These collectibles are typically molded to reflect key characters or environments from various movies, and Blumhouse is getting in on the game. Hitting theaters next week is Blumhouse’s Other Mommy, but rather than a bucket paying tribute to Jessica Chastain (or the evil Jessica Chastain), we’re instead getting a bucket honoring Blumhouse’s signature…van. (In addition to their email newsletter being named “The Van,” it’s also a nod to Jason Blum converting his van into a mobile office in the early days of Blumhouse, allowing him to be productive no matter what movie set he was on.)

This collectible van isn’t merely a vessel for popcorn, though, as it lights up and generates smoke, with the collectible also coming with stickers honoring The Purge, M3GAN, The Black Phone, and Happy Death Day. Blumhouse describes the bucket:

“Holds Popcorn. Holds Candy. Holds up on a shelf long after both are gone! Upgrade your horror movie nights with the ultimate Blumhouse collectible. Paying homage to Jason Blum’s iconic Blumhouse van that started it all, this isn’t just a popcorn bucket; it’s a fully atmospheric, interactive collectible for true horror fans. Includes a sticker pack featuring iconography from The Purge, Black Phone, Happy Death Day, and Other Mommy.”

Product Details:

• Capacity: 75 oz
• Material: Plastic
• Care Instructions: Hand Wash Only
• Size: 5 x 12 x 6″
• AAA batteries included

It’s worth noting, though, that while the collectible pays homage to Blum’s van, his actual van didn’t have “All My Friends Are Villains” carved into the side of it, otherwise he might not have made it quite as far as he did. Regardless, any contemporary horror fan knows just how many impressive movies the studio has released and it will be a must-have item for die-hards.

The Blumhouse van popcorn bucket is currently available for preorder.

Will you be adding the bucket to your collection? Let us know in the comments below!

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Bloody Disgusting has learned this afternoon that Mike P. Nelson, director of Lionsgate’s forthcoming Beware Boiúna, will helm the next film in the billion-dollar SAW franchise.

Nelson will direct the untitled SAW film, which is written by Gregory Weidman & Geoff Tock (Below, Dune: Prophecy) and produced by James Wan, Jason Blum, and Leigh Whannell. Executive producers are Mark Burg, Oren Koules, Stacey Testro, Michael Clear, Judson Scott. Alayna Glasthal and Sarah Paek are the executives overseeing the film for Atomic Monster.

James Wan said in a statement, “Making the original Saw was a defining experience for me, so it was essential to find a director who would honor that world. Mike has a raw, distinctive filmmaking voice with an inventive approach to the genre, and I believe he’ll bring something truly unique and special to the franchise.”

Mike P. Nelson added, “Being asked to play in this twisted sandbox with James is nothing short of a dream come true. Greg and Geoff and James have crafted such a wild script that brings the mystery of the original while exploring new insane bloody ideas that meld so well with the brutal moral compass of the franchise. Let the games begin!”

Lionsgate’s Adam Fogelson said, “It speaks volumes that James Wan is passionate about returning to this franchise, and his belief in Mike evokes his own breakthrough with the original Saw. Mike is one of the promising voices shaping the next generation of horror.  He has a singular vision for this film, and we’re incredibly confident in what he’ll deliver.”

Wan of course directed the original SAW, written by and starring Whannell, but it’s been a long time since Wan and Whannell have been directly involved with the franchise. SAW III way back in 2006 was the final film to have major involvement from the duo, with Whannell writing the screenplay based on an idea from he and Wan. The idea for that movie was to effectively end the SAW franchise, with the third installment killing off both Jigsaw and Amanda. Of course, that bold decision ended up having no real impact on the franchise’s future viability.

Stay tuned for more on Mike P. Nelson’s untitled SAW movie as we learn it.

Mike P. Nelson made his feature debut with The Domestics back in 2018, going on to direct Wrong Turn (2021), Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) and the upcoming Beware Boiúna.

Nelson also directed the Jason Universe short film, Sweet Revenge.

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The new Phantom Heat Puffs flavor hit shelves as of August 31, combining brown sugar and cinnamon with spicy, mouth-numbing Sichuan pepper. If that snickerdoodle-meets-heat isn’t scary enough, Blumhouse has unleashed a new Cheetos short film celebrating the release from writer-director Joe Grode.

More officially, Sweet Phantom Heat Puffs are a “limited time snack designed to fizz, tingle and even leave your mouth feeling numb.” It is indeed spicy; you just have to get past the sugary sweetness first.

When Bill, an office worker trapped in the soul-crushing cycle of corporate America, tries new Cheetos The Flavor of Fear, an exhilarating experience reminds him what it means to feel alive in the new Blumhouse short film.

As Cheetos’ website cheekily warns, “Cheetos is not liable for any scares, jumps, discomfort, sweating, chills, squirms, sleep-loss, thrown chips, involuntary screams, or nightmares that may result from watching the following.“

“Cheetos and Halloween have always shared a spirit of playful mischief, and every year we look for new ways to surprise fans with unexpected snacking experiences,” said Jess Spaulding, senior vice president of marketing at PepsiCo Foods U.S. “With Cheetos Sweet Phantom Heat Puffs, we’ve created a first-of-its-kind flavor that’s layered with sweetness, heat, and a unique tingling sensation. It’s an experience designed to keep fans guessing with every bite and delivers the irreverent twist they’ve come to expect from Cheetos.”

Grab a bag here, if you dare.

The post Watch Blumhouse’s Horror Short Film for Cheetos’ Spicy New ‘Flavor of Fear’ Halloween Snack appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Blumhouse Atomic Monster, Focus Features, Divide/Conquer and Spooky Pictures have signed on for Josh Giuliano’s next film. Focus Features has worldwide rights, with Universal Pictures International set to handle international distribution. 

The logline is under wraps at this time, so no guessing on plot, but Occupant will be written and directed by Giuliano.

Occupant is the latest in Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s bid to identify emerging genre directors, following in the footsteps of Curry Barker’s Obsession. Barker came to the company through Greg Gilreath and Adam Hendricks of Divide/Conquer after Obsession premiered at TIFF last year.

This year at TIFF, Giuliano came through Sam Zimmerman, who oversees the slate and already knew his work, as River is an upcoming Shudder and IFC release, and connected him with Gilreath and Hendricks.

While we know nothing about Occupant yet, his debut at least signals solid horror ahead. 

I wrote in my TIFF review of River that it “doesn’t break convention but instead uses the slasher tropes in its favor to ramp up the tension at a brisk and steady clip. It’s lean and efficient, anchored by its tremendous cast and a unique setting that’s utilized to its fullest when generating scares.” 

Producers are Jason Blum, Greg Gilreath, Adam Hendricks, and Steven Schneider. Executive producers include Daniel Bekerman, Derek Bishé, Neil Mathieson, Allie Steffler, Sam Zimmerman, and Jeremy Kulyk. 

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Described as a “mega house of chills and thrills,” Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are now under one roof, with the two brands together able to do more than they could do individually.

And the partnership is proving to be a massive success, with Deadline reporting this week that Blumhouse Atomic Monster releases have passed $1 billion at the box office this year alone.

Those 2026 theatrical horror releases include…

• Lee Cronin’s The Mummy – $90.5 million worldwide
• Backrooms – $396.5 million worldwide
• Obsession – $501.6 million worldwide
• Insidious: Out of the Further – $60.1 million worldwide

Deadline additionally notes, “… it’s the second time that the combined labels have yielded $1 billion since their 2024 merger after last year. However, if you were to count the labels’ grosses combined prior to the merger, this would be the third time in four years that Blumhouse and Atomic Monster titles have grossed over $1B in a given year.”

Over half of that billion dollars this year was scared up by Curry Barker’s Obsession, which also just became the first original movie of the 2020s to pass $500 million at the global box office.

On that note, Deadline makes an interesting observation: “Off its production cost, Obsession has returned more than 650 times its budget, and it is the lowest-budgeted horror film to top the North American box office since Paranormal Activity in 2009, the film that launched Blumhouse.”

Jason Blum and James Wan said in a statement, “When we brought Blumhouse and Atomic Monster together, we shared one belief: that the best horror comes from bold filmmakers. Lee, Curry, Kane, and Jacob have terrified audiences and made this a momentous year for horror, and we could not be prouder of what Blumhouse Atomic Monster continues to achieve as one company.”

Stay tuned for more horror dominance from Blumhouse Atomic Monster.

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Universal Pictures will release the film in theaters on October 8, 2027.

Plot details beyond that remain under wraps, though it’s said to be a “quintessential sleepover nightmare.” I certainly can’t speak for all, but the sleepovers of my youth certainly involved scaring each other silly while staying up all night.

Chase will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Night Swim’s Bryce McGuire, which is based on the latter’s original short story. McGuire previously wrote and directed Night Swim, another Blumhouse production adapted from his short film of the same name.

Jason Blum is producing. Chase, McGuire, and Bea Sequeira serve as executive producers. Lilly Tyson will oversee the project for the company.

Insidious: Out of the Further (Come Play) debuted in the #2 spot at the U.S. box office over the weekend, second only to reigning champ Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The latest installment in the Insidious saga opened with $25.3 million in 3,303 theaters at the U.S. box office and $60.3 million worldwide. It also landed the highest audience score on Rotten Tomatoes among all Insidious films. 

It’s also worth noting that Universal previously had this October 8 date saved for an untitled Blumhouse Atomic Monster pic. Now we know what’s landing in that spot.

Stay tuned.

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Blumhouse teases, “Some things are better shared in a room full of horror fans.”

Taking place on Friday, October 9 at 5:30pm, BlumFest 2026 will see Blumhouse and Atomic Monster pull back the curtain on its upcoming slate of films, TV shows, and games.

“Expect never-before-seen footage, candid filmmaker conversations, and the last-minute surprises that BlumFest is known for.”

The panel will be taking place on the Empire Stage, and BlumFest is being paired with an exclusive look at Violent Night 2 in addition to a conversation about the upcoming film.

BlumFest first began back in 2020, and the event has become an annual tradition.

New York Comic Con returns to the Javits Center from October 8-11, 2026.

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Cheetos has partnered with Blumhouse, horror’s definitive studio across film, TV, games, and live experiences, to bring flavor and fear together in an unexpected new way with the upcoming release of The Flavor of Fear, brand new Cheetos Sweet Phantom Heat flavored Puffs.

A countdown clock has popped up on the internet this week, with the unique Cheetos x Blumhouse collaboration set to launch in 35 days… just in time for the Halloween season.

Dexerto reveals a bit more about the collab this afternoon.

The website explains that the terrifyingly tasty Sweet Phantom Heat Puffs are a “limited time snack designed to fizz, tingle and even leave your mouth feeling numb.”

Dexerto details, “the new Cheetos begin with a sweet cinnamon sugar flavor before the heat gradually takes over. The puffs were inspired by compounds found in Sichuan pepper, creating tingling, fizzing and numbing sensations that become more noticeable as people continue eating.”

The website Delish previews in an early review of the upcoming snack, “The sweet and spicy work together really well, and at first bite, you only get those cinnamon sugar notes. The longer I kept it in my mouth, I did notice a very subtle fizziness. Then the heat builds and builds, finally having you breathe fire. But for some reason, I just kept going back for more.”

Look for the launch of The Flavor of Fear on August 31, 2026.

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“We are working hard on getting a great script out. Blumhouse is the best at what they do. It’s going to be chock-full of surprises,” Octavia Spencer tells the outlet in a fresh update.

“Ma has proven to be a social phenomenon since its release in 2019, with fans eagerly embracing the film and Octavia’s iconic performance as Ma. Ma likes to say ‘Don’t make me drink alone,’ so we’re thrilled Octavia will join us again for a second round,” Blumhouse Founder/CEO Jason Blum had teased when the sequel was originally announced last Summer.

Spencer plays Sue Ann in Ma, a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.

While no director has been announced as of yet, Tate Taylor helmed the 2019 original from a script by Scotty Landes. Taylor previously detailed that Sue Ann’s fate was intentionally ambiguous, so the door was open for a return in a possible sequel. That Ma earned more than $60 million at the box office meant a sequel was practically inevitable. It also doesn’t hurt that the character popped on social media, becoming something of a viral meme sensation.

Stay tuned for more on Ma 2 as we learn it.

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SOULM8TE arrives on Digital on August 1, 2026, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. 

Lily Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise, Monolith) stars alongside Claudia Doumit (“The Boys”). The spinoff is described as a ’90s-style erotic thriller with a “new technological twist.”

David Rysdahl also stars in the upcoming SOULM8TE.

The film follows “a man (Rysdahl) who acquires an Artificially Intelligent android (Sullivan) to help him cope with the recent loss of his wife. In an attempt to create a truly sentient partner, the man inadvertently turns a harmless lovebot into a deadly soulmate.”

Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) directs. The filmmaker rewrote an original draft from Rafael Jordan (Salvage Marines), based on a story by James Wan, Ingrid Bisu and Jordan.

“When Blumhouse Atomic Monster first approached me about an erotic thriller set in the M3GAN-verse, I thought, are you insane? But something drew me in. We exist in a bizarre time where companies sell us ‘connection’ through apps, algorithms, and AI. Yet those are the same forces pulling us apart. The lonelier we get, the more dependent we become on the tools doing the pulling,” states Dolan.  “SOULM8TE is a movie about that vicious cycle. It is a satirical, unhinged movie that explores desire, obsession, autonomy, and control. It’s a movie that knows how ridiculous it is, and I’d argue it’s best watched the way you’d watch Basic Instinct or Showgirls now, with friends, a drink in hand, and zero shame about shouting at the screen.”

Producer and Blumhouse Atomic Monster CEO, Jason Blum says, “Kate Dolan has expertly blended tech paranoia with erotic thriller in SOULM8TE, which is just as fun as that sounds, but also has more on its mind than you might think.” 

Watch the new trailer below that unleashes a new killer AI bot, this time for an older demographic. SOULM8TE is rated “R” for “Strong violence, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, and language.”

The post Blumhouse’s ‘SOULM8TE’ Brings Deadly Desire Home on Digital This August [Trailer] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The Damned filmmaker Thordur Palsson has been tapped to helm the adaptation, producers Jason Blum and Stephen Mulrooney announced on stage last night.

“There is no better moment than the tenth anniversary to share this news. Thordur is the filmmaker we trust to carry Dead by Daylight from the screen you play on to the big screen you watch in theaters,” said Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse Atomic Monster.

“For me, the main thing is capturing the feeling of playing Dead by Daylight,” said Palsson. “The main thing is I want to capture the feeling of looking over your shoulder. I want to capture the dread, the tension, the fear of what’s waiting for you in The Fog.”

The “scary cinematic adaptation” of the Behaviour Interactive video game will be written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (Orphan, Aquaman, The Conjuring 2) and French master of horror Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha 3D, Crawl).

Launched in 2016, the popular Dead by Daylight is a multiplayer slasher video game that pits characters up against slasher maniacs both original and iconic to the world of horror.

Expect to visit iconic backdrops like The MacMillan Estate and Greenville in the adaptation, which is expected to begin production in 2027.

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From director Curry Barker, the wish fulfillment nightmare Obsession continues to make a killing at the box office, even facing stiff horror competition in the form of Backrooms. In its third weekend in U.S. theaters, Obsession took the fight to Backrooms and managed to make more money in Weekend #3 than it made in its debut weekend and its second weekend!

After a debut weekend of $17 million, Obsession made a whopping $23 million in its second weekend, a practically unheard of week-to-week growth. Even more incredibly, Obsession just scared up $26.4 million in its third weekend, allowing the film to pass the $100 million mark at the domestic box office. Worldwide, Obsession has now made a whopping $148 million.

The box office analysts at Exhibitor Relations Co. note, “Obsession is Focus Features’ highest grossing film of all time at the domestic box office. Outside of the Christmas season, Obsession is the first film since 1982 that went up at the box office over its 2nd & 3rd weekend.”

That 1982 movie they’re referring to? That’d be Steven Spielberg’s E.T.

Backrooms and Obsession were #1 and #2 on the domestic box office charts this weekend, with both films massacring the mega budget Star Wars movie The Mandalorian and Grogu!

That means Blumhouse-Atomic Monster currently has the #1 and #2 movies in the United States with two original horror films: Backrooms for A24 and Obsession for Focus Features.

Another noteworthy feat? Obsession is the lowest-budgeted horror film to top the North American box office since Paranormal Activity in 2009, the film that launched Blumhouse!

The production budget for Obsession was just $750,000, with Focus Features acquiring the film for a reported $15 million. Needless to say, the film is already raking in massive profits, and its incredible box office performance is showing no signs of slowing. Stay tuned.

[Related] When Will ‘Obsession’ Be Available on Digital at Home?

In Curry Barker’s theatrical debut Obsession, after breaking the mysterious One Wish Willow to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.

Inde Navarrette (“Superman & Lois”) and Michael Johnston (“Teen Wolf”) star.

The post ‘Obsession’ Made More Money in Its Third Weekend Than Its First Two Box Office Weekends! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

She joins Barker, Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”), Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World), and Cooper Tomlinson (Obsession) in the horror film, which recently wrapped production in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Barker directs from a script he co-wrote with Tomlinson. Plot details have yet to be revealed.

Jason Blum produces for Blumhouse-Atomic Monster with Roy Lee & Steven Schneider of Spooky Pictures (Hokum), and Adam Hendricks & Greg Gilreath of Divide/Conquer (M3GAN).

Barker & Tomlinson executive produce under their That’s a Bad Idea banner alongside Ben Ross of Image Nation (Late Night with the Devil).

Barker, whose Obsession opens on May 15, is currently developing the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot for A24.

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Krystal Houghton Ziv (“The Purge,” “CSI: Miami”) has been tapped to write and executive produce the pilot.

Additional executive producers include Mark Amin, Cami Winikoff, & Dave Devries for Sobini Films (Dead Man’s Wire) and Motoko Kimura.

Published by Gentosha, the book follows Takeuchi Shingo, a serial murder suspect whom retired judge Kajima Isao acquitted two years ago, who moves in next door to the home where Kajima and his family live.

Takeuchi grew up starving for the affection of his parents and does everything he can for the people he likes. He has a charming smile, gives tasteful gifts, and cares for the elderly. However, he gets violent when people avoid him.

Takeuchi wins the hearts of the Kajimas with effusive goodwill, but a series of inexplicable incidents starts to occur in the area. Yukimi, Isao’s daughter-in-law, realizes Takeuchi’s true nature and tries to expose him despite being isolated from the family.

Shizukui’s novel has sold over 770,000 copies and was previously adapted into a Japanese limited series in 2016.

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Lee Cronin is returning to his Irish roots with “Spiral,” a TV series he created with Glenn Montgomery.

“It’s set in 1980s Ireland and dripping in folklore, repression, and the strangeness of the Irish countryside,” he revealed to Variety.

Cronin will produce the show via his Wicked/Good alongside The Mummy producers Blumhouse and Atomic Monster.

“We’ve also got a found-footage movie that we’re producing, and a slasher movie with two brothers from Aruba, which is a really, really interesting and a different approach to the slasher genre,” said Cronin.

As for his next feature in the director’s chair, Cronin is toying with a supernatural horror movie called Box of Bones.

“I have a project called Box of Bones, which I was developing after I made The Hole in the Ground, and I was developing it again after Evil Dead Rise, and before I made The Mummy,” Cronin tells Variety.

“It was kind of starting to just slip down the pecking order, and for some reason, it’s really, really appealing to me — it’s kind of burning in my mind. So I’m sitting at my new desk in my new house, and I’m like, ‘Is this the thing that’s going to start polluting the desk?’”

Speaking with Screen Rant, Cronin described Box of Bones as “a creepy little triangle between two people and a ghost, very much a horror movie.”

We’ll keep you posted on all of these projects, along with anything else Cronin has in the works, as they develop.

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Writer/Director Lee Cronin employs all the Evil Dead Rise tools in his arsenal, including a rather strong affinity for the split diopter shot, as he centers another family in a harrowing demonic nightmare. This time, it’s the Cannon family, who, when we meet them, are living in Egypt for work when young Katie Cannon (Emily Mitchell) gets snatched up by a stranger. Yet the senior detective dismisses Katie’s parents, journalist Charlie (Midsommar‘s Jack Reynor) and nurse Larissa (Laia Costa), suspecting them as prime suspects in a disappearance case that spans eight years, at the end of which Katie’s discovered alive (now played by Natalie Grace) but unwell in a nondescript sarcophagus near Aswan.

In the first of many moves that stretch plausibility and suspension of disbelief, Katie’s doctors immediately discharge the catatonic and traumatized girl back to her parents, who have since relocated from Egypt to New Mexico along with Katie’s brother Sebastian (Shylo Molina), younger sister Maud (Billie Roy), and abuela Carmen (Veronica Falcon). It doesn’t take long for Katie to throw the household in disarray with creepy behavior that continues to escalate as Charlie seeks answers regarding her disappearance.

Logic and rational behavior become nonexistent as the Cannon household descends into, essentially, another Evil Dead movie. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy owes great debt to it as well as The Exorcist, as Katie slowly emerges from her catatonic state, emulating the similar telltale signs of possession that Regan MacNeil exhibited before ramping up to full-blown Deadite mayhem. Imagery plays a far more prevalent role than mythology here, which simply trades Kandarian demons for an Egyptian demon without much depth.

The lack of depth or fleshed out lore and themes becomes glaringly noticeable in a runtime that stretches past the two-hour mark, especially when the story feels more like a series of unconnected horror scenes meant to test your mettle. It’s here where Lee Cronin’s latest has the most fun, unleashing a variety of freakouts, including a toenail clipping moment meant to rival Cronin’s attention-grabbing cheese grater moment from his previous film. But for every inspired bit of gore or cruel carnage unleashed, it’s often offset by illogical choices.

The discovery of a particularly nasty bit of bile and viscera under a rug should trigger alarms in a concerned parent, for example, but simply gets forgotten for a much larger payoff later. The scene does make for a demented bit of fun, but it flattens its characters in the process. Not helping is the Mummy design. Cronin’s approach to the wrappings is novel and yields skin-crawling body horror moments, but SFX Creature Designer Arjen Tuiten evokes a sickly possessed girl that calls his work on Wolf Man to mind, another too-far deviation from source material.

The Cannon family isn’t very smart, nor are the parents all that observant or aware of their own children. Finding rooting interest or connecting with any central characters in this story is tricky, making May Calamawy‘s Detective Dalia Zaki, who’s resolve to course correct for her partner in Katie’s disappearance, a revelation. Calamawy’s character isn’t just responsible for driving the story forward in her quest for answers; she quickly becomes the cultural bridge and the trustworthy authority with the determined physical prowess to see The Mummy through to its big exorcism finale. Calamaway isn’t just an engaging and nuanced performer; she fully commits to the grotesequeries Cronin subjects her character to in the demonic confrontation.

Despite its namesake and occasional Egyptian imagery, Cronin’s latest is less a reinvention of the Mummy and more a conventional possession horror movie with an Egyptian twist. One that bears all the familiar earmarks of Evil Dead Rise, complete with an expositionary tape recording and a cameo by Lily Sullivan. Cronin succeeds in topping the viciousness of his previous effort, but sacrifices nearly everything else in the process.

It’s gross and gory in all the right crowd-pleasing ways, but it completely forgets to define its new Mummy, one that instantly breaks its first tenant: this Mummy isn’t even dead, let alone mummified, really. Perhaps it should’ve been titled “Evil Dead Unwrapped” instead.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy releases in theaters and IMAX on April 17, 2026.

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The one-night premiere event for Cronin’s The Mummy takes place April 16 at 7pm, screening exclusively in Dolby Cinema across 183 AMC Theatres locations in 47 cities nationwide.

Tickets are now available for the opening night sneak peek screening.

The evening’s premiere screening of The Mummy is engineered to be experienced in Dolby’s full-precision audio and laser projection. This is the film the way it was made to be seen.

“I wanted to make a movie that gets under your skin in the most literal way possible,” Lee Cronin said in a statement. “There are images in this film that are going to make you look away and not be able to stop looking at the same time. Experiencing that in Dolby, surrounded by a crowd who has no idea what’s coming, on opening night, will be unforgettable.”

“Horror fans don’t wait for Halloween,” said Jason Blum, Founder and CEO of Blumhouse. “They live in it all year. This year we wanted to give them something they’ve never had from Halfway to Halloween: opening night! Lee Cronin made something genuinely disturbing and we want the people who love this genre to be the first ones inside the theater together.”

In its first two years, Blumhouse’s Halfway to Halloween brought horror fans back to the theater for beloved titles from the Blumhouse-Atomic Monster library. This year, the event marks a new chapter: a same-night, first-night premiere for one of the most anticipated horror films of 2026, screening simultaneously across the country in Dolby Cinema.

The full list of participating cities includes: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Colorado Springs, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Harlingen, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Mobile, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Spokane, St. Louis, Tallahassee, Tampa, Tulsa, Washington D.C. and Wichita.

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Variety has learned that the psychological thriller will stream June 26 on Peacock following its premiere as the opening film at Miami Beach’s American Black Film Festival on May 27.

It’s directed by Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) and written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).

Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“) stars as a gifted violinist whose prestigious new role as a music tutor for an enigmatic, elite family spirals into a psychological battle for her safety and sanity.

Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), and Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”) round out the cast.

Hailing from Peachtree & Vine and Blumhouse, in association with Blackmaled Productions, the film is produced by Perry, Blum, Lee, Tim Palen, and Dominique Telson. Executive producers include McElroy, Philip Waley, Shaun S. Sutton, and Giselle Johnson-Morris.

“As we celebrate 30 years of the American Black Film Festival, having Malcolm D. Lee return with his latest project, Strung, feels especially right for this moment,” said ABFF producer Nicole Friday. “Malcolm has been part of the ABFF journey, and his return under our ‘Homecoming’ theme feels truly full circle.”

Stay tuned for the Strung trailer as its release draws nearer.

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Paranormal Activity, created by Oren Peli, first hit theaters in 2007. Its groundbreaking minimalist approach to found-footage ghost stories has spawned a seven-film franchise that’s grossed nearly $900 million worldwide and is likely to cross the billion-dollar threshold after the release of the recently announced upcoming installment.

It’s been five years since Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin, a standalone sequel and soft reboot that ditched the franchise’s lore and failed to commit to its signature found-footage angle. It’s been a decade since the last conventional Paranormal Activity film, which has been long enough for this terrifying tradition to come back into favor.

Paranormal Activity was a defining horror franchise during the 2010s that helped revitalize the found-footage genre for modern audiences. So much of these films’ success comes down to the directors who are shaping these stories and constructing the scares. Ian Tuason, the writer and director of A24’s viral aural horror film, undertone, has been announced as the creative force at the helm of “Paranormal Activity 8.” Paranormal Activity’s DNA can be felt in undertone, a claustrophobic and small-scale experience where an investigation into mysterious audio recordings unleashes something considerably more sinister.

However, these tonal similarities are no accident.

Ian Tuason explicitly turned to Paranormal Activity during undertone‘s construction. “The audio files in undertone were based on the first Paranormal Activity movie, in terms of the couple who were recording themselves,” admits Tuason. “It was a very big influence on the movie.” Tuason’s meticulous control over his craft led to a fortuitous meeting at Blumhouse with both Jason Blum and James Wan, in which he explicitly voiced his interest in Paranormal Activity.

“Jason Blum initially talked to me about a bunch of different IPs, and I expressed the most interest in Paranormal Activity,” explains Tuason. Tuason is the perfect choice to reboot Paranormal Activity since he’s well aware of how to get the most out of a smaller budget, which was essential to the bare bones indie-esque approach to the earlier Paranormal Activity films.

Tuason outlines that James Wan was interested in his angle for the revival and where he would take future Paranormal Activity films. “This was a spontaneous meeting because I just happened to be in LA at the time. I pitched him [James Wan] something in one minute that I thought of the day before. And that was it.

“I felt like the franchise couldn’t be rebooted in any other way.”

Tuason is keeping the specifics of his new Paranormal Activity film close to his chest. It remains unclear if the franchise’s de facto demon mascot, Toby, will return. However, Tuason explains that the advancements in technology since The Ghost Dimension‘s release are what excite him most about his new entry. “Technology — camera technology — has advanced to a point where it’s become a big part of the film and what I want to do there,” admits Tuason. It’s an encouraging direction for the franchise, considering how well Tuason incorporates audio and visual technological elements in undertone.

More details about the next Paranormal Activity will develop in the coming year, but one subject that Tuason can definitively rule out – at least from him – is the possibility of a Paranormal Activity VR expansion. Tuason cut his teeth with VR horror films before undertone, but he’s not interested in returning to this space, even if Paranormal Activity is a property that lends itself to the medium. “No,” confirms Tuason on the prospect of a VR Paranormal Activity promo tool. “I went from cinema to VR, and then I realized how much I love cinema. I went back to the cinema, and now I’m not leaving.” With undertone’s breakout success, Tuason will hopefully have a rich, long career in cinema ahead of him.

undertone is in theaters on March 13, courtesy of A24. Paranormal Activity 8 is currently scheduled to be released on May 21, 2027.

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Yet, we still see the occasional brave filmmaker who’s willing to try and turn these overly familiar tropes on their collective heads by either defying audience expectations or delivering uniquely chilling retellings of tried-and-true scares. In the case of Ximena García Lecuona and Eduardo Lecuona’s No Me Sigas (Don’t Follow Me), a Blumhouse-produced haunted apartment thriller from Mexico, the creative duo opted to combine Lovecraftian lore with internet-inspired flair in order to make their debut thriller stand out.

Quietly released last month, No Me Sigas tells the story of up-and-coming influencer Carla (Carla Coronado) and her unhealthy fascination with the paranormal while living in an old apartment building with a dark past. When Carla’s videos about the increasingly freaky supernatural occurrences within her home start going viral, she soon realizes that there’s a dark side to becoming the center of attention.

On the technical side of things, No Me Sigas combines found footage scares with screenlife recordings and traditional filmmaking, with the film constantly jumping from in-world camera sources and smartphone screens to surprisingly atmospheric cinematography.

This unusual mix of styles is likely to divide audiences, as the hybrid format is something of a controversial choice among fans of found footage cinema. Personally, I’m of the opinion that the most important aspect of found footage is viewer immersion, with this immersion often becoming diluted when filmmakers add non-diegetic recordings to the mix (as the combination tends to remind audiences that they’re watching a fictional movie and not a real source of scares caught on tape). And even I have to admit that the Lecuona duo makes the most of this unorthodox blend of techniques when crafting jump-scares that feel like they were lifted straight out of an especially terrifying YouTube compilation of “Real Ghost Sightings”.

It’s really the film’s style that won me over in this regard, with the directors making the most of dilapidated urban environments and moody lighting to make the haunted apartment feel like a living, breathing space regardless of the filming style. The textures are so grimy and the rooms so lived-in that it’s often hard to tell exactly what was crafted by the art department and what was the result of a fortunately gloomy location.

The scares themselves are also pretty memorable, and I especially enjoyed the use of hidden figures in the background of pictures and videos that could only be seen when our main character messed with the image settings after the fact. While some of these scares are ultimately sabotaged by an unfortunate lack of subtlety, the “ghost” appearances are consistently frightening and always make sense within the story.

It’s also during these moments that you really understand why the Lecuonas opted to include found footage elements here in the first place, as the added grit and believability of low-fi video and POV angles add a lot to the scare-factor while also fitting with the subject matter. That being said, I still think it would have been possible (and maybe preferable) to tell this same story as a completely diegetic found footage movie, especially since the flick boasts such a strong lead with a clear motivation for filming.

In fact, Karla Coronado’s performance holds the entire movie together, with her believable take on a flawed yet fascinating influencer grounding the ghosts and goblins in something palpable. You may not always agree with Carla’s obsessive methods or the way she deals with her influencer best friend Sam (charmingly played by Julia Maqueo), but she’s compelling enough of a protagonist that it’s easy to sympathize with her deteriorating mental state even when she tells a story about killing small animals in a microwave.

While genre movies tend to get a bit heavy-handed with their depictions of online culture and characters obsessed with likes and followers, I’d argue that No Me Sigas offers a refreshingly grounded take on the paranormal side of YouTube that won’t make younger viewers groan at any blatant inaccuracies or cringeworthy dialogue.

My only real gripe with the experience is that the Lovecraftian spin on the story (which is mostly explored during the final act) could have benefited from further build-up earlier in the movie. That’s not to say that the twist is ineffective, but the story ideas presented here are so interesting that it’s a shame the film doesn’t explore them further before that gut-wrenching finale.

No Me Sigas may not completely reinvent the haunted house wheel, with the film suffering from its fair share of familiar tropes and the occasional missed narrative opportunity, but there’s enough creativity here to keep even veteran horror hounds entertained. So if you’re in the mood for an urban ghost story with plenty of atmosphere and a charismatic lead, Blumhouse’s first foray into Mexican-based productions should definitely be on your radar!

No Me Sigas is currently available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.

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Looking back, not a single one of these solid (but inessential) outings set the world ablaze in terms of either critical reception or commercial success. Nor were they watershed releases that left any meaningful impact on the cultural zeitgeist. Hell, they don’t even tend to crop up in conversation much nowadays. That is, unless someone is explaining how Dark Sector spun off into the much more relevant and enduring Warframe.

And yet, for the brief period that you had them on loan from Blockbuster Video —  because, let’s be honest, they weren’t quite worth shelling out $50 to own first-hand —  they were utterly delightful. The video-game equivalent of summer flings, they may have only been in your life for a handful of days, but you cherished what little time you had with them and remember it fondly.

Honestly, in today’s era of bloated epics (that demand a level of commitment rivalled only by a career in the legal sector) and constantly evolving live-services (that will linger on until the entropic heat death of the universe), I kind of miss these disposable experiences. Perhaps it’s just millennial nostalgia talking, but I think we’ve lost something in the mad rush to make every AAA game bigger, more expansive, and, frankly, drawn out.

Which is why I am so pleased to report that the underdog spirit of “the Blockbuster rental” now lives on in the reasonably-priced Crisol: Theater of Idols. The latest offering from Blumhouse’s diversification into the video game market, this pacy horror-shooter shares a few aesthetic similarities with Bioshock, and it borrows quite a lot from Resident Evil Village, too. Yet, in its heart of hearts, it’s got far more in common with something like Singularity (for my money, the archetypal rental game).

To be clear, this is not intended as a dig at Crisol. On the contrary, I mean it with all due love and respect. Playing through its ideal length 12-hour campaign, exploring its self-contained biomes, and enjoying the simple pleasures of its no-frills gameplay (unburdened by open world busywork, crafting menus, or loot systems) gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. Almost as if I was being transported back to the halcyon days of the Xbox 360.

The Body And The Blood 

The criteria a game must fulfil in order to warrant inclusion in my “Blockbuster rental” canon are admittedly abstract. But it effectively boils down to three main traits.

First and foremost, the title in question cannot outstay its welcome and should be easily beaten in a single weekend. Secondly, it needs to maintain a tight focus on its core action mechanics without getting bogged down in any unnecessary guff or tedious padding. Both of which are boxes that Crisol obligingly ticks.

The third attribute — and perhaps the toughest to nail down — is that these games ought to have some kind of creative twist spicing up what would otherwise be generic shooting gallery segments. In the case of Singularity, for instance, the player was able to invert or accelerate the flow of time at will, using the subsequent changes in the environment to their advantage. Stranglehold, on the other hand, encouraged you to master John Woo’s balletic choreography in a way that blended cover-based shootouts with the trick-chaining panache of a Tony Hawk skateboarding sim. Meanwhile, Dark Sector had its versatile glaive, Bulletstorm its arcadey skillpoints, and Army of Two its unique co-op interactions.

Theater of Idols delivers on this account as well. In fact, it might actually overdeliver, given that it boasts not one but two attention-grabbing gimmicks!

Gimmick #1 is that all of the enemies are religious effigies that have miraculously (or alarmingly, depending on your theological persuasion) sprung to life. What’s so fun about this is that their distinguishing characteristics and behaviours vary according to the material that they were fashioned from. If it’s just a basic wooden representation of a holy figure, then it can be reduced to kindling by either blasting away its constituent parts or whittling it down with your durable knife. Conversely, the stained-glass wraiths you encounter won’t go down quite so easy and can clone themselves whenever they are fractured. Then there’s the oil-painted gremlins, which spawn out of portrait frames and can liquify as a way of escaping your crosshairs.

As for Gimmick #2, that’s less about what foes you are fighting and more about how you fight them. You see, Crisol’s weapons don’t take traditional cartridges or magazines. Instead, they fire bullets that are made from congealed blood, and reloading them therefore requires somebody to make a generous donation from their own vitals.

I say “somebody” but, as it turns out, this sacrifice can only come from the gun wielder themself. So, every time that you want to stock up on ammunition, you’ll need to jab the butt of your chosen firearm into the palm of your hand and allow a hidden needle to drain sanguis until its thirst has been quenched. Think of it kind of like how the scarab beetle device worked in Guillermo Del Toro’s Cronos, and you’re in the right ballpark.

Aside from being a cool body horror visual and a nice bit of worldbuilding, this wrinkle has proper gameplay implications. After all, it means that Crisol’s ammo is universal, with your blood being just as compatible with the peashooter as it is with the sniper or the machine gun. The only difference is how much each piece of artillery asks you to give.

And make no mistake, you will have to weigh up these things frugally. Because it’s not only the guns that draw upon the precious commodity of blood here, it’s also your life bar. As such, whenever you reload, it comes with the suboptimal trade-off of inflicting damage upon yourself.

With ammo and health effectively being the same resource, you’ll have to make some risky judgement calls. Does the situation warrant converting a pint of ichor into buckshot for your powerful double-barrel, when a less costly projectile might do the trick? Can you really justify filling up the magazine of an assault rifle when its erratic spread means a fair number of bullets won’t connect with their intended target? Would it be more economical to just sprint past enemies and take a few hits?

There’s never a right or wrong answer to any of these questions, which makes every dilemma feel agonising and truly high stakes. It’s one hell of a gimmick, worthy of the very best 360-era shooters.

Praise the Sun

You might be wondering what possible circumstances could have you facing off against wood-carved saints and waxen cherubim, all while hooking up a rusty shotgun to your veins. Well, Crisol’s narrative is rather involved and lore-heavy. So, we’ll just cover the basics for now.

Set in an alternate history Spain, the game casts you in the role of a religious zealot who has pledged his life to the Sun (as both a literal celestial object and also a sentient, supreme being). Completely devoted to this doctrine and having a Moses-esque direct line to your lord and master, you are dispatched to the heretical island of Tormentosa on a top-secret mission.

It’s an assignment that you don’t exactly relish, with each second that you spend on the accursed rock feeling downright profane. That’s because, here, the residents worship not the sky above but the abyssal depths below. The Sea is their deity, and reminders of this sacrilegious belief surround you everywhere you tread.

Propaganda materials implore apostates to “join the storm”, while the converted brag of how their faith will one day be rewarded when they get to see the Sun “drown beneath the waves”. Not to mention, the architecture is all themed around maritime iconography. You’ll quickly notice, for instance, how anchors serve the same function in Tormentosa as the crucifix does for the Catholic Church. It’s centered in all their altars, placed atop the highest steeples, hung above residences, used to display flags, and even displaces the rod around which snakes coil in the caduceus sign.

To use a suitably religious analogy, you’re in the lion’s den here. Everyone hates the Sun, everyone hates his servants, and all of the enemy’s devotional idols have been weaponized to keep you from fulfilling your sacred mission. Which, in case you haven’t guessed, is to slay the Lord of the Sea himself!

Luckily, you have been imbued with divine powers to help you overcome the daunting odds. As the so-called “Champion of the Sun” (a moniker that will likely induce sniggers from fans of a certain long-running FX sitcom), you can manipulate blood in all its forms. Not only does this allow you to wield the aforementioned vampiric ordinance, but it also enables you to absorb the lifeforce of animal carcases for a quick pick-me-up and tap into blood memory echoes that let you glimpse into the past.

Equipped with both these abilities, as well as an undeterred fanaticism, you promptly team up with the local “Tercio de El Sol” resistance to take down the Sea once and for all. Doing so, however, will require you to first track down and defeat the Lord’s four heirs, each of whom can be found ruling over a separate district of Tormentosa.

¡Bienvenido a Tormentosa!

Suffice it to say, it’s a video-gamey plot that’s sole purpose seems to be justifying a bunch of creative set pieces and giving you adequate reason to explore diverse biomes. There are some narrative twists and turns along the way, but you’ll see them all coming a mile off, and it’s doubtful that you’ll get too invested in the machinations of the warring factions.

This lack of story depth would have been a bigger issue were it not for how Crisol imagines such a characterful world, rich with implicit history and lived-in detail. The nautical aesthetic definitely brings Bioshock to mind, as does the graphical style, the familiar HUD, and the emphasis on deserted locations. Hell, at one point, you even stumble across a bathysphere!

Yet despite the many similarities they share on (ironically enough) the surface, it soon becomes apparent that Rapture and Tormentosa are very different communities indeed. Whereas one is a metropolis founded on Randian ideals of objectivism, individualism, and unchecked progress at any cost, the other is a society where authority resides entirely with the Church, and where the dogma of that institution cannot be questioned. Very much the opposite of what Andrew Ryan envisioned with his secular utopia!

The primacy of religion has a knock-on effect for the imagery as well, with Theater of Idols swapping out Rapture’s art deco stylings for more baroque influences. In general, there is a European quality to much of the architecture here. The canals that intersect Tormentosa’s roads recall the iconic waterways of Venice, while the ornate cathedrals dotted around the island wouldn’t feel out of place in Cologne or Barcelona.

Speaking of which, the other thing that makes this environment stand out is its relationship with Spanish culture. Madrid-based developer, Vermila Studios, has lifted many recognisable elements from their homeland and embedded them into the fictional world.

Bull fighting is all the rage; the fashion is based around bold, colourful fabrics; posters advertising flamenco classes litter the streets; and regional dishes can be found unfinished in the many eateries you pass through. Much like in last year’s Cronos: The New Dawn, all of the text is presented in the native language, too, and will only be translated if you hover your cursor over it. Which is another nice touch.

The Island’s Must-Sees and Hidden Gems 

Such evocative worldbuilding makes you really curious to explore every nook and cranny of the environment. Which is a good thing, because straying from the beaten path is heavily incentivised by the developers.

Bioshock might jump out as the most obvious inspiration for Theater of Idols if you’re only glancing at promotional screenshots, but Resident Evil Village is a more appropriate reference point for both structure and game design. Taking after Capcom’s title, it’s a horror-shooter hybrid that’s played from a first-person perspective. Its map also shares the same hub-and-spoke layout, and it recycles the plot of having you assassinate a quartet of liege lords who each rule over their own distinct territories.

The latter aspect guarantees that the game is always refreshing itself, with you going from one creatively themed area to another. The first stop on your sightseeing tour will be a seedy neighbourhood of vice — concealing Tormentosa’s shameful gambling establishments and brothels — before you then head to an industrial mining site and afterwards a subterranean prison complex. Each of these zones has its own unique atmosphere, backstory, booby traps, and creature types to shake things up, ensuring that the adventure never grows stale.

From a design point of view, they are also densely packed with secrets to reward those who keep their eyes peeled. On that note, while the game is largely linear, exploration is still encouraged. It’s not as intricately designed as, say, Crow Country, but by solving metroidvania puzzles and backtracking to previously walled-off locations, you can unlock useful shortcuts, find extra weapons, discover hidden treasures, and learn more about Tormentosa’s bloody history. There’s an invigorating sense of discovery here, and it’s immensely satisfying to consult your map and see a room change from red to teal, indicating that you have thoroughly picked it clean.

The only drawback when it comes to this compelling exploration is that certain bits of optional content can be missed altogether if you unwittingly cross a point of no return. It’s not a major grievance by any means, but I was a little peeved on those occasions where I had intended to retrace my steps only to find that a ceiling had caved in behind me or that a portcullis had shut once and for all. It just felt like an unnecessary impediment that prevented me from seeing and doing everything that the developers had worked so hard on.

Holy War

To the title’s credit, the reason this vexed me so much is that, on a moment-to-moment basis, I was enjoying everything Crisol had to offer and didn’t want to miss out. Like a perfect Blockbuster rental of old, it was consistently entertaining, and there wasn’t an ounce of fat to be trimmed.

The combat is a particular highlight, with special enemy variants forcing you to adapt your strategy on the fly. Rank and file wooden idols, for example, can effortlessly be dispatched using the standard pistol, but you do have to unlearn that ingrained muscle memory to instinctively go for the headshot every time. After all, these ligneous foes don’t have brains to destroy, so there’s little point in aiming for where the grey matter should be. They’ll just keep coming. In fact, I found that blasting off their legs and slowing them to a literal crawl was far more effective.

Elsewhere, the oil painting gremlins dart around like stalkers from The Last of Us (flanking you if you don’t keep track of their position) and granite mini-bosses soak up damage in a way that depletes your blood reserves at an alarming rate. As for those stained-glass warriors, trust me when I say they’re best kept at a distance, what with their devastating melee attacks and tendency to explode into a shower of lacerating shards upon their death.

As you can tell, each inclusion in the game’s bestiary has an awesome visual design, idiosyncratic behaviours, and clever abilities. Vermila wisely keeps them apart at first—  so you get used to dealing with the different breeds in isolation — before later mixing and matching them in frightening combinations. It’s during those more hectic gauntlets that the combat becomes truly electrifying, with you flitting back and forth between tactics and making split-second decisions about how you want to use your remaining blood. When all of Crisol’s mechanics come together like this, it’s the most I’ve enjoyed straightforward FPS action in quite some time.

It doesn’t hurt that the guns are uniformly excellent to handle as well. You might think that some of them are nerfed to begin with, but if you invest in them at the shop in the hub area, then they can become the platonic ideal of their respective class. I initially wrote off the sniper rifle because it took way too long to reload and didn’t adequately make up for that with its underwhelming firepower.

Once I’d coughed up a few coins to address its weaknesses, though, it became my go-to weapon and took pride of place in my hotkey bindings. I wish more titles made their upgrade systems feel this impactful, as you can really tell the difference when you’ve made a purchase here, and it makes you legitimately excited for your next trip to the store.

A Test of Faith (and Patience) 

In the downtime between skirmishes, you will have to solve some surprisingly meaty puzzles. I tend to be quite critical of other horror games for making their brain teasers feel like an obligatory afterthought, but, honestly, some of the ones in Crisol might go too far the other way!

I don’t know if I’ve succumbed to cerebral atrophy at a premature age, but I’m embarrassed to say how long it took me to crack some of the riddles here. To be clear, I was never stumped on what I actually had to do. The goal is usually pretty evident, and they’re all problems that you’ve encountered before in some guise or another. Balance the scales. Complete the jigsaw picture. Calibrate the voltage on an electronic device. That sort of thing.

What’s unusually tricky in this instance, however, is getting the requisite pieces to line up just right. One safe-cracking conundrum —  which has three rotating plates that need to be precisely aligned yet turn at inconsistent increments — was my personal white whale. Indeed, it had me seriously wondering if I’d hit a brick wall and wouldn’t be able to complete the game in time to meet this review deadline. Granted, I did triumphantly punch the air when I finally worked it out, but the nervous breakdown that preceded this victory cast a pall on the afternoon.

Still, I have to respect how Vermila did include substantive puzzles that actually get your neurons firing. What they didn’t flesh out quite so well, though, was the flimsy stealth. There’s barely anything to it beyond crouching behind obstacles and waiting patiently for foes to piss off.

In all fairness, there aren’t too many of these forced sequences, but they do get fatiguing after a while. Invariably, they will drop you into some labyrinthine arena and assign an objective that entails making a lot of noise, all while you are hunted by a persistent, misophonic stalker named Dolores.

A towering executioner composed of metal, porcelain, and flesh, she is initially threatening and seems like she could be a worthy successor to Mr. X or Lady Dimitrescu. The sheen quickly wears off, though, as you get fed up with her cyclical patrols, looping dialogue, and obstinate refusal to give you a fucking break! Not to mention, when you eventually discover that she can be more easily outrun than eluded, it trivialises the whole affair and robs her of whatever menace she once possessed.

Developers need to be careful with these characters because they can often be more annoying than they are scary. Dolores regrettably falls into the former camp. If she had been used sparingly, she might have left a more favourable impression. Alas, by the time you get to your third or fourth altercation with her, she’s been reduced to naught but a pesky nuisance.

With all that said, Crisol: Theater of Idols does certainly have its blemishes. Nevertheless, they’re comfortably outweighed by its far more numerous (and far more considerable) charms. A winning throwback to the days of gimmicky console shooters, it has exhilarating action, tight pacing, great style, and original ideas to spare.

In the days of Blockbuster Video, I’d declare it a must-rent, and that’d be a ringing endorsement. Yet with that retail chain no longer in existence, and with the game having a very reasonable $17.99 price tag, I guess I’ll have to settle for calling it a must-buy instead.

Review code provided by publisher. Crisol: Theater of Idols is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam.

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“A trio of stalkers infiltrate a quiet suburb and force a new family into the astral plane, where they uncover a terrifying truth: the Further is bleeding into the real world.”

Find out what happens next when the horror sequel is released on August 21, 2026 via Sony and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster.

Franchise favorite Lin Shaye returns to star alongside Amelia Eve (“The Haunting of Bly Manor”), Island Austin, Sam Spruell (“Fargo”), Brandon Perea (Nope), and Maisie Richardson-Sellers (“Legends of Tomorrow”).

Jacob Chase (Come Play) directs from a script he co-wrote with David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (The Conjuring 2, Orphan). David Garbett (Evil Dead Rise) serves as director of photography.

Jason Blum, Oren Peli, James Wan, and Leigh Whannell produce, with Johnson-McGoldrick, Ryan Turek, Steven Schneider, and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones as executive producers.

Wan launched Insidious in 2011, followed by 2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2, 2015’s Insidious: Chapter 3, 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key, and 2023’s Insidious: The Red Door, which became franchise’s the highest grossing movie.

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Created and written by Hannah Rose May and illustrated by Vanesa Del Rey, the story is set at the White House as it becomes a demonic battleground for good versus evil.

It follows the first female president of the United States as she balances boiling political tensions, the threat of World War III, being a mother to two teenagers, a rapidly shifting media landscape, and supernatural terror.

Jason Blum will produce the film for Blumhouse, with Ryan Turek executive producing for the studio alongside May and IDW Publishing CEO Davidi Jonas.

“What immediately drew us to The Exorcism at 1600 Penn was how grounded and urgent it feels,” said Turek. “Hannah has created a story that fuses classic possession horror with contemporary political tension in a way that feels bold and deeply human.”

Turek continues, “It is exactly the kind of material we look for when we think about expanding horror into new spaces, and we are excited to identify a filmmaker who can bring this world to the screen with the scale and perspective it deserves.”

“Getting to work with Blumhouse to bring The Exorcism at 1600 Penn to the big screen feels like a dream come true,” added May. “Blumhouse has defined modern horror for a generation, and I could not be more excited to be working with them on this adaption.”

A sequel to the comic, The Exorcism at Buckingham Palace, is currently in release from IDW Dark.

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Leigh Whannell cut his teeth on Saw alongside James Wan before taking greater ownership of the Insidious franchise and becoming an accomplished director in his own right. Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man helped elevate Whannell’s filmmaking credibility, but this modern update to the Universal Monster classic wouldn’t have been possible without his previous work on Upgrade.

Upgrade is a stunning blend of sci-fi, horror, and action that involves an experimental chip that grants its user superhuman abilities and intuition, which turns them into the ultimate weapon. It tells a complete story, but it’s set in a rich world that’s primed for additional stories. The film wasn’t developed with franchise potential in mind, but it suddenly made a lot of sense to pursue a sequel. These plans eventually shifted into a TV series, which also meshed with Blumhouse’s evolving sensibilities. Blumhouse had found success with a Purge TV series – and now The Creep Tapes – and so an Upgrade series felt like the film’s natural evolution.

In 2025, Whannell confirmed that future Upgrade projects were no longer being pursued and that he’s comfortable viewing his film as a singular cult classic. Details on the project’s dissolution were never firmly outlined, and much of the series’ production was left in mystery. However, the circumstances behind Upgrade’s cancellation have now become a little clearer after speaking with producer Tim Walsh, who was acting as the series’ writer, showrunner, and executive producer.

“Leigh and I sold that to Peacock back in 2019,” recalls Walsh. “I think I started my writer’s room for Upgrade on the day the world shut down from the pandemic.” Walsh, who is currently executive producer on MGM+’s The Hillsider Strangler docu-series, outlines how shifting leadership and growing COVID-19 concerns were the biggest hurdles Upgrade faced. “We had the writer’s room. We wrote the scripts. But, as often happens in this business, somebody up top at Peacock got fired, and a new person came in, thought they knew everything, and dropped that project. It never got picked up later because it was a tumultuous time in the world.”

Whannell had previously teased how Upgrade’s series would look at an improved version of the STEM chip as well as a new host, rather than following Logan Marshall-Green’s Grey Trace from the film. Walsh adds further context to this setup and explains that the series’ would have been a considerably more psychological affair than the movie.

“The whole series was about criminals and the STEM chip being put into them to reform them. It was like A Clockwork Orange, you know, but with STEM being put in.”

It makes a lot of sense for an Upgrade series to dig even further into morality, especially with a cast of characters who begin at the despicable side of the spectrum. It’s a rewarding angle for storytelling and character development, albeit one that proved to be another obstacle in Upgrade’s development. “It was a series about four anti-heroes – four criminals – at a time when it was not popular to tell stories about criminals, cops, and all of that stuff,” explains Walsh. “So, my version died.”

It’s unfortunate that bad timing got in the way of what could have been a seriously exciting evolution of an underrated Blumhouse film. “I’m sure they have tried with other writers,” admits Walsh. “I don’t know where it’s landed or why it hasn’t landed, but man, I love Leigh Whannell.” Nevertheless, Walsh remains optimistic about the future and that they’ll get the chance to collaborate again. “He and I have remained friends, and it was a blast to work on that. It still hurts to this day that it didn’t go forward.”

Walsh laments the loss of Upgrade, and his unique angle feels like it would have been something special. That being said, it’s not hard to imagine bigger Blumhouse franchises like Paranormal Activity and even Saw working in more of an episodic anthology context. James Wan and Leigh Whannell have recently returned to steer Saw’s future for Blumhouse. Wan will be directing the next entry in the series, which will presumably be written by Wan and Whannell.

Saw’s cinematic future remains bright. However, Whannell and Walsh could channel the same creative energy that was present for the Upgrade series into a Saw show. Walsh’s background on gritty crime procedurals like Chicago P.D. and Law & Order: Organized Crime would be perfect for something like Saw that operates as their heightened extreme.

The additional details on why Upgrade failed to materialize are disappointing, if not illuminating. If nothing else, Blumhouse hopefully won’t fully retreat from television and continue to experiment with the medium.

The post “It Was Like ‘A Clockwork Orange,’ But With STEM” – Producer Tim Walsh Opens Up About Cancelled ‘Upgrade’ TV Series appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In celebration, our exclusive featurette peels back the curtain to give a much closer look at what it took to bring Freddy Fazbear, Toy Chica, Foxy the Pirate, and more to life on screen.

In the film from Universal and Blumhouse, “One year has passed since the supernatural nightmare at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The stories about what transpired there have been twisted into a campy local legend, inspiring the town’s first-ever Fazfest.

“Former security guard Mike and police officer Vanessa have kept the truth from Mike’s 11-year-old sister, Abby, concerning the fate of her animatronic friends.

“But when Abby sneaks out to reconnect with Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, it will set into motion a terrifying series of events, revealing dark secrets about the true origin of Freddy’s, and unleashing a long-forgotten horror hidden away for decades.”

Emma Tammi returns to direct the sequel from a script by Five Nights at Freddy’s video game creator Scott Cawthon, who co-wrote the first film.

Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Theodus Crane, and Matthew Lillard are back, joined by Skeet Ulrich, Freddy Carter (“Shadow and Bone”), Wayne Knight (Jurassic Park), Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), and Megan Fox (Jennifer’s Body).

Cawthon produces alongside Jason Blum. Executive producers include Tammi, Beatriz Sequeira, Christopher Warner, Russell Binder, and Marc Mostman.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is already a huge hit. Worldwide, the sequel debuted to $109.1 million. Considering the sequel’s series of cliffhangers, that’s good news. 

Watch the new featurette below to see how Jim Henson’s Creature Shop brought life and personality to the beloved characters, and ring in the holidays with Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 now that it’s available to rent or buy today.

The post ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ Exclusive Clip Gives Behind-the-Scenes Look at Animatronics appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The first production being developing with the studio is Doomtown, a high-concept survival horror film written by Chris Thomas Devlin (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022, Cobweb).

The logline is being kept under wraps, but Deadline has heard that James Wan is interested in directing the project, though sources close to the filmmaker have denied that.

In any case, Wan will produce alongside Adam Hendricks & Greg Gilreath of Divide/Conquer, with Michael Clear, Ingrid Bisu, and Judson Scott serving as executive producers. Alayna Glasthal is the executive overseeing production for Atomic Monster.

“Chris Thomas Devlin delivered a script that’s smart, eerie, and full of ideas, and Doomtown is a strong start to this new chapter with Divide/Conquer,” commented Clear.

Divide/Conquer has a long history with Blumhouse founder Jason Blum, who served as the principals’ mentor at the Sundance Creative Producing Lab over a decade ago.

“We’re thrilled to deepen our collaboration with Blumhouse and to work more closely with the incredible team at Atomic Monster as we expand our combined slate,” said Hendricks & Gilreath. “Together, we’ll be able to pursue even more ambitious genre stories while continuing to grow Divide/Conquer as a home for the next generation of original voices.”

“Adam and Greg are exceptional creative partners who bring discipline and a deep understanding of genre,” added Blum. “This deal strengthens our ability to develop fresh voices and build long-term relationships with filmmakers earlier in their careers.”

Divide/Conquer is also collaborating with Blumhouse on Anything But Ghosts from Milk & Serial director Curry Barker.

The post James Wan to Produce Survival Horror Film ‘Doomtown’ from ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Writer appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Moreover, the eighth film will be produced by horror master James Wan, THR reports today, alongside Jason Blum, franchise creator Oren Peli, and Paramount on board as a partner to co-finance, co-produce, and distribute the movie. 

“I’ve been a huge admirer of Paranormal Activity since the brilliant first movie, with its creeping slow burn and subtle ability to make the unseen terrifying. I’m looking forward to expanding on its legacy and helping shape the next evolution of this scary found-footage franchise,” Wan told THR.

“Diving in with James for this exciting rebirth of the franchise that started it all for Blumhouse is exactly what we dreamed of when we merged with Atomic Monster. I’ll be actively involved with him to introduce this new chapter,” said Blum. “Thankfully, we’re able to spend a little more than the $15,000 we had on the first movie, but one thing will remain the same — do not see it alone.”

What began as an indie sensation in 2007 became a global horror phenomenon as the original Paranormal Activity terrified audiences around the world and reimagined the “found footage” genre for a whole new generation. The seven chilling films in the franchise, brought to the screen by producers Blumhouse and Solana Films, have earned more than $800 million at the worldwide box office.

The franchise runs seven films deep so far, now with the eighth soon on the way, and an additional non-canon spinoff, Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night. All include variations of a home under siege from a demonic presence. The last entry was 2021’s Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin.

Of course, plot details remain under wraps at this time. Will demon Tobi return? Stay tuned.

The post ‘Paranormal Activity 8’ In The Works With James Wan Attached To Produce appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“Nature is full of wonder and beauty, but for the creatures who live in the wild, it’s also full of monsters…”

Nightmares of Nature’s first “Cabin in the Woods” season got a lot of mileage out of a mouse, bullfrog, and raccoon’s survival mission through the forest. Season 2 attempts to properly up the ante in “Lost in the Jungle.” It’s genuinely more exciting and diverse than the first season, whether it’s the central prey protagonists, the nature of their predators, or the unpredictable South American jungle environment. “Lost in the Jungle“ looks at an opossum, a baby iguana, and a mother spider who are heading to an abandoned lab – all separated from their families, alone, and frightened. This culminates in extra environmental dangers as a storm bombards the vulnerable creatures as they desperately try to get back to their natural habitats. 

Adding to these dangers are a formidable array of predators, which include a venomous snake, cagey crocodiles, patient hawks, and so much more. These are intriguing creatures that are highlighted as efficient killing machines when they’re just depicted in their natural environments. The predators in “Cabin in the Woods“ were still effective and intimidating, but “Lost in the Jungle“ is more successful with its deadlier caliber of creatures. These episodes craft compelling showdowns between these animals, whether it’s an opossum’s pursuit to survive against a snake or iguana siblings who band together against a vulture. They’re just generally higher stakes and a more satisfying proof of concept. 

It makes sense that the series would try to escalate its storytelling with each season, and season two feels like the proper evolution, rather than if these seasons had been flipped. It’s exactly what a second season should be doing now that the audience is better acclimated to Nightmares of Nature’s premise and structure. It’s heightened in a manner that teases the show’s future and where else this concept could go.

In addition to being what feels like a grander and more diverse terrain, this season also trumps the last at its own game in many respects. Some of the most entertaining material from the first episodes involved the exploration of insects and their ability to collectively band together against other predators. “Lost in the Jungle“ also showcases a wide range of insects, but they’re even more intimidating because they’re vicious praying mantises, resourceful tarantulas, or gigantic South American millipedes that are more than capable of killing small rodents. There’s just a lot more to unpack, and, if anything, it feels like this season could have added another episode or two to the mix. 

The jungle itself is a compelling location, but these episodes heighten things a little further by keying into an abandoned science lab that’s located deep in the heart of the jungle. It’s such a cool, weird location that’s reminiscent of something like Resident Evil. It’s a lot more exciting and stylized than the slightly more generic forest setting from Nightmares of Nature’s first batch of episodes. These episodes don’t shy away from aerial creatures like parrots and bats, but there’s still a lot more that could be done with them. The jungle is just such a dense environment that’s made up of all these smaller ecosystems that could sustain even more stories. “Lost in the Jungle’s” brevity works in its favor, and these episodes will leave the audience wanting more and eager to dig deeper. A “Lost in the Jungle II” season would certainly be warranted.

The animals are the highlight, yet Maya Hawke‘s observant narration continues to be a subtle secret ingredient to the show’s success. There’s just enough detachment to Hawke’s musings to help complement the visual storytelling without ever feeling too intrusive. Her work in the first batch of episodes was solid, but she feels even more comfortable in this role, and her narration properly amplifies the subject matter.

Nightmares of Nature finds the perfect balance between sensational and educational. There’s such an ornate and meticulous eye that’s applied to all of the footage and the grandiose set pieces that are featured as these creatures fight for their lives. At the same time, this production doesn’t let its Blumhouse sensibilities run unchecked and lacks any greater substance. This is more than just a creative spin on the slasher genre, and each episode will leave the viewer genuinely smarter, more informed, and empathetic to nature, even if they don’t realize it. Nightmares of Nature just casually drops incredible info nuggets, like how opposums have been around for as long as dinosaurs, while it maintains momentum. It’s such a natural pairing of entertainment and intel that will sneak up on skeptical viewers.

“Lost in the Jungle” solidifies that Nightmares of Nature isn’t just some flash-in-the-pan trend and that there’s a significance to its storytelling and structure. The series will hopefully be given even more room to grow and the opportunity to drop several batches of episodes every year or two. Netflix needs more odd, awe-inspiring programming like Nightmares of Nature, especially when there are over 30 episodes of Is It Cake? to binge through.

Nightmares of Nature: Lost in the Jungle is available to stream on Netflix on October 28, 2025.

The post Netflix’s ‘Nightmares of Nature’ Hits Greater Heights With “Lost In The Jungle” [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Series co-creator James Tynion IV will shepherd the development of the TV series.

Something is Killing the Children was first published by BOOM! Studios in 2019 and tells the story of Erica Slaughter, a monster hunter from a mysterious organization more concerned with keeping the secret of monsters from the world than saving their victims.  In this world, only children can see monsters.

“It’s easy to see why audiences and critics alike have praised Something is Killing the Children,” said Jason Blum, Blumhouse CEO and Founder. “James and Werther’s comic book series taps into our most primal fears, luring us into a fascinating world and introducing Erica Slaughter, the ass-kicking hero we all wish we had to fight the monsters that lurk in the dark.”

“Something is Killing the Children is the comic book that changed my life and career forever,” said James Tynion IV. “Finding a partner who understood the potential of Erica Slaughter and world Werther Dell’Edera and I have built was crucial, and we have found that partner in Jason Blum. Nobody understands horror better than Blumhouse, and I can’t wait for the world to see what we all have planned together.”

Stephen Christy and James Tynion IV will produce the film for BOOM! Studios/Penguin Random House. Jason Blum will produce for Blumhouse with Shaun Sutton and Ryan Turek serving as executive producers. Adam Yoelin and Mette Norkjaer will also executive produce. Series co-creator Werther Dell’Edera will act as co-producer.

James Tynion IV will executive produce the adult animated series, with series co-creator Werther Dell’Edera Co-Executive Producing. Stephen Christy will executive produce the series for BOOM! Studios, with Adam Yoelin and Mette Norkjaer co-executive producing.

An adaptation of this Eisner Award-winning comic series was previously in development at Netflix. 

Stay tuned.

The post Blumhouse to Adapt ‘Something is Killing the Children’ into Feature Film and Animated Series appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Blumhouse has made not just waves, but full-on tsunamis, when it comes to their impact on the horror genre. Over the past 15 years, Blumhouse has grossed over six billion dollars and launched some of the most notable films in modern horror. Blumhouse is hardly averse to sequels and franchises – there has been Sinister 2, Happy Death Day 2 U, M3GAN 2.0, a Halloween trilogy, and a full Purge franchise – but they’ve struggled when it comes to actual slasher icons who could rival the genre’s “Big 3“ of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers.

The Grabber, Ethan Hawke’s creepy serial killer from Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone, was captivating but not necessarily a villain that screamed “franchise.“ In fact, The Black Phone told a complete story that didn’t feel like it demanded a sequel. That being said, Black Phone 2 successfully mythologizes the Grabber to be Blumhouse’s uber slasher icon that functions like a twisted serial killer chimera that’s made up of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and even some Cenobites, for good measure. Black Phone 2 pulls from these iconic franchises, but also functions as a stealth A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th film. With the recent discussion on how Blumhouse is interested in acquiring and reviving such iconic horror IPs, this direction may not even be necessary. The Black Phone 2 positions the Grabber to do all these things and accomplish the same signature set pieces that you’d find in Elm Street and Friday the 13th. 

The original Black Phone is a solid horror film that pulls from one of literature’s most popular genre writers, Joe Hill. It also tells a story that was deeply personal for Derrickson. He retrofits his own painful suburban childhood in 1970s Denver, Colorado, onto Finney, which gives the film an undeniable emotional foundation. Derrickson has been vocal about Black Phone being a pivotal homecoming for him in his career and that it wasn’t a film that he wanted to make, but rather one that he had to make. That core connection is perhaps lacking in Black Phone 2. It’s a sequel that’s not so deeply steeped in its storytellers’ pasts. After being burned on Sinister 2, the prospect of a sequel that’s driven by box office returns, rather than passion, was the last thing that Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill were interested in doing. Yet, this makes Black Phone 2 all the more special due to how it takes advantage of this freedom and uses it to become a jack of all trades slasher showcase.

Curiously, Derrickson’s main interest in doing a Black Phone sequel revolved around Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) being older, and this shifting from a middle school story of self-discovery to a coming-of-age high school movie. The “reason“ to do the sequel had everything to do with these main characters and their plight, rather than it being reverse-engineered around the Grabber and how a sequel would be able to turn him into an even more terrifying and powerful threat. It’s perhaps part of the reason why this sequel works so much better than Sinister 2.

It’s a story that they wanted to tell and one that grew out of curiosity and love, not corporate synergy and IP management – although those elements were still present – that just happened to evolve its slasher mascot in the process. Black Phone 2 tells a story that’s built around the heroes, not the villain, the latter of which seems to so often be the case with Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Black Phone 2 uses the heroes’ growth as the catalyst to transform the Grabber into something stronger. “We’re doing it for the right reasons,“ attests Derrickson in Horror’s New Wave: 15 Years of Blumhouse when talking about the sequel. “I’m going to try to make a better movie than the first one. And it’s a different movie than the first one. There’s a reason to make this movie.”

The sequel is set four years later, which is done for practical storytelling purposes, but it seems significant that the film’s backdrop changes from the ’70s to the ’80s. The ’80s were a transformative decade for horror, where there was an unprecedented influx of supernatural elements in standard slasher fare. Not only were slasher icons like Jason Voorhees becoming reanimated zombies, but titles like Wes Craven’s Shocker were also trying to redefine the limits of horror villains. To this point, Gwen’s psychic ability and her deceased mother are haunting afterthoughts that hang over the film, even if they don’t experience a full arc of their own. 

Black Phone 2 rather brilliantly develops these ideas in a way that retroactively strengthens the original movie. Black Phone 2 is such a natural extension of its predecessor that it’s a little shocking that it’s an original story and not based on some Joe Hill follow-up story (although he did help with cracking the film’s story). The first Black Phone combined a ghost story and a serial killer to great effect and also did something different. Black Phone 2 continues this trend through its embrace of supernatural elements, whether it’s Gwen’s growing psychic powers or what the Grabber has evolved into.

The original Black Phone presents the Grabber as a heightened and horrifying threat, but he’s still, for all intents and purposes, a grounded serial killer who is no different than someone like John Wayne Gacy. The Grabber’s death in The Black Phone was certainly absolute, but it wouldn’t be impossible to cheat its way out of this and keep him alive. Black Phone 2 is smart to avoid this temptation and instead evolves a simple serial killer into something much bigger, akin to what Freddy and Jason experience as supernatural creatures in their many sequels. This type of transformation can sometimes feel disingenuous, but it works so well in Black Phone 2. 

The Grabber’s evolution into this undead harbinger of death is a more interesting direction for the character that also allows Hawke to get even riskier and more fearless in his performance. He’s no longer limited by reality. It’s an exciting mental shift for the Grabber. The visuals that Black Phone 2 builds to are unreal and dripping with Freddy’s ironic rage. In many ways, Black Phone 2 is the best Nightmare on Elm Street film since the ’90s. Black Phone 2’s Alpine Lake Camp setting definitely brings Friday the 13th to mind, but Gwen’s psychic powers and her attack on the Grabber are more specifically reminiscent of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. Even the manner in which the Grabber rips off pieces of his face in lieu of masks is a twisted evolution of his design that respects Jason’s decaying appearance.

On some level, it’s kind of insane that the Grabber — a ruthless child murderer who abducts kids in a van — is a playable character in Fortnite who can emote alongside Sabrina Carpenter and the KPop Demon Hunters. Turning such a reprehensible character into a mascot of sorts can run the risk of glamorizing their behavior. The Grabber’s evolution into a wraith-like supernatural entity actually does his character some favors by turning him into a more intangible monster instead of a literal man who keeps kids in his basement. This helps move the Grabber away from his uncomfortable roots, much in the same manner that A Nightmare on Elm Street was able to do with Freddy. These adjustments, while minor, do so much to aid the Grabber’s brand and turn him into the mascot that Bughuul and M3GAN failed to be.

Black Phone 2 understands the power of brevity, and it condenses some complex ideas regarding the Grabber’s growth into a singular scene. A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th are the biggest reference points for the Grabber’s transformation. However, the sequence in which he reveals to Gwen that he’s “a bottomless pit of sin“ immediately brings Hellraiser to mind. The Grabber engages in a harrowing discussion of what Hell makes you, what it leaves behind, and the disturbing ways that it warps perception. The scene is short, but incredibly effective, and there’s enough there to get an entire film out of what the Grabber experiences in Hell. There are certainly worse ideas than Black Phone 3: The Grabber Goes to Hell. 

Hellraiser may seem like a benign reference, but Derrickson’s debut feature was Hellraiser: Inferno. He’s able to crystallize and improve upon many of the same sinister ideas that he explored there 25 years earlier. All this discussion about Hell also swings back to the other extreme. Black Phone 2 is the rare horror movie that actively discusses Heaven, Hell, God, and the Devil, which is territory that was previously censored in Friday the 13th.

In many ways, it feels like Derrickson and Cargill turn Black Phone 2 into the idealized versions of these slasher franchises that they wish they could have seen. In this sense, Black Phone 2 isn’t just an amalgamation of these beloved slasher franchises. It also incorporates so many personal touches that make it feel like the true synthesis of Derrickson’s career, whether it’s through its creative use of Super 8 footage through dreams to call back to Sinister or its conversations on faith and religion that course through The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Deliver Us From Evil.

In Horror’s New Wave, there’s an anecdote about the original Black Phone where Ethan Hawke remarks, “This is a horror film told from a point of view of love, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.“ Black Phone 2 bottles the emotions of its predecessor’s final scene and embraces this mantra even more in the sequel. This culminates in a satisfying, complete ending that would be a fitting place to end this story. However, the work that’s been done with the Grabber and his universe gives the impression that Derrickson and Cargill would be okay passing the franchise off and letting others take a stab at this iconic killer. There’s even a chance that Gunther, Gwen and Finney’s cousin from the in-universe “Dreamkill” segment from V/H/S/85, could team up with them all Dream Warriors style.

There’s too much to explore with the Grabber to keep him stuck in some watery purgatory like Jason. Blumhouse has some highly anticipated sequels on the way for Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Exorcist: Believer, and Ma, but the Grabber holds the most potential for a long-running franchise.

The post Why ‘Black Phone 2’ Is A Slasher Chimera That Could Be The Face Of Blumhouse’s Future  appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

And then there’s SAW, which Blumhouse just boarded earlier this year. Blumhouse is bringing James Wan back in the fold to shepherd a new chapter for the twisted franchise.

What else is next, now that Blumhouse has left Haddonfield behind? In a sprawling new conversation with Variety, Jason Blum has provided some insights into his franchise hopes.

For starters, Blum has confirmed that Blumhouse indeed no longer has the rights to make Halloween movies. He explains, “We don’t own the rights anymore. I had a three-picture deal. But I would do another Hallo­­w­een movie.” He also reveals that Blumhouse was recently in the mix to board The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, though A24 ultimately won the rights.

“We were in the mix. The deal isn’t closed, but we probably won’t get it,” Blum admits.

His other white whales on the horror front? Blum tells Variety in this week’s new interview discussion, “Friday the 13th and Freddy Krueger, those are my two white whales.”

There has been no movement on the Elm Street franchise in many years, but the Friday the 13th saga is a different story. After years of messy legal issues, Jason Voorhees is back with his new “Jason Universe” initiative, with A24 and Peacock filming a prequel television series titled “Crystal Lake” and a new Friday the 13th movie reportedly in early development at this time.

Stay tuned for more on all of the above horror franchises – and Blumhouse’s role in them.

The post “I Will Never Give Up”: Jason Blum Says ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘Elm Street’ Are Still His White Whales appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody Disgusting has now exclusively learned this morning that the Blumhouse Enhanced Cinema app will launch on the road to Halloween on October 9, exclusively on Meta Quest!

At launch, the app will feature M3GAN and The Black Phone, two of Blumhouse’s biggest recent hits, presented in a way fans have never seen or felt before.

Check out the official key art for Blumhouse Enhanced Cinema below.

And for those who crave more interactive scares, Bloody Disgusting has also learned that the Blumhouse Horrorverse expands this Halloween with M3GAN Tag, a twisted new mini-game where players get hunted—and transformed—by the viral horror icon herself.

Stay tuned for more information on M3GAN Tag as we learn it.

And don’t forget that Black Phone 2 releases in theaters on October 17!

The post Blumhouse and Meta Quest Will Reimagine How You Watch Horror Movies Beginning October 9 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“It’s not just humans who have nightmares…”

One of the greatest things about the horror genre is that fear comes from a limitless number of places. Sure, a rampaging monster or a furious masked killer are going to generate terror and tension. Horror’s ability to endure and succeed is because it’s continually rewriting the rules of the genre and where fear is found. Blumhouse has been on the cutting edge of horror for close to two decades and so it’s rather appropriate that it would try to combine two radically dissonant genres – horror and nature documentaries.

Nightmares of Nature: Cabin in the Woods is for people who are both fascinated and grossed out by nature, while also acknowledging that this is what makes nature so special and beautiful. It taps into the dangers of the natural world that speak to the horror genre’s power and why it’s a lens that can make anything feel thrilling and dangerous.

Nightmares of Nature is an impeccable exercise in editing and storytelling as footage is collected and orchestrated in order to craft a standard horror genre narrative about a woman in trouble or a lost soul on the run, only in this case the victims and final girls are woodland critters. It’s a remarkable experiment that matches pristine nature videography with stylized visuals, scene composition, and pacing that’s evocative of a slasher movie. The musical score becomes a real secret weapon that’s able to build upon the fear that fills the forest. At one point, a slowed down, creepy version of “Teddy Bears’ Picnic” plays over footage of a rotting raccoon corpse. It’s exactly the right energy for this sort of unserious endeavor.

Nightmares of Nature very carefully begins with the disclaimer, “For the safety of our heroes and monsters, some scenes have been dramatized. All animal behaviors are natural.” It’s fascinating to see how the series builds intent in these non-verbal creatures as they fight for their lives against the ultimate slasher killer – Mother Nature.

Helping with this intent is Maya Hawke, who narrates and provides purpose to the frantic critters. Hawke’s voice is pleasant and distant, yet just warm enough. Hawke’s narration never impedes the visuals that it accompanies or draws too much attention to itself. It’s just playful enough in its examination of a pregnant mouse, desperate raccoon, and a displaced frog, who become the stars of this series as they fight to survive in the wilderness. It’s wild to see how Nightmares of Nature finds such everyday aspects of the wilderness – like a mouse looking for a place to safely give birth – that functions as such a successful analogue for basic horror movie setups. The series transposes these natural plights into heightened acts of horror as if the woods are some twisted serial killer’s lair…because in many ways, they are. 

Nightmares of Nature does some of its most compelling storytelling when it equates critters to serial killers and it casts parallels between these extreme worlds. These hurried, frantic pursuits for safety play out like live-action, eerier versions of The Animals of Farthing Wood or Watership Down. Or if Tobe Hooper directed a Homeward Bound remake. The difference here is that Nightmares of Nature never wants its audience to forget that the world is a dangerous, cutthroat place. Some creatures’ lives are non-stop slasher movies where the credits don’t roll until they’re a carcass in the sun. It’s a bleak outlook, but one that feels fitting for Blumhouse’s first nature documentary series. This is definitely the great outdoors as filtered through Blumhouse. One sequence portrays the birth of a clutch of baby alligators like it’s the hatching of a Xenomorph egg or some alien monster. 

Nightmares of Nature effectively presents surprise animal attacks like explosive jump scares, both of which garner the same results of a heightened body count. The animal attacks that play out — which reflect both man and nature’s duality — resemble the type of grisly footage that would be playing on a television in the background of some Blumhouse murderer’s home. The Black Phone’s The Grabber watches Nightmares of Nature. Kevin Wendall Crumb from Split watches Nightmares of Nature. That’s the nightmare aura that’s conjured here, despite any fleeting moments of silliness from the show’s premise. 

The Netflix docuseries is careful to be both narratively thrilling, but also authentically informative about the creatures and environments that it depicts. It’s one of the oddest examples of edutainment blending with horror this side of the Dreamcast’s Typing of the Dead. Nightmares of Nature certainly succeeds on the information front and, if nothing else, it works as a quirky and unconventional approach to nature documentaries. It’s unlikely that anyone will genuinely be frightened by it, but there’s still some really accomplished cinematography, foreboding visuals, and intense peril that should at least leave horror fans entertained.

It’s particularly rewarding to see how the project conjures effusive blood, guts, and gore through its unflinching depiction of nature in its purest sense. Some of these animal attacks are quite grisly, which creates a compelling feedback loop regarding the guilt that the audience feels here, versus what’s present in the standard slasher movie. These aren’t people who are being torn to shreds while skilled make-up and effects experts amplify the carnage, yet the simple sight of a predator feasting on its prey in an imprecise, messy manner can be even more unnerving. 

Some of the most disturbing material from these three episodes involves a deep dive on insects – cockroaches, fire ants, and flies –  as these putrid creatures consume and propagate around a creature’s carcass. Oh, and there’s a slug sex scene. Nightmares of Nature somehow reaches such disgusting levels that are comparable to David Cronenberg’s The Fly. It’s this beautiful example of life imitating art imitating life. It plays with these raw feelings and how easy it is to root for these prey. It’s a stunning exercise in empathy and perspective that doesn’t always work, but it’s really powerful when it all comes together.

Nightmares of Nature: Cabin in the Woods is a fun, fascinating experiment that deserves a chance to grow and produce more episodes (a jungle-centric season two is already on the way). It’s taking risks and expanding the definition of horror in a way that can leave audiences educated and enlightened, which is never a bad thing. That being said, don’t expect this to be standout, scary Halloween programming (although a few pumpkin ales are sure to make this a playful group-watch). It’s a testament to horror’s transformative power and the everyday killers that hide in plain sight, even if it’s not a conventionally terrifying effort. It’s still likely the scariest nature documentary on a streaming service that you’ll see all year.

Season 1, “Cabin in the Woods,” premieres on September 30.

Season 2, “Lost in the Jungle,” premieres on October 28.

The post Blumhouse’s ‘Nightmares of Nature’ Gives Nature Documentaries a Macabre Makeover [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

If one were to name some of the biggest horror movies of the past two decades, it’s not uncommon for titles like Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Get Out, The Invisible Man, and The Purge to dominate the conversation. These movies, while quite different, all share one thing in common that they’re Blumhouse pictures. Blumhouse has had its finger on the pulse of horror for nearly two decades, the likes of which have been beautifully compiled in Horror’s New Wave: 15 Years of Blumhouse by Blumhouse and Dave Schilling.

Horror’s New Wave is a fantastic celebration and examination of Blumhouse’s first 15 years and over 20 standout films. However, it’s also a beautiful deconstruction of horror trends from the past two decades, how Blumhouse became such an arbiter of talent in the area, and why they’ll continue to revitalize the genre over the next 15 years.

It’d be very easy for Horror’s New Wave to be a glossy coffee table book that looks great to mainstream audiences, but leaves devoted horror fans who scour online communities and production notices cold and wanting more. Fortunately, there is genuine knowledge to gain that becomes a deeper examination of the horror genre’s perseverance and evolution instead of just a checklist through Blumhouse’s many hits (and misses). I’m someone who is deeply tapped into the horror industry and takes pleasure in learning about the smallest of production details, yet there were still things about these movies that I was learning for the first time. The info here isn’t just superfluous aggregations of what you’ve seen before. These are highly concentrated knowledge nuggets that are geared to surprise and delight the most devoted of Blumhouse fans and horror aficionados. 

After a charming foreword by Jason Blum himself, Horror’s New Wave segues into an assortment of playful Top 10 lists that span the Blumhouse filmography, copious interviews with directors, screenwriters, actors, producers, and talent that make this a powerful first-hand account of these movies, rather than an outsider’s assessment of the filmography. Literally every person who you’d want to hear from on these projects is assembled here, from Ethan Hawke to Octavia Spencer to James Wan to Jordan Peele. Horror’s New Wave tells a powerful story between Blumhouse’s humble origins with Paranormal Activity, to taking over iconic franchises like Halloween and The Exorcist. Blumhouse understands the value in pioneering its own franchises, like Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and The Purge, while also establishing relationships with some of the top names in the horror genre, such as Scott Derrickson, M. Night Shyamalan, Leigh Whannell, and Mike Flanagan

Horror’s New Wave includes a brilliant anecdote regarding how Jason Blum “tricked” the studio to purchase and distribute Paranormal Activity through the ruse of a remake that he knew would never come to pass. It’s a great story that’s emblematic of the gumption behind Blum’s innovative producing style. It’s also just a happy coincidence that Blumhouse’s first film happened to be a record-breaking, genre-busting success. Blumhouse has reached the point where it’s tackled a successful video game adaptation that has a sequel on the way, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and a remake of a classic Universal Monster, The Wolfman. In many ways it feels like Blumhouse has ended at the opposite end of the spectrum, starting with ultra low-budget indie found footage movies to flashy IP grabs, yet both of these films – and everything in between – beautifully represents Blumhouse’s creative ethos.

There’s just a single page on Blumhouse’s illustrious non-horror efforts, such as The Normal Heart, BlacKkKlansman, and Whiplash. It’s understandable that these titles that progressively became off-brand for Blumhouse wouldn’t be spotlighted in a book that needs to be selective in its choices that are most representative of the production company. However, it still would have been nice to get a little more information on this side of Blumhouse’s story.

Each of the 19 entries in Horror’s New Wave features a cheat sheet breakdown of the film’s stats like release date, cast, budget, and box office. There’s also a more playful Death Stats breakdown that includes details like the number of jump scares, a kill count, and other interesting oddities, before moving into a plot synopsis, introduction, and focused breakdowns of relevant elements, such as the found-footage genre in the case of Paranormal Activity or dystopia films for The Purge. The rest of each entry is made up of behind-the-scenes documents and interviews with the people involved with the film who unpack various aspects of the movie, like its development, the killer, the kills, casting, and any especially haunting setpieces. It’s an effective way to chew through each Blumhouse entry in a manner that feels substantial, but without being indulgent; economical without being rushed (although plenty of these movies could be broken down to much greater detail and it feels as if Horror’s New Wave just scratches the surface of their legacy). 

This structure works well enough and celebrates each film’s identity and individuality, without ever feeling rote or contrived. There’s enough variety between films that Horror’s New Wave never feels like a repetitive endeavor. The content is as entertaining and shocking as the films that are under discussion. As fun as it is to get unfettered access into huge Blumhouse hits like Sinister and The Invisible Man, it’s also a blast to get 20 pages on more incidental titles like Truth or Dare. The book doesn’t discriminate when it comes to its Blumhouse breakdown and each entry is creatively explored, even if the end product didn’t manage to change the genre. 

Horror’s New Wave has a lot to offer when it comes to its production documents and original goodies. This includes storyboards, the Myers House blueprint from Halloween, and Mike Flanagan’s insistence on filming Oujia: Origin of Evil with period-accurate equipment in order to capture the same cinematic feeling as The Exorcist from 1973. Other production gems detail a gonzo meta New Nightmare-esque sequel pitch for Truth or Dare, the studio’s freaked out reactions upon seeing Split’s surprise ending, Happy Death Day’s first life as an abandoned Rogue Pictures script that Christopher Landon was brought on to rewrite, and the original ending to Halloween Ends that Jamie Lee Curtis pushed back against. 

This all contributes to an impressive tone that’s informative and celebratory, but also humble and earnest enough that it never feels masturbatory and like a hollow tool that’s designed to push Blumhouse product. Horror’s New Wave may subscribe to corporate synergy, but this is a book that’s filled with passion from people who are behind the camera, in front of the camera, and just genuinely love horror and the craft of cinema. That’s abundantly clear on every page of this glowing compendium that has more reverence for blood, guts, murderers, and monsters than the Necronomicon.

Horror’s New Wave: 15 Years of Blumhouse is an insightful deep dive into one of the horror genre’s greatest modern disruptors. It’s a gold mine of first-hand knowledge that’s strengthened through sleek packaging and immaculate layout and design elements that are simultaneously polished and gritty. It makes for an impressive item even without any of the horror industry gems that are contained inside. There are cherished stories and anecdotes that seasoned horror fans have likely heard before, yet the inclusion of rewarding never-before-seen production documents makes sure that it doesn’t just repurpose old materials. It’s a satisfying read and the perfect companion piece as horror fans work their way through the Blumhouse filmography this Halloween.

Horror’s New Wave: 15 Years of Blumhouse will release September 30.

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Netflix will explore the horrors of wildlife in Nightmares of Nature, a documentary series from Blumhouse Television and Plimsoll Productions narrated by Maya Hawke (“Stranger Things”).

Season 1, “Cabin in the Woods,” premieres on September 30

Our three characters (a soon-to-be-mother mouse, a young bachelor raccoon, and a froglet who has seen terrible things) quickly discover how scary the New England woods truly are and find themselves in search of sanctuary. They stumble upon an old cabin in the woods, thinking it a safe haven, they soon discover their nightmares have really only just begun…

Season 2, “Lost in the Jungle,” premieres on October 28.

For our three characters (a young opossum, a newly-hatched iguana, and a feisty jumping spider), the nightmare of staying alive in the Central American rainforest escalates fast when they discover an abandoned laboratory deep in the jungle. And before they know it, lost in this unnatural labyrinth, with a new monster hiding behind every corner, they are in the struggle of their lives to get out before it is too late…

Each season consists of three 45-minute episodes. Nathan Small directs Season 1, while Charlotte Lathane helms Season 2. Doug Mackay-Hope produces, with Jason Blum serving as executive producer.

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Chucky, Freddy Fazbear, M3GAN and The Grabber are all featured in the commercial, with the horror icons descending upon a supermarket. Chucky, Freddy Fazbear, and The Grabber will be featured on Fanta cans this Halloween, and Michael Myers is also getting his own can artwork as well. Myers, however, is curiously not present in the official Fanta commercial. He’s been replaced by M3GAN for the commercial, who seemingly isn’t getting her own can. At least not in the early promotional artwork we’ve seen for the partnership, which you’ll find below.

The only Exclusive Flavor in the mix is Chucky’s Punch, with the other flavors including Strawberry, Pineapple, and Orange. It looks like Chucky’s Punch will also be available in bottles.

Check out the commercial below and look for the Fanta x Horror Icons cans on shelves soon!

These aren’t even the only horror icons headed to supermarkets for the Halloween season. Available now, Jason Voorhees has joined forces with Angry Orchard Hard Cider!

Chucky, Freddy Fazbear, Michael Myers, M3GAN, and The Grabber slash into the grocery store in a special collaboration with FANTA, coming to shelves for the Halloween season! pic.twitter.com/LcpT8p2INq

— Bloody Disgusting (@BDisgusting) August 28, 2025

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Limited to 50, the 24×36 full-color lithograph print on high-quality gloss paper is available for $45.

This marks Blumhouse and Mutant’s second art collaboration, following Phantom City Creative’s recent M3GAN 2.0 poster.

Happy Death Day is directed by Christopher Landon (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones) and written by Scott Lobdell (Critters Attack). Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, and Ruby Modine star.

In the 2017 film, a blissfully self-centered co-ed is doomed to relive the day of her murder… unless she can identify her masked assailant and hopefully stop the madness. If she can’t, she will be stuck in an insane loop, reliving the ghoulish nightmare that has become her death day.

A third installment in the slasher franchise is in the works.

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The Japanese-style artwork is available as a limited edition 24×36 print for $60. It’s expected to ship on July 10.

The sequel to the 2023 hit slays into theaters this Friday, June 27, via Universal.

Director Gerard Johnstone and writer Akela Cooper are back for the follow-up along with producers James Wan of Atomic Monster and Jason Blum of Blumhouse.

Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Amie Donald, and Jenna Davis return to star, alongside Ivanna Sakhno, Aristotle Athari, Timm Sharp, and Jemaine Clement.

Two years after M3GAN, a marvel of artificial intelligence, went rogue and embarked on a murderous rampage and was subsequently destroyed, M3GAN’s creator Gemma has become a high-profile author and advocate for government oversight of A.I. Meanwhile, Gemma’s niece Cady, now 14, has become a teenager, rebelling against Gemma’s overprotective rules.

Unbeknownst to them, the underlying tech for M3GAN has been stolen and misused by a powerful defense contractor to create a military-grade weapon known as Amelia, the ultimate killer infiltration spy. But as Amelia’s self-awareness increases, she becomes decidedly less interested in taking orders from humans. Or in keeping them around.

With the future of human existence on the line, Gemma realizes that the only option is to resurrect M3GAN and give her a few upgrades, making her faster, stronger, and more lethal. As their paths collide, the original A.I bitch is about to meet her match.

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But first, a little bit of recap…

There’s been a lot of talk about the future of the Saw franchise in recent months, with some suggesting that the franchise is dead in the wake of Saw XI being pulled from the release schedule. Coming off a successful tenth installment, Saw XI was set to release on September 26, 2025, but turmoil behind the scenes left the fate of the franchise hanging in the balance.

From what we understand, Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate had disagreements that spelled the end of the planned Saw XI, and temporarily left the franchise’s future in limbo.

So what changed… ?

Lionsgate had owned 50% of the rights to Saw while Twisted Pictures owned the other half, and Blumhouse has now acquired the portion of the rights that had been owned by Twisted. With Lionsgate owning the other portion, Lionsgate & Blumhouse will now work together on “all future films, shows and other properties featuring the murderous, torture-loving Jigsaw.”

What’s particularly interesting here is that Saw franchise creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell will be “brought back into the fold,” helping to “guide the future of the franchise.”

“Saw holds a special place in my heart,” Wan said. “Coming back to this world with a fresh perspective is thrilling and deeply personal. For me, this will mark a significant creative return to the franchise for the first time since the early days, and I’m very much looking forward to embracing the original spirit whilst pushing the legacy forward in bold, unexpected ways.”

Stay tuned for more on all things Saw as we learn it.

The post Blumhouse Officially Buys Rights to ‘Saw’ Franchise With Wan & Whannell Rejoining the Team appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Octavia Spencer was recently confirmed to return at Blumhouse’s The Business of Fear event.

“Ma has proven to be a social phenomenon since its release in 2019, with fans eagerly embracing the film and Octavia’s iconic performance as Ma. Ma likes to say ‘Don’t make me drink alone,’ so we’re thrilled Octavia will join us again for a second round,” said Blumhouse Founder/CEO Jason Blum.

Spencer played Sue Ann, a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town (Diana Silvers, Glass), to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.

While no director has been announced as of yet, Tate Taylor helmed the 2019 original from a script by Scotty Landes. Taylor previously detailed that Sue Ann’s fate was intentionally ambiguous, so the door was open for a return. 

That Ma earned more than $60 million at the global box office meant a sequel was practically inevitable.

Ma also starred  Juliette Lewis (August: Osage County, Natural Born Killers) as Maggie’s mom, Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast, Dracula Untold) as a local dad, Missi Pyle(Gone Girl) as his girlfriend, and McKaley Miller (TV’s “Hart of Dixie”), Corey Fogelmanis (TV’s “Girl Meets World”), Gianni Paolo (TV’s “Power”) and Dante Brown(“Lethal Weapon“ TV series) as Maggie’s friends.

Ashley Nicole Black’s background in comedy suggests that this sequel may lean even further into Sue Ann’s eccentricities. Stay tuned.

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Deadline provides a shocking update on the state of Saw tonight, reporting that Blumhouse is “acquiring the perspective rights to Twisted Pictures’ portion of the Saw franchise.”

“Blumhouse is essentially taking over the IP’s ownership from Twisted’s Mark Burg and Oren Koules,” the exclusive report reveals. “Lionsgate will continue to be involved as a partner.”

How this apparently works is that Lionsgate owned 50% of the rights to Saw while Twisted Pictures owned the other half, and Blumhouse will be acquiring Twisted’s half.

From what we understand, Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate had disagreements that spelled the end of the planned Saw XI, and temporarily left the franchise’s future in limbo.

According to Deadline’s report, an eleventh installment in the franchise isn’t currently in development, though we can expect the Saw saga will be back on the big screen before long.

In an interesting twist, Deadline also notes that the Blumhouse deal will bring original Saw co-creator James Wan back into the franchise fold, thanks to the recent merger between Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster. Stay tuned for more as we learn it.

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Blumhouse announced that the sequel is in development at its The Business of Fear event examining the growing power of horror subgenres.

“Ma has proven to be a social phenomenon since its release in 2019, with fans eagerly embracing the film and Octavia’s iconic performance as Ma. Ma likes to say ‘don’t make me drink alone,’ so we’re thrilled Octavia will join us again for a second round,” said Blumhouse Founder/CEO Jason Blum.

In the 2019 film, Ma offers the basement of her home for some kids to party, but her hospitality curdles into obsession, turning a teenage dream into a terrorizing nightmare.

Ma earned more than $60 million in global box office. No word on if director Tate Taylor or writer Scotty Landes will return for the sequel.

Revenge is one of 24 thriving subgenres Blumhouse identified in a research study last year that aimed to assess the state of horror.

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“We’re thrilled to officially announce that a Phasmophobia film adaption is in development – it’s a big moment for the whole Kinetic team, and the start of something really exciting,” said Daniel Knight, director of Kinetic Games, and Lead Developer of Phasmophobia. “We never could’ve imagined the incredible heights this game would reach when it launched five years ago, and we’re so thankful to our amazing community for the lasting impact Phasmophobia has had in the gaming space and beyond. Working with Blumhouse and Atomic Monster marks an incredible new chapter for the game, and we can’t wait to share more as the project develops.”

To say that Phasmophobia has been a success for Kinetic Games is an understatement. Since its Early Access launch back in 2020, Phasmophobia has surpassed 23 million in global sales across PC and consoles, and has become a genre-defining title in multiplayer horror gaming. Kinetic Games’ efforts earned Phasmophobia the Best Debut Game award at The 2020 Game Awards.

No word yet on the director for the adaptation as of yet.

Meanwhile, Kinetic Games recently announced a massive overhaul to the game in the “Chronicle” Update, which arrives June 24 for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and PS VR2, and the Xbox Series.

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Desperate to fit in with her friends, 20-something Carla moves into an abandoned apartment with the goal of becoming a social media influencer by faking hauntings. However, she accidentally invokes a real malevolent entity that possesses her right in front of her viewers, who can no longer tell the difference between what is real and what is fake.

Karla Coronado, Julia Maqueo, and Yankel Stevan (“Control Z”) star.

Siblings Ximena García Lecuona and Eduardo Lecuona make their feature directorial debut from a script by Ximena.

Currently in post-production, the movie was produced in Mexico by Maligno Gorehouse (Huesera: The Bone Woman), Wild Sheep Content, and Edge Films alongside Blumhouse.

No Me Sigas will be released theatrically in Mexico this fall by Cinepolis. No word on US distribution at this time.

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The psychological thriller follows Frida and Gabriel, a pair of estranged siblings seeking a fresh start at a luxury resort in the secluded desert of Escalante, Utah. Their reunion is interrupted when a woman who was vacationing with her powerful, much older husband is found murdered.

When the local police arrive and suspicion quickly falls on Gabriel, Frida is forced to revisit memories from their upbringing in a cloistered cult in upstate New York, their dramatic escape, and the scandal that followed.

Alternating between past and present timelines, the story builds toward a shattering climax that poses the question: how well do we ever really know those we love?

Blumhouse Television is currently in development on a limited series based on Michallon’s debut novel, The Quiet Tenant, with showrunner Anthony E. Zuiker (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”).

“I couldn’t be happier to reunite with Blumhouse Television for Our Last Resort,” said Michallon, who will executive produce. “They have been tremendous creative partners on The Quiet Tenant, and I can’t wait to see what they do with this new story. I just know that Frida and Gabriel — the siblings at the center of this new story — are in perfect hands.”

“Clémence Michallon has delivered another visceral and thrilling page-turner with Our Last Resort and we jumped at the chance to work with her again,” adds Blumhouse Television President Melissa Aouate. “Her storytelling brings a real depth of character and sense of place that we think will translate well to the screen.”

Our Last Resort will be published on July 8 via Knopf.

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Aimed to feel like stepping into a horror movie, the social space lets you experience the worlds of such films as M3GAN, The Purge, Wolf Man, The Black Phone, and Happy Death Day for minigames, activities, and more.

In the centerpiece Survival Lockdown game, players can throw a lever assigning everyone in the house a random role: victim or villain. As victims work together to locate missing keycards to end the lockdown, players assigned the villain role will embody Blumhouse characters like M3GAN, the Babyface Killer, and Lady Liberty to eliminate survivors before they can escape.

You can also hone your skills for Purge Night at The Purge practice range, score points in the Black Phone Balloon Hunt, and unleash your inner beast in Wolf Man’s Greenhouse Battle, plus watch exclusive Blumhouse content in the screening area.

“I’m thrilled to bring Blumhouse Horrorverse to life in Meta Horizon,” said Sarah Malkin, director of Reality Labs Entertainment Content at Meta. “This immersive experience lets horror fans interact with iconic Blumhouse movies and monsters. What excites me most is giving audiences more of what they love, and a platform to share their passion with others who feel the same way.”

“Blumhouse has always looked for new ways to bring fans closer to the stories they love,” said Karen Barragan, Blumhouse chief marketing officer. “Horrorverse is our most immersive experience yet — something that lets people step inside our worlds, connect with other horror fans, and even become the villain. With Meta, we’re not just pushing boundaries — we’re building a space where you don’t just experience horror — you exist inside it.”

Created by ARVORE and Monks, Blumhouse Horrorverse is available in Meta Horizon and on mobile.

Meta Quest’s other horror titles include Alien: Rogue Incursion, The Exorcist: Legion VR, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted, Resident Evil 4 VR, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, The Twilight Zone VR, and The Faceless Lady, among others.

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Blumhouse Horrorverse is a theme park-like locale set in a dark, foggy forest, with the imposing edifice of the Blumhouse at its center. The woods are the place to roleplay and socialize with your friends and fellow scare addicts, featuring themed activities and elements based on Blumhouse stories as you explore, such as target practice areas based on The Purge franchise, a Wolf Man mini game, and a screening area for exclusive Blumhouse content.

As you immerse yourself, you’ll discover even more eerie environments throughout the world, inspired by iconic Blumhouse and Universal movies like M3GAN, Wolf Man, The Black Phone, and Happy Death Day. But the true terror begins when you enter the Blumhouse itself, where you can take part in the Survival Lockdown game.

Anyone can activate the game by throwing the Lockdown lever, and whoever is in the house will find themselves randomly assigned roles: victim or villain. Victims must work together to locate missing keycards and end the lockdown, while the villain – who can embody fan-favourite characters like M3GAN, Babyface, and more – aims to eliminate each survivor before they escape.

Meanwhile, Blumhouse’s Halfway to Halloween Festival starts April 30 with Gerard Johnstone‘s M3GAN returning to theatres, which will be augmented by Meta’s Movie Mate second screen experience.

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Jamie Lee Curtis will executive produce the project through her company Comet Pictures’ first-look deal with the studio, along with Jason Blum and Chris Dickie for Blumhouse and Pessl.

The search is underway for a screenwriter to adapt the YA psychological thriller, which was published in November by Random House. Here’s the book’s synopsis:

What would you kill for? When an ad for an internship with the Louisiana Veda Foundation poses this question, seemingly every high school student in the country rushes to apply.

Arcadia “Dia” Gannon has been obsessed with Louisiana Veda, the late game designer whose obsessive creations have attained a cultlike status, ever since she and her mom played Disappearing Act—but Dia has never won anything in her life. So she’s shocked when she’s chosen as an intern, along with six other teenagers from around the world.

Little is known about Louisiana Veda. Her game-making empire, Darkly, was renowned for its ingenious, terrifying toys and games, rife with hidden symbols and secrets. But after Veda’s mysterious death, Darkly went bankrupt, and production was discontinued. The remaining games are priced like highly sought-after works of art, with the rarest and most notorious items commanding tens of millions of dollars at auction.

Now the interns are thrust into the enigmatic heart of Louisiana Veda’s operation, and Dia immediately questions everything: Who are these other kids? Why do they all seem to have something to hide? And why was she really chosen? It soon becomes clear that this summer will be the most twisted Darkly game of all.

The project will be shepherded by Blumhouse TV’s incoming president Melissa Aouate, who starts later this month.

Curtis’ deal with Blumhouse already has yielded two series executive produced by her, “The Sticky” and “Scarpetta,” both for Prime Video. She also appears in the latter.

It was announced last week that Curtis is starring in and producing Russell Goldman’s psychological horror film Sender, currently in production.

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Produced by Blumhouse, the supernatural horror film is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, The Shallows) and written by Sam Stefanak (“F Is for Family”).

Danielle Deadwyler (Till), Okwui Okpokwasili (“Agatha All Along”), Peyton Jackson, Estella Kahiha, and Russell Hornsby (“Grimm”) star.

Special Features:

• Making The Woman in the Yard – Travel through the darkest corners of the film during this behind-the-scenes journey where filmmakers work with cast to craft a story that is both haunting and human
• Beneath the Veil – Cast and filmmakers lift the veil on the film’s frightening figure for this revealing look at the themes, designs, and styles that shape her eerie specter into a powerful presence

“When the sun is bright and the wind is still, she comes to you like a sudden chill. Draped in black from head to toe, how she got there, you’ll never know.” With that cryptic warning, an otherworldly woman sends a family into a seemingly inescapable nightmare.

Already grieving the death of her husband, Ramona faces a new fear when this mysterious figure appears outside her farmhouse. With the woman continually creeping closer, Ramona must protect her children from the chilling grasp of this haunting entity whose unknown intentions are anything but peaceful.

The Woman in the Yard reunites Collet-Serra and Deadwyler following their recent collaboration on Carry-On.

Meagan Navarro wrote in her review, “The high concept psychological horror movie is so inert that it lacks anything resembling tension or scares. That’s especially bad news when its sparse plot is content to faithfully adhere to the well established and overly tired grief horror blueprint.”

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Gerard Johnstone‘s M3GAN kicks off the event on April 30. This could a good way to revisit the killer doll before M3GAN 2.0 opens on June 27 — if you can stand a theater full of people encouraged to be on their phone during the movie.

You see, M3GAN will be augmented by Meta’s Movie Mate second screen experience. Moviegoers can DM M3GAN on Instagram to interact with the chat bot and receive never-before-seen content, trivia, and behind the scenes info on the film in real time.

The screenings of John R. Leonetti‘s Annabelle, on May 7, and Tate Taylor‘s Ma, on May 14, will not be impeded by such distractions.

The Halfway to Halloween festivities will also include sneak peeks, exclusive recorded messages from the films’ directors and stars, and surprise special appearances in select markets.

“The question we always ask ourselves is why can’t every day be Halloween? So Halfway to Halloween brings us one step closer, and I couldn’t be happier that this year we are going nationwide,” said Blumhouse Founder and CEO Jason Blum. “In that same spirit of trying new things, we’re excited to give M3GAN fans an all-new experience in theaters from the team from Meta.”

“We are excited to continue our longstanding history of innovation in the theatrical space with our friends at Universal Pictures,” added Omar Zayat, Group Lead Entertainment, Tech, Travel & Gaming, and Auto at Meta. “The M3GAN in-theatre Movie Mate is a first-to-market moviegoer experience. We are happy to introduce filmgoers to it by way of Instagram Direct and Click-to-Messenger Ads. We are thrilled to be working with Universal Pictures and Blumhouse to deliver rich experiences designed to get audiences back into theaters.”

Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Amie Donald, and Jenna Davis star in 2022’s M3GAN, in which an artificially intelligent AI doll meant to be a companion to behave in unexpected and shocking ways.

Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Woodard, and Tony Amendola star in 2014’s Annabelle, in which a couple begins to experience terrifying supernatural occurrences involving a vintage doll shortly after their home is invaded by satanic cultists.

Octavia Spencer, Juliette Lewis, Diana Silvers, Corey Fogelmanis, Gianni Paolo, McKaley Miller, and Luke Evans star in 2019’s Ma, in which a lonely woman’s friendship with a group of partying teens curdles into obsession.

Tickets for Blumhouse’s Halfway to Halloween screenings are on sale now.

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