Out today in paperback and e-book, the 160-page book is penned by screenwriter Jamie Nash (Exists, V/H/S/2).

Blake Snyder‘s influential Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need was published in 2005, kicking off a series of writing books from industry professionals.

Save the Cat! Writes Horror sheds light over the secrets to crafting truly terrifying tales, including:

• A deep dive into horror’s core ingredients—Monster, House, and Sin—with subtypes, examples, and tools to help you design your own diabolical tale
• The mad science of turning Save the Cat!’s 15 beats into a horror story that builds tension, sharpens scares, and leaves your audience squirming
• How to balance Scares, Gross-outs, and Dread to torment your audience flawlessly
• Why knowing your horror’s heartbeat—Slow Burn vs. Relentless—changes everything
• How to use the Dread-O-Meter to engineer spine-tingling scenes with precision
• How to build memorable horror characters—from first-to-die victims to final girls and guys—while exploring how their flaws, choices, and arcs mirror deeper fears and social truths
• Real case studies, scarecraft tools, career advice, and a comprehensive analysis into what makes the genre tick

Nash previously authored 2021’s Save the Cat! Writes for TV and 2022’s Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Workbook and just published his first horror novel, Haunted Girl, last week.

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A frequent collaborator of Eduardo Sánchez, Nash wrote Exists, Altered, and the V/H/S/2 segment “A Ride in the Park.” He also helped conceive the story for WNUF Halloween Special.

Haunted Girl started as a script that was optioned year back, but Nash completely reimagined it as a 322-page book. Here’s the synopsis:

“It was the infamous exorcism behind every book and movie. The secret they buried? Evil never dies — and it just found Summer’s family.

“Summer just wanted to finish senior year quietly — prom, graduation, one last summer at home. But when a trembling stranger confronts her on the front step — wild-eyed, reeking of fear — and seizes her arm with a single warning, “It’s coming. It’s coming for everyone,” her world cracks open.

“Looking for answers, Summer stumbles onto a forgotten podcast chronicling the real story behind the exorcism — not the Hollywood version, but what actually happened. The voice behind the mic seems unhinged, obsessed… but he’s the only one who seems to know what’s really going on. And maybe the only one who believes her.

“Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Doors close themselves — softly, like someone’s trying not to wake the house. Her little brother speaks in voices that aren’t his. And in the corners, something small and hunched watches, waiting. Her family is changing — distant one day, violent the next, like something is crawling under their skin.

“The thing they thought was cast out isn’t gone. It’s back. And it’s not just haunting them — it’s taking them. One by one.”

Nash also penned the screenwriting guide Save the Cat! Writes for TV and the upcoming Save the Cat! Writes Horror.

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Haunted Girl is now up for pre-order on Amazon, and it’s releasing on September 1. “It was the infamous exorcism behind every book and movie,” the book’s official synopsis begins…

“Summer just wanted to finish senior year quietly — prom, graduation, one last summer at home. But when a trembling stranger confronts her on the front step — wild-eyed, reeking of fear — and seizes her arm with a single warning, ‘It’s coming. It’s coming for everyone,’ her world cracks open.

“Looking for answers, Summer stumbles onto a forgotten podcast chronicling the real story behind the exorcism — not the Hollywood version, but what actually happened. The voice behind the mic seems unhinged, obsessed… but he’s the only one who seems to know what’s really going on. And maybe the only one who believes her.

“Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Doors close themselves — softly, like someone’s trying not to wake the house. Her little brother speaks in voices that aren’t his. And in the corners, something small and hunched watches, waiting. Her family is changing — distant one day, violent the next, like something is crawling under their skin. The thing they thought was cast out isn’t gone. It’s back. And it’s not just haunting them — it’s taking them. One by one.”

You can pre-order Jamie Nash’s Haunted Girl over on Amazon now.

Jamie Nash is the author of the best-selling Save the Cat!® Writes for TV and Save The Cat! Beat Sheet Workbook. He has sold almost every type of story under the sun, including the horror films Exists, V/H/S/2, The Night Watchmen, Altered, and Lovely Molly, and the family films Santa Hunters and Tiny Christmas.

He has written the Middle Grade novels Bunk! and The 44 Rules of Amateur Sleuthing and the sci-fi novel Nomad. When he’s not writing and selling work, he teaches screenwriting at Johns Hopkins University and MICA and co-hosts the podcast Writers/Blockbusters. Jamie lives in Maryland with his wife, son, and a talking dog.

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On average, found-footage horror films delay their strangeness in an effort to establish a semblance of normalcy. Make everything hypernormal and deliberately tedious so that the bizarre bits are more persuasive. Exists, however, takes a few shortcuts. The requisite videographer of the group, Brian (Chris Osborn), even shows the story’s imminent danger to his brother (Samuel Davis), their friends (Dora Madison Burge, Roger Edwards, Denise Williamson) and the viewers; his handheld camera captured a glimpse of the hairy hominid in question, walking upright and alongside the road that fateful night. Other filmmakers would steer away from revealing Bigfoot so early on and blatantly, yet knowing the beast is indeed on the prowl does not diminish the overall effect. The audience now simply waits for the inevitable to happen.

While Exists almost ended up being a mix of found-footage and traditional filmmaking, the undiluted first-person approach is far more fitting of such an elusive subject. The myth of Bigfoot, after all, endures in real life because of amateur recordings, blurry photos, and unreliable testimonies. Frequent collaborators Eduardo Sánchez and screenwriter Jamie Nash quickly confirmed the famous cryptid is real in their story’s universe, yet their film goes on to piecemeal the creature’s actualness. The Patterson–Gimlin footage-esque peeks at Bigfoot, as he or she encroaches more and more on the human characters’ spaces, come first before any point-blank shots. Eventually, though, that shaky lens becomes focused, and Bigfoot crosses over the threshold between the known and the unknown world.

In certain respects, Exists is the antithesis of Sánchez’s The Blair Witch Project. The monumental 1999 film also featured young people getting lost and chased in a forest by a perilous entity, but Heather, Mike and Josh’s plight did not necessarily require a literal pursuit. The viewers’ imagination does most of the heavy lifting there, and Blair Witch is better for it. Sánchez could have easily gone down the same route with Exists, yet he wanted to show Bigfoot. There is no vagueness to speak of here, like in other similar films. Likely inspiration The Legend of Boggy Creek achieved the kind of slow-burn eeriness that its spiritual descendants lack for whatever reason. Meanwhile, Exists is the best of both worlds: blunt action and tense psychological buildup.

These days, Bigfoot is taken less seriously than in the past. The beast has since become associated with real-life cryptozoology cranks, fruitless documentaries and junky reality television, and a glut of shoddy horror films. Exists may not look all that distinguishable from the latter category, however, Sánchez is succeeds at making Bigfoot menacing again. The director turned the once-gentle guardian of North America’s woodlands — the film trades the standard Pacific Northwest backdrop for a generic wilderness setting somewhere in East Texas — into a fearsome monster. This ferocious take on Bigfoot is convincing due in large part to Brian Steele (The Relic, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Predators). The towering creature actor is equipped with a compelling and custom-made suit — one courtesy of Spectral Motion and used again in Jon Garcia’s Summoning the Spirit — but Steele’s physical dedication and immersive performance are what ultimately sell this terrifying version of Bigfoot.

Those tuning in to Exists and expecting to see Bigfoot go ape on young fodder should walk away satisfied. The creature carnage within is not entirely mindless, though. Sánchez accomplished several well designed and exciting set-pieces that give this film its greater replay value. From Bigfoot terrorizing the stranded cast with distant bellowing to turning an ordinary cabin into a nail-biting scarehouse, the story’s hairy threat is put to excellent use. Other memorable scenes include the cryptid outrunning someone on their bike — then proceeding to torment the other characters with said bike — and a blood-pumping, topsy-turvy RV sequence. Sánchez’s previous horror offerings have a tendency to be slow and measured, whereas Exists operates at a hazardous speed.

Bigfoot’s rampage in the film initially comes across as aimless and wanton. However, when remembering the prologue’s conspicuous (and totally fabricated) factoids — one particular title card states: “Experts agree the creatures are only violent if provoked” — the Bigfoot’s actions become understandable. Sympathetic, even. Compensating for the human characters’ cursory personalities is the surprisingly layered depiction of the story’s presumed villain. The inciting tragedy was, as it turns out, the breaking point for an animal whose habitat had already been ravaged by wildfires. The grief theme rings loudest toward the end, where Bigfoot’s act of mercy drives home the notion that these animals are more human than realized.

When set side by side with the average teen slasher, Exists shares most of the same attributes. There is more of a fantastical element at play, of course, yet Sánchez and Nash ground the story as much as possible, all while capitalizing on their antagonist’s unearthly abilities. The outcome is not quite as horrendous as it could have been; violence is plentiful, yet blood, guts and gore are meager. Making up for the shortfall of sanguinary amusement are those exhilarating and elaborate kills already mentioned. Horror fans typically pitch the film as “Friday the 13th with a Bigfoot.” Potentially, if the Jason Voorhees franchise ever resumed business and ventured into found-footage territory, Exists would be a useful blueprint.

The better screen portrayals of Bigfoot are, arguably, found in those meditative and nature-oriented films from decades ago. On the other hand, the bar for Bigfoot Horror is so low, something like Exists can only look better when juxtaposed with such inferior films. A contrast effect notwithstanding, Eduardo Sánchez and Jamie Nash’s stab at the ‘squatch slasher format exceeds expectations and remains the gold standard when bringing out the monster in Bigfoot.

The post ‘Exists’ – ‘Blair Witch Project’ Director Unleashed One of the Best Bigfoot Horror Movies 10 Years Ago appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Last Night at Terrace Lanes adopts a slasher approach (see: Gutterballs – or don’t), but maintains a humorous tone. The film, from director Jamie Nash and written by YA horror author Adam Cesare (working from a story by Jenna St. John), has a great logline: what if a killer cult attacked a bowling alley?

Sadly, the finished product struggles with its execution, leading to a decidedly mixed comedy slasher.

It’s the last night of business at Terrace Lanes, an aged bowling alley scheduled for demolition. Among the employees and the regulars bowling one last time, there’s Kennedy (Francesca Capaldi), a queer teen looking for some solo time with her crush Tess (Mia Rae Roberts). Unfortunately Tess has invited two boys – nice guy Pete (Lucas Sanchez) and asshole Cody (Elias Arnold) – for an awkward double date.

And that’s before the uninvited guests arrive for the evening: a group of murderous cult members dressed in identical blue tracksuits and white masks, intent on killing every single person on the premises.

For those familiar with Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield series, Terrace Lane offers plenty of overlap in terms of narrative, tone and character. In the books, small town teens are preyed upon by a killer in a clown costume in what is eventually revealed to be a larger conspiracy.

Last Night at Terrace Lanes uses the same formula, though the presence and size of the cult is immediately evident by the opening scene in which a white van full of members abducts and murders a man (Sam Lukowski) off the street.

The group is acting on orders from their leader Dove (Christopher Walker), a numbers-obsessed figure who directs them to Terrace Lanes for a mission with a fixed deadline. Following the initial massacre (which occurs at roughly the half way point of the seventy-five minute film), the survivors must hide, seek an exit, and/or fight back using weapons available in a bowling alley.

Among the living is Kennedy’s estranged father, Bruce (Ken Arnold), an employee at Terrace Lanes. Naturally Bruce has a fraught back story with his daughter that becomes the centerpiece of the film’s narrative and emotional arc. Arnold and Capaldi’s scenes together are easily the most successful part of the film, so while the family conflict isn’t breaking new ground, the father/daughter relationship works to generate audience investment in their survival.

Initially it seems as though the film will subvert expectations about who lives and who dies, but very quickly it becomes clear that only Kennedy and Bruce matter. The romance between the girls is treated as a secondary plot and Tess is almost immediately relegated to damsel in distress. This would be more frustrating if she were a proper character, but outside of Arnold and Capaldi, none of the actors make much of an impact.

This frustratingly extends to both Terrace Lane’s other employees (all of them Red Shirts), as well as the cultists. Several of the killers have unique identifiers, such as a fanny pack or glasses, but this never amounts to anything. Outside of a shrug-worthy joke involving a cultist missing a kill due to his dirty glasses, the killers have no personality or individuality. Visually the group makes for an intimidating bunch when they congregate, but the effect is dampened the further the film progresses as the emphasis shifts to Dove and his sermons.

The main joke is that they’re driven by math and spirituality. We see coordinated watches used to synchronize their movements, a crystal is used to select the first victim, and Dove regularly speaks in math-based terms (at one point, he calls the survivors “variables” and “rounding errors”). It’s a one-note joke that is clearly intended to pay off in the climax, but it’s never as funny or interesting as the production believes it is.

Therein lies the film’s biggest hurdle: the ambition and the ideas are present, but the execution is lacking. Nash’s direction is relatively flat, so action sequences lack energy and while there are plenty of murders, they’re mostly gore-free and frequently occur off-screen. Add in questionable editing decisions, such as several fades to black in the last act that drag down the pacing, and Last Night at Terrace Lanes lacks technical polish.

On the plus side, the film features several sequences that make good use of Kennedy’s bowling talents (once in the lanes; once in a hallway of all places). These moments, as well as Capaldi’s inherent likeability, ensure the film is watchable, and even fun at points.

Overall, the premise and the father/daughter backstory in Last Night at Terrace Lanes are both solid. It’s the technical elements – direction, framing, editing, pacing and gore – that let the film down and prevent it from working as a cohesive whole.

The post ‘Last Night at Terrace Lanes’ Review – Bowling Slasher Lands Somewhere Between Strike and Gutterball appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Directed by Mitchell Altieri, the movie follows a group of security guards whose night gets ruined when a mysterious coffin shows up in their parking garage. Contained within is an undead vampire clown (yeah…) who, upon escaping, unleashes all sorts of havoc and chaos. I watched this trailer and got a strong Bloodsucking Bastards vibe, although this seems to be a bit more energetic.

The Night Watchmen was written by Jamie Nash with story by Ken Arnold and Dan DeLuca, The Night Watchmen stars Arnold, Deluca, Kara Luiz, Kevin Jiggetts, James Remar, and Matt Servitto. It was produced by Arnold, DeLuca, Jeffrey Allard, and Demetrea Triantafillides.

The post NSFW: ‘The Night Watchmen’ Looks Like ‘Bloodsucking Bastards’ With Clowns (Trailer) appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

To keep the hype train rolling, we’ve got a special exclusive look at a new featurette focusing on Gareth Evans (The Raid) and Timo Tjahjanto’s (Macabre) “Safe Haven,” an intense segment that will take a peak around the curtain of an insane Indonesian cult. We think you guys are going to dig this one!

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.“

The post Find Safe Haven In This Exclusive ‘V/H/S/2’ Featurette! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The poster below (via Spinoff Online) is from Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale’s segment, “A Ride In The Park.” If you haven’t seen the film yet, that gut munching is no exception.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.” Be sure to write your review here!!

The post Chow Down On This New ‘V/H/S/2’ Poster!! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.”

Earlier this week I spoke to director Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgon) whose segment, “Alien Abduction Slumber Party”, is one of the film’s highlights. It’s youthful, exuberant and fun and I can definitely see him making a Goonies type film someday. Head below to check it out and be sure to write your review here!!

V/H/S/2 is considered to be more colorful and cinematic than the first one, and your segment certainly contributes to that. Was the more cinematic approach discussed with everyone ahead of time, or was it a coincidence?

We would have a big group talk over the phone, which sometimes felt like a nightmare because there’d be 20 people on it. We just sent each other our scripts so we could go through them and make sure that none of us were doing the same thing. They pretty much gave us free reign to do whatever we wanted. The main thing is that we never wanted the audience to ask, “oh why didn’t they just turn off the camera?” That was really the only guideline.

When I first pitched my idea to Brad and told him I wanted to do something with aliens he was like, “oh my God! I’ve always wanted to do that!” He greenlit it right away.

Have you seen ‘Fire In The Sky?

Oh yeah, that’s the movie when I was a kid that ruined my life for a couple years. It kind of triggered my fascination with aliens and I slept with a baseball bat under my bed.

Working with the kids in your short, was that hard to take them through all of that?

It was interesting because none of the kids had never acted before except for the main kid, Gary. I just wanted kids that reminded me of me and my friends when we were kids. I would always be asking them questions – what would they do? What kind of pranks would they pull? The tough part was trying to escape the 30 person crew. Sometimes we’d come up with an idea and run away from the production and I’d just put the camera in the kids’ hands and let them go to town. Some of those moments are my favorite, they feel really genuine.

I’m a huge fan of Goonies, The Monster Squad and The Sandlot and have always wanted to do something in that world. That’s always been one of my dreams, to make a fun kids movie.

We only see the aliens fleetingly, were the suits super detailed or did you have to make sure you didn’t show too much of them?

The aliens looked pretty good. It was a couple of my friends and we made the masks for them and these gloves they used for hands. Then we just painted their bodies all white. Luckily it was summer. When I was writing it there was a new Jaws special edition that came out and I was watching the documentary and thinking about that movie a lot while writing and I was really inspired to do something with kids, something on the water, and also deal with a monster that we don’t really get to see that much of.

It’s kind of based off of my recurring childhood nightmares of being chased by aliens. The aliens would come into my home and try to abduct me and my friends and we’re just running. In my dreams the aliens are always kind of distant, and by the time they get super close to me the dream is over. When I was researching aliens I just kind of based the images on everything I saw and my nightmares.

The post [Interview] ‘V/H/S/2’ Director Jason Eisener On Aliens, ‘Fire In The Sky’ And Loving Kids Movies appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.”

Head below to find a cool new poster for Jason Eisener’s segment and look out for an interview I did with him that should be hitting tomorrow. And be sure to write your review here!!

The post Sexiness, Robots, And Aliens All On One Convenient ‘V/H/S/2’ Poster! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.”

Head below to find a cool new poster for Wingard’s “Clinical Trials” segment courtesy of Apple trailers and be sure to write your review here!!

The post Get An Eyeful Of This New ‘V/H/S/2’ Poster! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.”

Last week I spoke to directors Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) and Gregg Hale about their segment, “A Ride In The Park.” We also touch upon their upcoming bigfoot film, Exists! As far as V/H/S/2 goes, we’re not reviewing it so be sure to write your review here!!

The tone of your segment, while it has some tragic elements, is somewhat lighthearted. Is this you guys coming down from the seriousness of Lovely Molly?

Eduardo: I think that had a lot to do with it. Gregg and I were just thinking what our segment could be and then Jamie [Nash; writer] came up with this idea. I think it was part of the whole thing of spending so much time with Molly we just wanted to do something fun. So part of it was a reaction to that.

It just instantly clicked as soon as we read Jamie’s synopsis. We wanted to do it but we didn’t want to be the weakest link in the chain, you know what I mean? But we loved his idea and so did the producers, it was fairly easy after that.

The biker is wearing a Go-Pro on his helmet, did you stick with that camera throughout the shoot?

Gregg: We shot it all on Go-Pro. We fooled around with the idea of using a higher quality camera if we weren’t actually doing a stunt, and after a while we realized we were going to have to downgrade stuff to look like a Go-Pro anyway, so we just shot with that.

The gore of the piece is wet, practical and plentiful. How much time did you have to capture all of that?

Eduardo: We shot for four days over two weekends. The budget was pretty limited. We called in a lot of favors near where I live in Maryland, and we shot it all about 20 minutes away from my house. Gregg slept on my couch during those 2 weeks and everything was practical. We got an effects house and gave them a lot less money than they deserved. It was pretty pain free, we made our days and everyone was pretty enthusiastic.

V/H/S/2 feels bigger and more cinematic than the first one, was that a conversation between you and the other directors?

Gregg: We didn’t really talk about that aspect. It really seems to center on the story for everyone. Looks and technology wise, I think everyone just approached it in a way that was appropriate for their story. We weren’t competitive with the other filmmakers at all, everyone was very collaborative and supportive, but because of the quality of the other guys making the shorts we wanted to step up and make sure we really delivered. That might have been the biggest factor for us.

Gregg you’re a producer on the Bigfoot movie Exists, which Eduardo directed. What can we expect from that? You’re in post right now, right?

Eduardo: Yeah we went to Cannes with it and sold a few territories, sort of rolling it out slowly. We don’t really know what the strategy on it is yet, we’re just finishing it up now. We’ve had a couple of screenings and people are pretty are enthusiastic. I think Gregg and I have been wanting to make a Bigfoot movie since we were kids and the challenge for us, as kids who grew up with that Bigfoot madness wave in the 70’s, was that Bigfoot is a physical thing.

It was scary to us before CG and it was important to us to figure out a way to put the monster on film and make it feel like it was really there. So we felt like a guy in the suit was the way to go, and as far as that went I think it turned out better than we expected. In my opinion it’s the best looking Bigfoot ever on film. I’m excited to show it to people.

The post [Interview] Eduardo Sanchez And Gregg Hale On ‘V/H/S/2’ And Their Bigfoot Movie ‘Exists’! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.”

Be sure to write your review Here!!

The post New Footage And Director Interviews In This ‘V/H/S/2’ Featurette! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.”

Last night I hopped on the phone with directors Gareth Evans (The Raid) and Timo Tjahjanto (Killers) to talk about their segment, “Safe Haven.” While I was at it, I got a little bit of info on The Raid 2. Check it out below and be sure to write your V/H/S/2 review here!!

How did you guys get looped into this?

Gareth: We both got contacted separately. I’m not the horror guy really, I’m more the action guy, but we’ve known each other for 6 or 7 years. And we said, “f*ck it.” We’ve wanted to collaborate so we just let this be that thing.

The segment has such a sense of dread and escalation, but it also has a sense of humor. Was that hard to balance?

Timo: I guess if you take the original inspiration, like the Jonestown Massacre and all that, that whole thing is such a serious subject to tackle. We just wanted to see what would happen if a camera crew went into one of those places on the day of the f*cking apocalypse. In that respect, once we knew we were going to do that – and once we decided it would be supernatural – that informed us in terms of tone. It’s so dark and f*cked up, but it’s laced with black humor and a sense of “what the f*ck is going on?” Hopefully the audience can barely catch their breath.

It’s so ambitious, how much time did you have to shoot it?

Gareth: Seven days, but the schedule we had we would sometimes shoot 18 or 19 hour days. At some point we went for 24 hours and then we had to go for an extra day, so 8 days. The benefits of shooting in Indonesia, we are very independent from union laws.

Timo: It’s very much normal to shoot for those kinds of hours. Gareth and I both have our feature films where we actually went for crazy hours. It’s pretty much nothing new.

Gareth: Also the way we work together as co-directors, we could split up duties and know we could trust the other person. Usually, on our features, neither one of us has a second unit because we want to be able to see everything. But on this one he would cover me for one scene and I’d cover him for another.

The cult leader is amazing. He was in ABC’s Of Death too, right?

Gareth: Oh it’s nice that you noticed that. Yeah Epy Kusnandar, who plays The Father, Timo had done ABC’s with him first and had just f*cking raved about him. I was like, “okay let’s find something for him.” I don’t think he even auditioned, we just cast him off the bat.

Timo: He was already in character when he came for our first call. Also, after “Safe Haven” we cast him in our feature films.

Gareth: Yeah he’s in Killers and will be in The Raid 2 as well. We love Epy to bits so we’re going to keep casting him as more and more f*cked up characters.

Gareth, it seems like the shoot for The Raid 2 is epic. What day are you on and how many do you have left?

Gareth: Right now we’re on day 84 I think. It was supposed to be 100 but we’ve gone over a little. We’re a few days over at the moment. In about a month or so we’ll be done and then post will probably take me until the end of the year. It’s been intense. In a way the number of shooting days is a response to The Raid, which was 71 or 72 days but almost every day was 16 or 17 hours of shooting. We were just drained and sick. So on this one I wanted 5 days a week and 15 hours a day maximum. That helps space it out a little bit.

Timo, how’s post on Killers coming along?

Timo: It’s done, I just came from color correction. We’re going to start getting it into festivals before we go after a premiere here. That film is interesting because it started out as a slasher movie, but it slowly developed into a psychological drama. When I watched the final cut it still ended up having some horror elements, so it will be something fresh, hopefully.

The post [Interview] Gareth Evans And Timo Tjahjanto Talk About Their Insane ‘V/H/S/2’ Segment, “Safe Haven”! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Update: Amazon and XBox etc might take another hour or so. Sorry! Out of our control. iTunes and a few others are live, everywhere else should have it by 12AM PST.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.”

Head below for a zombie attack clip from IGN!! Be sure to write your review Here!!

The post ‘V/H/S/2’ Is On VOD RIGHT NOW!!! Celebrate With This Clip! Write Your Reviews! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.”

Yesterday I hopped on the phone to talk with directors Adam Wingard (“Clinical Trials” segment) and Simon Barrett (“Tape 49” segment) to talk about their work on the film. They’ve been making movies like You’re Next and A Horrible Way To Die together for years now so it’s no surprise that they collaborated here as well (Barrett wrote both segments). We also talked a bit about their follow-up to You’re Next, The Guest. Check it out below!

With the wrap around on the first film, you didn’t have much of an idea of what the other segments would be like. With V/H/S/2, did you know more about the content the other directors were generating and could you tailor “Tape 49” to match?

Barrett: On the first V/H/S Adam and I shot the wrap around segment months before anyone shot anything. At the time we filmed it there were directors who we thought would be working on the project who didn’t work on the project, and some of the directors who did work on the project we weren’t even aware of yet.

With that wrap around we tried to set the tone for the other directors since the project was very much in flux. That was when Adam, at a very early stage, was talking about how he wanted it to look authentic and shoot on actual VHS tapes and do certain things that would set that precedent.

With V/H/S/2 pretty much all of the segments shot simultaneously. And while I kind of still didn’t know what everyone was doing, I at least knew what their scripts were. So I had a much better idea of what the content was going to be at least. Gareth and Timo’s [“Safe Haven”] was still a question mark because of the way they write [laughs], it was really kind of hard to tell what they were going to do. But it was much easier this time around to try and tailor the wraparound to what the directors were doing.

In some ideal world, the best way to do these movies would be to let everyone else shoot first, put all the segments together and then try to figure out what the wrap around should be based on how they play. But the timing didn’t work out that way.

Your segment expands the mythology of the tapes from the first film, was that difficult to navigate? You don’t want to spell it out too much.

Barrett: The mythology was definitely already in mind in the first one and Brad Miska and I had already talked about it in pretty extensive detail. When we first started talking about V/H/S it was initially kind of conceived as a TV series, and in a weird way some of that has carried over to the films. We’re doling out information at a very slow pace.

We really wanted to make a film that would hold up to repeat viewings. The goal is that, if you watch the movie more than once, you’ll get more out of the second viewing. We explore it a little further with this film.

And you made the leap from writing to directing.

Barrett: Yes. It’s an interesting thing because, yeah did make the leap from writing to directing, I mean I directed short films in the past but… The thing that I mainly missed when Adam is directing and I’m writing and producing is that I like playing with cameras a lot. And this really fulfilled my desire to play with cameras for quite a while because we were shooting simultaneously on seven different cameras all at different frame rates and they all had different issues.

You don’t get to be as creative visually with found footage because putting cameras in the actors’ hands pretty much defines the perspective of the shot, you can’t do artistic visual stuff. You’re not really thinking, “what’s the coolest way to capture this moment visually?” So that stuff I’d still like to play around with, but it was really fun just figuring out all of the technical challenges.

Adam, your segment is so much more lushly photographed than a lot of the stuff last time. It sort of sets the tone for the higher production value overall.

Wingard: For me it was just about not repeating myself, because before V/H/S I had never really thought about found footage. Whenever I considered the idea the only thing that excited me early on was doing it super gritty and dirty looking. Giving it an authenticity that a lot of found footage doesn’t really have.

Going into the sequel, I just wanted to do something that was completely the opposite. And the opposite approach is to base it on technology that doesn’t really exist. I wanted to do something that was more cinematic and I think ultimately it worked out because a lot of the other directors were on the same page. Even the way the Simon frames the wrap around, it seems like everyone was super aware of what V/H/S was and how it was perceived and what its shortcomings and strengths were. And going into the sequel we just tried to embrace all the best stuff.

How difficult of a decision was it to cast yourself?

Wingard: I originally asked Simon to write it for “The Angry Video Game Nerd,” James Rolfe, because we’re huge fans of that show. We did that and made a small attempt to reach out to him, but he was busy doing the Video Game Nerd Movie.

Barrett: I did speak to his wife for a bit. I actually think he was a fan of the first V/H/S, it’s just that the timing didn’t work out.

Wingard: And halfway through the process I realized that, technically, it would be difficult. I wanted the actor to be engaging with the other characters and I didn’t want to ask the actor to do all of the stuff that I did. And I actually don’t have a problem acting, I really enjoy doing it occasionally. I didn’t use to enjoy it actually, but I started working with Joe Swanberg a couple years ago and once I started working on low budget stuff with him I realized that acting wasn’t really a big deal, especially if you’re just playing yourself, which I kind of am in this movie – playing an idiotic version of myself.

If anything it made more sense for me to play it because I was going to be operating the camera anyway and it’s from my perspective.

The way the ghosts are filmed in your segment is really jarring and matter-of-fact. They’re not these translucent apparitions.

Wingard: Yeah I fell like ghosts, if you see them, they just look real. I don’t really picture ghosts as being these Ghostbusters kinds of things. I’ve seen a ghost once when I was a kid I remember and it just looked like a regular human, except for the fact that they looked like they might have been floating into the room. They definitely looked like a normal person, they weren’t see-through and they were wearing normal clothes.

I felt like with this I wanted to play with what people classically think of as like spooky ghost people. The thing about found footage that you want to take advantage of is that it shines a new light on familiar tropes and story ideas, so the fun thing about it is playing with that. So to me the perspective is the new part of it and we wanted to keep the ghosts done in a classic way.

Can you guys elaborate on The Guest a little bit?

Wingard: Yeah, we’re shooting in a month or two.

Barrett: Yeah, we start production in a little over a month and that’s pretty much taking up a lot of our waking hours. In fact we have to go straight from here to a casting meeting. I imagine there will be some cast announcements in the next month or so to sort of remind people what it is, but it’s our attempt to do more, really.

It’s our followup to You’re Next. You’re Next was such a step up from A Horrible Way To Die both in terms of budget and really considering who the viewers of our films are and to start making art for them. And now we want to continue that evolution. It’s going to be a really hard shoot but we do have more money. It’s our attempt to do something new in the genre that people haven’t seen before, so if you like what we’ve done before you’ll definitely like this.

The post [Interview] Adam Wingard And Simon Barrett Adjust Their Tracking For ‘V/H/S/2’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.

From the demented minds that brought you last year’s V/H/S comes V/H/S/2, an all-new anthology of dread, madness, and gore. This follow-up ventures even further down the demented path blazed by its predecessor, discovering new and terrifying territory in the genre. This is modern horror at its most inventive, shrewdly subverting our expectations about viral videos in ways that are just as satisfying as they are sadistic. The result is the rarest of all tapes—a second generation with no loss of quality.”

Check out the new pic below!

The post Counting Down To ‘V/H/S/2’ At Midnight Tonight!!! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.

From the demented minds that brought you last year’s V/H/S comes V/H/S/2, an all-new anthology of dread, madness, and gore. This follow-up ventures even further down the demented path blazed by its predecessor, discovering new and terrifying territory in the genre. This is modern horror at its most inventive, shrewdly subverting our expectations about viral videos in ways that are just as satisfying as they are sadistic. The result is the rarest of all tapes—a second generation with no loss of quality.”

Check out the new pic below!

The post Another Countdown Pic! Just Two Days Until ‘V/H/S/2’! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.

From the demented minds that brought you last year’s V/H/S comes V/H/S/2, an all-new anthology of dread, madness, and gore. This follow-up ventures even further down the demented path blazed by its predecessor, discovering new and terrifying territory in the genre. This is modern horror at its most inventive, shrewdly subverting our expectations about viral videos in ways that are just as satisfying as they are sadistic. The result is the rarest of all tapes—a second generation with no loss of quality.”

Check out the new pic below!

The post Count Down The Days To ‘V/H/S/2’ With This New Image!! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

From the demented minds that brought you last year’s V/H/S comes V/H/S/2, an all-new anthology of dread, madness, and gore. This follow-up ventures even further down the demented path blazed by its predecessor, discovering new and terrifying territory in the genre. This is modern horror at its most inventive, shrewdly subverting our expectations about viral videos in ways that are just as satisfying as they are sadistic. The result is the rarest of all tapes—a second generation with no loss of quality.”

Check out some the new pics below!

The post Take A Bite From These Bloody New ‘V/H/S/2’ Images! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Acquired by Magnet Releasing out of Sundance as S-VHS, V/H/S/2 will be arriving on VOD platforms June 6 with a theatrical rollout set for July 12. In the film directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener and Timo Tjahjanto, “Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static—white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.

From the demented minds that brought you last year’s V/H/S comes V/H/S/2, an all-new anthology of dread, madness, and gore. This follow-up ventures even further down the demented path blazed by its predecessor, discovering new and terrifying territory in the genre. This is modern horror at its most inventive, shrewdly subverting our expectations about viral videos in ways that are just as satisfying as they are sadistic. The result is the rarest of all tapes—a second generation with no loss of quality.”

Check it out below!!! We’ve also got some new stills from the film!

The post Trailer For ‘V/H/S/2’ Features TONS Of Bloody Chaos!!! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The first movie, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, followed a group of students hired to break into a desolate house to find a lost VHS tape, paving the way for the movie to go into a series of found-footage stories directed by up-and-coming genre filmmakers. The new movie, starring Adam Wingard, Kelsy Abbott, Lawrence Michael, Levine Hannah Hughes and L.C. Holt follows a similar structure, with a pair of investigators discovering a tape while looking for a student.

S-VHS is shooting in LA, Maryland, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Indonesia. Head to Twitch for the full image!

The post Worship The First Ever Look At ‘S-VHS’, The Latest V/H/S Discovery! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.