News

Colman Domingo in ‘Sing Sing’ (Photo Credit: A24)

The San Diego Film Critics Society selected Sing Sing as Best Picture of 2024, with the film also receiving Best Actor (Colman Domingo) and Best Adapted Screenplay awards. Wicked tied as the most-awarded film, earning Best Supporting Actress, Best Production Design, and Best Costume awards.

Dune: Part Two led the list of San Diego Film Critics Society nominees with 12 nominations and won two: Best Director and Best Sound Design. Anora and September 5 also took home two awards from the Southern California-based critics.

2024 San Diego Film Critics Winners

Best Picture

Winner – Sing Sing

Runner Up – Anora

Runner Up – Conclave

Best Director

Winner – Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two

Runner Up – Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing

Best Actor

Winner – Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

Runner Up – Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

Runner Up – Daniel Craig, Queer

Best Actress

Winner – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths

Runner Up – Amy Adams,...

As the U.S. prepares for another four years of Trump presidency, issues surrounding abortion access and the future of women’s bodily autonomy are at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Naturally, as these discussions reached a fever pitch outside of the studio lots, they also bled into the cinematic narratives of this year,...

Tentpoles Dune: Part Two, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Deadpool & Wolverine and TV series including Fallout and Agatha All Along lead nominations for the 52nd Saturn Awards, which recognize the year’s best genre movies and series.

Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two topped the overall noms list with 14 including Best Science Fiction Film and acting noms for Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya among others, followed by studio stablemate Beetlejuice 2 with 13 noms including Best Fantasy Film; Warner Bros topped all studios with 35 noms.

Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine had 10 nominations.

On the TV side, Amazon MGM Studios’ video game adaptation Fallout was tops with five nominations: Best Science Fiction Television Series, Best Actor on Television (Walton Goggins), Best Actress on Television (Ella Purnell) and Best Guest Star on Television (Kyle MacLachlan). Amazon MGM had a leading 17 TV noms among the studios, while Disney was second with 11.

Organized by the Academy of Science Fiction,...

Amy Adams is slowly but surely turning into a dog in Marielle Heller’s new movie. Here’s our Nightbitch review.

Some of 2024’s best horror films have focused on the horrendous assault on the female body that pregnancy can be. Both Immaculate and The First Omen deal with women’s bodily autonomy and show the sheer pain of childbirth while The Substance finds Demi Moore excruciatingly giving birth to a “better” version of herself from her actual backbone.

Nightbitch, Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood follow-up, takes things a little further. If you thought childbirth was hard, try being a full-time mother. The film, adapted from Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel, suggests that being a mother essentially means giving up your entire identity in order to devote your whole life to the little critters that you push out of yourself, rather painfully.

Here, Mother (Amy Adams) starts...

Cast members of AMC’s hit anthology series “The Walking Dead” accept the Dan Curtis Legacy Award at the 51st annual Saturn Awards in February 2024. (Courtesy photo)

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films will host the 52nd Annual Saturn Awards on Groundhog Day next year, the organization announced on Wednesday.

The awards ceremony will honor the best TV shows and movies in the genre of science fiction, horror and fantasy with its annual banquet on February 2, which will stream live via Electric Entertainment’s platform Electric Now and on The Roku Channel for the first time.

Nominees for the Saturn Awards were announced this week, with Warner Bros Discovery (Wbd) grabbing the top spot for the most-nominated entertainment company with 35 nominations. Wbd-owned or produced films like “Dune: Part Two,” “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” and “Wonka” were among the titles mentioned. Dune: Part Two was the most-nominated singular title with 14 potential award wins.

When Bob Iger returned to the Disney CEO throne at the end of 2022, his first order of business was to dismantle a structure that saw the studio’s distribution and creative divisions operating separately. Instead, he put distribution and marketing under the control of Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman. One year later, Iger made clear that Disney would stay far away from the culture wars that had taken a toll on the company’s stock price amid a revolt from conservative consumers. “Creators lost sight of what their No. 1 objective needed to be,” he said at the DealBook Summit. “We have to entertain first. It’s not about messages.”

Fast-forward to 2024, and “Moana 2” marks the fulfilment of those two adjustments — a movie able to pivot from its planned release on Disney+ and escape the wrath of right-wing influencers who believe the studio had been pushing a “woke” ideology, a...

Heretic Box Office (North America): Achieves A Remarkable Feat ( Photo Credit – YouTube )

Heretic is focused on its box office goals as it sets a new record with its domestic gross this weekend. The film is headlined by Hugh Grant, who is best known for his romantic movies. However, he has been taking adverse roles in the last few years, and the actor also enjoys playing such roles. Scroll below for more.

It is noteworthy as the cinemas are filled with major tentpole movies. Amidst that, Hugh’s film achieved a remarkable feat, which boosts the confidence of filmmakers who create small-budget movies. Horror movies have been performing well this year, and some of them include Smile 2, Terrifier 3, Alien: Romulus, and more. Grant’s film is an American psychological horror film by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. The film’s cast includes Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, and Topher Grace.

Guillermo del Toro is adapting Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein for Netflix, and with production now wrapped, Vanity Fair has shared a first look photo from the set.

“Gothic romance was born partially out of the fascination with ruins,” del Toro tells Vanity Fair in the 2025 preview piece that ran this morning. “Sometimes they’re more beautiful than the building complete because it’s the clash of creation and destruction.”

Check out your very first look at Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein below, which takes you inside Dr. Frankenstein’s lab – a place of creation and destruction, to say the very least.

And please note that the below photo is a behind the scenes shot from the film’s set.

Expect Frankenstein sometime in 2025. And yes, it will have a theatrical run.

Jacob Elordi will be playing Frankenstein’s monster in Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the classic Mary Shelley novel,...

With a slew of excellent, critically acclaimed horror films in 2024, could awards bodies finally give them more consideration? A few thoughts.

Toni Collette in Hereditary. Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man. Mia Goth in Pearl. Christian Bale in American Psycho. Florence Pugh in Midsommar.

Horror films have long produced some fine, memorable performances, but they rarely tend to break through into the awards conversation. Or even if they’re talked about, they’re usually doomed to receive no love from the awards bodies themselves.

Why? Great question, and one that probably doesn’t have a simple answer. In general, horror films have been seen as trashy, low-brow forms of entertainment despite their long history of tackling social issues amid all the blood and guts. It’s only recently, with the rise of so-called “elevated horror” – anyone else hate that term? – that the genre’s reputation has started to slowly change.

Richard E. Grant, Emily Mortimer, Charles Dance, Fiona Shaw, Tom Davis and Weruche Opia are boarding the Netflix comedy Ladies First opposite Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike.

Thea Sharrock is directing from a screenplay by Katie Silberman, Cinco Paul and Natalie Krinsky.

Pic, which is based on Eléonore Pourriat’s Je Ne Suis Pas Un Homme Facile, follows a womanizer who gets a real wakeup call when he finds himself in a parallel world dominated by women – a fiery female counterpart makes things far more complicated.

Producers are Liza Chasin for 3dot Productions, Eleonore Dailly and Edouard de Lachomette.

The feature project falls under Chasin’s creative partnership with Netflix, which sees her produce feature films via her shingle, 3dot Productions. Recently released is Lonely Planet...

Before he made us believe a man could fly and before he made arguably the quintessential '80s buddy cop movie, Richard Donner directed a terrific supernatural horror film that feels like a predecessor of the "Final Destination" franchise: "The Omen." One of the best '70s horror movies, "The Omen" is a movie about an adopted child, Damien, who may be the prophesied antichrist, whose very existence means the coming of the end of the world and utter ruin for humanity. 

Starring Gregory Peck, the original 1976 film was a huge hit despite mixed reviews and even got nominated for two Oscars: Best Original Score and Best Original Song (it won Best Original Score for composer Jerry Goldsmith). 

Interestingly enough, Richard Donner initially didn't want to treat this as a horror movie. Instead, he wanted to leave the supernatural aspects of the story open to interpretation, with the audience unsure...

Spoilers for "Heretic" follow.

Does November count as part of spooky season? No matter your answer, one of 2024's best new horror movies has just debuted post Halloween. It's Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' "Heretic." An easy label for the film is religious horror, but it's not quite the same as "Rosemary's Baby" or, more recently, the twin "pregnant with the antichrist" pictures "Immaculate" and "The First Omen."

"Heretic" is a horror film about religion, where the characters are discussing their faiths and the history of them. At least half of the dialogue in the script must belong to the villain, Hugh Grant's Mr. Reed. A theology academic turned serial killer, Reed gets his newest playthings when two Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) show up at his doorstep. Instead of letting the pair convert him, he gives them a course on "the one true religion."

If after...

For horror fans, October is sacred. Commonfolk wear costumes, visit haunted attractions, and celebrate all things festively creepy en masse. Television channels, streaming platforms, and theaters dedicate overwhelming program blocks of Halloween favorites. Horror is en vogue, but with that attention comes the invariable onslaught of taste-maker trades showing their whole-ass behinds. Those who treat horror as unworthy for 11 other calendar months suddenly have opinions about horror's "resurgence," "death," or incoming "fatigue." It's a clockwork tradition that riles internet hordes — with good reason.

This year, two specific articles dominated genre discussions despite their wildly unsubstantiated and data-ignorant claims. The Hollywood Reporter warned that studio executives are worried about "Horror Fatigue," while Vulture opted for the headline "Horror Movies Are Just Trying To Survive." I hate the phrase "Horror Fatigue"; it's a made-up phenomenon that's been disproven year after year. Yet, sites like THR and Vulture approach horror-centric journalism with a goldfish's attention span.

Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, and Chloe East in ‘Heretic’ (Credit: Kimberley French / A24)

Some religions request/require their followers to go door-to-door spreading the word of…their religion. Sounds kind of scary on both ends, doesn’t it? Well, that’s the crux of A24’s horror movie Heretic.

Heretic is about two Latter-day Saints missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher from Yellowjackets) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East from The Fablemans), who happen to knock upon the door of a man named Mr. Reed. At first, it seems like a normal “can we tell you about Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior” kind of experience, but when Mr. Reed invites the two girls inside for some blueberry pie, things get a little awkward. Mr. Reed puts the girls through their paces with his philosophical questions about their religion, but his testing doesn’t stop with mere conversation.

In a year full of religious horror,...

Principal photography for Jaume Collet-Serra’s Cliffhanger reboot is officially underway in Austria, where Lily James defies gravity while pushing herself to the limit. Today, Rocket Science, in partnership with Thank You Pictures and Supernix, unveiled two first-look images from the film’s shoot in Austria’s East Tyrol region of the Lienz Dolomites. I hope you don’t get vertigo because the reboot of Sylvester Stallone’s 1993 thriller, starring Lily James and Pierce Brosnan, looks like it’s off to an exciting start.

“In this reboot of Cliffhanger, seasoned mountaineer Ray Cooper (Pierce Brosnan) and his daughter Sydney run a mountain chalet in the Dolomites. During a weekend trip with a billionaire’s son, they are targeted by a gang of kidnappers. Ray’s older daughter Naomi (Lily James), still haunted by a past climbing accident, witnesses the attack and escapes. To save her family, she must confront her...

Every year, there are outstanding performances that horror fans have come to accept probably won’t get the awards recognition they deserve due to their genre. Obviously, there are notable exceptions; but for every Kathy Bates in “Misery,” there’s Toni Collette in “Hereditary.”

It’s unfortunate that horror isn’t held in higher esteem, as it’s genuinely one of the hardest to get right. It’s a tricky balance, and it can easily go awry. One false move and your over-the-top turns will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. This year, in particular, has been great not only for genre films but also for the actors in them. In a just world, here are some of this year’s actors who would be recognized by Oscar voters.

Hugh Grant, “Heretic”

Perhaps the strongest shot at breaking into the race, the always reliable Grant is perfectly cast as Mr.

A reboot of Sylvester Stallone’s action classic “Cliffhanger” is currently in production, but the film will look a lot different from the package initially announced nearly 18 months ago.

Stallone will no longer star in the update meant to be directed by Ric Roman Waugh (“Greenland”) from a script by Mark Bianculli (“Hunters”). A creative overhaul has meant that actor Lily James will take on the lead role. Pierce Brosnan will co-star and Jaume Collet-Serra will direct. The project hails from Rocket Science in partnership with Thank You Pictures and Supernix.

Filming is underway in Austria with a buzzy supporting cast, including: Nell Tiger Free, festival darling Franz Rogowski (“Passages”), Shubham Saraf (“Shantaram”), Assaad Bouab (“Franklin”), Suzy Bemba (“Poor Things”) and Bruno Gouery, a breakout star of the Netflix hit “Emily in Paris.”

The new script is based on a story by Ana Lily Amirpour. Insiders familiar with the project...

Women’s reproductive health is rarely depicted in movies, according to a new report from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

A new research brief from Dr. Stacy L. Smith, who founded the Institute, looked at the 100 most popular movies of 2023 for portrayals related to pregnancy, miscarriage, infertility, contraception, abortion, menstruation, and overall reproductive health.

“For years we have provided data on how Hollywood marginalizes girls and women on screen,” said Dr. Smith in a statement shared with TheWrap. “This latest report offers further evidence that it is not only the presence of women themselves that is missing on screen, but of critical depictions related to their health and well-being.”

The results show that only 42% of films contained any depiction of reproductive health in 2023. There were 8 depictions of menstruation, most of them in

Kelly Fremon Craig’s “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret,” which was based on the classic book by Judy Blume.

Spooky season is upon us. ‘Tis the time for things that go bump in the night, and we’ve got a curated selection of some of the best new horror movies streaming right now to get you in the mood. There were a number of solid horror films released over the past year, from a couple of nun-centric films to the vampiric “Abigail” to Russell Crowe as an exorcising priest.

There’s a lot to consider, is what we’re saying, but if you pick one of the scary movies on this list we guarantee you’ll be satisfied.

“Abigail” From left to right: Melissa Berrara and Alisha Weir in Universal Pictures’ “Abigail” (Universal)

Streaming on Peacock

While this enjoyable spin on the vampire genre doesn’t quite match the perfection of their uproarious 2019 horror comedy, “Ready or Not,” co-directors Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin have once again assembled a crack...

This was the summer that theatrical audiences really refamiliarized themselves with the famous 20th Century logo, arcing searchlights and all. The Disney-owned division was everywhere, thanks to hits Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Alien: Romulus, not to mention The First Omen. Even Deadpool & Wolverine, which grossed $1.3 billion, featured the logo before and in the movie, which was in part a love letter to the Fox era Marvel movies.

Guiding 20th is the steady hand of Steve Asbell, the longtime Fox exec who became president of the division in 2020, just when the pandemic hit. He navigated the transitional movies and then the pandemic movies, and then the switch to streaming and back to theatrical again.

But as much as the summer’s movies were about franchises long ago, the studio has one eye very much on the future. It is working with up-and-coming filmmakers on streaming features...

There’s been an exciting influx of female transformation horror films in recent years, such as The First Omen, Smile 2, The Substance, and Titane. All these movies depict harrowing rebirths, but there are also often transferences of power that allow these characters to penetrate worlds that would otherwise be impossible for them. Animale gets to the kernel of this idea through a revelatory body horror story that puts the “bull” in bullseye. Body horror, in particular, is such a potent subgenre, especially when it has something deeper to say and is set in a unique realm, rather than purely celebrating gore and grossness. French filmmaker Emma Benestan creates a film that’s savage, raw, and such a breath of fresh air in what’s become an increasingly crowded corner of horror.

Animale, in many respects, resembles a folktale fantasy horror film that’s as much an allegory as it is a genuine nightmare.

Plot: A teenager who stops off to see his dealer to test a new drug before heading off for a night of partying. On the way home, he picks up an injured woman and the night takes a surreal turn.

Review: The gimmick of the one-take scene has gotten pretty out of control in recent years with varied success. Netflix’s Extraction action series utilizes various techniques to accomplish long, seemingly unbroken takes. And with the many setups that action movies require, the unbroken takes are all the more impressive. But it’s been diminished as less and less effort is made towards execution. Often digitally stitched together, the one-take-shot no longer has that same sense of wonder it did when Henry Hill walked through the back of the restaurant and finally reached his table. But if there’s anyone that can make something interesting again: it’s the French.

Smile 2 writer-director Parker Finn has outdone himself once more.

It’s rare for a horror sequel to surpass its hit predecessor, but Finn’s second installment has done exactly that with critics and audiences. It’s also on pace to exceed Smile‘s opening weekend box office of $22.6 million from two years ago. In any event, Smile 2‘s success shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise since Ohio native Finn already defied the odds with his feature directorial debut. The 2022 horror film about a curse that’s passed on through an unsettling smile was originally made for Paramount+, but as soon as its first test screening brought the house down, the Sosie Bacon-led film pivoted to theatrical, grossing $217 million on a $17 million budget.

Finn immediately engaged in sequel talks following his end-of-September opening weekend, but instead of picking up right where he left off with Kyle Gallner...

What are you looking for in a sequel? Dependable familiarity or narrative evolutions? Parker Finn's Smile 2 is a sharper, meaner, and despicably addictive amplification of Smile that doesn’t tamper with what works. Finn's execution of trauma-driven haunts is an upgrade across the board, albeit recognizable. It's funnier, flashier, scarier, and doesn't feign complacency even for a millisecond. Smile 2 is an invigoration of exposed demonic templates (typed by someone lukewarm on Finn's successful original). Move over, Lady Raven; Skye Riley's taking center stage.

Naomi Scott is a knockout as pop music megastar Skye Riley, an ex-addict who's just announced her hotly anticipated "Welcome Back" tour. She's a sober and rebranded shell of herself but pushes forward, driven by the pressures of not letting down her ravenous fans, profiting record executives (Raúl Castillo), or supportive loved ones. Skye's mother and acting manager, Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt), keeps a...

Join ussss this week as we delve into one of the year’s most discussed, dissected, and downright creepy horror movies! Kimmi & Jon are pulling out the pentagrams and turning our crosses upside down on this week’s episode of Nightmare on Film Street horror movie podcast as they break down all the brain-shattering revelations of Arkasha Stevenson’s The First Omen (2024).

Expanding the foundation of a movie that haunted moviegoers in 1976, The First Omen peels back the layers of Richard Donner’s The Omen to explore a sinister satanic cult embedded deep within the Roman Catholic Church. Striking a balance between franchise expectations and fresh nightmare imagery, The First Omen is a haunting story of religious horror and proof that prequels can be just as bone-chilling as their predecessors. Tune in as we explore the dark origins of evil, uncover shocking secrets, and get into the nitty gritty of...

Damien Thorn is the Antichrist, and the trilogy that tells his unholy tale remains popular almost fifty years later. Indeed, while putting together this movie ranked list and revisiting the original Omen franchise, we were surprised at how well the old movies held up. Omen fans will be happy that the series has been restarted in a pretty interesting way earlier this year, with The First Omen a surprisingly excellent prequel to the original trilogy (check out our interviews with the director and cast here), even if it takes one large liberty involving Damien’s birth that some fans may have an issue with. So, how do the Omen films rank against each other? Let’s take a look, but remember that the TV series Damien (which lasted for one season in 2016) is not included, as we’re sticking with feature films.

The Omen (2006)

There’s honestly no reason for this movie to exist.

10 2024 Films that Will Get You Into the Halloween Spooky Season - Main Image

Though horror films are released all year round, the Halloween season in October is really the time to celebrate all things dark and creepy.

Several movies have been come to known as Halloween classics with films like The Thing, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Poltergeist, but 2024 has also brought in some interesting movies that should get you into the spooky season (in no particular order).

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Halloween isn’t always about things being scary. Sometimes things can just be gross and silly, and the Beetlejuice sequel from Tim Burton delivers a great return to his kooky depiction of the afterlife.

Wednesday star Jenna Ortega takes over the role of the dark gothic girl that was played by Winona Ryder in the original, and the movie also gives some interesting backstory to Beetlejuice as a character and why...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

2024 is (a). almost over and (b). has officially entered its spooky season. So by now, we can pinpoint some horror trends. What is scaring us this year?

Both "Immaculate" and "The First Omen" are about young women forced by religious fanatics to bear unwanted and monstrous pregnancies. Due to the movies' overlapping subject matter and tight release window, they were named the harbingers of a pro-choice horror wave. America did recently strip people's rights to abortion by judicial fiat, after all. Even Coralie Fargeat's "The Substance," a body horror film about how beauty standards devalue aging women, is a cousin to these films. (Fargeat's film has got the most disgusting "birth" scene that doesn't star a chestburster.)

However, one should not forget the religious settings of "Immaculate" and "The First Omen," for this is where the two 2024 horror trends intersect.

By this weekend, we’ll know whether October will be a hit or a bust. “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Warner Bros.), a $190 million-plus production before marketing, opens worldwide Friday against real concerns: It may not come anywhere close to the 2019 original.

With Joaquin Phoenix returning in the role that won him an Oscar, Lady Gaga joining with a musical touch, and Todd Phillips repeating as director, what could go wrong?

“Joker” had the benefit of a more-modest budget — $75 million plus marketing — but in 2019, foreign business was surging and international contributed 69 percent of its nearly $1.1 billion worldwide gross. Today, most studio titles gross about 50-50 domestic and foreign.

And while “Joker” won the Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, last month’s Lido launch of “Folie à Deux” generated a muted response.

No one expects “Joker: Folie à Deux” to come close to the original’s $96 million opening. Industry consensus is closer to $55 million-$60 million,...

Guillermo del Toro is adapting Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel Frankenstein for Netflix, and the Oscar-winning filmmaker has been keeping us updated on the production these last several months via his official Twitter account. Shooting kicked off back in February, and del Toro has taken to Twitter this morning to announce that production is now complete.

Del Toro tweets, “Shooting has been completed on “F” – Joy!!!”

Jacob Elordi will be playing Frankenstein’s monster in Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the classic Mary Shelley novel, alongside Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, and Oscar Isaac.

Ralph Ineson (The Witch, The First Omen) will make a “pivotal” cameo appearance in the film.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein follows scientist Victor Frankenstein, who plays god and brings a monster to life. The story has of course been adapted countless times over the years in film, television and beyond, and we can expect del...

Plot: A struggling dancer finds herself drawn into dark forces by a peculiar couple promising her fame.

Review: I would consider Rosemary’s Baby to be one of the greatest films of all time, horror or otherwise. Mia Farrow’s performance is absolutely sublime and paranoia can be felt in nearly every frame of celluloid. There’s plenty of intrigue with the cult of Satan that is deadset on birthing the Antichrist. It’s such a descent into madness and shows the extremes of gaslighting (to say the least). So it’s easy to be a bit nervous about a prequel coming along for such a beloved film. But then you add Julia Garner in the lead role and they seem to be on the right path. If only they’d kept on that path…

Rather than following a couple desperate for a baby, Apartment 7A follows a single lady, Terry...

Strong performances from Julia Garner and Dianne Wiest can’t add enough weight to a pointless horror that fills in gaps we didn’t need filling in

There wasn’t any urgent necessity to this April’s horror prequel The First Omen, a film that took us back to tell a tale we mostly knew already. Filling in the specifics of Damien’s backstory, before he was adopted by a couple unaware of his satanic conception, was not something even the most impassioned Omen fans were thirsting for but it came to be because of Disney’s Fox purchase and a greedy desire to stuff its streamer Hulu with content associated with known IP, the common contemporary reasoning that forces existence: could over should.

But a strike-affected release schedule, and I would imagine some enthused test screenings, pushed it into cinemas instead and while it wasn’t without its problems,...

Films including Immaculate, The First Omen, Apartment 7A and Alien: Romulus show terrifying depictions of childbirth – in tune with post-Roe v Wade America

Nosebleeds, a metallic taste in the mouth, feet that go up a whole size the side effects of pregnancy are their own kind of body horror and a slew of films released this year hone in on just how bloody and brutal childbirth can be. Immaculate, The First Omen, Apartment 7A and Alien: Romulus all feature pregnancies that are invasive, the result of non-consensual sexual encounters. The terror the women in these films experience when they’re at their most vulnerable is heightened by how isolated they are, either in remote locations, by a language barrier, in new cities or in the vast reaches of space. Escape seems impossible – where can you run when you’re hostage to the horrors of your own body?

The past few...

The star plays a middle-aged TV host who signs up for a drug to generate a replicant of her younger self in French director Coralie Fargeat’s blood-soaked satire

The female body is a horror movie waiting to happen. From puberty and the grisly onset of menstruation, in pictures such as Brian De Palma’s Carrie and John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps, to pregnancy and childbirth – Rosemary’s Baby is the obvious example – women have provided a rich seam of inspiration for genre film-makers over the past half century. But look a little closer and two trends become apparent: the vast majority of female body-based horror deals with various aspects of the reproductive system, and it has largely been made by men. And this is part of what makes French director Coralie Fargeat’s gut-churningly visceral second feature so refreshing: The Substance not only offers a female perspective on women’s bodies,...

Natalie Erika James’ “Apartment 7A” crumbles under circumstantial pressures. Visual blemishes don’t mar the “Rosemary’s Baby” prequel — James can shoot with effusive competence (see “Relic”). This film sleepwalks as a routine horror prequel clinging to classic nostalgia, unlike how “The First Omen” nailed the formula mere months ago. “Apartment 7A” achieves basic prequel accomplishments without finding its independent voice, playing with Roman Polanski’s characters and plotlines like a dull recreation. There’s nothing here we couldn’t already presume from watching “Rosemary’s Baby,” as James finds herself handcuffed to an original in a needless attempt to revive an existing intellectual property.

As seen in its Friday premiere at Fantastic Fest, Julia Garner stars as Terry Gionoffrio, who you’ll remember as a dead body in Polanski’s devilish maternity tale. We meet Terry as a bright-eyed Nebraskan girl with song-and-dance aspirations before a career-threatening injury. She eventually meets...

It’s been a year of horror prequels, with The First Omen and A Quiet Place: Day One renewing faith in the prequel’s ability to find unexpected, poignant story threads still left to explore, especially with talented voices driving them. That Apartment 7A, the prequel to Rosemary’s Baby, stacks the talent in front of and the behind the camera instills hope for the prequel’s continued hot streak. Unfortunately, a bland script and limiting story choices bind this prequel so thoroughly that it winds up a tedious retread of Rosemary’s Baby.

Apartment 7A opts to explore the story of Terry Gionoffrio (Julia Garner), the friendly dancer who befalls a grim fate shortly before Rosemary Woodhouse moves into the Bramford. It introduces Terry just as she’s about to join the stage for a dance number, which is abruptly cut short by a brutal snapping of Terry’s ankle, effectively crippling her career.

The Castevets come creepin’ in the new Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A. Directed by Natalie Erika James (Relic) from a screenplay she co-wrote with her writing partner Christian White, and Skylar James, Apartment 7A is an imaginative re-visit to the coven that’s taken up residence in New York’s Dakota building. The Satanic slow-burn suffers from the same pitfalls of every other franchise retread but where the story separates from its predecessor is where it finds space to get creative and carve out a creepy little corner for itself.

What sets Apartment 7A apart from the Candymansand the Halloweens of the 2020s is that the story actually takes place during the events of Rosemary’s Baby. Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse are technically in this movie but their story only exists on the edges, peaking in from time to time to as background cameos. Although the end of Terry...

Earlier this year, "The First Omen" arrived in theaters, offering us a prequel to the 1976 Satanic horror pic "The Omen." In theory, this sounded like a bad idea: a lazy way to cash-in on brand awareness without offering anything new to the horror genre. But surprise, surprise! "The First Omen" turned out to be surprisingly good, especially for a studio mandated horror prequel. It may not have set the box office on fire, but in the sturdy hands of filmmaker Arkasha Stevenson, "The First Omen" was smart, captivating, and most of all, scary. Now, here comes "Apartment 7A," which is following a similar formula: It's another prequel to a devil-themed horror classic, in this case Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby." My knee-jerk reaction was to be skeptical to this entire endeavour, but I was also skeptical about "The First Omen," and that turned out to be a wonderful surprise. Could it happen again?...

Natalie Erika James’ “Apartment 7A” is at once a prequel to “Rosemary’s Baby” — the book by Ira Levin and the film by Roman Polanski — and the latest entry in Hollywood’s new wave of pregnancy horror, born in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s 2022 repealing. Other examples from this year include “Immaculate” and “The First Omen” (the latter also being a prequel), but James’ mostly-solid film more succinctly captures the anxieties of the current moment.

The movie is largely entertaining, despite being pulled constantly in two directions: as a predecessor to an iconic work and as a distinct beast, with its own gripes against patriarchal norms. Set in the mid-1960s, it follows struggling stage actor Terry Gionoffrio (Julia Garner), a minor role previously played by Angela Dorian in Polanski’s film, and it details how she came to live in Bramford, the wealthy New York apartment building where “Rosemary’s Baby” is set.

This spooky season, Disney+ and Hulu are conjuring up an exciting blend of scares for every Halloween enthusiast as the comprehensive streaming homes of Halloween with a thrilling variety of spine-tingling premieres, nostalgic classics, and heart-pounding horror for every family member and fan.

Agatha All Along Huluween On Hulu

Huluween returns this October with a fresh selection of frightening content that guarantees to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Whether preparing for a horror-filled binge or seeking thrills for a Halloween watch party, Hulu has assembled a month of chilling entertainment.

Hulu’s standout offerings include the debut of FX’s Grotesquerie, a sinister crime series that blurs the line between horror and psychological thriller, brand new Halloween specials from fan-favorite animated series Solar Opposites and Family Guy, as well as five all-new scary tales from FX’s American Horror Stories, the final season of FX’s What We Do in the Shadows...

A remake of the Danish horror movie, Blumhouse and Universal released Speak No Evil in theaters over the weekend, and the news is good on both the critical and box office fronts.

Arriving in theaters with an 83% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, Speak No Evil debuted with $11.3 million in 3,375 theaters at the domestic box office over the weekend.

Worldwide, the film’s current total is $20,873,595.

The reported production budget for Blumhouse’s Speak No Evil is $15 million, so the film should have no problem turning a profit at the box office in the coming weeks.

For the sake of context, Speak No Evil‘s $11.3 million domestic debut is higher than the opening weekends for several of this year’s horror movies, including Abigail, Imaginary, The First Omen, Blink Twice, The Watchers, Tarot, AfrAId, and Lisa Frankenstein. It opened to nearly the same amount as Blumhouse’s Night Swim ($11.7m), which ended with $54 million.

Fangoria Magazine and Fangoria Studios have unveiled their list of presenters for the 2024 Chainsaw Awards, which will premiere Sunday, Oct. 13 exclusively on Shudder. The full broadcast replay will be made available on-demand on Shudder the following day.

The Chainsaw Awards recognizes achievement in horror film, television and for the first time this year, video games. “Late Night With the Devil” star David Dastmalchian will host this year’s ceremony with Fangoria.com editor Angel Melanson. Presenters for the evening include Fede Álvarez (“Alien: Romulus” co-writer and director), Skeet Ulrich (“Scream”), Madeleine McGraw (“The Black Phone”), Dewayne Perkins (“The Blackening”), Lauren Lavera (“Terrifier 3”), Akela Cooper (“Malignant”), Peaches Christ (“Midnight Mass”), Dane Diliegro (“Prey”), Alec Gillis, Tiffany Shepis (“Victor Crowley”), Lachlan Watson (“Chucky”) and more.

The 2024 nominees, which include films like “Evil Dead Rise,” “M3GAN,” “Infinity Pool,” “The First Omen,” “I Saw the TV Glow,” and TV shows like “Yellowjackets” and “Chucky,...

Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros unleashed Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice this weekend, as the ghost with the most tallied up a $145.4M global start. That’s in line with where we saw it ahead of the weekend, and includes $110M from domestic as well as $35.4M from 69 international box office markets. The launch gives the sequel bragging rights to being front of the line this frame domestically, internationally and globally.

The Michael Keaton-starrer racked up No. 1 starts in 40 overseas markets while such key plays as France, Germany and Japan are still on deck to release in the coming weeks and months.

Internationally in like-for-likes and using today’s exchange rates, the film is tracking 28% ahead of Alice Through the Looking Glass and 74% over Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

In Latin America it was No. 1 everywhere, and roughly on par with the opening weekend of Wonka,...

Walt Disney soll an diesem Wochenende als erstes Studio des Jahres die 4-Milliarden-Dollar-Grenze am weltweiten Boxoffice überschreiten. Es ist das zehnte Mal, dass das Maushaus diesen Meilenstein seit 2010 erreichen wird, und das dritte Jahr in Folge.

Die neuen Emotionen: „Alles steht Kopf 2” (Credit: Disney/Pixar)

An diesem Wochenende sollte es Walt Disney gelingen, als erstes Studio in diesem Jahr die 4-Milliarden-Dollar-Grenze am weltweiten Boxoffice zu überschreiten. Es ist das zehnte Mal, dass dies dem Maushaus seit 2010 gelingt, und das dritte Jahr in Folge. Dies meldet Screen International. Treiber sind neben „Alles steht Kopf 2“ und „Deadpool & Wolverine“ auch „Planet of the Apes: New Kingdom“, „Alien: Romulus“ und „The First Omen“. „Alles steht Kopf 2“ wird dabei „Jurassic World“ mit 1,7 Milliarden Dollar überholen und zum achterfolgreichsten Film aller Zeiten aufsteigen.

The Walt Disney Studios will become the first studio in 2024 to cross the $4bn threshold this weekend, fuelled by five hits including Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine.

The studio’s other major drivers are Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, Alien: Romulus, and The First Omen. This is the tenth time the studio has passed the milestone since 2010 and its third successive year to do so.

Inside Out 2 will overtake Jurassic World on $1.671bn to become the eighth highest-grossing release of all time, the latest in a string of accolades that has seen the Pixar smash...

Heavy spoilers ahead for "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice."

"Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" is a gonzo sequel to an '80s masterpiece. It's also the best movie Tim Burton has made in over a decade -- one that's filled with spectacular art direction, designs, and practical effects.

One big standout aspect of "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" comes right after Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice is reunited with Winona Ryder's Lydia Deetz after decades of stalking her. Hoping to romantically win her back, he merely points at her and she becomes instantaneously pregnant — literally — and in a matter of seconds, her water breaks and an actual baby drops to the floor. It's one of the grossest things put to screen in a major motion picture this year, on par with the grotesque and graphic birth scenes in "Immaculate" and "The First Omen" but on a PG-13 rating.

As if the birth of the creature isn't enough, the newborn...

Horror fans, we're eatin' good (with our eyes). It's been a splendid 2024 already, and we're not even at the Halloween rush yet. Indie darlings like Shudder's "Exhuma" or "Infested" have stunned the platform's subscribers, Neon mesmerized theatergoers with "Immaculate" and "Longlegs," and studio releases like "The First Omen" or "Alien: Romulus" brought the thunder. Can we not bother with the obligatory "Horror's back, baby!" articles this October? Horror never left, horror's always en vogue, and horror's been having one heck of a year.

Like I said, Halloween still two months away. We're still staring at a whole dang slate of spooky season releases on the horizon. With titles like "Speak No Evil" or "Terrifier 3" patiently waiting, the best horror watches this year might still be on the way. Even better, we've seen some of those releases yet to come and can confirm that 2024 still has some tricks up its sleeve.

Similar to how people went on vacation with revenge as Covid simmered down, so did they return to cinemas this summer.

Even though this season’s domestic box office take of $3.6 billion, per Comscore, is roughly a half-billion lighter than last summer’s $4.09 billion, chalk that up largely to a Marvel movie missing from the traditional early May summer kickoff slot due to the hangover from the Hollywood strikes (Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t arrive until late July). Last summer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 delivered $359 million stateside upon its May 5 launch — enough said.

The town freaked out because we were going through a dry period, fearing that moviegoing was hearing the death gong. But theatrical showed a nonstop resilience once Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die lit the spark in early June with a $56.5M debut, commencing a flood of event films.

Is it us, or is streaming...

Before Mia Farrow gave birth to Rosemary's Baby in Roman Polanski's '60s horror classic, the Devil chose another young woman to be the mother of the antichrist.

Paramount+ has released the first trailer for Apartment 7A, which is set to premiere on the streaming service on September 27. Directed by Natalie Erika James from a script by Skylar James and Christian White, the movie adapts elements from the same novel the 1968 original is based on.

Julia Garner (Ozark) stars as a dancer named Terry Gionoffrio (who we met in Rosemary's Baby as a recovering drug addict played by Victoria Vetri) who moves into the infamous Bramford building and finds herself falling under the influence of some very sinister neighbours. Terry has big ambitions, and the Bramford residents are willing to make her an offer she can't - but really should - refuse in return for stardom.

Though her character's...

Julia Garner stars as a young, somewhat doomed dancer in Natalie Erika James’ Rosemary’s Baby prequel. Take a look at the first Apartment 7A trailer.

I know what you’re thinking. We don’t need a Rosemary’s Baby prequel. I fully agree. The original is perfect, and one of the horror genre’s most influential films. There’s no improving on that, so why even try?

Yet, after watching the trailer for Apartment 7A, I sure want a Rosemary’s Baby prequel.

Take a look at the first Apartment 7A trailer below.

Frustratingly, it’s going straight to streaming, appearing on Paramount+ on 27th September. It’s a shame, because the film looks like a visual treat.

Natalie Erika James is in the director’s chair and if we’re going by her previous feature, Relic, we’re in good hands here. Julia Garner stars as the young...