Even with its mediocre reviews The Strangers: Chapter 1 has scared up quite a killing at the box office, making it the biggest horror film to open in 2024 so far. Ticket buyers shelled out $11.8 million domestically for the home invasion thriller over the weekend, surpassing the last film in the series Strangers: Prey at Night (2018) which grabbed almost $10.5 million upon its opening.

The year started out promisingly with fans anticipating big studio movies such as Night Swim, Imaginary, and Tarot on the slate. But those fell flat both critically and commercially, casting a pall over the box office, although Night Swim’s opening is almost on par with The Strangers Chapter 1.

It wasn’t until March that things started to improve critically with the release of Immaculate and then in April, The First Omen. Still, good reviews could pull either of those films into the $10 million opening weekend club.

However, his has been a streamer year for horror movies, with many genre originals being released on paid subscription services like Shudder. Viewers seem to appreciate the convenience of staying home to watch Late Night With the Devil, Infested, and the upcoming In a Violent Nature. Even this year’s breakout hit Abigail successfully moved from theaters to home digital just three weeks after its theatrical release.

With the year half over, there are still plenty of horror movies headed our way. To name a few, there is Longlegs, Cuckoo, MaXXXine, and Trap still loaded in the chamber for 2024.

The Strangers: Chapter 1, as the title suggests, is the first in director Renny Harlin’s trilogy within this universe. Whether or not the remaining two will be as lucrative on their opening weekends despite tepid reviews remains to be seen.

Zak Bagans has been getting a bum rap lately thanks to some of his former Ghost Adventures teammates. But he’s also getting roasted by one of his alleged former Haunted Museum employees in Las Vegas. 

The apparent team member took to Reddit in an AMA (Ask Me Anything), inviting subscribers to ask them about their job including juicy details regarding their famous boss. It resulted in a windfall of queries that came with some surprising answers. 

Bagans was one of the first to take his ghost hunting prowess to television creating a successful reality show that featured some of the world’s most haunted places. Coupled with his good looks, reactive histrionics and penchant for building tension Ghost Adventures became a pop culture phenomenon. 

I worked with Zak Bagans in his museum. AMA
by inGhostAdventures

Throughout his travels, Bagans began to collect cursed items enough to fill a vintage house in Nevada which he eventually repurposed and named The Haunted Museum. Guests are able to visit his collection for a fee and are directed through its many rooms by a tour guide.

The YouTube channel TheSneezingMonkey featured the AMA Reddit thread on his channel with an update to follow.

Since the ex-employee cannot, or won’t, be verified, suffice it to say that nothing revealed in the lengthy discussion should be taken as fact. This could be a disgruntled ex-employee with nothing better to do than talk smack about the television icon who has managed to keep his show on the air for 16 years. Or, some of it could be true.

But that is for you to decide.

Pretty much any piece of writing from Stephen King is ripe for a movie adaptation. The next one is a 1980 short story that appeared in his 1985 anthology Skeleton Crew, specifically The Monkey. The news broke by Deadline says Neon won the bidding war and the film will release in 2025.

Distributors went gaga trying to secure the rights with Neon the victor reportedly paying seven figures for the horror movie.

According to Deadline: “In The Monkey, when twin brothers Hal and Bill discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them. Theo James plays the twins in later years. [Christian] Convery plays the younger twins.”

The film is directed by Osgood (Oz) Perkins whose buzz-drunk current project, Longlegs is releasing on July 12.

The film also stars, Tatiana Maslany (She–Hulk: Attorney at Law), Elijah Wood (The Lord Of The Rings), Colin O’Brien (Wonka), Rohan Campbell (The Hardy Boys) and Sarah Levy (Schitt’s Creek).

James Wan and Michael Clear’s banner Atomic Robot have a production credit.

In 2023 a short film directed by Spencer Sherry was adapted from the King story. That film is currently touring the film festival market but you can watch the trailer below.