Alam Nyo Ba?

Nine months ago, it was announced that singer/songwriter Charli xcx would be starring in the next film from director Takashi Miike. Now, Deadline reports that the project (simply known as Untitled Kyoto for now) will begin filming in Japan next month – and with the start of production right around the corner, Milly Alcock (Supergirl), Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), actres-model-singer Kiko Mizuhara (Attack on Titan) and Show Kasamatsu (Tokyo Vice) have signed on to share the screen with Charli xcx.

Miike and Charli xcx

Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike has over 120 directing credits to his name, and it has only taken him 35 years to reach that impressive number. The 1999 release Audition may be the most popular film Miike has ever made. Among his many other credits are Dead or Alive, Ichi the Killer, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Gozu, One Missed Call, The Great Yokai War, Sukiyaki Western Django, 13 Assassins, Yakuza Apocalypse, and Blade of the Immortal. He made a cameo in Eli Roth’s Hostel, and contributed to the Masters of Horror TV series with an episode called Imprint. Showtime found Imprint to be so graphic and disturbing that they refused to air it – which is why the DVD release proudly stated that the movie was “Banned from Cable Broadcast.”

Charli xcx has been working on building up her film acting career, and she’s going about it in a really interesting way. She officially made her feature acting debut with Legendary Entertainment’s remake of the infamous 1978 box office hit Faces of Death, but that sat on the shelf for a while and won’t be released until April. Since working on Faces of Death, Charli xcx has taken roles in the Gregg Araki thriller I Want Your Sex, Cathy Yan’s The Gallerist, Romain Gavras’s Sacrifice, Aidan Zamiri’s The Moment, Jeremy O. Harris and Pete Ohs’ Erupjca, and Julia Jackman’s graphic novel adaptation 100 Nights of Hero. By taking on these projects, she has worked alongside the likes of Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Jermaine Fowler, Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Chris Evans, Lena Góra, Will Madden, Emma Corrin, Rosanna Arquette, Rachel Sennott, and Nicholas Galitizine.

Charli xcx is producing the film through her Studio365 banner. Good World Productions, Yumiko Aoyagi Productions, and OLM are also producing, with Alex Peace-Power executive producing. Miike’s longtime producing partner Misako Saka produces on his behalf.

Story

Charli xcx and Takashi Miike crafted the story for the film together, then brought Ross Evans and Yumiko Aoyagi in to write the script. The story follows three best friends who meet up in Kyoto to rekindle their lifelong friendships. What is intended to be a carefree girls trip devolves into a nightmare, unfolding when Katie (Charli xcx) becomes possessed by a violent, tortured spirit (Mizuhara) in the Japanese horror tradition.

Are you looking forward to this Charli xcx / Takashi Miike collaboration, and are you glad to hear that the producer/star is being joined in the cast by Milly Alcock, Norman Reedus, Kiko Mizuhara, and Show Kasamatsu? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Dracula is one of the most adapted stories out there. Every few years, we’re getting another interpretation of the story, and this time it’s Luc Besson’s turn. And if it feels like this movie has had an extremely long release timeline, then you’re not wrong, as the film was released in Europe last summer. We’re now finally getting into US theaters and, while critics aren’t loving it (check out my review here), it has managed to make some money at the box office. Despite being one of many versions of the story, Besson’s version is definitely one of the more unique ones out there (even if it’s more a retelling of Francis Ford Coppola’s version than anything).

I was able to speak with writer/director Luc Besson and stars Christoph Waltz, Caleb Landry Jones and Zoe Bleu about the film. Besson gets into why getting Danny Elfman to do the score was one of the biggest wins for him. Landry Jones and Bleu discuss what they were able to do to help develop their chemistry despite not having many scenes together in the film. Then Waltz gets into whether or not he prefers to do period films or those set in modern day. Given his filmography, his answer may surprise you. Check it out in the video above!

Dracula plot:

When a 15th-century prince (Caleb Landry Jones) witnesses the brutal murder of his wife (Zoe Bleu), he renounces God and damns heaven itself. Cursed with eternal life, he is reborn as Dracula, an immortal warlord who defies fate in a blood-soaked crusade to wrench his lost love back from death, no matter the cost. On the verge of reuniting, Dracula is hunted by a relentless priest (Christoph Waltz), sworn to end his immortal reign.

Luc Besson’s Dracula Is Now Playing In Theaters.

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Bryan

Everyone loves a good shark movie. Ever since Jaws hit theaters and broke box office records in 1975, it’s been a reliable horror movie genre. Case in point: fifty years later, Jaws is still able to draw in a huge crowd, with it recently dominating the box office over star-studded, newer fare. But, in the wake of Spielberg’s movie, cinemas (and home video) were flooded with Jaws knockoffs, which continue to this day. Here are the best ones:

Z​ombie (1979)

O​k. Already I’m cheating, but I mean . . . come on. This has one of the best shark scenes in cinematic history. During an early scene of the movie, a woman decides to go for a swim in the lovely Caribbean waters when a tiger shark appears. As she hides among some of the terrain on the ocean floor, she quickly finds she is not alone. A zombie has found his way into the depths. As she swims away, the zombie turns its attention to the shark. What ensues is one of the greatest shark fights on film, and it involves a real shark.

M​ako: Jaws Of Death (1976)

T​his movie has a little bit of everything. Vietnam war veterans, evil strip club owners, and telepathic connections to sharks. What more do you need? Sonny is in Vietnam and is saved by a mako shark as he is being stalked by the enemy. He decides he loves sharks and is given a magic medallion by a shaman that lets him telepathically communicate with his beloved creatures. When he moves to Florida, he runs afoul of the owner of a local aquarium and a strip club owner who wants to use sharks in one of his acts. They try to convince Sonny to use his powers to help them, but instead, he declares war on those that try to hurt them. Ironically, for a movie that’s pro-shark, many of the tactics used off screen during filming were cruel, with sharks having had their teeth removed prior to filming.

Great White aka The Last Shark (1981):

This Italian-made Jaws-rip-off was a smash hit. It made $18 million and probably would have made a lot more, were it not for the fact that Universal Studios actually sued the American distributor to have it pulled from theaters. For the longest time, this was unavailable in the U.S, but now you can see the Italian release version, The Last Shark, online. While some may wonder, after seeing it, why Universal sued, part of the reason is the original score the American distributor commissioned for the film. It was very, very closely patterned on what John Williams wrote for Jaws, and isn’t available on any currently existing version of the film.

S​harknado (2013)

The cheesy shark film that started a phenomenon! This low-budget horror film seemed destined to follow the other such films that end up on the SyFy Channel, but this one caught on with audiences who fell in love. There ended up being six of these films made over five years. You don’t need to be in deep water for there to be a shark attack, but in this movie you don’t even need to be in the water at all. A freak weather accident causes a hurricane off the coast of Los Angeles and picks up a load of deadly great white sharks. It drops them on the unsuspecting public as the city is drenched. Finley has to fight his way to Beverly Hills to make sure his family is safe. The cultural impact of this movie immediately made it one of the best shark movies.

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Another tale that proves that humans should not genetically meddle with ultimate killing machines in research facilities. Scientists in an underwater laboratory begin altering the DNA of a group of mako sharks. Now they are larger and way more intelligent than they should be. The group funding the project show up to question if it should move forward, but they all end up trapped in the base as a tropical storm rages above. The sharks get loose and begin wreaking havoc upon anyone they lay their eyes on. A fun movie that will have you pumping your fist in the air.

B​ait 3D (2012)

M​ade during the post-Avatar 3D craze, this film tries to make the best use of it by sticking you in a supermarket with sharks. A tsunami hits the coast of Australia, trapping a group of people in a quickly flooding grocery store. Among them is former lifeguard Josh who found a new profession after a shark attack. As they begin to wonder when the storm will let up, they realize that the flooded store has a twelve-foot-long killer shark patrolling its aisles. Now they must figure out how to survive and not become a cleanup in aisle five. This one also had a nice role for the late Julian McMahon in one of his few big screen contributions to the genre.

The Reef (2010)

P​roving that you should never go sailing with your friends. A group sets out for a fun day of sailing when the boat hits a rock. This opens up the bottom of the ship, and the group has to decide what to do. One of them recommends they try and swim to a nearby island as the overturned boat is being pulled out to sea. Then a shark fin appears in the water. As they swim, they are being hunted by a great white shark. They are being picked off one by one by the apex predator as they try to make it to land.

4​7 Meters Down (2017)

S​o not only are you being hunted by a man-eating shark, but you’re also trapped on the ocean floor? Sounds like a nightmare. This is precisely what happens to the two sisters as they go on vacation. They decide to do a cage diving excursion in shark-infested waters, but the cable holding onto the cage snaps. As they settle onto the bottom of the ocean, they see that sharks are starting to appear. Now they only have one hour of air left and can’t leave the cage as the sharks try to wait them out. Can you imagine cage diving and seeing a megalodon just show up like in The Meg 2?

The Black Demon (2013)

This was a surprise hit in the spring of 2023. While this Josh Lucas-led shark flick didn’t get much theatrical play via new distributor The Avenue (they had a solid theatrical hit with Land of Bad), this was a huge streaming hit and a sequel is in the works. While it’s lower-key than a lot of other movies on this list, the setting on a Mexican Oil Rig is cool, and Lucas is a better actor than usual for movies like this.

T​he Shallows (2016)

A​ surfer hears about a secluded beach that is supposed to be the ultimate destination to catch some waves. When she heads out, she quickly finds a shark hunting in the area and attacks her. She ends up on a rock only 200 feet from shore but can’t safely make it back without becoming a shark dinner. As she sits trying to figure out what to do, she realizes that high tide is coming soon and the rock she is safe on will be underwater. A great thriller that is tense throughout.

Open Water (2003)

M​aybe the most terrifying thing about this movie is that it’s based on a true story! It will keep anyone out of the ocean. A young couple books a scuba diving trip in the Caribbean. They have such a great time that they are the last to surface in their group. To their dismay, they find that the rest of their group has left them behind after a botched headcount. The couple is left to float out in the ocean and see that sharks could soon be the biggest problem. This one will make your stomach clench the whole time you’re watching it. Beware.

J​aws (1975)

I​t had to be right? This Steven Spielberg film not only changed the summer movie season forever but also terrified people of getting in the water. Sadly it also caused a worldwide problem when people began hunting sharks due to fear of this movie becoming a reality. Sheriff Brody thinks a shark may be patrolling off the coast of his small town and tries to convince the mayor to shut the beaches down. He refuses to do so because the July 4th weekend would be an economic disaster. Of course, then a giant shark shows up and kills a little boy. A team is assembled to hunt the shark down and kill it, but not before it takes out most of the crew and sinks their boat. A classic film that is worth a watch whenever possible. A classic film that is worth a watch whenever possible. Recently, the movie came very close to topping this box office after its 50th anniversary re-release, so Spielberg’s classic is still pulling in a massive audience.

Jaws 2 (1978)

While making a sequel to Jaws was an act of pure commerce, the first one they did isn’t half bad. This time, a great white stalks a bunch of teens, and despite saving Amity just a few years before, no one believes Brody when he warns them that a shark is on the loose. This benefits from Roy Scheider reprising his role and the classy director of Jeannot Szwarc. That said, the next two Jaws movies are REALLY bad.

Under Paris (2024)

A newer entry into the genre, this Xavier Gens-directed thriller was made for Netflix, and sports a better-than-usual lead in The Artist‘s Bérénice Bejo. It became a global smash hit and is currently their second most popular non-English language original film of all time.

Dangerous Animals (2025)

Sean Byrne’s contribution to the shark genre did something different. In it, the sharks themselves aren’t the antagonists. Instead, the bad guy is Jai Courtney’s Tucker, who runs a shark diving operation that serves as a front for his murders, with him using sharks as his weapons. It’s a cool premise stylishly brought to the screen, with Byrne making sure you’ll be on the edge of your seat throughout, rooting for the heroine to escape from the clutches of Courtney’s wonderfully unhinged villain. You can catch this one on Shudder.

W​hat do you think are some of the best shark movies? Where are the Ghost Shark and 2-Headed Shark Attack fans? Let us know in the comments.

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Chris

This weekend marks the release of the umpteenth adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this time directed by Luc Besson. Already released in Europe under the title Dracula: A Love Tale, the film took a while to reach the United States, largely because Besson is no longer the commercial force he once was—back when his EuropaCorp banner reliably churned out mid-budget action movies that actually made money.

Still, Dracula is performing better than expected at the box office, despite lacking a traditional movie star (Caleb Landry Jones remains largely unknown to mainstream audiences). In fact, it’s on track to post Vertical Entertainment’s biggest opening ever. While it won’t be a blockbuster, its theatrical run is positioning it nicely for a strong streaming debut. And with Nosferatu having been a surprise hit last year, it’s clear there’s still plenty of life left in the old count.

Which Dracula Adaptation Is the Definitive One?

With that in mind, we want to know: which version of Bram Stoker’s immortal tale resonates most with our readers?

Before you vote, a few caveats:

• This is not a list of every Dracula movie ever made—only films that directly adapt Stoker’s novel.
• That means titles like Dracula Untold aren’t included.
• Nosferatu is included, as the silent classic was an unauthorized—but remarkably faithful—adaptation of the novel’s core premise (a claim that also applies to Robert Eggers’ recent remake).

The Most Iconic Dracula Performances

Over the decades, there have been countless portrayals of the Count, but three performances still loom largest:

• Bela Lugosi in 1931’s Dracula, the Universal Monsters version which defined the character for generations
• Christopher Lee, whose Hammer Films run turned Dracula into a ferocious gothic icon
• Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola’s lavish, romantic adaptation—an interpretation that clearly influenced Besson’s new film

Each version reflects its era, and each has its defenders.

Vote Now: What’s the Best Dracula Movie?

So, which Dracula adaptation stands above the rest?
Take the poll below and let us know which version you think still rules the night.

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PLOT: A misfit group of unwitting high school students stumble upon a cursed object, an ancient Aztec Death Whistle. They discover that blowing the whistle and the terrifying sound it emits will summon their future deaths to hunt them down.

REVIEW: One thing that always cracks me up about the horror genre is how much a similar concept can just pop up over and over again. It’s more about execution than originality, and it means we can see some pretty similar films from time to time. And it certainly feels like we’ve seen Whistle many times at this point. The film follows a group of high schoolers who discover an Aztec Death Whistle, which summons their future deaths to hunt them down. Cursed object killing teens? Tarot and Wish Upon are just a couple that come to mind. The story is very “been there, done that,” but really, how is the execution? Eh…

One of the biggest issues with Whistle is that there’s nothing to gain from the death whistle. Usually, there’s some kind of positive outcome that makes the cursed object seem appealing. Instead, these characters use the whistle, even though it has no actual positive gain for them. So why on earth do people keep using it?! There’s nothing to gain, and it looks creepy. Don’t put your mouth on that thing! At one point, two of the characters hook up in the midst of all this death, and it undercuts the severity of the situation even further.

Which is too bad because the concept of your future self, inflicting the way you’ll eventually die on you is pretty interesting. They take a pretty Final Destination-y approach with it, with some over-the-top deaths, but this does go decidedly more supernatural. This is more like ghosts haunting people and then killing them in an extremely violent way. I suppose this whistle was lucky that none of these kids were just going to die peacefully in their sleep, or it’d have made for a pretty underwhelming kill.

The characters in Whistle are extremely weak and feel like 90s movie stereotypes. We’ve got the new girl, her loner cousin, two bullies, and two popular girls who have a connection with non-popular kids. Why are there multiple of the exact same character type? It’s mind-numbingly stupid, and, for a film where you’re supposed to care about these people, I was just waiting for their eventual demise. The dialogue is so unnatural and often results in more unintentionally funny moments than anything relatable. It’s grating to listen to these high schoolers talk.

I’ve always liked Dafne Keen and Sophie Nélisse but they’re not given much to work with here. Their characters fall in love, but it feels very forced and the two have zero chemistry together. It’s nice that the film treats lesbian relationships as everyday versus something to make a grand gesture out of, but there’s no spark there. Nick Frost also shows up as a character who is nothing more than expositional and an easy kill. And I’m not sure if I can ever take a scene seriously when the character is named Horse and people are exclaiming it in terror.

The worst character is easily Percy Hines White’s Noah Haggerty. He’s a youth leader at the local church who is also…a drug dealer? Maybe it could have been handled well, but he’s so over-the-top evil from his first appearance that it’s hard to even take him seriously. His existence just seems to be a way to wrap up something with the ending, with his evilness helping absolve the other characters of any guilt. But, like so many of the people in this film, he’s just a caricature and never feels like a real living human being at any point. Every character is simply a conduit to tell this story, rather than having these events happen to people who actually have some dimension to them.

It’s not all terrible, as there are some great visuals, with The Spiral maze being a real highlight. Director Corin Hardy has an interesting eye, at times. Some of the deaths are very impressive, taking a particularly violent route with the last couple. The car and machinery accidents were particularly brutal and were pulled off well. If the film were more of that and took a little bit more time with the rules of the whistle, it would have had a little more potential. But the rules are terribly inconsistent. One character dies within an hour of the whistle, while others take days. At first, I thought this had to do with the proximity of when their deaths would have occurred, but no. It’s all completely random.

Multiple horror directors are referenced with Muschietti Cigars (for director of IT, Andy) and Mr. Craven (obviously for Wes). I’m sure there were others that I missed, but it’s just another element that makes this feel like a horror film from an earlier decade, as this is such a played-out trope. I really disliked my time with Whistle. Outside of a couple of impressive deaths, this feels like the kind of movie I would have watched on streaming in the 2010s. The characters are downright unlikable, and it’s hard to care about their fates. Every element is so generic, and it’s hard to get invested in a story that feels so half-baked.

Whistle is now playing In Theaters and comes to Shudder later this year.

Whistle

TERRIBLE

3

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Last year, Roth launched a company called The Horror Section with plans to produce all things horror, including movies, TV shows, games, podcasts, and more. The Horror Section picked up the distribution rights to writer/director Joe Begos’s Jimmy and Stiggs, which they brought to theatres in August, and then the found footage horror film Dream Eater, which reached theatres at the end of October. Next up for the company is Roth’s Ice Cream Man, which is expected to be released sometime in the summer – and now, the company has announced that they’ve acquired distribution rights to the sexy slasher Stiletto, which is currently in post-production!

Synopsis

Directed by Samuel Gonzalez Jr. (The Plastic Men, The Retaliators) and based on a story by Gigi Gustin (Brute 1976), an actress and exotic dancer who used her real life experience to tell the story from inside the world, Stiletto has the following synopsis: Set on the one-year anniversary of the brutal murder of her older sister, Stiletto follows Lyric (Gustin) as she seeks retribution and works to protect the dancer community from the masked killer responsible for a wave of strip club slayings. This neon-soaked, sexy slasher glimmers with style and introduces a new killer, but even more exciting, a new final girl with the power to be a series-defining icon. This definitely sounds like my kind of movie!

Gustin is joined in the cast by Charlotte McKinney (Fantasy Island), Colleen Camp (American Hustle), Meghan Carrasquillo (Hider in My House), Stephen Blackehart (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Hannah Hueston (The Anacondas).

The Horror Sections’ Eli Roth is producing Stiletto alongside Gustin and Hearse Productions. Executive producers include Jon Schnaars and Holly Adams on behalf of The Horror Section and Christopher Woodrow and Raj Singh on behalf of Media Capital Technologies (MCT). The international sales rights are being represented by Scatena & Rosner Films.

Statements

Eli Roth provided the following statement: “Gigi and Sam have made an instant classic. Original, smart, deliciously fun, I was absolutely blown away by their reinvention and original take on the slasher subgenre. Gigi based the movie on real experiences and gives her all in an explosive performance. Sam’s direction is smart, scary, and truly cinematic. It’s a fantastic horror movie in the subgenre I love the most. The finale is truly one of the greatest, most original final girl vs. slasher finales I have ever seen in a slasher film. I cannot wait to bring this to audiences worldwide on the big screen; it’s a remarkable cinematic debut.“

Gigi Gustin added, “The journey of making Stiletto has been the most intense, chaotic, yet equally rewarding experience of my life. There were moments I felt like I was running blind through a dark tunnel in eight-inch heels, fueled only by indie spirit, a negative bank account, and fierce belief in the story. Having someone like Eli in our corner, not just championing the film but becoming an integral part of it, feels completely surreal. I’ve poured every bit of heart, authenticity, glitter and blood I can into this story, and with Eli’s expertise in horror, I truly believe it has the potential to be something extraordinary. For the first time, I can see the path ahead in the tunnel. It looks sexy, scary, and completely ruthless in the best possible way!“

Does Stiletto sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this upcoming The Horror Section release by leaving a comment below.

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A while back, it was announced that The Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan and The Notebook author Nicholas Sparks were teaming up for a supernatural romantic thriller called Remain. Shyamalan and Sparks created the original story together, with Shyamalan going off to write a screenplay based on the story while Sparks turned the idea into a novel. As was said at the time, “Both will be based on the same concept and set of characters but designed for their individual mediums.” The Sparks novel has since reached store shelves and is available for purchase at THIS LINK. Shyamalan’s movie was supposed to reach theatres on October 23, 2026, just in time for Halloween, but Shyamalan has taken to social media to reveal that Warner Bros. Pictures has decided to push it back a few months.

Remain will now be released on February 5, 2027. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Cast and Story

Sparks’ novel has the following description: A one-of-a-kind novel that grapples with the supernatural mysteries of life, death, and human connection—an unprecedented collaboration between the globally bestselling author of love stories like The Notebook and the renowned writer and director of blockbuster thrillers like The Sixth Sense.

When New York architect Tate Donovan arrives in Cape Cod to design his best friend’s summer home, he is hoping to make a fresh start. Recently discharged from an upscale psychiatric facility where he was treated for acute depression, he is still wrestling with the pain of losing his beloved sister. Sylvia’s deathbed revelation—that she can see spirits who are still tethered to the living world, a gift that runs in their family—sits uneasily with Tate, who struggles to believe in more than what reason can explain. But when he takes up residence at a historic bed-and-breakfast on the Cape, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Wren who will challenge every assumption he has about his logical and controlled world. Tate and Wren find themselves forging an immediate connection, one that neither has ever experienced before.

But Tate gradually discovers that below the surface of Wren’s idyllic small-town life, hatred, jealousy, and greed are festering, threatening their fragile relationship just as it begins to blossom. Tate realizes that in order to free Wren from an increasingly desperate fate, he will need to unearth the truth about her past before time runs out . . . a quest that will make him doubt whether we can ever believe the stories we tell about ourselves, and the laws that govern our existence. Love—while transformative—can sometimes be frightening.

A story about the power of transcendent emotion, Remain asks us all: Can love set us free not only from our greatest sorrows, but even from the boundaries of life and death? 

Shyamalan’s film stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko), Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton), Julie Hagerty (Airplane), Jay O. Sanders (When You Finishing Saving the World) Tracy Ifeachor (The Pitt), Hannah James (Mercy Street), Caleb Ruminer (The Irrational), Kieran Mulcare (Jessica Jones), Maria Dizzia (My Old Ass), and award-winning actor, producer, director and recording artist Ashley Walters (Adolescence).

What do you think of Remain moving from October 2026 to February 2027? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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