Regardless of their artistic merit, it’s understandable that it can sometimes be difficult for mainstream cinephiles to connect with movies about twisted bodies and grisly mutations. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that these films are any less deserving of praise – it’s just that not every critic has a strong stomach. That’s why it’s so satisfying to see a production like Coralie Fargeat’s satirical body horror flick The Substance get the recognition it deserves in spite of its disturbing mean streak.

And in honor of this Demi Moore / Margaret Qualley experiment wowing highbrow audiences worldwide, we’ve decided to come up with a list recommending six other arthouse body horror flicks for your viewing pleasure! After all, there’s no reason that fine cinema should be devoid of blood and malformed guts.

For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining “arthouse” as any film specifically meant to engage with off-kilter ideas usually reserved for non-commercial cinema. That being said, I’d like to make it clear that every single scary movie is technically a work of art regardless of presentation, subject matter or even quality – some of these flicks are just more brazen about this fact than others.

With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own body horror favorites if you think we missed a particularly artsy one.

Now, onto the list…

6. Excision (2012)

Adapted from an equally disturbing short film made by the same director, Excision is a lot darker (not to mention bloodier) than your average coming-of-age high school movie. Telling the story of a delusional teenager with an unhealthy obsession for invasive surgeries, the film cleverly juxtaposes violent imagery with traditional youthful desires in a memorable cocktail of psychosexual storytelling.

And with a cast featuring the talents of genre veterans like John Waters, Malcom McDowell, Ray Wise and even Traci Lords, there’s really no excuse to ignore this one – unless you’re uncomfortable with the idea of teens conducting homemade organ transplants.

5. Audition (1999)

Takashi Miike is no stranger to fans of body horror, but it’s this controversial 1999 feature that first propelled the Japanese director to neo-exploitation stardom with its wince-inducing exploration of misogyny, feminism and human cruelty. An adaptation of Ryu Murakami’s celebrated novel of the same name, Audition follows widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) as he searches for a new wife through a mock casting process. This leads him to Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), a mysterious young lady that might just be the man’s downfall.

While most of the actual body-horror here is relegated to the film’s final act, it’s the contrast between these visceral terrors and everything that came before that makes the flick so effective. I’d just recommend avoiding any trailers if you’re planning on checking this one out, as the film’s marketing spoils many of its most iconic moments.

4. Raw (2016)

Habitual binge-drinking, widespread STDs and a diet almost exclusively comprised of instant ramen and energy drinks – it can be argued that the average college experience is already a terrifying precursor to genuine body horror. That being said, French director Julia Ducournau takes the horrors of higher learning to the next level by incorporating bizarrely sexualized cannibalism into her coming-of-age thriller Raw.

Following a vegetarian who begins to suffer from unexplainable cravings after being forced to eat meat during a hazing ritual, Raw may take a little while to get going (with the film establishing its themes and characters before bringing out the nastiness), but I guarantee that body horror fans will be pleased with the amount of visceral depravity present in the film’s second act.

3. American Mary (2012)

In real life, the body modification community is much more focused on artistic expression than turning oneself into an off-brand Cenobite, but you have to admit that the concept of regarding the human body as a malleable canvas seems like a great starting point for an artsy body-horror flick.

Canadian filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska seem to agree, as their cult classic American Mary dives into the darker side of both surgical revenge and the underground body modification scene. Telling the story of down-on-her-luck medical student Mary Mason (played by the insanely talented Katharine Isabelle) as she turns to illegal operations in order to make a living, this is one of my favorite films on this list – as well as a shining example of how practical effects can make or break a body-horror movie.

2. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

A cult film that slowly grew in popularity in much the same way that the biomechanical infection takes over the titular Iron Man, Tetsuo is a textbook case of a film that “must be seen to be believed.” Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto (an underground artist fascinated with surrealism and experimental theater), the film replaces a conventional narrative with an interconnected collection of horrific vignettes about mankind’s toxic relationship with machines and big city living.

Despite now being considered one of the greatest Japanese films of all time, it actually took quite a while for folks to warm up to such a strange feature, with a steady supply of international festival praise steadily propelling the flick to home video fame. That’s why you shouldn’t blame yourself if you don’t quite connect with Tetsuo on your first watch, as this unique experiment is something of an acquired taste.

1. Naked Lunch (1991)

It would be easy to fill this list with high-profile Cronenberg flicks, with the Canadian director being known for his gruesome indie films that tackle serious subject matter through a fleshy lens, but in the interest of keeping things varied, I’d like to limit today’s Cronenberg recommendation to a single film based on a celebrated novel by infamous author William S. Burroughs.

A surreal sci-fi romp following an exterminator-turned-secret-agent living in a disgusting world that doesn’t play by our rules, Naked Lunch managed to earn its director a series of prominent prizes (such as Best Motion Picture at the Genie Awards) despite its frequent use of fleshy creatures and characters that are actually carnivorous bugs disguised as human beings.

If you ask me, body horror doesn’t get much more artsy than this.

The post 6 Arthouse Body Horror Films to Watch After ‘The Substance’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

I first discovered After Midnight (1989) during my freshman year of college. There at I Luv Video was this VHS tape that gave me nostalgia for a movie I actually hadn’t seen yet. The woman on the cover, a character played by Jillian McWhirter, was quite literally trapped in time, and the tagline beneath her fiery fate read: “Anything Can Happen in the Dark.” As it turned out, my little case of memory distortion was rather fitting; this movie starts off with someone having a vague recollection, albeit of a terrible event.

Growing up I had passed by After Midnight many times at my local video shop, but it wasn’t until some years later that I gave it a watch. And after witnessing the nightmarish fate of those college students enrolled in The Psychology of Fear, I was hooked. Jim and Ken Wheat’s movie — their horror debut as directors and producers after penning Silent Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, and The Fly II — has since become a favorite. You could even say my enthusiasm for anthologies today was influenced by After Midnight.

In hindsight, the VHS synopsis for After Midnight didn’t exactly advertise itself as an anthology; the only indication was the bit of “sharing stories” on the tape’s back cover. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to find another movie like Creepshow, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, and Tales from the Hood. And it is only after the somewhat involved setup does this movie reveal itself to be an anthology. The Wheat Brothers were inspired by 1945’s Dead of Night, another horror portmanteau where the substories happen later than sooner, and the storytellers aren’t your usual Creep or Crypt Keeper types. Much like another anthology I enjoy, Campfire Tales, the narrators here are normal people. Some less so than others, but that fact is revealed later on.

Pictured: Professor Derek (Ramy Zada) aims a gun at his students.

After Midnight begins ordinarily enough. At first there is nothing at all strange about a pair of friends heading for their first class of the new semester. McWhirter, who would go on to appear in other horror movies like Servants of Twilight and The Dentist 2, plays the ostensible protagonist Allison, whose nagging apprehension is brushed off by best friend Cheryl (Pamela Adlon, King of the Hill). The class looks be a breeze because the intense professor, Edward Derek (Ramy Zada, Two Evil Eyes), is not interested in traditional teaching methods. No, he prefers hands-on learning, which he illustrates with a live demonstration of his statement “to understand fear you have to experience fear.” This entails pointing a loaded gun at a meathead named Russ (Ed Monaghan), then turning it on himself. Up until the reveal, no one realized Derek’s stunt was fake until the prof miraculously recovered from his point-blank head wound. The fake brain splatter all over the classroom walls amuses most everyone else in attendance, but Russ’ public humiliation has consequences; the administration puts an immediate end to Derek’s unorthodox lectures.

For those anxious to get on with the anthology aspect, After Midnight soon ditches the classroom setting and moves into more intimate quarters. Derek offers an extracurricular option for his more intrepid students, including Allison and Cheryl. It’s at the professor’s house where the substories finally come out to play. Three, to be exact. In the meantime, the movie circles back to its ominous wraparound whenever a new narrator is required, or whenever needing to update us on Russ’ revenge plot currently underway.

The framing story’s vintage look is intentional and gives it a sort of timeless quality. Even the standalone segments, with the exception of the middle one, have an everlasting appeal to them. Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, who was early into his now-illustrious career, had previously worked with Katt Shea on Dance with the Dead and Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls. Here Papamichael is instrumental in the moody and rich aesthetic of After Midnight.

Pictured: Joan (Nadine Van der Velde) is about to lose her head in the segment “The Old Dark House”.

Allison has been acting peculiar from the get-go, and that uneasiness only worsens once she’s inside Professor Derek’s home. As that tension continues to brew, the host kicks off a round of storytelling that stormy evening. “Ghost stories?” a student asks. Derek quickly corrects him and says the stories have to be true. For something to be frightening, he continues, it has to be believable. This is where After Midnight stands apart from other anthologies; the substories are grounded rather than fantastical and uncanny.

Professor Derek kicks things off with “The Old Dark House,” a Gothic offering that could have easily hailed from the vaults of EC Comics. A couple’s celebratory dinner leads to a scenic drive, then a bit of breaking-and-entering as their car stalls on a creepy and deserted road. As Kevin (Marc McClure, Back to the Future) and Joan (Nadine Van der Velde, Critters) look for a phone in what ends up being an infamous and not-so-empty murder house, the husband’s mind starts to play tricks on him. When it seems as if everything here falls in place much too conveniently, the denouement clarifies with macabre effect.

Just in time for the second self-contained segment, the power goes out in Derek’s house. A sudden need for candles only adds to the mystique of the night and elevates the subsequent stories. One random student then goes on to share a yarn he heard from his sister: “A Night on the Town.” Four teenagers, played by Penelope Sudrow (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), Judie Aronson (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter), Tracy Wells (Mr. Belvedere) and Monique Salcido, become lost and stranded in a run-down area after failing to get into a nightclub. What follows is a straightforward yet nevertheless exciting battle of survival. Character actor Luis Contreras menaces the girls in this empty and derelict part of the city — current Los Angelenos would have a hard time recognizing what used to be the warehouse district — before his trained attack dogs pick up the slack. This second story is the most contemporary of the lot, and it’s not the least terrifying, but it does pack in the semi-slasher thrills.

Pictured: The girls of “A Night on the Town” take Luis Contreras for a ride.

The movie edges closer to its climactic finale as Cheryl reveals a stalker-themed piece called “All Night Operator.” And while she entertains Professor Derek and the others, Russ constructs his payback strategy down below in the basement.

The third and final tale stars Marg Helgenberger of CSI fame as a vestige of a once-thriving business. This segment pits an already injured phone operator against a madman played by Alan Rosenberg (Helgenberger’s real-life husband at the time). The increasingly disturbed caller eventually pays the messenger a visit after dealing with the object of his sick affection (Jordana Capra). Despite the modern timestamp of “All Night Operator,” one featuring a depiction of a soon-to-be obsolete job, this suspenseful closing story is a well-crafted cat-and-mouser that never comes across as too dated. The ending shot alone is a perfect visual garnish that calls back to old Hollywood thrillers.

Allison no longer struggles to remember her own story in the movie’s lengthy epilogue. Her dreadful bout of déjà-rêvé is let loose as Russ gives Derek a taste of his own medicine. However, the professor is more than willing to dole out real fear-inducing horror. From there After Midnight culminates in a display of deus ex machina that was hackneyed even back then, however, as stated before, the directors were motivated by Dead of Night. Not only in assembly but also execution.

After Midnight isn’t held in the same regard as other anthologies, and it’s not particularly scary, but this underseen movie is rich in charm and atmosphere. From my view, it showed up at the right time of my life and opened the door to even more segmented horror. And for that I’m willing to look past its lack of scares and appreciate its many other redeeming traits.

After Midnight is now available on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory and on streaming services such as Tubi.

Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Pictured: Marg Helgenberger in “All Night Operator”.

The post ‘After Midnight’ – An Underseen ’80s Horror Anthology appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the wake of ten new horror movies releasing last week, this week is bringing even more fresh frights to the table. Today alone, ELEVEN new movies have already been offered up.

Here’s all the new horror that released on Tuesday, September 24, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

Breaking Glass Pictures celebrates Halloween with Hayride to Hell, an indie movie that reunites horror legends Bill Moseley and Kane Hodder. It’s now available on VOD outlets.

The team previews, “Bill Moseley, known for his roles in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and House of 1000 Corpses, brings his intense, chilling presence to the role of Farmer Sam. Kane Hodder, famous for his portrayal of Jason Voorhees in four Friday the 13th films, adds his unique, menacing charm as the corrupt Sheriff Jubel. Their pairing makes Hayride to Hell a must-see for horror enthusiasts and a tribute to the legends of the genre.”

“Set on the Coxe Family Farm in rural Willis County, Farmer Sam (Bill Moseley) exacts his bloody revenge on unscrupulous local town-folk, including Sheriff Jubel (Kane Hodder), who menace him and attempt to steal the farm that has been in his family for 200 years.”

Directed by Dan Lantz (Alice and the Vampire Queen, Alpha Rift, Bloodrunners) and written by Kristina Chadwick and Robert Lange, Hayride to Hell had its premiere at the iconic Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, in 2022. The film was shot on Lange’s family-owned Sugartown Strawberries Farm in Lavern, Pennsylvania, which has been in his family since 1896. was shot on Chadwick and Lange’s farm in Pennsylvania.

The company Ben Cooper, Inc. is one of the biggest game-changers in the history of the Halloween holiday, responsible for mass producing the very first licensed Halloween costumes that children in America ever had at their disposal. Nacelle (The Toys/Movies That Made Us) explores the company’s history and legacy with Dressing Up Halloween: The Story of Ben Cooper, Inc., a brand new documentary released onto VOD outlets today.

The documentary, directed by Rob Caprilozzi, shines the light on how Ben Cooper Inc. went from a vaudeville costume company to a powerhouse that dominated the Halloween costume market for decades. For over 60 years, Ben Cooper helped children everywhere evolve into Skeletor, Darth Vader, Superman and more, in celebration of one of the most beloved holidays of the year.

Nacelle previews, “On Halloween the streets were filled with little Draculas, Spider-Mans and Luke Skywalkers, thanks to Ben Cooper, Inc. Ben’s grandson reunites with former Ben Cooper, Inc. employees at their old factory to talk about the lasting impact of the costumes and many of their top licenses, including Star Wars, Universal Monsters, Batman, Masters of the Universe, Strawberry Shortcake and more. The film is filled with nostalgia and features loads of vintage videos in all their static-filled glory.”

“Ben Cooper Inc. made Halloween night such an unforgettable experience for kids. You could be virtually any character from your favorite cartoon, comic book or movie, they had it all,” said Rob Caprilozzi. “I wanted to tell the story of their company and it was important for me to do it from the factory where all the costumes were made.”

“Anyone that loves Halloween, nostalgia, and a good American success story, is going to enjoy this doc,” said Brian Volk-Weiss.

After failing to make a splash at the box office just a few short weeks ago, A24’s new horror movie The Front Room has now been made available to watch at home this week.

You can rent The Front Room on Digital outlets for $19.99 or purchase it for $24.99.

Brandy (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) returns to horror in the A24 horror movie The Front Room, which was released in theaters on September 6, 2024.

What’s particularly interesting about the psychological horror movie is that it’s directed by Max and Sam Eggers, the brothers of Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Northman).

The film “follows a young, newly pregnant couple forced to take in an ailing stepmother who has long been estranged from the family.”

Olivier Award-winning actress Kathryn Hunter (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Tony Award-winning actor Andrew Burnap (Snow White), and Neal Huff (Spotlight) will also star.

Cranked Up Films in association with 13th Floor Productions and Wallick Productions has released their feature length horror anthology Tenants on all major VOD outlets today.

The horror film – which features four tales of interwoven terror – was written and produced by Mary O’Neil – who also stars – with segments directed by Buz Wallick (“Psycho Storm Chaser”), Sean Mesler (“Show Us Responding”), Jonathan Lewis (“Sinister Surgeon”) and Blake Reigle (“One of Us”). Additional producers include Jay Black, Bill Spadea, Douglas Vermeeren and Lewis, Mesler and Wallick, the latter two having also co-wrote.

Tenants revolves around the character of Jonie (O’Neil), who after waking up in an unfamiliar apartment complex, finds herself in a desperate search for her sister while being hunted by a shadowy figure. As she makes her way through the building, unspeakable horrors befall the tenants around her.

Joining O’Neil are Christa Collins (“American Boogeywoman”), Douglas Vermeeren (“Black Creek”), Myles Cranford (“Adam+Eve”), Tara Erickson (“American Satan”), Clarke Wolfe (“Malum”), Fayna Sanchez (“Creepshow”), Kathryne Isabelle Easton (“Valleyheart”) and Rib Hills (“Reminisce”), with cinematography by Ryan Valdez.

Starring Susanne Wuest from the similarly titled horror hit Goodnight Mommy (2014), I’ll Play Mother was released onto VOD outlets by Gravitas Ventures today.

I’ll Play Mother was directed by Brad Watson.

“After the death of their mother, two children are placed in the care of adopter parents, but it’s not long before the new family begin to question if something more sinister is at play.”

Jo Martin, Shubham Saraf, Jax James, and Erin Ainsworth also star.

From the DREAD label, director Aaron Fradkin’s Beezel was released onto VOD today. It tells the tale of a sinister secret hiding beneath the floors of a cursed New England home.

Beezel is directed by Aaron Fradkin (Death Record, Val,  Electric Love) and written by Aaron Fradkin and Victoria Fratz Fradkin (Death Record, Val, Electric Love).

In the indie horror film, “Over six tumultuous decades, three unwitting guests of a cursed New England home stumble upon a sinister secret dwelling beneath its floors – an eternal witch with an insatiable thirst for the souls of the living.”

LeJon Woods (The Hangman, Island Escape, The Tomorrow Job), Bob Gallagher (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Sinister Cover-Up, Reasonable Men), Victoria Fratz Fradkin, Caroline Quigley and Nicolas Robin (Our Patriots, The Program, Black Ocean) star.

Body-snatching aliens attempt to navigate love in the modern world in genre-bending comedy The Becomers, which was released on VOD outlets by Dark Star Pictures today.

In The Becomers, “Dropped to Earth and escaping their dying planet, the two extraterrestrials (played by a sequence of actors) seek each other out —jumping from body to body— on our planet while becoming increasingly drawn into the madness of modern-day America.”

Written, directed, and edited by Zach Clark (Little Sister), the film was shot in Chicago and stars Molly Plunk (Little Sister, Profane), Mike Lopez (All Jacked Up and Full of Worms, Crimes Against Humanity), Frank V. Ross (Drinking Buddies), Isabel Alamin, and Keith Kelly, and features the voice Russell Mael, lead singer of the explosive pop-rock band Sparks.

The Becomers is produced by Joe Swanberg (Depraved, The Rental), and Edwin Linker (Saint Frances, Queen of Earth) of Slasher Films.

Celebrated horror, creature, and science fiction FX artists Brian Spears and Pete Gerner designed the striking aliens featured in the film.

Vinegar Syndrome makes its first foray into original productions with Eight Eyes, a retro horror movie nightmare co-produced with Not the Funeral Home, the team behind Shudder’s “The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs.” It’s now streaming exclusively on Shudder. 

In Eight Eyes, “A mysterious local crashes a couple’s vacation through the former Yugoslavia, pulling them deeper into his web of psychic rituals.”

Co-writer and director Austin Jennings (“The Last Drive-In with Job Bob Briggs”), working from an originating idea by Justin Martell, gets ambitious for his feature film debut.

“Photographed entirely on location in Serbia and Macedonia and on 16mm Kodak film, Eight Eyes draws from European genre cinema and American horror films of the 70s to create a nightmarish tableau of nostalgia twisted into berserk, new shapes. Set among the ruins of the former Yugoslavia, Eight Eyes was developed with significant contributions from the film’s local cast and crew to ensure an authentic portrayal of the cultural environment in which it is set – one rarely been documented on film,” Vinegar Syndrome says of their original production.

Emily Sweet (V/H/S/99), Brad Thomas, and Bruno Veljanovski star. Not the Funeral Home (Executive Producers Justin Martell and Matt Manjourides) produced the film.

Shout! Studios, in collaboration with A Kiss and Tale Productions, Convoke Media, and Pixium Film Group, brought the “gruesome thriller” Succubus to VOD outlets today.

Written and directed by R.J. Daniel Hanna (Hard Miles, Miss Virginia), Succubus boasts a talented cast of Brendan Bradley (A Tale Told by an Idiot, Death Valley), Rachel Cook (The Hack Job, Kill Shot), Olivia Applegate (Love & Death, Euphoria), Derek Smith (What/If, Narcos: Mexico), Emily Kincaid (London Fields, Abducted in Plain Sight), Rosanna Arquette (Signs of Love, Pulp Fiction) and Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley, Don’t Look Up).

Produced by Todd Slater, Anna Elizabeth James, Ari Novak, Ron Perlman, and R.J. Daniel Hanna, Succubus follows a young father going through a marital separation, joins a dating app, and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman…whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.

Coached by his over-sexed friend Eddie, Chris, a new father, joins the StarCrossed dating app “just to see what’s out there,” and eventually comes to the conclusion he should probably rekindle things with his estranged wife. But when he matches with Adra, a seductive young woman with a mysterious past, his curiosity gets the better of him, and he finds himself getting sucked into her world even as his own life falls apart. As Chris, Eddie, and Adra’s stalker, Dr. Zephyr circle her, Adra’s power grows, finally revealing her harrowing true nature.

Gravitas Ventures released Night of the Harvest on digital platforms today, “a spine-chilling thriller where masks and costumes aren’t just for fun—they’re part of a terrifying ritual.”

Night of the Harvest is the third horror feature film created by the Carter Ink Films team of Christopher M. Carter (co-director, writer, and director of photography) and Jessica Morgan (co-director, producer, and lead actor). Carter says his passion for the Halloween season is what brought the film to life, and exploring the roots of the ancient Samhain tradition and coupling that with a family dynamic is what inspired the story for his latest indie horror effort.

“A year after surviving a brutal attack, Madison is still grappling with the trauma of that night. Seeking a sense of normalcy, she reluctantly agrees to join her sister, Audrey, and her friends at a Halloween bash, hoping for a night of fun and distraction. But the festive atmosphere quickly turns deadly when a masked killer begins to hunt them down one by one. Madison must confront her deepest fears and uncover the sinister secrets that bind her to this horror.”

And finally, 4 Digital Media released Winter Island on VOD today.

Tony Doupe directed the film, starring Elijah Carnazzo.

“When a young girl is found dead on a small, wooded island, her teenage brother’s postmortem visions point to an evil presence within their own family. He soon comes across an eerie, potentially supernatural phenomena and begins to suspect the worst.”

Clark Coffey and Chris Joseph Taylor wrote the screenplay for Winter Island.

The post Tuesday, September 24 – These 11 New Horror Movies Released Today appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

M. Night Shyamalan is the producer for an upcoming thriller titled Caddo Lake, formerly The Vanishings At Caddo Lake, and the official trailer has been released this afternoon.

Watch the Caddo Lake trailer below and read on for everything you need to know.

Premiering October 10 on Max, Caddo Lake is rated “PG-13” for…

“Some disturbing/bloody images, thematic elements, and brief strong language.”

Celine Held & Logan George (Topside) wrote and directed for New Line Cinema.

“The plot revolves around when an 8-year-old girl mysteriously vanishes on Caddo Lake, a series of past deaths and disappearances begin to link together, forever altering a broken family’s history.”

The cast includes Dylan O’Brien, Eliza Scanlen, Lauren Ambrose, Eric Lange, Sam Hennings and Diana Hopper.

Shyamalan is producing through his Blinding Edge Pictures.

The inspiration for Caddo Lake was sparked after filmmakers, Celine Held and Logan George, came across a photograph of the real Caddo Lake online, leading to many visits to the cypress forest that rests on the border of Texas and Louisiana. The film was shot in late 2021 and 2022 in and around Karnak, Texas.

Caddo Lake is written and directed by Celine Held & Logan George; produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, Kara Durrett and Josh Godfrey; executive producers Kimberly Steward, Harrison Huffman, and Will Greenfield.

“The show Servant has given me the incredible opportunity to find new storytellers from around the world and tell stories with them,” Shyamalan said in a recent statement. “Celine Held and Logan George are an exceptional writing/directing team that directed two amazing episodes for us in season 3. They are kind and dynamic genre storytellers and have written a film we believe will impact audiences deeply.”

The post ‘Caddo Lake’ Official Trailer – Producer M. Night Shyamalan Uncovers a Horror Mystery appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

One of this year’s most acclaimed genre movies, director J.T. Mollner’s Strange Darling is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 95% score from critics and an 85% score from audiences, the film making over $3 million in relatively limited release across the past month. Even Stephen King called the thriller from Magenta Light Studios “a clever masterpiece.”

But there was a time when Strange Darling almost didn’t even get finished. After just two days of filming, production company Miramax shut down the production of the genre film!

Thankfully, Spooky Pictures producer Roy Lee (IT, Barbarian) stepped in to fight for the film and get it back on track, and both Lee and writer/director J.T. Moller detail those early production woes in a new chat with the podcast The Business with Kim Masters.

“It was very traumatic for me,” Mollner explains. “It took almost six years to get [Strange Darling] off the ground. When we started shooting the movie, we were sending dailies back to the financier, and they just did not like what they were seeing. And I was floored because I really liked what we were shooting. But there were a couple executives who just had different tastes than I do, I think is what it came down to. They said, ‘We hate everything you’re sending us, we’re not enjoying this at all, and we’re not sure if this is going to work.’”

“We were shut down for almost a week,” the filmmaker adds.

Roy Lee chimes in, “You’ve seen the movie, and you’ve seen how great Willa Fitzgerald’s performance is. They wanted to recast. And I said, ‘you cannot recast this movie.’”

Ultimately, Lee convinced Miramax to rethink their decision and after a particularly positive test screening, Miramax CEO Bill Block ended up giving Mollner final cut on the movie.

“The movie that you’re seeing is the movie I wanted to make,” Mollner adds, indicating that Miramax stuck to that promise – despite the fact that, at one point, they recut the movie to present the events in a linear fashion. “I’m very happy with how the movie turned out.”

Mollner isn’t the only one who’s happy with how the movie turned out, as most critics agree that Strange Darling is one of this year’s best. As I noted in my own review, you can virtually feel Willa Fitzgerald taking her career to the next level with her incredible performance in the film. Proof positive that sometimes, studio heads have no idea what they’re talking about!

You can listen to The Business’ full chat with J.T. Mollner and Roy Lee below.

Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner star in Strange Darling. In the film, “Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.”

Stay tuned for an at-home release date for Strange Darling.

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