Eternal Beauty director Craig Roberts is set to take the helm of a horror comedy called The Scurry, working from a screenplay by The Mash Report’s Tim Telling, and Deadline reports that Olivia Cooke of Bates Motel, House of the Dragon, and Ouija and Rhys Ifans of Notting Hill, The Amazing Spider-Man, and also House of the Dragon have signed on to star in the film. Paapa Essiedu (The Lazarus Project), Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex), and Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor) are also in the cast.
The story of The Scurry follows two pest controllers who are called to an eco-café in a country park to investigate what begins as a routine vermin problem but as nightfall approaches an avalanche of deranged squirrels descend, wreaking revenge and mayhem on the staff and visitors in the park. With many fatalities, the survivors take shelter in the café as a freak storm takes out the power and communications leaving them isolated and under attack. An eclectic mix of survivors include pest controllers, a sulky teenager, hypocritical vegans, and a drug dealer – there is only an outside chance of survival.
The project has a budget of just under $13 million and is set to start filming at Dragon Studios in South Wales on April 2nd. It’s coming our way from Water & Power Productions, Cliff Edge Pictures, and Circus Studios, with True Brit Entertainment on board as co-producer and UK distributor. James Swarbrick is producing for Water & Power while Adrian Bate does the same for Cliff Edge. Executive producers include Tom Miller and Sam Myer of Water & Power, Craig Roberts of Cliff Edge, Zygi Kamasa of True Brit, and James Spring and James Scott of Circus Studios.
Swarbrick provided the following statement: “It’s great to be back in business with the legend that is Craig Roberts, from his visual flair and skill with the camera meant that the moment we read Tim’s incredible script there was only one man for the job. Craig brings a humour and wit to his work, which is ideally suited to a horrifying rodent apocalypse.“
Bate added: “You may want to think twice about sitting in your garden or visiting your local park after seeing this movie. Through Craig Roberts’ unique directorial prism and with our stellar cast, we’ll witness the forest sending in their fur clad foot soldiers to avenge their mistreatment. It’s time for nature to bite back.“
Kamasa had this to say: “It’s rare to find a commercial, scary, and funny British genre film with such a terrific cast that the filmmakers want to build as a potential British franchise. Craig Roberts is enormously talented, and he and I share a love of legendary genre films like Shaun of the Dead or Gremlins. The ambition to make something similar is hugely exciting.“
And Scott had this to say: “The Scurry has an internationally recognizable cast and a universally resonant story of local vermin rising up to take control – something that city dwellers the world over know hovers over us as a possibility at every moment. We’re confident that it will land with audiences globally and give people a newfound phobia.“
For his part, Roberts simply said, “I’m really happy that somebody has employed me again.“
Does The Scurry sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below. I was sold on this first one as soon as I saw it was going to be a horror comedy about deranged squirrels.
Strap in for the new trailer for David Leitch’s The Fall Guy. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s upcoming action comedy is getting immense praise for its action and comedy, as well as being a loving tribute to the world of stunt performers — a world Leitch knows very intimately. The film recently had its premiere at SXSW, where people took to social media to rave about it. And Gosling himself would get one of the industry’s biggest compliments with none other than Steven Spielberg told him how much he loved the movie. Universal has unveiled the new trailer, which expands more on the fun mayhem audiences are in store for on May 3.
The official synopsis from Universal reads, “Oscar® nominee Ryan Gosling (Barbie, La La Land, Drive) stars as Colt Seavers, a battle-scarred stuntman who, having left the business a year earlier to focus on both his physical and mental health, is drafted back into service when the star of a mega-budget studio movie—being directed by his ex, Jody Moreno, played by Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer, A Quiet Place films, Sicario)—goes missing.
While the film’s ruthless producer (Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham; Ted Lasso), maneuvers to keep the disappearance of star Tom Ryder (Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson; Bullet Train) a secret from the studio and the media, Colt performs the film’s most outrageous stunts while trying (with limited success) to charm his way back into Jody’s good graces. But as the mystery around the missing star deepens, Colt will find himself ensnared in a sinister, criminal plot that will push him to the edge of a fall more dangerous than any stunt.”
Gosling would steal the spotlight at the Academy Awards when performing “I’m Just Ken,” and when it comes to that event, especially when it is emphasized that the Academy is adding categories, many are livid that there is still no award that recognizes the stunt category. After his experience on the film, Gosling speaks up for the stunt people, saying, “There’s this sort of accepted dynamic where they come on set, they do all the cool stuff, they risk everything, and then they disappear into the shadows and we all pretend as if they were never there. Everyone else on set gets credit, but there’s kind of unspoken understanding that they won’t. That ends today!”
We’ve heard rumblings that a trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, director Tim Burton’s long-awaited sequel to his 1988 classic Beetlejuice (watch it HERE) might be dropping online very soon – but while we wait for that trailer to show up, Entertainment Weekly has unveiled a pair of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice first look images that show Michael Keaton back in the role of the titular “ghost with the most”, Winona Ryder reprising the role of Lydia Deetz (accompanied by Catherine O’Hara, back as Lydia’s stepmother Delia), and also give us a glimpse of new characters played by Jenna Ortega and Justin Theroux! You can take a look at these images at the bottom of this article.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was in development hell for decades before it finally got made. In 1990, Jonathan Gems was hired to write a sequel that was going to be titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. Burton considered having Daniel Waters rewrite that script, Pamela Norris did rewrite it, and Warner Bros. offered Kevin Smith the chance to do another rewrite. He turned it down. Seth Grahame-Smith was hired to write and produce a new version of a sequel in 2011. Mike Vukadinovich was brought on to rewrite his script in 2017.
Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, co-creators and co-showrunners of Wednesday, have written the screenplay for Beetlejuice 2 that was actually filmed. Plot details are being kept under wraps. Brad Pitt’s Plan B is producing the sequel, which filmed in London before moving to Vermont and Massachusetts.
The actors mentioned above are joined in the cast by Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s wife and Willem Dafoe as a law enforcement officer in the afterlife. Arthur Conti is also in there, in an unspecified role. Jenna Ortega’s character is Lydia’s daughter Astrid, but all we know about Justin Theroux’s character is his name: Rory.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is set to reach theatres on September 6th. Are you looking forward to it? Check out these images, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
He may not have walked away with an Oscar this year, but Jeffrey Wright is hot off the acclaim of his Academy Award-nominated film American Fiction and has been reported by Deadline to be joining Denzel Washington for Spike Lee’s upcoming remake of the Akira Kurosawa film High and Low. The remake of the 1963 crime thriller will come from a joint production from Apple and A24 Films. It is not yet announced what role in the film that Wright will be portraying as of yet.
In addition to American Fiction, Wright also starred in the Oscar-nominated film Rustin for Netflix. He appeared in last year’s Asteroid City from Wes Anderson, who he also worked with on The French Dispatch. He would garner three Emmy nominations for his role as Bernard Lowe on HBO’s Westworld. And he would recently fill the shoes of Batman’s police ally, James Gordon, in Matt Reeves’ standalone Dark Knight film, The Batman, which stars Robert Pattinson in the titular role.
In Kurosawa’s High and Low, an executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom. Details about Lee’s remake are scarce, though we know it will be an English-language reimagining of the original—details about how and if the plot will differ from Kurosawa’s classic crime drama remains a mystery. This will be Denzel’s fourth collaboration with Lee after the pair made the bank heist film Inside Man. Lee would also work with Denzel’s son, John David Washington, on his award-winning BlacKkKlansman.
Alan Fox and Lee wrote the screenplay for the High and Low remake, with A24, Escape Artists, and Mandalay Pictures handling development. Production kicks off in March, with Todd Black producing for Escape Artists and Jason Michael Berman for Mandalay Pictures. In addition to directing and co-writing High and Low, Lee will executive produce through his 40 Acres studio and A Mule Filmworks. Joining Lee as an executive producer is Peter Guber for Madalay Films, Matthew Lindner for Juniper Productions, Chris Brigham, and Katia Washington. Mandalay’s Jordan Moldo is co-producing. According to reports, Spike Lee and Denzel Washington began thinking about collaborating on another film project last spring. Still, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes delayed any forward momentum.
What if Superman had turned out to be evil? That was the idea explored by director David Yarovesky’s super-powered horror film Brightburn, which was released back in 2019. Even though the movie made under $33 million at the global box office, the budget was low enough (somewhere in the range of 6 to 12 million) that producer James Gunn said they were talking about a sequel just a couple months after the film reached screens. Then four years went by, but last September production company The H Collective, which was also behind Brightburn, confirmed that a sequel is in development. If they are moving ahead with a Brightburn 2, they must be doing so without the involvement of Gunn, because when he was asked on Threads when we’ll be getting a Brightburn sequel, he replied, “No plans at all for this right now.“
Scripted by Gunn’s brother Brian Gunn and cousin Mark Gunn, Brightburn has the following synopsis: A couple’s prayers are seemingly answered when an object crash-lands on Earth, carrying a life-form that looks like a baby boy. As the years pass and the alien grows older, it starts to use its mysterious powers in sinister and destructive ways.
James Gunn’s Slither star Elizabeth Banks was also the star of this one, and was joined in the cast by David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones, Steve Agee, Becky Wahlstrom, Stephen Blackehart, and Meredith Hagner.
I did not like Brightburn at all myself, so it doesn’t mean anything to me whether or not a sequel gets made, but I know it went over well with a good number of genre fans.
Are you a fan of Brightburn, and have you been hoping to see Brightburn 2 make its way out into the world one of these days? Are you disappointed to hear that James Gunn has no plans of being involved with the sequel? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
The H Collective’s Brightburn 2 plans were revealed in announcement that they’re launching a new label called H3 Entertainment, which “intends to incorporate new technology into the production process of projects it has in development, including a sequel to horror movie Brightburn.” The new technology in question being AI, Metaverse, and Web3.
Well, this is a semi-dangerous decision. Yes, I’m starting with The Twilight Zone 80s. Niki, haven’t we been telling you to do OG Twilight Zone… why are you doing this? A couple of reasons, the first being that this has been on repeat for me the past 6 months or longer, with Tales from the Crypt never being too far behind it. The other being that I felt like it. You’re lucky I didn’t start with Night Gallery, or maybe that’s what you wanted. So let’s talk 80s Twilight Zone, or New Twilight Zone, or Twilight Zone reboot/revival, whatever you choose to call it.
The reason to give it another go was simple. Rod Serling, my personal hero, sold the rights to Twilight Zone after the show ended its run in 1964. The studio bought the rights even though they weren’t exactly ready to start it up again. They figure when they do decide to get the ball rolling that they will end up making more cash by buying it outright instead of trying to do their own reinvent thing. What was interesting was that even though Francis Ford Coppola and even Rod Serling and original partner, Buck Houghton fanned the flames to get the show going again, CBS were still on the fence about it. It wasn’t until films like ET and Poltergeist came out in 1982 that CBS started to take their responsibility seriously. When Twilight Zone: The Movie came out and did okay, that’s when the studio was finally like, “Okay. I guess this is what people want to see…maybe.” So, in 1984 *laughs* they finally got on it… reluctantly. That’s the story of 80s Twilight Zone.
What I love about this one is that it’s still engaging just like the original. You also have a ton of amazing talent backing it in front of and behind the camera. Let’s just name drop: Bruce Willis, Harlan Ellison, Frances McDormand, Morgan Freeman, Wes Craven, Martin Landau, William Friedkin, Jon Gries, J. Michael Straczyniski, Helen Mirren, and there’s so many more.
Episodes:
The Beacon: Okay, so if you like Walking Distance from the original run, then you will enjoy this one. There’s a captivating magic in straying from your planned route and embracing the spontaneity of following wherever your intuition leads you. However, the outcome doesn’t always have the charm you intended. This journey certainly does not. The poor well intentioned, Dr. Barrows, played by Charles Martin Smith, didn’t realize that some weird light controlled by some spirit overlord named Seth would be his undoing. Writing and thinking about it now, it’s almost like this weird blend between The Village and The Lighthouse. The bonus is you get Martin Landau, who makes an appearance in two of my columns as of recently, and the slightly underrated Giovanni Ribisi who is about 11-years old here. I, on the other hand, at this time am unable to ingest solid foods or even comprehend what a television is.
Shelter Skelter: Doomsday Prepping. Something I only heard about when I was young because of infomercials and the media, is now something my next door neighbor may very well be doing right now. Speaking of stacked episodes, we have Joe Mantegna, Jon Gries, Joan Allen, as well as 90s crush favorite, Danica McKellar. Though I joked about my neighbor possibly stockpiling corn and baby wipes, this story doesn’t seem too far from the truth. I have no doubt that there is a guy just like Mantegna’s character, Harry. Actually, I’m certain there are more people out there who share the same beliefs than I initially thought. What I really like about this episode is Sally’s, portrayed by Allen, “good for her” ending. I really appreciate how the writer juxtaposed Sally and the children’s freedom outside the peace dome with Harry’s continued entrapment inside. It adds depth to the story and makes you think about the consequences of Harry’s actions in a haunting way. I also just love Jon Gries playing any role ever.
Shatterday: I’ve met Bruce Willis. That’s how I’m starting this out. I have a recording of him calling me out for blushing and it’s the greatest thing I will ever own. If you’re gonna reboot Twilight Zone in 1985, you better kick it off with Bruce Willis because he’s practically the epitome of the 80s. The second choice here would have been Tom Cruise. Imagine disconnecting so much that you’ve created a rift in the space time continuum and you’ve created another version of yourself that has to mend all of your fuck ups until eventually your version of you doesn’t exist anymore. Yeah, that’s a lot. Thank you Harlan Ellison, I can’t wait to have an existential crisis in another dimension. The role of Peter Jay Novins is essentially perfect for someone like Willis, who has proven that he can actually play a complex character when compared to his peers of that era. Not a jab, but you remember the 80s, right? Essentially, an episode like this one doesn’t get much better when you have Willis, a story from Ellison, and the direction of Wes Craven.
Her Pilgrim Soul: Yes, I’m going with another Wes Craven directed episode, but this one is worth the entry on this list and then some. Craven directing it is the cherry on top. While it may not be creepy, it is a rather haunting episode due to its lasting themes and strong emotions. I want to make jokes here, but I feel like that would diminish the significance of this episode so I’m going to be good. The mix of sci-fi with the depth of feeling makes for a powerful combination in the episode. The effects are quite impressive for the time. They’re not flashy, but they don’t detract from the story either. Kristoffer Tabori and Anne Twomey, in the leads of Kevin and Nola, reel us into the story. They make it feel like you are right there experiencing everything alongside them. While sequentially it is after the last episode I’m about to offer up, I’d suggest you keep it that way.
Examination Day: This is the worst thing I’ve ever fucking watched. When I share this with others, they give me strange looks because I’ve intentionally exposed myself to this episode multiple times. I do have to partake in a light brain-washing afterwards. In this case, I found myself going through the same emotional journey as I do when watching Time Enough at Last. They lead you on, tease a bit of hope, and then suddenly bring you crashing down. This one hurts in a different way though especially if you have kids. It’s one of those scenarios where you reassure yourself, “No, that could never happen,” yet a part of you remains doubtful. If you’ve never seen it, or read the original short story from Henry Slesar, I would advise it. I wondered if I should tell you all about how this one goes, but I am going to let you seek it out. My apologies ahead of time.
Where to Watch:
This one is readily available even to those who are boycotting any subscription based platforms. Heck, I don’t blame you. We might as well return to cable at this point. At least I might get an even jazzier form of The Weather Channel back. If physical media is your jam, you can easily acquire it on DVD, though I’ve heard the transfer quality isn’t optimal and the special features are limited.
What Happened? Where is it now?
The destiny of this version and the original paralleled each other; dwindling viewership and rising production expenses brought our exploration into the unknown to an end. But that’s alright because, as you’re aware, we were treated to another continuation in 2002 and then once more in 2019, led by fellow superfan Jordan Peele. Technically, we could now do a column on each of these versions. *Awwwww* But guess what, we’re going to do the original run this year, which excites me because I’ve been waiting forever.
That’s the thing, right? The Twilight Zone is the kind of series that you eagerly anticipate returning in new forms, whether as a reboot, continuation, or fresh series. Though I’ll be honest, the 2002 series wasn’t the same in terms of rewatch quality as the others.
I’ve mentioned the original Twilight Zone several times in this discussion, which is probably not surprising. I believe the 80s continuation did a decent job and didn’t give the impression that it was tarnishing the legacy of the original series.
A couple previous episodes of Horror TV Shows We Miss can be seen below. If you’d like to see more, and check out the other shows we have to offer, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
