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The modern age of technology has enabled filmmakers to tell stories in new, innovative ways. One of the biggest examples can be seen in the ever-growing body of screenlife horror films and thrillers like Unfriended, Host, Spree, and Searching. Through a screen-sharing format, the subgenre pulls viewers into a digital landscape, bouncing across video calls, security footage, internet searches, all forms of text messaging, and more to create narratives filled with suspense as their protagonists try to either solve a mystery or escape a killer from the discomfort of their computer.

Oftentimes, these kinds of movies add in a supernatural element to not only up the stakes, but limit technology as a resource as it malfunctions in the presence of the unknown — Bloat, does just that. With award-winning director Pablo Absento at the helm, the film rediscovers an ancient Japanese folklore demon through a present-day possession flick, further highlighting the...

Can you read her poker face yet? She can read yours, and she's about to read a ton of other people as Natasha Lyonne returns in Season 2 ofPoker Face. With showrunner Tony Tost behind the wheel, Season 2 begins streaming on Peacock starting May 8, 2025, with three episodes at launch and new episodes streaming Thursday. There are a cool dozen episodes this time around, as opposed to the 10 great episodes in Season 1. The synopsis is simple: Poker Face is a mystery-of-the-week series following Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.

A press release from Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne reads, "Charlie Cale is back on the run, and in Season 2 we’ve taken her journey to the...

Screenlife filmmaking, the process of telling a cinematic story entirely through characters’ computer screens, is the kind of gimmick that’s usually bad in theory and is worse in practice. There are smart exceptions, but the pandemic year we spent watching mediocre television produced over Zoom and the amount of time many of us are still professionally obligated to spend on video calls is enough to make watching them for pleasure sound like a daunting proposition.

The format is best known for the films “Unfriended” and “Searching,” both of which were produced by Timur Bekmambetov, who has gone all in on Screenlife storytelling. The niche mogul is also behind “LifeHack,” Ronan Corrigan’s directorial debut that tries to give FaceTime screens and Discord servers the “Ocean’s 11” treatment.

For Kyle (Georgie Farmer), the Internet is the ultimate playground. Smarter and savvier about digital spaces then virtually anyone else he encounters online,...

Plot: It follows a mother and two sons vacationing in Japan. Their younger son almost drowns in a lake, and soon after the accident, the parents realize that something is wrong with their boy.

Review: Screenlife: a form of visual storytelling told entirely through a computer, phone or tablet screen. Hollywood has already found plenty of success with this found footage offshoot with films like Missing and Searching. Now they’re taking that same concept and giving it more of a supernatural twist. Not that we haven’t also already seen that as well. But hey, lack of originality isn’t always a death knell as it’s really about the execution. So does Bloat manage to excel where others failed? Eh…

Bloat is seen through the eyes of Benjamin McKenzie’s Jack, a soldier who’s away on leave. Thankfully, he’s behind a desk, so he gets plenty...

The “Screenlife” movie has become a bona fide subgenre here in the horror world, with films including Searching, Missing, and Unfriended paving the way for other movies that uniquely play out their stories entirely on computer screens. Timur Bekmambetov is the producer of all of the above, and he’s launched a new initiative to foster new talents in the screenlife space.

Deadline reports this week that Bekmambetov has created the Black List-style “Screenlifer” platform, which will “identify, support, and promote screenlife content from emerging filmmakers, and give it exposure to both audiences and industry professionals.”

“Projects that meet the platform’s standards will receive a Black List-style mark of distinction, signifying their alumni status, which Bekmambetov believes will enhance their industry credibility,” Deadline adds. “The best concepts will be published on the project’s website.”

One of the first projects that’s been given the Screenlife seal of approval...

Filmed and written entirely during the Coronavirus pandemic, the Malayalam film ‘C U Soon’ has been released directly on Amazon Prime Video. This film is about a man named Jimmy (played by Roshan Mathew) who matches Anumol Sebastian (Darshana Rajendran) in an online dating app. Following a shocking turn of events, Anumol, who has started living with Jimmy, leaves his apartment. She sends one last video message which allegedly sounds like a suicide note to him. This promising premise leads to Mahesh Narayanan’s skilled and frequently innovative thriller that unfolds solely on the screens of a desktop or mobile phone, with not even one remote sight of a visual past. It is ‘C U Soon’, one of the most default texts we send that draws the curtains of the narrative.

While it has been cut from the same cloth as Aneesh Chaganty’s 2018 film ‘Searching‘, it is a better...

Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in ‘Poker Face’ season 2 (Photo by: Peacock)

There’s finally official content available for the much-anticipated second season of Peacock’s Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne. While the streamer didn’t announce a season two premiere date, it teased that the 12-episode new season will arrive this spring.

“Charlie Cale is back on the run, and in season two we’ve taken her journey to the next level one murder mystery at a time. From minor league baseball to big box retail, from funeral homes to alligator farms and even a grade school talent show, Charlie navigates her crime-solving existential road trip with deadpan wit, human empathy, and her signature uncanny lie-detecting ability,” wrote series creator, writer, director, and executive producer Rian Johnson and series star director, writer, and executive producer Natasha Lyonne in a joint statement released with the first photos.

Johnson and Lyonne...

Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnson's hit streaming series, Poker Face, is set to return this year. And, well? The list of people they've finagled to guest star in Season 2 is actually unhinged. Like, the list of people who are going to be on this show is truly outrageous and unfathomable to someone like me, a person who does not cast television shows. But if I did? And I managed to pull this off? I'd be screaming it from the rooftop, folks. Because this cast list? It's truly the best of the best of the funniest, most talented people currently working in Hollywood.

And it seems that Lyonne and Johnson recognize that, sending along a note with the press release teasing the series' forthcoming slate of episodes. And though we don't know the exact premiere date yet — all it says is "Spring 2025" — we do know the 12, 60-minute-long episodes will feature Many very,...

Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnson's hit streaming series, Poker Face, is set to return this year. And, well? The list of people they've finagled to guest star in Season 2 is actually unhinged. Like, the list of people who are going to be on this show is truly outrageous and unfathomable to someone like me, a person who does not cast television shows. But if I did? And I managed to pull this off? I'd be screaming it from the rooftop, folks. Because this cast list? It's truly the best of the best of the funniest, most talented people currently working in Hollywood.

And it seems that Lyonne and Johnson recognize that, sending along a note with the press release teasing the series' forthcoming slate of episodes. And though we don't know the exact premiere date yet — all it says is "Spring 2025" — we do know the 12, 60-minute-long episodes will feature Many very,...

In 2023, a thriller came out that took the screenlife genre to a whole new level. Missing tells the twisty story of a teenager tracking down her mother using all the powers of the internet. Every frame of the movie is packed with app interfaces and potential clues — some of which tie into the creative team's earlier films, Searching and Run. Each standalone story is loaded with Easter eggs that reveal a shared universe.

Co-writer and producer Sev Ohanian obviously loves mysteries, but he also can't help spoiling them. Missing, Searching, and Run each contain glimpses of the solutions to their own enigmas, as well as proof of how their stories interlock. Eagle-eyed fans can assemble Ohanian's tantalizing puzzle, and perhaps uncover hints of what the future holds for this clever creator and his team.

Searching Forms the Foundation of a Shared Universe

In 2018, Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty dropped...

The 2023 cyber thriller Missing tells the twisty tale of a teenager investigating her mother's disappearance using the power of the internet. The movie interrogates the ways in which personal bias can make even the most innocent things seem sinister and obscure truths that hide in plain sight. Case in point: the instant message the heroine receives halfway through the movie, telling her what really happened to her mother — sent by Missing producer Sev Ohanian.

With the rise of Covid-19, many filmmakers have tried their hand at the screenlife genre, in which the drama plays out entirely on device screens and computer monitors. Missing is one of the most ambitious examples, amounting to a mosaic of overlaid applications from a dizzying array of recognizable brands. These busy compositions enabled Sev Ohanian to sneak a major spoiler into his movie where only the most sharp-eyed fans will catch it.

Privacy Violations Are...

In Theaters, On Demand and On Digital March 7 Directed & Written By Pablo Absento Starring Ben McKenzie, Bojana Novakovic, Malcolm Fuller, Sawyer Jones, Kane Kosugi Synopsis From a producer of Searching and Unfriended, Ben McKenzie (“Gotham”) and Bojana Novakovic (Birds of Prey) star in this chilling tale of horror and suspense. After a near-death …

The post Official Trailer + Poster!! – Bloat starring Ben McKenzie, Bojana Novakovic, Malcolm Fuller, Sawyer Jones, Kane Kosugi – In Theaters, On Demand and On Digital March 7, 2025 appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Searching and Unfriended producer Timur Bekmambetov returns to screenlife horror with Bloat.

The J-horror-inspired film will possess select theaters and Digital on March 7 via Lionsgate. Check out the trailer below.

After a near-death drowning accident, a young boy’s family is horrified to discover he has become possessed by a legendary demon from the depths of the lake. As the family races against time to save the boy’s soul, the evil monster inside the child tears the family apart as it seeks to destroy everyone in its path.

Ben McKenzie (“Gotham”) and Bojana Novakovic (Devil) star with Malcolm Fuller, Sawyer Jones (Antlers), and Kane Kosugi (Godzilla: Final Wars).

Writer-director Pablo Absento makes his feature debut on the film.

The post ‘Bloat’ Trailer – Screenlife Horror Starring Ben McKenzie Will Possess Viewers in March appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Exclusive: Emmy Award nominee Joseph Lee has been cast as a series regular in the Apple TV+ series Neuromancer, a new 10-episode drama based on the award-winning novel of the same name by William Gibson.

He joins the previously announced Callum Turner and Briana Middleton. Lee will portray the character Hideo, who in the novel is a ninja bodyguard.

Created for television by Graham Roland and Jd Dillard, Neuromancer follows a damaged, top-rung super-hacker named Case (Turner) who is thrust into a web of digital espionage and high-stakes crime with his partner Molly (Middleton), a razor-girl assassin with mirrored eyes, aiming to pull a heist on a corporate dynasty with untold secrets.

A co-production between Skydance Television, Anonymous Content and Apple Studios, Neuromancer will also be produced by Drake’s DreamCrew Entertainment. Roland will serve as showrunner and Dillard is set to direct the pilot episode.

Blumhouse Productions has created a name for itself in the movie industry by releasing high-quality, popular horror films. Unfortunately, 2024 came with a mixed offering and one title set an unfortunate event that seems to change thanks to streaming.

Blumhouse premiered several horror titles in 2024, including the critically acclaimed remake Speak No Evil, with an 83% approval rating from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but also Imaginary, with an unfortunate 24% approval score, and Afraid, which has a 22% score from the critics. Afraid set a series of unfortunate records for Blumhouse, but it proved to be a success on streaming following its release on Netflix. Now, its success continues, as Afraid ended its first week on the streaming platform in the tenth spot in the U.S. for the week between Nov. 26 and Dec. 1, according to Netflix.

Related Mike Flanagan’s Award-Winning Stephen King Movie With Tom Hiddleston Finally Sets Release Date

Mike...

Exclusive: Filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov has signed with Artist International Group for management.

Bekmambetov, who remains repped by WME, most recently wrapped the Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson starring sci-fi feature Mercy for Amazon MGM Studios. Produced by Oscar-nominated producer Charles Roven (Oppenheimer), Mercy is set in the near future when capital crime has increased. The pic follows a detective (Pratt) who is accused of a violent crime and forced to prove his innocence. 

The filmmaker broke through with his supernatural action-adventure feature Night Watch which spawned the sequel Day Watch. His first big Hollywood project was the blockbuster Wanted for Universal. That film starred James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, and it grossed $342 million worldwide. He had become smitten with the Screenlife film format by then, and set a five-picture deal for Universal to make films in that low cost format.

That lead to Screenlife film successes including Searching,...

Production is underway on Legion M’s darkly comedic horror thriller Fade to Black, which sees art imitating life for an aspiring Hollywood screenwriter. Today, Legion M has announced that Betty Gabriel, Thomas Barbusca, and Annie Gonzalez have joined the cast.

The horror thriller marks the feature debut of director Andrew Sandler.

Fade to Black follows “Amit as he navigates the horrors of trying to break into the twisted business of Hollywood. After an accidental death spurs a sinister epiphany, the screenwriter starts committing the murders of his script’s fictional serial killer in a desperate attempt to generate the IP necessary to get his movie made. The film promises a darkly comedic exploration of ambition, madness, and the brutal reality of the entertainment industry.”

Rounding out the newly added cast are Caylee Cowan (Sunrise in Heaven), Johnno Wilson (I Love That For You), Veronika Dash (Isabel’s Garden), and Scott Evans...

From its gripping mystery to the unique way the story unfolds, a lot of fans are looking for movies like Missing to deliver similar thrills. The compelling film stars Storm Reid as June, a teenager who utilizes the full extent of her internet sleuthing abilities to try and locate her mother Grace (Nia Long). Grace had been vacationing in Colombia with her boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung) when her sudden disappearance made national news headlines.

The fictional thriller was created as an original story by Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian. The innovative use of technology in Missing contributes to the modern "screenlife" genre in which the entire story is told through the lens of a computer, phone, or camera screen that exists in the world of the story, first seen in 2018's Searching. However, the movie also has a number of other elements that make it an entertaining ride, from the...

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Hulu is ready with an entertainment-packed November this year. The upcoming month will see the return of some popular K-drama shows The Fiery Priest and also new original movies like Nutcrackers. Just like every month, Hulu is ready to overload you with great content. So, we’re here to tell you about the 10 new movies and TV shows coming to Hulu in November 2024.

Gangnam B-Side Season 1 (November 6)

Gangnam B-Side is an action mystery crime thriller drama series directed by Park Noo Ri from a screenplay by Jo Won Gyu. The Disney+ series is set in Gangnam, Seoul and it revolves around the disappearance of a young woman who had information about a series of disappearances. Now, a detective, an outlaw, and a Prosecutor all try to find her for their own reasons. Gangnam B-Side stars Jo Woo-jin, Ji Chang-wook,...

Love Hurts marks the directorial debut of stuntman Jonathan Eusebio, previously the assistant director on notable films such as 300, Black Panther, and John Wick. Now, he’s stepping into the spotlight, writing and directing his own film, Love Hurts. The lead actor is Ke Huy Quan, who finally got his big break after receiving much-deserved recognition at the Oscars and Golden Globes. This former child star, known for his roles as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies, nearly gave up on acting due to the lack of opportunities and constant rejections at auditions. He eventually shifted to working behind the scenes as a choreographer. Hollywood’s lack of inclusivity for Asian male actors at the time contributed to his struggle. However, Ke Huy Quan was inspired to return to acting during the “Asian August” of 2018, when films like Searching and...

Meta has put its generative AI video system in the hands of some Hollywood filmmakers — hoping to build goodwill with the industry and gather feedback on how to improve the tool.

The tech giant announced Thursday that it has been working with horror studio Blumhouse and select creators as part of a pilot program for Movie Gen, its generative-ai video models. The company said it will continue to expand the program in 2025.

Meta earlier this month unveiled Meta Movie Gen, a suite of AI models that can use text inputs to produce realistic-looking videos as well as edit existing videos. Movie Gen can generate video clips up to 16 seconds in 1080p HD format (at 16 frames per second) with corresponding audio tracks. Movie Gen will be “coming to Instagram” in 2025, according to Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg. Before its wide release, the company is working with filmmakers and creators to integrate their...

In 2018, Searching left everyone's jaws dropped on the floor as it delivered a twisty mystery through a computer screen. The novel online found-footage format was one of the major draws of the John Cho-led techno-thriller, but Searching's spiritual sequel, Missing, didn't gain nearly enough traction in 2023. Co-written by Aneesh Chaganty, who directed the former film, Missing has been criticized for rehashing the same devices and themes of its predecessor, and to a certain extent, it does. However, with tech-savvy 18-year-old June played by Storm Reid at the helm, the new thriller still feels fresh in its more updated approach to its technology, story, and trends leading us into a visceral roller-coaster of emotion and crime.

The internet has become a dark place that has made each one of us live a very lonesome double life. I mean, living a life based on the validation of others—basking in glory or facing relentless trolling over even the slightest mistake on the internet—has become the new social norm, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with. Netflix’s new original Ctrl (2024) explores how the internet is slowly killing us and how tech moguls are smoothly monetizing our insecurities, trying to take absolute control of our lives based on our digital footprints.

Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, who co-wrote the script with Avinash Sampath and Sumukhi Suresh, Ctrl (2024) is a dark film that explores how the lives of an influencer couple—Nella and Joe—is thrown into chaos when Joe cheats on Nella, prompting her to use an AI app to erase him from her life.

I’ve watched my fair share of cyberhorror films and, for the most part, enjoyed them for their newness and zeal. Vikramaditya Motwane’s Ctrl is certainly an ambitious film. There’s no denying that it’s got something that urges you as a viewer to keep watching. Ctrl tells the story of Nella Awasthi and her boyfriend Joe, who’ve become famous thanks to their relationship being a tool for their income. The perfect life of this seemingly impeccable couple is shattered when Nella tries to surprise Joe for their 5th anniversary and instead finds him kissing another girl. Nella immediately shuts Joe out. However, wild things start happening when Nella installs a new app to erase his memory from her life forever.

First things first, is Ctrl worth your time at all? I’d say definitely. Some editing would’ve definitely done it some good though, but, having said that,...

Hilary Swank has been cast in the upcoming third season of Yellowjackets. According to Deadline, she'll be a recurring guest star with an option to bump up to a series regular should the show get renewed for a fourth season. No details have yet been released as to who Swank will play.

House MD, or simply House, remains one of the most popular medical procedural dramas. Over a decade after House's finale, fans of the medical drama still remember some of the unique cases, dramatic storylines, and unexpected character arcs. As a procedural drama, House introduced a different medical mystery each episode, and House and his team worked around the clock to save a patient's life. And those patients were usually huge celebrity guest stars or famous actors who were only starting their careers.

There are many celebrity guest stars on House that not every fan might remember. From popular stars like Amanda Seyfried and Leighton Meester to legendary actors like the late James Earl Jones, many stars have appeared in House for at least an episode. Many of these stars played patients with rare and hard to diagnose illnesses that only House and his team could save. At other times, these...

Hal, that sentient computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, has a lot to answer for, not least the flood of lesser demon-computer movies that have followed in the decades since.

Afraid, about a family whose experimental home assistant is like an Alexa device’s evil twin, is the latest to use artificial intelligence as the villain, but the stakes are higher today, with AI a real, immanent threat. Just ask the actors, voice actors and screenwriters fearful that AI will take over their jobs. Chris Weitz (most famously About a Boy and most recently Operation Finale) works hard to make Afraid a smarter-than-average horror movie, but the effort is conspicuous, and in the end the film is bland and obvious. And if horror can’t make us feel frightened in a way we couldn’t imagine ourselves, why bother?

Weitz did have the good judgment to cast John Cho in the lead.

In the small Kenyan town of Laikipia, a young boy begins an important journey. Only 13 years old, Simon Ali finds himself thrust into the role of citizen journalist after a devastating tragedy—the murder of his father. Left with little information about the circumstances of his dad’s death, Simon picks up a camera to seek the truth.

This act of determination kicks off the documentary Searching for Amani. Directed by Americans Nicole Gormley and Kenyan filmmaker Debra Aroko, the film follows Simon over several years as he conducts interviews and researches his father’s killing. We learn that Stephen Ali Apetet worked as a tour guide at the vast Laikipia Nature Conservancy before being gunned down on the job. With no arrests made, many questions remained unanswered for Simon and his grieving family.

Equipped now with filming equipment from the directors, Simon embarks on a personal quest. But his...

Cobra Kai stars Jacob Bertrand and Alicia Hannah-Kim will star in the upcoming Korean drama Tempest. Tempest is a thriller with a talented cast, including Gianna Jun, Gang Dong-won, John Cho, and Christopher Gorham. The show, created by acclaimed writers and directors, follows diplomat Seo Munju and special agent Sanho in a high-stakes race to uncover a dangerous attack.

Two of Cobra Kai's most recognizable stars will reunite for Tempest, an upcoming Korean drama. The final season of Netflix's Emmy-nominated dojo dramedy recently returned with five episodes, as Cobra Kai season 6, part 2, will premiere on November 15. That will be followed by the last part, which will arrive in 2025. In the meantime, two of the most recognizable performers from the popular Karate Kid spinoff show have already booked their next gigs.

Deadline confirms that Tempset, a new K-Drama spy saga, has cast Jacob Bertrand and Alicia Hannah-Kim. The actors are known,...

In “Dìdi,” writer/director Sean Wang returns to his suburban Northern California hometown of Fremont to tell a semi-autobiographical story of life as a 13-year-old Taiwanese American growing up there in 2008.

For Wang, part of this meant capturing the huge role the late-aughts internet played in his early teenage years, from the early social media experiences of Myspace to texting with Aim (AOL Instant Messenger) and putting his skateboard videos up on an old-school YouTube page. While on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, Wang talked about how he’d never seen this done well in movies.

“When I think about the movies that were made in the late 2000s, they never depicted the internet right, because I think as filmmakers we just didn’t know how to do that,” said Wang.

For “Dìdi,” Wang assembled a team of four animators and graphic artists, working off screenshots, to recreate the now-defunct 2008 internet from scratch.

Dive deeper into the style of Vanished into the Night with these thrilling movies. The Nameless, Searching, and Without a Trace provide different perspectives on Vanishing Into the Night's themes. Prisoners, Changeling, and Taken are classics that share major connections to Vanishing Into the Night.

After watching Pietro La Torre try to find his missing children in Vanished into the Night, audiences may be craving more dark stories of kidnapping and crime, and the following movies are the ideal choices. Vanished into the Night is a 2024 Italian thriller that is currently streaming on Netflix. The movie centers on Pietro, a man who is in the midst of a messy divorce when his two children go missing. Pietro embarks on a dangerous mission to find them, uncovering his ties to a dark, criminal past. Vanished into the Night's cast includes Riccardo Scamarcio and Annabelle Wallis.

Vanished into the Night is...

Top 7 Psychological Thrillers you can watch on different OTTs (Photo Credit –YouTube)

Psychological thrillers masterfully intertwine suspense and emotional depth to create an intense masterpiece. Whether you’re delving into the mind of a Mindhunter or uncovering dark secrets in Sharp Objects, psychological thrillers deliver captivating storylines to hook you in your seats.

With numerous streaming platforms including Netflix, Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Peacock, Apple TV+, and more, viewers get a wide range of psychological thrillers, with themes of horror, and unpredictable twists. If you’re a fan of this genre, here we lay out the best psychological thrillers available to stream right now.

Fair Play

Directed by Chloe Domont, Fair Play centers on financial analysts Emily Meyers (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke Edmunds (Alden Ehrenreich), who are entangled in a covert romance within the intense environment of a Manhattan hedge fund. Their relationship is significantly tested when Emily lands a promotion that Luke desperately wants.

Sony Pictures has debuted the brand new trailer for Afraid, an upcoming sci-fi horror film from Academy Award-nominated writer/director Chris Weitz (Operation Finale; About a Boy; American Pie) that introduces a whole new kind of terror to the world with Aia, who is basically a Siri-like family assistant that takes her job way, way too seriously.

The film's synopsis reveals, "Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called Aia. Taking smart home to the next level, once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, Aia seems able to do it all. She learns the family's behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs. And she can make sure nothing – and no one – gets in her family’s way."

The cast features John Cho (Star Trek; Searching; Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle...

Afraid Trailer(Photo Credit –YouTube)

We know how technology can be frightening sometimes, as depicted in the Black Mirror series on Netflix. Numerous other movies and shows have also showcased the dark side of technology. With the rise of AI usage, the potential for fear grows even more intense. This fear is precisely what is captured in the newly released Afraid Trailer. The film stars John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havara Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian, and Keith Carradine.

In the Afraid trailer, Curtis brings home a new device called ‘Aia’, a digital assistant designed to help people, especially families, with everything from groceries to looking after the kids. While Aia sounds intriguing and helpful, the trailer hints at the terrifying consequences of an AI that goes to extreme lengths to assist its users.

The trailer shows Curtis and his family experiencing the dark side of Aia’s constant vigilance.

It’s John Cho versus technology again in Afraid. Here’s the trailer for Blumhouse’s latest high-tech horror flick.

John Cho is no stranger to grappling with technology in high-stakes scenarios. Cho was the star of 2018’s Searching, one of the most successful film’s in the screenlife format. That film took place within the confines of a laptop screen, and throughout its runtime we saw Cho play a terrified parent grappling with his missing daughter’s laptop as he raced against time to uncover its hidden secrets and find out where she was. The film spawned a sequel (that Cho was not part of) called Missing, which released last year.

Having taken on the might of a Macbook, Cho is returning to duel with technology once again, this time in Afraid. Blumhouse Productions and Sony Pictures have released the trailer for the film, which sees Cho and his...

John Cho begins to regret using an AI device to keep his loved ones safe in the first trailer for the thriller feature Afraid.

Sony released the trailer Wednesday for writer-director Chris Weitz’s film that hits theaters Aug. 30 and was formerly known by the title They Listen. Hailing from Columbia Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, Afraid centers on Curtis (Cho), whose household is selected to test a groundbreaking digital family assistant called Aia. However, the family soon realizes that Aia might have become a bit too attached to them.

“I’m not crazy about having them everywhere,” Curtis’ wife (Katherine Waterston) says in the trailer about all the cameras and sensors being set up in their home.

Later, Cho warns, “There is something very wrong with Aia.” He adds, “Get out of the house, now.”

Havana Rose Liu, David Dastmalchian, Lukita Maxwell, Keith Carradine and Riki Lindhome round out the cast of Afraid.

As the title of a film, Before the World Set on Fire is both intriguing and confusing. Jaclyn Bethany’s new film pretty much sets off along those lines and chooses to leave the audience without a proper explanation. However, there’s enough for you to come up with one yourself, if you have closely followed the film. Although that might seem to be quite a struggle given at least half of the film is pretty much a slog. That’s not at all a good thing for a film with a mere seventy minutes runtime. The issue here is that the first half of the film feels like sitting clueless in a philosophy class. Even more so, as the lead character is a philosophy professor herself and the seminar that we see in the film is where the unfortunate thing happens – you know what I’m talking about. But even then,...

X-Men '97 season 1 ended with the X-Men team being displaced through time, but the whereabouts of Storm, Wolverine, and Morph is uncertain. Storm, Wolverine, and Morph could become the Horsemen of Apocalypse in X-Men '97 season 2, perhaps joining a resurrected Gambit. Four powerful X-Men members becoming villains in X-Men '97 season 2 would seriously change the dynamic of the team.

Four powerful mutant superheroes could be transformed into terrifying villains in X-Men '97 season 2, according to a wild but convincing new theory. X-Men '97 premiered on Disney+ in March 2024, and come to a close in May after pitting the X-Men team from 1992's X-Men: The Animated Series against formidable villains, including the Adversary, Mister Sinister, the Sentinels, Bastion, and Magneto himself. Set outside the MCU, but produced by Marvel Animation, X-Men '97 has become Marvel Studios' highest-rated project ever, and with X-Men '97 seasons 2 and 3 already in development, this success is likely to continue.

CNN aims to return to the recipe that gave its viewers explorers of international cuisine such as Anthony Bourdain and Stanley Tucci.

After announcing in October of 2022 that the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed outlet would pull back on the efforts that made it a name in original documentary series and films — ostensibly to cut costs at a time when its corporate parent was grappling with significant debt — CNN wants to get back into the business of developing original non-fiction series and movies.

“I think we are very much in the rebuild phase,” Amy Entelis, executive vice president for talent and content, tells Variety during a recent interview.

Mark Thompson, named in August to oversee CNN following a tumultuous run under predecessor Chris Licht, has articulated a strategy of building out new areas and verticals that can help the company win more customers and viewers. Original series would seem to be one of them.

Are you angry when someone cuts you off on the road or steals your parking spot? If so, you will want to see Beef, the new dark comedy-drama series from independent entertainment company A24.

This 10-episode narrative follows the lives of Amy and Danny, two individuals from vastly different backgrounds whose worlds collide after a road rage incident.

Andie Ju, Jerry Hanjoo Kim, Hong Dao, Joseph Lee, Young Mazino, Patti Yasutake, Remy Holt, Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, Lee Sung Jin, Alyssa Kim, Rek Lee, David Choe, and Mia Serafino attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix’s “Beef” at Tudum Theater on March 30, 2023, in Hollywood, California (Credit: Faye’s Vision / Cover Images)

Beef Cast Navigation 1. Joseph Lee (George Nakai) – 6ft 2 in. (188 cm) 2. Andrew Santino (Michael) – 6ft 1 in. (185 cm) 3. Rekstizzy (Bobby) – 5ft 9 in. (175 cm) 4. Young Mazino (Paul Cho) – 6ft (183 cm) 5. Justin H. Min (Edwin) – 5ft 8 ½ in. (174 cm) 6. Steven Yeun (Danny Cho) – 5ft 7 ⅞ in.

Exclusive: The First Omen director and co-scribe Arkasha Stevenson and the pic’s screenwriter/EP Tim Smith have signed with WME for representation in all areas.

The news comes in the wake of the 20th Century Studios’ prequel to the 1976 theatrical release grossing north of $35M at the global box office through its first ten days of release, as well as 80% certified fresh with Rotten Tomatoes critics. Stevenson and Smith wrote the screenplay with Keith Thomas off a story by Ben Jacoby, based on the characters by David Seltzer.

The duo partnership first came to public attention with the short film Pineapple, which made its debut at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Under Stevenson’s direction and Smith’s production acumen, Pineapple was not only a festival standout but also a concept robust enough to be sold as a TV series to AMC, for which Stevenson and Smith collaboratively penned the pilot episode.

The Ghost Inside have announced their new album, Searching for Solace, along with a Spring 2024 North American tour. The metalcore act has also shared the single “Wash It Away” ahead of the album’s April 19th release date.

The band will kick off its tour with a release-day concert on April 19th in Las Vegas and remain on the road through a May 16th appearance at the Sonic Temple Festival in Columbus, Ohio. Paleface Swiss, Bleed from Within, and Great American Ghost will support the headlining tour dates.

General ticket sales for select dates start Friday (February 9th) at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster. Fans can also look for deals or get tickets to sold-out dates via StubHub, where your purchase is 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s Fan Protect program.

Searching for Solace will mark The Ghost Inside’s sixth studio effort and their first full-length since their 2020 self-titled album.

Lionsgate and Universal Pictures International’s Michael Jackson biopic Michael has cast Nia Long as Jackson matriarch Katherine Jackson. The Antoine Fuqua-directed movie is now shooting for an April 18, 2025 global theatrical release.

“Beyond Nia’s incredible talent, I was deeply moved by her connection to the material and her commitment to honoring Katherine and the love she had for her son,” said Michael producer Graham King.

Fuqua added, “Nia has delivered iconic performances throughout her career. I’ve been a fan for a long time because her characters stay with you. I’m excited to now work alongside her as she pours all of that into Katherine Jackson: a woman who was the glue, the rock, and the heart of the Jackson family during its best and its most turbulent times.”

Long said, “Katherine Jackson is an incredible pillar of strength and grace for the entire Jackson family. As a mother,...

The late, great Aretha Franklin once said: “Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It's transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, it's strengthening.”

It surely has been for Gloria Gaynor. The Grammy-winner singer is the subject of director Betsy Schechter’s compelling new documentary Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive. The outing, which became an Audience Favorite at the recent Palm Springs International Film Festival, tracks the disco diva’s legacy, which took flight nearly five decades ago upon the release of her chart-topping disco hit "I Will Survive" in 1978. That song, which has sold more than 14 million copies to date, became the quintessential anthem for jilted lovers and anybody moving through life’s most pressing challenges.

Gaynor opens up about her own troubles in the documentary — from...

The literal meaning of the term “thriller” is an exciting story, be it a movie or a book. Naturally, you look for a certain kind of movie when you’re in the mood for watching thrillers. But genre-mashup has become a very real thing with movies these days, and that has only broadened the horizons of the stories being explored. The year 2023 is burning proof of that. So here we are, with a list of the best thrillers of the year, where you’re going to find the typical stuff along with some films that might not fit into the genre but have enough thrill in them to make it on the list.

10. Sharper

Funny how Sharper had Sebastian Stan and Julianne Moore playing a “mother-son” duo, but instead of building the film on that amusing casting, the director was bold enough to bring in a lot of twists and turns.

Adele Lim, the screenwriter behind “Crazy Rich Asians” and Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” animation, says that the opportunities for Asian filmmakers are growing as Hollywood is becoming more receptive to international talent.

“[In Hollywood] I felt that I was disadvantaged, coming from Malaysia. It is not the cultural nexus,” said Lim, whose infancy was in Malaysia, before her family moved to the U.S. “Later I realized the multicultural advantages of Asia.”

Lim, who also recently directed her first movie “Joy Ride,” was speaking at an on-stage event Wednesday in Taipei as part of the Taiwan Creative Culture Fest (Tccf), an annual convention and market for film and TV content and for story tech products.

“[When I arrived in Hollywood] “Flower Drum Song” and “Joy Luck Club” had preceded me. But there were few Asian writers. Hollywood was very masculine. Very white [..] There was this idea in America that Asians cannot be the hero of the story.

The thriller movie Missing was a great genre bender that surprised the box office in early 2023, when it fought against behemoths like M3GAN and Avatar: The Way of Water. It made a little over $3 million on its first day of release, proving found footage and its derivatives can still be effective. Marketed as a sequel to 2018's Searching, the film also used the screenlife format to tell another story, and became a standalone sequel that confirms the franchise may become an anthology — it's hard to see how producers won't follow up with another entry.

Missing tells the story of June Allen, a rebellious teenager who like many, clashes with her mother Grace over the fact that Grace has a new boyfriend, Kevin. Then her mother takes a trip to South America with Kevin. The problem is Grace and Kevin never come home. June starts investigating on her own by using...

Missing is a thriller with a complex plot, filled with twists and turns, that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats until the very end. The movie reveals that June's supposedly dead father, James, is behind the kidnapping of her mother, Grace, in his attempt to reunite with his daughter. Missing explores the theme of technology and its positive role in solving crimes, challenging the notion that too much technology is harmful, instead highlighting its usefulness in tracking and finding missing persons.

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Missing.Nia Long stars as Grace Allen in Missing, a thriller with a lot of twists and turns, and an explosive ending that pays off its gripping plot threads. Directed and written by Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick, Missing is a standalone sequel to 2018’s Searching starring John Cho. Like its predecessor, Missing’s plot isn’t as straightforward as it initially seems.

Today is the second and final day in Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days. Get a jump-start on holiday shopping for the genre fan in your life (or treat yourself!) with slashed prices on horror 4K Ultra HDs and Blu-rays ranging from classics to recent releases.

Many of yesterday’s deals are still active, along with a slew of new ones.

Here are the top horror and genre-adjacent highlights from the Prime Big Deal Days event…

4K Ultra HD Collections:

Us / Get Out – $17.99 Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy – $23.74 Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection – $94.99

Individual 4K UHDs:

Color Out of Space – $9.96 Godzilla (2014) – $9.99 Godzilla vs. Kong – $9.99 John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum – $9.44 No Time to Die – $9.49 R.I.P.D. – $9.49 Glass – $9.99 The Mummy (2017) – $9.99 Bumblebee – $9.99 Ghost in the Shell (1995) – $10.19 Warcraft – $10.44 The Invisible Man (2020) – $10.99 A Clockwork Orange – $10.99 Jurassic Park – $10.99 Inglourious Basterds – $10.99 Knives Out – $11.89 Moonfall – $11.89 The Cabin in the Woods – $11.99 Highlander – $13.30 The Green Knight...

In 2018, Aneesh Chaganty's "Searching" changed the mystery movie game by popularizing the "screen life" thriller, framing its action and ample surprises squarely within the confines of a computer screen. The film followed David (John Cho), a widower on the hunt for his missing teen daughter Margot (Michelle La), and it proved to be a surprise box office hit thanks to its novel concept and a great performance by Cho. With a $75 million box office haul against a shoestring budget, a follow-up film seemed like a no-brainer. That's where "Missing" comes in.

Released in spring 2023, "Missing" doesn't actually have much in common with "Searching" aside from an excellent lead actor, some producers and crew members, and a story about a missing family member. The movie is a standalone sequel, meaning it makes total sense even if you never saw "Searching." But "Missing" is anything but simple; with countless twists and...