From sharks to comics to dark passengers to Ghostface, this week’s horror news is all over the map. A little something for every taste, so check it out!
Between The Requin, Shark Bait, and Great White, sharks are having a bit of a moment lately. None of those are particularly good though, even by my low standards. That might change with the upcoming The Reef: Stalked though.
A sequel to 2010’s The Reef from director Andrew Traucki (Black Water), The Reef: Stalked stars Teressa Liane (The Vampire Diaries), Ann Truong (Cowboy Bebop), Saskia Archer (Boshack), Kate Lister (Clickbait), and Tim Ross (Wonderland).
“Nic, in an effort to heal after witnessing her sister’s horrific murder, travels to a tropical resort with her friends for a kayaking and diving adventure. Only hours into their expedition, the women are stalked and then attacked by a great white shark. To survive they will need to band together and Nic will have to overcome her post-traumatic stress, face her fears and slay the monster.”
The Reef: Stalked comes to Shudder on July 29 from RLJE Films.
A new film called The Passenger (La Pasajera) reinforces the idea to beware of strangers. Director Raul Cerezo’s feature debut takes that idea to the open road, as a rideshare finds themselves picking up the wrong person.
“A group of strangers sharing a ride has their trip interrupted when the driver hits a woman hiking at night. They decide to help her, but quickly learn that something is wrong and that they shouldn’t have let her in at all. “
The Passenger stars Ramiro Blas (La Fuga), Cecilia Suárez (The House of Flowers), Paula Gallego (Cuéntame) and Cristina Alcázar (Cachorro) and comes to theatres on June 3 from Dark Star Pictures. A VOD and DVD release are scheduled for June 28.
Alex Aja (Crawl, The Hills Have Eyes) has his next project lined up, and it’s a thriller called Mother Land and will star Halle Berry, according to Deadline. The film is “the story of a mother and her twin sons who have been tormented by an evil spirit for years. When one of the boys questions whether the evil is real, the family’s sacred bond is broken, and it becomes a fight for survival.”
Mother Land is set to kick off production next year.
Arkasha Stevenson (Brand New Cherry Flavour, Legion) makes her feature directorial debut with a new entry into the seminal spooky kid horror, The Omen. Deadline reports that Stevenson will helm The First Omen, which will be a prequel to the original film from 1973. The late Richard Donner directed 1973’s The Omen. We’ll have more news about this one as it moves into production!
Kevin Bacon will return to horror with the cleverly-titled They/Them for Blumhouse. The gay conversion thriller will star Bacon as “Owen Whistler, the director of a conversion therapy camp named Whistler Camp, which attempts to “turn” LGBTQ+ teenagers straight and cisgender. Set over a week-long session at the camp, the film focuses on the various campers, led by trans and nonbinary Jordan (Theo Germaine), as they undergo psychological torment from the camp’s programming. When an unidentified killer begins claiming victims, the kids must team up to protect each other, both from the killer and from the camp staff.”
They/Them stars Kevin Bacon, Ana Chlumskey, and Carrie Preston. It hits Peacock on August 5 from Blumhouse.
Speaking of Blumhouse, it was announced this week that they’re teaming up with Prime Video for a new slasher-comedy called Totally Killer. It stars Kiernan Shipka (Sabrina, Mad Men), Olivia Holt (Cruel Summer), Julie Bowen (Modern Family, Life of the Party), and Randall Park (Always Be My Maybe, Fresh Off the Boat). Nahnatchka Khan (Always Be My Maybe, Young Rock, Don Wong) is directing from a script by Jen D’Angelo. David Matalon, and Sasha Perl-Raver.
“The film follows Jamie (Shipka) whose mom, Pam (Bowen) is terrorized by the resurgence of the Sweet Sixteen Killer—a masked maniac that slaughtered a group of teenage girls in the ‘80s. With the help of her friend Amelia (Kelcey Mawema), she travels back in time to 1987 and teams up with the teen version of her mom (Holt) to try and stop the killer.”
Big news for the Scream-verse, Hayden Panettiere will be rejoining the franchise after her apparent death in Scream 4. Panettiere will reprise the role of Kirby Reed, and joins Melissa Barrera (“Sam,”) Jasmin Savoy Brown (“Mindy,”) Mason Gooding (“Chad,”) and Jenna Ortega (“Tara”) in the sixth Scream movie, which is getting ready to begin shooting over the summer. In the new film, the plot is obviously top secret, though we’ve heard that it will have the characters moving on and leaving Woodsboro behind in some fashion.
Scream 6 is still on track for a March 31, 2023 release from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Scream, Ready or Not) with James Vanderbilt (Scream, Murder Mystery) & Guy Busick (Scream, Ready or Not) co-writing the screenplay.
If comics are your thing, IDW has a new miniseries release called TRUE KVLT by Scott Bryan Wilson (Batman: Gotham Nights) with art by Liana Kangas (Star Wars Adventures) and colors by Gab Contreras.
In TRUE KVLT, “[a]fter fifteen years working for local fast-food franchise Burger Lord, down-and-out loser and proud metalhead Marty (aka “Tarantula”) feels burned out and ready for a full-life reset. After his last-ditch attempt to lock down some cash goes awry, Marty—alongside plucky new Burger Lord hire Alison—finds himself ensnared in the web of a violent satanic death cult with ruthless and deadly intentions.”
“Combining the kitschy thrills of satanic heavy metal with the horrors of working in fast food, TRVE KVLT is the second title in IDW’s recently announced slate of original comics, following Scott Snyder and Hayden Sherman’s Dark Spaces: Wildfire.”
TRVE KVLT #1 will be available with three variant covers for fans and retailers to enjoy, including Cover A by interior artist Liana Kangas and colorist Gab Contreras, Cover B by Maria Llovet, and Cover C by artist Fabian Lelay and colorist Lizard. Check with your local comic shop for availability!
With Crimes of the Future set to be released into the world, David Cronenberg is heading right back into the director’s chair for his next project, according to Variety. The horror master will be tackling a project called The Shrouds, starring Vincent Cassel (Eastern Promises, Irreversible).
The Shrouds centres on “Karsh (Cassel), an innovative businessman and grieving widower, who builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud…Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery are vandalized and nearly destroyed, including that of his wife. While he struggles to uncover a clear motive for the attack, the mystery of who wrought this havoc, and why, will drive Karsh to reevaluate his business, marriage and fidelity to his late wife’s memory, as well as push him to new beginnings.”
Shooting on The Shrouds is set to commence in March of 2023.
Another horror master, Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker, Thirst) has a new thriller called Decision to Leave, which has a beautiful new trailer this week ahead of a premiere at Cannes.
“A police detective, Hae-joon (Park Hae-il), is called in to investigate the mysterious death of a man who fell from a mountain peak. During his investigation, he begins to develop an interest in the man’s widow, Seo-rae (Tang Wei), who is a suspect in the case.”
The trailer is stylish as hell and doesn’t have too much in the way of gore or visual scares, but Park Chan-wook has never been one to require either to get into your head. Check out the trailer here, and stay tuned for more details on the release as we get htem.
