Exclusives
Update: Animated Dark Horse Comics’ ‘Dreadful Ed’ and ‘Mary Scary’
Update: This project is no longer with Universal Pictures. Watch for an update as soon as it becomes available. Bloody Disgusting learned that Dark Horse Entertainment is teaming with Universal Pictures to develop developing an animated franchise based on two of their comics: Dreadful Ed, and it’s sequel Mary Scary. There’s no word on what kind of animation it will be, but we know that this is very early in development. With the explosion of 3-D, it appears to make sense to develop an animated feature (especially after the success this summer; i.e. Shrek). You can get details on both comics by reading below.
DREADFUL ED
Follows Dreadful Ed, a very normal, nice human boy who winds up as heir to the throne of the nightmare world of Nocturnia after the Boogeyman Silas Grimm and his wife, needing a male heir, switch him out with their baby girl. As Ed gets older, Silas fears his gentle, unspooky son will never have what it takes to rule the land of nightmares and dark deeds. But rather than give up on his only heir, Silas ships Ed off to fright school, hoping his woefully un-strange little boy will learn the skills befitting of the next Boogeyman. Instead, Ed ends up learning something about himself that will shock everyone- that is except the mother who switched him at birth.
Based on the Dark Horse comics by Andrew Cosby and Troy Nixey.
MARY SCARY
Sequel to DREADFUL ED. Mary Scary is the weird baby girl who was swapped out for Ed when her parents, the Boogeyman and his wife, needed a male heir for their spooky kingdom. Mary has always been different from the rest of her peers. Maybe it’s the spider on her head, maybe it’s the snake around her neck… but something about her makes everything about her weird! And just when it really starts to bother her that everyone seems to notice how different she is, she meets someone who might be able to help her be less scary – a very normal boy named Ed.
Exclusives
‘The Haunting of Pennhurst’ Exclusive Clip Trains Scare Actors For Historic Haunt in Tribeca Doc
The past and present collide in haunting, poignant ways in the genre documentary The Haunting of Pennhurst, which sees a Halloween haunt serve as a reclamation of true historic horrors.
Ahead of its world premiere at the 25th Tribeca Film Festival, we have an exclusive clip that sees scare actors in training for the Halloween season. The catch? This haunt is opening at the historic Pennhurst State School & Hospital site, a facility that caused immense harm to its disabled patients over decades of its operation.
In the documentary, “For over seventy years, Pennhurst State School & Hospital was called a place of care. What happened inside killed over half its population. It closed in 1987, leaving behind unmarked graves and an unresolved history. Today, on those same grounds, disabled performers – many living with the same conditions that once sent people to Pennhurst – put on their makeup, pull on their costumes, and prepare to scare people for a living.
“Through grit, compassion, and buckets of blood, the eclectic performers of the Pennhurst Asylum haunted attraction are wrestling with a space that is at once a lucrative business and a gravesite.”
The upcoming documentary hails from directing trio Nathan Stenberg, Mike Attie, and Katarina Poljak, who explore their socially-relevant subject through archival footage, first-hand accounts, and an immersive verité.
“Pennhurst has haunted us since we first passed through its dragon-tooth gates; the horrors of the institution echo through the site today. We are so grateful to bring this film to the Tribeca Festival, particularly the Escape from Tribeca section, which feels right for a story where past and present bleed together. We hope audiences leave unnerved and asking the same uncomfortable questions we did,” Attie, Stenberg, and Poljak said in a statement.
Watch the clip below that sees disabled and neurodivergent scare actors learning the ropes of a Halloween haunt, reclaiming the site’s grim history in the process.
Tribeca Screenings:
- Public 1 (Premiere) Screening – Friday, June 5 at 9:15PM at Village East by Angelika
- Public 2 Screening – Sunday, June 7 at 3:15PM at Village East by Angelika
- Public 3 Screening – Tuesday, June 9 at 6:15PM at Village East by Angelika