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The bungling of Trick ‘r Treat by Warner Bros. — shelving it after well-received festival screenings before unceremoniously dumping it straight to DVD in 2009 — is well-documented, but had it received a traditional theatrical release and underperformed, there’s a chance it may have never entered the cultural zeitgeist. Instead, its authentic cult roots allowed it to blossom into the contemporary classic we celebrate today.

Trick ‘r Treat stands alongside the opening credits of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers as a felicitous distillation of the Halloween atmosphere on celluloid. Sam, the impish demon played by 7-year-old Quinn Lord that serves as the film’s mascot, personifies the tricks and treats of Halloween while serving as the connective tissue between segments.

Writer-director Michael Dougherty — in his feature debut after making a name for himself as a writer on X2: X-Men United and Superman Returns — evokes Pulp Fiction with his expertly crafted...

On the new Trick ‘r Treat 4K Ultra HD edition — out today from Arrow Video — writer-director Michael Dougherty provides an update on the long-gestating sequel, first announced all the way back in 2013.

In a new commentary moderated by Dead Meat’s James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca, Doughtery confirms that he wrote Trick ‘r Treat 2 with his Krampus collaborators Todd Casey and Zach Shields and it’s already storyboarded, but getting it made within the studio system is complicated.

“It’s tricky, because I think we really did capture lightning in a bottle with this one, and it nearly killed me. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the bulk of our favorite horror movies, especially the ones that introduced new horror icons, were all independent movies,” Dougherty explains, citing the likes of Halloween, Friday the 13th, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

“There aren’t...

Spider One (Allegoria, Bury the Bride) is back in the director’s chair with Little Bites, a horror movie being produced by mother-and-son duo Cher and Chaz Bono. Rlje Films and Shudder have unveiled the official trailer today, teasing a monstrous tale of motherhood.

Little Bites releases in theaters and on VOD on October 4.

Heather Langenkamp, Barbara Crampton, Bonnie Aarons (The Nun), and Krsy Fox (Allegoria, Bury the Bride) star in Little Bites, which is produced by OneFox Productions.

The horror film follows “Mindy (Fox), a young widow and mother, who desperately tries to protect her daughter Alice (Elizabeth Caro) from the grips of a fiendish, flesh eating monster named Agyar (Jon Sklaroff). Mindy has been secretly sacrificing her own life by allowing the creature to slowly feast on her body as she keeps Alice hidden away at her grandmother’s (Aarons).”

Watch the new trailer below, which introduces a ravenous,...

Writers/directors Brea Grant (Torn Hearts) and Ed Dougherty (co-writer of Paint It Black) have wrapped production on their four-part horror anthology Grind, Deadline reports, adding that filming took place in the Los Angeles area. Grant got her start as an actress, working on such projects as Friday Night Lights, Midnight Movie, Heroes, Dexter, Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, and Ice Road Terror. She made her feature directorial debut with the 2013 film Best Friends Forever, and has since directed Torn Hearts, 12 Hour Shift, and episodes of Pandora, among other things. Doughterty has previously directed multiple short films and music videos.

The cast of Grind includes genre icon Barbara Crampton, James Paxton (Twisters), Christopher Marquette (Freddy vs. Jason), James Urbaniak (Oppenheimer), Rob Huebel (Welcome to the Jungle), Vinny Thomas (Platonic), Aubrey Shea (Nashville), Courtney Pauroso (Reno 911!), Ify Nwadiwe (Grand Crew), Jessika Van (Seoul Searching), James A. Janisse (Scream 2022), Sharlene Cruz...

Brea Grant (Torn Hearts) and Ed Dougherty (Paint It Black) are the writers and directors of upcoming horror anthology Grind, and Deadline lets us know what to expect this week.

The site details, “Recently wrapping production in Los Angeles, Grind‘s stories center around the gig economy, hustle culture, and the evils of late-stage capitalism.”

The cast includes James Paxton (Twisters), Christopher Marquette, James Urbaniak (Oppenheimer), Rob Huebel (Transparent), Barbara Crampton (Suitable Flesh), Vinny Thomas (Platonic), Aubrey Shea (Nashville), Courtney Pauroso (Reno 911!), Ify Nwadiwe (Grand Crew), Jessika Van (Seoul Searching), James A. Janisse (Scream), Sharlene Cruz (In the Summers), Jon Gabrus (101 Places to Party Before You Die), Teri Gamble (Mrs. Davis), Hannah Alline (Doom Patrol) and Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock).

Producers include Chelsea Stardust.

Stay tuned for more on Grind as we learn it.

The post ‘Grind’ – New Horror Anthology from Brea Grant Tackles Late Stage Capitalism appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!

Exclusive: James Paxton (Twisters), Christopher Marquette (Barry), James Urbaniak (Oppenheimer) and Rob Huebel (Transparent) are among those set to star in Grind, a four-part horror anthology from writer-directors Brea Grant (Torn Hearts) and Ed Dougherty (Paint It Black).

Recently wrapping production in Los Angeles, Grind‘s stories center around the gig economy, hustle culture, and the evils of late-stage capitalism.

Others in the cast of the indie include Barbara Crampton (Suitable Flesh), Vinny Thomas (Platonic), Aubrey Shea (Nashville), Courtney Pauroso (Reno 911!), Ify Nwadiwe (Grand Crew), Jessika Van (Seoul Searching), James A. Janisse (Scream), Sharlene Cruz (In the Summers), Jon Gabrus (101 Places to Party Before You Die), Teri Gamble (Mrs. Davis), Hannah Alline (Doom Patrol) and Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock).

Grant and Dougherty produced alongside Chelsea Stardust.

Most recently directing Torn Hearts, an Epix/Blumhouse horror pic starring Katey Sagal, Grant has...

Spider One (Allegoria, Bury the Bride) is back in the director’s chair with Little Bites, a horror movie being produced by mother-and-son duo Cher and Chaz Bono. We’ve got an update on the project today, with Deadline reporting that Rlje Films and Shudder have picked it up.

Deadline notes in today’s exclusive report, “Rlje will release the film exclusively in theaters on October 4, with its streaming debut on Shudder to follow at a later date.”

Heather Langenkamp, Barbara Crampton, Bonnie Aarons (The Nun), and Krsy Fox (Allegoria, Bury the Bride) star in Little Bites, which is produced by OneFox Productions.

Little Bites follows Mindy (Fox), a young widow and mother, who desperately tries to protect her daughter Alice (Elizabeth Caro) from the grips of a fiendish, flesh eating monster named Agyar (Jon Sklaroff). Mindy has been secretly sacrificing her own life by allowing the creature to slowly...

The new horror movie “Longlegs” had a super successful opening last weekend, making over $20 million. That’s a record for the studio Neon! How did they create such a huge buzz around the movie?

Some key people they got onboard early were YouTube creators like James Janisse. He has millions of subscribers to his horror channel “Dead Meat.” Janisse and his wife Chelsea got to see “Longlegs” way before anyone else, when it was just the two of them in the theater.

Neon knew getting social media influencers excited would help spread the word. They sent Janisse a special birthday invite to a screening, where he could chat with one of the stars, Maika Monroe. After that, his fans wanted to see it too.

The marketing campaign started way back in January, with little teaser clues and codes. Newspapers had cryptic ads. They put a billboard up in LA with...

Several weeks before Neon achieved a company-record $22.4m opening weekend with Osgood Perkins’s Longlegs, James A. Janisse and his wife Chelsea Rebecca sat down to watch the serial killer horror thriller in a theatre.

They were among the first to see the film starring Maika Monroe as an FBI agent and Nicolas Cage as the eponymous serial killer. And, to heighten the experience, they watched it alone – in stark contrast to the sold-out screenings that would eventually take place in some 2,500 theatres across North America last weekend.

Enlisting the support of social media influencers and digital creators like Janisse...

Genre stars Barbara Crampton (Suitable Flesh) and Catherine Corcoran (Terrifier) have teamed up with YouTuber James A. Janisse, the host of the popular Dead Meat series, for a weekly interview podcast called Scream Dreams – and the first episode is online now! You can watch a teaser for the show at the bottom of this article, along with the first episode. The guest interviewed on the premiere episode was Josh Ruben, the filmmaker behind Scare Me and Werewolves Within.

Coming our way from Alliance Media Partners, each Scream Dreams episode delves deep into the mysterious world of guests’ actual nightmares and fears. Through candid interviews with visionary filmmakers and creatives, Catherine and James will explore how their guests’ most vivid dreams and nightmares shape their lives and work – peeling back what is behind their most haunting creations, and venturing into the dark depths of their subconscious. Scream Dreams will bring listeners an immersive,...

What do you do when you’re on break from opening for Metallica’s world tour? In the case of Ice Nine Kills, you gather a couple thousand of your biggest fans for an unforgettable rock show.

For the second consecutive year, the Massachusetts-based band headlined a concert as part of Silver Scream Con, a horror convention curated by Ice Nine Kills mastermind Spencer Charnas. After last year’s intimate performance effortlessly sold out the 850-seat Cabot Theater in Beverly, Ma, this year’s event was booked at the Lynn Memorial Auditorium in Lynn, Ma. Despite having more than double the capacity at 2,112, it sold out in advance.

Following an introduction by SiriusXM metal ambassador Jose Mangin and the dulcet tones of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand” from Scream, Ice Nine Kills – frontman Charnas, guitarist Ricky Armellino, bassist Joe Occhiuti, drummer Patrick Galante, and fill-in guitarist...

Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, Silver Scream Con returned to the Doubletree Boston North Shore in Danvers, Massachusetts on September 8-10 — ’cause let’s face it, baby, these days you gotta have a sequel!

Created by horror-inspired metalcore band Ice Nine Kills, Silver Scream Con has quickly established itself as a top-tier horror convention among celebrity guests and attendees alike. “Everybody’s been really nice, and I’m enjoying myself immensely,” said Tommy Lee Wallace, who created Michael Myers’ iconic mask for the original Halloween before going on to direct Halloween III: Season of the Witch. “I hope everyone gets the shit scared out of them!”

Not even severe thunderstorm alerts could stop the rabid fans, who traveled not just from all over North America but as far as Finland, Scotland, and England to attend. Ticket sales reportedly doubled from the previous year’s already-commendable showing,...

Spider One (Allegoria, Bury the Bride) is back in the director’s chair with Little Bites, a new horror movie being produced by mother-and-son duo Cher and Chaz Bono. Bloody Disgusting has learned this week that production on Little Bites has wrapped, and we’ve also been provided with a gallery of first-look images you’ll find only here on Bloody Disgusting.

Heather Langenkamp, Barbara Crampton, Bonnie Aarons (The Nun), and Krsy Fox (Allegoria, Bury the Bride) star in Little Bites, which is produced by OneFox Productions.

Meet their characters – and preview the film’s monster – in the gallery below.

Little Bites follows Mindy (Fox), a young widow and mother, who desperately tries to protect her daughter Alice (Elizabeth Caro) from the grips of a fiendish, flesh eating monster named Agyar (Jon Sklaroff). Mindy has been secretly sacrificing her own life by allowing the creature to slowly feast on her...

Earlier this year, Bloody Disgusting’s insanely popular variety show “Hello Horror” returned to Bloody Disgusting TV and Screambox. Today, you can now stream two brand-new episodes!

“Hello Horror”, featuring Vanessa Decker, Ryan Valdez, and Jones Bones, is a genre variety show that covers the spooky community – everything from red carpets, museums, cocktails, events, games, plus more. Vanessa and her crew take the audience on adventures, shining a light on the amazing community the genre has generated.

In Episode 1, “Vegas Saw us coming”, Vanessa and Ryan head to Las Vegas to check out the infamous Saw escape room & chat with Jason Egan. Also, we spend 60 seconds with The Black Phone star Mason Thames, make a cocktail like a true Shemp, play a record to attract a demon, and much, much more.

Episode 3 follows Travis Bacon (Sosie’s brother) and Vanessa as they take a trip to Icon of Darkness’s new location,...

Plot: Kyra Gardner, the daughter of special effects artist and puppeteer Tony Gardner, takes a journey through the Child’s Play franchise.

Review: Friday the 13th has Crystal Lake Memories (both the book and the movie). The Nightmare on Elm Street series has the documentary Never Sleep Again. But a lot of the big horror franchises are still waiting to receive their definitive documentaries. Last year, I read the book Reign of Chucky, a film-by-film examination of the Child’s Play / Chucky franchise that was packed with interesting information about the making of the movies. But since it was assembled during the production of season 2 of the Chucky TV series, it was missing one major element: authors Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins weren’t able to land interviews with some of the most prominent players in the franchise, like Don Mancini, who has written every entry in the series, or actors Brad Dourif,...

With horror displaying its continued dominance at the box office — Nope, Smile, Scream, Barbarian, Halloween Ends and The Black Phone were all among the top 40 releases of 2022 before M3GAN launched the new year with a 30 million opening — James A. Janisse is eagerly riding the gory wave.

The content creator founded the popular YouTube channel Dead Meat in 2017 and saw his subscriber base reach 5.94 million by the end of 2022, up from 4.5 million two years earlier. The content — which includes interviews with directors and actors, podcasts and trivia-filled looks at films — has logged more than 2 billion views.

A Detroit-area native who moved to L.A. in 2012, Janisse (also known as Dead Meat James) is not only the host but also president and executive producer of Dead Meat, which he co-owns with his wife, Chelsea Rebecca. In 2018, Rebecca founded the Dead Meat podcast, which is now on its 182nd episode.

Janisse’s...

Living With Chucky begins as a familiar horror documentary that assembles a variety of notable genre veterans to examine a prominent horror franchise. This one celebrates the iconic killer doll and the Child’s Play franchise. But Living With Chucky quickly diverges from the pack as a unique angle emerges. It’s not just a documentary that reflects upon the franchise’s legacy; it celebrates the families that the killer doll has forged and bonded together.

Director Kyra Gardner, who co-wrote with Jason Strickland, adds visual flair to her documentary. Animated opening credits, stitching of Good Guy doll clothing, and molds of Chucky parts getting filled add interest and break up the conventional talking head format. A collection of franchise tapes sits above a Vcr. Hitting play on each one ushers in a discussion on its respective film.

The talking heads are an eclectic bunch, not all of them an obvious selection.

In the wake of the Academy Awards and before the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards ceremony, James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca from the popular YouTube channel Dead Meat have launched the Dead Meat Horror Awards, a brand new virtual awards ceremony that honors the best in horror. The ceremony is now available to stream in full […]

The post Watch the First Annual “Dead Meat Horror Awards” Celebrating the Best Horror of 2021! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Looking to add some scares to your summer that you can enjoy from the great indoors? Shudder has you covered this July with an eclectic set of horror films both old and new, including the first three Sleepaway Camp movies, all three Maniac Cop films, the ’80s horror documentary In Search of Darkness, The Beach House, The Burning, The Return of the Living Dead, and more!

Below, you can check out the full list of titles coming to Shudder in the Us this July, and be sure to visit Shudder's website to learn more about the streaming service and their scary good lineup!

"Metamorphosis

In this fresh spin on a demonic possession story, Joong-Su, an exorcist, must face a demon he tragically failed to defeat in the past when it targets his brother’s family next. The demon assumes the form of different family members to sow confusion and distrust,...

Updated with special screening: Season 2 of Crypt TV’s The Look-See has set its premiere as a special screening at Rtx Austin on August 4. The Rooster Teeth-hosted fan convention runs August 3-5 at the Austin Convention Center with a focus on animation, gaming and entertainment, and panels and live shows with top Internet celebrities.

Previous, June 1 Am: Digital horror network Crypt TV has ordered a second season of The Look-See, its monster series that racked up more than 30 million views for its Season 1 between Facebook, YouTube and Crypt’s website. The news comes as the company’s YouTube channel just surpassed the 1 million subscriber mark 10 months after its launch. The renewal is the first project earmarked since Crypt TV — founded by CEO Jack Davis and Eli Roth — raised $6.2 million in a Series A round in March featuring investors Blumhouse Productions, Lerer Hippeau, NBCUniversal and Advancit Capital.

The four-episode Season 2 of...

The popular horror YouTube channel Crypt TV has announced that they will be releasing the second season of their monster series The Look-See starting July 24. The four-episode run will be directed by Landon Stahmer, who directed the first season. Completely dialogue-free, the second season will see James A. Janisse, aka DeadMeat, join the cast. […]

The post Crypt TV’s The Look-see Locks Second Season and Casts DeadMeat’s James A. Janisse appeared first on Dread Central.

Long before any sort of justice had ever dawned, Freddy vs. Jason debuted in cinemas to what may be remembered as the first notable crossover between two major film franchises. Since then, we’ve received a couple Alien vs. Predator movies, the second of which performed so poorly that Fox split them back into their own separate entities, and to a much, much lesser extent, Lake Placid vs. Anaconda.

Believe it or not, the road to getting the dream mashup made was treacherous indeed. With the first seeds having been planted in the closing moments of 1993’s Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, you’d have thought we were off to the races. Alas, we we wrong.

None of us could have foreseen that the Hell Jason had actually been sent off to was that of the developmental variety, but, technically, he did at least get to go to...

Love it or hate it, it’s the film that brought Kane Hodder into the mix. Just last week we celebrated the 29th anniversary of director John Carl Buechler’s Friday the 13th: The New Blood, which is fittingly the subject of James A. Janisse’s latest video in his popular “Kill Count” series. For those who haven’t […]...

Having counted the victims of Pamela Voorhees and the first batch of murders at the hands of son Jason, YouTube channel Dead Meat is back with their third installment of “Kill Count”, where host James A. Janisse looks at each… Continue Reading →

The post Dead Meat’s Kill Count Returns With Friday the 13th Part III appeared first on Dread Central.

Last week, we posted a video from a new YouTube channel by the name of Dead Meat, whose host James A. Janisse dove into the kills of the first Friday the 13th film. Today, that series continues with the second… Continue Reading →

The post Dead Meat Tackles the Kill Count of Friday the 13th: Part 2 appeared first on Dread Central.