Movies
Dark Hero Studios Heads Down ‘Slaughter’s Road’
A pretty huge new venture was announced tonight as Watchmen co-writer David Hayter has teamed with producer Benedict Carver to form Dark Hero Studios, a company that will generate film, TV, Internet and vidgame projects in the action, sci-fi and horror genres. The first two project were revealed to be Slaughter’s Road, a werewolf movie starring Thomas Dekker, and Demonology, a fish-out-of-water horror film that takes place in Belgium.
Formation of the company comes as Hayter prepares to make his directorial debut on his werewolf thriller script “Slaughter’s Road,” with Carver producing along with Steven Paul through Crystal Sky Prods. Production begins in the summer.
Hayter said Thomas Dekker (“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) will star, and Ray Stevenson (“Rome”) is in talks to star alongside Dekker.
Dark Hero begins its slate of projects with “Demonology,” which Hayter wrote and will direct, and the company will set up graphic novels, comicbooks, vidgame properties and original genre scripts for movie treatment. Sarah Freudeman will be Dark Hero’s director of development.
Carver and Hayter said they will tie down independent financing shortly, setting up a company that will finance through pre-sales and equity so that Dark Hero can hang onto negative ownership and build a library of films.
“Many people would love to have the studio-based producer gig, but if you want to build asset value through a library, you have to be more entrepreneurial and avoid giving away a lot of rights upfront,” Carver said. “David will create, write and direct movies and TV series for the company, but he’ll also be a magnet for other writers and directors to work with us. ”
Hayter’s script credits include “X-Men,” “X2” and “The Scorpion King” (he co-wrote “Watchmen” with Alex Tse)
Carver is prexy of Crystal Sky, and he will produce “Slaughter’s Road” there (and probably other pics down the line), but he is transitioning out of the banner within the next few weeks. Prior to his Crystal Sky gig, Carver was senior veep of acquisitions and co-productions at Screen Gems. Before that, he was a film reporter at Daily Variety. Carver produced “Doomsday” and the upcoming film based on the Namco vidgame “Tekken.”
Hayter said he hatched “Slaughter’s Road” after he was offered a slew of werewolf movies and found enough flaws in each to never want to make such a pic; genre-savvy friends changed his mind.
Hayter’s “Demonology” grew out of his experiences attending an international high school in Japan.
“It’s about an American kid who goes to one of these schools in Belgium, but it brings my own horrible experiences of school to life,” Hayter said.
Aside from the new projects, Hayter has also found himself campaigning to get respect for “Watchmen,” which hasn’t so far lived up to blockbuster projections (the film’s domestic gross fell off 67% in its second weekend).
“It’s odd for a picture to gross $63 million in its first four days and have people wonder if it’s a failure,” he said.
It was almost one year ago that Warner Bros. brought the entire original A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise to 4K in one massive 7-movie collection, with the limited edition SteelBook version of the set quickly selling out and becoming highly sought after. But we’re happy to report tonight that the SteelBook set is currently back in stock over on Amazon!
While supplies last, grab the Elm Street SteelBook collection for $154.99 right now!!
Orders placed for this re-release are scheduled to begin shipping out September 15, 2026.
[Related] Freddy’s Back: New ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Movie in the Works at Paramount
From New Line Cinema, the collection includes the original seven films – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) – along with the uncut versions of A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Dream Child.
Two BRAND NEW SPECIAL FEATURES for this set include:
- Boiler Room Confessional: The king of slashers, Robert Englund, takes us on a journey through the dream world, sharing what inspired Freddy Krueger, his rise as a cultural icon, and the legacy of A Nightmare on Elm Street, plus his favorite kills, scenes, and more.
- Freddy’s Footnotes: Robert Englund and original A Nightmare on Elm Street filmmakers revisit iconic scenes, revealing the movie magic and chaos behind our favorite nightmares. Pull back the curtain and relive epic moments through the eyes of those who made them.
Here’s the full breakdown of included Special Features for each movie…
A Nightmare on Elm Street
· Ready Freddy Focus Points
· Commentary with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, Robert Shaye, and Sara Risher
· Commentary with Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and Jacques Haitkin
· Alternate Endings – Scary Ending, Happy Ending, Freddy Ending
· The House that Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror
· Never Sleep Again: The Making of A Nightmare on Elm Street
· Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
· Freddy on 8th Street
· Heroes and Villains
· The Male Witch
· Psychosexual Circus
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
· Behind the Story: Burnout
· Behind the Story: Fan Mail
· Behind the Story: The House that Freddy Built
· Behind the Story: Onward Christian Soldiers
· Behind the Story: Snakes and Ladders
· Behind the Story: That’s Showbiz
· Behind the Story: Trading 8’s
· Dokken Dream Warriors Music Video
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
· The Finnish Line
· Krueger, Freddy Krueger
· Hopeless Chest
· Let’s Makeup
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
· Behind the Story: Womb Raiders
· Behind the Story: The Sticky Floor
· Behind the Story: Take the Stairs
· Behind the Story: Hopkins Directs
· Behind the Story: A Slight Miscalculation
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
· 86’D
· Hellraiser
· Rachel’s Dream
· 3D Demise
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
· Commentary with Wes Craven
· NEW – Boiler Room Confessional
· NEW – Freddy’s Footnotes
· Becoming a Filmmaker
· Filmmaker
· An Insane Troupe
· The Problem with Sequels
· Two Worlds
· Welcome to Prime Time: It Really Happened
· Welcome to Prime Time: A Childhood Memory
· Welcome to Prime Time: Sometime in the Early 80s
· Welcome to Prime Time: So It Began
· Welcome to Prime Time: Beauty and the Beast
· Welcome to Prime Time: Making the Glove
· Welcome to Prime Time: Shapeshifter
· Welcome to Prime Time: The Shoot
· Welcome to Prime Time: The Revolving Room
· Welcome to Prime Time: All’s Well that Ends Well
· Welcome to Prime Time: Talalay’s Tally
· Welcome to Prime Time: It Couldn’t Have Happened
· Welcome to Prime Time: Alternate Ending Version
· Conclusion: Where Gothic Plots Come From
· Conclusion: Why We Like Gothic
· Conclusion: Sadomasochism
· Conclusion: Freddy vs. Pinhead
· Conclusion: Freddy’s Manic Energy
· Conclusion: Creating Lasting Characters in Horror
· Conclusion: No More Magic Tricks
· Conclusion: Monster with Personality
· Conclusion: Freddy as Sex Machine
· Conclusion: Campfire Stories
The Elm Street collection is available in this collectible SteelBook packaging (exclusive to Amazon) and as a standard 4K collection that’s also available now over on Amazon.
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