Movies
Oren Peli’s ‘Area 51’ Sighting?!
It took a few years for San Diego filmmaker Oren Peli‘s Paranormal Activity to make it into theaters. After World Premiering at the 2007 Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Hollywood, CA, the supernatural box office smash played Slamdance in 2008 before finally getting a release through Paramount Pictures in September of 2009. Before then, Paramount, with the help of Steven Spielberg, was working to remake the low budget indie that ended up being the biggest found footage success since The Blair Witch Project. With five sequels since its release (one coming this October), it appears they finally made the right decision in releasing the original (with an upgraded finale, new editing and sound design).
After such a smash, Hollywood always gifts the filmmakers with their sophomore project. Many of our younger readers may not know this but, Mr. Peli, the man behind Paranormal Activity, has actually directed another found-footage feature. An alien abduction movie titled Area 51.
The movie was cast (Sandra Staggs, Roy Abramsohn, David Saucedo, Glenn Campbell, and Jelena Nik) and filmed in 2009/2010, and had additional photography done on multiple occasions (not uncommon with Blumhouse productions) throughout the years.
Allegedly, the footage takes us back to 1994 where three friends travel to the infamous Area 51 in order to learn its terrifying secrets. The group then finds themselves running for their lives as an unprecedented event occurs.
Related Editorial: [Remember This?] Oren Peli’s ‘Area 51’?
Paranormal Activity discoverers and producers Steven Schneider and Jason Blum were behind the long lost project, which has since become folklore. Blumhouse, who now has various distribution deals, could easily unload the troubled project, which appears to be the case.
Several minutes ago Bloody Disgusting reader Nathan Yocum sent a tweet directly to Jason Blum asking if we’ll ever see Area 51. To his (and our) surprise, Blum responded with some positive news, telling Yocum that we’ll finally see what’s inside Area 51 “very very very soon.” That’s a bold proclamation that should have horror fans in a frenzy.
Back in 2013 Blum told us that they were still tinkering with the movie, but I’ve never heard of a film being toyed with for several year. I am definitely curious to see if Area 51 gets some sort of theatrical run or gets the Mockingbird/The Town That Dreaded Sundown VOD dump.
Oh, and to those who think this is the first found-footage alien movie – you are greatly mistaken…
@nathantexyocum very very very soon. –JB
— Blumhouse (@blumhouse) April 7, 2015
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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