“There are certain aspects of the movie that don’t hold up too well,” said Ted Levine, who played Buffalo Bill. “We all know more, and I’m a lot wiser about transgender issues. There are some lines in that script and movie that are unfortunate.”
“There are certain aspects of the movie that don’t hold up too well,” said Ted Levine, who played Buffalo Bill. “We all know more, and I’m a lot wiser about transgender issues. There are some lines in that script and movie that are unfortunate.”
“It’s unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it’s f***ing wrong. And you can quote me on that.”
When discussing the adaptation of Buffalo Bill from the pages to the silver screen, producer Edward Saxon explained, “From my point of view, we weren’t sensitive enough to the legacy of a lot of stereotypes and their ability to harm.”
Fans of the film are fuming on social media about the commentary being made by the makers of the film…
Transgenderism was on the fringes of society 35 years ago, so I think we could all forgive filmmakers for not having every subtle nuance of the community represented in their film or how society would view people who are transgender in 2026..
The vast majority of moviegoers actually didn’t even make the connection between Buffalo Bill and transgenderism.. He was a sadistic killer in the film.. and Anthony Hopkins ate people. Horror..
Ted Levine himself: “I didn’t play him as being gay or trans,” he said. “I think he was just a f***ed-up heterosexual man. That’s what I was doing.”
Also people point out that those debating this now are missing the point of the book and the film–and if they would have read the book, this could be viewed very differently..
Jame Gumb failed the psychological evaluations that are requirements for sex reassignment surgeries. Because he wasn’t trans; he was a psychopath. The care he needed wasn’t surgery it was mental health help. Thats the whole point.
And some posts on X have showcased a 1991 litigation of this issue on television then and the reaction then..
Slow news day @THR ? This was litigated in 1991. Every second show on Netflix now features “trans” pic.twitter.com/D2sQqciSuQ
And it is true.. there were lots of articles and news coverage of this in 1991..
This could be a moment in time where history shapes up differently than how it was looking contemporarily.. but clearly for those of us who lived through 1991, this new article seems to be a bit odd given the big debate that actually DID OCCUR 35 years ago..
Yet another Stephen King related movie from the amazing Mike Flanagan!
Flanagan will direct and write the screenplay, which is based off King’s 1980 novella of the same name.
There is no news yet on release date or cast , but Deadline confirms that Flanagan’s The Mist will indeed be another collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures, and that Flanagan will produce through Red Room alongside Tyler Thompson and Spyglass’ Gary Barber and Chris Stone. Alexandra Magistro will also executive produce for Red Room.
A new movie coming out on March 13th .. which, incidentally, is a Friday. Perfect timing .. is Undertone. It looks to be a really cool psychological horror movie about a podcast.
Undertone follows Evy, the co-host of a paranormal podcast who has built her brand on skepticism while her partner leans into belief. When Evy returns home to care for her dying mother, she begins receiving a series of mysterious audio recordings from an anonymous source. The recordings, said to be captured by a married couple experiencing strange phenomena in their home, contain unsettling sounds that defy easy explanation.
As Evy listens to each new file, the line between the recordings and her own reality begins to blur. The noises seep into her waking life, triggering paranoia, obsession, and a creeping sense that something is not just being heard… but responding. Rather than relying on gore or traditional jump scares, Undertone appears to lean heavily into atmosphere and sound design — turning audio itself into the weapon. It’s psychological horror rooted in suggestion, implication, and the terrifying power of what we can’t quite understand.
This movie looks really good. It has a great tone, a strong concept, and the potential to be something special. One of my favorite liminal horror films of the last 20 years has been Pontypool. That movie centered on a radio host during a strange outbreak, where words themselves began to unravel and reality started slipping through language. The horror wasn’t about gore or blood, it was about the ticking time bomb of strangeness inside your own brain, the kind you can’t quite process.
The trailer for this new film seems to carry a bit of that same energy .. and hopefully a lot more. The idea of a podcast serving as the framework for a modern horror story feels incredibly timely.
We’ll avoid walking under ladders and crossing paths with black cats on Friday the 13th… but we definitely won’t be avoiding this movie.
‘DC is moving into the horror world at the box office with a comic book horror movie Clayface..
That movie had been set for theatrical release via Warner Bros. on September 11, 2026.
Clayface will now release in theaters on October 23, 2026.
A lot of people didn’t really even know this was being made.. The movie is being compared to David Cronenberg’s The Fly and centers on an actor who injects himself with a substance to remain relevant, only to find out that he can reshape his face and form, becoming a walking piece of clay.
And the best part of all? It is a Mike Flanagan project! He did the screen play.. Even James Gunn said that he was not changing the sreenplay and he was a Flanagan fan himself.
But why isn’t Flanagan at the helm? Being too busy..
Flanagan’s commitment to other projects, including his take on Carrie, ultimately forced him to step back just as DC Studios was ready to fast-track the movie..
Back in November 2025, SCREEN RANT talked to Flanagan.. Flanagan said he was inspired by Batman: The Animated Series, specifically the two-part episode “Feat of Clay,” featuring Ron Perlman as the voice of the tragic villain.
“No, when we first started talking about Clayface, I hadn’t seen what Matt [Reeves] was up to. So it went all the way back to ‘Feat of Clay’, that incredible two-parter with Ron Perlman voicing the character, which was so formative for me as a kid,” Flanagan told Screen Rant.
School Spirits is a really interesting show that a lot of people are finally discovering
Ever since Stranger Things ended, a lot of people have been desperately searching for the next best thing to replace it. In that search, many have discovered that a younger audience, especially in the Gen Z world, has been watching something else all along.
It may not be a perfect comparison to Stranger Things, but a growing number of viewers have become dedicated to the Paramount+ series School Spirits. It hasn’t been heavily advertised, and you don’t see it dominating major media headlines, but the show has quietly built momentum — and now new episodes have just been released.
School Spirits is a supernatural mystery drama centered on Maddie Nears, a high school senior who suddenly finds herself dead and trapped inside her own school with no memory of how she died. Instead of moving on to whatever comes next, Maddie discovers she’s stuck in a kind of ghostly limbo at Split River High, alongside other student spirits who also never crossed over.
The twist? One living person remains her best friend Simon who can see and communicate with her.
From there, the show unfolds as a serialized mystery. Maddie investigates her own disappearance and possible murder while navigating fractured friendships, romantic tension, buried secrets, and the strange rules governing the afterlife inside the school walls. It blends whodunit storytelling with emotional teen drama and supernatural lore.
It’s less monster-of-the-week and more long-form mystery, with relationship arcs driving just as much of the tension as the central question: What really happened to Maddie?
The series stars Peyton List as Maddie Nears, delivering a performance that balances vulnerability, frustration, and determination. Kristian Ventura plays Simon, the loyal friend caught between the living world and the spirit world. The ensemble also includes Milo Manheim as Wally Clark, Spencer MacPherson as Xavier Baxter, Kiara Pichardo as Nicole Herrera, and Sarah Yarkin as Rhonda Rosen.
The strength of the show really rests in its ensemble, each spirit has their own backstory, regrets, and unfinished business, which deepens the mythology and emotional stakes as the series progresses.
The show has not just a cult following but an actually dedicated fan base that seems to be expanding. It does cross some generational divides, but clearly and squarely has a youthful demographic. That said, it’s creative and fun and supernatural and edgy.
Maybe you’ll like it and maybe you won’t. But even if you don’t, it doesn’t matter. Enough people do that it’s clearly become something popular.
Gen X and millennials snuck the VHS into the house.. A movie is coming out and YouTube was forced to pull the trailer.. #FacesofDeath
The infamous Faces of Death franchise is returning and already stirring controversy like the good ole days.
The upcoming remake, directed by Daniel Goldhaber (Cam) and co-written with Isa Mazzei, is scheduled for theatrical release in 2026. The film reportedly stars Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Josie Totah, Charli XCX, and Jermaine Fowler. This modern reimagining shifts the premise into the internet age, centering on a moderator for a YouTube-like platform who stumbles across disturbing footage that blurs the line between staged horror and possible real-world violence.
And then came the teaser.
A grainy, black-and-white trailer surfaced online, featuring brief flashes of extreme and unsettling imagery, scenes involving violent deaths and brutal accidents, presented in a raw, almost documentary style. It was uploaded in a strange, low-key fashion rather than through an obvious official studio channel. Shortly after, YouTube removed it for violating its terms of service, most likely due to graphic content guidelines. Which, honestly, feels very on brand for Faces of Death.
Now those showing the trailer are forced to blur the entire thing (they enjoy this too to drum up the bloodlust prior to the film release)
This franchise has always lived in that uncomfortable space between taboo and curiosity. In the 1980s and 1990s, it wasn’t something you streamed. It wasn’t trending. It wasn’t algorithm-fed to you. It was whispered about. Passed around on VHS. Rented from questionable corners of video stores. Found at a friend’s house.
And when you watched it… you weren’t sure what you were seeing.
There are plenty of jokes about Gen X and early Millennials coming of age on Rotten.com or on Faces of Death tapes as teenagers. I remember an ex-girlfriend of mine tracking down a copy from some friends. We watched a portion of it, and it was appalling — surreal, nightmarish, deeply unsettling. We genuinely couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. We were dumb ’90s kids, and that uncertainty made it even worse.
As we now know, much of the original footage was staged — though some real archival material was mixed in. That’s what made it so macabre. It wasn’t just gore. It was the ambiguity.
Now, decades later, the franchise is stepping into the mainstream. But the mainstream doesn’t quite know what to do with it. The pulled YouTube trailer is proof of that friction. In the VHS era, controversy fueled mystique. Today, controversy gets flagged by community guidelines.
Will the new film be banned in certain circles? Probably debated heavily? Absolutely. Will it be a blockbuster smash? Unlikely. But it may do something more interesting — it could usher a new generation into the cult mythology of Faces of Death.
Or maybe we’re living in a time where reality already feels grim enough. Maybe the internet has made shock too accessible, too constant. Maybe we don’t need a fictionalized version anymore. Then again… maybe that discomfort is exactly the point.
We have faith in him and the actors who will join.
We have the utmost faith in Mike Flanagan to elevate—and outright save—anything he touches, and now that includes The Exorcist franchise.
We wish him well, and we fully expect something special.
According to Deadline, another major star has joined the upcoming film from the acclaimed horror auteur. Academy Award nominee Diane Lane is the latest addition to the cast, joining previously announced stars Scarlett Johansson and Jacobi Jupe.
There are details have been released regarding who Lane will be playing, though that’s hardly a surprise. The project is being kept tightly under wraps, which only adds to the intrigue surrounding Flanagan’s take on this legendary property. The plot has been hush hush but it is known he is bringing a new energy and story to the Exorcist universe as only he could.
It’s that Christmas movie season when we’re told about all the weird movies that are “Christmassy” but definitely not your normal holiday films. Things like Die Hard or, in our opinion, Batman Returns, which is probably the preeminent Christmas movie in my book.
When it comes to scary Santa Clauses, there’s a number of different films out there that provide us with horror galore. We can look at Art the Clown when he’s dressed as Santa, or Silent Night, Deadly Night. But let’s put those aside for a moment. Let’s go back to 1985 to a movie called Fortress.
Now, what really is eerie about the film is the main antagonist.. a villain that dresses up as Father Christmas. The mask is simple; it looks just like an evil, sadistic Santa, sort of like the Santa Claus that pushes Ralphie down with his foot in A Christmas Story. In this case, he’s not a mall Santa; he’s a highly criminal-minded, sadistic assailant who means harm to these children and the teacher.
Fortress is a 1985 Australian thriller that became a bit of a cult classic, especially for those who remember it playing on HBO. While it wasn’t a box office giant, it carved out a niche among fans of offbeat thrillers. The film didn’t earn massive revenues, but it left a lasting impression with its eerie atmosphere and that unforgettable Santa villain. It’s got a lot of cheesy acting and effects, but there’s something still great about it if you’re lucky enough to watch it.
In the end, that scary Santa Claus in Fortress probably goes down as, in our opinion, the scariest Santa in a film.. followed, of course, by that evil Santa in A Christmas Story who says Ralphie will shoot his eye out.
Silent Night Deadly Night was released the same day as Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. But that is not the reason with TriStar pulled the film from theaters..
Picture it: November 1984.. Ronald Reagan just won re-election handily.. the nation was fearing a beat in the woods but raising the flag in patriotism… The chill is in the air. Christmas gifts are getting scooped up at those 1980s malls where the speakers are blasting 1980s music at a volume that feels illegal now. And right there, near the food court, near the arcade, you catch a glimpse of the movie times. Because maybe… just maybe… in the middle of the hustle, you’ll buy yourself a break. A breather. One big-screen, Hollywood-ish escape.
In Cressona PA you see Prince and Purple rain.. but there is another one..
Silent Night, Deadly Night.
How bad could it be?
You show up, ready for a cheesy seasonal slasher… and you find out you stand no chance. The movie’s getting pulled. Not “it’s selling out.” Not “we don’t have your showtime.” Pulled, as in: some theaters won’t run it, and the distributor starts backing away like it touched a hot stove.
Because in 1984, people stood their moral ground… and this was a national argument.
What makes it funny (in a dark way) is that today we live in an era where Christmas horror is practically its own aisle. We’ve got full-on gore carnivals, movies that treat the holidays like an excuse to paint the walls. Even Terrifier 3 was out here reminding everyone that December can be a bloodbath if a filmmaker wants it to be.
So in 2025, Silent Night, Deadly Night almost looks… gentle. Like a troublemaker from a different generation.
But in 1984? People didn’t see it as quaint. They saw it as a threat.
When “Killer Santa” hit daytime TV
A big part of this firestorm wasn’t even the movie itself but it was in big part, the marketing.
TriStar ran TV spots that mashed up holiday cheer with the image of a Santa figure doing what Santa is not supposed to do—breaking in, weapon in hand, violence implied. And the big mistake? Those ads didn’t just run late at night for adults. They landed in daytime slots, when kids were watching.
THIS was the ad that ill-fated the film:
That’s the part people forget now: the outrage wasn’t abstract. It was parents seeing the commercial in the middle of normal life and concerned their child saw Santa with an axe.
And then it became organized really fast.
Variety reported protests in Milwaukee from a group calling itself Citizens Against Movie Madness, led by local mothers. The protests spread—New York, the Bronx, Brooklyn—signs and chants and that old-school civic energy that feels almost extinct today. The leader was Kathleen Eberhardt, then 32.
Stations reacted too. According to reporting summarized in Vulture’s deep dive on the controversy, at least some TV outlets moved the commercials to late-night, and others yanked them altogether.
Then the cultural heavyweight moment hit: Siskel and Ebert went after the movie hard on TV, and Gene Siskel aimed directly at the people behind it, calling the profits “blood money.”
Suddenly, the controversy wasn’t a local protest story. It was national, loud, and embarrassing for a “respectable” distributor.
We were even led to believe that a that a Lewisburg woman saw a TV spot for the movie during ‘afternoon cartoon hours.’ She didn’t recall the station.. sounds like an automatic urban legend to me.
In 1980 a movie called CHRISTMAS EVIL featured an ax wielding Santa.. No outrage. But that is because the advertising campaign just was not there like it was for Silent Night Deadly Night..
The other brutal truth: it started dropping at the box office
Now here’s the other piece that matters, and it’s less romantic than the protest narrative:
But it was also facing a huge problem: It was released the SAME WEEKEND as NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, a movie that was more widely accepted and not protested. It was just a child predator with knife fingers. Not Santa.
TriStar publicly started wobbling right around then, talking about whether it would even be “commercially viable” to keep rolling it out.
And once a studio starts speaking in that careful corporate language, you can feel the exit coming.
The pullback was real enough that the Associated Press was describing it bluntly: TriStar was dropping the film from U.S. distribution after protests and poor early earnings.
And one of the protest organizers, Kathleen Eberhardt with Citizens Against Movie Madness, celebrated the decision with the kind of quote that sounds like it belongs in a time capsule: “Wow. I think it’s great.”
The irony: pulling it probably helped create the legend
Here’s what I love about this story, even if the movie itself is… let’s be honest… not exactly Oscar bait.
In 1984, people talked about it like it was the end of civilization. We already had Jason slashing through forests
In 2025, it’s basically a campfire tale about a moral panic—an artifact from a time when Santa still had a kind of cultural protection around him, like you could get grounded just for disrespecting the concept.
And the greatest irony? By pulling it, they may have cemented it.
Because there’s a difference between a throwaway slasher and a forbidden slasher.
If TriStar had just let it play, it might’ve come and gone like a hundred other low-budget horror flicks. But once it became “the movie they tried to stop,” it picked up that outlaw aura. People love a thing more when someone tells them they shouldn’t have it.
And that’s exactly what happened over time.
The film grew into a cult item, spawned sequels, and eventually inspired a remake in 2012 (titled Silent Night) and the newest 2025 incarnation..
So 40 years after the chaos of the citizens against movie madness … angry moms … TV ads during cartoons (it that really even happened), SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT has become an annual Christmas much watch.. not because it is a great movie. But because it is just that bad.
In a year packed with big shiny titles like Wicked: For Good and all the usual awards bait, Zach Cregger’s WEAPONS quietly kept doing its thing… and now it just muscled its way into the Golden Globes conversation. The film landed two #GoldenGlobes nominations:
Cinematic & Box Office Achievement
Best Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture – Amy Madigan (Aunt Gladys)
Not bad at all.
Amy Madigan has been creeping up on every horror fan’s radar this year as a full-on horror icon, and now the Globes have stamped that in ink. She even said she was “incredibly moved” to be recognized for Aunt Gladys and for the film’s box office nod – calling it a testament to Zach Cregger’s vision and the whole team that built this terrifying character.
Will it actually win? Who knows. But the fact that this twisted, grief-soaked horror movie about missing kids and one nightmare aunt is standing next to the “serious” films is unbelievable. Even if it walks away empty-handed, WEAPONS and Aunt Gladys are getting the attention they deserve.
