I took a bit of a break from horror last week to catch up on some other stuff, but dove back in full force this week and checked out Ben Wheatley’s In The Earth (absolutely gripping) and an Irish horror called Caveat that I’ll talk about in a bit. I’ve also collected some new character posters for The Green Knight, images from Candyman and The Forever Purge, and a whole lot of news about some upcoming films from Julia Ducourneau of Raw fame, M. Night Shamalayan’s new one, and something interesting from Emma Donoghue (of Room fame). Let’s get into it, shall we?
USA Today got their hot little hands on a new image from The Forever Purge, which is set to be the final installation of the franchise. The newest film will take place after the titular Purge is abolished, and appears to have spooky cowboys in the mix. It’ll be released on July 2 of this year, just in time for Independence Day if you’re in the US. It’s fun for the whole family! This chilling look at one of the spooky cowboys in The Forever Purge is up there at the top of this page.
Nia Dacosta’s Candyman is one of my most anticipated movies of this year, and will finally be released on August 27 after a year-long delay. The film is produced and cowritten by Jordan Peele and will feature Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Anthony McCoy, an artist who becomes the new Candyman. We have a new image depicting McCoy as Candyman ramps up it’s marketing ahead of the release.
Another delayed but much-anticipated horror release is A24’s The Green Knight, directed by David Lowery (A Ghost Story) and starring Dev Patel. I almost drove my car off the road this week when I saw one of these new character posters in the wild, and to prevent you from doing the same, I’ve got them all right here. Buckle up for the tree guy and what looks like a very good dogge.
Julia Ducourneau’s fresh take on cannibalism, Raw, remains one of my favourite horror films of the last few years and one of the most groundbreaking debuts for a director that I’ve ever seen. Indiewire reports that the director’s new film Titane is underway and will be distributed by Neon, with a target release date for sometime this year. There’s a lot to unpack in the film’s first image but you can bet that we’ll have any further details about Titane as we get them.
Megan Fox returns to horror this year in a Gerald’s Game-esque thriller called Till Death. Deadline reports that the film is about a woman who is handcuffed to her murdered husband as part of a revenge plot, and must survive against two hitmen. The film is directed by S.K Dale and will be released this summer in theatres and VOD.
Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit) is set to star in the new M. Night Shamalayan joint, Old, which is about a secluded beach which causes it’s inhabitants to age rapidly. McKenzie joins a great cast that includes Gael Garcia Bernal and Rufus Sewell. The film is set for release on July 23 and Shamalayan’s script is based on a graphic novel called Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters.
Happy Mother’s Day! Peri Baumeister is looking feral in this new image from her upcoming film, Blood Red Sky which is coming to Netflix in July. The German film is said to be about a mother who lets her fangs out to protect her son from a group of hijackers at 30,000 feet and we expect to have a trailer soon.
Actor-director Gigi Saul Guerrero (El Gigante, Culture Shock) returns in front of the camera in Jason William Lee’s Funhouse, which is set on a twisted reality show and is described as a “social media techno-thriller.”
Down and out backup singer and celebrity ex-husband Kasper is invited to compete in the Funhouse, an online “Big Brother” style reality show. To rebrand his image and tarnished reputation, Kasper reluctantly accepts the offer. Together with 7 other C-list celebrities from around the globe he will compete for the prize of 5 million dollars. At first, the Funhouse is just as the name suggests, full of wild times, budding friendships, love connections, and brewing rivalries. To everyone’s surprise, the fun quickly turns into misery when the first challenge leaves one of the contestants brutally murdered.
You can check out a trailer here, ahead of Funhouse’s release on demand and in theatres on May 28:
Emma Donaghue (Room) teaming up with Florence Pugh (Midsommar) on a psychological thriller for Netfilx? Hell yes. Dread Central reports that Sebastian Leilo will direct an adaptation of Donaghue’s novel The Wonder, which is about a nurse who visits a remote Irish village in 1859 to investigate a medical anomaly. That sounds both vague and intriguing, and given the setting and time period, will likely feature some heavy breads.
Speaking of Ireland, I got a chance to preview a new Irish horror coming to Shudder this summer called Caveat. I love horror that’s based around a spooky house and this Cork-set claustrophobic slow burn very much scratched that itch. Caveat deftly balances the beauty of Ireland’s countryside with the skin-crawling tension of a cat-and-mouse thriller. The film is the feature debut of director Damian Mc Carthy and is something that should have folks talking based on it’s premise alone: “Lone drifter Isaac (Jonathan French) accepts a job to look after his landlord’s niece, Olga (Leila Sykes), for a few days in an isolated house on a remote island. It seems like easy money. But there’s a catch: he must wear a leather harness and chain that restricts his movements to certain rooms.”
Check out a trailer for Caveat, which comes to Shudder on June 3:
