News
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE Creating Walkouts at Cannes Film Festival
David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future seems to be the most polarizing movie at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. According to Variety, dozens of audience members walked out of the Cannes screening midway through the film. On the flip side, at the same screening, some audience members gave the film a 7-minute standing ovation.
However, during separate press screenings for Crimes of the Future that Cronenberg was not in attendance, there were no standing ovations. In these screenings, critics largely stayed for the entirety of the film, with only a handful of people leaving the theater, but only being rewarded with a slight smattering of applause.
This is definitely going to be the most controversial film from the Cannes Film Festival this year!
Cronenberg did mention to Deadline not that long ago that he fully expects people to walk out during the screening at Cannes. Well, he was right!
“There are some very strong scenes,” said Cronenberg. “I mean, I’m sure that we will have walkouts within the first five minutes of the movie. I’m sure of that. Some people who have seen the film have said that they think the last 20 minutes will be very hard on people and that there’ll be a lot of walkouts. Some guy said that he almost had a panic attack. And I say, ‘Well, that would be OK.’ But I’m not convinced that that will be a general reaction.”
“I do expect walkouts in Cannes, and that’s a very special thing,” he continued. People always walk out, and the seats notoriously clack as you get up, because the seats fold back and hit the back of the seat. So, you hear clack, clack, clack. Whether they’ll be outraged the way they were with Crash, I somehow don’t think so. They might be revulsed to the point that they want to leave, but that’s not the same as being outraged.”
Some of the strong scenes that seemed to garner the most reactions were a gory child autopsy scene, shots of bloody intestines, and characters who orgasm by licking each other’s open wounds.
Crimes of the Future stars Viggo Mortensen (“A History of Violence,” “Eastern Promises”) with festival favorite Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux. Crimes of the Future also finds Cronenberg back in his science-fiction/horror mode for the first time since 1999’s “Existenz.”
Mortensen plays a performance artist who has his organs operated on in some pseudo-sexual ritual in this dystopian universe. Stewart plays an employee at the transplant center, who in one scene purrs to him: “Surgery is the new sex.”
The official “Crimes of the Future” synopsis from Neon reads:
“As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. With his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), a celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed… Their mission – to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.”
Indie Horror
_CIVILIAN Is the Micro-Series That Proves You Don’t Need Much to Make Something That Matters
The ripped-from-the-headlines social thriller is currently in production, and the story behind it is just as compelling as the one unfolding on screen.
When filmmakers Sean Michael Gloria-Orn and Cailan Gloria-Orn decided they were done waiting on film industry green lights, they set out to build something on their own terms. The goal was simple: create something meaningful while raising awareness around a growing issue. Then, right when they needed it most, a new independent cinema ecosystem, ShoStak.tv, and the “First 150” Film Challenge found them.
_CIVILIAN, the debut micro-series from Alien Outlaw Media, follows a group of tenants forced to choose between compliance and survival after a predatory power company begins hiking energy costs to compensate for AI data centers, until one ordinary man becomes an unwitting symbol of resistance.
It’s a thriller pulled straight from the kinds of headlines most of us have already scrolled past and quietly dreaded. Monopolized energy systems. Power bills climbing into the thousands. The creeping realization that the system was never designed to protect you.
And this is only the beginning.
Watch the trailer for _CIVILIAN below:
The concept is built to expand far beyond the central issue explored in Season One, tapping into a broader range of everyday fears experienced by modern civilians.
_CIVILIAN was made with a skeleton crew of just three people. Sean writes, directs, handled audio on the pilot, and edits. Cailan, stepping behind the camera for the first time, operates camera while also appearing in the series. Their close friend and photographer Justin Blaine Miller handled slate and captured behind-the-scenes photography.
A married couple and a few friends proving something the industry tends to forget. With enough conviction, a great story doesn’t require permission.
_CIVILIAN is being created as part of the ShoStak.tv “First 150” Film Challenge and debuts Episode One: Powerless on the internet-native cinema platform built to support independent filmmakers bold enough to create on their own terms.
ShoStak isn’t just another platform. It’s part of a growing shift toward creator-first ecosystems that actually reward filmmakers for building an audience. ShoStak.tv pays creators based on the audiences they bring in, putting the power back where it belongs.
It’s exactly the kind of project the platform was built for, and exactly the kind of grounded, real-world horror many people are already living through.
Follow _CIVILIAN creator Sean Michael Gloria on Instagram at @seanmichaelgloria for the latest updates. “Episode One: Powerless” premiered exclusively on ShoStak.tv on Friday, May 1, 2026. Watch episode one here.
The micro-series is still casting in Atlanta and currently stars:
@seanmichaelgloria
@cailanorn
@gordontdanniels
@blaikelewis
@brettbrooks
@marcusnelson
@phaemonae.555
@devinellingwood
News
This Week in Horror: The ‘Resident Evil’ Trailer, a ‘Weapons’ Prequel, and Nicolas Cage Has Unfinished Business
This was the week Zach Cregger stopped being a horror director and started being a horror studio. That is not the only thing that happened, but it feels like it isn’t being stated enough.
The Resident Evil Teaser Is Here
The first footage from Zach Cregger‘s Resident Evil dropped Wednesday, and it does not look like anything this franchise has produced before. Austin Abrams plays Bryan, a medical courier who arrives at an empty house in the middle of a snowy night and spends the rest of the teaser discovering what he is actually surrounded by.
The footage is dark and still and operates as if something has already gone wrong before anything technically has, which is the same register Barbarian and Weapons lived in and that the games, at their best, have always understood.
Cregger Is Also Making a Weapons Prequel
While everyone was watching the Resident Evil teaser, Variety reported that Gladys, the prequel to Weapons, is moving forward at Warner Bros. with Cregger co-writing alongside Zach Shields. Weapons grossed $270 million worldwide and earned Amy Madigan a best supporting actress Oscar.
Gladys is set for September 2028. Cregger is currently writing a Resident Evil reboot and a Weapons prequel at the same time, which is either the most productive stretch a horror director has had in recent memory or the setup for a very good documentary.
Nicolas Cage Has Unfinished Business
Variety confirmed that Nicolas Cage and Osgood Perkins are making a new Longlegs film at Paramount. Not a sequel, but something set in the Longlegs universe, which is a distinction that raises more questions than it answers and is therefore exactly the right way to announce it. The original made $128 million on a $10 million budget. No release date has been set.
Hokum Opens Today
Hokum, the new film from Damian McCarthy, is in theaters today via Neon. Adam Scott plays a novelist who retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes and finds that an ancient witch has opinions about that.
The film premiered at SXSW in March and sits at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. McCarthy made Caveat in 2020, which was underseen and excellent. Hokum is his argument that the haunted house film still has architecture left to explore.
Shudder Is Having a Moment
The full May lineup breakdown is here, but the essentials are: Tales from the Crypt, all seven seasons, begins streaming today after years off the market. The Terror: Devil in Silver, the third installment of AMC’s horror anthology series, premieres May 7 with Dan Stevens. Heresy, a folk horror set in a medieval Dutch village, also drops today as a Shudder exclusive. It is the strongest programming month they have announced in a while, and May is only one day old. What a week.
Someone Let Ti West Near a Christmas Carol
Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, written by Nathaniel Halpern, directed by Ti West, and starring Johnny Depp as Scrooge, has a release date: November 13, 2026 from Paramount. Robert Eggers is also developing a Christmas Carol adaptation. Two of the most formally precise horror directors working today have independently decided this is the assignment. There is no version of that sentence that is not exciting.
That is the week. May is already delivering.
Editorial
HHN35, Jack vs Oddfellow: Place Your Bets!
Halloween Horror Nights is back for its 35th installment at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida as the Infernal Carnival of Nightmares!
Over the years HHN has proven original houses draw as much of a crowd, if not more, as the intellectual property (IP) houses based off of established horror movies.
Leading each year of fear and headlining some of these original houses includes some of the most beloved and iconic characters. These icons include; Jack the Clown, The Caretaker, The Director, Chance, Dr. Oddfellow, The Usher, Lady Luck, and The Storyteller.
This year Orlando’s convention MegaCon had a highly anticipated and attended panel focused on Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights 35. The masterminds speaking of the 35th year celebration included Michael Aiello, Lora Sauls, and Charles Gray. The creators teased the landmark year to salivating fans.
Gaged by the audience’s reaction as each icon was reminisced about and displayed on the panel’s screen were Jack and Oddfellow. Here it was announced to the fanatical audience that these two icons will be returning to lead Halloween Horror Nights into its upcoming year!
Bring in the Clown!
Jack the Clown, born Jack Schmidt, is an icon created by Universal Studios for Halloween Horror Nights. Jack made his debut during the Halloween event’s tenth year in 2000. He immediately won over attendees and became a fan favorite. His popularity grew so much that he has reappeared again and again in many of the Halloween Horror Nights events.
Jack has been featured in three of the five Universal parks that have hosted HHN; Orlando, Hollywood, and Singapore. He has even claimed a spot in Universal Horror Unleashed.
Unleashed is a haunted attraction residing in Las Vegas that offers a fully immersive experience for guests. Unlike Halloween Horror Nights, this attraction is open year round! Universal Horror Unleashed features haunted houses, live entertainment, and themed bars and dining.
Here Jack stalks guests year round with his mistress in mayhem, Chance.
Jack’s History
In the late 1800s Jack was born with his brother Eddie inside the walls of Shady Brook Rest Home and Sanitarium. Jack escaped and ran away with the circus, leaving his poor and abusive family behind.
However, it was soon apparent he was not the jolly, entertaining clown he convinced his carnival spectators of.
Jack was a child murderer. As the traveling sideshow made its way through the southern states, a trail of abductions and disappearances followed. This attracted unwanted attention from federal authorities.
As the feds closed in, the clown disclosed his murderous ways to his employer, carnival owner Dr. Oddfellow. As the star attraction of the circus he hoped Oddfellow would hide him. However, the doctor was a man with his own sordid past with the law. He decided the best plan of action would be to cut ties with Jack, for good.
The circus owner had Jack Schmidt murdered, but not before the clown gave Oddfellow his trademark facial scar. A scar none of Oddfellow’s dark magic could erase.
Always the showman, Oddfellow decided Jack’s time in his show had not yet come to an end. Not even in death. The carnival owner hid Jack’s body, in addition to the thirteen children the clown had killed, inside his House of Horrors.
The Doctor is In!
Just like Jack “The Clown” Schmidt, Dr. Rich Oddfellow has a very long and evil history. He was introduced to Halloween Horror Nights in 2000, the same year as Jack. However, unlike the menacing clown, the doctor did not rise to instant fame.
Finally the Doctor found his time in the fog and in 2023 he was established as an icon of HHN.
Oddfellow’s History
Dr. Oddfellow is the notorious, darkly charismatic sideshow owner of Dr. Oddfellow’s Carnival of Thrills. He employed Jack Schmidt, the murderous clown who claimed the lives of at least 13 children. However, the clown was not the only member of the circus who had evil intentions.
Oddfellow was an evil sorcerer, and preyed upon his unsuspecting spectators from town to town. Using the souls of his victims, Oddfellow hoped to gain immortality as well as harness the power of the Dark Zodiac for himself. With this power he would have undying power at his fingertips all harnessed in the skull sitting on top of his trademark cane.
Dr. Oddfellow always left his mark of chaos, destruction and death. From the Jungle of Doom, to the 1939 Dustbowl, and an infamous 1969 Music Festival in upstate New York, Oddfellow reigned down his evil upon the innocent.
A Glimpse of HHN35
Not much has been revealed about how these icons of horror will be intertwined in the upcoming Halloween Horror Nights. However, we do know that despite how much these two despise each other, they will be sharing the spotlight as co-hosts for the much anticipated HHN35.
One of the ten haunted houses will feature the returning duo together. The house is called; Jack and Oddfellow: Chaos and Control.
As you travel through the house the stories of each icon of horror will be unraveled. You’ll wind your way through their evil dimension and see the two battle each other in a deathmatch that has been brewing for decades. However, as you near the end of the house Jack and Oddfellow come to realize that their power is much stronger together than separate. Will the souls of the guests be the fuel to their ultimate evil plan?
Tell us at iHorror who your favorite icon of horror is in the comments! If the two were to face off, who would win?
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The Vord Review: The Mythology Is Free. Everything Else Costs Something.
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News5 days agoResident Evil Drops First Teaser Trailer
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News5 days agoThe Vampire Lestat Is Playing a Real Concert in NYC — And Yes, It’s Exactly as Wild as It Sounds
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News6 days agoThe History of Deals with the Devil: From Faust to The Witch
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Movie Reviews7 days ago‘ZombieCON Vol. 1’ Gets the Con Right. The Zombies Arrive When They Want To.
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Editorial4 days agoHHN35, Jack vs Oddfellow: Place Your Bets!
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