Writer Adam Rockoff reteams with director David DeCoteau on a new Lifetime thriller that bears a striking resemblance to this month’s earlier title, Million Dollar Lethal Listing.

In Fatal Fixer Upper, Vivian (Jasmine Aivaliotis) and Ryan (Philip McElroy) are a young married couple preparing to purchase their dream home. Just like in Million Dollar Lethal Listing, the deal is too good to be true: the house is wildly underpriced, the owner is looking for a quick sale, and they’re asked to make a hefty cash deposit.

Unlike the former title, though, there’s no mystery about who the villain is in Fatal Fixer Upper. The film opens with a classic Lifetime cold open that immediately establishes that there is a bad man keeping an eye on things. His identity is quickly revealed as Josh Thomas (Duke Van Patten), the home’s original owner and the person spying on Vivian when she checks out the property with her father, Roger Fields (an underused Dorian Gregory).

Alas there’s no room for subtlety in Van Patten’s performance as he immediately goes from spying on Vivian to snapping at realtor Sandy (Eliza Roberts) and neighbour Jill (Grisselle Escotto). Considering how easily he flies off the handle, it’s a surprise that Josh stays calm long enough to ingratiate himself into Vivian and Ryan’s lives by doing repairs around the house.

Because Josh is revealed as the villain early on, Fatal Fixer Upper is an exercise in patience. The audience is always one to two steps ahead of Vivian and Ryan, which requires the screenplay, co-written with Jeffrey Schenck and Peter Sullivan, to find entertaining ways to fill the time until the characters catch up in the last act.

Unfortunately the film relies too heavily on clichéd characters and formulaic developments. Naturally there’s a concerned therapist, Dr. Shaw (Diane Robin), who questions if Josh is taking his meds. There’s also Ryan’s cousin, Casey (Randy Jay Burrell), a police officer-turned-PI who investigates Josh after the homeowner explodes at a BBQ in front of everyone. And you know that Sandy’s in danger the moment she confirms to Vivian that Josh lied about where he’s living (sidebar: the film treats this as a reveal, but anyone who has ever seen a horror film will immediately call it).

The fact that danger and injury befalls anyone who questions or gets in Josh’s way is inevitable, though the way DeCoteau shoots action leaves something to be desired. Characters tend to die easily in Lifetime films, and Fatal Fixer Upper is no different: one person is briefly strangled before they’re dragged off screen and another is struck in the back of the head. Considering a third act hit and run looks far worse, but the victim barely uses crutches a day later, the impact of violence in the film feels wildly inconsistent.

Another Lifetime trait is the presence of ineffectual police officers. Here the role is played by Detective Jones (Rachel Wong) who does believes the couple about Josh’s increasingly unhinged behaviour, but doesn’t assign a police guard outside their home until after dark (perhaps she believes Josh is a vampire?).

While Fatal Fixer Upper rarely surprises, there are a few notable moments of inspiration. Like Million Dollar Lethal Listing before it, this Lifetime film’s secret strength is interrogating the integrity of the central couple’s marriage. As the film progresses, it’s revealed that Vivian and Ryan aren’t as solid as they initially appeared to be, and their doubts about the other help to sustain the film until its violent climax.

In terms of performances, Aivaliotis is a sympathetic lead with a decent amount of agency. It’s nice that she refuses to take crap from Ryan when he questions her about Josh’s continued presence around the house. McElroy is likewise solid as the suspicious husband, though Ryan makes some questionable decisions in the finale that seem more motivated by plot than by character.

That leaves Van Patten, who has arguably the trickiest role. He’s best when Josh is awkwardly trying to flirt with Vivian, even going so far as to initiate a rom-com moment when he’s sprayed by water and has to change shirts in front of her. Unfortunately when Josh loses his cool, Van Patten always plays him at a 10, so there’s no range or escalation. The performance needed to be dialed back to give it levels.

Fatal Fixer Upper‘s other fatal quality is that there are simply too many characters. Jill and her husband exist solely to offer vague exposition at convenient moments, but because they’re new parents, they’re equipped with plot armour.

Then there’s Josh’s ex-wife, Michelle (Savoy Bailey), who only returns after the cold open to diagnose Josh with a ridiculously laughable (and highly fabricated) disease that “explains” his behaviour. Fatal Fixer Upper has its share of deaths, but there are a few too many red shirts wandering around by the time the credits roll whose deaths might have helped to make the film more memorable.

Overall, this is pretty standard Lifetime fare. Fans of DeCoteau and Rockoff’s previous collaborations will undoubtedly appreciate it, but for the uninitiated, Fatal Fixer Upper is solidly mid-tier.

Fatal Fixer Upper premieres on Lifetime Thursday, April 25 at 8/7c.

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Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).

The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.

No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.

28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.

Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.

The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”

Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.

Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

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In the wake of this week’s brand new trailer, Ishana Night Shyamalan’s upcoming horror movie The Watchers once again has a new release date. And as the headline of this article suggests, New Line Cinema has moved it back to its original release date. Say what?!

The Watchers had originally been set for theatrical release on June 7 before being recently bumped to June 14. But we’ve learned tonight that it’s been moved back into the June 7 slot.

That’s Hollywood for ya. In any event, watch this week’s new trailer below.

[Related] AreYouWatching.com: ‘The Watchers’ Interactive Website Is Full of Easter Eggs

The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.

The Watchers stars Dakota Fanning (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Georgina Campbell (Barbarian), Oliver Finnegan (“Creeped Out”) and Olwen Fouere (The Northman).

The upcoming mystery-horror film is produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan and Nimitt Mankad. The executive producers are Jo Homewood and Stephen Dembitzer.

Joining writer/director Shyamalan behind-the-camera are director of photography Eli Arenson (“Lamb,” “Hospitality”), production designer Ferdia Murphy (“Lola,” “Finding You”), editor Job ter Burg (“Benedetta,” “Elle”) and costume design by Frank Gallacher (“Sebastian,” “Aftersun”). The music is by Abel Korzeniowski (“Till,” “The Nun”).

The Watchers is based on the novel by A.M. Shine.

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It was announced two weeks ago that Paramount is resurrecting the Scary Movie spoof franchise with a brand new reboot movie, which will likely arrive in theaters next year.

The new movie, a joint venture between Paramount and Miramax that will technically be the sixth installment in the franchise, is expected to go into production this coming Fall.

We don’t yet know who will be writing, directing or starring in the Scary Movie reboot, but two actors in particular have already expressed an interest in joining the franchise.

The first is Melissa Barrera, who can currently be seen in theaters in Radio Silence’s bloody horror movie Abigail. Barrera is of course also the star of Scream and Scream VI, which kind of makes her a perfect candidate to lampoon herself in a Scary Movie reboot.

“I always loved those movies,” Melissa Barrera tells the website Inverse. “When I saw it announced, I was like, ‘Oh, that would be fun.’ That would be so fun to do.”

The actress adds, “They have the iconic cast that did it, so we’ll see what goes on with that. I’m just excited to see a new one.”

In a tweet posted last night, Bailee Madison (The Strangers: Prey at Night, the upcoming “Pretty Little Liars: Summer School”) also threw her hat in the running.

Madison tweets, “Random but scary movie 6 hit me up cause I just feel like we’d have fun okay bye.” Your move, Paramount. And make sure you call Anna Faris and Regina Hall too.

Directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, the first Scary Movie was released in 2000, just four years after Wes Craven reinvigorated the horror genre with his meta slasher masterpiece, Scream.

The film parodied horror movies of the time including Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Blair Witch Project, and the horror-comedy spoof scared up $278 million at the worldwide box office. The success of that first Scary Movie paved the way for an entire franchise of horror spoofs, five of them in total released between 2000 and 2013.

Bailee Madison in “The Strangers: Prey at Night’

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Following in the wake of Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse getting their own horror movies, Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is the next to get the twisted treatment.

Originally published in 1837, the original tale of The Little Mermaid is now in the public domain, and MSR Media International presents their own horror version of the tale this year.

The Little Mermaid is being distributed by Grindstone Entertainment Group, and the film has officially been rated “R” this week for “Language, some violence and brief nudity.”

In the film from director Leigh Scott, “Dr. Eric Prince, an archaeologist, makes a dramatic discovery on a small Caribbean island—proof of an ancient, advanced prehistoric society. While his dig is in progress, he meets the mysterious and beautiful Aurora Bey and falls in love. Her arrival coincides with several mermaid sightings and strange disappearances.

“When Eric’s friend and mentor, Dr. Ashley, arrives on the island, Ashley uncovers the true identity of Aurora and the dangers of the hidden evil inside Eric’s dig site. Will Eric heed his friend’s advice, or will he be blinded by love and the power of the siren, allowing the world to fall to the forces of evil?”

Lydia Helen, Mike Markoff and Jeff Denton star in The Little Mermaid.

You can watch the trailer now over on MSR Media International’s website.

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