It’s time to get horrifying. Blumhouse has unveiled a whole new slate of frights to get us through 2021, featuring several more “Welcome to the Blumhouse” flicks, a new teaser for Halloween Kills, and a fifth Insidious movie — this one directed by franchise star Patrick Wilson himself.
The studio held its first BlumFest, where it shared its upcoming releases and new announcements. The biggest news of the event was that Wilson (Aquaman, The Conjuring), who’s been a major figure in the Insidious franchise, will be returning to Insidious…only this time he’ll be both in front of and behind the camera, making his directorial debut with this latest flick. The movie takes place 10 years after the previous Insidious film, centering around Dalton (Ty Simpkins) as he starts his first year of college.
“Directing the movie is both professionally and personally a full circle moment for me, and I am extremely grateful to be entrusted in continuing to tell this frightening and haunting story,” Wilson said in a statement. “Into the further we go.”
Blumhouse Television also unveiled the next selection of “Welcome to the Blumhouse” films, made in partnership with Amazon Prime Video. These come after the first four movies were released over the past two months, with some of them emerging as standouts in this latest direct-to-video showcase. The new slate features a variety of women writers and directors, part of Blumhouse’s ongoing (and overdue) attempts to increase representation behind the scenes.
There’s The Manor, written and directed by Axelle Carolyn, about a stroke patient (Barbara Hershey, speaking of Insidious) who worries her new nursing home is housing a supernatural terror. You’ve got Black as Night, directed by Maritte Lee Go, which focuses on a teenage girl who fights vampires with her friends. Then there’s Madres, written by Marcella Ochoa and Mario Miscione, about a Mexican-American couple living in a migrant farming community who believe they may be cursed. And finally Bingo, directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero, where a community’s beloved bingo hall is sold to a “more powerful force than money itself.”
Blumhouse also released a new teaser for Halloween Kills, the latest film in the Halloween franchise, whose release date has been moved to October 14, 2021 because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.