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The film-maker’s 1984 shocker gave pop culture a new, physics-defying villain in the misshape of Freddy Krueger

From the beginning of his career, when he reworked Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring into The Last House on the Left, one of the nastiest (and smartest) exploitation horror films of the 1970s, the director Wes Craven had the unique ability to reconcile high-minded ideas with low-down genre kicks. In person, he had a professorial air because he was once, in fact, a professor, teaching English and the humanities at various north-eastern colleges before picking up a 16mm camera. He would turn The Hills Have Eyes into a cannibalistic shocker that doubled as a stark class critique and give the villainous couple of The People Under the Stairs the unmistakable echo of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. He understood as well as anyone how horror could be a vessel for larger themes, so...

Now, a warning.

After wrapping up October with discussions of horror classics like Tobe Hooper’s original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (listen), Bob Clark’s Black Christmas (listen) and Kevin S. Tenney’s Night of the Demons (listen), we’re checking in with two of cinema’s fiercest divas in Robert Zemeckis‘ Death Becomes Her (1992).

In Death Becomes Her, novelist Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) loses her fiancé Ernest (Bruce Willis) to movie star and former friend Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep), she winds up in a psychiatric hospital. Years later, she returns to confront the now-married couple, looking radiant. Madeline, desperate to one-up her former rival, is offered a mysterious potion that allows her to look young and beautiful forever, but she soon discovers that immortality has a price…

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts,...

AMC FearFest has been going strong since October 1 with themed marathons featuring your favorite franchises, movies and monsters, and the final days belong to two icons in particular.

While you wait for Michael Myers to take over AMC FearFest with Halloween franchise marathons on Halloween Eve and Halloween Day, today’s schedule is dominated by Freddy!

AMC is airing a “Nightmare of Freddy” marathon all day today, October 29!

While the movies are being aired out of order, which we’re of course used to by now, what’s cool about this marathon is that Every Freddy Movie Ever Made is included.

Here’s the full “Nightmare of Freddy” schedule…

9am – Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare 11am – A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child 1pm – A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master 3:15pm – A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 5:30pm – A Nightmare...

Weirdo Angela

Our run of Gay Icons and Anniversaries continues. After kicking off October with discussions of David Fincher’s Gone Girl (listen), Tobe Hooper’s original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (listen), and Bob Clark‘s Black Christmas (listen), we’re celebrating Halloween early with Kevin S. Tenney‘s Night of the Demons (1988).

In the film, Judy (Cathy Podewell) is lured by her prospective boyfriend Jay (Lance Fenton) to a party at Hull House, hosted by the school weirdo Angela (Amelia Kinkade) and her boy crazy best friend Suzanne (Linnea Quigley). Along with friends Frannie, Max, Stooge and Helen, as well as Judy’s secret admirer, Sal (William Gallo), the party will accidentally unleash Evil Dead-esque demons that kill and infect the partygoers.

Can the group survive until dawn? Or will Angela and the other demons dance and lipstick boob them to their doom?

Be sure to subscribe to...

This year, Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Wes Craven’s immortal horror classic, turns 40.

The film, inspired by true events (watch the documentary “The Nightmare” for more), follows a group of kids who die after encountering a spooky boogeyman named Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Freddy is the classic god of mischief – a shapeshifting serial killer with the power to scare teenagers to death. Heather Langenkamp plays Nancy Thompson, one of the terrorized teens who discovers her own familial connection to Krueger.

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” would spawn an enviable franchise, including sequels (Langenkamp would return for “Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors” and “New Nightmare”), a television series, a 1-900 number where you could chat with Freddy (seriously), oodles of merchandise, a spin-off (2003’s “Freddy vs. Jason”) and a remake (among other things). Most recently, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” got re-released in a new,...

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It's spooky season, and for a great many movie lovers out there, that means it's time to binge on some horror. As a result, arguably the biggest crossover in the history of the genre has found new life on the Max streaming service. 2003's "Freddy vs. Jason" has been sitting firmly in the streamer's top ten movie charts as of late, with viewers very interested in the cinematic showdown between Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees to get them into the spirit of Halloween.

"Freddy vs. Jason" is currently at number nine on Max right now, per FlixPatrol. It's sitting just above Wes Craven's original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and just below 2017's "It," which is literally the biggest horror movie of all time. The list is currently dominated by horror or horror-adjacent fare, with Ti West's "MaXXXine...

Bitchin’ Barb.

After kicking off October with discussions of David Fincher’s Gone Girl (listen) and Tobe Hooper’s original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (listen), we’re tackling another juggernaut of horror history with a look at Bob Clark‘s Black Christmas.

Black Christmas follows sorority sisters Jess (Olivia Hussey), Barb (Margot Kidder) and Phyl (Andrea Martin) as they begin to receive anonymous, obscene phone calls in the days leading up to Christmas. When their other sorority sister Clare (Lynne Griffin) goes missing from the house, the girls frantically search for her, unaware that the mysterious caller has made a home for himself in their attic.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, and RSS.

Episode 304: Black Christmas (1974) feat. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Bust out those American flags and...

Stephen King's It miniseries was one of the great horror releases of the 90s, and still terrifies audiences more than 30 years after release. Featured within In Search of Darkness 1990-1994, we have an exclusive clip with director Tommy Lee Wallace, who talks about the world's fear of clowns, and bringing Pennywise to life with Tim Curry!

Ready to explore the best of ‘90s horror films and TV? In Search of Darkness 1990-1994, a five-plus-hour documentary featuring brand-new interviews with the greatest line-up of horror icons and experts, is now available to pre-order exclusively at 90sHorrorDoc.com until Midnight Halloween (Pacific Time) on October 31st, 2024. Audiences will have their last chance to have their names alongside their favorite horror icons in the credits!

From Creatorvc, the creative minds behind the In Search of Darkness ‘80s horror trilogy and Aliens Expanded documentary, In Search of Darkness: 1990-1994 delves into an...

Slaughterhouse Rules.

Back in mid-September, we began a themed collection of episodes featuring Gay Icons and Anniversaries. Trace and I kicked off the series with a revisit of Jennifer’s Body (listen) before delving into Jonathan Glazer’s controversial Birth (listen), and David Fincher’s Gone Girl (listen) for its 10th anniversary.

Now it’s time to tackle the 50th anniversary of Tobe Hooper‘s classic text, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It’s a film that hardly needs an introduction, but in case folks have never seen it, the film follows a van full of teenagers travelling through Texas to ensure the resting site of a relative hasn’t been disturbed by a recent wave of grave robberies.

Of course what they do is run afoul of a family of men who have resorted to murder and cannibalism following the closure of the slaughterhouse. With masked killer Leatherface doing most of the heavy lifting,...

Few directors can legitimately lay claim to one major horror franchise. Wes Craven is the rare mastermind behind two. The genre icon not only envisioned one of the most imaginative slasher entries of all time with 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, he reinvented the genre once again in 1996 with Scream. Both films birthed franchises that remain tentpoles of the genre, making household names out of beloved final girls and frightening onscreen killers alike. And between them lies Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, a curious 1994 slasher sequel that not only takes place in our world, but offers a faux glimpse behind the scenes of horrific storytelling. Arguably a prototype for the meta-slasher craze, New Nightmare blurs the line between fantasy and reality while questioning the power of horror in a rapidly changing world.

I was thirteen when the film hit theaters and absolutely terrified of slashers. Though already a Fear...

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

"Who better to resurrect Freddy than his creator?" This is the question posed by producer Bob Shaye, playing himself, in 1994's "New Nightmare," typically billed as Wes Craven's "New Nightmare." That's because Craven, who had long since stepped away from directing the Freddy Krueger films, had returned to his post behind the camera. However, this wasn't just for a paycheck; Craven was about to provide the genre with its boldest reinvention arguably since he introduced us to Freddy in the original nightmare-inducing "A Nightmare on Elm Street" a decade earlier.

The film sees Craven, as well as actors Heather Langenkamp (who played Nancy in the original "Nightmare") and Robert Englund (who had been Freddy in every entry in the franchise up...

Over the course of three In Search of Darkness documentary films, all of which were over four hours long (with one of them nearly reaching the six hour mark), director David Weiner did an incredible job of digging into the many great (and some not-so-great) horror movies that were released in the 1980s. There were still so many movies left uncovered that Weiner could circle back and continue looking into ’80s movies for years to come – but instead, he has decided to move forward into the ’90s with the upcoming documentary In Search of Darkness: 1990 – 1994. At the time, fans considered the horror genre to be in a lull, a downswing from the heights it reached in the ’80s. But with this movie, Weiner aims to point out that we did still get a lot of good horror movies during that time period. You can get a sample of the...

From the producers of the hit In Search of Darkness documentary franchise comes In Search of Darkness: 1990-1994, an all-new epic documentary that aims to be the ultimate celebration of the wacky world of 1990s horror. Horror icons John Carpenter, Heather Langenkamp, and Mike Flanagan lead the line-up of 40+ genre favorites who were interviewed for this in-depth re-assessment of the decade, and we’re debuting the official trailer this morning!

In Search of Darkness: 1990-1994, a five-plus-hour documentary featuring brand-new interviews with an incredible line-up of horror icons and experts, is now available to pre-order exclusively at 90sHorrorDoc.com until Midnight Halloween (Pacific Time) on October 31st, 2024. This is your last chance to have Your name alongside your favorite horror icons in the credits.

In Search of Darkness: 1990-1994 Purchase Options:

Isod: 1990-94 Blu-ray Package (including Blu-ray w/slipcase; 2 posters; sew-on patch; membership card; name in credits; digital...

Pike-y perfection.

After closing out September with a re-do of Jennifer’s Body (listen), a film we covered in one of our earliest episodes, and a discussion of Jonathan Glazer’s controversial Birth (listen), we’re continuing our theme of Anniversary/Diva Worship with a look at David Fincher‘s Gone Girl (2014).

Gone Girl sees Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike), the inspiration for the beloved series of “Amazing Amy” children’s books, go missing. The prime suspect is her husband Nick (Ben Affleck), though he is as shocked at his wife’s disappearance as the police are.

As the days go by and more clues are unearthed, it becomes clear that Nick isn’t honest as he seems, and that the marriage he had with Amy may not have been as blissful as everyone thought.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts,...

In 1984, Wes Craven presented to the world an iconic villain, Freddy Krueger. The guy with knives for fingernails and a dirty red and green sweater. And he almost joined the ranks of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, and perhaps, now, may actually be the greatest slasher of all time. Since A Nightmare on Elm Street terrified audiences back then, it has spawned a legacy of sequels. Dream Warriors and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare are my favorites. Still, I have a soft spot for even the weakest entries. However, there’s nothing like the first installment, and seeing A Nightmare on Elm Street recently, with its new transfer, was incredible. It brought my love of the original film back in the most maniacally mesmerizing ways!

Those in attendance included Charles Bernstein (Composer – Nightmare 1), Jack Sholder (Director – Nightmare 2), Dan Perri, Steven Fierberg (Cinematographer – Nightmare 4), John Skipp (Nightmare 5), Rodd Matsui (Nightmare 6), Miko Hughes...

From the creators of found footage movie The Houses October Built comes Will Helm, an upcoming proof-of-concept horror short starring Spencer Charnas from Ice Nine Kills.

Directed by Bobby Roe and written by Zack Andrews & Bobby Roe, Will Helm is hitting the festival circuit this Halloween season, and Bloody Disgusting has an exclusive preview.

The plot of Will Helm is under wraps, but it will be premiering at Sitges and Screamfest next month. It will also show at the Knoxville Horror Film Fest before an anniversary screening of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare at the drive-in part of the festival.

From what we gather, there is an unofficial A Nightmare on Elm Street component in Will Helm and it acts as something of a meta combo piece for the Wes Craven classic.

Bobby Roe tells Bloody Disgusting, “We are hoping to follow in the footsteps of Smile, Night Swim and Lights Out.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of writer/director Wes Craven’s horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street – and, as we’ve previously reported, Warner Bros. is celebrating the film’s anniversary by giving it a 4K Blu-ray release on October 1st! A trailer for the 4K release has dropped online, and you can check it out in the embed above. While it’s great that the original A Nightmare on Elm Street is coming to 4K, one thing we’ve heard zero news about is the possibility of a new Elm Street movie going into production any time soon. Speaking to our friends at Bloody Disgusting, Elm Street heroine Heather Langenkamp said it’s a shame there’s no new movie news to share… especially since she believes that Robert Englund still has it in him, despite his statements to the contrary, to play dream stalker Freddy Krueger one more time.

There’s some undeniable wisdom in that Mark Twain quote about writing what you know, and that’s likely the reason why some of the best films of all time are about filmmaking itself. This also applies to the horror genre, as we can see from beloved classics like Wes Craven’s New Nightmare and even The Blair Witch Project.

And in honor of recent meta horror flicks like MaXXXine and The Exorcism (not to be confused with The Pope’s Exorcist), we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating 6 underrated Hollywood Horror Films that explore the dark side of show business.

For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining ‘Hollywood Horror’ as scary movies where filmmaking itself is a source of scares. That being said, we’ll be avoiding Found Footage movies since most of them are already exercises in meta storytelling.

With that out of the way,...

If you are a horror fan then there is a big chance that you might have heard about the horror streaming service Shudder, and if you have its subscription you might be wondering what’s in store for you in August 2024. Don’t worry there is a host of new and old horror movies coming to the service in the upcoming month and we have listed the 7 best movies coming to Shudder in August 2024.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (August 1)

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a supernatural horror slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven. The 1984 film sees a maniacal serial killer, Freddy Krueger killing teenagers in their dreams and it follows the story of Nancy and her friends as they try to solve the mystery behind Freddy Krueger before he kills them too. A Nightmare on Elm Street stars Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, Johnny Depp, John Saxon,...

AMC Networks’ Shudder has announced the titles that will be available on the streaming service next month. The Shudder August 2024 slate includes horror, thriller, and supernatural titles.

The August highlights include the films Dancing Village: The Curse Begins, Divinity, and Hell Hole, as well as the series Horror’s Greatest and The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs.

Hell Hole

Shudder’s expanding library of films, TV series, and original content is available on most US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand streaming devices.

Shudder August 2024 Highlights

The Shudder premiere schedule for next month.

Hell Hole (Shudder Original Film)

Streaming on Shudder August 23

The newest film from the Adams Family, the filmmaking team behind Hellbender, Hell Hole centers on an America-led fracking crew that uncovers a living French soldier frozen in time from a Napoleonic campaign, whose body hosts a parasitic monster. Starring Toby Poser, John Adams, Max Portman,...

A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of those franchises that, despite its roller-coaster of quality across the series- is just too damn iconic to fall out of the favor of us horror fans. Wes Craven’s imagination birthed one of the most recognizable villains in horror history And spawned a franchise that would include 8 movies and one crossover film pitting Freddy against Jason. From 1984 and all the way up until today- audiences remain invested in the potential for such a unique and powerful monster. And we still are holding out hope for a new silver screen outing soon. So, whether you’re re-watching the original film for the millionth time- or you’re slogging your way through the 2010 remake for… some reason- the fact remains that Freddy and his status as a slasher icon will never truly die. Unless… Chapter six in the Freddy saga- Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare...

The episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? covering The Prophecy 3: The Ascent was Written and Edited by Jaime Vasquez, Narrated by Travis Hopson, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

After two movies, 1995’s The Prophecy and 1998’s The Prophecy II, Christopher Walken’s leading antagonist Gabriel undergoes a spiritual makeover that fans of the first two films couldn’t have seen coming. After back-to-back films of Walken setting objects – and people – on fire, among other acts of evil, archangel Gabriel proved just how sinister he could be. So, what made him change his tune? Find out what happened on Wtf Happened to The Prophecy 3: The Ascent.

Christopher Walken was the first of a handful of actors to sign up for 1995’s The Prophecy. The stellar cast included Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortenson. The film told...

Netflix recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street by bringing the horror classic to the streaming service as part of their 1984 Anniversary Collection, but the bad news here is that the movie is already leaving Netflix next month.

We’ve learned that in addition to the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, almost every Elm Street movie currently streaming on Netflix is leaving on June 30, 2024. That list includes…

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

It looks like the only Freddy Krueger movie that will remain on Netflix come July is Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, which put a pre-Scream meta twist on the franchise back...

I spent the first 37 years of my life on the East Coast, and even there, I knew who Sam Rubin was.

The beloved Ktla Los Angeles entertainment reporter, who died May 10 at age 64, was a Hollywood fixture for over 30 years, beloved, trusted and respected. Drawing heartfelt tributes ranging from industry veterans like Tom Hanks and Henry Winkler and rising stars like Charmaine Bingwa, I’ve never seen such an outpouring for an entertainment journalist since perhaps Roger Ebert in 2013. Sam greeted everyone with the same infectious enthusiasm and genuine curiosity, whether they were industry stalwarts or nervous newcomers. He was synonymous with Los Angeles but he was also known well outside of Southern California through his reporting for ITV and Australia’s 9 Network.

I was fortunate to spend time with Sam off-camera, serving with him on the board of the Critics Choice organization. On my first trip to Los...

Franchise icon Heather Langenkamp has made it no secret over the years that she’d love to play Nancy Thompson in another A Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Langenkamp of course played the fan favorite role in the original classic as well as sequel Dream Warriors, and she later returned to the franchise for the final time as herself in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

Is it time for a legacy sequel, now that’s it been 40 years since the franchise debuted?

Speaking at a recent Q&a event hosted by Nightmare on Film Street, Heather Langenkamp made it clear that her interest in playing the role one more time hasn’t waned over the years.

“In my imagination, I have several legacy sequels happening at the same time,” Langenkamp told the crowd of Elm Street fans. “She’s a great character. How could you say no?”

“I just need...

Nancy Thompson remains one of the greatest final girls in horror movie history. She is also one of the most evolved, receiving a full character arc in part because the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise needed it and because her portrayer, Heather Langenkamp, is just that great in the role. But Langenkamp hasn’t portrayed Nancy in three decades (not that the franchise has exactly been boiling). So is it time to bring back Nancy Thomspon for a full Nightmare on Elm Street revival? Langenkamp sees no reason why not.

Appearing on the Nightmare on Film Street podcast, Heather Langenkamp said that if she had the opportunity to reprise Nancy Thompson, she absolutely would. “God, yes. I mean, of course. She’s a great character. How could you say no?. I just need somebody to get that off the ground. Especially considering Nightmare on Elm Street Part 7, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

In a special 40th-anniversary episode of the Nightmare on Film Street podcast, Heather Langenkamp, who famously portrayed Nancy Thompson in the iconic A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), reveals her eagerness to return to the nightmare-scape of her legendary role.

Langenkamp reminisced about the profound connections formed on set, especially with the late Wes Craven, the mastermind behind the series. She shared a nostalgic reflection on her character’s evolution through the films:

“We get to see and follow her in a really natural way, through being a teenager here and then being a young adult in Nightmare on Elm Street Part Three [1987], and then being a woman and a mother. And it’s very rare to have a character who can span that many different experiences, not only for just a woman, but for a person going through so much experience.”

In a touching nod to her relationship with Freddy Krueger,...

In previous articles, we have taken a look at stars of the past we would like to see make a comeback – and there are a lot of them! It was too hard to narrow it down to just a few, so now we’ve put together another list of 80s stars we want back, including a couple of Freddy victims, some 1980s beauties we miss, and a lady we’ve only seen twice on our screens.

Michael Beck

It’s a sad tale of a promising career being kneecapped by bad luck… actually, by a bad movie. Playing the character Swan in the 1979 classic The Warriors, Michael Beck proved he had what it took to be a badass leading man. It looked like his career would be soaring onward and upward from there. But his momentum came to a screeching halt the following year when he had the misfortune of...

It’s been 20 years since Jeff Wadlow began his career in the entertainment industry, and he’s since created a name for himself as a highly reliable Swiss army knife. He can write, direct and produce across film and television, and he also has the added reputation of being an “idea guy.” When his career was at a crossroads in the early 2010s, he wrote his way out of it and sold spec scripts for what would become Kick-Ass 2 (2013) and Bloodshot (2020). And throughout the 2010s, whenever his next movie needed a bit of time to get off the ground, he’d put on his writer hat and join Carlton Cuse’s writers’ rooms for Bates Motel and The Strain.

The filmmaker is now back with his third Blumhouse horror film, Imaginary, which chronicles Pyper Braun’s Alice and the imaginary friendship she forms with her stepmother’s (DeWanda Wise) childhood teddy bear,...

In the year of our Lord Cthulhu 2024, it's abundantly clear what the general aims of the Blumhouse production company are: to make a variety of mid- to low-budget genre features that contain any sort of hook which will make a return on their investment. The 21st century's version of old exploitation companies like Empire International Pictures and New World Pictures, Blumhouse occasionally produces a breakout prestige genre film, but more often than not they're making, y'know, "Night Swim."

Not that that's a bad thing, mind you. Jason Blum and company know that horror fans love a balanced diet, happily taking their veggies along with their french fries. One of the most "french fry" movies Blumhouse ever made was 2018's "Truth or Dare," a film in which the most famous high school party game turns deadly once a supernatural element forces the players to either participate or forfeit their lives.

A...

In the wake of Terrifier‘s breakout success, star Jenna Kanell has gone on to book supporting roles in the likes of Renfield, WandaVision, The Bye Bye Man, and NCIS: New Orleans — but Art the Clown casts a long shadow. Kanell reconciles her unconventional journey while holding a mirror up to the industry in Faceless After Dark, which she co-wrote with Todd Jacobs for director Raymond Wood, both frequent collaborators.

Kanell stars as Bowie Davidson, an actress struggling to break out from the shackles of B-horror after starring in a killer clown movie. She’s no stranger to fandom — peddling herself at conventions, recording Cameo videos, combating social media harassment — but when an obsessive fanatic in a clown mask breaks into her house, Bowie assumes the role of the final girl to fight back against her oppressors.

The home invasion is ostensibly propelling toward a tense game of cat-and-mouse between Bowie and her stalker,...

The 2018 horror movie Truth or Dare may not exactly be remembered here in 2024 – fondly or otherwise – but it was actually a massive hit for Universal and Blumhouse in theaters. Made on a production budget of just $3.5 million, the horror movie starring Lucy Hale and Tyler Posey scared up $95 million at the box office, so it’s a bit surprising there was never a sequel.

But was Blumhouse ever planning on playing another round of Truth or Dare at the time? According to a new report from Variety, a wild sequel concept almost saw the light of day.

“We actually wrote a ‘Truth or Dare’ sequel,” director Jeff Wadlow, whose new movie Imaginary arrives in theaters in March, explains. “In the first one, there’s about nine characters and seven of them die. I didn’t want to do a ‘Final Destination’-style sequel or ‘Truth or Dare’ and it’s...

A sequel to 2018’s Truth Or Dare would have brought its cast back in novel fashion, only for the pandemic to lead to its cancellation.

Nb: The following contains spoilers for 2018’s Truth Or Dare.

Released in 2018, Truth Or Dare was far from the most acclaimed film to emerge from the Blumhouse horror stable, but it was still a huge hit comparative to its budget.

As a result, director Jeff Wadlow and his surprisingly large roster of co-writers began to think about a sequel. The problem was, most of the cast from the original film had already died at the hands of the vaguely Ikea-sounding demon, Calux.

Their solution? Borrow a post-modern move from Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, and make a pull back-and-reveal movie about Truth Or Dare's cast encountering Calux in the ‘real’ world.

Speaking to Variety, Jeff Wadow talked about the planned sequel – which may...

After Truth or Dare made $95 million on a budget of $3.5 million, a follow-up felt like a no-brainer, but it never happened. However, according to Variety, a Truth or Dare sequel did almost happen before the plug was pulled at the last minute.

Truth or Dare follows a group of college students who play a game of truth or dare while on vacation in Mexico, only to realize it has deadly consequences if they don’t follow through on their obligations. The young cast bonded during production and gave director Jeff Wadlow the idea for a very meta sequel in the vein of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

“We actually wrote a ‘Truth or Dare’ sequel,” Wadlow said. “In the first one, there’s about nine characters and seven of them die, and I didn’t want to do a ‘Final Destination’-style sequel, or ‘Truth or Dare’ and it’s...

The 2018 Blumhouse chiller “Truth or Dare” was a profitable hit for the company, making over $95 million worldwide on a $3.5 million budget. The film — about a demon named Calux that is activated by the titular party game — starred a buzzy cast full of young talent, including “Teen Wolf” lead Tyler Posey, “Pretty Little Liars” star Lucy Hale, Violett Beane, Landon Liboiron and Sam Lerner, who all bonded offscreen during filming. That camaraderie led to a sequel idea that could have been one of Blumhouse’s most innovative movies.

While talking about his upcoming film “Imaginary,” Jeff Wadlow, who directed “Truth or Dare” and co-wrote it with Michael Reisz, Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, revealed the ambitious plans for a sequel that almost started production during quarantine.

“We actually wrote a ‘Truth or Dare’ sequel,” he said. “In the first one, there’s about nine characters and seven of them die. I...

What exactly is a legacy sequel? According to the internet, it is “a work that follows the continuity of the original work(s), but takes place further along the timeline, often focusing on new characters with the original ones still present in the plot.” And boy have they gotten popular. From The Exorcist: Believer to Halloween 2018 to even Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre, they’ve been churning out steadily. Hell, we got a freaking Mutilator 2 out of it (and who would have ever expected that?). And it’s hard not to wonder why we’re getting so many.

Originality can be a hard thing for financiers to gamble on. This is why we find ourselves amid trend after trend that takes over movie theaters until the general public is sick of it. As soon as something hits, they go after it like rabid dogs till there’s nothing...

JoBlo.com recently launched a new weekly documentary series called 80s Horror Memories, where each year of the 1980s has five episodes dedicated to it. Looking back at 1980, we discussed Maniac, Dressed to Kill, Alligator, Friday the 13th, The Shining, Prom Night, and The Fog. The second five episodes were a journey through 1981, covering The Funhouse, The Burning, Friday the 13th Part 2, My Bloody Valentine, Halloween II, The Evil Dead, The Howling, and An American Werewolf in London, as well as the careers of horror hosts Elvira and Joe Bob Briggs. The next five were, of course, all about movies that came out in 1982: Conan the Barbarian, The Thing, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and Poltergeist, with an examination of the short-lived 3-D boom along the way. For 1983, we talked about a trio of Stephen King adaptations, Jaws 3-D, Sleepaway Camp, the rise of TV horror anthologies, and...

"Candyman" began its life in 1985 as a short story called "The Forbidden," originally published in Clive Barker's "Books of Blood, Vol. 5" (called "In the Flesh" in the United States). "The Forbidden" was set in Barker's hometown of Liverpool, specifically at a run-down building called the Spector Street estate, where a grad student named Helen went to photograph images of graffiti and poverty. While there, she encountered a mysterious monster the Candyman, a creature she assumed was merely an urban myth. The Candyman is covered in bees and sports a hook for a hand. Its origins are unknown. 

In 1992, filmmaker Bernard Rose adapted "The Forbidden" into the feature film "Candyman," one of the more celebrated horror films of its decade. Helen was played by Virginia Madsen, and the mysterious Candyman was played by a menacing Tony Todd. Rose transposed the location from Liverpool to the Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago.

Exclusive: Nick Risher assumes the role of CEO at Dark Matter TV, a CTV player in the horror + entertainment landscape.

As CEO, Risher will spearhead the programming for Tricoast Worldwide’s AVOD division and premier destination for horror and genre enthusiasts.

“Nick has grown up surrounded by the magic of filmmaking and has an innate understanding of the horror community,” says Nightmare On Elm Street producer, Sara Risher. “I am thrilled to see him take the helm and guide Dark Matter TV to new heights.”

One of the first projects to fall under Nick Risher’s creative direction is the eagerly anticipated fan-made short film, Dylan’s New Nightmare. Directed by the talented Cecil Laird, the film recently enjoyed a private charity screening in Los Angeles at the prestigious Cinelounge on October 19th. The event was attended by Sara Risher, Nick Risher, and Cecil Laird himself, marking a celebratory moment for the entire team.

The 1994 horror movie "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" was the seventh film in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series, and featured one of the cleverest conceits for a horror sequel. The vicious supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger — able to kill his victims from inside their dreams — somehow escaped the surly bounds of fiction and began stalking the actors and filmmakers who made the original "The Nightmare on Elm Street" a decade prior. Heather Langenkamp appears as herself, as does Robert Englund, John Saxon, Craven, and New Line Cinema bigwig Robert Shaye. Langenkamp did have a young child in 1994 — her late son Daniel Atticus Anderson was born in 1991 — but in the movie, Langenkamp's child was named Jacob and played by actor Miko Hughes.

Prior to "New Nightmare," the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series had become increasingly outlandish and cartoony. Freddy was no longer a menacing murderer, but a comedic supervillain who dispatched his victims in creative,...

What’s the best slasher franchise of all time? That question is certain to start an argument among horror fans. But with all due respect to “Scream,” Wes Craven’s original horror franchise “A Nightmare on Elm Street” has quite possibly the most legitimate claim to the title.

Sure, not every film about wacky child murderer Freddy Krueger (the delightfully menacing Robert Englund) and his mission to kill the teenagers of Springwood in their sleep is an A+ effort. Like many a slasher franchise, the series eventually succumbed to its own ridiculousness as sequel after sequel was steadily pumped out and quality diminished. But the series also has more hits to its credit than most of the other classic slashers. The original “Halloween” is arguably the best slasher of all time, but it’s also the only genuinely great film in the franchise (though there are dozens of “Halloween H20” defenders!

This Friday is the Final Friday the 13th of the year, and it’s all the more special because it’s taking place in October, mere weeks before Halloween. How are we celebrating?

By watching horror movies all day long, of course!

While streaming services like Shudder, Screambox, Netflix, Hulu, Max, Paramount+ and Prime Video are loaded with frights to stream for Friday the 13th, don’t forget that the nightmares aren’t limited to streaming. Good old fashioned cable television is always a great source of horror this time of the year, and that’s doubly true on a day like Friday the 13th.

We’ve scoured the schedules of channels like AMC, Syfy and Freeform to find all the horror airing on TV this Friday, putting together your official Friday the 13th TV Guide!

Highlights include a Friday the 13th marathon on AMC FearFest, the I Know What You Did...

Nancy Thompson is one of the great final girls in slasher history, overcoming Freddy Krueger while her friends ended up with knives through the chest and being tossed around bedroom walls. With just A Nightmare on Elm Street, portrayer Heather Langenkamp began getting call after call offering her other horror roles, but all of those were nothing more than, as she put it, a “Taco Bell burrito” – and she means that in a bad way!

Appearing on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast (via MovieWeb), Heather Langenkamp said her love for her trademark character actually helped keep her away from the spotlight, despite the success of A Nightmare on Elm Street. “Like there’s never as good a part as Nancy. It would just be hard to do that. It’d be like, you know, having this great meal with everything there, and then you go and have a Taco Bell burrito.

One of the great unsung traditions of horror is a character’s external environment reflecting their internal state. It has found its way into films as diverse as Repulsion (1965), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994), and Relic (2020) to name just a few. Edgar Allan Poe was hardly the first to use the device, it had been a feature of the Gothic romances popular in the decades before him, but Poe moved it from character-deepening subtext to overt metaphor in his short story “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

Roger Corman’s 1960 film adaptation of the story latches onto and expands this and several of Poe’s obsessions into what has become a classic of slow-burning terror. The Fall of the House of Usher is the first in what has come to be called the Corman Poe Cycle. These eight films produced between 1960 and 1964 are among the most stylish,...

Early in Wes Craven's 1984 horror film "A Nightmare on Elm Street," the character of Tina (Amanda Wyss) has a violent dream about the demonic, blade-handed Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Freddy has been stalking the dreams of all the neighborhood teens, and the nightmares are so vivid that they fear for their lives. Tina dreams that Freddy is chasing her down an alley, that he cuts off his own fingers and feels nothing, and that he can teleport into her bedroom. 

In one of the film's more notorious scenes, Tina is attacked and sliced up by Freddy who, defying gravity, drags her onto the wall of her bedroom and up onto the ceiling as she bleeds to death. Once Tina has perished, her body falls from the ceiling onto her bed, landing in a pool of blood, splattering the walls and the face of her poor helpless boyfriend Rod (Nick Corri...

Earlier this year, Max announced it would be housing over 200 episodes of AMC Networks’ television at no additional cost to subscribers beginning in September.

That two-month window is coming to an end, so you’ll want to catch up on “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” Season 1; “Dark Winds” Season 1; “Gangs of London” Seasons 1 and 2; “Fear the Walking Dead” Seasons 1-7; “Killing Eve” Seasons 1-4; “A Discovery of Witches” Seasons 1-3; and “Ride with Norman Reedus” Seasons 1-5 while you still can.

A number of great horror titles are leaving at the end of October as well, including: “A Cabin in the Woods,” “Beetlejuice,” “Eight Legged Freaks,” “From Hell,” “It” and “It: Chapter 2,” and several more. They’ll be great to put on while you host your Halloween bash.

Here’s everything leaving Max in October 2023.

October 3

Rx Early Detection: A Cancer Journey with Sandra Lee (2018) (HBO)

October...

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Although Wes Craven's 1984 film "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is typically lumped in with slasher movies -- it came out right when the genre was cresting in popularity -- it doesn't quite follow the same structure as its contemporaries in the horror genre. The "Nightmare" movies, because they take place largely within dreams, are slightly more cerebral, bizarre, or imaginative than many of the stalk-n-stab movies that infested theaters at the time. The series also attracted interesting and notable directors who went on to other projects. Chuck Russell directed part 3. Renny Harlin director part 4. Stephen Hopkins directed part 5. And Rachel Talalay directed "The Final Nightmare." 

"A Nightmare on Elm Street" marathons are common around Halloween, and steamrolling through all nine extant "Nightmare" films is an experience the series' fans have likely forced themselves through at least once. Having done it,...

Ronny Yu's 2003 horror/action flick "Freddy vs. Jason" gave audiences pretty much everything they might want in a sensationalized cross-over between "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th." In addition to the requisite cast of pretty young people getting chopped into pieces by one of the film's two title villains, it featured every iteration of fight between Freddy and Jason. There was a fight in the dream world (where Freddy had the upper hand) and a fight at a real-world campground (where Jason did). There was a lot of growling, cutting, slashing, etc. Whichever villain was your favorite, you saw what you wanted to see. 

At the end, the actual victor was left a little ambiguous. It seemed for a moment that Jason (Ken Kirzinger) was the winner, as he emerged from Crystal Lake, post-conflagration, holding the severed head of Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Freddy, however, still possessed of his supernatural powers,...

I have mixed feelings on fan films. I’d prefer to see indie filmmakers invest their resources in an original concept rather than someone else’s intellectual property, but I also understand the reality that content with an established fanbase guarantees more engagement. Moreover, when beloved properties like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th become entangled in ongoing legal disputes, fan films can sate viewers’ hunger for more.

Even if a new Elm Street movie is produced with Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, it’s highly unlikely to acknowledge the events of New Nightmare, given its blurring of the lines between fiction and reality. (Freddy vs Jason ignored it as well.) YouTuber-turned-writer/director Cecil Laird teamed with producer Vincente Disanti — the filmmaker behind the popular Friday the 13th fan film Never Hike Alone — to fill that void with Dylan’s New Nightmare: A Nightmare on Elm Street Fan Film.

Scrolling endlessly through the Max (formerly HBO Max) streaming service can be frustrating, so let us help curate your movie night with a selection of some of the best new movies streaming on Max this month. Below, we’ve put together a list that runs the gamut from horror (Halloween is just around the corner) to rom-coms to superhero blockbusters and beyond. There’s a little something for everyone, so choose wisely and you won’t be disappointed.

Check out our picks for some of the best new movies on Max in August 2023 below.

“Nightmare on Elm Street” (New Line)

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” Franchise

If you want to kick off Spooky Season early, Max just added the entire “A Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise. All six original films plus the 2010 reboot (you can skip that one) are streaming, so now’s the perfect time to check out Wes Craven...