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Jordan Peele Debuts ‘Us’ Super Bowl Trailer Hours Before the Big Game

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According to CNBC, this year’s Super Bowl commercials will cost advertisers $5.25 million for 30 seconds of airtime. This means the new one-minute trailer for Jordan Peele’s Us will set Universal Pictures back $10.5 million (more than half of the film’s production budget!) when it runs during the big game. Such big spending isn’t exactly surprising considering Peele’s previous film, Get Out, earned over $255 million worldwide and netted the auteur an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Given all of the money at stake, Universal likely wants as many eyes on the screen as possible during airtime and lots of feverous anticipation; but Peele himself had a trick up his sleeve for fans who just can’t wait until kickoff to catch another glimpse of this highly-anticipated film. read more

2019 Oscar Nominations Ignore Horror Films After Incredible Wins in 2018

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Did you think that The Shape of Water’s and Get Out’s big wins at the Academy Awards last year meant that horror movies would finally be getting a fair shake during awards season? Think again! The 2019 Oscar nominations are out, and the horror genre is only represented with a single nomination for A Quiet Place in the category of Best Sound Editing.

Last year, The Shape of Water received 13 nominations (the record is 14), and it ended up winning Best Picture, Best Director (Guillermo del Toro), Best Original Score, and Best Production Design. Get Out was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Jordan Peele), Best Original Screenplay (Jordan Peele), and Best Actor (Daniel Kaluuya), and Peele took home the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Between these two films, the horror genre was represented in many of the Academy’s most prestigious categories. read more

Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ gets New Poster

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Jordan Peele’s upcoming thriller Us has a new poster straight from Universal Pictures.

Starring Black Panther alumni Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke, Us has a growing cast with Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Tim Heidecker (Ant-Man and the Wasp) and newly added members, Shahadi Wright Joseph (Hairspray Live!), Evan Alex (Mani), Madison Curry, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon (Friends) and Duke Nicholson.

The film’s synopsis is as follows: “A mother (Lupita Nyong’o) and a father (Winston Duke) take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends (including Elizabeth Moss). But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.” read more

Coming Soon from Jordan Peele – The Horror Bits

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From the latest feature on Variety, many directors in Hollywood have all too great a challenge coming up with something new that audiences will pay to see. For Jordan Peele, director of 2017’s Get Out, he hit a home run with his directorial debut achieving critical acclaim and commercial success that earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Now, Peele has his eyes on all new projects with his production company, Monkeypaw Productions, that includes Lovecraft Country at HBO and The Twilight Zone to be streamed on CBS All Access. read more

Tim Heidecker Cast in Jordan Peele’s Upcoming Horror Film, ‘Us’

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Us, Jordan Peele’s follow-up to his award winning smash hit Get Out– already sports an incredible cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Elisabeth Moss, and Winston Duke… and today’s announcement makes it even more interesting!

Variety reports that Tim Heidecker has been cast in Us in an unspecified role. Mainstream moviegoers may recognize Heidecker from his appearances in big budget films like Ant-Man and the Wasp and Bridesmaids; but legions of die-hard fans love him for his writing, directing, and acting in cult classics such as Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule, and Decker. His works are often known for their dark and disturbing themes and a sense of humor which can only be described as “an acquired taste.” Heidecker and longtime collaborator Eric Wareheim recently ventured into the world of horror with their ongoing series, Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories, which explores everything from slapstick hijinks in a haunted house to the terrors of automated exercise equipment in the digitized world. In addition, Heidecker co-hosts a satirical movie review show with Gregg Turkington called On Cinema At the Cinema, which just completed its tenth season. Surely upon its release, Us will deserve the prestigious rating of “5  bags of popcorn” and several additional ceremonial trinkets, which Peele could display with his Best Original Screenplay Academy Award for Get Out! read more

Jordan Peele Bringing ‘Gargoyles’ Back to Life?

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Perhaps Jordan Peele is serious about not acting anymore?  Following the sketch comedy veteran’s wildly successful directorial debut (2017’s box office smash Get Out), Peele apparently now has his sights set on tackling a cult 90’s cartoon.  According to a recent edition of The Ankler newsletter, industry writer Richard Rushfield reveals that Peele is reportedly considering a run at the movie version of the 1990s cult animated series Gargoyles.  This would appear to be an odd choice for a director who is fresh off an Oscar win, but not altogether surprising based on his track record. read more

‘Get Out’ Screenplay Wins Ray Bradbury Nebula Award

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The traditional Hollywood awards season may be over, but Get Out isn’t done scoring prestigious awards yet! The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America organization announced the winners of this years prestigious Nebula Awards this weekend at their conference in Pittsburgh, and it turns out that Get Out is winner of the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation.

Jordan Peele’s script won over such nominees as the screenplays for The Shape of Water, Logan, and Wonder Woman. Peele previously earned an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in March, and today’s Nebula Award further reinforces the power and impact that his strong script had on his great motion picture. read more

‘A Quiet Place’ Makes Some Noise at the Box Office with $50 Million Opening

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When it comes to box office returns for horror films this year, the releases have been relatively “quiet” at the box office, until Paramount’s A Quiet Place was released this weekend.  According to preliminary reports, A Quiet Place will win this weekend’s box office with $50.4 million, making it the second highest opening so far this year, behind only Black Panther.

Unlike last year, which saw Split and Get Out dominate the winter box office frame, no horror film has been able to capture the attention of audiences in a similar fashion.  Although profitable, many of the horror films (most notably Winchester, Strangers: Prey at Night, and Unsane with $25, $24, and $8 million respectively) under performed, with the exception of Insidious: The Last Key surprising everyone with a $67 million dollar take and an additional $100 million overseas.  A Quite Place is poised to do much better however, taking in almost 75% of Insidious’ domestic gross in its first weekend alone. read more

‘Infidel’ #1: The Horror News Network Review

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Image’s new horror series Infidel is one that will appeal to fans of atmospheric horror stories as well as those who enjoy smart, socially conscious writing about the real fears that are created through prejudice and ignorance.  Former DC editor Pornsak Pichetshote makes his impressive writing debut in this series and artist Aaron Campbell compliments Pichetshote’s nightmarish script perfectly.

Infidel throws the reader into the deep end of the pool immediately, as our main character Aisha experiences a horrific nightmare that includes insects and a pale ghoul that wants to gently chomp on her throat.  This opening scene begins the uncomfortable atmosphere of tension and claustrophobia that permeates the story, both inside and outside of Aisha’s apartment.  There are certainly breaks in the tension (such as the baking of a Return of the Jedi inspired cake), but the underlying feeling of dread is ever present, even in scenes which seem mundane or day-to-day in comparison to the opening scare. read more

Horror and Genre Favorites Pull Big Wins at 2018 Academy Awards

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The 2018 Academy Awards have come and gone and fans of horror and genre film have something to smile about this morning as there were big wins, and nominations, for genre films.

Jordan Peele’s Get Out was the winner in the Best Original Screenplay category and had nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Daniel Kaluuya) and Best Director (Peele).

Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water was the biggest winner though with wins for Best Picture, Best Director (del Toro), Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat) and Best Production Design (Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin and Shane Vieau). Shape also had nominations in Best Actress (Sally Hawkins), Best Cinematography (Dan Laustsen), Original Screenplay (del Toro and Vanessa Taylor), Best Film Editing (Sidney Wolinsky), Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer), Best Sound Mixing (Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern), Best Sound Editing (Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira), Best Costume Design (Luis Sequeira) and Best Supporting Actor (Richard Jenkins). read more