News

Unlike the average offering of found-footage filmmaking, Joel Anderson’s debut Lake Mungo limits the amateur aesthetic now deemed a signature of this genre. The characters aren’t taping themselves or their story in real time, but rather they are being recorded post factum by a documentary crew, including Anderson as the off-screen interviewer. The director/writer as well as John Brawley, the associate producer and director of photography, had the know-how for imitating true crime documentaries; that mimicry — everything from talking head interviews to authentically made but fictional news footage — is key to this film’s power of persuasion.

Calling this film Lake Mungo is confusing when realizing the catalyst for the story, the drowning of 16-year-old Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker), occurs at Norval Dam in Ararat. Lake Mungo, a dry lake in National Mungo Park, doesn’t even come up until around the one-hour mark. Of course, that...

I love Dutch Marich’s Horror in the High Desert. His low-budget take on mockumentary horror ends with one of the scariest reels I’ve seen in a horror movie… ever. I’m not one to overreact, but when I saw what I saw, I had to pause the film just to catch my breath. Naturally, I was desperate for more, and Marich is slowly carving out a name for himself with not just one, but two additional High Desert films, with more promised in the future. It’s a desert I haven’t yet been disappointed to be lost in. But a star on TikTok seems a bit lost.

In our review of the sequel, Horror In The High Desert 2: Minerva, we wrote, “Horror In The High Desert 2: Minerva is a terrifying found footage experience that’ll have you crawling out of your skin.” And with last year’s third entry,...

This article contains spoilers for "Presence" and Mike Flanagan's "The Haunting of Hill House."

Breaking through to the other side and witnessing things from a ghostly plane isn't new for the horror genre. Films like "Haunter," "The Others," and "The Sixth Sense," to name a few, have all provided viewers a glimpse into the afterlife. Director Steven Soderbergh's new horror film "Presence" (check out our review here) offers a different kind of supernatural experience, as we view the entire story from a first-person paranormal perspective, featuring a ghost that only reveals itself after a death in the final act.

Early in "Presence," a medium visiting the house explains that the afterlife doesn't follow the same rules of time as ours, and the spirit is unaware of who they are or when they exist. This sets up the twist that the ghost is, in fact, Tyler Payne (Eddy Maday...

Last Updated on January 6, 2025

For movie and TV fans. The conclusion of the calendar year means scouring through a lot of best-of lists. But for those who truly want something to sink their teeth into, we go to Steven Soderbergh. But Soderbergh doesn’t bother telling us his favorite movies of the year; instead, he tells us everything he watched in those 365 days, from movies to individual episodes. So what did Steven Soderbergh sit down for in 2024?

Steven Soderbergh shared his annual Seen, Read list over the weekend, showing that he kicked off 2024 with Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation on January 4th (he read a book on the 2nd), along with a few episodes of Showtime’s The Curse. On his birthday, January 14th, Soderbergh treated himself to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

And just like his own filmography, the man jumped around genres quite a bit, hitting Hitchcock’s Notorious,...

Earlier this year, we attempted to highlight some of the more obscure film titles that haven’t seen their day in the sun past a VHS release. In our list for 10 Hard to Find Movies, we included the 1989 post-apocalypse film The Blood of Heroes, which also carried the alternate title The Salute of the Jugger. This post-apocalyptic action movie comes from David Webb Peoples, the writer of Blade Runner, Unforgiven and Soldier. It was a rare directorial effort that reteamed him with Rutger Hauer, who stars opposite a young Joan Chen and Vincent D’Onofrio. Legal rights limbo has kept this one obscure in North America, with various cuts circulating in bad transfers.

The rights issues seem to have now been resolved, as Umbrella Entertainment announced on their Facebook page that they are releasing a new uncut 4K transfer of the film, which may sport the alternate title The Salute of the Jugger.

As a visionary modern horror filmmaker, Mike Flanagan's views on the genre are well worth listening to. Through his work in both film and TV, Flanagan has used horror to explore personal and emotional stories. Films like Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep, and shows like The Haunting of Bly Manor have wonderful intersection and character work, while never losing sight of what makes the genre great, and providing the audience with genuine scares. However, beyond being scary on their own terms, Flanagan's projects invariably demonstrate his respect for the broader genre and reveal several major influences.

Flanagan has a love for all types of horror, from ghosts to vampires, and everything in between. The director has consistently shown appreciation for all kinds of things that go bump in the night, both in his own films and through the kinds of movies he recommends. In external interviews and on his own social channels,...

Exclusive: The Exchange has boarded world sales on Australian horror-thriller In Vitro, starring Talia Zucker (Lake Mungo), Will Howarth (Beast) and Ashley Zukerman (Succession).

Directed by Tom McKeith and Howarth, the film marks the follow-up after their debut feature Beast, which was nominated for Best First Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.

After a world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival this summer, where it was the Audience Award Runner-Up, the movie is set for its North American premiere at the Austin Film Festival this week where it is nominated for the Dark Matters Jury Award. Pic was written by Howarth, McKeith, and Zucker. It is produced by Fictious.

The Exchange will introduce In Vitro to buyers at the upcoming American Film Market in Las Vegas. The sales deal was negotiated by Matt Hechinger on behalf of The Exchange and by Will Howarth on behalf of Fictious.

The...

When you think of The Sixth Sense, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

That famous twist, of course!

Okay, maybe the oft-quoted “I see dead people” line edged it out for some of you, but it was the bonkers ending that led to wildfire word of mouth when the film hit theaters back in 1999.

(Photo By Getty Images)

And that wasn’t really fair, as it was the film’s humanity, its heartbreaking performances, and its moving depiction of grief that really set it apart from the pack

Well, what if we were to tell you that there’s an obscure 2008 Aussie horror flick that contains several equally shocking twists and is just as affecting in its portrayal of the bereaved?

The film is called Lake Mungo.

And whether you’re the type of hardened horror snob who’s convinced that they’re impossible to surprise, or...

This essay by Mike Flanagan on his favorite horror movie is one of several contributed as part of Variety’s 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time package.

When I find myself talking to someone familiar with Joel Anderson’s 2008 film (which isn’t often; it remains criminally underseen), our eyes usually go wide, our pitches rise and soon we’re giddily gesturing and speaking in half-thoughts like two people who share a great secret.

It’s a humble film on the surface, a faux documentary chronicling a grieving family who may or may not be experiencing a haunting after the accidental death of their teenage daughter, Alice. It forgoes scares and startles for an ephemeral, inexplicable sense of dread that immediately seeps into the viewer, and I feel it just as acutely today — 20 viewings later — as I did the first time I wandered into Anderson’s deceptive labyrinth of tension,...

Mike Flanagan knows how to get under our skin. The horror auteur gravitates toward themes that deal with generational trauma and cyclical grief, entwined with supernatural manifestations of such visceral emotions. His Netflix horror hits offer a variety of scares: series like "Midnight Mass" mix religion-tinted bouts of vampirism with acute human loss, while his rendition of "The Fall of the House of Usher" maps the disintegration of a generational legacy marked with greed, betrayal, and pain. Apart from helming effective horror films like "Hush" and "Oculus," Flanagan has also adapted seminal literary works, including Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep" and "Gerald's Game," which the director has invested with inimitable depth.

As someone so well-versed with the inner machinations of the genre, is Flanagan easily spooked? Maybe not anymore, but horror movies "scared [him] too much" as a child, until he came to appreciate the terrifying ability of the written word...

Horror fans rejoice! The acclaimed Creep franchise by creators Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice is expanding this year with a television series thats set to debut on AMC+ and Shudder. Per Bloody Disgusting, The Creep Tapes will premiere its first two episodes on Friday, November 15, with the remaining four episodes dropping weekly thereafter. The duo debuted the first movie in their found footage saga in 2014 to much fanfare at the South by Southwest film festival, and it has since gone on to become a cult-classic thats lauded for offering a fresh take on the saturated sub-genre. 10 years later, Duplass says that bringing The Creep Tapes to life has been "a true nightmare come true."

"A little over 10 years ago, Patrick Brice and I spent a week together in my cabin with a small digital camera. We emerged with a found footage horror film that was so wildly strange and uncomfortable...

Mike Flanagan has created some top-tier horror for film and television, but he admits to not being a big fan of horror growing up. He eventually gained an appreciation for the genre as a filmmaker, directing films like Doctor Sleep and miniseries like The Fall of the House of Usher. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Flanagan admits he's jaded towards most of today's horror films, but says a couple of films still scare him to death.

It took a while for Flanagan to warm up to horror movies. "I couldnt watch horror movies as a kid," the Oculus director said. "They scared me too much." That changed for him in 1988, when the Stephen King It miniseries aired on ABC, and initially "traumatized" him. However, he eventually became a King fan, and is now adapting his work to film. His latest movie, The Life of Chuck , is based...

Mike Flanagan has been the mastermind behind some of the scariest movies and television shows in recent years. However, this has not made the filmmaker immune to getting the creeps himself.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Flanagan revealed the name of the last movie that scared him, "The last one that truly frightened me into getting up off of the couch was an Australian movie, Lake Mungo," he said. "It chilled me to the bone. There are others, like this French film Martyrs. There's a lot of gore, but it's gore with a point. I generally don't love splatter," the filmmaker explained.

Related Mike Flanagan Explains Casting Loki's Tom Hiddleston for New Stephen King Movie

Tom Hiddleston will make his debut in the Flanaverse soon.

Released in 2008, Lake Mungo is written and directed by Joel Anderson. The movie is presented in a found footage documentary format, though the story is entirely fictional.

The feature film debut of writer/director Chris Stuckmann has a solid, albeit slightly familiar, premise. In 2008, four YouTubers known for a ghost hunting show called ‘Paranormal Paranoids’ go missing near the deserted town of Shelby Oaks, sparking conspiracy theories and suspicions it’s a hoax to increase the channel’s notoriety.

When the bodies of Laura (Caisey Cole), Peter (Anthony Baldasare), and David (Eric Francis Malaragni) are discovered, however, the focus shifts to the fourth member: host Riley (Sarah Durn), whose disappearance prompts nationwide speculation around the question: “Who took Riley Brennan?”

That’s the question that Riley’s older sister Mia (Camille Sullivan) can’t stop thinking about. Twelve long years after the disappearance of her supernaturally gifted sibling, Mia is being interviewed by a documentary team led by Janet (Emily Bennett). It’s something of a hail mary by Mia’s husband Robert (Brendan Sexton III), who...

There’s been a bit of mystery surrounding Shelby Oaks, the directorial debut of Chris Stuckmann. A YouTuber who got his start reviewing films and has now amassed over two-million subscribers, Stuckmann pursued his goal of becoming a full-fledged filmmaker, got producers to come aboard, and then pulled off the feat of raising nearly $1.4 million via crowdfunding to finance his film. After making Shelby Oaks, he got Mike Flanagan to sign on as executive producer, nabbed a world premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, and compelled Neon to pick the film up for a wide theatrical release. While he’s not the first person to pull off the transition from YouTube to theaters––you can look to Danny and Michael Philippou’s (aka RackaRacka) breakout success Talk to Me as another example––Stuckmann’s journey to the big screen is about as ideal as a first-time feature filmmaker could ask for.

Whether you want a job done right, or just done right now, do it yourself. That’s the fearless edict uniting first-time feature filmmaker Chris Stuckmann and his headstrong final girl Mia (Camille Sullivan) in the winding mystery of “Shelby Oaks.”

An ambitious horror exploration born of the found footage format, which honors genre but rarely attempts to subvert it, this spooky procedural unearths a new kind of cold case for Neon — this one, fittingly acquired on the heels of the viral “Longlegs,” still running away with the box office now in its second week. When four internet ghosthunters known as the Paranormal Paranoids find trouble in an abandoned town, three turn up dead and the last (Sarah Durn) is never discovered.

“Who took Riley Brennan?” graffiti across the surrounding Ohio area wants to know 12 years later. It’s very Derry and just one of many warm details that make Stuckmann’s universe,...

There's an expression that gets tossed around the entertainment industry that says "Every movie is a miracle." It's a way to express that even with corporate backing, massive budgets, celebrity casting, and a stellar crew, moviemaking is so difficult that it's a miracle that a movie ever comes to fruition. This goes double if not triple for those working outside of the studio system. YouTube film enthusiast-turned-filmmaker Chris Stuckmann is one of those miracle stories, a guy from Ohio who managed to translate making videos about movies in his bedroom to directing the most-funded horror film in Kickstarter history and nabbing a distribution deal from Neon in the process.

"Shelby Oaks" is Stuckmann's directorial feature debut, a film he's been developing for the better part of a decade. The story is centered on a woman named Mia (Camille Sullivan), the sister of paranormal investigator Riley (Sarah Durn) who has been missing for 12 years.

Horror anthologies are alive and well in Japan. From books and manga to television and film, the Japanese clearly enjoy their scares in segments. Especially during summer, a season where spirits are said to return to the mortal realm. And many times the literary side of kaidan (ghost stories) entail collections called kaidan-shū, a style of book born from the Edo-period game of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai (the gathering of 100 supernatural tales). Perhaps the most famous of these kinds of books, on account of its 1964 film adaptation, is Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904) by Yakumo Koizumi/Lafcadio Hearn. Meanwhile, more modern authors have dabbled in or embraced the kaidan-shū format.

Fuyumi Ono, who is known for writing the light novel series Jūni Kokuki, found herself amassing other people’s kaidan over the years. In time, these same accounts — including ones submitted to the magazine Yū — and several others were published...

Lake Mungo's chilling ending leaves viewers questioning the true nature of Alice's demise & their own mortality. The found footage format of Lake Mungo comments on the unreliability & haunting power of video footage. Director Joel Anderson uses the film to tap into audiences' deepest fears of losing a loved one in a tragic, unexplainable way.

The Australian cult horror Lake Mungo is a terrifyingly effective mockumentary, but Lake Mungo explained little of its closing scenes, leaving viewers with a fair few questions. Released in 2008, Lake Mungo is a low-budget thriller that has become a cult sensation thanks to its harrowing scares in the years since its initial release. Like the then-recent hit Wolf Creek, Lake Mungo proves that the countrys filmmakers dont need a big budget to make an outsized impact on audiences. The Lake Mungo ending showed that the found footage horror movie format can truly be terrifying when used right.

Mike Flanagan's glowing review of The First Omen is right on the money. Despite underwhelming box office numbers, The First Omen has won viewers and critics. The First Omen's box office failure can be attributed to its high budget and overestimated value.

A new horror movie has underperformed by earning a little over $35 million at the box office, but Mike Flanagan's review for the film proves it needs more attention. Since Mike Flanagan has helmed several acclaimed horror movies and shows, like The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, Gerald's Game, and Doctor Sleep, it is not surprising that he is best known for cinematic horror work. However, beyond his filmmaking endeavors, the director also takes a keen interest in exploring several new and old outings of the genre and publicly sharing his discerning taste and insightful critiques.

For instance, Flanagan has previously been vocal about how much...

One of the most acclaimed horror movies of the year opens this week: "Late Night with the Devil," a mockumentary from filmmakers Colin Cairnes and Cameron Cairnes, starring David Dastmalchian. Dastmalchian has built a solid career as a supporting character actor in films like "The Dark Knight," "Prisoners," and "Dune," but "Late Night with the Devil" gives him the chance to shine in a lead role. The actor plays Jack Delroy, host of the late-night 1970s "Tonight Show"-like talk show "Night Owls with Jack Delroy."

The film takes the form of footage from one of Jack's shows — specifically a show that aired on Halloween night in 1977. Desperate to improve his slipping ratings, Jack has put together a special episode where his guests include a parapsychologist (Laura Gordon) and her patient, a teenage girl named Lilly (Ingrid Torelli). Lilly is the only survivor of a suicidal satanic cult, and to make things extra disturbing,...

Mike Flanagan's Netflix show, The Haunting of Hill House, includes a chilling twist that draws inspiration from the indie horror film, Lake Mungo. The twist in The Haunting of Hill House reveals that the character Nell was the "Bent-Neck Lady" all along, similar to the twist in Lake Mungo where Alice sees her own ghost before drowning. Lake Mungo has also inspired other acclaimed horror filmmakers, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who created Something in the Dirt using a similar pseudo-documentary style.

One of the best twists in a Mike Flanagan Netflix show seemingly recreates a chilling scene from a 15-year-old obscure horror movie. Most of Mike Flanagan's works are either direct adaptations of horror novels or loose contemporary interpretations of a horror author's works. While he also has a few original movies like Hush under his belt, some of his most popular films and shows like The Haunting of Hill House,...

Found footage horror has become increasingly popular, with many movies using the technique to create tension and engage audiences. The Blair Witch Project pioneered the found footage method by incorporating real-life elements to make the story appear authentic, quickly becoming a classic horror film. Other notable found footage horror films include Rec, Lake Mungo, and Unfriended, each utilizing the technique creatively to tell a suspenseful and chilling story.

Found footage horror has grown in popularity since the success of The Blair Witch Project with dozens of movies now utilizing the approach to add tension and draw audiences in. Found footage is the technique of telling a story through the use of material that has supposedly been discovered. The people behind the cameras are also the characters featured in the story, with natural movement, conversations between those filming and the subjects, and occasionally other recorded footage as well, including security cameras.

In a world where horror often means a bucket of blood and a masked guy with a machete, sometimes the most bone-chilling experiences come from subtle horror. These are the kind of films that creep up on you, leaving you with a sense of unease that’s hard to shake off. They don’t rely on jump scares or grotesque visuals; instead, they master the art of understated horror, proving that sometimes less is indeed more in the realm of fear. So, if you’re tired of the same old slashers and are looking for something that gets under your skin in a more refined way, this list is for you.

This isn’t your average horror flick roundup; it’s a carefully curated list of films that specialize in the kind of subtle, understated horror that haunts you in the quiet moments. From the psychological to the supernaturally surreal,...

In a world where horror often means a bucket of blood and a masked guy with a machete, sometimes the most bone-chilling experiences come from subtle horror. These are the kind of films that creep up on you, leaving you with a sense of unease that’s hard to shake off. They don’t rely on jump scares or grotesque visuals; instead, they master the art of understated horror, proving that sometimes less is indeed more in the realm of fear. So, if you’re tired of the same old slashers and are looking for something that gets under your skin in a more refined way, this list is for you.

This isn’t your average horror flick roundup; it’s a carefully curated list of films that specialize in the kind of subtle, understated horror that haunts you in the quiet moments. From the psychological to the supernaturally surreal,...

November 1st is a tough day for horror hounds. The decorations are still up, the air remains crisp, but the spirit has seemingly moved on, perhaps vanquished by the sun. Alamo Drafthouse says to hell with all of that and has announced two month’s worth of genre joy that’ll take you from Dia de los Muertos to Christmas Eve with minimal whiplash.

Terror Tuesday is a weekly slash-and-thrash through the world of horror, and they’ve booked a number of holiday-tinged forever classics mixed in with new canon-busting entries, many of which are screening from new, sparkling scans. Highlights include Lake Mungo, Tales from the Hood, The Changeling, and a pre-Thanksgiving feast with the Sawyers.

Weird Wednesday is similarly a weekly exploration of exploitation, pop oddities, and underloved gems. (Think of it as channel-surfing a transmission from a better dimension). And like Terror Tuesday, they’ve loaded it...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Roxy Cinema

Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, Chinatown, The Third Man, and Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond all show on 35mm.

Anthology Film Archives

Five films by Robert Bresson screen in Essential Cinema this weekend.

Lincoln Center

NYFF Revivals closes with Un rêve plus long que la nuit on Sunday.

Museum of the Moving Image

Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, continuing this weekend with Inside Llewyn Davis and Lake Mungo.

IFC Center

sex, lies, and videotape, The Holy Mountain, Being John Malkovich, Friday the 13th: Part VI, and Gregg Araki’s Nowhere play while Oldboy screens in a new restoration.

The post NYC Weekend Watch: Chinatown, Robert Bresson, Inside Llewyn Davis & More first appeared on The Film Stage.

Shudder decks the halls with horror this Halloween, ensuring no shortage of new and repertory offerings available to pad out your spooky season watchlists.

This month’s programming highlights bring brand new releases you won’t want to miss and a few older titles themed around the best holiday of the year. Need help trying to decide what to watch? Sam Zimmerman, VP of programming for Shudder, will bring back the Shudder Halloween Hotline on October 27 for all your horror needs during the holiday weekend.

Viewers can call the hotline for personalized recommendations. In the meantime, we’re here today to recommend a few highlights worth seeking out for Halloween.

Here are eight newly added (or soon to be added) horror movies you won’t want to miss on Shudder in October 2023.

Lake Mungo

Using a faux-documentary setup, Lake Mungo follows a family still reeling over the unexpected drowning of the eldest daughter.

Lake Mungo has been steadily gaining a reputation as one of the greatest horror films of all time ever since its 2008 debut, and with good reason. While the elevator pitch might make it appear unremarkable – another found footage horror film where the bulk of the scares come from the camera slowly zooming in on still photographs – the genius of Lake Mungo lies in its design. Writer-director Joel Anderson does not orchestrate his debut as though seeking to generate endless reaction videos, but with a level of precision and clarity that only someone with the uttermost confidence in their vision could replicate. This is a film unafraid to take its time, trapping the viewer in a veneer of simplicity that gradually evolves into the most disturbing 90 minutes of your life. It takes an extraordinary talent to craft such a mesmerizing experience from such limited resources, but with Anderson doing so with apparent ease,...

Joel Anderson's "Lake Mungo" is one of the most enduring horror movies of the aughts. While the Australian documentary-style film started small -- it was made on a shoestring budget and premiered at the Sydney Film Festival in 2008 -- the reputation of "Lake Mungo" has only grown in the 15 years since its release. The movie is enigmatic and polarizing. While some horror fans see its mellowly presented talking-head interview structure as mundane, others call it one of the scariest movies of all time thanks to the creeping sense of dread that builds throughout the movie, culminating in a heart-pounding third-act reveal.

Both camps, though, seem to agree that there's more to "Lake Mungo" than meets the eye. The movie about a dead girl's family seeking closure after her drowning includes several clear-cut twists, but also a handful of points of ambiguity -- and scenes that gesture towards interpretations of...

Warning: Major spoilers for the following films abound.

Few experiences unite people from all walks of life like a fear of the dark. Often surpassing specific concerns of serial killers, monsters, witches, or demons, what we collectively fear most is that mysterious, dark unknown. Anything and everything could be lurking in the shadows just waiting to pounce. Bishal Dutta’s terrifying new film It Lives Inside follows an ancient evil that hides in dark corners while terrorizing its prey. The film follows a troubled teen named Tamira (Mohana Krishnan) terrorized by a flesh-eating demon known as the Pishacha that feasts on negative energy. This malevolent being soon sets its sights on her best friend Samidha (Megan Suri) and begins a campaign of terror hoping to gorge itself on chaos, destruction, and emotional pain.

One of Dutta’s most frightening scenes takes place in Samidha’s darkened bedroom. Staring at her open closet door,...

I’m a horror fanatic, but I’m also a nervous viewer. I love watching horror films and I'll finish them, but I will still be absolutely petrified. An area of the genre that I feel the most comfortable exploring is found footage. I’ll watch just about any found footage film and through my extensive watching, I’ve observed a certain formula. With films such as Unfriended, Paranormal Activity, or Lake Mungo, there are little to no visual frights throughout the film — until the very end. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of the film can still be terrifying, but there are no gory or disturbing visuals until the final moments or towards the end at least. Laura Barne’s vicious demon is the last thing we see in Unfriended; same goes for Katie in Paranormal. And the big scare that Lake Mungo builds towards finally happens within...

Slasher franchises have offered many compelling tales of unlucky heroes forced to face killers that are often more powerful, witty and deadly. But the story of how these strengths failed killers like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees was always the most compelling and deeply explored. One of the most confusing of these franchises, the Halloween movies, also featured one of the most unique feuds in the entire medium. However, the trilogy that started with Halloween (2018) nearly dismantled the core values of the franchise.

The original Halloween franchise introduced the pairing and feud of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, as it was revealed the two were siblings. This started a trend that involved Michael hunting his bloodline. Future movies continued this idea but had Michael eventually succeed in killing Laurie. But the latest Halloween trilogy piggybacked off the original alone and twisted Laurie and Michael's feud into something more tragic. However,...

You may relate to this: it’s Friday night, and you get invited to a party. All of your friends are laughing, possibly having a drink or two, smoking some weed, and engaging in general revelry. Then, just as the night seems like it can’t get any better, someone pulls out a severed hand and says, “You’ve got to try this.”

That’s roughly the age-old setup – with a morbid twist – at the heart of Talk To Me, the feature directorial debut of brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, which finds U.S. distribution in the keen-eyed tastemakers at A24.

Related: 10 Weirdest Cartoons Based on Great Horror Movies

The film casts its net wide on what it’s saying about young people today, but situates its narrative within the immediate predicament that Mia (Sophie Wilde) and her close-knit group of friends find themselves in.

Mia, still grieving her mother's death,...

The found footage genre is a divisive one, especially when it comes to horror. While there have been successful scary movies like The Blair Witch Project and the Paranormal Activity franchise that used this specific cinematic technique to create truly terrifying films, the genre is also oversaturated with content due to the ease of employing such a style of filmmaking. What makes a great found footage film relies less on the use of "shaky cam" and raw, unedited quality and more on the actual story being told. Even though the "footage" is all fake, it needs to have elements of realism that leave audiences questioning the potential reality of it all. A good mockumentary can easily look the part, but a great mockumentary fully embodies it. When looking for movies that are able to walk that fine line between fact and fiction so effortlessly, one stands out above all the rest.

We have your first look at the trailer for Dan Bowhers' mystery thriller, Blue Hour: The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth.   Olivia Brandreth was nine years old when her father disappeared. Twenty five years later, she has returned to her childhood home to finally get closure in an unrelenting attempt to set the record straight.   Likened to faux documentary genre films of the same ilk, Lake Mungo and Something in the Dirt, it has big shoes to fill but is up to the task.     Writer/Director Dan Bowhers commented about his inspiration for the film: "I was wondering what it would look like if a true crime documentary completely flew off the rails and went somewhere really strange. 2 years later, we made Blue Hour." Check out the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Sometimes, a particular subgenre simply isn’t your thing. I can count the number of haunted house movies I like with no fear of running out of fingers: Robert Wise’s original The Haunting; The Innocents; Crimson Peak; Hausu; Beetlejuice if you count comedies. Lake Mungo is a borderline case, not truly a haunted house movie for me, but a great film. I might also say The Others, but I last saw it about 20 years ago, so who knows? There’s one more I enjoy a lot, and we’ll come to that, but to cut a long story short, The Changeling had a bit of a mountain to climb with me. I’ll say this upfront: if you’re generally into ghost/haunting movies, you can add a star to my grade here.

Composer John Russell (George C. Scott) loses his wife and daughter when a truck ploughs into their broken down car.

The Boogeyman, directed by Rob Savage (Host), is out in theaters this Friday, June 2, 2023. The adaptation of Stephen King’s short story stars Sophie Thatcher (“Yellowjackets”) as Sadie Harper, a grieving teen at the center of the supernatural horror.

Sadie begins the story still reeling from her mother’s unexpected passing, compounded by her father’s emotional detachment and her younger sister’s extreme phobia of the dark. All provide fertile ground for terror when the Boogeyman permeates their home.

Ahead of The Boogeyman’s release, Bloody Disgusting spoke with Sophie Thatcher about her first trip into the Stephen King Universe. Above all, it was the character that drew Thatcher to the role. She explains of Sadie, “For me, as an actor at this point in my career, I’m just trying to find roles that I think will be challenging and that are layered and have something to overcome.

Pollen is an upcoming horror movie from writer/director D.W. Medoff, starring Ava Rose Kinard, Tyler Buckingham, and Ashley Ames. Kinard will star as Hera, an office worker who a senior co-worker assaults. Afterward, Hera finds herself tormented by a mysterious tree monster at her home, work, and even in her dreams.

“This movie is fortunate to have a star like Ava Rose bring to life the torment of a young woman after surviving sexual assault. Pollen is a horror movie, but the villain is very real. We need to continue talking about violence against women and teaching younger generations how to be better. We also need to discuss how women are treated in the workplace. Not just the pay gap in corporate America, but on a daily basis."

In an interview with Dread Central, Medoff went over his various inspirations for Pollen, which will also be his first feature length film.

Are you a horror movie enthusiast in search of the scariest horror hidden gems that will truly terrify you? Look no further! This listicle will introduce you to ten lesser-known horror films that are guaranteed to send shivers down your spine. These under-the-radar movies may not have received mainstream attention, but they offer unique plot twists, innovative scares, and an unsettling atmosphere that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Here are The 10 Scariest Horror Movies You’ve Never Heard Of.

Session 9 (2001)

“A group of asbestos removal workers begins experiencing supernatural occurrences while working at an abandoned mental asylum. As tensions rise and their sanity unravels, they discover the dark secrets that haunt the building.”

Why it’s worth watching: Session 9 is a psychological horror masterpiece that relies on atmosphere and slow-burning tension. With stellar performances and a haunting setting, it will leave you questioning your own sanity.

Smile just recently revived one of the most interesting horror tropes, that of the unavoidable fate. The film features a terrifying curse that passes from person to person by trauma, sealing the fate of its victims in a matter of days.

Movies like this often give the "unknown" factor of its story absolute power over their characters, condemning them to an inescapable destiny as they try to fight against something they don't comprehend. It's often cruel and painful to watch, but truly works in making a horror movie more relatable and immersive and in doing so, delivers the intended level of horror to the viewer.

Triangle (2009)

Triangle is the kind of movie that provides viewers with no hints of where it's heading, yet the narrative is so chilling and full of surprises that all the layers and layers added to the main mystery only makes the whole thing more engaging with every scene.

Some images you just can’t unsee. Sometimes it is something out and out horrific, others it’s a shot so uncanny and wrong it makes your skin itch, and sometimes it’s the implications of what you’ve just witnessed that lives on with you.

The Den of Geek team has put their heads together to identify some of the most haunting single images in horror genre history so we can share them all with you! Moments, or pieces of artwork, that immediately make you go “nope!” The kind of image that’ll make you change the channel, throw out your DVD, hit reset on your console, or put down that book. You are welcome!

These are the images that still haunt the stuff, please share the demons of your own subconscious in the comments!

Lake Mungo

This. This is the worst thing ever. This image is from Lake Mungo...

Family History

Keira Knightley, Kit Harington, Emeli Sandé and Toby Jones are among the celebrities who’ve signed up to explore their family histories in Wonderhood Studios show “My Grandparents’ War.”

The second season of the show, which airs in the U.K. on Channel 4, will explore how the stars’ grandparents navigated global conflicts from the killing fields of Kenya to the mountains of Monte Cassino in Italy. The first season starred Helena Bonham Carter, Mark Rylance, Kristin Scott Thomas and Carey Mulligan.

All3Media International distributes the show, which will air on PBS in the U.S., Sbs in Australia and CBC in Canada.

Investment

BBC Studios has taken a 25 stake in Kelly Webb-Lamb’s unscripted indie Mothership Productions.

Webb-Lamb, formerly Channel 4’s deputy director of programs, launched the company just a few weeks ago with a team of female executives including creative director Charlotte Desai, director of programs...

There is a thin line between the mockumentary and the pseudo-documentary. While both categories warp the concept of non-fiction filmmaking, mockumentaries are satirical and often comedic, while pseudo-documentaries exist in the horror space. Think "Best in Show" versus "Cannibal Holocaust". The pseudo-documentary uses the idea of the truth to weaponize our fear. The more real the film seems, the scarier it is to the viewer. Yes, it's only a movie, but a good pseudo-documentary will worm its way into the back of your brain, asking, "But what if it is real?"

This category of film is often included in discussions of found footage films in general, as both try to convince the viewer what they're watching is real. Found footage is typically footage that is, well, found and is presented as unedited evidence of a crime, haunting, creature, or anything terrifying, but, with the pseudo-documentary, the filmmakers utilize interviews and...

Whether it’s film “recovered” from a crime scene/disaster site or continuous “live video” watched in real time, found footage movies are among the most terrifying titles available to horror lovers. From the collected clips of “V/H/S” to the harrowing ordeal captured in “Unfriended,” these frightening flicks feel at once like pieces of entertainment and physical proof of hell on Earth.

The naturalistic approach to cinema doesn’t belong exclusively to the horror arena, believe it or not. Some film historians posit that the first found footage film was “The Connection”: an experimental joint by Shirley Clarke from 1961 about drug addicts (which is arguably horrific but definitely not a horror movie). And yet, the found footage technique has become so prevalent within the horror genre that it’s almost impossible to extricate the form from the fear it has inspired.

Horror filmmakers are notoriously canny creators,...

Odin’s Eye Entertainment has boarded “In Vitro,” an elevated sci-fi thriller starring Ashley Zukerman (“Succession” ) and Talia Zucker (“Lake Mungo”).

Pic is co-directed by Tom McKeith and Will Howarth, whose debut feature, “Beast,” was nominated for best first feature at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015. Odin’s Eye will introduce the new film to buyers for the first time during the Cannes Market.

The narrative of “In Vitro” is set on a remote cattle property in the near future, where a woman (Zucker) and her husband (Zukerman) have been experimenting with biotechnology and developing illegal breeding methods. It’s a mostly isolated existence for the couple, but when a series of unsettling occurrences take place, the woman is faced with the disturbing reality of just how far her husband will go for love. McKeith and Howarth co-wrote the script with Zucker.

“In Vitro” is produced by Arcadia and Fictious. Arcadia...

Earlier this week we broke the news that Shelby Oaks has become the most-funded horror film project on Kickstarter.

The feature, written and to be directed by YouTube film critic/filmmaker Chris Stuckmann, is based on a recent internet mystery about a group of missing paranormal investigators.

On Monday, we reported that the project had reached $650,000 from 6,700 backers on the crowdfunding platform after launching its online campaign only three weeks prior.

Four days after that article, however, the movie has now raced past $1M and added 4,500 backers. That’s good-going for an indie horror movie based on an original concept and without star names attached. The project is also drawing attention from studios, according to Stuckmann.

“It’s so crazy, I don’t know what to say,” the critic and filmmaker said in a video message to contributors. “We can already make the movie in the way we want to.

Exclusive: Shelby Oaks has become the most-funded horror film project on Kickstarter just a few weeks into its campaign.

The found-footage feature, written and to be directed by YouTube film critic/filmmaker Chris Stuckmann, is based on a recent Internet mystery about a group of missing paranormal investigators.

The project has raced to $650,000 from 6,700 backers on the crowdfunding platform after starting its online campaign three weeks ago.

The film will chart the story of the fictional mid-2000s U.S. investigative team called The Paranormal Paranoids. Multiple found-footage videos surfaced online last year that prompted horror and Arg (alternate-reality game) fans to speculate about the veracity of the case and the whereabouts of the investigators. One video appeared to show the abduction of one of the group, known as Riley.

Aaron B. Koontz of Austin-based Paper Street Pictures is producing the film, which will be combination of documentary, found footage and traditional film footage styles.

To mark the release of Lake Mungo on 28th March, we’ve been given 1 copy to give away on Blu-ray.

Seminal Australian horror Lake Mungo from director Joel Anderson was originally released in 2008, and the documentary-style chiller has made far reaching ripples, thrilling horror fans and inspiring budding filmmakers across the globe and establishing itself as a cult classic.

When 16-year-old Alice Palmer tragically drowns while swimming in the local dam, her grieving family start to experience a series of strange, inexplicable events and become increasingly unsettled. Seeking out the help of a parapsychologist, they learn that Alice had been living through extremely troubling, disturbing times and hiding deep, dark secrets. Now they are desperate to know what haunted their daughter and what is happening to them.

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Small Print

Open to UK residents only The competition...

Stars: Lindsay Burdge, Jennifer Lafleur, Aleksa Palladino, Beth Grant, Ross Partridge | Written and Directed by Sarah Adina Smith

Originally premièring at the Fantasia International Film festival in 2014 and going on to win the Breakthrough Audience Award at AFI Fest, as well as Best Feature Film at the Denver International Film Festival, The Midnight Swim is now being digitally re-released alongside a special edition Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome/Yellow Veil Pictures. As a fan of found footage movies, I was excited to see this little known film.

We immediately meet three sisters who are returning to their childhood home after their mother has disappeared (presumed dead) after deep-sea diving into a mysterious lake near the home. Spirit Lake is apparently so deep that no one has ever managed to find the bottom. As the three sisters decide what to do with the house, the lake and its surroundings are the location...