Earlier this year, John Squires called Quibi’s Sam Raimi-produced 50 States of Fright “the best horror series you’re not watching right now.” The new streaming platform provides movie-quality programming that breaks up its content into bite-sized episodes meant to be consumed in quick doses on your phone. It’s a format that suits Raimi’s anthology series well, which explores region-specific urban legends across the country, in every state. The horror filmmaker kicked off the series with a grisly tale from Michigan with “The Golden Arm,” before tagging in Alejandro Brugués, Yoko Okumura, Ryan Spindell, and Adam Schindler & Brian Netto to tackle Florida, Kansas, Oregon, and Minnesota, respectively.
All currently available to stream, Quibi has also now launched brand new episodes of the anthology series that draw viewers more in-depth into America’s horrors.
This time around, expect four more states’ ghastly tales of folkloric horror, starting with Iowa. In anticipation, we broke down the episodes, urban legends, and talent with part two of this ongoing anthology series, beginning with today’s release of all three parts of Iowa’s “Almost There.“
“Almost There”- Iowa
During a raging storm, an engineer must fix a turbine in the middle of Iowa while the ghost of her mother torments her. A turbine is a tall, cylindrical facility, meaning the young engineer will be warding off terror from a great height. Those with acrophobia, beware! “Almost There” spans three smaller segments and can be streamed as of today.
To get a taste of what the engineer endures, this clip teases some of the horrors lurking in the turbine’s darkness.
American Horror Story and The Nun’s Taissa Farmiga stars, and actress and stunt performer Katie Stuart plays the Mother. Ron Livingston (The Conjuring) also stars. Perhaps most importantly, “Almost There” was written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, longtime collaborators that broke out in Hollywood with Paramount Pictures’ A Quiet Place, based on their original screenplay. The duo also wowed horror fans with last year’s Haunt, a slasher set in the world of extreme haunts. Next up for Beck & Woods is Sony Pictures’ sci-fi thriller 65, starring Adam Driver and produced by Sam Raimi. All of which to say that Raimi set the bar high in curating talent for this series.
“13 Steps to Hell” – Washington
A sister finds far more than she bargained for when she descends a strange stairwell next to an overgrown cemetery to retrieve her little brother’s toy. There’s a popular urban legend surrounding the Maltby Cemetery in Washington. It’s said that if you descend its 13 steps late at night and turn around, you’ll be confronted with a vision of hell. The precise type of folktale that’ll make for a chilling episode, broken down into two digestible halves.
Rising horror mainstay Lulu Wilson (Becky, Annabelle: Creation) stars alongside Rory Culkin (Signs, Scream 4). The episode was penned by Sarah Conradt and helmed by Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground). Keep your eye on Cronin, as he’s been tapped by Raimi to write and direct new movie Evil Dead Rise.
“Red Rum” – Colorado
When a group of influencers descends on an iconic, infamously haunted hotel, they find themselves at the mercy of spirits desperate for some peace and solitude. In other words, the ghosts of the hotel that inspired Stephen King’s The Shining have had it with the fame and the unwanted attention it brings from erstwhile ghost hunters. Expect fantasy and reality to collide in a spooky way, spread over three parts.
Christina Ricci (Casper, Cursed), Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Victoria Justice (Fun Size), and Colin Ford (Supernatural) star in this episode. “Red Rum” was co-written by director Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei, who broke out with unnerving tech thriller Cam.
“Dogwood- Azalea” – Missouri
After moving to a new town in rural Missouri with her family, a young girl unwittingly makes fast friends with a very old, angry soul. Childhood bonds are forever, right? This fall-set tale closes out the new batch of episodes, split into two smaller chunks.
The episode stars Erica Tremblay (The Bye Bye Man), Elizabeth Reaser (The Haunting of Hill House), and Warren Christi (Apollo 18). Writer/Director Cate Devaney makes her TV series debut here but is no stranger to the horror genre. Throughout her lengthy career as an art director and storyboard artist, she’s served as director Scott Derrickson’s storyboard artist on Sinister, Deliver Us from Evil, and Marvel’s Dr. Strange.
New episodes of 50 States of Fright launched today with Iowa’s “Almost There” in its entirety, with new chapters from Washington, Colorado, and Missouri releasing every weekday until October 7, 2020.
