Presented by Bloody Disgusting, SCREAMBOX Original horror-comedy Here for Blood is now available on Collector’s Edition Blu-ray with blood-splattered artwork by Matthew Therrien.

Drawing comparisons to Evil Dead 2, the gory throwback to video store staples of the ‘80s and ’90s is directed by Daniel Turres and written by James Roberts.

Exclusive special features include:

• Audio Commentary by Writer James Roberts and The Butcher Shop FX Studio
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
• The Butcher Shop FX Studio Video Diary
• Extended Gore: Uncut FX Gags

Struggling to make ends meet, a rowdy pro wrestler agrees to babysit a precocious 10-year-old girl. What starts off as a laid-back night of junk food and video games quickly spirals into bloody chaos as the secluded home is invaded by a cult of mask-wearing maniacs.

Shawn Roberts (Resident Evil franchise) stars with Maya Misaljevic (The Boys), Joelle Farrow, Tara Spencer-Nairn (Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled), Michael Therriault (Chucky), and Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider as the voice to a decapitated skull.

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From Epic Pictures’ horror label DREAD and director Jill Gevargizian (The Stylist) comes Ghost Game, and the upcoming horror movie’s official trailer has arrived this week.

Ghost Game will have a limited theatrical run October 18 before hitting VOD on October 22.

In the indie horror film, “After discovering his girlfriend Laura’s involvement in an internet challenge to secretly live alongside unsuspecting residents, Vin persuades her to take him on her next adventure. They target Halton House, a notoriously haunted manor recently purchased by a new family.

“Upon entering, the thrill-seeking couple experiences chilling, unexplained phenomena. It quickly becomes clear they are not the only ones haunting the manor. As the new owner descends into madness and threatens the family, what began as a game turns deadly, forcing Laura and Vin to fight for their survival.”

Kia Dorsey, Zaen Haidar, and Michael C. Williams star in Ghost Game.

Ghost Game is written by Adam Cesare (Last Night at Terrace Lanes, Clown in a Cornfield), with Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project) on board as the executive producer.

The post ‘Ghost Game’ Trailer – Jill Gevargizian’s New Movie Takes Part in a Spooky Internet Challenge appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

When Stephen King takes to Twitter to rave about a horror movie, horror fans across the world scramble to get their hands on it. The latest King-approved horror movie is titled The Rule of Jenny Pen, and while King wants you to watch it, that’s not actually possible… yet.

Stephen King took to Twitter this week to rave about The Rule of Jenny Pen, a psychological thriller that just premiered at Fantastic Fest last week. The good news? It’s coming to Shudder in 2025, with the streaming service just announcing the news a couple weeks back.

King tweets, “I watched one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It’s called THE RULE OF JENNY PEN, and I urge you to watch it when it appears on Shudder. Geoffrey Rush stars, with John Lithgow as a geriatric psychopath with an evil hand puppet.”

Check out King’s tweet below and read on for more about the upcoming horror movie.

Directed by James Ashcroft and co-written by Eli Kent and Ashcroft, next year’s The Rule of Jenny Pen follows Ashcroft’s acclaimed feature debut Coming Home in the Dark.

In the film, “Arrogant Judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush) suffers a near-fatal stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed and confined to a retirement home. Resistant to the staff and distant from his friendly roommate, Mortensen soon clashes with seemingly gentle resident Dave Crealy (Lithgow) who secretly terrorizes the home with a sadistic game called “The Rule of Jenny Pen” while wielding his dementia doll as an instrument of cruelty.

“What begins as childish torment quickly escalates into far more sinister and disturbing incidents. When Mortensen’s pleas to the staff go unanswered, he takes it upon himself to put an end to Crealy’s reign of terror.”

“Working with two of my acting heroes, Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow, was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Partnering with Shudder and opening Fantastic Fest 2024 is just the stick of cinematic dynamite with which I wanted to launch this film into the world,” James Ashcroft recently said. “Shudder has always been groundbreaking in genre cinema, passionately committed to the vision of the filmmaker; I can think of no better home for The Rule of Jenny Pen.”

Shudder Emily Gotto’s also commented, “We have been fans of James Ashcroft since his chilling debut Coming Home in the Dark premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, showcasing his undeniable talent. His sharp eye for deeply observed characters and tragic circumstances explores the darkest corners of humanity with visceral thrills, and coupled with unforgettable performances from John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush, The Rule of Jenny Pen is a film that will linger with you long after viewing.”

The Rule of Jenny Pen is produced by Catherine Fitzgerald and Orlando Stewart, and executive produced by Ashcroft, Eli Kent, John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, and Shudder’s Emily Gotto, Nicholas Lazo and Samuel Zimmerman.

I watched one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It’s called THE RULE OF JENNY PEN, and I urge you to watch it when it appears on Shudder. Geoffrey Rush stars, with John Lithgow as a geriatric psychopath with an evil hand puppet.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 25, 2024

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The majority of Junji Itō adaptations are underseen or simply unknown. The sheer amount may also come as a surprise. The peak of movies based on the horror mangaka’s works was during the “J-Horror” wave; The Ring (1998) signaled a sea change in Japanese horror, and studios were looking everywhere for inspiration. Unfortunately, Itō is not the easiest of source materials. His stories and illustrations are surreal and visceral, and translating all of that into moving images is, to say the least, challenging.

Two years after living-dead girl Tomie made the leap to the big screen in 1998, Uzumaki was brought to life. The movie, which was put on a double-bill with Tomie: Replay, served as Akihiro “Higuchinsky” Higuchi’s feature debut. And so far in the cinematic collective derived from Itō’s oeuvre, Uzumaki is one of the most competent. Other adaptations have been partly inspired by their basis; they tend not to be bound by precision and authenticity. Whereas Higuchinsky insisted on some semblance of accuracy. Seeing is believing when understanding the difference in execution between Uzumaki and other Itō movies.

Like in the three-part manga, Uzumaki or Spiral — not to be confused with the Ring sequel of the same name — is set in a coastal area whose name literally translates to Black Vortex Town. That might have been a hint of the problems in store, but alas, the characters are taken by surprise. The first to notice the increasingly helical goings-on is, as usual for the horror genre, the young people. Eriko Hatsune plays protagonist Kirie, who is becoming more and more aware of all the whirly weirdness. From snail-obsessed parents to death-driven students chasing after spiral patterns, the town is under attack. By what, though, this movie never exactly explains with absolute clarity.

Pictured: Someone gets tired in Uzumaki (2000).

At the time, there was nothing quite like Uzumaki in Itō adaptations. Sure, other movies upheld the macabre ingredients, but as far as style goes, they didn’t dig their nails in as much as Higuchinsky. He easily could have forsaken the more visually arresting elements of the manga and instead found pragmatic means to communicate the cosmic dread of the story. Thankfully there is a sense of obligation to Itō’s artistic derangement as well as narrative strangeness. 

Even for those folks who have only admired Junji Itō’s artwork from afar, they can still find pleasure in this live-action take on Uzumaki. Not being familiar with the story doesn’t affect the other merits of this ambitious interpretation. And if nothing else, the movie is a solid preview before delving into the more graphic — and not to mention enlightening — manga, which didn’t conclude until after the adaptation began production. So the endings are widely varying, with the manga’s being more of a downer. The movie, on the other hand, emphasizes the symbolism of the spiral: there is no real end.

Unlike Uzumaki, the cinematic version of Kakashi has escaped recognition in the West. This is primarily due to the fact that the adaptation was never officially released in the United States. To catch this movie, ardent J-Horror fiends resorted to overseas copies, including a now-obscure and English-translated release from Hong Kong. Perhaps odder is how much Kakashi has slipped through the cracks since 2001. By no means is it faithful to what Itō conceived, but at the same time, this rendition of Kakashi is refreshingly distinct.

Pictured: Kou Shibasaki as Izumi in Kakashi (2001).

The original Kakashi (Scarecrow) can be found in the fourth volume of Horror World of Junji Itō. And apart from the scarecrows-coming-to-life aspect, it has little in common with the movie. In the manga’s story, the grieving residents of a small community discover a way to bring back the dearly departed: erect a scarecrow at the grave of the deceased, and soon his or her face will gradually manifest on the scarecrow.

Meanwhile, Norio Tsuruta’s movie can be treated as an original work with only minimal inspiration from the manga. Here a woman named Kaoru (Maho Nonami) visits a tucked away village where she suspects her missing brother is now residing. Her arrival is untimely, however, because the peculiar locals are in the midst of setting up their annual festival. One involving a great many scarecrows.

To pitch Kakashi as a mere killer scarecrow movie would be a mistake. In actuality, the proper genre designation is folk horror. Prevailing offerings of J-Horror dabbled in folklore, but in most cases that was limited to placing mythological entities, such as yūrei (ghosts), in modern environments. The likes of The Ring and Ju-On mainly looked to understand their specters’ present stories as opposed to their old histories and legendary origins. Kakashi does both, albeit lightly. The movie prefaces itself with a brief explanation of these scarecrows and how they came into being. The rest can be assumed once the festival is fully underway.

Pictured: Maho Nonami and Shunsuke Matsuoka respectively as Kaoru and Tsuyoshi in Kakashi (2001).

The Kakashi movie explains the uncanniness of Itō’s story while also taking everything farther. The implication in the manga was that the scarecrows didn’t just become ensouled and start to look like the dead; they gained their emotions, including anger and sadness. One man is impaled to death by his stepson’s scarecrow, and it’s believed this was an act of revenge after the stepfather murdered the boy. Another man then dies after his late fiancée’s scarecrow falls on top of him. This plot component from the manga is carried over in the movie, although not in the same manner.

Kakashi was too short of a story to adapt as a long feature, so for the movie’s writers to go off and do their own thing is understandable. Maybe even recommended. The outcome is indeed different but good in its own right. And like other Tsuruta horrors, the movie’s slow-burn quality adds to the unnerving atmosphere.

It would be easy to tell the uninitiated to stick to the manga if interested in exploring Junji Itō. Yes, the overall film side has a tendency to stray, dilute, or fail to live up to Itō’s illustrations. Nevertheless, there are spots of creativity in these movies that shouldn’t be overlooked either.

Be sure to watch the new Uzumaki anime on Adult Swim, starting on September 29.

Horrors Elsewhere is a recurring column that spotlights a variety of movies from all around the globe, particularly those not from the United States. Fears may not be universal, but one thing is for sure — a scream is understood, always and everywhere.

The post Junji Ito Double Feature: Revisiting J-Horror Movies ‘Uzumaki’ and ‘Kakashi’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Azrael, the latest from director E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills) and writer Simon Barrett (The Guest, You’re Next), takes the golden rule of showing, not telling, to heart. Samara Weaving (Ready or Not, Scream VI) takes on the title role in this survival horror movie set in a post-Rapture world where speaking is forbidden. It makes for a fascinating experiment in dialogue-free horror, where most the world building is left to the viewer to discern amidst minimalist storytelling and propulsive action.

A text card reveals that the Rapture has already happened when we meet Azrael, a terrified woman on the run with her lover (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett). Azrael is terrified and on edge, constantly looking over her shoulder as her lover tries to soothe her. They can’t say what they’re running from, though, as the cross-shaped scars on their throats indicate speaking is an impossibility for either. It doesn’t take long for their cultish persecutors to reveal themselves, though, pummeling both and dragging Azrael against her will to be sacrificed.

But just as her executioner – a burned, bloodthirsty humanoid – arrives, a stroke of determined luck frees Azrael and kickstarts a violent bid for survival.

The setting itself is, for the most part, as minimalist as the narrative. Nestled deep within a forest, the only telltale signs of a fallen civilization are a few clunky cars, building ruins, and a ramshackle encampment. It puts the spotlight on Weaving’s Azrael, a terrified woman ill-equipped to fight off her much stronger enemies. Her wordless arc charts an intriguing course; the constant barrage of attacks injects adrenaline and character development at once. Azrael simply wants to survive, and the relentless pursuit sees her fear slowly transform into gritty resolve.

Helping, of course, is the carnage. The cult members pursuing Azrael don’t hesitate to dole out grueling punishment to force her into compliance, but it pales in comparison to the ravenous creatures who tear into flesh with grotesque ease, blood spurting everywhere. Katz only dials up the gore and violence the longer the night wears on, with Azrael taking a constant pummeling.

It builds to an appropriately biblical finish, a distinctly horror punchline at the end of a grueling, thrilling gauntlet. Weaving carries the film effortlessly through an impressive, entirely physical performance. You can feel her primal scream, even if it comes out as a hollow hiss. Azrael’s fear earns easy rooting interest, and that only mounts when Weaving digs into her steely resolve to finally fight back. None of the other characters get fleshed out or have much in the way of identifying personalities, but they don’t need it. This is Samara Weaving’s show.

Azrael plays like a nonstop barrage of horror violence over the course of 24 hours, a gory survival thriller that doesn’t have time to dwell on the story specifics. It doesn’t really need to; Barrett’s lean, efficient script gives enough clues to let viewers fill in the blanks of this very biblical horror tale. The experiment in dialogue-free action can be a tricky one; it’s a tough ask for audiences wanting spelled-out answers. But Weaving’s capable performance and the visceral siege horror ensure this experiment succeeds. 

Azrael releases in theaters on September 27, 2024.

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