Alam Nyo Ba?

Way back in 1998, Peter Berg made his directorial debut with the underrated flick Very Bad Things, which centered around a bachelor party that turned into a bloody nightmare when the stripper hired as entertainment was accidentally killed and the guys tried to cover it up — leading to everyone’s eventual comeuppance. That premise is now being given something of a twist in the upcoming horror flick Nikki. In this one, the stripper who is killed turns out to be a deadly robot, in the vein of M3GAN or Companion, exacting bloody revenge on the guys who killed her.

Playboy’s Miss September (2025), Lexi Drew, makes her feature debut in the title role, with the film helmed by Snow White and the Seven Samurai director Michael Su, while Cinderella’s Revenge producer Jessica Mathis produced and co-wrote the film with Jason White. Jon Wigton, Geffen Aviva (Glamping), Theo Rosenfeld (Witch Hunter), Jeff Lawless, Connor Gould, Brett Kelly, and Lawson Greyson co-star.

Check out the first official still here (and the poster at the bottom of the article):

Here’s the official logline:

A bachelor party headed for a good time in a desert vacation rental hires a surprise stripper (Lexi Drew, in her feature debut) who is assaulted and killed, and ends up being a killer robot who malfunctions to seek revenge. Things go astray fast, and the partygoers struggle to survive the night.

Perhaps the most interesting credit is the fact that the movie is executive produced by none other than Mark L. Lester. While hardly a household name, for those of us who grew up in the eighties, Lester is a bit of a legend. In addition to producing Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse, he also directed some legit classics, including the great Class of 1984, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando, the John Candy comedy Armed & Dangerous (a personal fave from when I was a kid), as well as the cult classic Dolph Lundgren/Brandon Lee buddy cop flick Showdown in Little Tokyo.

Nikki is a co-production between Titan Global Entertainment, Coleman Properties LLC, Millman Productions, Cloud 9ine Productions, and Ron Lee Productions.

No news on when Nikki will come out, but the film is in post-production.

Are you intrigued by the Very Bad Things meets Companion premise? Let us know in the comments.

The post Nikki: A bachelor party goes awry in this revenge-robot mashup appeared first on JoBlo.

Fantastic Fest 2026 is set to be another massive celebration of genre cinema. The 21st edition of the Austin, Texas festival will run from September 17 through September 24, with Lionsgate’s Beware Boiúna opening the festival and Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil receiving a special gala screening.

Our friends at Bloody Disgusting reported the news, including the complete feature-film lineup for Fantastic Fest 2026.

Beware Boiúna, which receives its world premiere as the festival’s opening night film, comes from Fantastic Fest alum Mike P. Nelson, director of Silent Night, Deadly Night. The Amazon-set creature feature follows a medical mission that goes horribly wrong when a colossal ancient predator awakens. Meanwhile, Cregger’s Resident Evil will receive a special gala screening. The new adaptation/reinvention of the popular survival-horror video game franchise stars Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier who finds himself caught in a terrifying fight for survival.

Fantastic Fest will also screen River and Victorian Psycho, along with dozens of other new movies and restored classics from around the world.

Festival Director Lisa Dreyer says the festival is particularly focused this year on discovering new filmmakers.

“This year, we’re doubling down on what we do best: introducing the world to exciting new talent and helping launch filmmakers’ careers. We really focused our programming efforts on bringing new discoveries to our audience of discerning and passionate cinephiles. I guarantee we have the next batch of breakout Directors in our lineup, and you’ll discover them first at Fantastic Fest.”

Fantastic Fest 2026 isn’t only about movies, either. The festival’s special events will include an opening night party featuring synthpunk band Drakulas, an Evil Laugh Competition presented by the Blerdy Massacre podcast, live recordings of Doug Loves Movies and The Kingcast, a Fresh Frights with Rotten Tomatoes horror conversation, and a closing-night concert featuring gore-rock legends GWAR.

Limited badges for Fantastic Fest 2026 are still available.

Here is the full feature lineup for Fantastic Fest 2026:

3 WEEKS AFTER
Serbia, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Luxembourg, 2026
North American Premiere, 94 min
Director – Miroslav Terzić
Three weeks after his friend’s suicide, a teenager joins his classmates on a school trip. As the bullying escalates and tensions boil over, tongues loosen, forcing the truth out into the open.

5 MORE MINUTES
Spain, 2026
International Premiere, 93 min
Director – Javier Ruiz Caldera
A husband and wife in an ailing marriage discover that actions really do have consequences in this darkly funny twist on the time loop motif.

ADULT SUPERVISION
Sweden, 2026
World Premiere, 108 min
Director – Alex Schulman
When three fathers volunteer to chaperone their teenage daughters’ school trip, the initially idyllic getaway quickly reveals brutal social dynamics that have them in over their heads.

ATTACK ON PARADISE
Belgium, The Netherlands, 2026
US Premiere, 99 min
Director – Bob Colaers
After seven years of no sleep, grief, and nightmares, Suleyman finally reunites with his mother in Paradise—just as henchmen, cops, and one very bad raid drag him back into hell.

BEWARE BOIÚNA
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 104 min
Director – Mike P. Nelson
Deep in the Amazon, a medical mission spirals into a fight for survival when Boiúna, a colossal ancient predator, awakens to reclaim her domain. In the jungle where nature holds absolute power, she decides who lives and who dies.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
France, 2026
North American Premiere, 114 min
Director – Léa MYSIUS
Happy biiiirthday to you! Nora is turning 40, and for her birthday she’ll be getting three uninvited guests who claim she isn’t who she says she is, plus the unraveling of her carefully constructed life.

THE BLOOD COUNTESS
Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, 2026
North American Premiere, 119 min
Director – Ulrike Ottinger
Elizabeth Báthory, a recently reawakened vampire, pursues an ancient artifact that could destroy her family in present-day Austria.

BLOOD FEAST (Presented by AGFA)
USA, 1963
World Premiere of the 4K Restoration, 67 min
Director – Herschell Gordon Lewis
A 4K restoration of the world’s first “splatter” film from AGFA + Something Weird.

BLOODY TENNIS
Germany, 2026
North American Premiere, 90 min
Director – Nikias Chryssos
Sophie’s coming of age gets sweatier and bloodier than expected when she joins a summer tennis academy where the blood-red morning smoothie is by far the least weird thing going on.

CARRIE (Two Episodes)
Canada, USA, 2026
US Premiere, 101 min
Director – Mike Flanagan
After her father’s sudden, untimely death thrusts her into the unforgiving ecosystem of public high school, Carrie is forced to navigate a viral bullying scandal that tears through her community, the relentless pressure and casual cruelty of the social-media age, and the awakening of mysterious telekinetic powers that rise alongside her adolescence.

CINEMA RECOMPOSED: SILENT MONSTERS (Presented by Golden Hornet)
USA, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1919, 1922, 1929, 1930
World Premiere, 65 min
Directors – THE THIEVING HAND – Unknown Director / FRANKENSTEIN – J. Searle Dawley / DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE – Lucius J. Henderson / THE GHOST OF SLUMBER MOUNTAIN – Willis O’Brien / HÄXAN: HELL SEQUENCE – Benjamin Christensen / HELLS BELLS – Ub Iwerks / THE HAUNTED SHIP – John Foster & Mannie Davis
A live string quartet plays new scores for seven classic silent horror short films. Seven composers, aged 17 to 24, composed new scores for these films under the mentorship of some of the industry’s top professionals.

COMPLIANCE
USA, 2026
North American Premiere, 104 min
Director – Kyle Mangione-Smith
A corporate client relations rep pulls a loose string, unraveling a vast conspiracy in this doom-laden found footage stunner.

CORPUS
USA, 2026
US Premiere, 102 min
Director – Corrin Evans
Three friends flee the club scene for an exclusive, steamy party at a remote estate only to find themselves victims of increasingly erotic and violent supernatural attacks.

THE CYCLE
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 111 min
Director – Jordan Downey
When the body of a man missing for thirty-six years is discovered at the scene of a horrific crime, it’s up to his estranged daughter to unravel his dark past.

DEATH HAS NO MASTER
Venezuela, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, 2026
North American Premiere, 106 min
Director – Jorge Thielen Armand
After her father’s death, Caro travels to Venezuela to sell the family cacao plantation, only to find it occupied by a mother who refuses to leave—forcing Caro down a path of violence with devastating consequences.

DEATH OF A YELLOW BIRD
Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 93 min
Director – Cody Calahan
A dying man returns to his childhood home to film messages for his son when he discovers a supernatural presence haunting the isolated cabin in this emotional ghost movie.

DOG GOD
Thailand, 1997
International Premiere, 110 min
Director – Ing K
Banned in Thailand for almost 30 years for insulting religion, and maybe the monarchy too, the elusive DOG GOD emerges as a gleefully anarchic critique of blind faith.

DONKEY PRINCESS
Chile, France, Netherlands, Uruguay, Germany, 2026
North American Premiere, 90 min
Directors – Cristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña
In a kingdom where love has been declared a plague, a princess travels across different realities to find love, confront grief, and attain individuation.

EXTREME PREJUDICE
USA, 1987
Special Presentation, 105 min
Director – Walter Hill
Nick Nolte stars as a Texas Ranger engaged in a showdown against his former childhood friend turned drug kingpin, played by Powers Boothe, in this classic neo-Western action film.

THE FACE OF HORROR
UK, 2026
US Premiere, 120 min
Director – Anna Biller
A vain knight, an inconvenient wife, and a marriage built on murder. Anna Biller’s gloriously lurid ghost story proves that killing your wife may only be the beginning of your problems.

FLAPJAX
USA, Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 98 min
Director – Rocko Zevenbergen
An annoyingly optimistic, but endearingly earnest, fast food restaurant manager is tasked with relaunching the long-dormant product, Flapjax, and no amount of mysterious warnings or disappearances are going to get in his way in this campy horror-comedy.

FRISK
USA, 1995
North American Premiere of the 4K Restoration, 89 min
Director – Todd Verow
Tired of only fantasizing about murdering young, attractive men, Dennis decides to take the plunge and do the deed in this restoration of Todd Verow’s 1995 gay serial killer fantasia.

FULL PHIL
France, USA, 2026
World Premiere, 78 min
Director – Quentin Dupieux
Tim, Eric, K-Stew, Woody, and Dupieux team up in this feature-length comic romp that’ll leave your belly full o’ laffs.

FUTURE TENSE
South Africa, Australia, 2026
US Premiere, 98 min
Director – Jenna Cato Bass
In a dystopian future, a young couple clashes during their time-traveling vacation.

GAME MASTER
France, 2026
International Premiere, 89 min
Director – Éric Judor
A joyous celebration of imagination, awkward parenthood, and the transformative power of play that ventures deep into the wonderfully eccentric world of live-action role-playing.

GHOST IN THE CELL
Indonesia, 2026
North American Premiere, 106 min
Director – Joko Anwar
Witness Indonesian genre visionary Joko Anwar’s most deliriously ambitious film: a blood-soaked fusion of supernatural horror, prison thriller, martial arts action, and pitch-black political satire.

GIMME TRUTH
Canada, 2026
US Premiere, 84 min
Directors – Brad Abrahams & Simon Ennis
Delve deep into the world of conspiracy theories in North America in this compassionate documentary by Brad Abrahams and Simon Ennis.

GIRL IN THE NIGHT
Slovenia, 2026
World Premiere, 94 min
Director – Luka Marčetić
In this deadpan Slovenian romp, a lonesome guy desperate for human connection decides to steal the bicycle of the town’s self-appointed vigilante; as the “sole witness” of the crime, he is inducted into joining her nightly escapades.

THE GLORIOUS DEAD
USA, 2026
US Premiere, 81 min
Directors – John Adams & Toby Poser
A sheriff and her deputy awaken to a world transformed: bloody chasms erupt from the earth, grotesque flesh-born creatures roam the land, and the recently deceased rise again.

GODMOTHER
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 85 min
Director – John Veron
A meticulously planned desert couples’ vacation spirals into chaos when family tensions and a pair of mysterious hosts with devilish intentions transform a romantic getaway into a nightmare.

HALF
India, 2026
International Premiere, 111 min
Director – Samjad
Two half-human, half-vampire siblings are run off the road and left for dead by a gang of scavengers—and they’re coming back for bloody revenge.

HELL HOUSE (Presented by AGFA)
USA, 2001
World Premiere of the Restoration, 86 min
Director – George Ratliff
A restoration of the essential Y2K-era doc from the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) with director George Ratliff in person.

HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (Presented by Dark Sky Films & AGFA)
USA, 1986
World Premiere of the 35mm print, 83 min
Director – John McNaughton
A brand-new 35mm print produced for the 40th anniversary of one of the 20th century’s most harrowing films, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER features a chilling, career-defining turn by Michael Rooker.

THE HERETIKS
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 89 min
Director – Gregg Bishop
When a coven of witches determined to unleash the apocalypse marks Ada’s younger sister for sacrifice, she joins forces with a renegade witch in a relentless fight for survival.

I HAVE PROOF (Burnt Ends Selection)
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 76 min
Director – James Cullen Bressack
Alex has proof, and he wants you to see it.

INTO THE SKY
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 97 min
Directors – Evan Wolf Buxbaum & Drew Mylrea
A man’s efforts to win back his estranged wife are derailed by a mysterious extraterrestrial force that keeps snatching him from Earth.

JANUR IRENG: SEWU DINO THE PREQUEL
Indonesia, 2026
North American Premiere, 94 min
Director – Kimo Stamboel
Indonesian horror specialist Kimo Stamboel cooks up a deliriously demonic prequel to his box office hit SEWU DINO, as a pair of desperate siblings stumble unwittingly upon a centuries-old satanic ritual orchestrated by their wealthy relatives.

JIM QUEEN
France, 2026
US Premiere, 84 min
Directors – Marco Nguyen & Nicolas Athane
As a virus that turns gay people straight sweeps across the world, Jim Perfect goes on a quest across Paris, with his number one fan Lucien, to find the cure in this animated comedy.

JOLLYFACE
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 77 min
Director – Justin Floyd
A white woman launches her own investigation into her Black fiancé’s violent murder only to find herself hunted in her apartment complex by a killer determined to keep the truth silent.

KICK ON
Australia, 2026
US Premiere, 89 min
Director – Nick Kozakis
Four friends trying to keep their late-night bender going end up at the apartment of a reckless mobster; what starts as a casual substance-fueled afterparty quickly escalates into a violence-filled rager.

KUNG FU DEADLY
Ireland, Australia, 2026
World Premiere, 96 min
Director – Fergal Costello
A late-to-launch young man and his even less responsible friend realize they may be the last line of defense between humanity and an ancient Chinese evil. Martial arts and supernatural horror collide in this romp of a buddy comedy.

KYLGOR IN THE GRISLY ABYSS
Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 74 min
Director – Mason Jeffrey Newton-DeRushie
Grimdark fantasy, an epic quest, buckets of blood… all puppets. Need we say more?

LITTLE DOORS (Burnt Ends Selection)
USA, 2026
US Premiere, 79 min
Director – Anthony Oberbeck
Two socially awkward people find love and then define it for themselves in a barren, post-apocalyptic world before they discover a small, wooden door in the side of her body and decide whether or not to open it.

MAGICK MTN. (Burnt Ends Selection)
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 80 min
Directors – Hana Mae Lee & Hal Satin
Ghosts, Goblins, and Crowley. MAGICK MTN. is a rock and roll fairytale set deep in Laurel Canyon using instruments of the occult to dig beneath the soil of a hillside marked by tragedy and death.

MR. CREAMJEANS’ HIDEY HOLE (Burnt Ends Selection)
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 70 min
Director – Heath Benfield
A raunchy series of sexy, horrifying, and hilarious vignettes, MR. CREAMJEANS’ HIDEY HOLE is a shocking, disgusting, and ultimately satisfying anthology that’s never afraid to put a man in his proper place.

NO REST FOR THE WICKED
Denmark, 2026
US Premiere, 103 min
Director – Kasper Kalle
After Baldur is rescued from drowning by a handsome whaler, the two begin a passionate love affair that requires sacrifices to an Elder God to endure.

NO WAY DOWN
France, 2026
World Premiere, 91 min
Directors – Mohamed Chabane & Théo Jourdain
Fresh out of prison, Idriss enters the derelict Kraken apartment complex to find his ex-girlfriend’s brother, only to be dragged back into violence by a ruthless squatter tied to the past Idriss is fighting to leave behind.

OGROFF (Presented by BLEEDING SKULL)
France, 1983
World Premiere of the Restoration, 89 min
Director – Norbert Moutier
Bleeding Skull presents a restoration of the fabled underground slasher from France.

THE ONES WHO GRIEVE
France, 2026
North American Premiere, 116 min
Director – Quarxx
At the end of the 19th century, as a mysterious plague spreads across the countryside, a young woman living under the tyranny of her deeply religious father fights to reclaim her freedom.

PATHETIC FALLACY
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 98 min
Director – Adam Egypt Mortimer
After suffering the devastating loss of his wife, a man embarks on a surreal journey to bring her back.

PHREAKER
Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 98 min
Director – Adam Yorke
A blind lonely teen becomes the latest breed of telecom criminal in this crackling dial-up thriller.

PLATYPUS
Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 85 min
Director – Joshua Gratton
Kimberly’s recurring dreams of a masked killer murdering young people around town progressively close in on her in this Canadian genre experiment.

PLAY HOUSE
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 85 min
Director – Nicolas Jon Curcio
While renovating a dilapidated house to win back his ex, Elliot discovers VHS tapes of an unaired children’s TV show. The show’s dark history seeps into his life, threatening his last chance at reconciliation. Winner of the 2025 Fantastic Pitches.

POSTHUMOUS
Australia, 2026
World Premiere, 110 min
Director – Josh Tanner
Zoe returns home to her estranged father, seeking comfort from a series of VHS birthday recordings left behind by her deceased mother, and uncovers an occult ritual that upends everything she was told about her mother’s death.

A PRAYER FOR THE DYING
Norway, Greece, UK, Sweden, 2026
North American Premiere, 95 min
Director – Dara Van Dusen
In a rural Wisconsin town in 1870, Sheriff Jacob Hansen—a man still haunted by the Civil War—is pushed to his psychological limits when a deadly plague sweeps through his community and encroaching wildfires close in.

RED SNOW
Finland, Estonia, Sweden, 2026
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Ilja Rautsi
A vampire posing as Santa Claus invades the home of a family whose rebellious teenage daughter wants only one thing: to become a vampire herself and escape her miserable life.

RESIDENT EVIL
USA, 2026
Gala Screening, 93 min
Director – Zach Cregger
From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (WEAPONS, BARBARIAN) comes a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the RESIDENT EVIL franchise. In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos. From TriStar Pictures, Constantin Film, and Davis Films, RESIDENT EVIL hits theatres September 18, 2026.

RIVER
USA, 2026
US Premiere, 92 min
Director – Joshua Giuliano
When three estranged siblings reunite in their hometown after the death of their father, they set out to scatter his ashes at his favorite spot on a remote river. But when their boat breaks down, the trip devolves into a waking nightmare.

ROMA ELASTICA
France, Italy, 2026
North American Premiere, 107 min
Director – Bertrand Mandico
French cinema maestro Bertrand Mandico and mega-starlet Marion Cotillard broadcast a daring hyper-pulp transmission straight from 1980s Italian cinema.

ROY FROM SPACE
Mexico, 1983
World Premiere of the Restoration, 64 min
Director – Héctor López Carmona
An evil space emperor plots to take over the Earth in this restoration of one of the first fully animated feature films from Mexico.

SCREAMPLAY
USA, 1984
World Premiere of 4K Restoration, 93 min
Director – Rufus Butler Seder
Your new favorite queer horror rediscovery, newly restored.

SICK
Poland, 2026
World Premiere, 90 min
Director – Agata Trzebuchowska
Things spiral out of control in more ways than one when two siblings are tasked with caring for their ailing grandma.

THE SPIRAL
Italy, France, Belgium, 2026
US Premiere, 115 min
Director – Paolo Strippoli
When Alice’s estranged mother arrives with a confession about a twenty-year-old bargain, Alice discovers that the miracle that saved her came with a debt… and the bill has finally come due.

THE SQUIRREL
Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, 2026
International Premiere, 92 min
Director – Markus Lehmusruusu
In a sterile future devoid of nature where emotions are forbidden, a toy designer developing robotic companion dogs rescues an injured squirrel, setting him on a journey of self-discovery and societal rebellion.

THE SWALLOW
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 82 min
Directors – Kevin Kölsch & Dennis Widmyer
A sentient, quicksand-like sludge terrorizes a group of young people in this brutally efficient, effects-forward creature feature.

TOO MANY BEASTS
France, 2026
North American Premiere, 96 min
Director – Sarah Arnold
Transferred to the French countryside, a disgraced cop investigates a rift between the local farmers and hunters, uncovering corruption that runs far deeper than the damage the exploding population of wild boars has wreaked on the region’s crops.

UPIRO
Spain, 2026
World Premiere, 106 min
Director – Óscar Martín
In the Age of Enlightenment, Ana is sent to a remote monastery to atone for her sins. There, she finds a place plagued by a mysterious blood disease linked to a supernatural being: the upyr.

ÜREI
Kazakhstan, 2026
World Premiere, 80 min
Director – Yerkezhan Baizhan
When a young girl is left with her aging grandmother in rural Kazakhstan, an ordinary act of familial care quickly turns into an unsettling descent into the unknown where loss can take monstrous forms.

VERTIGINOUS
France, 2026
US Premiere, 67 min
Director – Quentin Dupieux
Quentin Dupieux offers a delightfully off-kilter take on the simulation hypothesis with early Y2K graphics and his trademark deadpan wit, turning the theory into an absurdly funny mirror of contemporary life.

VICTORIAN PSYCHO
USA, 2026
North American Premiere, 102 min
Director – Zachary Wigon
Set in Victorian England, VICTORIAN PSYCHO sees an eccentric governess arrive at a remote gothic manor, where strange happenings stir suspicion that she’s not what she seems.

WELCOME TO DOLLY’S HOUSE
R.O.C. (Taiwan), 2026
North American Premiere, 86 min
Directors – Seven Ych, Rady Fu, & Tree Muta
Taiwan’s first major rotoscoped 2D animated feature tells the story of a ghost-debunking influencer who begins to question her own identity after entering the mansion of a famously reclusive doll-maker.

WHAT HAPPENED TO DORIS?
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Nick Simon
Based on the terrifying true story that inspired THE ENTITY, WHAT HAPPENED TO DORIS? follows a single mother whose violent encounters with an unseen force draw UCLA investigators into one of the most infamous paranormal cases in American history.

WILD HORSE NINE
UK, USA, Chile, 2026
Texas Premiere, 118 min
Director – Martin McDonagh
A CIA mission to Easter Island unravels amid conspiracies, secrets, and Chile’s looming coup.

What do you think of the Fantastic Fest 2026 lineup? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Fantastic Fest 2026 announces full lineup, including Resident Evil and Beware Boiúna appeared first on JoBlo.

The wait is almost over for Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon. The long-awaited sequel to Jason Lei Howden’s 2015 heavy metal horror favorite Deathgasm finally has release dates, with Raven Banner Releasing planning a one-night theatrical event in September followed by a digital release in October.

Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon will screen in select Alamo Drafthouse theatres across the United States on September 29 as part of the Fantastic Fest Presents program. The movie will then be available to rent or purchase digitally in the U.S., Canada, and U.K. beginning October 13.

Tickets and showtimes for the September 29 theatrical event will be available through the movie’s official website, with screenings currently planned for more than a dozen U.S. markets, including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Boston, Denver, Omaha, Raleigh, and the Twin Cities. Additional cities could be announced.

A physical media release will follow later in October, with Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon coming to Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD in both a Standard Edition and a Limited Edition Steelbook. The exact street date for those releases has not yet been announced.

What Is Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon About?

Here’s the official synopsis:

Years after thwarting a demon apocalypse, Brodie finds himself unemployed, single and without ambition. But when he learns that ‘NoizeQuest’, a battle-of-the-bands competition is coming to his town, he decides to reform his heavy metal band DEATHGASM in order to find redemption and, most importantly, get his ex-girlfriend Medina back. Only problem, his drummer Giles is missing an arm, and the rest of his band is, well… dead. Thankfully Brodie still has the pages of The Black Hymn, so raising his bandmates from beyond the grave is as easy as playing a little tune…

That setup brings Deathgasm back to the combination of heavy metal, black magic, comedy, and extreme gore that made the original such a cult favorite.

Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon Cast and Crew

Milo Cawthorne returns as Brodie, with Kimberley Crossman back as Medina. James Blake, Sam Berkley, and Daniel Cresswell also return from the original movie.

The sequel’s new cast members include Kieran Charnock, Harrison Keefe, Maggie Robertson, and WWE star Adam Scherr, better known to wrestling fans as Braun Strowman.

Jason Lei Howden returns to write and direct after making his feature debut with the original Deathgasm. He subsequently directed the 2019 action comedy Guns Akimbo, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving.

Nick Garrett, Antonio Hrynchuk, and Andrew Thomas Hunt are producing. The movie’s original score was composed by Trivium frontman Matt Heafy, while the soundtrack features metal acts including Skinless, Havok, Chestcrush, Bulletbelt, Anvil and GWAR.

Deathgasm 2 Has Been on the Way for Years

Fans have been waiting a long time for Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon. Howden announced plans for a sequel a decade ago, and the project eventually made its world premiere in competition at Fantastic Fest in 2025. Since then, the movie has traveled through the festival circuit, screening at events including Sitges, Monster Fest, FrightFest UK, ScreamFest and Telluride Horror Show, along with more than a dozen other festivals around the world.

Now, the sequel is finally getting its wider release.

The first Deathgasm, released in 2015, introduced Brodie and Zakk, two high-school metalheads who form a band and become involved with dark magic. Their attempt to summon a powerful entity known as The Blind One unleashes a demon apocalypse. Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon picks up years after those events, with Brodie attempting to put his life back together… and apparently deciding that raising his dead bandmates is the best way to do it.

Raven Banner partner and producer Andrew Thomas Hunt said the sequel was “built to be experienced loud, together, and on the biggest screen possible,” adding that the one-night theatrical event with Fantastic Fest Presents and Alamo Drafthouse is the ideal way to do that. Howden similarly described the movie as being made for “the misfits, the freaks, the outcasts, the headbangers, and the gorehounds.” And judging from everything we’ve seen from Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon so far, those fans should have plenty of blood and heavy metal waiting for them.

Are you looking forward to Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon? Let us know in the comments.

The post Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon sets September theatrical event and October digital release appeared first on JoBlo.

The trailer has arrived for The Barn Part III, the upcoming third and intended final installment in writer/director Justin M. Seaman’s retro Halloween slasher franchise.

Set years after the events of The Barn Part II, the new movie once again brings the series’ sinister supernatural creatures back for another Halloween massacre. The trailer promises plenty of monsters, practical gore, and old school horror mayhem as the characters attempt to put an end to the evil trio once and for all. Check out the trailer for The Barn Part III in the embed above!

Seaman previously teased that the third Barn movie would raise the stakes while bringing the story to a conclusion. “Of course we’re going to have monsters killing and splattering guts everywhere, but the stakes are a little higher,” Seaman said. “We’re going to wrap this whole thing up and tie a lot of loose ends.”

The Barn Part III takes place years after the events of The Barn Part II, with the survivors still living with the fear that the evil three could return to complete their harvest.

The first Barn movie was released in 2016 and was set on Halloween night in 1989. The story followed best friends Sam and Josh as they headed out for one final Devil’s Night before graduating high school. When they and their friends stumbled across an abandoned barn on the way to a rock concert, they accidentally awakened the evil creatures lurking inside.

The Barn Part II picked up three years later, following Michelle after she survived the events in Wheary Falls. Still haunted by unanswered questions about what happened to Sam, Josh and their missing friends, Michelle finds herself dealing with the past again when she and her friend Heather take charge of their college’s annual haunted house.

The trilogy has become something of a reunion for fans of ’80s and ’90s horror, with The Barn Part III bringing together a particularly impressive collection of genre veterans. The cast includes Courtney Gains (Children of the Corn), Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet, Chopping Mall), Ari Lehman (Friday the 13th), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), William Ragsdale (Fright Night), and John Kassir, the voice of the Cryptkeeper from Tales from the Crypt.

Returning The Barn and The Barn Part II star Mitch Musolino is also back, joined by Jessa Jupiter Flux (Debbie Does Demons), Kansas Bowling (The Third Saturday in October Part V), Angel Nichole Bradford (Crackcoon), Ellie Church (Space Babes from Outer Space), Tristan Olsen (American Flake), Amanda Byrne (Moonshine), and Jake McClellan (HeBGB TV).

Seaman directed The Barn Part III from a screenplay he wrote with cinematographer Zane Hershberger. P.J. Starks and Eric Huskisson are producing, with Simon Lustenberger and Gareth “Slasher Trash” Morgan executive producing. The movie comes from Nevermore Production Films, in association with Blood Moon Pictures.

The Barn Part III is also beginning its festival run. The film is screening at Popcorn Frights Film Festival and is scheduled to continue on to events including FrightFest in London, Sin City Horror Fest, GenreBlast, and Sitges in Spain. There is currently no wide release date for The Barn Part III, but with the festival run now underway and the trailer finally here, fans of the series have their first substantial look at the final chapter.

Are you looking forward to The Barn Part III? What do you think of the trailer? Let us know in the comments.

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Bruce Campbell has officially closed the door on Ash Williams. The Evil Dead icon, who retired from playing the character in live action years ago, has now confirmed that he won’t even return to provide Ash’s voice in animation.

That is a major change from Campbell’s previous position on the character. For years, Campbell made it clear that while he no longer wanted to put his body through the action sequences required to play Ash in live action, he was still happy to provide the character’s voice. He even saw animation as an ideal way to continue Ash’s story without requiring him to perform the physical stunts. Now, that option is gone, too.

During an exclusive interview with ScreenRant about his new dramedy Ernie & Emma, Campbell was asked about his future with the Evil Dead franchise. His answer was definitive: “Ash is done.”

Campbell went on to confirm that he is “not going to do any animated voice work” for Ash. If the Evil Dead team wants to bring the character back, Campbell said they can find a “Joe Ash soundalike,” adding that there are now ways to recreate his voice. For fans who have been following the possibility of an animated Evil Dead project, that’s a disappointing turn of events.

Bruce Campbell Once Wanted to Voice Ash in an Animated Evil Dead Series

Campbell’s retirement from live-action Ash isn’t new. After portraying the character for roughly four decades across Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead trilogy and three seasons of Ash vs Evil Dead, Campbell explained that he no longer felt physically capable of handling the action sequences required by the role. But he repeatedly emphasized that voice work was different.

In 2021, Campbell said he would be happy to provide Ash’s voice if an animated Evil Dead series ever happened. At the time, that seemed like the perfect solution: Campbell could continue playing the character without having to perform the demanding physical work that had become a problem. That possibility seemed to become more real over the following years. In 2023, Campbell confirmed that an animated Evil Dead series was being “actively pursued.” He explained that Sam Raimi and his brother Ivan were working on shaping the world for the project and even joked about the prospect of returning as Ash: “My voice hasn’t aged as much as I have.”

Campbell had also previously suggested that an animated series could continue the story of Ash vs Evil Dead, picking up from the show’s futuristic cliffhanger.

In 2024, Campbell confirmed that the animated project was still in development, although he warned that these kinds of productions move very slowly. That history makes his latest statement more consequential. The animated Evil Dead series wasn’t merely something fans imagined Campbell might participate in. Campbell himself had spent years saying he was willing to return as Ash through voice work. Now he says he won’t.

Why Bruce Campbell Changed His Mind About Ash

Campbell’s latest comments come as he continues to step back from the Evil Dead franchise. He remained involved behind the scenes on Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise, serving as an executive producer and providing a vocal cameo. He is also an executive producer on Sébastien Vaniček’s Evil Dead Burn, although he stepped away from the creative process.

Meanwhile, the franchise is increasingly moving beyond Ash Williams. Francis Galluppi’s Evil Dead Wrath will take us back to a time before Ash ever crossed paths with the Deadites, while Burn continues the series’ move toward stories centered on new characters.

Campbell’s involvement has decreased, but for years, the possibility of an animated Ash provided one exception. Fans could reasonably believe that Campbell’s retirement from live action didn’t necessarily mean the end of Ash Williams. His latest comments remove that distinction.

Ash Williams Can Still Return, But Not With Bruce Campbell

Campbell’s retirement doesn’t necessarily mean Ash Williams can never appear again. In fact, Campbell himself acknowledged that the character could be recast, specifically pointing to modern technology that could potentially recreate the sound of his voice. That could theoretically allow Ash to appear in animation, video games, or another form of Evil Dead media without Campbell performing the role.

But it would be a fundamentally different Ash. Ash’s sarcastic delivery, increasingly ridiculous bravado, and distinctive one-liners became inseparable from Campbell’s portrayal over the decades. He now appears to be comfortable letting someone else carry that torch.

After years of leaving the door open for an animated return, Bruce Campbell has finally closed it. Ash Williams isn’t necessarily dead, but Bruce Campbell’s version of Ash appears to be finished.

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Screaming Mad George, the legendary special makeup and creature effects artist whose surreal work was featured in some of the most memorable horror movies of the 1980s and ’90s, has died at the age of 69. His family and representatives announced the news this week, revealing that George actually passed away five months ago, on February 10, 2026. According to a statement from his representatives, George suffered a cardiac arrest after losing consciousness at his home. His family followed emergency responders’ instructions and successfully restored his vital signs before he was transported to intensive care. Surrounded by his loved ones, George remained unconscious and passed away peacefully four days later.

The family chose to keep his death private while they grieved, explaining that they needed time and space to process the loss before sharing the news publicly.

Born Joji Tani in Osaka, Japan, in 1956, George developed a fascination with Japanese genre cinema, supernatural folklore, and horror manga at an early age. He also drew inspiration from artists like Salvador Dalí and Hieronymus Bosch. At 18, he moved alone to New York to pursue a career as a painter and studied fine art at the School of Visual Arts. While attending the school, he also formed the punk band THE MAD and performed as its vocalist at legendary New York clubs including CBGB. His interest in combining music, physical performance, and visual art eventually led him toward special makeup effects.

George’s career changed after he sent a short film to legendary makeup effects artist Rick Baker. Impressed by what he saw, Baker invited George to California. After years of working behind the scenes, George established himself as one of the industry’s most distinctive creature and special makeup effects artists. His professional career began in 1986. Over the following decades, George contributed his unique imagination to films like Society, Bride of Re-Animator, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Big Trouble in Little China, Predator, Spaceballs; Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: The Initiation; Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker; Freaked, Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, Space Truckers, and Beyond Re-Animator, among others.

His name became particularly associated with director and producer Brian Yuzna, with whom he collaborated on several genre productions. George’s work on Yuzna’s Society may be his most famous achievement, with the film’s infamous finale showcasing the kind of surreal, grotesque physical transformation that became his signature.

But George never considered himself simply a horror artist. He described himself as a surrealist, explaining that his interest was not in creating grotesque imagery simply for its own sake. Instead, he wanted to explore transformation, imagination, and the possibility of finding beauty beyond conventional reality. That philosophy helped make his work immediately recognizable. His creatures could be horrifying, bizarre, funny, beautiful, and repulsive all at once. They looked as though they had escaped from a nightmare, but also had a strange sense of playfulness and artistry.

George eventually established S.M.G. Inc., his own Hollywood effects studio. The laboratory became an important training ground for younger effects artists, including Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzman, who would go on to co-found KNB EFX Group and become major figures in the special effects industry themselves.

In 1991, he stepped behind the camera to co-direct The Guyver, the live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga and anime franchise, alongside Steve Wang. The film allowed George to bring his surrealism to the overall filmmaking process, while showcasing the creature and practical effects work that had made his reputation.

His creativity also extended well beyond feature films. George worked on music videos, live performances, artistic installations, and album projects, and continued making music throughout his life. In 1992, he appeared at EXTASY SUMMIT ’92 at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan as Screaming Mad George & Psychosis. He also directed and produced music videos and worked with numerous musicians. His connection to music and visual art was particularly evident in his work with Marilyn Manson during the Mechanical Animals era, helping create the androgynous, alien appearance of the Omega character.

George was also deeply connected to Japanese horror culture. Among his many unusual projects was his work translating Hideshi Hino’s nightmarish manga The Panorama of Hell for its 1989 English-language edition. The translation retained the original Japanese right-to-left reading format, helping preserve the manga’s intended presentation for English-speaking readers.

In the early 2000s, as computer-generated effects increasingly became part of mainstream filmmaking, George taught himself the technology rather than abandoning the medium. He incorporated digital effects into his own filmmaking, including his project Boy in the Box, treating the emerging technology as another tool in his artistic arsenal.

In 2003, George returned permanently to Osaka and began focusing more heavily on education, mentorship and fine art. He served as a visiting professor at Osaka University of Arts, where he taught and mentored young artists. He also studied Aikido and became a certified instructor of the Russian martial art Systema, eventually establishing a Systema club at the university. He continued exhibiting his artwork in Japan, including the Special Hallucinogenic Art Show: Screaming Mad George Exhibition at Abeno Harukas in Osaka in 2019. His final years remained creatively active. In October 2025, he held another solo exhibition in Tokyo, Screaming Mad George: Hallucinogenic Art Show, and appeared at Tokyo Comic Con in December.

According to his representatives, George’s health had begun declining around 2024. He experienced increasing difficulty walking and eventually used a wheelchair while dealing with chronic pain and respiratory illness. Despite those challenges, he continued teaching and creating art until the final months of his life.

Behind the outrageous imagery and larger-than-life persona was, according to those who knew him, a warm, generous and deeply compassionate man. His representatives described him as cheerful and approachable, while emphasizing the humility and work ethic that existed alongside his extraordinary talent.

George reportedly worked at an almost relentless pace during his years in Hollywood, sometimes sleeping only three or four hours a night and taking very little time away from his work. He also made a point of looking after the people who worked for him, even during difficult periods when he went without income himself. His legacy can be seen not only in the unforgettable creatures and transformations he created, but in the artists he inspired and mentored along the way.

Screaming Mad George leaves behind his wife, Miki, and their daughter, Alice. A memorial gathering is planned for the first anniversary of his passing, with additional details to be announced.

For horror fans, practical-effects artists and filmmakers, the loss of Screaming Mad George marks the passing of a singular creative voice. His work gave physical form to nightmares that could not have existed in quite the same way through any other artist’s imagination.

Our deepest condolences go out to George’s wife Miki, his daughter Alice, his extended family, friends, former colleagues, students, and all of the fans around the world who were inspired by his work, which will continue to inspire artists and horror fans for generations to come.

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Cody

What do you do when you’ve had huge success with a movie about a Marvel Comics vampire hunter? For the makers of Blade, the answer was obvious: get Guillermo del Toro to direct a sequel that’s darker, weirder, and maybe somewhat cooler, even though Morbius had to be written out. The film goes deeper into horror territory while introducing a disturbing and disgusting new breed of vampire. Enemies have to team up. Familiar faces return, but can they be trusted? And will Blade ever get laid? Let’s cut this sucker open and find out what happened to Blade II.

Development

Screenwriter David S. Goyer teamed up with star Wesley Snipes, producer Peter Frankfurt, and director Stephen Norrington to bring the Marvel adaptation Blade to the screen. The story of a badass vampire hunter went over well with the audience and was a hit for distributor New Line Cinema. Made on a budget of forty-five million, the film earned over one hundred and thirty-one million at the box office.

Goyer had always envisioned a trilogy – and with box office like that, it was almost guaranteed that he would have the chance to make his trilogy. But that doesn’t mean Blade II would be the sequel he always had in mind.

Some of the ideas Goyer had involved time travel and a vampire apocalypse, along with the introduction of allies from the comics, like Hannibal King. But those early story ideas were scrapped, and Hannibal King got pushed into the third movie. Goyer’s back-up idea was to have Blade fight Morbius, a Marvel character who became a pseudo-vampire by conducting scientific experiments on himself. But Marvel wouldn’t let him use Morbius.

So he came up with a story that would involve a different sort of scientifically created vampire.

Story

Blade II tells us that, contrary to what the first movie led us to believe, Blade’s mentor Whistler is not dead. He turned into a vampire and has been held captive by bloodsuckers in Europe for the last year. After a long search, Blade catches up with Whistler in Prague, rescuing him and curing his vampirism.

Just as Whistler is settling in with Blade and his new sidekick Scud, another group of vampires shows up at their hideout… not to attack, but to ask for their help. They claim that the vampire virus has mutated, creating new creatures called Reapers, though we’ll later find out that the Reaper strain was created in a lab. These monsters can infect vampires and humans alike with their bites, and they’re led by Jared Nomak, who has a vendetta against regular bloodsuckers, especially the Nosferatu-like vampire overlord Eli Damaskinos.

An elite group of vampires called the Bloodpack has been assembled and trained to fight Blade… but now they need to team up with him to wipe out the Reapers before their infection spreads. So we have Blade working with vampires to fight even worse vampires. But all is not as it seems.

Finding a Director

The cool visual style Norrington brought to the first movie had been a key component in its success. But apparently, Norrington wasn’t interested in coming back for a sequel, which was fine with Goyer and Frankfurt because they had a different director in mind from the start. They wanted Blade II to have more of a horror edge, to be more suspenseful and scarier than its predecessor. And they thought the perfect director to bring the horror and scares would be Guillermo del Toro.

If you’ve ever wondered why nearly four years passed between the first two Blade movies, this was a big part of the delay: New Line Cinema was hesitant to sign off on the idea of del Toro directing Blade II. At the time, he was seen as an arthouse director. He had made the lower-budgeted genre movies Cronos and The Devil’s Backbone – and while he tried to work in the studio system with Mimic, it hadn’t been a good experience. None of his movies had been fast-paced or action-packed, so New Line saw no indication that he could be a good action director.

Del Toro was a fan of the first movie and even thought it was underrated, but it also took a while for him to agree to work on the sequel. He had never been interested in making a sequel to somebody else’s movie before. So when Goyer sent him the script, he just gave him some notes. Then Goyer integrated those notes and sent him the new draft. Del Toro gave him some more helpful suggestions. Goyer did more revisions – and the third time the script was sent to del Toro, he agreed to direct the film, if New Line would have him. It wasn’t until Wesley Snipes said he wanted del Toro to make the movie that New Line went along with the idea.

Del Toro’s Vision

Del Toro told Fangoria that he signed on for Blade II because he was “very curious about trying to do a new type of vampire that takes away the sympathetic, charming angle we’ve become so familiar with in the post-Anne Rice era. I wanted to do a completely unglamorous type of vampire, like a bottom feeder, and treat it almost like an animal.”

After making the deeply personal The Devil’s Backbone, he also wanted to work on “something light that would not demand enormous amounts of emotional investment, just like a joyride. I was completely drained and wanted to go into an amusement park, and that’s what this is.”

He was ready to prove that he was capable of directing action. And he wanted to challenge himself, because this was the first time he’d be directing a script he didn’t write: the challenge of executing someone else’s imagination. With his stories, he always relied on atmosphere, making things that were slow-moving and eerie. Goyer had written a fast-paced script, and del Toro would have to deliver a fast movie, one that would include edgy, nasty moments like the first one but wouldn’t go too far with the violence. As he put it, “We’re trying to make things fun. Whatever violence exists in the movie exists on a comic book or cartoon level.”

He wanted to bring a heightened, comic book style to every aspect of the film, from the violence to the visuals. His goal was for the imagery in Blade II to be one hundred percent comic book style – and to achieve that, he brought in comic book artists Mike Mignola, Tim Bradstreet, and Wayne Barlowe to draw designs. Barlowe was the one who came up with the look of the Reapers, which were then brought to life by legendary effects artist Steve Johnson. These things have chins that split open to reveal tentacle-suckers, they inject victims with a neurotoxin, and they’re more difficult to kill than the average vampire: their hearts are encased in bone, and they’re immune to silver and garlic.

Cast

Blade II was the first time Wesley Snipes came back to play one of his characters in a sequel. For this one, he was interested in playing a Blade that had become more comfortable with his half-vampire nature and had loosened up a bit. He even changed up the character’s fighting style, making him faster and less focused on traditional martial arts moves and poses, to reflect how comfortable he had become.

Asked why he enjoyed playing Blade so much, he explained, “He has all the freedoms of a bad guy without the restrains of a good guy, and that’s always fun to play. The opportunity to wear the costume and the outfits and be in a genre movie, at the same time doing martial arts – that’s very appealing to me. And that he is a kind of short-on-words, big-on-action type of guy is very appealing to me too. I’m much more verbose than he is, and more of a wuss.”

Snipes was also happy that the sequel would be an ensemble mission movie, with the set-up drawing comparisons to The Dirty Dozen or The Guns of Navarone, but with vampires. He felt it was a better approach to have Blade take on a number of different villains, rather than having just one villain try to live up to the first movie’s Deacon Frost.

A great cast was assembled around Snipes. Starting with Kris Kristofferson, who was surprised to have the chance to play Whistler again. He thought the guy was dead. Norman Reedus plays Scud, the young man who has been working with Blade in Whistler’s absence and is highly suspicious of Whistler when he returns.

The Bloodpack consists of Danny John-Jules as Asad; martial arts movie legend Donnie Yen – who was, unfortunately, given very little to do – as Snowman; Daz Crawford as a hammer-wielding vampire called Lighthammer; Marit Velle Kile as Lighthammer’s significant other Verlaine; Tony Curran as Priest, who doesn’t like any vampires that aren’t purebloods; del Toro regular Ron Perlman as Reinhardt, who gives Blade a hard time and gets an explosive device stuck on his head in response; Matt Schulze, who had a minor role as a different character in the first movie, as Chupa; and Leonor Varela as Nyssa, daughter of the ancient Eli Damaskinos, who’s played by Thomas Kretschmann.

Nyssa is the one Blade is really able to connect with – and their connection was even deeper in early drafts of the script. While Blade II was in pre-production, Goyer spoke with RevolutionSF and teased “Blade gets laid” in the sequel. Blade and Nyssa were supposed to be a romantic pairing, but that didn’t make it into the finished film.

Villain

Played by Luke Goss, Jared Nomak is the danger at the heart of the story. The Reaper infection can’t be allowed to spread… but Nomak isn’t the clear-cut “big bad,” either. As the story goes on, you find out how he became this monster and come to understand why he’s doing what he’s doing. It’s a Guillermo del Toro movie, so it’s no surprise to have a sympathetic monster somewhere in the mix.

Production

When a director doesn’t have action experience, they’ll often hand all of the action off to a second unit director. But del Toro won New Line over so much, they let him direct everything. From dialogue scenes to action sequences and even minor inserts, del Toro shot it all. And he proved that he was up for the challenge. He brought the darker, more suspenseful moments Goyer and Frankfurt hoped he would – and he also proved to be an awesome action director. There are impressive fight scenes throughout the movie, with Blade taking on a whole lot of vampires and Reapers. The scene where he battles Damaskinos goons after being reinvigorated in a blood bath is especially cool, along with, of course, the final fight between Blade and Nomak.

Release and Legacy

Blade II filmed in the Czech Republic from March 12th to July 2nd, 2001, aiming for release the following year. While the first movie came out at the end of summer in 1998, the sequel was scheduled to reach theatres on March 22, 2002. That would have been a negative sign for some. March was seen as something of a dumping ground for lesser movies around that time. But New Line Cinema had success releasing the franchise-starting horror movie Final Destination in March of 2000, so why not try putting a Blade movie out in that month?

It turned out to be a great decision.

Made on a budget of 54 million dollars, Blade II surpassed the first movie at the box office, pulling in a worldwide total of over 154 million. It was enough to get the third film in the trilogy on the fast track to production – and since that movie didn’t do as well when it was released in 2004, Blade II remains the highest-grossing film in the franchise.

Conclusion

Moviegoers wanted to see more of Blade, and del Toro gave them more in one of the best sequels fans could have possibly hoped for. Goyer and Norrington made this look easy with the ‘98 film, and del Toro did the same with the sequel… but when you see how Goyer himself fumbled the trilogy capper Blade: Trinity, it becomes clear: this Blade business wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

Guillermo del Toro wasn’t the obvious choice to direct the Blade sequel, but he turned out to be the perfect choice.

A couple of previous episodes of this show can be seen below. For more, check out the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel—and don’t forget to subscribe!

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