Hell Scoop: Believing In IP Scares This Weekend
Our Hell Scoop series continues apace this week, with a chilling new batch of sinister goodies that looks frighteningly familiar.
Join us, won’t you?
Friday, October 6th: The Exorcist: Believer, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, Totally Killer,V/H/S/85, Johnny Z, Aberrance, Vindicta, Monsters Of California, Cat Person, Foe, When Evil Lurks
William Friedkin fans have quite an October to look forward to, as the late great Chicago legend’s final feature, a new rendition of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial starring Kiefer Sutherland in the Humphrey Bogart role, will be released for streaming via Paramount+ on the 13th. Before that, David Gordon Green is serving up The Exorcist: Believer, another “re-quel” (not quite a reboot, not quite a traditional sequel) of a classic horror property, this time a direct sequel to Friedkin’s original 1973 The Exorcist from Universal and Blumhouse that features the returns of original stars Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair. Green has had a fascinating career, veering from Terrence Malick-esque indie dramas about adrift young people to proudly lewd Danny McBride comedies to this new run of strange horror re-imaginings that kicked off with his 2018 Halloween. It will certainly be the top flick of the weekend (it moved up a week to avoid Taylor Swift’s upcoming concert film), but it’s hard to see it striking anything close to the same chord as Friedkin’s original masterpiece.
Blumhouse isn’t done, though. It’s also got an Amazon Prime Video direct-to-streaming film, Totally Killer, a time traveling serial killer comedy chiller from director Nahnatchka Khan, starring Kiernan Shipka, fresh off her The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina reboot.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, Lindsey Anderson Beer’s prequel to the 2019 remake of TFH Guru Mary Lambert’s classic Stephen King adaptation, takes us back to the origins of the less-than-helpful neighbor in the original film, Jud Crandall (Jackson White), and the first time he realizes that sometimes, dead is better. The film debuts on Paramount+ Friday.
Given that it seems to be Demonic Possession Week in the horror world, it’s only fitting that The Exorcist: Believer will be joined by IFC’s When Evil Lurks in that sub-genre department this weekend.
Technically the seventh installment in the V/H/S franchise, the retro anthology tale V/H/S/85 will be scaring audiences with a brand-new slate of stories over on Shudder, and boasts installments from genre helmers David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani, and Mike P. Nelson.
MGM’s dystopian Midwestern tale Foe, featuring a cast of young up-and-comers top-lined by Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, and Aaron Pierre, also joins the horror party tonight.
Paramount shingle Republic Pictures is unleashing straight-to-video crime thriller Vindicta, starring Elena Kampouris, Sean Astin and Jeremy Piven.
Online-dating cautionary catfishing tale Cat Person, starring Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun, is getting a limited theatrical run.
Aberrance, a Mongolian cabin-in-the-woods thriller with shades of Rear Window, will hit big screens, too, before eventually being rolled out on video next year.
2023 has been quite the year for Tom DeLonge. After quitting Blink-182 to prioritize his own projects (which eventually became primarily alien research) in 2015, he reunited with his former bandmates Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus last year and played his first shows with them in almost a decade this spring. The band has a fresh record coming out, and DeLonge is also making his feature directing debut with the allegedly Amblincore sci-fi adventure Monsters Of Love, out on VOD Friday.