Something strange is happening in the desert. A brand new trailer for The Buildout invites you on a stunning, genre-bending odyssey into the unknown ahead of the film’s release later this month.

Look for the horror drama to arrive on VOD on February 25, 2025.

The Buildout is written and directed by Zeshaan Younus and stars Jenna Kanell (Terrifier, Renfield), Hannah Alline (“Mayfair Witches”, Adult Swim Yule Log), Natasha Halevi, Michael Sung Ho, and Danielle Evon Ploeger.

In the film, “Something is happening in the desert. The epicenter is a strange tent, humming with an imbued esoteric energy. What is found within its walls is incomprehensible. We first meet Dylan and Cameron as they barrel deeper into the desert. One knows exactly where they’re going, the other one is doing their best to be a good friend. On a road trip fueled by junk food and documented by a handheld camera, the women traverse a landscape that feels more like Mars than Earth – the California Desert. This is their last chance to get back – back to what they used to be. Today, they are but mere fragments of their former selves; weighed down by the looming presence of a shared tragedy.  

“A story of rebirth, recovery, closure, and accountability propelled forward by an esoteric conduit. This women-led narrative follows the tectonic shift of a friendship over one fateful day. In the face of the unexplained, they lean into their truest selves and come face-to-face with an unnerving discovery.”

Michelle Swope wrote in her review, “The Buildout is a stunning, genre-bending odyssey into the unknown that skillfully blends themes of mysticism, grief, and the paranormal into a film where reality and the supernatural blur. Gorgeous cinematography, outstanding performances, and a thought-provoking, transcendental story make The Buildout an incredibly impressive first feature film. The audience will benefit from a second viewing.”

Check out the trailer and poster below ahead of the film’s release.

The post ‘The Buildout’ Trailer Invites You on a Genre-Bending Odyssey in the Desert appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Directors David Charbonier and Justin Douglas Powell (The Boy Behind the Door, Djinn) have set up their next project, a survival horror movie titled The Nowhere Game.

Deadline reports that Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Totally Killer) will star alongside Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Scream 7).

It’s interesting to note that Mckenna Grace played a young Sabrina Spellman in Netflix’s “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” with Kiernan Shipka of course playing the older Sabrina!

Alex Pototsky wrote The Nowhere Game, which was featured on the 2023 Black List.

“The film follows Carin (Grace) and Allie (Shipka), whose road trip takes a harrowing turn when the two young women are kidnapped by a cold-blooded sadist and thrust into a brutal game of survival. With a short head start, Carin and Allie will be set loose in the forest with limited supplies while being hunted in front of an online audience watching in grim fascination. With no sign of civilization and no way to call for help, the women rely on their wits and each other to evade capture.

“Navigating the hostile wilderness, they discover eerie clues left behind by previous contestants, painting a grim picture of the stakes they face. As the hunter closes in, realization dawns on them: surviving isn’t just improbable — it’s nearly impossible. Carin and Allie must shed their fear and transform from prey to predator to bring this twisted game to its final, bloody conclusion.”

David Charbonier and Justin Douglas Powell recently directed Push, releasing this year.

McKenna Grace in ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’

The post ‘The Nowhere Game’ – Kiernan Shipka & Mckenna Grace Starring in Survival Horror Movie appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Ahead of I Heart Willie‘s theatrical release on February 26, Hewes Pictures has shared the opening scene of the Steamboat Willie-inspired slasher.

Playing below, the four-minute clip sees the mouse-boy brutally torturing a man as an exterminator approaches.

In the film, “Popular YouTubers Daniel and Nico are invited to investigate a haunted property drawn by rumors of a malevolent force. The legend centers around a boy born with deformities, resembling a human-mouse hybrid, who inspired Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie.

“Abused and isolated, the boy, now known as Willie, crafts a bodysuit from the skins of trespassers. Over the years, his gruesome legacy fades into folklore—until a series of disappearances sparks renewed interest. As Daniel and Nico set up for a night of thrills, they unknowingly step into a deadly game of survival.”

The Mexican production is directed by Alejandro G. Alegre and written by David Vaughn, who plays as Willie.

Maya Luna, Sergio Rogalto, Micho Camacho, and Daniela Porras also star.

Rubey Entertainment is distributing the film for its one-night-only theatrical bow in U.S. and Canada later this month.

I Heart Willie is one of several indie horror movies to exploit Steamboat Willie’s recent public domain status, along with The Mouse Trap, The Mouse Experiment, Mouseboat Massacre, and Screamboat, which is set to hit theaters in April.

The post Watch the First 4 Minutes of Steamboat Willie Slasher ‘I Heart Willie’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Like most nerdy kids, I went through a Greek mythology phase in my youth. And among geeky disappointments like finding out that Hercules was actually a jerk and realizing that Xena: Warrior Princess wasn’t a canonical Greek hero, I was also pretty bummed by the fact that filmmakers never seemed to get my favorite mythic yarn right – that of Theseus and the Minotaur.

In fact, I still think that we’ve yet to see a definitive cinematic take on this ancient tale of bovine terror, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some honorable attempts at turning the story into a thrilling movie. So today, I’d like to look back on a mostly forgotten movie that attempts to re-imagine the myth as a fantasy-horror epic akin to Mathew Robbins’ Dragonslayer. Naturally, I’m referring to Jonathan English’s 2006 Sci-Fi original Minotaur, an ambitious creature feature that I believe has more redeeming value than its detractors would have you believe.

Jonathan English is no stranger to incorporating horrific elements into his action-heavy work, with his heavy-metal siege movie Ironclad almost feeling like a medieval John Carpenter flick, but Minotaur remains the director’s scariest endeavor. A horror film with strangely epic sensibilities, the project was backed by a myriad of overseas production companies who managed to scrounge together $7 million dollars for a fantasy blockbuster that was supposed to be shot like a slasher movie.

Relocating the production to Luxemburg due to the country’s tax breaks, English managed to secure enough leftover funding to recruit an assortment of talented thespians that could bring this ancient world to life. And while the auxiliary cast is mostly makes up for recycled sets and questionable costume designs, the director’s biggest achievement here was in recognizing the young Tom Hardy as a respectable leading man despite the actor’s troubled history with indie productions (as well as an arrest-record that prevented him from shooting in America at the time).

In the finished film, which premiered on SyFy in March of 2006 (back when the network was still called The Sci-Fi Channel), we’re presented with the Bronze-Age story that supposedly inspired the original Greek myth of the Minotaur. Instead of Theseus, we follow a young man named Theo (Hardy), a shepherd from the village of “Thena” who decides to challenge the tyranny of King Deucalion (Tony Todd) after years of seeing his countrymen being taken away to be sacrificed to the fearsome Bull God that resides underneath the Minos Empire.

SO WHAT WENT WRONG?

While the straight-to-video release and Sci-Fi Channel premiere mean that Minotaur was almost certainly profitable, the film was almost unanimously maligned by critics. Most reviewers compared the flick’s production value unfavourably to similar fantasy flicks like The Scorpion King, while others criticized what they perceived to be a Frankenstein’s Monster of a script made from disparate parts of other, better, movies.

While I wouldn’t be writing this piece if I didn’t disagree with the general assessment that this is an irredeemably bad movie, I have to concede that the critics made a few fair points. For starters, the script is clearly borrowing more from cinematic fantasy than any kind of ancient mythology, though this is par for the course when it comes to movies based on Greek myths. Unfortunately, this artistic license also extends to the titular monster, with our horned antagonist baring little resemblance to the half-man/half-bull that we all know and love.

Beyond these conceptual flaws, the film also suffers from the familiar lack of resources that you usually see in made-for-TV productions. As a fan of trashy genre TV that reaches further than its resources can grasp, I don’t personally mind the use of cheap armor that looks like it was borrowed from a friendly LARP group (even if the horned helmets look more like antelopes than bulls) or sets that were almost certainly repurposed from Stargate Atlantis, but I can understand why other viewers have a hard time taking this movie seriously.

Lastly, I feel that I have to mention the film’s slightly misguided portrayal of people of color. At first glance, having the conquering empire not be comprised of English caricatures feels refreshing after decades of Star Wars clones (especially since the movie goes out of its way to explain that it doesn’t take place in ancient Greece), but between the exoticized sexuality and bizarre drug use on display here, there’s something decidedly uncomfortable about how this predominantly Black empire is depicted onscreen.

THE SILVER LINING

I’m generally more forgiving of films that are clearly punching above their weight despite the limitations of their budgets, so I can’t help but admire Minotaur despite all its faults. And after revisiting the movie with an open mind, I actually think that there are plenty of interesting ideas buried underneath all the made-for-TV jank.

For starters, I really like the pre-history angle that justifies the flick’s deviations from established history and mythology, with this added creative liberty harkening back to the fantastical works of writers like Robert E. Howard. That’s why it doesn’t make sense for critics to complain about historical inaccuracies or even the monster’s design, as all of these things can technically be explained by future storytellers embellishing the “facts.”

I also really appreciate Minotaur’s badass casting. While Rutger Hauer only has little more than a brief cameo as the Chieftain of Thena, Tony Todd uses the movie’s fantastical setup as an excuse to unleash his classical training in fascinating ways. Sure, Hardy makes for a surprisingly compelling lead despite the script not doing much for his character, but Todd’s presence is downright magnetic as King Deucalion schemes to conceive a child with his own sister and engages in desperate one-sided conversations with his so-called god.

Of course, the Minotaur itself is the star of the show here, with the combined use of both life-sized puppetry and CGI making for some thrilling effects sequences – and that’s not even mentioning the movie’s incredible use of gore. The monster’s first on-screen impalement is a wonderfully brutal surprise, and I love how English teases us with the design for quite a while before revealing the full creature. In fact, the ultimate reveal is kind of underwhelming when compared to the excellent buildup that came before, though I still enjoy the unique undead design that the filmmakers came up with.

I’ve never really cared if a movie boasts expensive-looking sets and visual effects so long as it tells an interesting story. And while Minotaur is by no means a hidden gem, it’s no less ridiculous than fan-favorites B-movies like The Beastmaster which also dared to tell tales larger than their budgets should have allowed. So if you find yourself hungry for a silly yet entertaining creature-feature featuring plenty of practical gore effects as well as a starry-eyed Tom Hardy, I’d definitely recommend checking out Minotaur.

Watching a bad movie doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad experience. Even the worst films can boast a good idea or two, and that’s why we’re trying to look on the bright side with The Silver Lining, where we shine a light on the best parts of traditionally maligned horror flicks.

The post The Mythological Thrills of Bull God Horror Movie ‘Minotaur’ Starring Tom Hardy appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This Christmas… you’d better be good. Bloody Disgusting’s parent company Cineverse is punishing the naughty with a brand new vision of slasher classic Silent Night, Deadly Night on the big screen in late 2025, and the first official poster has been unleashed this afternoon.

The poster was created by Creepy Duck Design. Check it out below!

Additionally, Deadline reports that Studiocanal’s new genre label Sixth Dimension has “picked up global rights excluding North America,” with Cineverse releasing in North America.

Directed by Mike P. Nelson (Wrong Turn, V/H/S/85), Cineverse’s Silent Night, Deadly Night goes into production this Spring and will slash into theaters in late 2025.

A reimagining of director Charles E. Sellier Jr.’s original 1984 slasher classic, Silent Night, Deadly Night centers on a young boy who witnesses the murder of his parents at the hands of a man dressed as Santa, only to grow up and become a killer himself. Haunted by trauma and fueled by a twisted sense of justice, he puts on the Santa suit and punishes the naughty.

“Blending psychological horror, brutal slasher thrills and a touch of the supernatural and, shockingly, a sprinkle of romance, the new film hopes to deliver a modern new take on the ultimate holiday nightmare.”

Written and directed by Mike P. Nelson, the reboot is produced by the original 1984 Tri-Star film’s producers Scott Schneid and Dennis Whitehead. The executive producers include Jamie R. Thompson, Anthony Masi and Steven Schneider. Erick Opeka, Yolanda Macias, Brandon Hill and Brad Miska will serve as executive producers for Cineverse.

When it was released in 1984, the first Silent Night, Deadly Night quickly became the most controversial movie of the year. It was followed by four sequels, which frequently strayed from the original storyline and Christmas theme altogether, as well as a remake in 2012.

The post Cineverse’s ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ Reboot Punishes the Naughty With Official Poster appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.