By Blumhouse is a studio I’m usually hot and cold with. When they’re great, they produce some of the best horror movies on the market. But at the same time, they’ll also produce movies that are the definition of generic and lackluster. And, of course, there’s a healthy helping of middle-of-the-road fair. So with Blumhouse’s big NYCC panel, Blumfest 2024, I was curious to see what Blumhouse’s next slate of titles would look like and if any of them were of note. Surprisingly, I was actually interested in a few of them.
After a brief introduction by Kevin Bacon, Jason Blum came out and started to talk about one of the biggest changes at Blumhouse this year was how they’ve partnered with James Wan’s Atomic Monster production house. Later on in the panel, Jason would go on to say how both production companies have very different mindsets when creating horror films, but the partnership allowed the two to bounce ideas off each other and share assets and resources to make each of their films bigger and better than before. Thanks to this new partnership, Jason touted that Blumhouse’s output of movies would be better than ever and that 2025’s slate of movies is one of the strongest line-ups yet.
The first film showed off at Blumfest was the company’s first 2025 release, Wolf Man, which will release on January 17th. This then led to the director, Leigh Whannell, coming out and discussing his vision for the film. Much like what he did for The Invisible Man, he’s attempted to make a classic horror movie monster more contemporary. Whannell talked about how disease and terminal illness were an inspiration for his interpretation of the character and how the film will be seen through the lens of the Wolf Man’s loved ones as they witness him slowly being taken away from them.
This then led to Jason debuting the first trailer for the film, which showcased Christopher Abbott slowly turning into a werewolf after being mauled by one in the woods. It was a decent enough trailer and I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt given Whannell’s involvement. Whannell then explained how he was insistent that the film needed practical effects to showcase the transformation, which is a good sign, but I’m still not 100% sold on the film. Maybe it’s because of the January release, of my own middling opinions on The Invisible Man, but the more he talked about his vision for the film, the more open I became to it. Before Whannell left, the conversation shifted to very natural topics, like how the cast did a werewolf-themed escape room and how everyone on stage would totally date Michael J Fox from Teen Wolf.
The topic then shifted to another film, The Woman In The Yard. Jason Blum was ecstatic talking about how Jaume Collett-Serra was directing the film after badgering him for years to make a film for Blumhouse. Blum said how Collett-Serra popped up on his radar back when House of Wax came out he was thrilled that he finally accepted his offer when he was given a copy of the script. The teaser trailer played, which showcased… well, a woman in a yard. This woman was draped in all black and was seemingly stalking a family, but it definitely had some creepy vibes. Not all that impressed with it, but the Blumfest quickly moved on after its announcement.
Blumfest wasn’t all about showcasing upcoming movies though. Next came a discussion on Fear the Spotlight, the debut title of Blumhouse’s new video game publishing branch, Blumhouse Games. Jason said he wanted to approach the company’s venture into video games much in the same way he handled Blumhouse’s film branch – focusing primarily on smaller Indie titles that are new IPs. “If you like our movies, you’ll like our games!” he confidently claimed, and to his credit, the game does look good and I’ll be getting it when it comes out on October 22nd for every current-gen system.
After that brief foray into gaming, Meghann Fahey and Christopher Landon came out and joined Jason to talk about Drop, a thriller that releases on April 11th, which was the first title of Blumfest that genuinely piqued my interest. They premiered the trailer and went into detail about the concept of the film, which involves Meghann Fahey as a single mom who goes out on a blind date. At first, she starts to enjoy herself… until she receives threatening air drops saying how her kids are being held hostage. Because airdrops only allow someone to share info if they’re close, the mastermind is somewhere near here, but if she says anything to anyone about her situation, her kids will be murdered. So Meghann’s character has to not only figure out who is sending her the airdrops, but she has to keep her kids alive by doing what this mysterious person wants, such as killing her date. The trailer was honestly pretty gripping and with a director like Christopher Landon in charge, who has more hits than misses, it has the potential to be a solid thriller.
Blum, Fahey, and Landon then talked about the capabilities that technology can provide for horror concepts. Jason Blum said that he thinks the film has great potential because the film plays on the fear of how a person’s personal privacy can be invaded and undermined, which is a uniquely modern fear, with Fahey chiming in how her biggest fear in making the film was that this was her first horror movie and she had no idea what it would be like. After a brief stint of nudity where Jason took his shirt off and threw it into the audience, Mike Flanagan took to the stage to introduce attendees to his next upcoming feature film, a sequel to The Exorcist. After the disastrous release of David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer, Jason talked about how they had to rethink production and how the two of them are much more comfortable with the direction of this sequel, though not much else was said about it, but it still became one of the highlights of Blumfest given how exciting the possibilities of a Mike Flanagan directed Exorcist movie are.
The two then started to talk about The Black Phone 2, which will release October 17, 2025, and how it expands upon Joe Hill’s short story. A video from director Scott Derrickson then played, where Derrickson was candid about how he didn’t want to do a sequel just because it was successful both critically and commercially. He got in touch with Joe Hill and the two started to plan out what a continuation of the first film would even look like, with both of them satisfied with how the story makes sense. Scott compared the first movie to being a middle-school coming-of-age story with the sequel being more of a high-school coming-of-age story. No trailer was shown off, but I have full faith that the sequel will keep the high standards of the first film, especially given how the original cast returns to reprise their roles.
And, because it was only a matter of time, Five Nights At Freddys 2 was mentioned, which resulted in the loudest cheer of the Blumfest panel. Jason said to Mike that he was surprised that it became the highest-grossing horror movie of 2023, which is a bit head-tilting given the ravenous anticipation by fans of the franchise. Jason said to the crowd that he believed the film was as successful as it was because of how involved the series creator, Scott Cawthon, was in the production, which Jason said was unusual but greatly appreciated. Mike tried to grill Jason about what the second film was about, mostly to satisfy his kids, and Jason relented and showcased the sequel’s poster, which had Toy Freddy peeking out of a curtain with the film’s release date set for December 5, 2025. Of course, people cheered.
The final film that was shown off at Blumfest was M3GAN 2.0, with Allison Williams coming on stage in a fabulous red coat and skirt. Allison began to talk about the original M3GAN and was worried that people wouldn’t “get” Megan, but after the trailer released and the memes surrounding the film cropped up online, her fears were relieved. This led to a discussion between Allison, Mike, and Jason where they reminisced that despite how scary their movies end up being, the behind-the-scenes moments are usually silly and goofy. Allison talked about a funny story she had with Jordan Peele where he said that she shouldn’t be afraid to star in a horror movie because she’s the perfect horror movie white girl, which got the audience laughing. Allison was quick to point out though that the only real unnerving moments she had one set while filming M3GAN 2.0 were whenever the Megan animatronic is left alone on set because of how uncanny it looks. Following that, there was a brief tease of Megan herself, who reiterated the film’s release date of June 27.
As a showcase of everything coming up in the world of Blumhouse, I can safely say that all of the titles announced during Blumfest will satisfy fans of the company. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, but even horror movie fans that are torn on Blumhouse, like myself, have something to look forward to in the future. I can’t help but get a little bit excited over some of the upcoming films like Drop, The Wolf Man, and whatever Mike Flanagan’s Exorcist will be, if only because of the talent involved. Time will tell of course, but I think that 2025 is probably going to be a much better year for the company in terms of quality than the past several years were.
