The big new release for the week is of course Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but that’s just one of six brand new genre movies now available in theaters and/or at home this week.
Brandy (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) returns to horror in the new A24 horror movie The Front Room, which was just released in theaters nationwide today.
What’s particularly interesting about the psychological horror movie is that it’s directed by Max and Sam Eggers, the brothers of Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Northman)!
This will be the debut feature for the Eggers Brothers, in fact. Variety had recently reported, “They adapted the screenplay from Susan Hill’s short story of the same name.”
The film “follows a young, newly pregnant couple forced to take in an ailing stepmother who has long been estranged from the family.”
Olivier Award-winning actress Kathryn Hunter (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Tony Award-winning actor Andrew Burnap (Snow White), and Neal Huff (Spotlight) will also star.
Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is also now playing in theaters nationwide, bringing Michael Keaton’s Ghost with the Most back to the big screen after almost 40 years.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is officially rated “PG-13” for “Violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use.”
Michael Keaton stars alongside Winona Ryder in this year’s sequel, with the cast also including Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci.
Here’s the official plot synopsis: “After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.”
The original classic was directed by Tim Burton in 1988 and has become a cult favorite. It starred Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as ghosts who haunt their old home. When a little girl (Winona Ryder) accidentally unleashes a mischievous ghost (Michael Keaton), the ghosts try to drive the homeowners (Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Jones) out of the house.
A serial killer obsession spirals into psychological horror in writer/director Pascal Plante’s Red Rooms, which has opened in select theaters (about 50 in total) across the U.S. today.
You can check listings on the film’s official website.
The psychological cyber thriller follows “Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), a young woman who wakes up every morning to wait outside the courtroom to secure a seat at the high-profile trial of Ludovic Chevalier, a man charged with the murder of three teenage girls, with the gruesome videos of two of the crimes surfacing for sale online on the dark web. She finds herself bonding with a fellow voyeur, momentarily breaking her out of her loneliness, while also witnessing the emotional decline of the victims’ families.
“As the proceedings continue, it becomes increasingly difficult for Kelly-Anne to maintain the psychological and physical balance between her normal life and her morbid fixation with the accused killer, with her obsession reaching new lengths when the final piece of evidence reveals itself within reach. ”
The film is “named after the highly disputed violent dark web spaces known as red rooms in online urban legends, inspired by the fans who inexplicably flock to serial killers throughout modern history and further motivated by the current state of cybersecurity and tech crimes.”
SFX master Steven Boyle’s effects work has been seen in King Kong, Love and Monsters, Bait, What We Do in the Shadows, The Matrix, and so much more. Boyle makes his feature directorial debut with The Demon Disorder, now streaming on Shudder & AMC+.
The film stars John Noble (“Fringe”), Charles Cottier, Christian Willis, and Dirk Hunter.
“The Australian demonic family drama centers on Graham, a man haunted by his past since the death of his father and the estrangement from his two brothers.
“Jake, the middle brother, contacts Graham claiming that something is horribly wrong: their youngest brother Phillip is possessed by their deceased father. Graham reluctantly agrees to go and see for himself. With the brothers back together, they soon realize they are unprepared for the forces against them and learn that the sins of their past will not stay hidden.
“But how do you defeat a presence that knows you inside and out?”
Toby Osborne (Pindam) co-wrote the screenplay with Steven Boyle.
Director Andy Fickman, known for films like She’s the Man, Race to Witch Mountain and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, heads into the horror genre with Don’t Turn Out the Lights.
The film is now available on VOD outlets from Quiver Distribution.
“Reuniting for an unforgettable weekend, a group of high school friends takes a break from their separate lives at college to travel by RV to a musical festival. Their exciting weekend plans quickly unravel as they find themselves fighting to survive each other and the unknown.”
The cast includes Bella DeLong, Amber Janea, Ana Luz Zambrana, John Bucy, Crystal Lake Evans, Jarrett Austin Brown, Daryl Tofa, and Finley Rose Slater.
Andy Fickman wrote and directed the indie horror film. Producers include Andy Fickman, Todd Slater, Grant Slater, Betsy Sullenger, Scott Prisand, Katie Leary, and Michael Speyer.
Indie film studio and distribution company Good Deed Entertainment is behind horror trilogy Fresh Hell, with the recently released The Exorcism of Saint Patrick falling under that umbrella. The next film in the trilogy is Wolves Against the World, now available on VOD.
Fresh Hell is a three-feature film anthology series from writer/director Quinn Armstrong; the films are titled Dead Teenagers, The Exorcism of Saint Patrick, and Wolves Against the World, each different film said to be “linked by time and space.
In Wolves Against the World…
Two members of a defunct neo-Nazi metal band reunite at the site of their bandmate’s suicide. One sinks into depravity and grievance and one tries to atone for what he has done. What ensues is an occult battle of wills between two men who have done terrible things as one tries to lure the other back into the movement, unleashing the animals that hide inside them.
“The first horror movie I ever remember watching was Creepshow and I still think that horror anthologies are the backbone of the genre,” says Armstrong. “It’s been such a pleasure to work in the tradition of horror anthologies to create Fresh Hell, an anthology of features with a modern twist.”
