#FilmFestSummer is starting to get underway and The Week in Horror has some details about the horror selections from the Tribeca Film Festival, which kicks off pretty soon. I’ve also got news about an exciting project from Yorgos Lanthimos as well as something new from the Hellraiser universe. Check it all out here!
David Bruckner (The Ritual, The Night House) is working on a new adaptation of Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart story, best known to audiences as Hellraiser. Unlike the also-forthcoming series adaptation which is being helmed by Halloween (2018)’s David Gordon Green which will land on HBO Max, Bruckner’s project is a feature film. It’s unclear if the two projects will interact at all, but it’s a pretty safe bet that both will appeal to haunted box enthusiasts.
I’m pretty excited about RL Stine’s Fear Street project from Netflix, and this week the trilogy of films got a pretty cool new poster for the generation-spanning horror story. Check it out here ahead of the Fear Street debuts in July:
One of the most exciting films out of Tribeca last year was the excellently-titled vampire film, My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To. Jonathan Cuartas’s film stars Patrick Fugit (Spun, Almost Famous) and comes with this synopsis:
“Dwight prowls the streets after dark. He searches each night for the lonely and forlorn, looking for people who won’t be missed. Dwight takes no joy in this, but he needs their blood. Without fresh human blood, his fragile young brother Thomas cannot survive. Each death takes a larger toll, the burden of his crimes weighing heavier each time, threatening to crack his spirit. But Thomas and his sister Jessie are all the family Dwight has left, and as a fiercely private and close-knit family unit, they depend on him and the rituals they’ve learned in order to keep their secret. But while Dwight yearns for another life, Jessie needs them to stay together. And always the boy must feed.“
Check out the trailer for My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To ahead of it’s theatrical and digital release on June 25.
Speaking of Tribeca, the annual New York City institution will be returning this month and it’s got some sweet horror selections in it’s programme this year.
Shapeless, directed by Samantha Aldana, written by Kelly Murtagh, Bryce Parsons-Twesten. (United States) – World Premiere. Out in public, Ivy is a New Orleans lounge singer trying to make a name for herself. When alone, though, she suffers from a terrifying eating disorder. And the more she hides her struggles, the stronger her inner demons become. With Kelly Murtagh, Bobby Gilchrist, Jamie Neumann, Marco Dapper, Erika Ashley, Gralen Bryant Banks.
Ultrasound, directed by Rob Schroeder, written by Conor Stechschulte. (United States) – World Premiere, Feature Narrative. After his car breaks down, Glen spends one hell of an odd night with a married couple, setting into motion a chain of events that alter their lives plus those of several random strangers. With Vincent Kartheiser, Chelsea Lopez, Breeda Wool, Tunde Adebimpe, Rainey Qualley, Bob Stephenson.
We Need To Do Something, directed by Sean King O’Grady, written by Max Booth III. (United States) – World Premiere, Feature Narrative. Trapped inside their bathroom for days after a tornado ravages their home, a family of four struggles to keep their composure. That’s nothing, however, compared to what’s coming for them beyond the bathroom’s walls. With Sierra McCormick, Vinessa Shaw, Pat Healy, Lisette Alexis, John James Cronin.
Catch the Fair One, directed and written by Josef Kubota Wladyka. (United States) – World Premiere. In this absorbing revenge thriller executive produced by Darren Aronofsky, a Native American boxer embarks on the fight of her life when she goes in search of her missing sister. With Kali Reis, Daniel Henshall, Tiffany Chu, Michael Drayer, Kimberly Guerrero, Lisa Emery, Kevin Dunn.
False Positive, directed by John Lee, written by John Lee & Ilana Glazer. (United States) – World Premiere. After fertility struggles, a couple seem to have found their savior in a celebrated reproductive specialist. But as hope transforms to happiness, the now-expectant mother is thrown into a spiral of suspicion, threatening her grasp on reality. With Ilana Glazer, Justin Theroux, Gretchen Mol, Sophia Bush, Zainab Jah, and Pierce Brosnan.
Werewolves Within, directed by Josh Ruben, written by Mishna Wolff. (United States) – World Premiere. In Josh Ruben’s video game-inspired horror-comedy, a newly assigned forest ranger checks into a quaint Vermont inn just as a snowstorm cuts him and the eccentric townsfolk off from civilization. Yet frigid weather isn’t their biggest concern—that’d be the bloodthirsty creature picking them off one by one. With Sam Richardson, Milana Vayntrub, Michaela Watkins, Cheyenne Jackson, Glenn Fleshler.
The Tribeca Film Festival runs from June 9-20, 2021.
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) has a brand new project called Poor Things that’s said to be a new take on the Frankenstein story. According to Indiewire, the film stars Emma Stone as Belle Baxter, a woman who is brought back from death by an eccentric scientist, played by Willem Dafoe. Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef will co-star, with Tony McNamara (The Favourite, Cruella) writing the script.
The downright spookiest trailer I saw this week was for Oskar Mellender and Tord Danielsson’s The Evil Next Door, which is set to release on June 25 in theatres and on demand. Creepy kids always have a way of getting to me, and this looks to be no different. Check it out!
