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Anya Taylor-Joy is the New Jamie Lee Curtis

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Gary Busey once eloquently noted that “A very familiar feeling is starting to come over me.” And it has nothing to do with being a horse’s ass.

In 1978, the daughter of Janet Leigh began a quest that saw her complete seven horror-related projects by 1982, a window of time which propelled Jamie Lee Curtis into a stratosphere of scream queen all her own.

And I have a sneaky suspicion that history is repeating itself.

For all her horror roles (which didn’t end in ’82 mind you), Curtis shall be forever linked to the role of Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s untouchable Halloween.

While Curtis hammered out “The night HE came home,” The Fog, Prom Night and some voice work for Escape from New York and Halloween III: Season of the Witch, she laid the groundwork for a career which has expanded into drama and even comedy, and thrives to this very day.

If early returns are any indication, however, we may be saying the same about Anya Taylor-Joy years from now.

The-Witch-Anya-Taylor-Joy-1034x500The Witch was a star-making performance for the 20-year old actress, which left critics and fans alike blown away by her portrayal of a young woman growing into her body and identity who seemed misplaced as the daughter of a devout Puritan family, only to be accused of witchcraft by the very people who were supposed to love her most.

From frustration and fear to anger and finally acceptance of what a new life could be, every step Taylor-Joy took along Thomasin’s journey of discovery was delicious.

But much like Curtis almost four decades before her, Taylor-Joy isn’t stopping there.

Curtis quickly moved into other roles that proved memorable in their own right, and though horror audiences have not yet had the opportunity to lay eyes on Morgan or M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, trailers for said films certainly seem to contain stories and Taylor-Joy performances that will place her firmly in the upper echelon of not only today’s scream queens, but set off a long career which will likely delve into other genres.

With turns in Barry and Thoroughbred completed or in post-production, that expansion into drama has already begun, but it can’t be overstated that simply appearing in horror films does not a scream queen make. Nay, like Curtis before her, Taylor-Joy is making quality horror which leaves a lasting impression. Films like The Witch don’t simply come and go, they stay with us. Subsequent films are held to their light years on, much like a little flick titled Halloween (to a lesser extent, of course).

Morgan hits theatres on September 2, and tells the tale of a sequestered, artificially created humanoid who has a little Carrie and Eleven in her, and the debate whether she’s too dangerous to be allowed to live and breathe. Taylor-Joy plays the title role.

Split, Shyamalan’s follow-up to The Visit, is scheduled for release next January and has the looks of an instant classic. Taylor-Joy plays one of three teenage girls abducted by a man with at least 23 personalities, one of which is known as “The Beast.”

Put The Witch, Morgan and Split on screen in less than a calendar year and images of a trio of films by the names of Halloween, The Fog and Prom Night begin dancing through this writer’s head.

While it can be difficult to contain enthusiasm for films and a performer which appear to hold so much promise, it cannot be overstated that 2016 has been an amazing year for the genre. However, due to films like The Witch and performers like Taylor-Joy, we are forced us to remind ourselves to not jump the gun.

That said, it is admittedly a bit early to compare an actress with but a handful of roles to a legend like Curtis, but take a moment to truly ponder what we have seen and what we shall soon see from Anya Taylor-Joy, and ask yourself if this is only the beginning.

And whether the new Laurie Strode isn’t already here.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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