News

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake. Things were moving ahead at a good pace, filming was expected to begin last July, but then the project hit a speed bump at the end of April with the firing of Fuller and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray. Things got back on track in late August with the hiring of a new showrunner – and that person is Brad Caleb Kane, who also serves as co-showrunner and executive producer of It: Welcome to Derry,...

It sounds like Toronto is the place to be this July, as The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that genre filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is set to host a lecture series called From Rabid to Skinamarink: Canadian Movie Madness at TIFF Lightbox from July 9 to 13!

As explained by THR, the curated showcase will see the maestro of monsters take audiences through a series of iconic genre pics like David Cronenberg’s sophomore feature Rabid (1977), Vincenzo Natali’s Cube (1997) and John Fawcett’s supernatural fright pic Ginger Snaps starring Katharine Isabelle (2000) to reveal and explain their horror genre beats. The Mexican director will also explain the mechanics of Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool (2008), and Kyle Edward Ball’s feature directorial debut, Skinamarink (2022) for their own visual and emotional impacts on audiences. Del Toro often works in Toronto and has previously hosted lecture series on Mexican cinema, Alfred Hitchcock films, and film noir.

Guillermo del Toro’s film school will be back in session in Toronto this summer when the Oscar-winning director hosts a lecture series on Canadian horror movies at TIFF Lightbox.

The July 9 to 13 curated showcase for TIFF Cinematheque, entitled From Rabid to Skinamarink: Canadian Movie Madness, will see the maestro of monsters take audiences through a series of iconic genre pics like David Cronenberg’s sophomore feature Rabid (1977), Vincenzo Natali’s Cube (1997) and John Fawcett’s supernatural fright pic Ginger Snaps starring Katharine Isabelle (2000) to reveal and explain their horror genre beats.

The Mexican director will also explain the mechanics of Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool (2008), and Kyle Edward Ball’s feature directorial debut, Skinamarink (2022) for their own visual and emotional impacts on audiences.

Del Toro has made Toronto a second home after Los Angeles. And the Canadian city has hosted production for a number of his movies, including Mimic, the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water,...

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake. Things were moving ahead at a good pace, filming was expected to begin last July, but then the project hit a speed bump at the end of April with the firing of Fuller and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray. Things got back on track in late August with the hiring of a new showrunner – and that person is Brad Caleb Kane, who also serves as co-showrunner and executive producer of It: Welcome to Derry,...

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake. Things were moving ahead at a good pace, filming was expected to begin last July, but then the project hit a speed bump at the end of April with the firing of Fuller and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray. Things got back on track in late August with the hiring of a new showrunner – and that person is Brad Caleb Kane, who also serves as co-showrunner and executive producer of It: Welcome to Derry,...

Master of horror Alfred Hitchcock would open each episode of his eponymous Alfred Hitchcock Presents series by personally preparing viewers for whatever terrors they were about to witness.

Now, in the 21st century, auteur Guillermo del Toro continues that legacy with Cabinet of Curiosities, his own anthology show featuring an esteemed cadre of top-talent directors, including Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), Jennifer Kent (The Babadook), Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night), and Vincenzo Natali (Cube).

Want a sneak peek of del Toro in action? Watch the first two minutes of the opening of the first episode of Cabinet of Curiosities, “Lot 36,” directed by Guillermo Navarro,above. Be warned: Once the cabinet is opened, it can’t be closed.

Learn more about each episode’s star-studded cast here.

What is the release date for Cabinet of Curiosities?

Beginning Oct. 25, two episodes will debut daily through Oct. 28, when the entire...

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller would be developing a Friday the 13th series called Crystal Lake for A24 and the Peacock streaming service… but things have turned out to be more complicated than expected. First, the lengthy writers strike slowed down the progress of the show, then Fuller got the boot and was replaced. It remains to be seen when Crystal Lake will be going into production, but we thought this would be a good time for us to share Everything We Know About Crystal Lake!

First Showrunner

As mentioned, Bryan Fuller was steering this ship when it was first announced, and it nearly started filming with him (and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray) at the helm. Production was set to begin on July 22, 2024, with filming to last for seven to eight months. Charlize Theron was being considered for the role of Pamela Voorhees,...

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake. Things were moving ahead at a good pace, filming was expected to begin this July, but then the project hit a speed bump at the end of April with the firing of Fuller and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray. Things got back on track in late August with the hiring of a new showrunner – and that person is Brad Caleb Kane, who also serves as co-showrunner and executive producer of It: Welcome to Derry,...

Dane DeHaan, the star of films like A Cure for Wellness, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, has joined the Apple TV+ project Neuromancer. The TV series is based on William Gibson's cyberpunk classic of the same name and a groundbreaking sci-fi book that may have influenced the 1999 action sci-fi action film The Matrix.

DeHaan was seen recently in films like Dumb Money and Oppenheimer. He also starred in the HBO miniseries about the true crime case of Michael Peterson, The Staircase, and in Netflix’s American Primeval, playing Jacob Pratt. The actor joins those who have already been announced: Briana Middleton, Callum Turner, Joseph Lee, Cleménce Poésy, Peter Sarsgaard, Emma Laird, and Mark Strong. Neuromancer is being developed by Graham Roland and J. D. Dillard for Apple TV+, with Roland getting showrunner duties, and Dillard directing one of the ten episodes...

Forty years ago, author William Gibson brought the world a cyberpunk novel called Neuromancer – and an adaptation of that story has been trudging its way through development hell pretty much ever since. Versions of a feature film adaptation have passed through the hands of directors like music video maker Chris Cunningham, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob‘s Chuck Russell, Torque‘s Joseph Kahn, Cube‘s Vincenzo Natali, and Deadpool‘s Tim Miller. An adaptation of Neuromancer is currently moving forward as a 10-episode series that’s set up at Apple TV+, and Deadline reports that Dane DeHaan of Oppenheimer and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has signed on to play a character named Peter Riviera.

In the source material, Peter Riviera was “a thief and sadist who can project holographic images.” Which sounds like a great character for Dane DeHaan to play.

We’ve...

Forty years ago, author William Gibson brought the world a cyberpunk novel called Neuromancer – and an adaptation of that story has been trudging its way through development hell pretty much ever since. Versions of a feature film adaptation have passed through the hands of directors like music video maker Chris Cunningham, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob‘s Chuck Russell, Torque‘s Joseph Kahn, Cube‘s Vincenzo Natali, and Deadpool‘s Tim Miller. An adaptation of Neuromancer is currently moving forward as a 10-episode series that’s set up at Apple TV+, and Variety reports that Peter Sarsgaard of Garden State and The Batman has signed on to play a character named John Ashpool.

In the source material, John Ashpool was a character who wakes up delusional and paranoid after a thirty-year cryogenic sleep.

We’ve previously heard that BAFTA Award-nominee Callum Turner of Masters...

When it comes to Stephen King adaptations, Netflix's track record thus far has been pretty solid. From Mike Flanagan's precision tooled 2017 take on Gerald's Game and Zak Hilditch's underappreciated supernatural thriller 1922, through Vincenzo Natali's 2019 offering In The Tall Grass and John Lee Hancock's Donald Sutherland led Mr. Harrigan's Phone, the streamer has shown a solid knack for bringing the Master of Horror's works from page to screen. And now, per Deadline's reporting, the streaming giant has just set its fifth King joint — a new adaptation of the legendary writer's 1981 killer canine thriller Cujo.

Details on Netflix's plans for the King classic are scarce at this stage, with no writer, director, or St. Bernard shaped star set in place just yet. We do however know that Roy Lee, whose credits include Andy Muschietti's It duology, Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep, The Stand TV series, and the recent Salem's Lot remake,...

Forty years ago, author William Gibson brought the world a cyberpunk novel called Neuromancer – and an adaptation of that story has been trudging its way through development hell pretty much ever since. Versions of a feature film adaptation have passed through the hands of directors like music video maker Chris Cunningham, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob‘s Chuck Russell, Torque‘s Joseph Kahn, Cube‘s Vincenzo Natali, and Deadpool‘s Tim Miller. An adaptation of Neuromancer is currently moving forward as a 10-episode series that’s set up at Apple TV+, and Variety reports that Clémence Poésy of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and Tenet has signed on to play a character named Marie-France Tessier.

We’ve previously heard that BAFTA Award-nominee Callum Turner of Masters of the Air and The Boys in the Boat will be playing the lead character, Henry Dorsett Case,...

Since the publication of "Carrie" in 1974, Stephen King has knocked out over 60 novels/novellas and penned over 200 short stories. He has overcome severe substance abuse issues and survived one very gnarly car accident. He directed "Maximum Overdrive." He's hit dizzying peaks and deep, dark valleys, but, through it all, he has never lost his sense of wonder, nor his ability to enthrall readers the world over with his words.

King has been around long enough that he's seen several generations of filmmakers adapt his work. Old masters like Brian De Palma, George A. Romero, and Stanley Kubrick have passed the torch to the likes of Andy Muschietti, Mike Flanagan, and Edgar Wright (whose film adaptation of "The Running Man" is due out this November) — and it feels like subsequent generations will keep tending the flame so long as his work doesn't get banned out of existence. There is so much King out there,...

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake. Things were moving ahead at a good pace, filming was expected to begin this July, but then the project hit a speed bump at the end of April with the firing of Fuller and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray. Things got back on track in late August with the hiring of a new showrunner – and that person is Brad Caleb Kane, who also serves as co-showrunner and executive producer of It: Welcome to Derry,...

The long-gestating Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake that's in the works from A24 seems to be back on track after the departure of showrunner Bryan Fuller last year caused it to undergo a complete overhaul. Brad Caleb Kane, who recently wrapped production on the It prequel series Welcome to Derry, is now running the show, and we have our first bit of casting news that Linda Cardellini is in talks to play Pamela Voorhees.

The news comes by way of industry insider Jeff Sneider (via Bloody Disgusting), so take it with a grain of salt right now until it's been confirmed by other sources, but if true, Cardellini would be the first official cast member for Crystal Lake. First announced in 2022, the show is described as an "expanded prequel" to the popular slasher franchise, and will focus on not only Pamela, but her son Jason as well.

Cardellini...

Jac Schaeffer was originally going to take charge of Vision (which may or may not still be called Vision Quest) but moved on from the series to focus on Agatha All Along.

Vision is still expected to form part of the WandaVision "trilogy," though it feels like these shows are all building to the long-rumoured Scarlet Witch movie. If so, we'd bet on that adapting elements from Avengers: The Children's Crusade, as Wanda, Vision, Billy, and Tommy finally reunite.

Nexus Point News has spotted an update to cinematographer Christopher Ross' online résumé in which he lists Vision Quest as one of his upcoming projects. Interestingly, he also names the show's directors.

Showrunner Terry Matalas (Star Trek: Picard) will be part of the team stepping behind the camera, as will his 12 Monkeys collaborator, Christopher J. Byrne (American Gods).

Perhaps the most intriguing addition to Vision is Vincenzo Natali. Best known for...

Disney+ is moving forward with its upcoming series Vision Quest, and some surprising names are attached. The show will bring back the Marvel android, but that’s not the only thing getting attention. The people behind the camera are just as interesting as what’s happening on screen.

Three directors will take charge of the series, each bringing their own touch. Terry Matalas, known for his work on Star Trek: Picard, will not only serve as showrunner but also direct. Alongside him, Christopher J. Byrne and Vincenzo Natali are set to helm episodes.

These two have been involved in major projects before, with Byrne having worked extensively in the Star Trek universe and Natali known for directing the sci-fi horror film Cube.

With this lineup, it’s clear that Marvel and Disney are pulling from both science fiction and horror influences. That could mean Vision Quest will have a unique look and feel,...

Forty years ago, author William Gibson brought the world a cyberpunk novel called Neuromancer – and an adaptation of that story has been trudging its way through development hell pretty much ever since. Versions of a feature film adaptation have passed through the hands of directors like music video maker Chris Cunningham, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob‘s Chuck Russell, Torque‘s Joseph Kahn, Cube‘s Vincenzo Natali, and Deadpool‘s Tim Miller. An adaptation of Neuromancer is currently moving forward as a 10-episode series that’s set up at Apple TV+, and we’ve previously heard that BAFTA Award-nominee Callum Turner of Masters of the Air and The Boys in the Boat will be playing the lead character, Henry Dorsett Case, while Briana Middleton of Sharper and The Tender Bar takes on the role of Case’s partner Molly, “a razor-girl assassin with mirrored eyes.

In the dystopian, post-apocalyptic world of Panem, the society that remains is divided into districts. Once a year, tributes who are usually children are selected from each poor, agrarian district to compete in the wealthy, decadent Capitol in a gladiatorial combat spectacular called "The Hunger Games." It's a fight until only one competitor is left alive, and it's broadcast on national TV, making it almost as important for the competitors to be telegenic as it is for them to be deadly.

This is the premise of Suzanne Collins' original trilogy of Hunger Games novels, initially turned into a four-part film series. Jennifer Lawrence became a certified A-lister as protagonist Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers as tribute to save her little sister, and eventually escapes the games to lead a rebellion against the tyrannical President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Collins has since written two prequels, one of which has also become a film.

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake. Things were moving ahead at a good pace, filming was expected to begin this July, but then the project hit a speed bump at the end of April with the firing of Fuller and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray. Things got back on track in late August with the hiring of a new showrunner – and that person is Brad Caleb Kane, who also serves as co-showrunner and executive producer of It: Welcome to Derry,...

This article contains some discussion of sexual assault.

Although 2009 was a brilliant year for horror movies, Splice fell short of success. Splice follows the story of a young scientific couple, The Pianist’s Adrien Brody and Dawn of the Dead’s Sarah Polley, in their attempt to splice animal genes with human DNA. The resulting human-animal hybrid is creepy due to its mostly human features, establishing an uncanny effect that made the horror movie quite terrifying. Splice was written and directed by Vincenzo Natali, who has since directed episodes of other sci-fi and horror genre TV series, such as Hannibal, Westworld, and American Gods.

Splice is a film that generates the perfect blend of sci-fi and horror, and was highly praised upon its release. Yet, grossing only $27 million at the box office against its $30 million budget, Splice was a monster movie box office flop. Splice has since developed into a...

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Stephen King is one of the most legendary writers in the world, and in the horror genre he is basically a god and his work has been adapted endlessly in movies and TV shows. With Netflix having such a huge content library we though of picking out the best of the best Stephen King adaptations you should check out right now.

Stand by Me Credit – Columbia Pictures

Stand by Me is a coming-of-age drama film directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay co-written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon. Based on the 1982 novella The Body by Stephen King, the 1986 film follows four friends who decide to go hiking to find the dead body of a local teenager who was hit by a train. Stand by Me stars Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, and Kiefer Sutherland.

James Wan’s Saw turns 20 this year and is back in cinemas. A look at one of the most influential horror films of all time:

There’s a comparitively small group of horror films that have, one way or another, changed the genre. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Night Of The Living Dead, The Blair Witch Project and Psycho have all left their mark, but more recent films aren’t always considered to be as impactful as the genre’s older offerings.

Yet, today’s horror landscape would look very different without James Wan’s Saw, which debuted in cinemas in October 2004 and recently returned to UK cinemas to mark its 20th anniversary. Saw kickstarted the so-called torture porn subgenre of horror along with Eli Roth’s Hostel, but it also brought in a whole new approach to the genre. What if the killer wasn’t just sadistic, but also...

For hardcore horror heads on the hunt for an excellent Halloween watch, look no further than Vincenzo Natali's 1997 cult-classic sci-fi horror, Cube. Now available for free on Tubi, the head-spinning cinematic puzzler is sure to capture the imagination of the uninitiated, opening their minds to the twisted vision that spawned two sequels. A paragon of low-budget horror filmmaking at its finest, Cube is a prime example of ingenuity and creativity trumping big-budget resources.

Inspiring similar horror stories like Saw and Escape Room, Cube finds a group of strangers suddenly waking in a bizarre geometrical cube that functions as a maze. As the strangers try to make sense of who they are, where they've been taken, and how they know each other, they become subjected to a series of deadly traps inside the lethal labyrinth. Between its captivating premise, nightmarish surrealism, and excellent production design, Cube is a must-visit destination on Tubi this Halloween.

The themes of entrapment and the fight for survival in a manufactured environment have become recurrent narrative tropes in 21st-century cinema. While Vincenzo Natali’s “Cube” (1997) put a sci-fi spin on the survival quest of a group of strangers, the Japanese action thriller “Battle Royale” and similar iterations (including the hit Netflix series “Squid Game”) found grim sociopolitical parallels to our contemporary dog-eat-dog world. The winsome young adult stories like “Hunger Games” and “Maze Runner” put a dystopian cloak to the survival game tales. Then there were also richly allegorical dystopian visions in movies like “The Snowpiercer” and “The Platform.” The latter of the two – from Spanish filmmaker Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia – felt like an assortment of familiar sociopolitical elements ensconced within this familiar narrative, but it offered unique twisty visual delights and an ever-deepening metaphor for social inequality.

Recommended: Top 10 Netflix Original Spanish Thrillers

Moreover, “The Platform” accidentally became a movie...

Vincenzo Natali's horror film In the Tall Grass has a harrowing yet ambiguous climax, so it helps to have In the Tall Grass explained in detail including how the ending differs from the source material. Written by Stephen King and his son, Joe Hill, In the Tall Grass was originally published in two parts in Esquire magazine. In the Tall Grass focuses on a brother and sister who are lured into a field of tall grass by a boy's cries for help. Once inside, they become separated and discover that the tall grass is twisting space and moving them around, making it impossible for them to either find each other or escape.

Released on Netflix, In the Tall Grass stars Laysla de Oliveira and Avery Whitted as Becky and Cal DeMuth, siblings who are on a road trip to San Diego. Unlike the original Stephen King In the Tall Grass short story,...

With today being Friday the 13th, fans are rewatching their favorite entries in the iconic horror movie franchise to celebrate the day. While some relive the past, others lament the many lost projects that didn't make it to screens. One recent scrapped project is Bryan Fuller's Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake. Unfortunately for those already disappointed that the series was abandoned, one horror movie director has made things worse by calling the scripts for the series some of the best he had ever read.

Director Vincenzo Natali, best known for his work on films like The Cell and Splice, took to X/Twitter to share a little tease about Fuller's Crystal Lake series.. He also said, "The scripts for the first two episodes remain among the best I have ever read for any show." Natali has collaborated with Fuller before, directing five episodes of Hannibal and one for American Gods,...

At this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, we were lucky enough to catch up with directors Sarah Appleton and Phillip Escott about their new horror documentary, Generation Terror, which had its world premiere at the event.

Immediately after the screening, the pair granted us the following interview about the documentary, and fans of their work will definitely be interested in hearing what they have to say. Appleton and Escott are already an established duo, as they previously co-directed another horror documentary called The Found Footage Phenomenon, which examines the found footage subgenre. While Escott individually helmed a documentary about the popular Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise called The Legacy of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Appleton individually helmed a documentary about filmmaker David Hamilton Grant called Damaged. She also previously co-directed a feature length documentary about Japanese horror called The J-Horror Virus alongside Jasper Sharp.

Generation Terror examines the horror genre throughout the 1990s,...

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake. Things were moving ahead at a good pace, filming was expected to begin this July, but then the project hit a speed bump at the end of April with the firing of Fuller and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray. Now, Deadline reports that Crystal Lake is getting back on track with the hiring of a new showrunner – and that person is Brad Caleb Kane, who also serves as co-showrunner and executive producer of It: Welcome to Derry,...

Plans for A24 and Peacock’s planned Friday the 13th television series “Crystal Lake” derailed earlier this year, with showrunner Bryan Fuller‘s (“Hannibal”) departure leaving the project in limbo. Deadline reports that the project is back on track, enlisting Brad Caleb Kane (It: Welcome to Derry) as the new showrunner.

Kane will serve as the series’ creator, showrunner, writer and executive producer.

To refresh your memory, Peacock had given the project a straight-to-series order in 2022, with “Crystal Lake” being described as an “expanded prequel” to the original Friday the 13th franchise featuring both Jason Voorhees and his mother, Pamela. Additionally, Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice) and Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry, Carrie) were set to direct episodes, with the budget ballooning to around $10 million per episode. With eight episodes in total planned for the first season, it would’ve cost A24 roughly $85 million to bring the series to life, with...

Cube

Canadian director Vincenzo Natali's Cube has become a cult phenomenon, now restored in 4K by the Canadian Film Centre. A precursor to the Saw franchise of deadly games, Natali's sci-fi horror pitched the premise of strangers waking up in a giant cube structure, made up of over 17,000 cube-shaped rooms. To escape, they must navigate the labyrinthine structure and avoid triggering the deadly traps contained inside each cell. At this year's Fantasia International Film Festival, Natali was bestowed with the Canadian Trailblazer Award.

The filmmaker's work has not always been met with popular appeal, but he has never sought to repeat himself. After Cube, he directed two feature films in quick succession, beginning with the sci-fi espionage film Cypher (2002), before merging sci-fi and surrealist comedy in Nothing (2003). Then, he shifted back towards Cube's darker tones, coupling sci-fi with horror in Splice (2009), and...

Stephen King movies have been with us almost as long as Stephen King books — King's first novel "Carrie" became a film two years after it hit bookshelves. And while the adaptations have been coming steadily since the '70s, King movies and TV shows experienced something of a boom in the 2010s. This was primarily due to 2017's film adaptation of "It," which became a horor blockbuster, hauling in $701.8 million at the box office. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be in the Stephen King business again, and the aftermath of "It" saw a wealth of adaptations get the green light. This trend hasn't died out, either — new King adaptations continue to come our way. A long-delayed take on "Salem's Lot" is due out on Max later this year, and film adaptations of the King short stories "The Life of Chuck" and "The Monkey" are both on the horizon.

Netflix also wanted...

Forty years ago, author William Gibson brought the world a cyberpunk novel called Neuromancer – and an adaptation of that story has been trudging its way through development hell pretty much ever since. Versions of a feature film adaptation have passed through the hands of directors like music video maker Chris Cunningham, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob‘s Chuck Russell, Torque‘s Joseph Kahn, Cube‘s Vincenzo Natali, and Deadpool‘s Tim Miller. An adaptation of Neuromancer is currently moving forward as a 10-episode series that’s set up at Apple TV+, and we’ve previously heard that BAFTA Award-nominee Callum Turner of Masters of the Air and The Boys in the Boat will be playing the lead character, Henry Dorsett Case. Now Deadline reports that Briana Middleton of Sharper and The Tender Bar is taking on the role of Case’s partner Molly,...

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake – and by April of 2024, things were looking pretty good for the show. Under the guidance of Fuller and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray, the project was gearing up to go into production this summer, with filming to last for seven to eight months. Charlize Theron was being considered for the role of Pamela Voorhees, Vincenzo Natali (Cube) and Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) were on board to direct episodes, Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson was...

A24 and Peacock’s planned Friday the 13th television series “Crystal Lake” went up in smoke earlier this year, with showrunner Bryan Fuller (“Hannibal”) being fired from the project and leaving the fate of the small screen project unclear. So what really happened? The Wrap just dropped one hell of an exclusive report untangling the behind the scenes mess.

To refresh your memory before we dive in, Peacock had given the project a straight-to-series order in 2022, with “Crystal Lake” being described as an “expanded prequel” to the original Friday the 13th franchise featuring both Jason Voorhees and his mother, Pamela. According to The Wrap’s new report, Charlize Theron was being “eyed” to play Mrs. Voorhees!

Other new details from The Wrap’s report reveal that the episode written by Kevin Williamson (Scream) was going to take place “entirely on a frozen Crystal Lake,” with Williamson recently describing the episode as “an hour-long chase.

Vincenzo Natali's 1997 film "Cube" takes place entirely inside a strange, unexplained high-tech ... prison ... of some sort. It is constructed of cube-shaped cells with hatches on all four walls, the floor, and the ceiling. Each hatch leads into an identical cell, only distinguished by its colored lights and a series of cryptic numbers etched into the doorways. Random cells throughout the structure are armed with deadly booby-traps. There are no bathrooms, no food, and no water. Six strangers find each other in this prison wearing identical jumpsuits, unsure how they arrived there or why they have been imprisoned. They slowly begin to decipher the numbers to determine which rooms have traps and which ones do not. Naturally, they all slowly begin to go mentally deteriorate.

"Cube" was produced for a modest $350,000 (Canadian), but its intriguing "Twilight Zone" premise and taut direction allowed it to catch on as a cult hit.

Vincenzo Natali mainly for directing the 1997 cinematic nightmare Cube, a film that answers the question "What if you woke up in a deadly, inescapable architectural nightmare?" Recently, Natali's Graveyard Rats, his nightmare-inducing contribution to Guillermo del Toros Cabinet of Curiosities used gorgeous practical effects to remind us why we find rats so uniquely disturbing. Creature feature fans also likely know Natalis exceptional 2009 monster movie Splice, boasting one of the most stunningly original big-screen creatures in years. The film stars Academy Award winner Adrien Brody and nominee Sarah Polley as a pair of coupled scientists, Clive and Elsa, who create a genetically spliced new organism, Dren (Delphine Chanac), who grows into a unique humanoid hybrid with disastrous consequences.

Some of Dren's violent tendencies in Splice were a result of her upbringing, with Clive treating her like an experiment. Elsa's eventual abusive tendencies and Dren's genetic aggression also contributed to Dren's violent nature. Even if raised differently, Dren's DNA and natural instincts made violent aggression inevitable.

One of the biggest questions surrounding 2009's Splice is whether Dren's personality would be different if she were treated with nurturing care. The 15-year-old sci-fi horror flick has seen a resurgence in popularity recently, as it was added to Max's streaming platform and quickly became a trending title. Viewers have seen it as a perfect pairing with 1931's Frankenstein and become especially interested in the hybrid creature known as Dren, who was genetically created by the film's main characters, Elsa and Clive (played by Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody.)

During the film's progression, Dren becomes increasingly aggressive, even to the point...

Splice is a modern, terrifying take on Frankenstein, exploring the dangers of unchecked ambition in science. Both films feature tragic creatures created by science, turning violent due to neglect and mistreatment. The lead characters in Splice and Frankenstein are blinded by ambition, leading to catastrophic consequences for all involved.

Splice is a highly memorable and truly terrifying movie, and it pairs perfectly with a classic of the horror genre. Released in 2010 to solid reviews (but an ultimately lackluster box office), Splice fused sci-fi and horror to explore questions about life and humanity in an age where science could transform people into something new. It's far from the only movie to use those genres to explore inquisitive reflections on the nature of life and death, speaking to the universal power of those themes as Splice even takes inspiration from real life. In fact, those shared qualities actually give an inherent connection...

The 2024 Fantasia Film Festival will open with a world premiere for Bookworm, the Elijah Wood and Nell Fisher starrer from New Zealand filmmaker Ant Timpson.

The indie reteams Wood with Come to Daddy director Timpson and saw the Lord of the Rings actor return to New Zealand for production. In Bookworm, Fisher plays a 12-year-old girl whose life is turned upside down when her long-absent American magician father (Wood) comes to look after her, and together they take an ill-advised camping trip into the rugged New Zealand wilderness to find a mythological beast that leads to increasingly absurd and treacherous adventures.

Among other new titles added to the lineup for Fantasia’s 28th edition are world bows for Alexander J. Farrell’s The Beast Within, starring Kit Harrington; Isaac Ezban’s dystopian coming-of-age tale Parvulos; and Vivieno Caldinelli’s Scared Shitless, starring Steven Ogg and Daniel Doheny.

There are also...

The 28th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is set to run from from July 18th through August 4th at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas in Montreal, with additional screens and events at Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. Last month, the festival announced the first wave of titles that will be screening this year, and now the second wave has been unveiled!

With this second wave announcement, we learn that Cube director Vincenzo Natali has been chosen to be the recipient of the Candadian Trailblazer Awards this year, while the line-up of films includes the Elijah Wood comedy Bookworm, the Kit Harington werewolf movie The Beast Within, a movie called Scared Shitless, the 1815-set blockbuster epic The Count of Monte-Cristo, and Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s The Soul Eater.

Here’s the information on the second wave of titles (and the Canadian Trailblazer...

The Fantasia International Film Festival returns with its 28th edition from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montreal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. The second wave of programming has been unveiled, adding even more genre premieres to an already packed slate.

Come To Daddy director Ant Timpson‘s Bookworm (starring Elijah Wood and Evil Dead Rise‘s Nell Fisher) is the fest’s 2024 Opening Film. Fantasia is also hosting the World Premieres of the dark fantasy The Beast Within, starring “Game of Thrones” actor Kit Harington, Cannes’ hit The Count of Monte-Cristo, and more. The festival is also giving their Canadian Trailblazer Award to Vincenzo Natali, to be presented before the premiere of the new 4K restoration of his 1997 classic Cube.

The second wave of titles, from the press release:

Bookworm

Fantasia’s 28th...

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its second wave of titles, which includes the world premiere of Ant Timpson’s “Bookworm” as the opening night film. This year’s edition, the 28th for the festival, will run from July 18 to August 4. More titles will be announced July 3.

Other world premieres included in the line-up are “The Beast Within” starring Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”), which follows a young girl as she starts to question her atypical life in her family’s compound in England, and makes a shocking discovering about her dad; and “Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain,” with director Kenji Nakamura reviving the thrills of the original anime.

“Bookworm” stars Elijah Wood (“Yellowjackets”) and Nell Fisher (“Evil Dead Rise”). The official logline reads, “Mildred (Fisher), a precocious eleven-year-old bookworm, escapes her humdrum existence by immersing herself in novels where literary adventures abound, with a...

Adrien Brody's character having sex with the creature was controversial but central; Natali refused to cut the scene. Despite divisive audience reception, Splice garnered a cult following among genre enthusiasts and horror fans. Splice's blend of sci-fi and body horror, inspired by Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey, remains impactful 15 years later.

Splice director Vincenzo Natali reflects on its controversial scene and legacy 15 years later. Co-written and directed by Natali who was previously known for Cube, Cypher, and Nothing the sci-fi horror film from 2009 follows two genetic engineers who splice together DNA to create a human-animal hybrid creature called Dren, who they raise to disastrous results. Academy Award winners Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley lead the cast alongside Delphine Chanac as Dren, Brandon McGibbon, Simona Maicanescu, and David Hewlett.

Now, 15 years after the film's release, Natali reflected on Splice's controversial sex scene and its overall legacy in an interview with IndieWire.

Vincenzo Natali nearly died while making his first movie, “Cube.”

Made on a shoestring budget, his 1997 psychological horror only had one practical set — a huge, boobie-trap-filled cuboid prison to house the film’s action and drama — and at one point, it nearly fell on him.

Thankfully, it didn’t. But the bad luck didn’t stop there. By the time he’d finished making his genetically modified body-horror “Splice,” the process had proven so difficult, drawn-out, and stressful that it had turned the then-40-year-old director’s hair gray.

“It was like having a child,” Natali, laughing, told IndieWire as his cult-hit creation turns 15. “If I didn’t care about the movie as much as I care about my own children, my hair wouldn’t have turned gray. It’s because I wanted this thing to exist so badly. Making [‘Splice’] was so stressful, it made me sick. I had something no doctor could identify,...

Back on Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian of Horror Inc., production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake. The project seemed to be on track to start filming this summer… but then, earlier this month, we learned that Fuller was booted from the project because A24 wanted to go in a “different direction.” While we wait to see what’s going to happen with Crystal Lake, Horror Inc. announced they’re launching the Jason Universe, which will consist of “new Friday the 13th activations that will span a wide range of platforms from entertainment,...

Camp Crystal Lake hasn’t been this busy in decades, yet, ironically, the waters are calm and there’s no killer stalking the grounds. When news came that Crystal Lake – an “expanded prequel” set to air on Peacock – was looking to be on the chopping block, fans of the Friday the 13th series saw a missed opportunity from A24 and Peacock to revive the long-dormant franchise. And while Crystal Lake may still be moving forward in some capacity, it has lost a key member of the team: producer Bryan Fuller. That’s a major blow for sure, and one that some prominent names in horror aren’t happy about.

Responding to Bryan Fuller’s announcement over just where he stood with Crystal Lake, Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer screenwriter wrote, “Bummin’ hard, so sorry I won’t be a part of what would have been an epic Bryan Fuller show.

The horror genre recently received a positive uptick in Hollywood thanks to Sydney Sweeney and her Immaculate outing. However, on the other side of the coin, disappointment followed with a much-anticipated project, Friday the 13th: The Series, losing its prized writer. The prequel series has already generated sufficient hype and hope because of its overarching legacy that goes back decades and consists of twelve slasher films.

A shot of Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th: Part VI

Regardless, fans of the franchise had locked in their hopes after the show’s running man, Kevin Williamson took steps in the right direction creatively. Now, the same fanbase has taken to a period of shock and discontent with another update, also coming from the producer. Many took to social media to vent out their disbelief and the turn of events while expressing concern over the future of the show, initially expected to...

We learned earlier this week that “Hannibal” creator Bryan Fuller is no longer the showrunner of A24 and Peacock’s Friday the 13th TV series “Crystal Lake,” with A24 choosing to “go a different way with the material.” What does that mean? It means A24 is still planning on bringing a Friday the 13th series to life, but the overall vision will likely change.

Kevin Williamson (Scream, Sick) had been on board to write an episode of the “Crystal Lake” series, and Williamson took to Twitter today to tease some of those original plans.

Williamson writes, “Bummin’ hard, so sorry I won’t be a part of what would have been an epic Bryan Fuller show. Your pilot was so beautifully realized. A gorgeous portrait of a mother unraveling in her grief. Not to mention bloody horrific!”

He adds, “I was so looking forward to our hour long chase episode!