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Film Bridge International has added Sidhartha Mallya (“Mafia Wars”) to the cast of “Thrill Ride,” with production scheduled to commence in the U.K. during the first quarter of 2025.

The thriller, helmed by Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura from a script by Chad Law (“Lights Out”) and Christopher Jolley (“Granny Krampus”), follows a group of passengers trapped upside down on a roller coaster when a mysterious saboteur threatens to drop them to their deaths one by one. Mallya steps into the role of Trey.

During the American Film Market, Film Bridge International landed several distribution deals, with Volga Films taking Cis and Benelux territories, and Falcon Films securing the Middle East. Signature acquired U.K. rights during the Cannes Film Market. Additional territory sales are pending announcement.

Mallya, who recently appeared alongside Tom Welling and Cam Gigandet in “Mafia Wars,” is represented by Untitled Entertainment and Carey Dodd Associates in the U.

Best-selling genre author Clive Barker has brought us the horrors of Rawhead Rex, Hellraiser, Nightbreed, Candyman, Lord of Illusions, The Midnight Meat Train, Dread, and Books of Blood, among other things – and now he’s bringing us the animated comedy Night of the Zoopocalypse. A trailer for the film, which is set to reach theatres on March 7, 2025, can be seen in the embed above.

Barker provided the concept for Night of the Zoopocalypse, and the idea was then fleshed out into a screenplay by Steven Hoban and James Kee. Directed by Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro, the movie has the following synopsis: One night, a meteor crashes into Colepepper Zoo unleashing a virus that transforms the animals into strange and hilarious slobbering zombie mutants. Gracie, a young quirky wolf, teams up with a gruff and fearsome mountain lion to find a way back to her pack. As the zoo is overrun,...

Plex is gearing up for an exciting lineup of films and series in November 2024. Viewers can look forward to a variety of new additions, including Blue Ridge, But I’m A Cheerleader, Call Jane, and Empire State. Cult classics like The Grudge, Hard Candy, House of 1000 Corpses, and The Midnight Meat Train are also hitting the platform, alongside more recent hits like Wind River and Where’d You Go, Bernadette? For fans of horror, thrillers, and emotional dramas, there’s no shortage of options. However, Plex is also bidding farewell to a number of films and shows in November. Among those leaving are 24 Hours to Live, Drive Angry, The Devil’s Rejects, Snowpiercer, and USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. If you’ve been meaning to watch these titles, now is the time to catch them before they disappear. For those looking to binge their favorites, many notable titles are still available for streaming.

Stars: Fiona Dorn, Eric Roberts, Gina Vitori, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Sunny Tellone | Written by Jacob David Smith | Directed by Michael Su

Long before Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, The Asylum was updating and repurposing myths and fairy tales into films like The 7 Adventures of Sinbad, 3 Musketeers, Avengers Grimm and the absolutely bizarre King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Here, they’ve taken the legend of Snow White and thrown in a name check of Kurosawa’s classic Seven Samurai to give us Snow White and the Seven Samurai.

Anya Voight wants her father to consider a change of careers. Considering he’s one of the biggest cocaine kingpins in the country, that’s not an easy thing to do. But she’s adamant, not only is it dangerous, but because of what he does, people keep calling her Snow White.

Their heart-to-heart chat is interrupted by a hooded assassin,...

The magic of cinema is enhanced by watching its nuances on the big screen which provides an unforgettable experience for audiences. With the boom of streaming platforms, many films have taken the Ott route especially post the pandemic. While this resulted in a greater reach across the world, many movies that are are visually and technically spectacular, warrant a viewing in theaters.

Bradley Cooper in a still from the horror movie The Midnight Meat Train (image credit: Lionsgate)

The horror genre has created multiple films that have been enhanced by their haunting visual imagery that adds great nuance to the narratives. While many of these aesthetics can be captured by audiences only through a big screen viewing, there have been certain movies that deserved appreciation in cinema halls but didn’t get the opportunity to make an impact. The Midnight Meat Train is an underrated flick that slowly gained appreciation as a cult classic.

Well, it was 2004 when Godzilla, our beloved colossus, marked his 50th thunderous anniversary with an epic, monumental clash in Godzilla: Final Wars. For those who do not know, Ishirō Honda helmed and co-wrote the 1954 Toho release of Godzilla, the first flick in the franchise.

Despite the box office stumble of Godzilla: Final Wars, today we stand almost two decades later, celebrating the film’s transformation into a cult phenomenon. And as a seasoned Kaiju enthusiast who has followed Godzilla’s career from the depths of the Pacific to the climactic showdowns on the big screen, it’s informative to delve into the little-known stories behind the making of such a fan-favorite film.

Godzilla Final Wars | Toho Pictures

In a riveting encounter with Kaiju United, director Ryuhei Kitamura shared a candid account of the unconventional casting of former Mma titan Don Frye as Captain Gordon in his 2004 flick.

Casting Captain Gordon:...

Exclusive: Signature Entertainment has picked up UK & Irish rights to the roller coaster thriller Thrill Ride from Film Bridge International.

The deal was hashed out at the Cannes Market. The feature is directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, best known for the Bradley Cooper thriller The Midnight Meat Train, The Doorman, and Japanese genre actioner Godzilla: Final Wars. Producers are United Film’s Gabriel Georgiev, Ellen Wander, and Jordan Dykstra.

The pic tells the story of a group of people who are trapped upside down on a roller coaster taken over by a mysterious saboteur threatening to drop them all one by one to their deaths.

The deal was negotiated between Signature Entertainment’s Acquisitions and Development Executive Max Hart and Film Bridge International’s Managing Director Jordan Dykstra.

“Thrill Ride is one of the most eye-catching genre propositions the market has had to offer since our very own Fall,” Hart said.

Exclusive: Mma Champion and The A-Team star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has joined forces with multi-hyphenate Joel Silverman to launch Rampage ‘n J Productions, a new production company that will focus on Silverman’s specialty — biopics, book-to-screen adaptations, and TV dramas, particularly in the area of crime.

Based in West Los Angeles, the company will also focus on launching Jackson’s action comedy film and TV career. Heading development for Rampage ‘n J is VP Kylie Lewis, a former creative exec at DC. During her time there, the USC film school alum worked on the John Cena series Peacemaker and upcoming The Penguin with Colin Farrell for Max.

Silverman explained that he first approached Jackson back in 2018 with the idea of doing an antibullying show for kids called Rampage to the Rescue, in which Jackson and a child psychologist travel to and remedy bullying situations throughout the U.S.

“We’re still gonna do that show,...

Horror fans have had a whole lot of zombie entertainment sent our way in the last couple decades, much of it broadcast on television by AMC. There have been so many flesh-eaters and brain-munchers on our screens, some of us are feeling zombie overload. But if you’re still looking for zombie stories that do things a little differently from the others, we have a recommendation for you: a Japanese film that mixes the walking dead with shootouts, swordfights, and lengthy martial arts fights. It’s called Versus – and if you haven’t seen this one yet, it’s the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw.

Versus (watch it Here) was an independent production made by a bunch of unknowns, and many of the people involved with the movie remain unknowns to this day. It marked the feature directorial debut of Ryuhei Kitamura, who has gone on to have a solid career,...

Exclusive: Artist International Group has signed renowned Japanese filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura for representation.

First coming onto the scene in Japan with his ultra-violent zombie samurai action flick Versus, Kitamura directed his first English-language feature with the Bradley Cooper-led The Midnight Meat Train, an adaptation of the Clive Barker novel for Lakeshore Entertainment and Lionsgate.

Previously, Kitamura has helmed manga adaptations including the sci-fi actioner Alive; an epic samurai action pic based on Yu Koyama’s Aragami; Lupin the Third for Toho and Kadokawa; and The Three Sisters of Tenmasouinn. In television, Kitamura created the hit series Sky High before going on to direct a feature adaptation. Other notable credits include the 50th anniversary film Godzilla Final Wars, directing the narrative scenes in the bestselling video game Metal Gear Solid: The Twins Snakes, and his latest Japanese film, Love Death.

Additional English-language credits for Kitamura include Pathé’s No One Lives starring Luke Evans,...

Since making his feature film debut with the awesome zombie movie Versus in 2000, director Ryuhei Kitamura has brought us such movies as Alive, Aragami, Azumi, Sky High, Godzilla: Final Wars, The Midnight Meat Train, No One Lives, Lupin the 3rd, Downrange, The Doorman, and The Price We Pay. Now Deadline reports that Kitamura has signed on to direct the rollercoaster thriller Thrill Ride.

Scripted by Chad Law and Christopher Jolley, Thrill Ride will show us what happens when a group of people, including two young women, who are trapped upside down on a roller coaster taken over by a mysterious saboteur threatening to drop them all one-by-one to their deaths.

United Film’s Gabriel Georgiev, Ellen Wander, and Jordan Dykstra are producing the film, which is expected to start filming in Bulgaria at Pro Cinema Studios in the fourth quarter of this year. Film Bridge International will be presenting the...

If you want to watch a fun movie, watch a Ryuhei Kitamura movie. Whether it’s 2000’s Versus, 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, 2008’s The Midnight Meat Train or 2022’s underseen The Price We Pay, Kitamura always knows how to deliver a wild and crazy good time.

Up next from Ryuhei Kitamura? Deadline reports that he’ll be directing Thrill Ride, which sounds a bit like the best parts of Final Destination 3… expanded into a feature film!

Deadline details, “the English-language film will tell the story of a group of people, including two young women, who are trapped upside down on a roller coaster taken over by a mysterious saboteur threatening to drop them all one-by-one to their deaths.”

Film Bridge International is launching the project for sales ahead of the Cannes market.

Chad Law and Christopher Jolley wrote the screenplay.

“Thrill Ride is exactly the type of high-concept based thriller...

Exclusive: Ryuhei Kitamura (The Midnight Meat Train) is set to direct roller coaster thriller Thrill Ride, which Film Bridge International is launching for sales ahead of next month’s Cannes market.

Production is being lined up for the fourth quarter of this year with filming due to take place in Bulgaria at Pro Cinema Studios.

Penned by Chad Law and Christopher Jolley, the English-language film will tell the story of a group of people, including two young women, who are trapped upside down on a roller coaster taken over by a mysterious saboteur threatening to drop them all one-by-one to their deaths.

Producing will be United Film’s Gabriel Georgiev, Ellen Wander and Jordan Dykstra. Casting is in process.

Japanese filmmaker Kitamura is known for Japanese and English-language movies including Godzilla: Final Wars, Bradley Cooper thriller The Midnight Meat Train, No One Lives with Luke Evans, Japanese action pic Lupin III,...

If there’s one thing you can count on in a Ryuhei Kitamura horror film, it’s the copious amounts of bloodshed and gore. With Kitamura, gore is most definitely an artform. Based on Clive Barker’s 1984 short story of the same name, 2008 film The Midnight Meat Train follows a photographer obsessed with dark subject matter. He gets in over his head when he discovers a serial killer that butchers unsuspecting night commuters in grisly fashion.

There’s probably not many movies as aptly titled as this one. There’s a lot of human meat, blood, brain matter, and limbs being carved up on the late-night subway train in this horror movie. Bradley Cooper stars as Leon Kaufman, the photographer that stumbles upon and then becomes obsessed with the ruthless serial killer. His concerned girlfriend Maya, a character not in the original story, is played by Leslie Bibb. But the...

He’s not the Juggernaut, bitch!

There was one big obstacle to getting Vinnie Jones back into character as Juggernaut in the upcoming Ryan Reynolds–Hugh Jackman film, “Deadpool & Wolverine”: That was Jones himself.

In an interview with Yahoo, the 59-year-old English actor said he’d been approached by director Shawn Levy to reprise the role of the villainous mutant he portrayed in Brett Ratner’s 2006 film “X-Men: The Last Stand.”

“It’s such a drama putting that suit on mentally and physically,” he said. “I mean it had its mental toll as well because you’re in it and you can’t do anything all day, you can only drink through a straw. So we couldn’t strike the deal for ‘Deadpool [& Wolverine.’]”

Jones, whose first substantial role was in Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” in 2008 can currently be seen in Ritchie’s series “The Gentlemen” on Netflix.

The Bloody Disgusting-powered Screambox is home to a variety of unique horror content, from originals and exclusives to cult classics and documentaries. With such a rapidly-growing library, there are many hidden gems waiting to be discovered.

Here are five recommendations you can stream on Screambox right now.

The Collector

If the triumphant return of the Saw franchise has you in the mood for more trap-laden horrors, look no further than The Collector — which was originally conceived as a prequel to Saw that would show Jigsaw’s original story. When producers passed on the idea, writers Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan (Saw IV-vii) reworked it into an original script, which Dunstan directed in 2009.

A slasher/home invasion hybrid for the so-called “torture porn” era, The Collector stars Criminal Minds‘ Josh Stewart as struggling ex-con Arkin. A planned heist at his new employer’s home to repay a debt becomes deadly when he...

Stars: Jackson White, Natalie Alyn Lind, Henry Thomas, David Duchovny, Jack Mulhern, Pam Grier | Written by Lindsey Anderson Beer, Jeff Buhler | Directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer

Pet Sematary has been sequelized, rebooted, and now with the arrival of Pet Sematary: Bloodlines it has a prequel. Adapting Stephen King’s works for the screen is a risky enough proposition, creating new stories based on them even more so as anyone whose seen a few Children of the Corn sequels or reboots can attest. King himself however seems to be happy with this film and tweeted:

“In the book, this is the story Jud Crandall tells Louis Creed to try and dissuade him from using the Pet Sematary,” wrote King. “The screenplay takes a few liberties, but it’s a fine story. David Duchovny is excellent. The secret, as always, is caring about the characters.”

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines opens in the summer...

On Friday nights — and special occasions!— IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: You Know, Getting Murdered on a Train Might Still Be Better Than Going to Times Square

The underwhelming New Year’s Eve party is a universal human experience if there ever was one. The holiday is ostensibly the biggest night of the year for debauchery, but burnout, outlandish expectations, and rowdy crowds often turn it into a letdown that makes it a little easier to trade our holiday cheer in for January discipline. But no matter what disappointing experience comes your way tonight, you can take comfort...

Toby Yates, a film editor in Hollywood for 40 years and the son of Oscar-nominated director-producer Peter Yates, has died. He was 61.

Yates died Nov. 17 in Los Angeles after a stroke, his family announced.

Yates was a frequent collaborator with director Karen Moncrieff, editing her first feature, Blue Car (2002), followed by The Dead Girl (2006) and The Trials of Cate McCall (2013).

He also cut The Moon and the Stars (2007) for director John Irvin — he received a best editor prize at the Milano International Film Festival for that — and The Midnight Meat Train (2008) and No One Lives (2012) for director Ryûhei Kitamura.

Most recently, he edited Brave the Dark (2023), directed by Damian Harris.

Toby Robert Quentin Yates was born on Sept. 18, 1962, in London and raised there and in New York City. He studied filmmaking and editing while in high school, working as an apprentice editor and later assistant editor under Roy Lovejoy (2001: A Space Odyssey,...

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the events of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the 20th anniversary of the release of the remake, and also the tenth anniversary of an entry in the franchise that has less fans than those two just mentioned: Texas Chainsaw 3D (watch it Here). Recently, our friends at Bloody Disgusting sat down for an interview with one of the film’s writers, Adam Marcus, and during their chat Marcus revealed that the movie lost its cannibalism due to the box office failure of The Midnight Meat Train and lost a couple massacres due to the lower-than-expected budget.

Directed by John Luessenhop and sporting a story credited to Stephen Susco, Adam Marcus, and Debra Sullivan, and a screenplay by Marcus, Sullivan, and Kirsten Elms, Texas Chainsaw 3D has the following synopsis: Decades ago, residents of Newt, Texas, long suspected that the Sawyer family was responsible for the disappearances of many people.

Horror fans will recognize Adam Marcus as the director of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and the co-writer of Texas Chainsaw, two divisive but oft-discussed entries in their respective franchises. He recently returned to the genre to helm Secret Santa, a holiday horror-comedy streaming exclusively on Screambox.

The second installment in our three-part interview with the raconteur focuses on Texas Chainsaw, the 2013 direct sequel to 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, including glimpses at how the original screenplay differs from the final movie.

“When you see the line ‘Do your thing, cuz’ and people are angry at you for writing it, and you didn’t write it, you just start getting really frustrated about the state of modern filmmaking and the voice that filmmakers have,” Marcus confesses.

The Grudge scribe Stephen Susco wrote the first draft, but as Marcus tells it, “Lionsgate did not want his script because it was about cannibals.

Bradley Cooper has done many heroics in his films. But apparently that carries over to real life as well.

Brookie Shields shared In her Glamour 2023 Women of the Year interview that Cooper came to her rescue when she experienced a grand mal seizure. The incident happened before a performance of her one-woman show, Previously Owned by Brooke Shields, at New York City’s Café Carlyle.

“I was preparing for the show, and I was drinking so much water, and I didn’t know I was low in sodium. I was waiting for an Uber. I get down to the bottom of the steps, and I start evidently looking weird, and [the people I was with] were like, ‘Are you okay?’” she said.

After leaving the venue for “no reason at all. — I’m like, ‘Why am I out here?’”– she returned inside.

“I go in, two women come up to me; I don’t know them.

A new month is here and Plex is back with the latest additions to its library of over 50,000 free-to-stream titles! From the Oscar-winning bio-drama “Spotlight” to the hit Danish crime thriller “Pusher” franchise, there is plenty to keep you entertained as October turns to November.

Check out The Streamable’s top picks for what’s new this month on Plex!

Watch Now Tba plex.tv What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Plex in November 2023? “An American Werewolf In London” | Wednesday, Nov. 1

The 1981 hit John Landis comedy stars David Naughton and Griffin Dunne as a pair of American backpackers who are attacked by a werewolf while travelling in Yorkshire, turning one of them into a werewolf with the next full moon. Jenny Agutter, John Woodvine, Don McKillip, Frank Oz, Sydney Bromley, and more American and British greats make up the rest of the ensemble.

Watch the trailer for...

‘A nasty, nightmarish thrill ride from a master of gore’

Morbidly Gruesome

‘Energetic direction by Ryuhei Kitamura, excellent practical gore effects and strong performances’

Variety

‘Ramps up the gratuitous gore along with a clever twist that blurs the line between good and evil’

Cinemalogue

Get more bang for your buck in The Price We Pay, a wickedly dark, gritty and brutal thriller from respected director Ryûhei Kitamura (Midnight Meat Train), starring Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, The Darkest Hour) and Stephen Dorff (Blade, Immortals). The film has made its UK debut on Digital from 101 Films.

When a pawn shop robbery goes horribly wrong and the criminals take a young woman, Grace (Gigi Zumbado – Bridge and Tunnel), hostage, things quickly go from bad to unimaginable.

Forced to go on the run, they head into the woods and as darkness starts to fall, they find a remote farmhouse and decide to take refuge.

Clive Barker's original tale "The Midnight Meat Train" was first published in 1984 as the kickoff story in Volume I of "The Books of Blood," a compendium of the author's short stories. "Midnight Meat Train" was about a British transplant to New York City, a boring office wonk named Leon who instantly becomes disillusioned with the city's overwhelming filth, as well as the reports of a serial killer named Mahogany — aka the Butcher — who has been killing people on subway trains in the middle of the night. Leon falls asleep on the train one night and wakes up to find Mahogany doing his dirty work. Leon manages to fend off and kill the attacking Mahogany but learns there's more to him than mere murder.

It seems that the midnight train to Queens stops at a special disused station where zombie-like monsters board the train and eat the corpses. Also living...

Stars: Jackson White, Natalie Alyn Lind, Henry Thomas, David Duchovny, Jack Mulhern, Pam Grier | Written by Lindsey Anderson Beer, Jeff Buhler | Directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer

Pet Sematary has been sequelized, rebooted, and now with the arrival of Pet Sematary: Bloodlines it has a prequel. Adapting Stephen King’s works for the screen is a risky enough proposition, creating new stories based on them even more so as anyone whose seen a few Children of the Corn sequels or reboots can attest. King himself however seems to be happy with this film and tweeted:

“In the book, this is the story Jud Crandall tells Louis Creed to try and dissuade him from using the Pet Sematary,” wrote King. “The screenplay takes a few liberties, but it’s a fine story. David Duchovny is excellent. The secret, as always, is caring about the characters.”

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines opens in the summer...

Stars: Chael Sonnen, Chris Maher, Donald Cerrone, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Weston Cage Coppola | Written and Directed by Asif Akbar

Joe and his brother Danny are out hunting in the desert when Danny says he wishes their other brother Roy were with them. This sets Joe off on a rant because Roy apparently is a disgrace because he isn’t rich like he is. It seems Roy traded a career in the military for one in Mma only to get injured and now drives a truck.

Roy’s real problem is that he can’t let go of his Mma dreams and still fights in underground tournaments. But when his overconfidence gets him knocked out it costs mob boss Julian a lot of money.

In retaliation he kills Roy’s girlfriend in front of him, “An hour ago you were fucking her brains out. Well I just blew her brains out...

After almost passing up No One Lives and mistaking it for something generic, Ryūhei Kitamura set out to make a fun and exciting horror movie. And he more than succeeded without sacrificing the fear and personality found in the original script. With Robert Hall’s bloody practical effects sweetening the pot, this movie ends up being a delightfully gory action-slasher.

The initial setup of No One Lives is both familiar and misleading. The cold open shows an imperiled young woman (Adelaide Clemens) running through the woods. It is only when she is caught by her unseen pursuer does the audience learn her name: Emma. Using a broken piece of glass, she desperately scratches her name, while upside down, in a nearby tree before presumably dying off screen. Several months later, the story shifts to Luke Evans and Laura Ramsey’s characters, who pause their road trip and stop at a motel out in the sticks.

Remakes are nothing new in Hollywood, and horror movie remakes have long been a thriving part of the industry. Directors will turn their creepy, viral short films into larger studio features, like David F. Sandberg did with Lights Out, and surprise foreign genre hits will sometimes get a makeover for U.S. audiences with the original director at the helm. But you’d be hard pressed to find a modern American director who’s interested in remaking their own feature film.

Enter Clive Barker protégé Anthony Diblasi, who was certainly up for the challenge when he was approached by new genre studio Welcome Villain with the possibility of remaking his 2014 low-budget gem, Last Shift. The director believes he’s the first American director to take on such a feat since Leo McCarey remade Love Affair into An Affair to Remember in 1957.

This week, Welcome Villain releases Diblasi’s remade version of Last Shift,...

When the Oscar nominations came out earlier this year, we saw the literal luck of the Irish (at least in terms of nods). For starters, British-Irish filmmaker Martin McDonagh’s acclaimed black comedy The Banshees of Inisherin garnered nine nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor for Colin Farrell, and Best Original Screenplay. Additionally, the in-demand heartthrob Paul Mescal earned a Best Actor nomination for Aftersun while The Quiet Girl represents Ireland in Best International Feature, becoming the country’s first film to do so.

It was a good day in January for Irish representation, although how things shook out later on Oscar night might be the flip side of that luck.

Nonetheless, to mark this particular occasion, along with St. Patrick’s Day, below is a list of eleven recommended modern films that are at least co-produced by Ireland and which chiefly take place on the Emerald Isle for those...

New York City offers a specific arsenal of chaos, innovation, and a sense of "anything goes" when it comes to horror. The jump-scare possibilities lurking around corners are endless in the city that never sleeps. However, most films that boast being based in New York are often filmed elsewhere. This is for a myriad of reasons, but some primary ones are cost and space.

"Scream 6," the latest installment in the franchise, had audiences excited to see the action taken out of Woodsboro and Hollywood, and into the bolder and more brazen streets of the big apple, promising the kind of kills you can only get in New York City, baby! However, to clear any confusion, a specific scene in the latest Ghostface franchise hits you directly with the McGill University campus in Montréal, Canada. When I saw the film this week, I nearly shrieked at the panning shots of...

You can only tell the same old slasher story so many times before it gets stale, and that’s why so many horror franchises eventually find the need to escape the confines of their original small-town settings and have their villains invade larger urban centers. And if you’re going to set your story in a big city, why not the most recognizable metropolis of all, New York?

Urban horror might not be as common as scary movies about Transylvanian castles and cursed cabins in the middle of nowhere, but we’ve seen a plethora of NYC-set horror flicks over the years. And in honor of Scream VI also choosing to relocate the action to the city that never sleeps, we’ve come up with this list celebrating six of the best horror movies set in NYC.

As usual, this list is based on personal opinion, but we’ll be...

Bernard Rose’s 1992 Clive Barker adaptation Candyman (watch it Here) is considered to be one of the best horror movies of the last few decades, and it spawned a franchise that consists of the 1995 sequel Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, the 1999 sequel Candyman: Day of the Dead, and a 2021 follow-up that was simply called Candyman. None of them were made with the involvement of Rose – and if he had been tasked with making a sequel, the franchise would have gone off in a very different direction. One that would have drawn inspiration from a different Barker story, The Midnight Meat Train. And you can find out all about Rose’s idea for Candyman 2: The Midnight Meat Train (which would have featured the ghost of Jack the Ripper) by checking out the new episode of Wtf Happened to This Unmade Horror Movie, embedded above!

Written and directed by Rose, Candyman...

Guy Ritchie is keeping pretty busy these days. In addition to his role directing the live-action and somehow TikTok-inspired adaptation of Disney's "Hercules," he's also set to start production on the series spin-off of his film "The Gentlemen" for Netflix. In the 2019 film, Matthew McConaughey starred as Mickey Pearson, an American living in England who oversees a massive marijuana empire hidden in the estates of members of the British aristocracy in need of some fast cash. We called "The Gentlemen" a "stylish but empty Guy Ritchie gangster romp" in our own review of the film, but the box office success of the action-comedy crime film was enough to constitute a follow-up series. The film is set in the same world as "The Gentlemen," but as reported by Variety, promises to be a story all its own. Here's everything we know about the series so far.

When And Where To Watch...

Horror movies like Deep Fear take place underground, and they are often the most effective as far as compelling scares go. They evoke a fear that everyone can understand. Trap someone in a confined, dark space below ground, then have them be pursued by someone (or something) — it’s a simple but winning formula.

Screambox‘s latest release Deep Fear, as well as the nine other movies below, reinforce feelings of claustrophobia and remind you of what possible evils could be hiding below the surface. As Above, So Below, The Descent, C.H.U.D., Creep and The Midnight Meat Train are all familiar examples of this subgenre, but this list focuses on underseen movies set underground.

Deep Fear (2022)

Grégory Beghin‘s movie Deep Fear follows three friends and their guide (Joseph Olivennes) into the Paris Catacombs. Set in the early ’90s, the main characters have recently graduated from college,...

There’s something inherently terrifying about subterranean horror. Getting trapped underground creates a tense survival scenario thanks to various dangers. But what about what’s lurking in the dark? Survival horror with carnivorous creatures provides fertile ground for fear.

Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) is back with the brand new underground monster movie The Lair, which comes to theaters and on Digital and VOD on October 28, 2022.

In The Lair, “Royal Air Force pilot Lt. Kate Sinclair (Charlotte Kirk) is shot down over Afghanistan and finds refuge in an abandoned underground bunker where deadly man-made biological weapons – half human, half alien – are awakened.”

Jonathan Howard (Thor: The Dark World) and Jamie Bamber (“Battlestar Galactica”) also star.

Charlotte Kirk co-wrote the screenplay with Neil Marshall.

In anticipation of Marshall’s return to the subterranean creature feature, we look back at eight horror movies that feature underground monsters.

The Burrowers

Before video...

Every October, New York Comic Con transforms the humble Javits Center into an epic gathering place for cosplayers, stars, authors, and fans. But any New Yorker can tell you that the city is possessed by magic year-round—some secrets found tucked into corners or beneath bridges, or sparkling in plain sight across the five boroughs.

These 10 novels span New York’s mythical past, alternate present, and potential future. Attend Jay Gatsby’s endless parties out on Long Island, or put your ear to the walls of the Bramford to catch an occult ceremony. Seek out the entradas to the underworld in Prospect Park, or listen for the Old Ones beneath the Gowanus. But more than the place, it’s the people who give the city its spark: musicians and magicians, assassins and jinn, brujas and avatars and even humble office workers.

Here are the best horror and fantasy novels set...

For every completed film or TV project associated with Clive Barker, there are probably 10 that never saw the light of day. Barker, for those unfamiliar, is the author behind the books "The Great and Secret Show," "Imajica," and "Weaveworld," each of them sprawling, interdimensional fantasy epics full of horror, queerness, sex, and violence. In 1986, Barker wrote the novella "The Hellbound Heart," which he adapted into the feature film "Hellraiser" the following year. Barker also wrote and directed the 1990 film "Night Breed" (based on his 1988 novella "Cabal") and the 1995 film "Lord of Illusions." He also wrote the short story that inspired "Candyman."

A look back over Barker's career, however (handily laid out on the author's website), reveals a spate of films and TV projects that were not made. There was a plan, once upon a time, to adapt his 1992 novel "The Thief of Always" to film. Those who have read the...

Ryuhei Kitamura, the Japanese filmmaker behind the classic indie zombie horror Versus, not to mention Alive, Azumi, and even Godzilla: Final Wars, takes a stab at picking some of his favorite horror films now streaming on the Bloody Disgusting-powered Screambox. Kitamura, who also directed the awesome adaptation of Clive Barker’s The Midnight Meat Train, the […]

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"Studio 666" always has its tongue in its cheek. The horror-comedy, in which Dave Grohl becomes possessed and devours the rest of the Foo Fighters, never takes itself seriously in the slightest. The jokes and kills go big. Maybe beneath the grilling, the cannibalism, and the band's infighting over a never-ending song, there's a story about the fear of losing your friends or band mates and, as a result, yourself. It's a story older than rock and roll.

For "Midnight Meat Train" screenwriter Jeff Buhler and comedy writer Rebecca Hughes, it's simply a party movie, not a meditation on morality and the creative...

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New Short Film, Grummy, Tackles A Sensitive Subject with Beautiful Imagery and Amazing Storytelling: "Married writer/director team Micheline Pitt and R.H. Norman combine forces in the dark fantasy short film, Grummy, an autobiographic tale of Pitt’s childhood.

Inspired by the imagination that she escaped to during her own abusive childhood, Pitt and her filmmaker husband Norman share a heartbreaking yet poetic tale of a young girl whose stuffed creature, “Grummy,” brings a new world to life during her most vulnerable moments. This dark fairy tale is an expression of Pitt’s own sexual abuse survival story and a love note to the monsters and fantastic worlds that helped her survive.

According to Pitt, “This story is very personal, because I was this little girl. I used my imagination to escape from an abusive childhood; I used books, movies and toys to get away. If I didn't have my...

Ryûhei Kitamura’s Versus (2000) is now available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video

A relentless one-of-a-kind sensory assault chock full of hyper-kinetic fight scenes, gangster shootouts, sword-slashing violence and gory zombie horror, Versus was a key title amongst the barrage of innovative horror and action movies that appeared as if from nowhere from Japan at the turn of the millennium, leading to a new wave of appreciation for Asian extreme cinema.

A mysterious face-off in a wooded clearing between two escaped convicts and a carload of sharply dressed yakuza holding a beautiful woman captive ends in hails of bullets and showers of blood. The location for this violent encounter is the mythic Forest of Resurrection, the site of the 444th portal of the 666 hidden gates that link this earthly domain to the netherworld and it didn t get this name for nothing. As one of the surviving prisoners escapes with the...

For this Tuesday, we don’t have a ton of Blu-ray and DVD releases on tap this week, but we do have some incredible titles coming out, once again proving that it’s quality over quantity. If you haven’t had a chance to see it just yet, Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor Uncut arrives on Tuesday on multiple formats, and coincidentally enough, Total Recall is getting a 30th anniversary 4K release this week, too, and the films pair extremely well for a double feature.

Other films headed home on December 8th include She Dies Tomorrow, Smiley Face Killers, a 2-Disc Special Edition release for Versus from Ryûhei Kitamura, Black Pumpkin, The Facility, and Sympathy.

Possessor Uncut

From the visionary mind of writer/director Brandon Cronenberg, Possessor is an arresting sci-fi thriller about elite corporate assassin Tasya Vos. Using brain-implant technology, Vos takes control of other people s bodies to execute high-profile targets.

CBS has put in development dramas Activation, from Katrina O’Gilvie (Swagger); and Tempest, from Jeff Buhler (Pet Sematary). Both projects stem from CBS Studios, Rideback and Thinking Hat’s Rideback/Thinking Hat Campfire writers room program, designed to attract experienced feature film writers and other creative voices to broadcast TV development for the first time. The writers are paired with experienced TV creators/showrunners based at CBS Studios. O’Gilvie worked with Rina Mimoun (Under the Bridge) on Activation and Buhler paired with Anna Fricke (Walker) on The Tempest.

Written by O’Gilvie, Activation revolves around a group of highly trained disaster relief experts comprising a wide array of specialties and skillsets risk their lives as the first boots on the ground, navigating all manner of emergency situations.

O’Gilvie executive produces with Mimoun, along with Thinking Hat’s Craig Turk and Rideback’s Dan Lin and Lindsey Liberatore.

Written by Buhler,...

Director Ryuhei Kitamura has carved out a niche in creating action horror films that revel in the gore. The Midnight Meat Train, No One Lives, Downrange, Versus, and his recent segment in Nightmare Cinema showcase Kitamura’s frenetic style and ability to get the biggest and bloodiest bang for his buck, no matter the film’s budget or genre. In other words, […]...

The Telluride Horror Show's "Shelter-in-Place Edition" kicks off on October 15th, and it's packed with new horror features and shorts, along with special events you won't want to miss, including a live conversation with Max Brooks & Daniel Kraus:

"Telluride Horror Show has announced the complete lineup of films, guests, and events for its 2020 "Shelter-in-Place" Edition, scheduled for October 15-18.

The festival welcomes actor Ted Raimi, who will host "Deathly Spirits", a virtual cocktail hour offering viewers an opportunity to mix Ted's drink recipes and engage with the genre favorite after the screening of his new short film Red Light. In addition, Telluride Horror Show alum and Colorado filmmakers Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei will return to the festival with Red Rum (starring Christina Ricci) and a conversation about their Colorado episode for Sam Raimi's 50 States of Fright.

The 2020 "Shelter-in-Place" Edition will also feature Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor Uncut,...

When it comes to low-budget horror movies, even the good ones tend to slip by unnoticed, which probably explains why “Salem” creators Brannon Braga and Adam Simon were drawn to a brand name like Clive Barker’s “Books of Blood” to package their otherwise generic Hulu horror anthology. Less a proper feature than the ersatz pilot for an open-ended number of future installments, this three-part scare-fest uses the flesh-flaying title chapter in Barker’s 1984 short-story omnibus, “The Book of Blood,” to frame two lesser entries with no relation to the beloved pulp collection — which has spawned such films as “Rawhead Red,” “Candyman” and “The Midnight Meat Train.”

The cleverest trick about Braga and Simon’s adaptation may be the way it uses a super schlocky red herring to throw audiences off the scent of the title, which Barker himself has cheekily described as “Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we’re opened,...

Clive Barker’s horror is immediately recognizable. One of the most influential Gothic voices of the 1980s and ‘90s, his stories on the page and screen mingle body horror with kinky fatalism: pleasure and pain sprinkled with an undercurrent of happy self-annihilation. He wrote and directed the exceptionally perverse Hellraiser, and with his literary Books of Blood collection of horror short stories, he penned the origins for future movie cult classics like Candyman—as well as the less glowing adaptations of The Midnight Meat Train and Rawhide Rex.

I’d like to say Brannon Braga’s Hulu adaptation of several of those Books of Blood tales lands closer to the hypnotic thrall of Hellraiser or Candyman, but this messy and ultimately garish film goes down like ‘80s junk of the Rawhide variety. With an obvious ear for Barker’s sweet romantic whispers about oblivion, Braga attempts to recreate a specific type of Gothic doom,...

The arrival of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood in 1984 and 1985 was an earthshaking event in horror literature. No less an authority than Stephen King called Barker “the future of horror,” leading to a tsunami of acclaim for the six volumes of collected short stories. Barker’s vast imagination, his creation of new monsters that eclipsed standard fare like vampires and witches, and his visceral, blood-soaked prose were a jolt for the horror genre that probably influenced a generation of writers and filmmakers.

Speaking of the latter, a number of stories from the books were adapted for the screen, including the title tale itself (which acted as a framing device for all the stories), “The Midnight Meat Train,” “Dread,” and “The Forbidden,” the latter of which formed the basis of the soon-to-be-rebooted Candyman franchise. Barker himself directed Lord of Illusions, based on the Books of Blood story “The Last Illusion.

Clive Barker’s series of short stories gathered in the Books of Blood collections have served as inspirations for several movies: The Midnight Meat Train, Rawhead Rex, Quicksilver Highway, Lord of Illusions, Dread, and, the best of the bunch, Candyman. There was also another movie called Book of Blood released in 2018. Now Hulu is getting in on the action with their own Books of Blood […]

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