Lori Evans Taylor is killing it in the horror sphere, as the Final Destination: Bloodlines co-writer has been tapped to pen the next instalment in the New Line franchise.
Bloodlines, the sixth entry in the series and the first since 2011, became the most successful outing of the movie franchise, grossing over $286 million at the global box office. Taylor co-wrote the script with Guy Busick (Ready or Not), from a story by Taylor, Busick, and Jon Watts, the director of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein directed the film.
Destination franchise helmer Craig Perry and franchise veteran Sheila Hanahan Taylor are back producing, as are Watts and his wife, Dianne McGunigle, along with Toby Emmerich, THR reports. Warren Zide will executive produce.
Each Final Destination film centres on a character who has a premonition of a horrific, deadly event, which allows them to cheat their own death and save several other lives in the process. But escaping their fate is not so easy, and Death, personified as a targeted and unstoppable force, soon comes for each of the survivors.
Lori Evans Taylor also recently penned the adaptation of Carla Norton’s serial killer novel, The Edge of Normal, which stars Chloë Grace Moretz. She also adapted I Am Still Alive, with Ben Affleck attached to star and produce.
Dave Bautista is set to play the villain in Amazon MGM’s remake of the 1980s cult classic Highlander, joining Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe in the action fantasy.
The original 1986 film starred Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod, a Medieval Scottish Highlander who discovers he is one of a group of immortals destined to fight until only one remains, claiming the “Prize”. The story flashes between MacLeod’s 16th-century Scottish origins and his present-day life in New York City. Guided by the immortal swordsman Ramirez (Sean Connery), MacLeod learns about his immortality and the impending “Gathering” where the final battle will take place.
In this remake, Cavill will play MacLeod and Crowe, Ramirez. Dave Bautista will portray the immortal barbarian The Kurgen, who has been killing other immortals in order to absorb their life force and has been MacLeod’s nemesis across the centuries. Clancy Brown memorably played the character in the original film.
Chad Stahelski is directing the feature from a script by Michael Finch, and principal photography is due to begin this autumn. Though the project does not yet have a confirmed release date, we do know it will get a theatrical release before making its way to Prime Video.
The short films being screened at this year’s FrightFest have been announced. Spread over four showcases, the shorts are a much-loved part of the festival, with screenings being a hot ticket.
Here’s what you can expect:
Friday August 22nd – Short Film Showcase 1 – Odeon Luxe West End Screen Two from 3.45pm
Dead Tooth (London Premiere) Director: Romane Eilahtan. With: Tara Lindström. Tara has a dental appointment to fix a dead tooth. But one unexpected event after another turns this endless day into hell. Will Tara find a way to smile again and at what cost?
Obey! (International Premiere) Director: Jordan Wippell. With: Paige Phillips, OpieQ. After the tragic death of her viral dog, Max, a pet influencer is confronted by a vengeful spirit demanding an apology for a life of exploitation.
Tapestry (World Premiere) Director: Jason Sheedy. With: Erin Ownbey, Sam Jenkins, Clay Randel. A desperate mother performs an occult ritual to resurrect her lost child.
Flowers (World Premiere) Director: Nic McRobbie. With: Mia Fitzgerald, Alex Henderson, David Vikman. A backyard experiment with a mind-altering tea made from Flowers results in a whole lot more than expected…
Pandora, Inc. (International Premiere) Director: Joe Lueben. With: Jacob A. Ware. While his wife and kids are out of town, a stressed-out illustrator risks losing everything when DAWN – an alluring A.I. creation -mysteriously arrives at his home and begins to seduce him.
Vasen (World Premiere) Director: Kristofer Vishnu Kiggs Carlsson. With: Johanna Smitz, Juliette Mayson, Natanael Horner. In a cold 18th-century Sweden, two sisters fight for their survival as they find themselves trapped in a farmhouse by the maleficent Gårdstomten and his army of man-eating Mylings.
Vowels (International Premiere) Director: Rafael De Leon. With: Alexa Smith, Sunny Makwana, Chelsea Carpenter. Ava needs to record a self-tape, but her speech impediment keeps getting in the way.
Five Star (International Premiere) Director: Kai Hamada Hasson. With: Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Tate Hanyok. When late-night locksmith Soung Kang is asked to lock a door forever, he discovers a dark secret that pushes him to extraordinary lengths to secure his five-star Yelp review.
Murderbird (World Premiere) Director: Barrett Lesly Shuler. With: Sophie Isbell, Adam Raickovich, Elly Kouri, Donovan Edelstein. In an attempt to save his relationship, a man buys his girlfriend a rare exotic bird. After the couple develops a deep emotional bond with the bird, its true colours begin to emerge.
Pimple
Saturday August 23rd – Short Film Showcase 2 – Odeon Luxe West End Screen One from 10.40am
Needleteeth (World Premiere) Director: Daniel Lewis Martin. With: Aidan Rivers, Owen Mulhall. In rural Ireland, a reserved farm boy lives under the stern watch of his father. When their sheep are found brutally slaughtered, a creeping suspicion grows alongside a strange hunger…
The Man That I Wave At (London Premiere) Director: Ben Stephen Hyland. With: Sam Pamphilon, Marek Larwood, Rebecca Shorrocks. After a gentle ribbing from his wife, a man experiences an existential crisis trying to work out the identity of the man that he waves at.
My Best Friends (World Premiere) Director: William Willoughby. With: Paul Ginns. An apparent act of kindness – Alex brings home take-away food for his best friends – has horrifying repercussions.
Bloodbuzz (World Premiere) Director: Daisy Bata. With: Beth Taylor, Johnny Vivash, Ed Hartland. Amid a bug-infested heatwave driven by climate breakdown, a troubled, conspiracy-obsessed teen on the run is taken by a reclusive farmer. But when her manipulative stepbrother arrives, it’s not just the mosquitoes she will have to survive.
No One Is Coming To Rescue You (World Premiere) Director: Ruth Platt. With: Ema Cavolli, Arseniy Cassidy, Joseph Pollock, Jasper Jacob. Harry has brought his new girlfriend to meet his family on a beautiful summer’s day. Little does he know she harbours a long-standing, dark revenge against his doctor father, whom he hero worships.
Gilda (World Premiere) Director: Matty Ride-Smith. With: Kylie Ann Ford. An evening unfolds in real time as Gilda, a struggling performer, sets up a kids’ club, finds herself terrorised by an occult presence.
Inebriated (World Premiere) Director: Max R. Lincoln. With: Bethan Cullinane, Sharon Small, Patrick Brennan, Mark Strepan. To rescue her possessed boyfriend, Van must confront her demons, beginning with her parents.
You Look So Beautiful (Special Presentation) Director: Mookie Ma. With: Brendan Howley, Tara-Marie Tigue. A lonely prowler of the night has a chance encounter with the girl of his dreams, but is she his redemption or his doom?
Cruz (The Kook Cook)
Sunday August 24th – Short Film Showcase 3 – Odeon Luxe West End Screen One from 11.00am
The Leopard / Waagh (World Premiere) Director: Mukti Krishan. With: Arjun Amedkar, Sagar Deshmukh, Sharvari Patankar. When a leopard wanders into a redeveloped apartment complex in Mumbai – its natural habitat long since encroached upon – fear quickly spreads.
Whitch (International Premiere) Director: Hoku Uchiyama. With: Rosemary Hochschild, Alicia Blasingame, Nora Harriet. After putting her daughter to bed, Aura discovers an intruder in her house: an elderly lady who acts strangely familiar, and who is hell-bent on performing a bloody ritual before midnight.
Click (European Premiere) Director: Kyle Baughman. With: Jenna Luck, Holden McNeil. A woman becomes increasingly troubled by the mysterious computer programme her boyfriend is developing.
DIY (European Premiere) Director: Tony Gardiner ACS. With: Damon Herriman, Claire Lovering, Alexander England. After a bizarre mishap hanging a picture frame, a young woman stumbles into her neighbour’s secret life, realising her only chance of survival is to commit to an outrageous lie.
Thorns (UK Premiere) Director: Nir Paniry. With: Lestonja Diaz, Jesse Gallagher. When a young college student checks on her married best friend, she unravels a mysterious paranoia that runs much more than skin deep.
Cruz (The Kook Cook) (World Premiere) Director: Cai O’Leary. With: Michael Olavson. Cruz is a disgruntled surfer who hails from Santa Cruz. He lives in the desert during the week and murderously hunts hipsters during the weekend.
Pimple (World Premiere) Director: Fernando Alle. With: Tiago Rodrigues, António Chaves, João Miranda, Dinis Lima, João Vilas. A young boy’s pimple bursts, leading to a bloody disaster.
It Loves Me So (International Premiere) Director: Colin Dean Treneff. With: Jenna Moloney. After a painful breakup, a woman’s heartbreak unwittingly attracts a love-deprived demonic entity determined to claim her soul for a terrifying eternal romance.
Praying Mantis (International Premiere) Director: Mack Breeden. With: Sam Straley, Mack Breeden, Story Slaughter. On the run after abandoning his post, a Confederate soldier takes shelter in the isolated cabin of two women who now find themselves at his mercy.
Hammer (English Premiere) Directors: Alejandra Parody, Ben Sottak. With: Ajani Russell, Jessica Pimentel, Ray Acevedo, Magdalena Borlando. 1666, Cartagena, Colombia. An enslaved woman accused of witchcraft comes face to face with evil incarnate.
Monday August 25th – Short Film Showcase 4 – Odeon Luxe West End Screen One from 10.50am
Watch Me Burn (World Premiere) Director: Sofia Spotti. With: Lucy Griffiths. After an accident that left her mostly deaf, Rue moves to a remote village with her parents. Feeling isolated, she befriends a group of girls who convince her to go ahead with an act of cruelty.
The Fairy Moon (UK Premiere) Director: Craig Williams. With: James Swanton, Johnny Vivash, Julia Davis. In a small English town, a man’s life unravels after a troubling roadside encounter with a sinister stranger.
Frame (World Premiere) Directors: Olivia Cordell, Libby Morris. With: Alison Rogers. When mysterious photos begin to appear on her digital picture frame, an isolated woman begins to suspect she’s not really alone.
Ouija Go Out With Me? (World Premiere) Director: James Kennedy. With: Hatty Preston, Leah Brotherhead, Freddy Quinn. Since the death of her boyfriend, Harriet has been traversing the hell that is the online dating scene but to no avail. Then Harriet finds a Ouija board in the basement and an idea forms…
Undertone (UK Premiere) Director: Shaun Munro. With: Shaun Munro, Toby Norton, Eliza Chadwick. A sound recordist captures strange sonic phenomena underneath their house and things…escalate from there.
Homecoming (World Premiere) Director: Troy Alexander. With: Maya-Nika Bewley, Troy Alexander. When Lucy returns from a camping trip, her cruel partner Mark is suspicious. She insists nothing happened, but sometimes coming home is the hardest part…
Don’t Look (UK Premiere) Director: Danny Murphy. With: Olly Rhodes, Danny Murphy, Valor Grey, Morgan Colquhoun, Liam Robertson. A group of friends plays ‘Don’t Look,’ a game where opening your eyes summons deadly spirits. Their thrill turns to terror as they unleash supernatural forces and must confront their worst fears to survive.
Grandma Is Thirsty (UK Premiere) Director: Kris Carr. With: Harris Kiiza, Harrison Little, Jessie Johnson, Dean Kilby, Matt Swift. All George wants is to stop getting pushed around by the local bullies. So, when a pair of weird twins offer to introduce him to their grandma – who can “make him big & strong” – he jumps at the chance.
FrightFest 2025 runs from August 21st – 25th at Odeon LUXE Leicester Sq and Odeon LUXE West End.For full programme details and tickets: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/
In the first trailer for Him, we are asked a seemingly simple question: What would you sacrifice to become the greatest of all time?
From Oscar winner Jordan Peele and his banner, Monkeypaw Productions (the producers behind some of our favourite horror films Get Out, Us, Candyman and Nope, comes a chilling journey into the inner sanctum of fame, idolatry and the pursuit of excellence at any cost.
Starring an electrifying and surprisingly dramatic performance from Marlon Wayans, Him follows Cameron Cade (played by former college wide-receiver Tyriq Withers), a rising-star quaterback who has devoted his life and identity to football. On the eve of professional football’s annual scouting Combine, Cam is attacked by an unhinged fan and suffers a potentially career-ending brain trauma.
Just when all seems lost, Cam receives a lifeline when his hero, Isaiah White (Wayans), a legendary eight-time Championship quarterback and cultural megastar, offers to train Cam at Isaiah’s isolated compound that he shares with his celebrity influencer wife, Elsie White (Julia Fox). But as Cam’s training accelerates, Isaiah’s charisma begins to curdle into something darker, sending his protégé down a disorienting rabbit hole that may cost him more than he ever bargained for.
Him is directed by Justin Tipping from a screenplay by Zack Akers & Skip Bronkie, and Tipping.
Him releases September 19th, 2025 in the US and October 3rd, 2025 in the UK. Watch the trailer below:
He’s travelled in the TARDIS as Doctor Who, ridden the skies in House of the Dragon, and ruled the United Kingdom and Commonwealth in The Crown — now, Matt Smith is heading to a galaxy far, far away. He’d previously been eyed to appear in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, but has now been confirmed to join Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter.
According to Deadline’s sources, he’ll be stepping into one of multiple villain roles, with Levy still looking to cast a female antagonist. Mikey Madison was being eyed for that part, but reportedly failed to sign on to the project over pay disputes.
Star Wars: Starfighter is scheduled to release to cinemas on May 28th, 2027. Elsewhere in the universe, The Mandalorian and Groguwill be the next Star Wars feature to hit the big screen, and will be released on May 22nd, 2026.
Next up for Smith, he has the Sony and Darren Aronofsky thriller Caught Stealing, in which he stars opposite Austin Butler and Zoë Kravitz.
Still on the press circuit for NEON’s body-horror Together, Alison Brie has just announced that she’ll soon be making her directorial debut with a horror-comedy.
Speaking in an interview with Marie Claire, Brie revealed that she co-wrote a horror-comedy film alongside Alice Stanley Jr., and that she’ll be taking the director’s seat for the first time on a feature project.
“While we were writing it,” Brie tells Marie Claire, “I felt like I was writing it to direct it. I could see every shot in my head.” She goes on to tease that the feature film is “female-forward,” with a “very fun energy.” She further explains that “the older I get, the more I realise that the heart of everything is just trusting yourself. I’m running at the things that excite me.”
The actress previously directed an episode of the Netflix series GLOW, a show in which she also starred.
Right now, real-life partners Alison Brie and Dave Franco co-star in Together, which releases in the UK on August 15th. In the film: Years into their co-dependent relationship, Tim (Franco) and Millie (Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the remote countryside, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish supernatural encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.
John Krasinski is officially returning to his critically acclaimed horror franchise and will write and direct A Quiet Place Part III. Paramount is setting a summer release date of July 9th, 2027.
The franchise, which originated from a script by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, has grossed more than $900 million globally across three films — the two Krasinski-directed Quiet Place films released in 2018 and 2021, and the spinoff/prequel A Quiet Place: Day One, from director Michael Sarnoski and which starred Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn.
No cast has yet been set, but the first two installments were led by Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe. It’s far from the first time Krasinski has toyed with the idea of a third film in the mainline series: he mentioned brainstorming ideas as far back as 2020, and the film was formally announced in 2022. However, since Sarnoski’s prequel film and 2024’s video game A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, it was unclear whether Part III would really happen.
The films take place in a world in which alien monsters have crashed to Earth. While they are blind, they are extremely sensitive to sound and will kill anything that makes noise. As a result, surviving humans are forced to stay quiet or be violently killed.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will see Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, return to the big screen, joining Tom Holland in the Sony/Marvel film. Though Ruffalo has been part of the MCU franchise for 14 years now, he most recently appeared in the Disney+ TV series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and had a cameo in Brand New Day director Destin Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chiand the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Also aboard is the previously announced Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/the Punisher, making his big-screen debut. Bernthal first appeared as the vigilante in the Netflix series Daredevil, before starring in his own series for two seasons. He recently returned for a handful of episodes in Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again. He is set to return for season two of the show, and is also getting a stand-alone film for Disney+, which Bernthal is co-writing.
Michael Mando (best known for his work on Better Call Saul and Orphan Black) is also joining the cast and returning as Scorpion, having previously played the villain in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.
In 2021’s No Way Home, fans saw Spider-Man’s real identity as Peter Parker be completely erased from people’s memory by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), so that now, even his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) have forgotten him.
Destin Daniel Cretton is directing the feature from a script by regular Spider-Man scribes Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Plot details are still, in the usual Marvel manner, being kept top secret. Filming has recently begun in England.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will release in cinemas on July 31st, 2026.
Campaign 4, the next season of Critical Role’s main show, will be Dungeons Mastered / hosted by celebrated actual play creator and storyteller Brennan Lee Mulligan, replacing previous DM / Host, Matt Mercer.
Fans of Mulligan’s work may find this difficult to believe, as Mulligan recently participated in a prank announcing that Mulligan was retiring from his role as Dungeon Master for Dropout.TV’s D&D show Dimension 20 in order to make tiny shoes for children’s toys. This was a comedic bit for Dropout’s critically acclaimed game show, Game Changer. However it has been confirmed by Critical Role; Brennan is the Dungeon Master for their next campaign.
Mercer will play, not Dungeon Master, campaign four.
“We’ve been enormous fans of Brennan’s for many years now, and when it came to giving both Matthew Mercer and the world of Exandria a bit of a breather, Brennan felt like the perfect storyteller to take our community somewhere entirely new.” said Travis Willingham, CEO, co-founder, and cast member of Critical Role. “Critical Role has always been about genuine connection through storytelling first and foremost, and as Brennan himself will tell you, he’s still played more TTRPGs away from a camera than in front of it. His passion and drive for worldbuilding is infectious, and it’s been an absolute joy to spark off him as we forge ahead.”
Following the beloved sagas of Vox Machina (Campaign 1), The Mighty Nein (Campaign 2), and Bells Hells (Campaign 3), Critical Role’s new campaign represents a bold evolution for the franchise, ushering in a new era with new legends to be forged in a brand new world.
“What a gift, a privilege and an honor to be invited behind the screen of Critical Role for this next epic adventure,” said Mulligan. “Every collaboration we have had together has brought nothing but sheer joy, and Campaign 4 will be no exception. I’m finally playing *almost* as much tabletop as I’d like to!”
“We’re not just turning a page – we’re starting a whole new book,” added Marisha Ray, Creative Director, co-founder, and cast member of Critical Role. “Everything about Campaign 4 is fresh; new world, new tone, new possibilities. We can’t wait for the fans to experience what we’ve been building.”
We have been able to confirm that that Mulligan will also continue to Dungeon Master game for Dimension20 after the current campaign, Cloudward Ho! ends. STARBURST is fairly confident that it will not be Dimension 20 On A Bus with Katie Marovitch, as that was also a prank for Game Changer.
Coin Operated, the horror banner founded by It and Annabelle writer-producer Gary Dauberman, has locked in the screen rights to the award-winning video game The Medium, from Bloober Team.
Set in the post-Communist era of Poland in 1999 and taking place mostly in a fictional abandoned hotel resort in Krakow, the game tells the story of a woman named Marianna, imbued with psychic abilities and the ability to travel between the physical and spiritual planes, who is called to unravel a tragic mystery.
Dauberman and Mia Maniscalco, Coin Operated’s president, will produce the adaptation. They are currently looking for a writer and director for the project. “With its compelling story and incredibly cinematic visuals, The Medium is a natural for a feature film adaptation,” said Dauberman in a statement. Dauberman previously worked on adapting horror video game Until Dawn, directed by David F. Sandberg, which Screen Gems released earlier this year.
“When I talked to Piotr [Babieno, Bloober CEO] about it, we immediately connected on our mutual love of horror and his vision for where the genre is headed. I have no doubt anything Bloober develops is going to push horror forward in unique and terrifying ways, and I’m excited to be working alongside them,” continued Dauberman.
Dauberman’s company is also currently developing a modern era reboot of Urban Legend, based on the 1990s Screen Gems slasher of the same name.
