Variety’s second annual Horror Impact Report comes in a year when the genre has had unparalleled success. Indie films like “Backrooms” and “Obsession” were box office smashes, high-profile series like “Carrie” and the “Friday the 13th” prequel “Crystal Lake” are set to haunt streamers, and even iconic franchises like “Halloween” and “Hellraiser” are back as video games. Here are the artists and industry insiders fostering and elevating spooky storytelling.
After playing a junkie who breaks into a house and stumbles upon 17 missing children in “Weapons,” Abrams teamed up again with director Zach Cregger, this time as the lead of “Resident Evil.” Instead of playing one of the video game series’ gun-toting protagonists, Abrams stars as a medical courier tasked with delivering a mysterious package to a zombie-infested city. And shortly after “Resident Evil,” he headed to an even more dangerous location: the belly of a whale. Yes, Abrams is reuniting with his “Weapons” co-star Josh Brolin in “Whalefall,” a survival thriller about a scuba diver who gets swallowed whole by a giant sperm whale.
After breaking out in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and starring in recent indies like “Sorry, Baby” and “I Love Boosters,” Ackie is taking a detour into horror — and the DC Universe. She’ll play a scientist and the love interest of the titular Batman villain in the upcoming “Clayface.” The film is billed as a low-budget body horror (both firsts for DC) and takes the colorful superhero world into an intriguing new direction. On her slate after that is “They Follow,” the sequel to the 2014 surprise hit “It Follows,” about a shape-shifting entity that ceaselessly pursues people who have sex.
The indie “Family Movie,” set for release in 2027, is a meta take on a genre feature: director and star Kevin Bacon, along with Kyra Sedgwick, Sosie Bacon and Travis Bacon, are not only part of a real family, but the story revolves around a family of horror filmmakers who get caught up in a terrifying scenario of their own while in the middle of a shoot. Sosie Bacon earned genre acclaim starring in “Smile,” and though Kevin Bacon has appeared in several spooky films, including the original “Friday the 13th,” “Family Movie” is his first time directing a horror feature. Meanwhile, Sedgwick is delving further into the genre, directing an episode of the new “Carrie” series.
Before “Obsession” became a hit, Barker made a name for himself on YouTube, parodying the little “horrors” of everyday life in sketches: saying the wrong thing to a friend, waiting for a first date or figuring out how much to tip when you’re broke. In “Obsession,” Barker turned those everyday anxieties supernatural, examining the possessiveness and desire for instant gratification that define many relationships in today’s social media era. Next, Barker will direct and star in “Anything But Ghosts,” which he describes as “if Key and Peele walked into ‘Hereditary’ while on a podcast.” Biller has built her career creating highly visual, female-focused films that draw on classic cinema and center women’s experiences.
Her latest film, “The Face of Horror,” adapts the famous Japanese ghost story “Yotsuya Kaidan” for 14th-century England in a gory tribute to classic Technicolor shockers. Shot on 35mm, the film stars Jonah Hauer-King, Kristine Froseth and Bella Heathcote. Biller previously directed “Viva” and “The Love Witch,” which earned acclaim for their elaborate visual style and feminist themes.
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