It’s always interesting when award-winning special effects artists become directors of horror films. That is the case with The Demon Disorder coming from Steven Boyle who has done work on The Matrix movies, The Hobbit trilogy, and King Kong (2005).

The Demon Disorder is the latest Shudder acquisition as it continues adding high-quality and interesting content to its catalog. The film is the directorial debut of Boyle and he says he is happy that it will become a part of the horror streamer’s library coming fall 2024.

“We are thrilled that The Demon Disorder has reached its final resting place with our friends at Shudder,” said Boyle.  “It’s a community and fanbase that we hold in the highest esteem and we couldn’t be happier to be on this journey with them!”

Shudder echoes Boyle’s thoughts about the film, emphasizing his skill.

“After years of a creating a range of elaborate visual experiences through his work as a special effects designer on iconic films, we’re thrilled to give Steven Boyle a platform for his feature length directorial debut with The Demon Disorder,” said Samuel Zimmerman, Head of Programming for Shudder.  “Full of impressive body horror that fans have come to expect from this master of effects, Boyle’s film is an engrossing story about breaking generational curses that viewers will find both unsettling and amusing.”

The movie is being described as an “Australian family drama” that centers on, “Graham, a man haunted by his past since the death of his father and the estrangement from his two brothers. Jake, the middle brother, contacts Graham claiming that something is horribly wrong: their youngest brother Phillip is possessed by their deceased father. Graham reluctantly agrees to go and see for himself. With the three brothers back together, they soon realize they are unprepared for the forces against them and learn that the sins of their past will not stay hidden. But how do you defeat a presence that knows you inside and out? An anger so powerful it refuses to stay dead?”

The movie stars, John Noble (The Lord of the Rings), Charles Cottier, Christian Willis, and Dirk Hunter.

Take a look at the trailer below and let us know what you think. The Demon Disorder will begin streaming on Shudder this fall.

Producer and director Roger Corman has a movie for every generation going back about 70 years. That means horror fans aged 21 and older have probably seen one of his films. Mr. Corman passed away on May 9 at the age of 98.

“He was generous, open-hearted, and kind to all those who knew him. A devoted and selfless father, he was deeply loved by his daughters,” his family said on Instagram. “His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age.”

The prolific filmmaker was born in Detroit Michigan in 1926. The art of making films swayed his interest in engineering. So, in the mid-1950s he turned his attention to the silver screen by co-producing the film Highway Dragnet in 1954.

A year later he would get behind the lens to direct Five Guns West. The plot of that film sounds like something Spielberg or Tarantino would make today but on a multi-million dollar budget: “During the Civil War, the Confederacy pardons five criminals and sends them into Comanche-territory to recover Union-seized Confederate gold and capture a Confederate turncoat.”

From there Corman made a few pulpy Westerns, but then his interest in monster movies emerged starting with The Beast With a Million Eyes (1955) and It Conquered the World (1956). In 1957 he directed nine movies that ranged from creature features (Attack of the Crab Monsters) to exploitative teenage dramas (Teenage Doll).

By the 60s his focus turned mainly to horror movies. Some of his most famous of that period were based on Edgar Allan Poe’s works, The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), The Raven (1961), and The Masque of the Red Death (1963).

During the 70s he did more producing than directing. He backed a wide array of films, everything from horror to what would be called grindhouse today. One of his most famous films from that decade was Death Race 2000 (1975) and Ron Howard’s first feature Eat My Dust (1976).

In the following decades, he offered many titles. If you rented a B-movie from your local video rental place, he likely produced it.

Even today, after his passing, IMDb reports that he has two upcoming movies in post: Little Shop of Halloween Horrors and Crime City. Like a true Hollywood legend, he is still working from the other side.

“His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age,” his family said. “When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just that.'”

Welcome to Yay or Nay a weekly mini post about what I think is good and bad news in the horror community written in bite-sized chunks. This is for the week of May 5 through May 10.

Yay:

In a Violent Nature made someone puke at the Chicago Critics Film Fest screening. It’s the first time this year that a critic got sick at a movie that wasn’t a Blumhouse film. 

Nay:

Radio Silence pulls out of remake of Escape From New York. Darn, we wanted to see Snake try to escape a remote locked-down mansion full of distopean New York City “crazies.”

Yay:

A new Twisters trailer dropped, focusing on the powerful forces of nature that tear through rural towns. It’s a great alternative to watching candidates do the same thing on local news during this year’s presidential press cycle.  

Nay:

Producer Bryan Fuller walks away from A24’s Friday the 13th series Camp Crystal Lake saying the studio wanted to go a “different way.” After two years of development for a horror series it seems that way doesn’t include ideas from people who actually know what their talking about: fans in a subreddit.

Yay:

Finally, The Tall Man from Phantasm is getting his own Funko Pop! Too bad the toy company is failing. This gives new meaning to Angus Scrimm’s famous line from the movie: “You play a good game…but the game is finished. Now you die!”

Nay:

Football king Travis Kelce joins new Ryan Murphy horror project as a supporting actor. He got more press than the announcement of Dahmer’s Emmy winner Niecy Nash-Betts actually getting the lead.