Movies
[Exclusive] ‘Pool Party Massacre’ Poster Channels ’80s VHS Art
It’s going to be the worst pool party EVER.
The slasher films of the ’80s have their own set of tropes and inherent qualities, not the least of which are scantily clad women, gruesome practical effects, and of course, eye-catching poster art. All of these things will be found in Drew Marvick’s upcoming throwback Pool Party Massacre, and we’ve got the exclusive first look at artist Marc Schoenbach’s retro poster art for the flick.
Schoenbach, who runs the company Sadist Art Designs, nails that retro ’80s vibe better than any other artist on the scene right now, and his posters for films like The Barn and The Diabolical are some of the coolest we’ve seen in recent years. His Pool Party Massacre art is no exception, channeling the spirit of lurid VHS box art and making us feel seriously nostalgic for the ’80s.
Marvick explained to us why he brought Schoenbach on board:
I wanted to do a poster that gave me the same feeling that so many of the VHS boxes in the Horror section of my local video store gave me as a kid. I always loved the use of skulls back then, like in the art for Cheerleader Camp, Return to Horror High, and of course Evil Dead 2. But I also have such a fond memory of VHS boxes and posters that were actually art, and not just scenes from the movie. Often they actually had nothing to do with the movie itself. A shoe never got stabbed in Sleepaway Camp, a pumpkin never turned into a skull in Halloween 2, and there isn’t a giant vampire cloud in Fright Night (spoiler alert), but all of those posters are awesome, and scared me as a kid. That’s what Marc and I were going for with this poster, and I think he totally nailed it.
With that being said, I am not trying to say there isn’t a girl with a skull for a head drinking an eyeball cocktail in the movie Pool Party Massacre; there might just be, but you will just have to watch it to find out.
Marvick, who wrote and directed, also teased what we can expect from the film:
Pool Party Massacre is my blood-soaked love letter to the slasher films of the 80’s that I grew up watching, and still continue to watch over and over again. As a first time director my biggest priority was to make a slasher film, and as an obsessed horror fan I knew I had to do it right. Even though we had no budget, and an obvious curse put on the whole production, we still did our best to capture the spirit of the films we were paying tribute to, while also making sure it didn’t come off as a blatant rip off or god forbid a spoof.
The film is set in present day, and happens in real time as a group of hot young high maintenance socialites are having a little backyard pool party. Of course, it wouldn’t be a slasher film if there wasn’t an unknown killer hiding inside the house, brutally murdering them one by one in a creative and bloody fashion. My goal was to try to achieve a perfect recipe of practical gore fx, hot girls, heavy metal, homage, comedy, nudity, and even a little bit of story.
In Pool Party Massacre, “What started out as a relaxing summer day by the pool for a group of high maintenance young socialites quickly becomes a nightmare when an unknown killer begins stalking and murdering them one by one.”
Check out the art below and check back soon for the trailer!
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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