habit, Wendigo, Beneath, and Depraved are all effective enough in their own right, but you’d be hard-pressed to find an indie horror directed who wouldn’t credit Fessdenden as an influence.

A new trailer has been released for Fessenden’s latest opus, Trauma Or, Monsters All, which you can see below. The movie is set to be released on November 4.

In the movie, visiting writer Cassandra (Laëtitia Hollard, The Pitt) arrives in the quiet upstate town of Talbot Falls to research a book on George Washington Carver while working at the local library alongside her new friend Agnes (Aitana Doyle). After Cassandra publishes an article exposing the town’s unsettling past, buried secrets begin to surface as a werewolf, vampire, and Frankenstein creation emerge from the shadows, forcing the community to confront generations of fear, guilt, and suppressed trauma. Blending gothic horror, social commentary, and deeply human storytelling, Fessenden delivers an ambitious monster epic unlike anything else in contemporary genre cinema.

Also starring in the movie are Addison Timlin, Alex Hurt, Alex Breaux, Larry Fessenden, John Speredakos, Marc Senter, Micheál Neeson, Joshua Leonard, Barbara Crampton, James Le Gros, with appearances by Emily Bennett and Toby Poser.

Fessenden said of the movie, “I’ve spent my career reimagining classic monsters because they reveal something deeply human about us. Trauma Or, Monsters All brings those stories together into one film about memory, identity, and the wounds we carry. I’m grateful to reunite with Dark Sky Films, whose support of independent horror has made them the perfect home for this project.”

“Our partnership with Larry Fessenden and Glass Eye Pix spans many years and some of the most influential independent horror films of their era,” Greg Newman, EVP of Dark Sky Films, added. “Trauma Or, Monsters All is another bold, uncompromising work from one of the genre’s true visionaries, and we’re proud to bring it to audiences.”

Trauma Or, Monsters All will get both a limited theatrical release next month and also land on Digital.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Indie Horror Icon Larry Fessenden Unleashes a Monster Mash in ‘Trauma Or, Monsters All’ Trailer appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The darkly comedic genre-bender receives a limited theatrical engagement on October 30, ahead of Bloody Disgusting parent company Cineverse’s digital release on November 3, 2026, simultaneously on TVOD and Screambox.

A physical release on DVD and Blu-ray will follow later in November.

Tom McLaren (“Expelled”) stars as Ralph, a likable family man whose fanatical obsession with Christmas pushes his wife towards divorce, leaving his life in shambles. Determined to win her back, Ralph devises a crazy plan involving kidnapping the former child star of his favorite Christmas movie.

When his ill-conceived scheme spirals wildly out of control, Ralph’s pursuit of his perfect Christmas takes increasingly dark and unexpected turns.

Ralph’s Perfekt Christmas stars Charlie Schlatter (Diagnosis Murder), Jill Schoelen (The Stepfather), Casey Burke (The Middle), Landon Gimenez (Resurrection), and marks the return to the big screen of Lynda Day George (Mission: Impossible, “Roots”).

The supporting cast includes special guest appearances by Hollywood veterans Susan Blakely (The Towering Inferno), Marta Kristen (“Lost in Space”), Nicholle Tom (“The Nanny”), Trevor Lissauer (“Sabrina the Teenage Witch”), Bill Mumy (“Lost in Space”) and Angela Cartwright (“Lost in Space”, The Sound of Music).

Jeremy Padow and Tom McLaren wrote the screenplay, based upon an original story by Padow. Matthew Bellamy and Tom & Mary McLaren direct.

Schoelen previously teased the holiday genre-bender last year, telling Bloody Disgusting, “Everything spirals to a point where it really has a quite wonderful horror twist to it, as it moves on down along the line.” 

The film not only inspired the actress to create her own Christmas album, and one of her original holiday tunes is in the film. 

“Ralph’s Perfekt Christmas is exactly the kind of smart, distinctive, genre-bending film that resonates with Cineverse and Screambox audiences,” said Dan Fisher, vice president of acquisitions at Cineverse. “The film combines an original story with unexpected twists, turns, and a surprise ending coupled with a standout performance by Tom McLaren as Ralph that makes this film a ‘must watch’ for the holidays.”

“We’re excited to partner with the incredible Cineverse team to deliver Ralph’s Perfekt Christmas to a broad audience,” said producer Mary McLaren. “We set out to target everyone who considers Die Hard a ‘Christmas Movie’ and Cineverse is an ideal distribution partner for reaching that audience seeking alternate holiday content.” Co-producer Tom McLaren added.

The post ‘Ralph’s Perfekt Christmas’ Trailer Turns Holiday Cheer Into a Kidnapping Nightmare appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

If you’ve somehow missed the terrifying trailers and posters promoting the flick, Whalefall, based on Daniel Kraus’ best-selling novel of the same name, chronicles the ensuing struggles of the unfortunate young man Jay (Austin Abrams), who’s accidentally swallowed by a sperm whale while out diving for his deceased father’s remains. However, despite the film’s seemingly absurd setup, you may be surprised to learn that Jay’s story is a lot more plausible than it initially sounds.

After all, not only did Kraus consult with specialists in order to find out what kind of specific situation would allow a whale to actually consume a human being, but there are records of eerily similar incidents that occurred in the past, with one such case being that of lobster diver Michael Packard, who CNN invited to a special 4DX screening of Whalefall.

In June of 2021, Packard had been diving off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, when he was suddenly engulfed in darkness and hit by something that “felt like a freight train”. After recovering the mouthpiece from his air tank, which had been knocked loose by the collision, the diver soon deduced that he was encased in the baleen-covered jaws of a massive humpback whale.

According to Packard, “It felt like I was inside of a live creature that was trying to eat me.”

Thankfully, unlike sperm whales, which are deep sea hunters that regularly feast on giant squid, humpback whales are filter feeders physically incapable of swallowing large prey. That’s why Packard soon felt the colossal creature’s tongue and body thrash around as the whale appeared to be just as confused by the situation as the diver.

The whole ordeal was over in less than 45 seconds, with Packard being forcefully spat out onto the surface with minor injuries before going on to make a career of telling his story to folks who share his love of the sea.

That’s why CNN recruited Packard to join their coverage of Whalefall’s New York premiere event at the Regal Times Square. While you can check out their in-depth article for his full reaction, suffice it to say that the lobster diver could “totally relate” to Austin Abram’s latest cinematic predicament.

Whalefall is available now in theaters everywhere.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by CNN (@cnn)

The post A Real Whale Attack Survivor Was Invited to Watch ‘Whalefall’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“Crystal Lake” is just one of TEN brand new horror projects released this week!

Here are the new horror movies that released October 12 – October 18, 2026, presented by Angry Orchard.

Director Casper Kelly (Too Many Cooks, V/H/S/Halloween) is back with fresh nightmare fuel this year, with his latest feature film Buddy now available on Digital outlets at home.

Buddy centers on the titular unicorn mascot — a beloved children’s TV host with a squeaky-clean persona that belies his true nature as a dark and violent force of nature.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Inside the colorful world of It’s Buddy!, a group of children spend their days singing, dancing, and helping Buddy spread happiness. But when one child refuses to play along, Buddy is not pleased and cracks begin to appear in this seemingly perfect world.”

Cristin Milioti stars as Grace, a suburban mother inadvertently drawn into Buddy’s nightmare world, with Delaney Quinn as Freddy, a brave girl who begins to fight back against Buddy when he shows his true self. Keegan-Michael Key voices Buddy. The horror movie’s cast also includes Topher Grace, Michael Shannon, and Patton Oswalt.

Casper Kelly co-wrote the movie with Jamie King (“Jessica Jones”).

Meagan Navarro wrote in her review, “Casper Kelly drops viewers straight into the world of a kids’ show with a high-concept horror comedy that dials up the absurdities of kids’ television programming to a lethal degree. Those on board with an experimental structure and Kelly’s darkly playful sense of humor will find this raucous midnighter highly entertaining.”

From the mind of “Impractical Jokers” star James “Murr” Murray, the giant spider horror movie Don’t Move – an adaptation of Murr’s own novel – is now available on Digital.

The creature feature adapts the 2020 novel from Murray and Darren Wearmouth. 

In Don’t Move, a church group’s annual retreat turns deadly when they wander into the wrong part of the Ozark wilderness, and a massive spider monster starts picking them off one by one.

Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass), Russell “Russ” Vitale, and Tom Cavanagh (The Flash) star alongside Hunter King (Life in Pieces), Rob Riggle (The Hangover), and Joseph Lee Anderson (Young Rock).  T-Pain, Matt Biedel, and Brian Quinn are also featured.

From Mubi and acclaimed writer-director Na Hong-jin (The Wailing) comes Hope, a South Korean monster movie that was a box office sensation in its native Korea.

The film is now available on Digital at home.

Set in the remote South Korean village of Hope Harbor, police chief Bum-seok and officer Sung-ae are called to find a mysterious creature that has wreaked havoc on the village.

In the nearby forest, a coterie of hunters, including Sung- ki, set out to track the beast and find themselves hunted instead. But all is not as it seems, and perceptions can be misleading.

Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Zo In-sung (“Moving”), Hoyeon (“Squid Game”), Taylor Russell (Bones and All), Cameron Britton (“The Umbrella Academy”), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), and Michael Fassbender (Prometheus) star in Na Hong-jin’s Hope.

Writer/Director Jason Lei Howden gets the band back together in sequel Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon, and the heavy metal horror sequel is now available on Digital at home.

Milo Cawthorne is back as unwitting hero Brodie.

In the sequel, “A few years after surviving the last demon apocalypse, Brodie is washed-up, broke, and stuck in small-town purgatory. But when he learns that NoizeQuest, a battle-of-the-bands competition, is coming to his town, he sees a shot at redemption – and maybe even a second chance with Medina.

“One problem: his drummer is missing an arm, and the rest of his band is, well… dead. Luckily, Brodie still has the pages of The Black Hymn, so raising his bandmates from the great beyond is just a riff away. But with every chord comes blood, guts, and the kind of apocalyptic chaos only Deathgasm can unleash.”

Also back are Kimberley Crossman as Medina, James Joshua Blake as Zakk, Sam Berkley, and Daniel Cresswell. The sequel also introduces us to new characters played by Kieran Charnock, Harrison Keefe, and Maggie Nicole Robertson.

There’s something in the woods in the new found footage horror movie Creature of the Pines, and it’s calling out. The film is now available on Digital and streaming only on Screambox.

The found footage horror film follows “a skeptical documentary team into the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Tasked with investigating a series of mysterious vanishings, the crew relies on interviews and field research to uncover the local lore. But as they venture deeper into the wilderness, the legend begins to close in on them, turning their production into a terrified struggle for survival against something that has been watching them all along.”

Chris Ruppert & Tyler Transue write and direct Creature of the Pines.

Greg Poppa, Eric Melaragni, Austin Green, and Kelly Warren star.

Matilda Lutz (Revenge) stars in spider horror movie Crawlers, now playing in select theaters.

Matilda Lutz stars as Serena, the overworked and underappreciated manager of the Paradiso Palms apartment complex who finds herself inundated by lethal eight-legged critters. 

A catastrophic infestation of venomous spiders sends an apartment building into lockdown.

“Trapped inside by a police-mandated quarantine, Serena and her residents battle to survive as the creatures multiply by the second. Armed with her intimate knowledge of the complex, Serena may be the only one who can keep them alive—if she can confront her deepest fear.” 

Angel Gómez Hernández (Don’t Listen) directs from a script by Jayson Rothwell (Silent Night).

The most terrifying horror movie concept of the year may very well be found in Whalefall, which traps Austin Abrams (Resident Evil) alive inside a giant sperm whale. Yes, he spends almost the entire movie buried alive INSIDE a whale. Whalefall is now playing in theaters.

Following the death of his father (Josh Brolin), Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) goes diving off the central Coast of California in search of his remains, but is swallowed by a massive sperm whale. While trapped inside its belly with only one hour of oxygen left, Jay comes to realize that the hard-earned lessons his father imparted may be the key to his escape.

Brian Duffield (No One Will Save You) directs 20th Century Studios’ brand new aquatic survival thriller from a script he co-wrote with Daniel Kraus, based on Kraus’ 2023 novel.

Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin star with Elisabeth Shue (“The Boys”), Jane Levy (Evil Dead), John Ortiz (Kong: Skull Island), and Emily Rudd (Fear Street Part Two: 1978).

Shudder’s Season of Screams this Halloween season features a handful of premieres including Hallowarrior, a post-apocalyptic Halloween movie starring Milly Shapiro (Hereditary).

Hallowarrior is now streaming only on Shudder.

Milly Shapiro stars as Pumpkin, the last girl on earth and sole survivor of a humanity-ending plague, scavenging the wasteland for supplies on the eve of Halloween. Pumpkin’s lonely holiday ritual is interrupted by the arrival of a savage gang of raiders at her doorstep. Outnumbered and armed with candy, wit, and weapons, Pumpkin must ferociously fight back to survive the night.

Ajani Russell (“Betty”), AJ Bowen (You’re Next), and Shannyn Sossamon (Sinister 2) also star. Writer-director Ben Sottak makes his feature directorial debut with the project.

“Hallowarrior is a love letter to horror and Halloween, and I am thrilled that the film has found its home with a distributor whose brand is synonymous with both,” said Sottak. “It’s an honor to have Hallowarrior join the Shudder family, and a treat to introduce their audience to this fun, scary, gory film along with its badass lead, Pumpkin, played by the incredible Milly Shapiro.”

For the first time ever, the Director’s Cut of Ken Russell’s controversial 1971 horror movie The Devils has been restored and remastered, and it’s now playing in theaters nationwide.

This is the only version of the film that Ken Russell wanted audiences to see, uncensored and rated NC-17 by the MPA for “sexual content/graphic nudity” – the first time Warner Bros. will be releasing a film with this rating in the 103-year history of the studio.

Check your local listings.

Based on Aldous Huxley’s 1952 non-fiction novel The Devils of Loudun and its 1961 stageplay adaptation, Ken Russell’s The Devils is set in 17th-century Loudun, France.

Oliver Reed stars as Grandeur in the film, complete with the sex appeal that has all the ladies swooning, including the hunchbacked Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). Jeanne is exceptionally lustful for Grandeur, which pushes over into wrathful jealousy when she learns of his relationship with the young and stunning Madeleine (Gemma Jones).

Cue the demonic seduction accusations, and hysteria and chaos ensue. 

The press release details of the new cut, “This new 4K restoration of Ken Russell’s masterpiece was assembled from the original camera negative. The film’s sound has been remastered from original English Composite 35mm Mag Film, transferred at 96kHz, plus other original film elements in selected spots as needed. The Picture and Sound restoration was performed by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, Water Tower Color, and Warner Bros. Sound.”

The release of this director’s cut marks a historic event 55 years in the making.

Billed as the very first immersive horror film for the Apple Vision Pro, Apple’s Remnants is a brand new horror experience from writer and director Ti West (X, Ebenezer).

Remnants is available NOW only on Apple Vision Pro.

Ti West’s Remnants is said to be a “bone chilling” 27-minute long immersive ghost story.

Apple previews, “See real reactions from people experiencing, Remnants, Apple’s first immersive horror film. Watch as they step inside Woldmere Castle and enter the unsettling world created by writer and director Ti West. From the atmosphere and performances to the feeling of being pulled into the story, see what it’s like to experience horror in Apple Immersive Video.”

Horror movie marathon tonight? Don’t show up empty-handed. Grab an Angry Orchard and leave the bad decisions to the characters on screen. 

The post 10 New Horror Movies Released This Week – Friday, October 16 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The movie caught the attention of Blumhouse Productions, resulting in their partnership on Obsession. It’s difficult to overstate the impact the movie has had on all of pop culture this year, as it first made waves on the festival circuit last year and earned rave reviews, with its release in theaters earlier this year resulting in major financial wins. Amplifying the film’s notoriety is what Barker accomplished so early in his career, yet it sounds like he’s only getting started.

In a recent profile on Barker for Time magazine’s Time 100 package, filmmaker Seth Rogen wrote about Barker and his new film Anything But Ghosts. In the piece, he confirmed, “I’ve seen Curry’s next film, Anything But Ghosts — and for those of you who, like me, are uncomfortable with this amount of talent in a person so young, I have bad news … it’s even better, and, to add insult to injury, he’s just as good an actor as he is a director.”

While the new movie is described as being superior to Obsession, it’s also taking on a slightly different tone, so you shouldn’t expect the movie to merely replicate what worked about that project. Barker co-wrote the movie with Cooper Tomlinson and the pair star as wannabe ghost hunters who must face real ghosts while dealing with the deception of their own fraudulent business.

“It’s all going to feel like the same brand,” Curry Barker previously told Bloody Disgusting about how the two movies compare. “It’s slightly different. It’s so different than Obsession, because the idea itself just lends itself better to comedy, because it’s literally about two ghost hunter con artists.”

He added, “It’s Cooper and me doing our thing, so it lends itself better to comedy, but it’s still set in this super grounded world. It’s ghosts being real in a world where ghosts are not real. Just like [Obsession] is a wish going wrong in a movie where magic doesn’t exist or in a world where magic doesn’t exist, right? That’s kind of what I try to do.”

Anything But Ghosts also stars Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”), Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World), Chris Reinacher (“Superstore”), and Violet McGraw (M3GAN).

Anything But Ghosts is currently slated to hit theaters on May 7, 2027.

Do Rogen’s comments have you more excited for the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Seth Rogen Praises Curry Barker’s ‘Anything But Ghosts’ as “Even Better” Than ‘Obsession’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

One seminal example of a horror game adaptation is HBO‘s The Last of Us, with the show’s critical and viewership success being a testament to the effectiveness of the source material. Just last month, Zach Cregger‘s Resident Evil pulled off the seemingly impossible by telling an all-new story that he specifically orchestrated to recreate the experience of playing the game, which was a hit with audiences and critics.

As revealed by Deadline, the next video game series to get the live-action treatment is Fears to Fathom. As described by the outlet, “Fears to Fathom franchise is an anthology of stand-alone psychological horror stories inspired by frightening real-life experiences. Rather than relying on supernatural creatures or elaborate mythology, Fears to Fathom builds suspense around seemingly ordinary situations that take increasingly terrifying turns.”

Scarlet Stallone and creator Mukul Negi, professionally known as Rayll, have partnered to developed potential movie and TV projects based on the idea.

“I’ve been playing video games since before I could read, and the first time I played Fears to Fathom, I was hooked. I’ve played every one since,” Stallone shared in a statement. “Rayll’s games are grounded and genuinely unsettling, because the horror comes from situations that could actually happen to you. I love working with Rayll; we’re a great team, and I’m so excited to expand that world while keeping what fans love.”

Rayll added, “I started Fears to Fathom as a very personal project, so seeing how far it has grown and how strongly people around the world have connected with these stories has been surreal … Scarlet immediately understood that what makes Fears to Fathom work isn’t just the scares — it’s the feeling that these situations could happen to anyone. I’m excited to work with her and SRYN Productions to bring that same tension and authenticity to a new medium.”

So far, the series has been comprised of installments Home Alone, Norwood Hitchhike, Carson House, Ironbark Lookout, Woodbury Getaway, and Scratch Creek. In Home Alone, “You play as Miles, a 14 years old kid who is home alone while his parents are out of town for work. He soon finds himself in trouble as the story unfolds, would he make it through the night? He survived as he made the right choices.”

Stay tuned for updates on the future of the Fears to Fathom franchise.

Are you looking forward to the adaptations? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Fears to Fathom’ Video Game Series Set for Movie and TV Adaptations appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Since that slasher’s release, Bacon is also one of the rare talents who stayed firmly entrenched in the horror genre. He subsequently starred in everything from Tremors to Flatliners to Stir of Echoes to Hollow Man, with his recent efforts including You Should Have Left, They/Them, and MaXXXine.

Bacon’s next movie is Summoner, with Deadline revealing that Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Stephanie Beatriz and The Gentlemen‘s Daniel Ings have joined the project. The roles they will be playing have not yet been revealed, though the outlet says the movie “follows Jefferson Haddock (Bacon), who is called into an isolated witness protection property to deal with a terrifying demon, unleashing a force that threatens to end him and everything around him.”

Jeremy Slater, who wrote Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, The Exorcist TV series, and most recently Mortal Kombat II, wrote Summoner and will be making his directorial debut. Throughout his career, Slater has slowly but surely become a go-to name in the world of genre fare, especially when it comes to putting his stamp on beloved franchises.

Arguably Slater’s biggest success is his adaptation of The Exorcist, especially given how hard it has been for creators to find ways to tell new stories in that beloved saga. The debut season of the series focused on a possession case, like in other The Exorcist stories, with the biggest delight being the reveal deep into the season that this wasn’t a random incident, as it was in fact a sequel to the original movie, with Geena Davis playing Regan MacNeil. Season 2 pivoted away from Regan to follow the priests who performed the exorcism on a new case.

Also on the small screen, Slater worked on Netflix‘s The Umbrella Academy and also the Disney+ series Moon Knight, in which Oscar Isaac played the titular hero. Additionally, he worked on this year’s Coyote vs. Acme, which was released to massive praise after Warner Bros. attempted to bury the project entirely.

For as exciting as it is to know that Kevin Bacon has a new horror movie, we’re even more excited to see what Slater has in store for audiences.

Summoner doesn’t yet have a release date.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Kevin Bacon’s ‘Summoner’ Adds ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ and ‘The Gentlemen’ Stars appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In a Violent Nature: Part 2 confirmed its release date last weekend, and an all-new poster depicts Johnny’s signature hook to spell out the movie’s release date. In a Violent Nature: Part 2 will be released on February 12, 2027, and you can see the fresh poster below.

In a Violent Nature: Part 2 picks up where the first left off as Johnny (Ry Barrett) continues his violent rampage at an Ontario summer camp, where a young outcast camper is forced to spend the night with his counselor sister and her friends at their annual end-of-season party. Lucas Nguyen, Olivia Scriven (Blood Quantum), Laurie Babin (Red Rooms), Fionn Laird (The Institute), Donald MacLean Jr. (The Craft: Legacy), and Evan Marsh (Shazam) also star.

Nate Wilson co-directs with returning director Chris Nash, who also wrote the sequel. Peter Kuplowsky, Shannon Hanmer, and Nash all serve as producers on the sequel.

Kuplowsky previously shared of the new movie, “With this sequel, fans can expect an exponential increase of the ol’ ultraviolence with a distinct hook, but one that still collides with storied slasher traditions.”

Rather than merely replicating the perspective of the original movie, this sequel pivots to spend more time with characters trying to evade Johnny. This pivot is only somewhat effective, though Meagan Navarro said in her Bloody Disgusting review, “It turns out that Johnny’s silent, unstoppable killer perspective is far more interesting than that of an awkward, sullen tween who’s unleashed a massacre upon familiar Friday the 13th archetypes. Though just a kid, and a constantly picked-on one at that, Alex makes for a rough protagonist to track through the carnage for his repellent behavior that includes creeping on crush Olga (Laurie Babin), bullying another social outcast, and passivity as he watches all of the counselors succumb to increasingly gnarly deaths.”

She added, “The emphasis on practical effects continues here, too, ensuring each extreme burst of ultraviolence sears into your skull. Though we spend less time with Johnny this round, appearing only to stalk then graphically slash, Barrett’s Johnny remains an unstoppable force of barbaric evil. His physicality terrifies and intimidates; this is a killing machine who takes pride in his ‘art.’”

In a Violent Nature: Part 2 hits theaters on February 12, 2027.

Are you looking forward to the sequel? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘In a Violent Nature: Part 2’ Poster Brings Back the Hook for Slasher Sequel appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Developed by Mike Flanagan, the James Watkins-directed movie is a full-blown R-rated horror movie, in which Tom Rhys Harries‘ Matt Hagen takes part in an experiment meant to heal him, only to unlock something else. In an all-new clip from the movie, you can see the devastating impact of the experiment and its nasty side effects.

The new Clayface clip can be seen below, with the movie landing in theaters on October 23.

Matt Hagen’s meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.

The film also stars Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella, and Eddie Marsan, as well as Nancy Carroll and Joshua James.

James Watkins directs from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, story by Flanagan, based on characters from DC. The film is produced by Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, James Gunn, and Peter Safran, with Michael E. Uslan, Chantal Nong Vo, Lars P. Winther, Paul Ritchie, Rafi Crohn, and Trevor Macy executive producing.

Watkins’ creative team includes director of photography Rob Hardy, production designer James Price, editor Jon Harris and costume designer Keith Madden. Music is by Volker Bertelmann.

This isn’t DC’s first foray into R-rated storytelling, as Joaquin Pheonix‘s Joker was a massive financial success, and even scored the actor an Oscar. The character of Clayface is closely tied to Batman, and while Matt Reeves’ The Batman embraced a darker tone than its predecessors, it still held back on the intensity to earn a PG-13 rating.

Clayface, though, goes all out as a body horror nightmare, with the below clip only being the tip of the iceberg.

Clayface hits theaters on October 23.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post New ‘Clayface’ Clip Redefines the Meaning of a “Red-Eye Flight” appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Just over a week ago, Warner Bros. announced that production on The Batman Part 2 was pausing so director Matt Reeves could attend to a family matter. It was unclear how long production might be paused, though given how much Reeves’ vision not only helped make the 2022 The Batman such a success, but the overall vision of DC Studios projects he was involved in, it seemed like only a matter of time before production would resume.

Today, though, Warner Bros. confirmed, per Variety, that production would resume, but without Reeves. Instead, Steven Soderbergh is stepping in to complete principal photography.

“As Matt Reeves continues to attend to an ongoing family matter, Steven Soderbergh, as an admirer of Matt’s work, approached Matt and will step in, with the full support of DC Studios, to help the writer-director complete the final weeks of principal photography on The Batman Part 2,” a studio rep shared in a statement. “Matt and Steven will work closely together with the actors and crew to fulfill Matt’s vision of the film.”

Soderbergh himself added, “I thought Matt Reeves’ work on The Batman was stunning; it was intentional, specific and rigorously coherent. The goal here is to work with Matt and his team to generate footage that will integrate seamlessly with what’s already been shot so Matt can properly finish his film.”

There has been no official word on what the family matter might be, though for Reeves to step away from the project for these last few weeks, we wish nothing but the best for Reeves and his family in this difficult time.

The original The Batman underwent a number of delays, though those were largely related to the coronavirus pandemic. The sequel, while announced shortly after the first movie hit theaters, has had a number of release dates come and go as the filmmakers completed work on the script and coordinated schedules with the top-tier talent involved.

Strangely, DC has gone through a similar issue before, as Justice League was being helmed by Zack Snyder, only for him to part ways with the project due to a family matter. Joss Whedon then stepped in to complete production, helm reshoots, and offer rewrites.

Soderbergh, known for titles like Traffic, the Ocean’s movies, Contagion, and Black Bag, is quite experienced in both juggling an ensemble of acclaimed actors and also delivering gripping thrillers. He previously expressed that he had been working on a Star Wars spin-off focusing on Adam Driver‘s Ben Solo, with The Batman Part 2 marking his first major foray into franchise filmmaking.

The Batman Part 2 is set to hit theaters on February 18, 2028.

The post ‘The Batman 2’: Steven Soderbergh Takes Over Directing Final Weeks of Principal Photography [UPDATED] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The movie was a huge hit, resulting in two sequels and multiple Scorpion King spin-offs. Nearly two decades after the last live-action installment in that core Mummy series, we’re finally getting a new installment.

We’re still a ways out from getting our first official looks at Brendan Fraser‘s highly anticipated return to The Mummy franchise, but today brings confirmation from Universal Pictures that the film has secured the title The Mummy: Book of the Dead. Universal also released a new image for the sequel that highlights the new title, which you can see below.

After their success reviving the Scream franchise and their vampire movie Abigail, The Mummy: Book of the Dead is directed by Radio Silence duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Kevin J. O’Connor, and Oded Fehr are all returning to the franchise alongside Fraser, with the sequel also featuring newcomers Michael Johnston and Numan Acar.

While it’s too early to tell what the actual plot will be, the ominous title, along with the filmmakers’ history of horror, implies that this new chapter will lean more heavily into the darker components of the mythology. Given more recent attempts to bring that mythology to life, having Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett at the helm is promising.

Back in 2017, Universal attempted to revive not only The Mummy, but also its beloved roster of iconic monsters with the Dark Universe franchise. The planned series kicked off with Tom Cruise‘s Mummy, with there also being confirmed casting of Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Javier Bardem as Frankenstein’s Monster, and Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man. When that debut installment fell short with critics, the entire franchise stagnated before ultimately being scrapped.

Earlier this year, many audiences were confused by Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, which was never meant to be an official revival of the Universal Monster, as proven by the fact that the movie wasn’t made by Universal Pictures. Instead, it was merely a movie’s title and was an entirely new mythology that was inspired by ancient Egypt.

This new title was confirmed one year before the movie’s release date, as The Mummy: Book of the Dead will hit theaters on October 15, 2027.

What do you think of the title? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘The Mummy 4’ Gets Official New ‘The Mummy: Book of the Dead’ Title appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

According to Deadline, Scream VI star Jack Champion and The Black Phone star Madeleine McGraw have joined the movie, as has Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star Xochitl Gomez. The movie is described as “a modern-day Thelma & Louise fueled by female rage, following Isabelle (McGraw) and Kira (Gomez) on a road trip home for spring break, when they pick up mysterious hitchhiker (Champion), who is not what he seems.”

Debbie Liebling, Joel David Moore, and Zachary Burgess will produce the movie, and executive producers include Steven Silverstein, Cathy Raduns, Raymond Merrill, Carmelo Chimera, Syed Ali Saeed, Denis Schoenhofer, Natalie Kline, and Jarod Einsohn.

The new movie marks only the latest genre entry on McGraw’s growing resume. Back in 2022, she expressed her love for horror when speaking about her work on The Black Phone.

“I love horror things. I love that scared feeling like when your heart drops,” McGraw revealed to Bloody Disgusting. “I was so excited to get to do this, and I was so happy that I got to do it because my mom doesn’t let me watch a lot of scary things. So, I knew she would have to let me watch it since I was in it.”

The original The Black Phone was based on the Joe Hill short story of the same name, while the sequel was an all-new narrative. Director of both movies, Scott Derrickson, previously expressed to Variety what his outlook was on getting a Black Phone 3.

“What I can say is that my attitude toward a sequel is that there’s really no justification for making a sequel unless you are genuinely attempting to make a movie that’s better than the first movie you’re making a sequel to. If you’re going to make a third one, it needs to be better than the second one, which is better than the first one. Very few films do that,” the filmmaker confessed. “Looking back on the history of cinema, I think Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy and George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead trilogy are probably the only two trilogies of movies where they’re all three great movies and get progressively better.”

He added, “What would be important to me in considering any ideas is that it’s just not a retread, and that we don’t feel like we’re seeing, ‘Oh, now we establish this new rule for the Grabber. So let’s just do that again.’ That’s the only thing I couldn’t do.”

Luckily, even without a third Black Phone, McGraw is clearly intentionally exploring more stories in the horror realm.

Stay tuned for updates on Bad Influence.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Scream’ and ‘Black Phone’ Stars Unite in YA Horror ‘Bad Influence’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Continuing his trend of honoring actual history, Eggers has drawn on real-life encounters to inspire his story of lycanthropy, to the point that even the character that Willem Dafoe plays was based on an actual person. While speaking with The Playlist, Dafoe explained how he drew inspiration from the historical figure.

“He’s a man on a mission. So that can make some people crazy,” the actor revealed. “But one interesting thing is he’s the only character in the movie that’s based on a real-life person. A man that was, and I don’t think this gives anything away, but it was a man that was selected by the king to eliminate all the wolves from England because England at that time was very poor.”

He continued, “And the only thing that they did have of wealth was wool. That was a big export. That was what put money into the coffers of the king. So it was very important to eliminate the wolves. And my guy is that guy.”

While we have gotten glimpses of the new movie in a teaser and a trailer, there’s still a lot that’s unknown about the movie’s actual plot. Focus Features describes the movie, “Witness Robert Eggers’ most visceral and haunting experience yet. Focus Features presents Werwulf, a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation and the devil within.”

Also starring in the movie are Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nosferatu), Lily-Rose Depp (Nosferatu), Ralph Ineson (The Witch), and Bodhi Rae Breathnach (Hamnet).

Based on early teases of the movie and its overall premise, Werwulf looks to be the most intense and outright horrifying movie of Eggers’ career. While previous efforts like The Witch or The Lighthouse showed restraint in delivering its unsettling components, a movie with a man transforming into a brutal and bloodthirsty beast lends itself to unrelenting terror.

Werwulf is set to hit theaters on December 25.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Werwulf’s Willem Dafoe Reveals the Real-Life Inspiration for Robert Eggers’ Werewolf Movie appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

While the full guest lineup hasn’t been announced just yet, the trailer below features Barbara Crampton, Joe Lynch, and Joe Swanberg being served themed libations ahead of the series’ premiere on October 30. New episodes will release every Friday.

The Last Podcast on the Left lends their voices to the colorful supporting cast of puppets. Co-host Ed Larson is starring as Ted’s co-host, Mortimer Dustworth, a re-animated head in a jar that has a love-hate relationship with Ted. Henry Zebrowski, Marcus Parks, and long-time Last Podcast collaborator Holden McNeely (host of the Nerd of Mouth Podcast on the Last Podcast Network) will make special guest star cameos throughout the season as other characters and puppets.

In Your Dearest Darkest Friend, Raimi welcomes celebrity guests into his haunted manor for an evening of confabulation, cocktails, and the presence of an uncanny creature or two. Joined by his puppet companions, Raimi takes viewers on a delightfully dreadful journey into the minds of some of the biggest names in horror—with a twisted sensibility only Ted Raimi can deliver.

“Yes, it’s weird. Truthfully, it’s a very odd concept for a talk show. We didn’t care: We all agreed it would appeal to the crowd we all knew would dig it – horror fans,” Ted Raimi said. 

A genre staple, Ted Raimi’s credits include Evil Dead II, Candyman, The Grudge, The Midnight Meat Train, Darkman, Wishmaster, Shocker, Intruder, Blood Rage, The Quarry, “Twin Peaks,” “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” “Creepshow,” and “Masters of Horror.”

Your Dearest Darkest Friend is produced by Tony Wash, Charlie Queen, Lauren Leshansky, and Ted Raimi. 

The post Ted Raimi Invites Horror Icons Into His Haunted Manor In ‘Your Dearest Darkest Friend’ Trailer appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Even without expanding too far outside the familiar, though, there’s still a lingering question about what happened to Inde Navarrette‘s Nikki after the credits rolled. For a majority of the movie, she was fueled by a supernatural force, with her only snapping out of her fixation on Michael Johnston‘s Bear in the film’s final moments. So, in the event that Barker wants to proceed with a sequel, will Navarrette reprise her role?

“I would totally be open to doing a sequel. Are you kidding me? Who am I to say no?” Navarrette confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. “And what is she doing afterwards? I think the non-pretty answer, which I think is more important to give sometimes than kind of just giggling through answers, is she’s starting a grief process.”

She continued, “When things happen that are completely out of our control, like losing a loved one, losing a parent, losing autonomy, having an experience that wasn’t your fault, it’s very difficult to understand anything. She’s just starting the grief process.”

The idea of another installment that explores another character isn’t unfounded, as Barker shared with Total Film earlier this year, “I do see Obsession 2 [happening], maybe. Or even, what really is exciting to me, is maybe an anthology. Like a one-hour episode… each episode is a different wish that goes completely off the rails.”

Even if there’s potential for such a follow up, we shouldn’t hold our breath. Earlier this year, Barker filmed his next movie, Anything But Ghosts, with that movie’s promotional cycle preventing Barker from making an Obsession 2. Also on his plate is a new take on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which doesn’t yet have a release date.

Additionally, Navarrette’s performance has deservedly made her one of the most sought-after actors of the year, and it didn’t take long for her to score her next major role, which is playing Rogue in the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s X-Men movie.

That X-Men movie currently has a release date of May 5, 2028. Anything But Ghosts is set to release on May 7, 2027.

Would you like to see Navarrette return for a sequel? Let us know in the comments!

The post ‘Obsession 2’: Inde Navarrette Would “Totally Be Open” to Returning for Sequel appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The 4-minute found footage horror short plays out like one of those cursed tapes from Sinister, wherein a seemingly normal family home video is interrupted by a shocking event.

To capture the proper vibe and aesthetic, Dennis Cahlo filmed A Special Day entirely on VHS-C tape, giving it a gritty vibe that feels like a true invasion of a family’s home video footage.

Cahlo tells Bloody Disgusting, “I listen to a lot of true crime cases and found myself getting more and more disturbed by the things I had to picture in my head about what the victims must have been going through. And that’s when it hit me what’s really scary to me. It’s not seeing the actual horror, but having to piece together in your mind how it all happened.

“And so I went about making a short that would do that.”

Cahlo made A Special Day on a budget of just $100, with influences and inspirations including Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Manhunter, Se7en, and the short film Dead Grandma.

“The biggest influence has to be Dead Grandma, a short from last year that blew me away,” Cahlo explains. “That scared me more than any horror movie I’ve seen in the last 10 years because of what I had to picture happening after the credits hit. It’s things like that which I find scarier than monsters or jump scares. And I really wanted to do that but in my own way.”

“I think that every short film leads to a bigger project,” Cahlo notes. “David Fincher is my favorite American director and I think we haven’t had a good fictional serial killer movie since Se7en. So I’ve always wanted to make my Se7en but I never had the catalyst for it. I think, now with what I tapped into with A Special Day, I’m ready to tackle it.”

A Special Day is written, directed and edited by Dennis Cahlo. The horror short’s cast includes Sara Troficanto, Nick Westemeyer, Dennis Cahlo, and introducing Miles Westemeyer.

The post ‘A Special Day’ – Watch Chilling Found Footage Short Filmed Entirely On VHS-C Tape appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Here’s the official synopsis for Renny Harlin’s Evac…

“A medical specialist must team up with a wounded inmate she was sent to rescue after their medical helicopter crash-lands in a volatile prison yard. Together, the mismatched duo must survive the night and fight their way out amidst a dangerous, unfolding prison conspiracy.”

Sidney King (Skyfire) wrote the movie’s screenplay.

“The script is a non-stop adrenaline rush,” said Harlin. “It combines an intense, ticking-clock rescue mission with deep, character-driven stakes. The moment that chopper goes down, the audience will be trapped right there in the yard with our heroes. I’ve always loved high-octane stories where everyday professionals are thrown into extraordinary, survival-stakes environments.”

Producer Michael Roccio adds, “We are thrilled to have Renny Harlin directing Evac. He is a true master of cinematic suspense and grand-scale action. Sidney has crafted a brilliant pressure-cooker world that balances prison politics with raw survival prowess. We are confident Evac will become an unforgettable theatrical experience for action fans worldwide.”

Renny Harlin most recently directed the shark attack horror movie Deep Water, which brought the filmmaker back to the shark attack subgenre that he mastered in the ’90s with Deep Blue Sea.

The post ‘Evac’ – Renny Harlin Directing Prison Rescue Thriller appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody Disgusting’s parent company Cineverse has announced this morning that they’ve made a deal with Trevor Henderson, creator of Siren Head and Cartoon Cat, to adapt the hit Bloody FM horror podcast Mayfair Watchers Society into a feature film. Downloaded more than three million times since premiering in October 2022, the Mayfair Watchers Society story will continue both on the big screen and through the podcast, which premieres its fourth season soon.

The news was first reported by Variety this morning.

Hollywood demand for Henderson’s viral online creations has exploded. Earlier this year, Warner Bros. Pictures won a bidding war to turn Henderson’s Siren Head character into a movie, with Zach Cregger and Brian Duffield attached. Another of his popular and terrifying characters, Cartoon Cat, is being adapted into a film by Sony’s TriStar Pictures, with Roy Lee producing.

“It has truly been the year that online creators have planted their flag as the new generation of horror filmmakers and characters. This deal to expand our relationship with Trevor, and adapt this podcast into a feature with him, presents a great opportunity for us, him, and his fans, and we can’t wait,” said Cineverse Chief Motion Pictures Officer Yolanda Macias.

Since successfully bringing Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3 to theatres, the Cineverse Motion Pictures Group has shown a commitment to supporting filmmakers with unique creative visions and IP with loyal, passionate fanbases. This includes the 20th anniversary release of Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece, Pan’s Labyrinth, which opened in theatres October 8.

“There hasn’t been a box office movement in years as transformational as the success seen by online creators with Iron Lung, Backrooms, and Obsession. We’re incredibly fortunate to be in a position where we can use our platforms to work with independent artists and bring their visions to life reaching audiences in entirely new ways. Mayfair Watchers Society has been an incredible collaboration with Trevor, and I can’t wait to continue that partnership and bring Mayfair to the big screen,” said Cineverse VP Network Strategy and Co-founder, Bloody Disgusting, Tom Owen.

The feature will be a found footage style anthology film highlighting different creatures and stories from the podcast. These include The Needle, Creekman, Owls with Teeth, Mr. Bag, Anxious Dogs, Scissors, and The Clatter.

“The Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting teams have been great partners on the podcast, and I’ve long been impressed with the film side of the company, and its indie philosophy. I look forward to being very hands-on with adapting the podcast into a feature, and look forward to working closely with them as we develop the film, select the directing and writing teams, and get closer to bringing this to fans,” said Henderson, who will be a producer and part of the writing team.

The Mayfair Watchers Society podcast is an original production of Bloody FM, Cineverse Podcast Network’s horror brand. Created by Henderson and Pacific Obadiah, and produced by Obadiah, Mayfair Watchers Society is presented as a collection of found tapes and audio accounts, each episode focusing on different residents encountering Henderson’s iconic style of monsters. It was chosen by Apple as one of the most popular podcasts when it debuted in 2022, and has been a top 50 podcast and the #2-ranked fiction podcast on both Apple and Spotify.

The post Trevor Henderson’s Horror Podcast ‘Mayfair Watchers Society’ Getting a Movie Adaptation appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In a new featurette for the upcoming release, you can see Depp embracing the identity of the literary character, as his costars also explain what makes this take on the material so different. You can see the new Ebenezer featurette below.

This November, Johnny Depp is Ebenezer Scrooge. The name you know, the story you don’t. From Ti West, Ebenezer also stars Rupert Grint, Andrea Riseborough, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley, Arthur Conti, Ellie Bamber, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Charlie Murphy, with Tramell Tillman and Ian McKellen.

There have been dozens of adaptations of A Christmas Carol in live-action, all of which attempt to showcase how it’s never too late to become the person that makes a positive impact on the world, no matter what you’ve done in your past. In many versions of the story, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come not just shows Ebenezer how no one will miss him when he dies, but that his legacy and his actions will impact those in his orbit.

Given how many of these adaptations are designed to appeal to audiences of all ages, adaptations don’t highlight the darker components of Scrooge’s impending death. One significant exception, though, is the Andy Serkis-directed A Christmas Carol from 2019. The three-part TV event was written by Peaky Blinders‘ Steven Knight, which should automatically signal that this would be a much grittier endeavor.

Starring Guy Pearce, the adaptation didn’t hold back on the darker elements of the storyline, which leaned much more heavily into the horror components that come with the idea of ghosts returning from beyond to taunt Scrooge. There were also multiple implications of sexual assault against minors as well as forced prostitution against Mary Cratchit.

With West’s horror background, ranging from The House of the Devil to The Sacrament to the X trilogy, it’s unclear at this point just how intense this new Ebenezer will be.

Ebenezer will hit theaters on November 13.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Johnny Depp Transforms Into Scrooge in New ‘Ebenezer’ Featurette appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Idris Elba (Thor: Ragnarok, Beast) stars alongside Caitlin FitzGerald (“We Were Liars”) and Hero Fiennes Tiffin (“Young Sherlock”) as the stranded astronauts, but Elba also co-directs with Martin Owen (The Loneliest Boy in the World).

The official synopsis reads: “When three astronauts survive a catastrophic fall from space, they become trapped in the crushing depths of the ocean with oxygen rapidly running out. Facing a race against time where every breath could be their last, they must make impossible choices about who will risk everything to reach the surface and who may be left behind.”

Elizabeth Morris, Matthew Mitchell, and Vicki Sargent wrote the screenplay.

Elba teased claustrophobic, suspenseful thrills ahead to Collider: “I’m very excited to show people that I can hold my breath for four minutes. Joking aside (I can hold my breath for that long), but you know, this film was very practical. We did a lot of the things in this film. We did build the spacecraft, we submerged it in water, we shot a lot of it underwater. There’s a real practicality to this film that adds to the claustrophobia and the thriller aspect of it. So I’m really excited for people to literally go on that journey with us, from space to the ocean, and be entertained, be thrilled, and be claustrophobic.”

That claustrophobia is reflected in at least one of the first look images below. Look for the lean 85-minute survival thriller to arrive this December.

The post ‘Above The Below’ First Images Trap Idris Elba In A Claustrophobic Sci-Fi Survival Thriller appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

James Gunn is of course co-running the DC cinematic universe these days, and Gunn has taken to social media this week to recommend some of his personal favorite body horror movies.

Gunn explains, “As many of you know I love a list and here’s one I just posted on Threads in preparation for Clayface. Not all of these are classically great movies (although many of them are), but they’re all movies I’ve had a profound love for many years. #BodyHorror.”

As you might expect, the list is loaded with David Cronenberg movies, including the body horror master’s 1986 version of The Fly along with Videodrome, Shivers, and The Brood.

The list also includes Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Ken Russell’s Altered States, Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator, and John Carpenter’s The Thing. And yes, Gunn did cheekily include his own horror-comedy, Slither.

Here’s the full list of body horror movies James Gunn wants you to watch before Clayface…

• Shivers (Cronenberg, 1975)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman, 1978)
• The Brood (Cronenberg, 1979)
• Altered States (Russell, 1980)
• The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
• Basket Case (Henenlotter, 1982)
• Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1983)
• Re-Animator (Gordon, 1985)
• The Fly (Cronenberg, 1986)
• The Blob (Russell, 1988)
• Cronos (del Toro, 1993)
• Oh yeah and Slither (me, 2006)

Described as DC Studios’ first-ever foray into the genre, Clayface unravels one man’s horrifying descent from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster in a story that explores the loss of one’s identity and humanity, corrosive love, and the dark underbelly of scientific ambition.

Tom Rhys Harries stars in the title role of the cult favorite villain from Gotham’s rogues gallery.

James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil) directs from a script by Mike Flanagan (“The Haunting of Hill House,” Doctor Sleep) and Hossein Amini (Drive).

James Gunn’s DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran previously called Clayface “an incredible body horror film that reveals a compelling origin of a classic Batman villain.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn)

The post James Gunn Recommends 12 Body Horror Movies to Watch Before You See ‘Clayface’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Previously known as Arachnid, the horror film will be released in theaters nationwide on October 16 via Roadside Attractions and Saban Films. 

In Crawlers, “a catastrophic infestation of venomous and deadly spiders sends an apartment building into lockdown. Trapped inside by a police-mandated quarantine, building manager Serena (Lutz) and her residents battle to survive as the creatures multiply by the second. Armed with her intimate knowledge of the complex, Serena may be the only one who can keep them alive—if she can confront her deepest fear.” 

Crawlers is rated R for “violent content/bloody images, language and brief sexual material.” The clip below, which shows a spider bursting from a corpse’s eye, certainly underscores the film’s rating.

Angel Gómez Hernández (Don’t Listen) directs from a script by Jayson Rothwell (Polar, Silent Night).

Crawlers marks the first feature from Badlands, the new collaboration between Basil Iwanyk & Erica Lee’s Thunder Road (John Wick, Sicario) and longtime studio executive Scott Strauss (Resident Evil, Underworld). Strauss, Iwanyk, and Lee produce alongside Peter Welter Soler (Terminator Dark Fate), Jayson Rothwell, Alexandra Milchan (“The Terror”), and Josh Weinstock. Executive producers include Andrew Schwartzberg, Jon Shiffman, and Diarmaid McGrath.

“Crawlers is a uniquely visceral horror experience that gets under your skin in the best way possible. It’s a true, unapologetic genre film that delivers the kind of squirm-in-your-seat, racing-heart moments that horror fans live for,” said Saban co-presidents Shanan Becker and Jonathan Saba. “It masterfully blends edge-of-your-seat thrills with the high-octane fun we’ve come to expect from the producers of John Wick.”

“It is said we are never more than three feet from a spider,” added Strauss. “Now they’re coming to a theater near you! The filmmaking team is over the moon to partner with Roadside and Saban on the theatrical release of Crawlers.”

The post Matilda Lutz Faces a Grisly Spider Surprise in New ‘Crawlers’ Clip appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

It’s a testament to both Perlman and del Toro’s devotion to the character that, even after the original 2004 movie fell flat with audiences, del Toro used the clout he secured with the Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth that his follow-up project was 2008’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Unfortunately, that movie similarly fell short of expectations, seemingly ending the likelihood of their planned trilogy.

Luckily, Perlman is still devoted to del Toro and Hellboy, confirming that, even if the filmmaker doesn’t reach out about the third chapter for another decade, he won’t hesitate to reprise the role.

“I’ve said so much about this and pissed off enough people, but I’ll say it again for you: the original movies were meant to be a trilogy,” Perlman recalled to Deadline. “In Hellboy II, we left off at a very awkward moment where the Liz Sherman character is pregnant with twins, and none of the promises of Hellboy being summoned into existence to destroy the world has been addressed. That would all have been in the third film, and I’ll always advocate for the making of the third film.”

He continued, “I’m not interested in doing any other version of Hellboy other than finishing the trilogy with Guillermo. It would be so epic. Like a Greek epic. Hubris, hamartia, destiny, nature vs nurture, it would be such an adventure. I’m 76 now, and if he comes to me and I’m 86, we’ll still do the motherf-cker.”

As far as whether there have been recent conversations about the third film, now that del Toro has released his Oscar-winning Frankenstein, Perlman confessed, “No comment.”

Proving the inherent potential of the concept, we’ve gotten 2019’s Hellboy reboot, which starred David Harbour, and 2024’s Hellboy: The Crooked Man, which starred Jack Kesy. Even though the Perlman Hellboy films fell short with audiences, the subsequent live-action movies were received even less successfully.

At this point, it’s currently unknown what’s in store for Hellboy’s live-action future.

Would you still like to see Perlman return for a third movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Ron Perlman Promises He’ll Still Do ‘Hellboy 3’ if Guillermo del Toro Returns appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Per iHorror, Riggs, who starred in, wrote and directed BIOHAZARD, enlisted the help of fellow TWD alumni Jason Douglas for the short. While Riggs plays RE7 protagonist Ethan Winters, Douglas plays Jack Baker, patriarch of the infected family Ethan stumbles upon. If that wasn’t enough of a collab, KNB EFX co-founder Greg Nicotero (who also did the show’s makeup effects) supplied the short’s special effects. Mary Rachel Quinn, Eugenie Bondurant, Johnathan O’Neil and Sam Coyles also star in the short.

In an interview with IGN, Riggs mentions that he simply wanted to bring this moment to life on-screen. And of course, given the timing with Zach Cregger‘s Resident Evil film, the interview inevitably turned to that.

“We were in pre-production [on the short] when the article came out that Zack Cregger was going to do his [movie],” explains Riggs. “I was like, ‘Oh man, all right, we got to get ours out first.’ We were trying to beat the clock and get it out about a month ago, but parts just didn’t align that way.”

Riggs explains that one of the reasons he made this short was the desire to “see a good, true-to-the-game live-action adaptation of Resident Evil.”

According to Riggs, playing Ethan was “absolutely an intimidating thing,” particularly due to the fact that unlike the game, the short is shot from a third person point of view, which similar to Cregger’s film, might not sit well with certain purists.

“We’re trying to do so much else super faithful and true to the game, but this [third person perspective] is a huge aspect that we are breaking from it,” explains Riggs. “But there isn’t really another good way to tell [the story] in a live-action format. I was going back and forth like ‘Okay, could we do first person the whole time? Could we avoid getting his face in or anything?’ But the more we went back and forth on it, the more I was like, ‘I mean, if we are going to do this and are going to appeal to a wider audience — more than just the people who played the games — then we’re going to have to break those rules. It was very intimidating. Hopefully people are okay with it.”

The post ‘The Walking Dead’ Star Chandler Riggs Releases ‘Resident Evil 7’ Fan Film ‘BIOHAZARD’ [Watch] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The announcement brings the first teaser, giving a bloody first look at the feature directorial debut of Marta Giec, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dominika Kłoczewiak.

ÒPI, rooted in the ancient beliefs and dark folklore of Poland’s Kashubian region, follows “eighteen-year-old Trina as she struggles to escape a suffocating relationship with her mother and a household steeped in tension, buried secrets and generational trauma. When her aunt Helena and paralyzed grandmother Regina arrive, the fragile boundaries between everyday life, ancestral superstition and Trina’s increasingly disturbing nightmares begin to collapse.“

The film stars Wiktoria Kruszczyńska as Trina, alongside Gabriela Muskała, Magdalena Boczarska and Iwona Bielska, with Pitry also appearing.

“ÒPI is the kind of horror that gets under your skin and stays there,” said Michael Paszt, Managing Partner of Raven Banner. “It taps into something ancient and deeply unsettling, drawing on Polish Kashubian folklore to create a world where family trauma, superstition and genuine terror collide. We’re always hunting for bold genre films with a distinct cultural identity, a filmmaker’s vision and the ability to leave a lasting impression.“ÒPI delivers on all three fronts, and we’re stoked to introduce it to audiences.“

Brooklyn Horror Fest writes of ÒPI, “Powerfully oppressive in its dread and dark as hell in its look at familial dysfunction, writer-director Marta Giec’s feature debut is can’t-miss material for fans of bleak and creepy horror, the kinds of films that engulf you while watching and linger on mentally long after the credits roll.“

ÒPI was produced by Adam Korpak and Karol Żbikowski of Platige Films, with Wojciech Stuchlik serving as executive producer. The project received co-financing from the Polish Film Institute.

The post Raven Banner Acquires Polish Folk Horror ‘ÒPI’; First Teaser Debuts Ahead Of Fest Premiere appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

These complications aren’t limited to Disney, though, as James Gunn and Peter Safran‘s DC Studios has seen similar setbacks. Against the odds, though, this month will see the release of the R-rated horror movie Clayface, one of the more unlikely projects to come out of the franchise. Another project we’ve been waiting years for is James Mangold‘s Swamp Thing, which is seemingly still happening.

Speaking with Deadline at the premiere of Clayface, Safran was asked about the status of Swamp Thing, to which he claimed, “We’re working on it, absolutely … The script is being written as we speak. But it’s something we’re excited about. All these things take time – when you’ve already got a filmmaker involved, you’ve got to wait for their window [of availability] as well.”

The movie was first announced back in 2023, with Gunn sharing at the time, “This is a much more horrific film, but we’ll still have Swamp Thing interact with the other characters.” Since then, though, projects like Paradise Lost, The Authority, and Sgt. Rock have all been delayed indefinitely.

Swamp Thing is one of the more underrated horror characters in the DC roster, who was lucky enough to get a single-season TV series in 2019 on the DC Universe streaming platform. The show was canceled due to reported budget concerns, while the DC Universe platform was phased out and integrated into HBO Max.

Also in 2023, Mangold teased his vision for the project, explaining to Variety, “While I’m sure DC views Swamp Thing as a franchise, I would be viewing it as a very simple, clean, Gothic horror movie about this man/monster.” He admitted he had been “toying for years with the idea of making a kind of Frankenstein movie.”

To Safran’s point, though, Mangold has been busy, as he released Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in 2023 and then A Complete Unknown in 2024. He’s also attached to a Star Wars movie that was announced in 2023, which is another project that has yet to earn significant updates.

Stay tuned for updates on the potential Swamp Thing movie.

Are you hoping the project moves forward? Let us know in the comments below!

The post James Mangold’s Gothic Horror ‘Swamp Thing’ Movie Still Happening After Cancellation Reports appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Christmas at the Kringles from Briarcliff Entertainment and director Kevin Lewis is Rated R for “some strong bloody violence, language, and some sexual material.”

Watch the previously released official trailer below.

Ron Livingston (The Conjuring, Office Space) leads as a man over Christmas who finds himself teaming with Santa (Rob Riggle) to survive it. Expect a wild ride ahead as Willy’s Wonderland and Pig Hill director Kevin Lewis helms from a script by Zack Imbrogno (Slayers, Fear, Inc.).

Christmas at the Kringles follows the Seversons, a family starting fresh in a quiet suburban neighborhood, whose next-door neighbors, the Kringles, celebrate Christmas year-round.

What begins as charming quickly turns unsettling, as Mark and Julie grow concerned about their son’s growing attachment to the family.

After a heated confrontation, Mark heads next door to bring his family home, only to uncover the Kringles’ true intentions: to hypnotize and indoctrinate them.

What follows is a life-or-death rescue mission, as Mark teams up with a rogue, badass Santa in a high-stakes, action-packed fight to save his family.

Rachel Bilson, Arden Myrin, Beverly D’Angelo (Violent Night), and David Wain, with Thomas Lennon and Donald Faison also star.

Lewis previews, “I have been looking to do another zany and bonkers genre film in the vein of Willy’s Wonderland and I found it in Zack Imbrogno’s unique and original screenplay. I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by such a talented cast and crew to bring this crazy train of a movie to life.”

The post ‘Christmas at the Kringles’ from ‘Willy’s Wonderland’ Director Gets ‘R’ Rating for Strong Bloody Violence appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

It seems like each week, a new movie is announced that takes inspiration from creepypasta. The adaptation The Third Parent was announced last year, and while we still have to wait until 2027 to see the movie, we’ve now earned our first teaser trailer for the movie, which you can see below.

Based on the viral creepypasta series of internet-based stories from writer Elias Witherow, The Third Parent takes place amidst a Fourth of July celebration when a disturbing figure named Tommy Taffy emerges, disguising himself as a human to infiltrate a suburban neighborhood and impose authoritarian rule over an unsuspecting family.

The Third Parent was written and directed by David Michaels and stars Crispin Glover, Rob Lowe, and Roselyn Sanchez.

While the movie’s antagonist Tommy Taffy might not have the same reputation as the Slender Man or the Backrooms, Glover is hoping to change that.

“I purposefully did not read the online stories that it’s based on, because I knew that it was best for me not to be thinking about too many things,” Glover shared with Bloody Disgusting previously. “I could just tell in the situation it was best to stick with the script, but I could see that there were interesting aspects to the writing and why it has a fair amount of popularity online.”

He continued, “There was something having to do with a prosthetic, which was wasn’t fitted to me. We didn’t end up using it. It wasn’t that the people did something wrong; there just wasn’t the proper amount of time to have gone through how a prosthetic would work, so there’s something about the look of the character that I will be curious to see what they’re doing.”

Whether The Third Parent will become the next creepypasta sensation or not is something we’ll have to wait until 2027 to discover.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Creepypasta Horror Movie ‘The Third Parent’ Releases First Teaser appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Born to deeply religious Lebanese immigrants, Blatty grew up in relative poverty before enrolling in Georgetown University and briefly joining the Air Force. This eventually led to the young man becoming a Beirut-based agent of the United States Information Agency, a now-defunct branch of the government focused on promoting American propaganda overseas, as he attempted to come to terms with his Middle Eastern heritage.

It was also there that Blatty discovered his talents as a writer, a realization that gave rise to an absurd publicity stunt where the author would return to America pretending to be a Saudi Arabian Prince in an effort to promote his stories. This plan resulted in his being invited to a game show hosted by comedian Groucho Marx, with the winnings from said show allowing the up-and-coming storyteller to quit his day job and focus on writing books full-time.

This was all a decade before Blatty published The Exorcist.

I bring this up because it takes a very special kind of filmmaker to properly empathize with the wild ideas cooked up by such a unique writer, ideas like how the universe itself is collectively Lucifer and evolution is his/our way of returning to God after falling from grace. That’s why I have faith in Mike Flanagan’s upcoming The Exorcist: Martyrs, as the modern-day master of horror has already proven himself to be comfortable around scary stories centered on theological discussion.

A Fangoria interview with the filmmaker has also made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of recycling the success of William Friedkin’s “untouchable” 1973 adaptation of The Exorcist. Instead, Flanagan’s new movie appears to be engaging with the criminally underrated sequel The Exorcist III, a fascinating horror flick directed by William Peter Blatty himself as he attempted to adapt his much denser novel Legion to the big screen.

According to SyFy Wire, Flanagan plans on doing a lot more than merely reference Blatty’s supernatural murder mystery. Soon after the release of the trailer for Martyrs, which already features similar themes of serial killings tied to Satanism just like in Legion, eagle-eyed horror fans noticed that Scarlett Johansson’s detective character appears to have a framed photo of actor George C. Scott in her home, on the shelf behind her son. Scott previously played Lieutenant William Kinderman in The Exorcist III back in 1990, taking over for Lee J. Cobb, who played the same character in Friedkin’s original film.

Not only that, but the trailer also features a couple of shots where Johannson’s Detective Miller wears a nametag branded with “Kinderman”.  Naturally, this has led to tons of speculation that Johannson’s character is in fact Lieutenant Kinderman’s daughter, with Martyrs being a direct sequel to The Exorcist III rather than yet another extension of Regan’s saga.

While Flanagan has yet to comment on these direct ties to the 1990 threequel, I think it’s safe to say that Martyrs will likely tackle the same faith-based themes of coming to terms with the existence of evil and how serial killers might tie into “God’s Plan”. Of course, we’ll only know for sure when the movie comes out next year.

The Exorcist: Martyrs is set to release on March 12, 2027.

The post ‘The Exorcist: Martyrs’ Trailer Hints at a Surprising Connection to ‘The Exorcist III’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

And, of course, Taika Waititi‘s What We Do in the Shadows pushed New Zealand’s reputation for horror comedies to new heights, as the movie got its own spin-off TV series and launched Waititi’s blockbuster career with Marvel Studios.

A new horror comedy from New Zealand premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, and today the movie Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant has gotten a trailer and a US release date. You can check out the trailer below before the movie hits Digital on October 27.

Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant is a wild New Zealand body horror comedy following Mary, a messy millennial underachiever who accidentally becomes alien-pregnant and has to face skeptical doctors, a useless baby daddy and her oversharing mother in order to survive and reclaim her life. Written and directed by New Zealand filmmaking duo THUNDERLIPS, the film marks their feature directorial debut and expands on their 2024 short Help, I’m Alien Pregnant, with Hannah Lynch reprising her role.

Also starring in the movie are Yvette Parsons (What We Do in the Shadows), Arlo Green (Shortland Street), and Jackie van Beek (co-creator of Australian The Office).

With nearly 20 reviews calculated, the movie currently holds an 94% positive rating on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewing the movie out of Sundance, Bloody Disgusting‘s Meagan Navarro explained, “Lynch is a fiery lead, and Mary’s journey is ultimately satisfying. It’s more conversational than full-blown body horror insanity, but the filmmakers ensure that there’s no shortage of gross-out gags, birthing pods, horny tentacles, and bodily fluids to showcase just how gnarly pregnancy really is.”

RogerEbert.com was also impressed by the movie’s gore, as Robert Daniels writes, “THUNDERLIPS aren’t afraid of grossing out their audience (points for showing Boo’s alien penis), pushing Mary and Boo through an exaggerated pregnancy that dials up the way women’s bodies change while expecting by more than a few notches. They’re also pro-choice, finely walking Mary’s desire for bodily autonomy with the comedy of her carrying her baby to term.”

Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant hits digital on October 27.

Are you looking forward to the movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Body-Horror Comedy ‘Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant’ Gets Trailer and Release Date appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, Ella Beatty plays the titular character who was accused of killing her parents with an axe. The success of the series and the impending awards season will elevate Beatty’s notoriety to new levels, and she already has one new release in the works.

As confirmed by Variety, Beatty’s new movie Act One has secured distribution from Oscilloscope Laboratories. The movie was directed by Sophia Takal (Black Christmas) and also stars Ari Graynor. You can see a first look at the movie at the top of the page, with Act One set to hit theaters in 2027.

The outlet describes the movie, “Act One follows Hannah (Beatty) as she joins an elite acting studio led by its magnetic founder, Melanie (Graynor) … Drawn to Melanie’s intensity and increasingly extreme methods, Hannah throws herself into the work. But as dedication turns to obsession and the lines between performance, desire and manipulation blur, she is pulled into a dangerous game that tests how far she’ll go to become the artist she wants to be.”

Also starring in the movie are Sinclair Daniel (Insidious: The Red Door), Tavi Gevinson (Gossip Girl), Elizabeth Reaser (Twilight), and Robert Sean Leonard (House).

“I’m thrilled Oscilloscope is releasing Act One,” Takal shared in a statement. “Getting to work with them again after Always Shine feels like a homecoming. It’s heartening to know there are people out there with the taste, nerve and good sense to champion movies like ours. I can’t wait for audiences to see the incredible work of all the talented people who made this film!”

Takal also directed the “New Year, New You” installment of Hulu‘s Into the Dark series, and also starred in the “Second Honeymoon” segment of the original V/H/S. The segment was directed by Ti West and also starred Joe Swanberg and Kate Lyn Sheil.

Stay tuned for details on the release of Act One.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below!

The post ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ Star’s New Psychosexual Thriller Reveals First Look appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.