Sydney Sweeney will star in HOLLOW, a new version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for Sony Pictures.
Lindsey Anderson Beer directs..
More..
Blends gothic atmosphere, psychological intrigue & erotic thriller elements into a contemporary reinvention.
Sweeney plays Katrina Van Tassel…
For better or worse…. The Hollywood Reporter writes that a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie is in the works, with Paramount Pictures having earned the rights to the franchise in order to bring the world of the horror classic to a modern audience.
The new film will be the first under the studio’s new label, Paramount Primal, which will “partner with up-and-coming storytellers as well as established filmmakers to produce smartly budgeted films across a variety of genres, including horror, comedy, action, and grounded science fiction.” (Read: low-budget filmmaking!) This initiative is led by J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, who produced Zach Cregger’s breakout film Barbarian.
There are no details right now so don’t get fooled by internet memes saying that Robert Englund is coming back because we have no idea who will be involved in and what fashion.
But hear us out, if they want to make this successful just hire on Michael Flanagan..
We already know that YouTubers have been a big splash in the horror world this year . Executives noticed too because it seems to be the best way to make money with the least amount of their work possible…
The latest millionaire appears to be the maker of Siren Head, as the Wall Street Journal reports…
But much more appears to be coming.. from the Journal:
Producer Aaron Koontz made another movie with a YouTube creator two years ago, called “Shelby Oaks,” for which he raised the budget on Kickstarter because no one in Hollywood was interested. He was planning to sell “Mandela” earlier this year, then found out about “Backrooms” and decided to wait until the week that movie came out. As the bidding war escalated, Koontz and his partners started eliminating studios that didn’t seem to be as familiar with the material.
“They basically went into ChatGPT and said, ‘What’s the next ‘Backrooms?’” he said.
Numerous agents and producers are preparing pitches based on internet horror concepts that they plan to try to sell to studios in the coming weeks, people familiar with the matter said.
The next V/H/S installment is diving headfirst into the world of the SCP Foundation, and that should have horror fans paying attention. According to Bloody Disgusting, the upcoming film will bring the internet’s legendary catalog of mysterious anomalies and secret containment files to one of horror’s most successful anthology franchises. It’s another sign that SCP is continuing its journey from an online phenomenon into mainstream horror.
Personally, I think this is incredibly exciting.
There are already people complaining that Hollywood has run out of original ideas, but maybe that’s looking at it the wrong way. Some of the most creative horror concepts in the world aren’t coming from traditional studios anymore. They’re coming from YouTube creators, independent filmmakers, collaborative writing communities, and passionate fans who have been building incredible worlds for years.
If Hollywood wants to stay relevant, it should absolutely be looking at these creators and giving their ideas a bigger stage.
This is what horror has always done best. It evolves. Every generation finds its own monsters, its own storytelling style, and its own way to scare us. We’ve had slashers. We’ve had supernatural hauntings. We’ve had found footage. Now we’re seeing internet horror, analog horror, liminal spaces, Backrooms, and SCP stepping into the spotlight.
Enough with the same old slashers and bashers. Horror needs a new kind of monster to shake things up, and the SCP universe might be exactly the kind of fresh imagination the genre has been waiting for.
Something very interesting is happening in the horror world right now, and you cannot be entirely convinced studio executives saw it coming.
This summer, films like Obsession and Backrooms became breakout successes, proving that audiences are increasingly willing to embrace a newer and stranger form of horror storytelling. Now, as Hollywood often does, the race is on to capitalize before the mood changes.
In that light, Deadline Hollywood is reporting that another viral YouTube horror phenomenon is headed for the big screen.
The next adaptation will be The Mandela Catalogue.
And here is where things get especially interesting, particularly for older generations who may not have seen this coming.
Steven Spielberg is reportedly among the parties who aggressively pursued the rights during a highly competitive bidding war.
Yes, that Spielberg.
Creator Alex Kister is set to direct the project himself from a screenplay adapted alongside Tyler Clifton. For those unfamiliar, The Mandela Catalogue launched in 2021 and takes place in the fictional Mandela County, Wisconsin, where shapeshifting entities known as Alternates terrorize the population by taking the form of human doppelgangers.
The series has now surpassed one hundred million views online, inspired countless fan projects, and built an intensely loyal audience dedicated to expanding its mythology.
And frankly, analog horror is reigning supreme right now, and I think horror is better off for it.
There are always ebbs and flows to genre filmmaking. Generations change. Tastes evolve. What terrifies one era often gets dismissed by the next.
I promise you, the next generation will eventually come along and say that our modern horror era was terrible and that their version is better.
Just as many today dismiss the slasher boom of the 1980s.
Just as others once moved on from the era of black-and-white monsters and gothic horror.
It happens every single time.
So maybe the lesson is simple.
Enjoy horror while it is here in whatever form it takes.
If you genuinely love the genre, then you should embrace all of it, even when it does not look like the horror you grew up with.
And suddenly, a whole lot of people who have never heard of The Mandela Catalogue are now scrambling to figure out what exactly it is before a film adaptation arrives seemingly out of nowhere.
And somehow, in one of the stranger twists imaginable, a relic from Hollywood’s past has attached himself to one of horror’s newest frontiers.
Steven Spielberg is making analog horror …
Beginning August, a new live Broadway immersion into paranormal activity will occur ..
Early word is that the special effects will blow people away..
Paranormal Activity has moved up its Broadway opening date to Tuesday, August 25, at the August Wilson Theatre, several weeks earlier than previously announced.
The previously announced first preview performance of Friday, August 14, remains in place. The production will play a strictly limited 20-week run.
The synopsis: “James (Knight) and Lou (Álvarez) move from Chicago to London to escape their past, but they soon discover that places aren’t haunted, people are.” The original story inspired by the film franchise, Paranormal Activity “reimagines the modern ghost story with an intimacy that only live theatre can provide.”
The Broadway production will follow a strictly limited pre-Broadway engagement in Boston at the Emerson Colonial Theatre from July 11 through July 30. Prior to Boston, Paranormal Activity played engagements at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, Center Theater Group at The Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C., and American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. A production in Toronto at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre began performances on June 9 and will run through July 5.
Here is the official site where you can also get tickets and learn more about the show..
The box office battle of the new week begins.
There are going to be a couple of things to watch very closely over the next several days, namely how well Obsession and The Backrooms perform during their next weekend at the box office now that some fresh competition is arriving.
Remember, Obsession was originally scheduled to hit streaming this week, but that date was pushed back due to its continued success in theaters. Meanwhile, The Backrooms just keeps plugging away, posting surprisingly strong numbers even on weeknights. Neither film appears ready to disappear just yet.
This week, however, brings us a pair of nostalgia-fueled challengers. One is built on 1980s superheroes and the other on early 2000s comedy. Whether either one connects with modern audiences remains to be seen.
Scary Movie 6 premieres this weekend, as does Masters of the Universe. Both films have generated anticipation and, in theory, should attract decent crowds. Yet early projections suggest that the He-Man adaptation could be surprisingly ill-fated at the box office, while Scary Movie 5 may not be nearly as funny as audiences had hoped.
While regular moviegoers have not yet fully weighed in, paid reviewers certainly have. For the most part, the reviews for Masters of the Universe have been lukewarm, while Scary Movie 6 has been getting hit even harder.
If we were to compare them to beverages, Masters of the Universe would be a flat seltzer water and Scary Movie 6 would be that same seltzer after somebody microwaved it.
As a matter of fact, when comparing the two films, Masters of the Universe should easily dominate the box office. The question is whether Generation X and older Millennials can convince their kids to care about He-Man. The kids may not be all right when it comes to 1980s nostalgia. The decade is long gone, and nostalgia for it may have finally started running out of steam.
Then again, Scary Movie has its own problem. If the jokes don’t make people laugh, nothing else really matters.
There is one important caveat, however. Critics have never been particularly fond of movies like Scary Movie. They didn’t like the earlier Scary Movie films. They didn’t like many of the National Lampoon’s movies. They weren’t exactly champions of The Naked Gun either. Irreverent comedies that exist primarily to make audiences laugh have often received a chilly reception from reviewers.
We’ll see how it all plays out.
Maybe the critics are right.
Maybe audiences will disagree.
And maybe, just maybe, Obsession and The Backrooms will once again dominate the weekend.
To be determined at a theater near you.
Maybe None of Us Know What We Just Saw. 😄🙃
We just saw The Backrooms, and I’m left sort of speechless.
As the credits rolled, I found myself paying less attention to the screen and more attention to the people around me. The entire theater just sat there. Nobody rushed for the exits. Nobody immediately grabbed their phones. People looked like they were trying to process what they had just experienced.
Let me first say that I saw this at a relatively packed theater on a Sunday afternoon. Kids, adults, entire families. People who easily could have gone to see The Mandalorian instead chose The Backrooms, and that alone showcases why this movie is on track to make more than $80 million this weekend.
Kane Parsons, you did a heck of a job.
One debate we have seen all over social media and TikTok is whether you need to watch the original YouTube shorts or know all of the Backrooms lore before seeing this movie. I don’t think you do.
If you’ve seen the shorts, you’ll probably catch some Easter eggs and appreciate certain moments a little more. But prior knowledge is not required to enjoy what was created here.
At the same time, even if you know the lore, you still may not completely understand what you’ve just watched.
Here’s my interpretation.
We create the Backrooms.
The movie seems to be about how we create the insanity inside our own minds. It’s about loops and about obsession. It’s about continually wandering into places we know we shouldn’t go.
There were several scenes that genuinely left me anxious. Not jump scares, either. Those weren’t the moments that got me.
One scene involving the giant pirate-like flesh eater with its impossibly long arms reaching toward Dr Mary Kline felt claustrophobic and unsettling. Other scenes used distorted faces, fuzzy imagery, and shaky camera work that made you question whether your own eyes were playing tricks on you.
The movie was effective in a very unusual way.
It made me despise the Backrooms while simultaneously wanting to stay there.
I can’t really explain it any better than that.
Just like the characters who repeatedly venture deeper into the Backrooms because they need to discover what’s around the next corner, I think that’s exactly how many people in the audience felt. The place is terrifying, but it’s also impossible to stop exploring.
The found footage elements and flashbacks were probably the most effective use of found footage since The Blair Witch Project. The acting was so convincing that you almost leave the theater wondering if the Backrooms could somehow be real.
On my way to the bathroom after the movie, part of me felt like I might accidentally slip through a wall.
What fascinated me most, though, was the audience.
This was a packed house. The kind of crowd that twenty years ago would have definitely filled a theater for a major Star Wars release.
The times have changed.
Parents who brought younger children looked somewhat bewildered, as if they had just spent two hours watching something they didn’t fully understand. The younger kids seemed entertained but weren’t entirely sure what they had seen either ..
There were a lot of teenagers in the audience. I expected talking and cell phones lighting up.
There was none of that.
During several scenes, you could hear a pin drop.
There were also moments where the audience laughed. Not because the movie became a comedy, but because some situations were so strange and uncomfortable that people almost laughed in spite of themselves. The humor never undercut the horror. The movie maintained its credibility as a genuinely unsettling experience from beginning to end.
I’ve seen comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock, and honestly, that’s fair.
For people who don’t understand the movie, don’t want to understand the movie, or simply aren’t interested in trying to interpret it, that’s fine. They probably won’t watch it again.
Others may find themselves returning to the theater more than once.
There’s something about that buzzing yellow aura, those endless hallways, and the stained carpets that almost makes you feel like you can smell them.
The long-term success of this movie will depend on word of mouth. The initial excitement was clearly there this weekend. Fans, parents, teenagers, and entire families came out in force.
I’ve seen some people absolutely hate it.
I’ve seen others love it.
Put me firmly in the camp that loved it.
I honestly think it’s one of the greatest horror films I’ve ever seen.
Not because it was the scariest or had the best monsters with a big budget, but because it was more than a movie.
It was an experience.
For two hours, you felt like you were there.
Kane Parsons did an amazing job.
And perhaps the best review I heard wasn’t inside the theater at all.
It happened afterward in the parking lot.
On a bright, sunny early summer afternoon, families were heading back to their cars. Younger movie goers were talking about their favorite scenes. Parents were looking at each other with confused expressions.
Then one grandmother, walking away from the theater with her family, finally broke the silence.
“I’ll call you later. I need to take a break because I don’t know what the f*** that just was.”
Maybe none of us do.
But it’s the Backrooms.
It’s meant to be explored no matter what the f*** it is ..
Box office watchers are saying to prepare for a possible shock this weekend.. both BACKROOMS and OBSESSION continue to score high and rake in cash … Meanwhile the 2000s called and asked for the Mandalorian back..
MORE..
Kane Parsons has won over a younger generation.. his film is connecting with the under-35 demo (a massive 87% turnout since Thursday night) with Backrooms now on track to hoard a $76M to $79M after a $33M-$35M Friday at 3,442 theaters, which includes Thursday night’s $10.4M. Some are expecting an $80 mil opening!
But even bigger is Curry Barker’s horror world..
A24/Chernin Entertainment co-financed movie isn’t even hurting business for Focus Features’ Curry Barker Obsession, which is going over $100M in its third frame after what’s shaping up to be a 3-day of $25M at 2,780 theaters …
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu has seen a 69% drop from its first week..
DEVELOPING
The summer of 2026 is already shaping up to be the summer that changes horror… and possibly movies in general.
There’s a new generation of young directors making creative horror films such as Obsession and Backrooms.. and especially with Obsession, there’s been a word-of-mouth popularity surge that really hasn’t been seen since probably The Blair Witch Project. It became the sleeper hit of the late spring season almost entirely because people kept telling other people to go see it. Audiences wanted to know what all the buzz was about, and once they got there, they thoroughly enjoyed it.
The movie is getting rave reviews and, more importantly, it feels different. That’s the key.
For too long horror has relied on remakes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Exorcist, and countless recycled ideas from the past. People grew tired of it. The villains that once terrified audiences during the late 20th century slowly started becoming pop culture jokes instead of actual horror icons.
But this new breed of horror filmmakers is giving audiences something fresh again.
Obsession is an absolutely perfect example of that. The movie reportedly only cost around $750,000 to make, yet it’s already tracking toward potentially making close to $100 million. The profit margins are insane, but it’s not just about profit. People are genuinely enjoying the art behind what this movie provided. They’re talking about it afterward. They’re debating it and recommending it to friends.
And even more interesting than the box office itself is the demographic showing up to see it.
The audience is heavily made up of the 18-to-25 crowd!
When I went to see it, I felt like a geezer… and I’m not even that old. The theater was packed with teenagers, college kids, and younger adults. That means something. Younger audiences are actually returning to theaters when a movie feels worth leaving the house for. They’re sitting through the 25 minutes of ads and commercials and eventually, if you’re at AMC, that famous Nicole Kidman theater speech about why movies are better in a dark room with strangers.
For years people have cried that movie theaters were dying out, but maybe the formula was always simpler than we thought: people will still go to theaters for movies that are actually good. Go figure..
And horror has always been on the cutting edge of culture.
Horror reflects the fears, anxieties, politics, and social atmosphere of its era better than almost any other genre. The SAW movies probably would not have exploded in popularity during the 1980s, but during the War on Terror era it hit audiences at exactly the right moment. The same thing happens throughout horror history over and over again.
Oddly enough, professional wrestling and horror movies might be two of the greatest indicators of where society is emotionally at any given time. Both constantly evolve alongside culture, controversy, fear, anger, escapism, and public mood.
Unfortunately horror also gets a bad reputation with the elites and Red Carpet Crowd because of the endless flood of cheap, lazy, ridiculous films pushed out simply to make a quick dollar. But there’s a new generation of filmmakers emerging right now with creativity, atmosphere, originality, and actual vision. They’re changing not only horror itself, but possibly the movie industry as a whole because their success is proving audiences still care deeply about cinema when it feels unique.
Now we’re on the verge of another major moment in the summer of 2026.. this is really not an overstatement but clearly a cultural moment is being defined by a new set of talented people .. FINALLY..
As this post is being written, all eyes are beginning to shift toward Backrooms, directed by young filmmaker Kane Parsons, known online to many as Kane Pixels. There’s a real possibility that this film pushes things even further and helps cement the summer of 2026 as a turning point for modern filmmaking.
For those paying attention, something historic honestly feels like it’s happening here.
You can feel it in the air.
Movies do not have to be what they once were in order to succeed. In fact, if you simply recreate movies exactly the way they used to be made, chances are audiences may not care anymore. People want something different. They want creativity and atmosphere.. along with originality. They want filmmakers willing to take risks again.
And this new spirit of filmmaking is finally giving audiences that thing they’ve been searching for.
So cheers to good movies… and cheers to hopefully seeing full movie theaters again in your neck of the woods.
Because this weekend people will undoubtedly be lining up excitedly to see Backrooms… and maybe, just maybe, another horror film will make history.