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LGBTQ Horror Film ‘Moonshadow’ Will Confront the Evils of Conversion Therapy

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According to an article released yesterday by Bloody Disgusting, Gunpowder & Sky has teamed up with YOMYOMF and Nonetheless Productions to create an LGBTQ horror film set in the terrifying world of conversion therapy. The film, titled Moonshadow, was written by Ernesto Foronda and Daniel Foerste (The Station) and will be directed by Silas Howard (Pose).

The script, which is based on Foerste’s own experiences with conversion therapy, tells the story of transgender teen sent to a “science-based” conversion therapy camp by his parents. The twist to this horrific tale is just what those kids at the camp are being converted into.

The horrors of LGBTQ conversion therapy are all too real to many teens, especially here in the U.S. A report released earlier this year by the Williams Institute of UCLA estimates that nearly 700,000 have gone through some form of conversion therapy in their lives and half of that number experienced this harmful, archaic practice while still adolescents.

The report went on to say that in the year 2018 an estimated 20,000 teenagers would be subjected to conversion therapy by a licensed health care professional and an additional 57,000 would be forced into similar conversion techniques led by a religious or spiritual adviser.

The methods used by these medical practitioners and religious leaders include a variety of techniques, though some can more aptly be called torture, such as electroshock, behavior modification, regular therapy sessions, and in some cases, by treating LGBTQ identity as an addiction.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, those who go through conversion therapies are eight times more likely to attempt suicide, six times more likely to suffer from depression, three times more likely to become addicted to drugs, and three times as likely to be at high risk for HIV and other STDs. Sadly, conversion therapy is only illegal in 14 states and in the District of Columbia at this time.

What’s more, with the current administration threatening to roll back protections for LGBTQ citizens, and its emphasis especially with transgender Americans of late, Moonshadow seems like a timely tale to tell, especially as a horror film. It also finds itself in good company with the more mainstream release Boy Erased, another film about conversion therapy, starring Lucas Hedges and Nicole Kidman set to hit theaters this month.

With both a trans director and a trans co-writer working on the project, it seems that Moonshadow is off to a good start, and we here at iHorror will be keeping tabs on the film’s progress for future updates!

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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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