Last week, Warner Bros. and DC Studios unveiled a “disturbing” teaser for what some are calling a full-blown body-horror movie, Clayface, at CinemaCon. For the time being, we can only take the witnesses’ word for the film’s grotesque imagery and unsettling tone. However, today brings some teases for DC’s experimental feature in the form of faux magazine clippings featuring the movie’s central character, Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), and information from Gotham Medical about a game-changing technology that could literally change the face of society as we know it.

The faux magazine pages are making the rounds on social media, with the first tease being a cover from Gotham Medical magazine, highlighting “The New Face of Regenerative Medicine,” thanks to Caitlyn Corr. The latest issue of the medical-based publication also features stories about a Mental Health Revolution, The Future of Organ Transplants, and Urban Health Challenges. Meanwhile, a second teaser features rising star Matt Hagen looking buff, handsome, and ready for the spotlight. Matt is a hot ticket in Hollywood, but as we all know, a star’s light can quickly fade if they’re not careful.

First official teases for the CLAYFACE movie.

In theaters October 23, 2026.

Trailer coming soon. pic.twitter.com/zeuzD5VqOE

— Bloody Disgusting (@BDisgusting) April 21, 2026

Based on the shape-shifting villain of the same name from the Batman comics, Clayface will be a big departure from what we’ve seen in the DCU so far. DC Studios co-head James Gunn has even described the movie as a “complete horror film,” so pushing the release into October makes sense.

“We’ve got Clayface, which is a totally different thing,” Gunn said. “Although it’s in the same universe, it’s a complete horror film. That’s one of the things we want to do – there’s not a company style. It’s not like every movie is going to be like Superman. The artists – the directors and the writers – each one will bring their own sense to it… That’s what we want to bring to the films because we don’t want people to get bored. We want to invigorate people.”

James Watkins (Speak No Evil) directs Clayface from a script by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) and Hossein Amini (Obi-Wan Kenobi). Tom Rhys Harries (The Gentlemen) stars alongside Naomi Ackie (No Time to Die) and Max Minghella (The Handmaid’s Tale).

Clayface oozes into theaters on October 23.

The post DC Studios teases its first body-horror movie with faux magazine clippings for Mike Flanagan’s Clayface appeared first on JoBlo.

Jake

A hotel should be the safest kind of nowhere, and that’s exactly why the genre loves it. From the moment Psycho turned a quiet roadside motel into a terror hot spot, horror movies have been obsessed with turning places you’re supposed to trust into places where nothing can be trusted. Since then, films like The Shining have taken things even further, transforming entire hotels into living nightmares. These are the scariest, sleaziest, most unforgettable horror hotels ever put on screen… and trust us, you won’t want to stay the night.

What is the scariest horror hotel?

The scariest horror hotel is the Bates Motel from Psycho (1960).

• It defined the “killer motel” trope
• Introduced psychological horror tied to location
• Turned an everyday roadside stop into a place of terror

Runner-up: The Overlook Hotel from The Shining (1980), which elevates the haunted hotel into something vast, supernatural, and psychologically consuming.

COMPARISON LAYER

Types of Horror Hotels (Ranked Entries Explained)

Psychological / Haunted Spaces

• The Shining (Overlook Hotel)
• 1408 (Dolphin Hotel)

Fear comes from:

• Isolation
• Madness
• Supernatural influence

Slasher / Human Threat Locations

• Psycho (Bates Motel)
• Vacancy (Pinewood Motel)

Fear comes from:

• Voyeurism
• Predators hiding in plain sight
• Loss of safety in everyday spaces

Exploitation / Sleaze Hotels

• Slaughter Hotel
• Private Parts
• Eaten Alive

Fear comes from:

• Moral decay
• Grimy environments
• Unpredictable human behavior

Torture / Trap-Based Locations

• Hostel
• Crawlspace

Fear comes from:

• Physical suffering
• Power imbalance
• Elaborate death mechanisms

Horror-Comedy / Grotesque Settings

• Motel Hell

Fear comes from:

• Absurdity mixed with brutality
• Tonal contrast (humor + horror)

#1. PSYCHO (1960)

Hotel: Bates Motel
Horror Type: Psychological / Slasher
Why It’s Scary:

• Normal setting turned deadly
• Iconic voyeurism and identity horror
• The house + motel create layered tension

Key Scene: Shower murder sequence

One-Line Verdict:
The blueprint for every killer motel that followed.

You already knew what awaited us in the top spot. Without the Bates Motel, perhaps the following establishments would never exist. So we owe a debt of gratitude to Hitchcock for changing the game in 1960, not just giving us a modern day slasher template, but for also incorporating the motel setting as the backdrop. Think of the jarring taxidermy room, with all those stuffed birds, or the infamous shower scene with Bernard Herrmann’s searing strings. Think of the main house atop the hill, the winding staircase, and the window where we see Norman silhouetted in drag. Or that surreal inside shot of Arbogast falling down the stairs after Norman blades him across the face. All of these sequences, all legendary film lore, take place in the famed Bates Motel. Horror history!

#2. THE SHINING (1980)

Hotel: Overlook Hotel
Horror Type: Psychological / Supernatural

Why It’s Scary:

• Massive, inescapable environment
• Reality distortion
• Constant sense of dread without darkness

Key Scene: Room 237

One-Line Verdict:
A haunted hotel that feels alive and wants you to stay forever.

King + Kubrick = The Overlook Hotel, perhaps the most daunting and ghastly horror hotel of all. On sheer vastness and production value alone – the extravagant lighting schemes, labyrinthine corridors, the reflective surfaces, myriad mirrors – The Shining aptly subverts horror convention and gives us a fright flick, one of the scariest of all time, that never takes place in the dark. At least, not until the finale, but even then it takes place during a nighttime whiteout, and in a lit hedge maze. The genius of Kubrick! Then of course there’s the hallway where the sinister twin girls reside, not to mention room 237 where the old hag rises from the tub. On and on… the sumptuous Gold Room, the blood-red lavatory, the giant kitchen and storeroom, the regal lobby, Ullman’s eerie office… all spectacular set-pieces from one of the all time greats!

#3. EATEN ALIVE (1977)

Hotel: Starlight Hotel
Horror Type: Exploitation / Backwoods Horror

Why It’s Scary:

• Filthy, grimy atmosphere that feels suffocating
• Unpredictable violence from unstable characters
• Crocodile-fed body disposal adds grotesque edge

Key Scene: Victims fed to the gator

One-Line Verdict:
A sleazy swamp nightmare where survival is pure luck.

I can’t broadcast it loud enough: I love, love, love everything about Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive. The filthy look of it, the off-kilter tone, the deplorable characters, and of course the setting, the misnamed Starlight Hotel. There’s nothing dreamy about the place at all, it’s pure nightmarish hell! I mean, when the flick opens up with Robert Englund, pre-Freddy, dropping a line that Quentin Tarantino would later paraphrase in Kill Bill, you know you’re in for a fun ride! This is backwoods horror at its finest, where if you step on the wrong toes, you’ll be sliced to death with a giant scythe and fed to a hungry gator that lives in a swamp-puddle beside the house. Yeah, no joke. But it’s still funny. Go figure. Interestingly enough, an alternate title for Eaten Alive is Slaughter Hotel.

#4. SLAUGHTER HOTEL (1971)

Hotel: Slaughter Hotel (psychiatric clinic)
Horror Type: Exploitation / Giallo

Why It’s Scary:

• Blurs line between hospital and hotel
• Unhinged characters and unchecked hedonism
• Murder mystery layered over sexual chaos

Key Scene: Masked killer stalking patients

One-Line Verdict:
A depraved asylum posing as a luxury retreat.

Akin to an X-rated picture, the 1971 Italian sleaze-fest known as Slaughter Hotel, starring the great Klaus Kinski, has everything you’d ever want in a seedy-hotel-set exploitation doozy. Aside from Kinski skulking around in the night, perving out on random female tenants, the flick features awesome death sequences, lesbian shower scenes, up-close full-frontal shots, and if that isn’t enough, a masked killer anchoring a murder whodunit. I love this movie. Thank you Fernando Di Leo! Even better, to murk things up, the titular hotel is actually a psychiatric clinic for deeply disturbed rich women, which I suppose is to blame for the unabashed hedonism and violent debauchery most of the inmates indulge in. Oh, how I wish such hotels existed!

#5. CRAWLSPACE (1986)

Hotel: Apartment complex (Kinski’s building)
Horror Type: Psychological / Torture

Why It’s Scary:

• Hidden passageways enable constant surveillance
• Predator lives inside the walls
• Trap-based violence foreshadows later horror trends

Key Scene: Kinski watching tenants through vents

One-Line Verdict:
A building where privacy is an illusion and death is built in.

The sublimely unnerving Klaus Kinski double dips on this list, as the dude’s clearly the master of running habitats for troubled young women. In the excellent 1986 sleaze-fest Crawlspace, Kinski plays the demented son of a Nazi surgeon and oversees a rundown apartment complex for a range of such gals. Thing is, the women don’t realize Kinski has festooned the place with deadly booby traps, hidden peep rooms, and secret air-duct passages that he slithers through all day to disgustingly peek through. And if the girls get out of line, Kinski kills them at once! This movie rules, not only for inspiring the entire Saw conceit (trap and torture with elaborate devices), but for the slightly offbeat tone and hilarious dark humor stitched throughout. Kinski plays the straight man for comedy like no other!

#6. HOSTEL (2005)

Hotel: Slovakian Hostel
Horror Type: Torture / Survival Horror

Why It’s Scary:

• Hospitality masks a system of organized torture
• Victims are commodified for entertainment
• Sudden tonal shift from travel fun to nightmare

Key Scene: The torture chamber reveal

One-Line Verdict:
A backpacker’s paradise turned industrialized nightmare.

Just when you thought hostels were a sensibly affordable alternative to ritzy hotels, Eli Roth put that thought to eternal sleep with his 2005 trap and torture ditty Hostel. Of course, Roth sequelized the premise two years later with reversed-gender leads. But the thing about that first flick was the element of surprise behind the reason for such a horrifying place existing to begin with. Only in a late expository scene do we come to understand that these elaborately gruesome tortures are sick psycho-fantasies played out by rich, thrill-seeking businessmen. That reveal is almost as disarming as the visuals that come before it, including repulsive living quarters that surely decreased Slovakia’s tourism rate. Straight heinous!

#7. 1408 (2007)

Hotel: Dolphin Hotel (Room 1408)
Horror Type: Psychological / Supernatural

Why It’s Scary:

• Single room becomes a reality-warping prison
• Targets the psyche of someone expecting fear
• Relentless escalation with no escape

Key Scene: The room begins reshaping reality

One-Line Verdict:
Proof that one room is all horror needs.

Probably not the best Stephen King adaptation, but certainly not the worst. I’ve always enjoyed many things about the haunted hotel yarn 1408. First off, I’m a lifelong John Cusack fan, and getting to see him basically do a one-room, one-man show, running the full gamut of human emotion, is always a fun watch. Throw in a spine-tingling twist finale, the ominous presence of Samuel L. Jackson, and the lavish quarters of the Dolphin Hotel itself, and 1408 deserves rank among the horror-hotel pantheon. Part of the reason is also the character Cusack plays. He’s an author who specializes in paranormal experiences, so when he agrees to stay in the notorious room 1408, he’s already expecting horrible things to happen. Things he’s already used to experiencing. That adds a complex dimension to what he encounters in the room, and ultimately how he handles it.

#8.VACANCY (2007)

Hotel: Pinewood Motel
Horror Type: Thriller / Slasher

Why It’s Scary:

• Hidden cameras turn guests into victims
• Snuff-film concept adds disturbing realism
• Isolation with no outside help

Key Scene: Discovery of snuff tapes

One-Line Verdict:
A roadside stop where you become the entertainment.

One of the cool things about Nimrod Antal’s Vacancy is how it used modern motel technology to create a suspenseful thriller. Hidden surveillance cameras play a large role in the flick, as they basically function to capture human death on film at the Pinewood Motel, which serves as a real-life snuff joint. Obviously, Kate Beckinsale as the damsel in distress lends instant sympathy, and while my man Frank Whaley’s initial appearance is a bit too fishy to forget about come conclusion time, the movie is a fun and original enough spin on the isolated motel subgenre to cast some love at. Again, I found the final reveal of the bad guy a bit predictable, but so what, the single-location thriller is brisk enough to remain entertaining throughout (and it’s only 85 minutes long).

#9. PRIVATE PARTS (1972)

Hotel: Skid-row hotel
Horror Type: Horror Satire / Exploitation

Why It’s Scary:

• Unpredictable, bizarre character behavior
• Constant sense of unease and moral decay
• Mystery driven by perversion and paranoia

Key Scene: Discovery of the hotel’s twisted secrets

One-Line Verdict:
A bizarre descent into sleaze and psychological chaos.

Nope, not the cheeky Howard Stern flick from the 90s, the Private Parts I wholeheartedly urge you to ogle is Paul Bartel’s 1972 horror satire. And I urge you to do so ASAP! While uneven, the grimy L.A. skid-row hotel and all its gnarly skin-crawling exploits are too good to merely pass by. See, the flick follows a female Ohioan who goes out west to stay with an eccentric band of L.A. innkeepers, only to become embroiled in a taut web of murder mystery, deeply perverted debauchery, and other foul head-scratching oddities. This one gets bizarre! As with good exploitation slime, the flick doesn’t rely on well known actors or stars, it instead creates a mood and atmosphere, a tone of the utterly insane, all of which come together to form a memorably wicked experience.

#10. MOTEL HELL (1980)

Hotel: Motel Hell
Horror Type: Horror-Comedy / Slasher

Why It’s Scary:

• Victims turned into food products
• Cheerful tone clashes with brutal violence
• Rural isolation amplifies helplessness

Key Scene: Victims buried alive in the garden

One-Line Verdict:
Where the hospitality is deadly and the menu is worse.

It’s right in the title, is it not? This grisly 1980 horror-comedy remains one of the pillars of roadside terror, and while I may slightly enjoy the unheralded 1986 flick Mountaintop Motel Massacre a tad bit more, Motel Hell cannot go unmentioned. You already know what amenities are offered: Farmer Vincent will scoop you up, bury you alive in his lovely motel garden, and if you’re lucky, he’ll turn you into one of his food-stand fritters. Quite the host! The flick comes from the somewhat underrated Kevin Connor, whose first feature was the Amicus horror anthology Beyond the Grave. Motel Hell is probably Connor’s second best flick, largely due to the balance of gruesome violence and irreverent black humor.

Top 10 Scariest Horror Movie Hotels (Quick List)

1. Psycho (1960) – The original killer motel that redefined horror
2. The Shining (1980) – A haunted labyrinth of madness and isolation
3. Eaten Alive (1977) – A filthy swamp motel with a deadly secret
4. Slaughter Hotel (1971) – A depraved asylum disguised as luxury lodging
5. Crawlspace (1986) – A building wired for surveillance and death
6. Hostel (2005) – Backpacking turns into industrialized torture
7. 1408 (2007) – A single hotel room becomes a psychological prison
8. Vacancy (2007) – Guests become victims in a snuff-film operation
9. Private Parts (1972) – A bizarre descent into sleaze and madness
10. Motel Hell (1980) – Where the hospitality is deadly and edible

FAQ SECTION

What is the most famous hotel in horror movies?

The most famous is the Bates Motel from Psycho (1960), followed closely by the Overlook Hotel from The Shining (1980).

Is the Overlook Hotel based on a real place?

Yes. It was inspired by the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, where Stephen King stayed while writing the novel.

Why are hotels so common in horror movies?

Hotels create:

• Isolation
• Temporary identity (no roots)
• Vulnerability in unfamiliar spaces

These elements make them ideal for horror storytelling.

What horror movie has a killer motel owner?

Psycho features Norman Bates, one of the most iconic motel owners in film history.

Are there modern horror hotel movies?

Yes, films like Hostel and Vacancy modernize the concept with surveillance, globalization, and torture-based horror.

The post The Most Terrifying Horror Movie Hotels Ever, Ranked appeared first on JoBlo.

A little while back, I wrote an article about how difficult it would likely be for Sony, the current rights holder of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, to do a proper 4K transfer. Whatever the case may be, Sony Home Entertainment is ploughing ahead with a 4K physical media release, with 28 Days Later set for its 4K debut on September 1st.

So, why is that controversial?

It’s because Boyle’s film was famously shot on consumer-grade Canon XL-1 cameras, which have a maximum resolution of 480i—roughly the same as a regular DVD. For years, the film has only existed in an upconverted HD transfer, which roughly recreated the film’s theatrical look, although to me it’s always looked cleaner than it did theatrically. What many fans fear is that a 4K transfer, by its very nature, will use AI trickery to significantly alter the film’s signature look. Even if it doesn’t, the very notion of releasing it in 4K seems like a waste of effort, as how good can it possibly look?

In their press release, Sony sought to assuage fan fears by explaining how the transfer would be done:

To fully capture and correctly present the unique visuals of this movie for its 4K High Dynamic Range debut, the assembled original source video was used along with sections from the original camera negative, as used in the original theatrical release. These elements were then color-corrected to take full advantage of the wider available color gamut. The picture and Atmos mix were approved by Danny Boyle.

While having Boyle on board is reassuring, I’m still not convinced this is a good idea. Even if it’s hugely faithful, will it really look any different than the Blu-ray?

Here are the specs:

Special Features:

• Commentary by Director Danny Boyle and Screenwriter Alex Garland
• Deleted Scenes and Alternate Endings with Optional Commentary
• Pure Rage: The Making of 28 Days Later featurette
• Jacknife Lee music video
• Animated storyboards
• Still photo galleries
• Theatrical teaser and trailer

In the meantime, there’s no news yet on whether the third film in the new 28 Years Later franchise will be moving forward. Hopefully it does, as it promises Cillian Murphy’s long-awaited return to the franchise, which was teased at the end of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, a terrific movie that, unfortunately, flopped in theaters—only grossing $58 million worldwide compared to the $151 million earned by its predecessor.

The post 28 Days Later 4K Release Sparks AI Concerns Among Fans appeared first on JoBlo.

Its mean streak doesn’t get much press, but the hippopotamus is actually an incredibly dangerous creature. They’re so aggressive, they’re officially the deadliest large land mammal on the planet and are said to kill around 500 people every year in Africa. Now their rampage is set to extend to the screen, with the “nature run amok” survival thriller Hungry, getting its first (gory) trailer. Of course, the fact that a killer hippo movie is going by the title Hungry is a nod to Hasbro’s popular tabletop game Hungry Hungry Hippos, but this movie doesn’t have anything to do with Hasbro.

Written and directed by James Nunn, here’s the official synopsis: “Hungry follows thrill-seeking tourists on a riverboat tour through the treacherous Louisiana swamplands. Lured off the beaten path by the promise of an exclusive adventure, they soon find themselves fighting for survival against a ravenous hippopotamus lurking beneath the bayou’s murky waters.”

The film stars Madison Davenport (It’s What’s Inside), Tracey Bonner, and Michel Curiel. It’s quite not clear why there’s a hippo loose in the Louisiana swamps – although there was an idea presented in 1910 that hippos could be brought over to Louisiana and Florida to deal with the spread of water hyacinths and be used as a new food source in the United States. That didn’t end up happening.

Nunn previously directed the shark thriller Shark Bait, the thriller Tower Block, and the action sequels The Marine 5: Battleground and The Marine 6: Close Quarters, as well as the Scott Adkins projects Green Street 3: Never Back Down, Eliminators, One Shot, and One More Shot.

Signature Entertainment’s Ben Jacques is producing Hungry, with Signature’s CEO Marc Goldberg and head of production & development Sarah Gabriel serving as executive producers. MUFX designer Dan Martin and VFX company Magic Dust VFX are responsible for bringing the story’s rampaging hippo to life.

My reaction to hearing that a killer hippo movie is on the way is, “It’s about time!” I’m looking forward to seeing how Hungry is going to turn out.

Does Hungry sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this killer hippo project by leaving a comment below.

The post Hungry: The Killer Hippo Movie Gets a Trailer! appeared first on JoBlo.

Mike

In 1996, alien invasion and disaster movies were all the rage. Today’s film fits into at least one of those subgenres, but it never reaped the financial benefits of its peers. In fact, it fell flat at the box office. Maybe that’s because it took a quieter, more paranoia-fueled route to extraterrestrial life. Or maybe it’s because a massive alien invasion tentpole hit theaters just a month later and completely overshadowed it.

For years, it’s been reduced to “that weird, sweaty Charlie Sheen movie with the backward-legged aliens.” But there’s much more going on here if you revisit it with fresh eyes: scorpion murder, bathtub murder, and Charlie Sheen trying to escape an alien terraforming plant while wearing another human’s skin suit. Do you want to see the ruins, my friend?

This is what happened to The Arrival.

The Origins of The Arrival

The story began with The Fugitive and Waterworld writer David Twohy asking big questions about extraterrestrial life. Are they out there? If they are, how would we contact them? What if they’re already here?

Twohy immersed himself in radio astronomy and the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) program, learning just how advanced real-world efforts had become. This inspired him to center the story around an astrophysicist, but not the stereotypical version.

He wanted someone relatable. Enter Charlie Sheen.

Charlie Sheen as an Astrophysicist?

Sheen took on the role of Zane during a transitional period in his career. It was unconventional casting for a science-driven thriller, especially given his reputation at the time. He had previously worked with Twohy on Terminal Velocity, and despite initial doubts about whether Sheen could convincingly play an astrophysicist, the collaboration moved forward.

Twohy later praised Sheen as a hardworking actor who showed up ready to perform, even amid constant media attention and just weeks after his wedding. He wasn’t looking for an elitist scientist type, but someone grounded, someone who could be pushed into extraordinary circumstances.

Sheen, for his part, was drawn to the role because of the unpredictability. When dealing with something humanity has never encountered, there’s no “wrong” way to react. He also described Twohy as a “fascinating maniac,” appreciating his bold creative instincts.

Building a Relatable Sci-Fi Thriller

Concerned that audiences might struggle to connect with an isolated scientist, the filmmakers added a personal element: a complicated romantic relationship.

Teri Polo plays Char, a character designed to keep both Zane and the audience guessing. Her ability to remain emotionally neutral made her presence intriguing and unpredictable.

The supporting cast adds even more texture:

• Ron Silver as the suspicious businessman Gordian
• Richard Schiff as Zane’s uneasy colleague
• Lindsay Crouse as fellow scientist Ilana Green
• Tony T. Johnson as an overly trusting kid caught in the chaos

Visual Style and Locations

Cinematographer Hiro Narita brought a strong visual identity to the film, drawing from his work on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and The Rocketeer.

The film contrasts two distinct environments:

• Industrial blues and grays in California
• Vibrant, colorful settings in Mexico

This includes a classic chase sequence set during the Day of the Dead celebration, adding visual energy and cultural texture.

Practical Effects, Sci-Fi Concepts, and Pure Nightmare Fuel

The Arrival blends conspiracy thriller elements with ambitious sci-fi ideas, including an alien terraforming operation that echoes the unsettling tone of Fire in the Sky.

The production created a physical model of the alien factory, then enhanced it with computer-generated imagery. Other sequences, like Zane’s office being sucked into a mysterious device, combined practical effects, wind machines, and early CGI.

One of the film’s standout sequences is the bathtub assassination attempt. A multi-story set was constructed to simulate water crashing through floors, creating one of the most inventive and terrifying murder setups of the era.

The aliens themselves don’t rely on brute force. Their plan is slow and calculated: accelerate global warming until Earth becomes uninhabitable for humans. Subtle. Patient. Terrifying.

The Backward Legs That Haunted Everyone

If there’s one thing people remember, it’s the aliens’ backward-bending knees. It’s a simple visual trick, but deeply unsettling. The movement feels unnatural in a way that sticks with you.

Twohy explained that the design came from a need to keep the aliens humanoid while still making them feel wrong. Mission accomplished.

The creatures also feature a disturbing anatomical detail: a skull flap that opens to vent heat from their brains. Uncomfortable doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Creating the Aliens with Early CGI

Rather than relying on prosthetics, the filmmakers went all-in on CGI, which was still relatively new at the time. The process involved:

1. Concept art development
2. Sculpting an 18-inch physical model
3. Scanning it into a computer
4. Rendering and animating the digital version

While the results aren’t perfect, the effects hold up better than expected for 1996 and don’t detract from the film’s impact.

The Problem: Independence Day

Hovering over the entire production was one massive obstacle: Independence Day. While The Arrival offered a quieter, paranoia-driven take on alien invasion, Independence Day delivered explosive, crowd-pleasing spectacle.

One was thoughtful and strange. The other was a global event. And the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Box Office Disappointment

Released on May 31, 1996, with a $25 million budget, The Arrival struggled out of the gate:

• Opening weekend: under $5 million
• Worldwide total: around $14 million

Meanwhile, Independence Day went on to earn over $800 million globally.

Despite this, The Arrival still received a direct-to-video sequel, Arrival II, in 1998, which abruptly killed off Zane between films.

Critical Reception and Legacy

Critically, the film fared better than its box office suggests. It holds a 66% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with many praising its inventive, paranoid take on the alien genre. Today, it’s remembered as a strange but compelling sci-fi thriller, one filled with bold ideas, eerie imagery, and moments that stick with you long after the credits roll.

And those backward legs? Still unforgettable.

Final Thoughts

The Arrival may not have reached the heights of its blockbuster contemporaries, but it remains a fascinating piece of ‘90s sci-fi. It’s weird. It’s ambitious. It’s unsettling. And it’s absolutely worth revisiting.

That, my friends, is what happened to The Arrival.

The post What Happened to The Arrival? The Forgotten 1996 Sci-Fi Thriller Explained appeared first on JoBlo.

Adam Scott has plenty of experience with the horrific and weird, having starred in the likes of Severance, Little Evil, Krampus, Piranha 3D, and Hellraiser: Bloodline. Earlier this year, we learned that he’s adding to his genre résumé with the supernatural horror film Hokum, which was filmed on location in Ireland. A few months ago, it was announced that NEON and Waypoint Entertainment’s Cweature Features have boarded the project, with NEON planning to give the film a theatrical release in the United States on May 1, 2026. And today, a full trailer has arrived online. You can watch it in the embed above.

What is Hokum about?

Hokum is coming our way from writer/director Damian McCarthy, whose horror film Oddity is said to have “caused a stir after premiering at SXSW, where it won the audience award in the Midnighter section.” That movie made its way out into the world last summer, telling the story of “a blind medium and curio shopkeeper who is still grieving the death of her twin sister a year prior when a wooden mannequin from her collection becomes crucial to her quest to uncover the truth about her sister’s murder.” The story McCarthy has crafted for Hokum will see Scott taking on the role of a horror novelist who visits a remote Irish inn to spread his parents’ ashes, unaware the place is rumored to be haunted by a witch. Here’s the synopsis: When reclusive novelist Ohm Bauman (Scott) retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, the staff’s tales of an ancient witch haunting the honeymoon suite take hold of his mind. Soon, disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance draw him into a nightmarish confrontation with the darkest corners of his past. Scott is joined in the cast by Peter Coonan (Bad Sisters) and David Wilmot (Bodkin).

Our EIC Chris Bumbray actually caught it at SXSW and loved it. You can read his review HERE.

He also got the chance to speak to Adam Scott at Cinemacon last week. Check it out:

Behind the scenes

Cweature Features are co-producers on the project, joining Image Nation and Spooky Pictures, as well as Team Thrives, who co-financed. 

Hokum is being produced by Spooky Pictures’ Roy Lee and Steven Schneider, Image Nation’s Derek Dauchy, and Tailored Film’s Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde, and Mairtín de Barra. Ben Ross, Dan Kagan, Rami Yasin, and Andrew Childs serve as executive producers. Cweature Features’ Ken Kao and Josh Rosenbaum are executive producers as well. The project is also supported by co-production funding from Screen Ireland/ Fís Éireann. 

Are you interested in Hokum? Take a look at the trailer, then let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Hokum: Irish supernatural horror film starring Adam Scott conjures a final trailer appeared first on JoBlo.

Tyler

With the release of the re-imaging of Faces of Death recently, it got me thinking about the original film and how controversial it was at the time. The film was essentially a legend, much in the same way that Cannibal Holocaust was. The information age of the internet has gotten rid of this kind of hysteria, with mostly films being easily researchable. But there was once a time where school yard talks would say how “they were real, trust me!” There’s just nothing quite like a controversial horror movie.

Some have lost some of their edge over the decades while others are just as poignant and disturbing as the day they were released. Ranging from banned by entire countries to just shunned by online communities, we’ve got a wide variety of films to look at. So let’s take a look at some of the most controversial horror films of all time.

Inside (2007)

The mid-2000s gave us the French Extreme era and it was glorious. While this is more of a slow burn, it has one of the most disturbing endings you can imagine as a pregnant woman is terrorized by a woman who wants her unborn baby. She wants it so bad that she eventually cuts the baby out of the woman’s stomach with scissors, all shown on camera. So if you’re pregnant, definitely avoid this one.

Faces of Death (1978)

Presented as a real documentary, this looks at various gruesome ways of dying. Most of the deaths are fake but there are some using archival footage and the aftermath of some real-life deaths. As much as the “torture porn” era of the 2000s has been lambasted, I would consider this to be so much more disturbing as it’s no story, just horrible deaths. And it doesn’t help that there are also real animal deaths in the film, which is something I’ll never be okay with for entertainment purposes. There have somehow been multiple sequels to this film, following in the same style. Then we obviously just received a re-imagining in 2026.

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

This is the story of a documentary crew that terrorizes an indigenous tribe, and their footage is found by a separate documentarian. It speaks on who the actual cannibals are, as the original crew is full of absolute monsters. I’ll always be disturbed by the animal abuse that is featured in the film, but the other stuff can be a bit tame by today’s standards. There’s a version of the film that gets rid of the animal abuse, and it makes for a much more palatable version of the film. It was considered a snuff film at one point, and the director actually had to prove that it was not, in fact, real.

The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence (2011)

I suppose all three of the Human Centipede films belong on here for their own unique brand of depravity but the second entry has always seemed like the most disturbing of the trilogy. Sequels always have to go bigger than the first, and what’s bigger than three people sewn ass to mouth like a centipede? Twelve people! This one does go the meta route, with someone being obsessed with the first film, and wanting to make a human contraption all his own. As if the centipede element couldn’t be worse, there’s even a guy jerking off with sandpaper. This one is just…yeah, I don’t want to even talk about this movie anymore.

The Last House On The Left (1972)

Wes Craven was one sick bastard, and none of that is exemplified more than in his 1972 film. Sexual violence in film has never been my thing, and the prolonged rape of a teenage girl just makes me squeamish even typing it. It follows a group that commits that violent act, only to come across the girl’s family, where they make them pay for their sins. Thankfully, this one gives us a bit more revenge and retribution than many others on this list and

Antichrist (2009)

I’ve seen this 2009 Lars Von Trier film a grand total of one time yet there is still imagery that I cannot get out of my head. A penis being smashed with a hammer. A woman’s clit being cut off with scissors. It’s the kind of thing that makes you go “What the fuck am I watching?” It follows a married couple played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg who lose their infant child and go off to a cabin the woods to grieve. There, thing take a turn as the couple starts losing their minds.

A Serbian Film (2010)

I’m not sure there’s ever been a film as depraved as this one. It’s really the only one of the list that I just don’t understand the appeal of in any way. This one just feels like someone very sick in the head trying to live out their fantasies. It follows a struggling pornstar as he’s offered a chance to star in an art film that ends up being  a disgusting snuff film. Pedophilia and Necrophilia should be enough to turn most people away, and I can’t blame you. I have no interest in watching this one and it is firmly the most controversial and just plain disgusting film of all time.

What do you think are the most controversial horror films of all time?

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